The Pop Corporation

A lot of people talk about The Beach Boys like they’re the US equivalent of The Beatles, but that’s always missed the mark in what makes the Wilsons & Co such a fascinating prospect.

Fact is, The Beach Boys were messier and weirder than the Fabs. The wheels frequently fell off and even die-hard fans will admit that you have to wade through some very unusual, unfocused and middling music to get to the real genius of the group.

In Beach Boy circles, there’s been a renaissance of some of the less loved albums of late, notably the fabulous ‘Love You’ album, which saw Brian Wilson returning to the group full time, with synthesisers in tow. Is it a proto synthpop album? No. Is it strange and beguiling? Absolutely.

See, what’s always been so strange about the career of America’s Greatest Rock Band is that their back catalogue has always been incomplete. No band like the Beach Boys have created such intrigue with shelved LPs, bootlegs and rumour.

Of course, there’s the madness of the ’70s, the drink and drugs, the wheels falling off personal relationships and all that – most big groups in that decade struggled with that stuff. The Beach Boys were literal family and stuck together where others would have bailed. In Brian Wilson, they had a complete one-off who they needed to be around for more than just the hits.

In the ’70s, a decade after the masterful ‘Pet Sounds’, the Beach Boys had fallen a long way from the avant garde pop that transformed American radio, and found themselves viewed as bloated and washed up. While those who still believed in the band can point to a raft of great songs post Pet Sounds, the fact is, by this time, the most relevant release was an oldies compilation called ‘Endless Summer’, which allowed music fans in ’74 to be nostalgic for the music of the band pre ‘God Only Knows’. Then came ’15 Big Ones’ which was again, an ode to the rock n roll of yore.

It’s amazing that this period followed the troubled but brilliant ‘Holland’ album, with Big Ones being billed as Brian’s big return. However, Brian has Eugene Landy in tow, meddling in his affairs and trying to get him match-fit and it’s noticeable that this return had a suggested title of ‘Group Therapy’. The Village Voice at the time said the album sounded like something that would be played at a rock star’s funeral. Brian may have been back, but he wasn’t back back.

If it was a simple exercise in getting Brian reacquainted with the working day again, then his next move would show just how there’s no-one like Brian. ‘Love You’ gave us one of the most unique albums in rock history, and to some, the birth of Outsider Music. Tracks like ‘Johnny Carson’ were mildly unhinged, and ‘Airplane’ showed that nobody put chords together like our Brian. Then, like ‘Smile’ was the great ‘Pet Sounds’ follow up that lived as a bootleg for too long, so too, ‘Love You’ was meant to be followed by ‘Adult/Child’, which became the second Lost Classic that lived on the fringes of the record market.

Those who bought dodgy CDs and whatnot, found some actual gold in ‘It’s Over Now’ and the legend of the period speaks of Brian playing ‘Ding Dang’ and ‘Shortenin’ Bread’ for seemingly days at a time. Erratic, frenzied, moments of genius, America’s songbook, fun and lumpy rockers, and a childlike genius crashing headlong into very adult problems – record buyers at the time were spared of Brian’s output, bemused as they were, with hardcore fans desperate to hear more.

Well, now it’s 2026, and what we get is a boxset called ‘We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years’ which compiles 73 tracks which were recorded by Brian and the boys in their Brother Studio from 1976 to 1977.

However, nothing in the Beach Boy universe and in the lead-up to this official release, was a mega dump of unreleased tracks, bootlegs, outtakes and more, illegally and online.

It was feast time for Beach Boy fanatics, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like there was a clearer understanding of the love for the weirder elements of the group, rather than pushing the bushy bushy blond hairdos stuff that the record companies tend to foist upon us. While the ‘California Girls’ crew have a point that the pop stuff is awesome, it’s the people who kept the flame alive with the stranger aspects of the group that were now being catered for, and that’s a great thing. There was a nod with the ‘Feel Flows’ set, but this was a total nod to the record collector dorks and Brian obsessives who had long yearned for a proper look at this hidden material.

While incomplete – there’s been a decision to keep off some tracks that have aged terribly and paint Brian’s mental illness in a poor light – this official release is finally the chance for the fanbase to listen to properly mixed and mastered Holy Grails, and make no mistake – this is for the obsessive only. If you’re looking for ‘Little Deuce Coup’, you’ll wonder what the hell is going on with this bubbling gumbo of a selection.

This set shows Wilson’s genius for sure, but also, just how unmoored he was. It’s genuinely fascinating, but you absolutely need to know the lore.

‘Still Dream Of It’ is up there with some of Wilson and the group’s best performances, and to get to it, you have to listen to some schmaltz. It’s listenable and lovely schmaltz, but it’s schmaltz all the same.

The elegance of some of Brian’s writing is still breathtaking in 2026, and then, it’s utterly joyful to listen to him and the gang let the handbrake off and just let loose with some gleeful racket making.

All the things you want are there – untapped potential, Carl Wilson singing like an absolute angel, Brian veering for wonderful to bemusing, Mike slinkily popping up on the mic, Al’s evergreen youthful voice, a brooding Dennis, and god, those fuckin’ harmonies!

Will this set win a load of new fans over? Not likely. However, it doesn’t feel like it was made for them. It’s a shame that we don’t have any of the Wilson brothers around to enjoy this release, but at least it keeps their work and propels them into the future.

A gorgeous and uneven release that shows once again that there just isn’t a band anywhere in rock history that’s quite like The Beach Boys.