The Beach Boys Love You is the 21st studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys, released on April 11, 1977, by Brother/Reprise. The album is characterized by its stream-of-consciousness lyrics, its use of synthesizers, and the band members' gravelly vocal timbres. It was produced by Brian Wilson in late 1976 at Brother Studios and developed primarily as a solo project. He wrote nearly all of the material and performed most of the instrumentation, including keyboards, synthesizers, and drums, with assistance from brothers Carl (credited as "mixdown producer") and Dennis.

Tentatively titled Brian Loves You, Wilson aimed to satisfy listeners disappointed by the group's previous album 15 Big Ones (1976). His new songs returned to the self-reflective approach of Pet Sounds (1966) and drew inspiration from his family and personal life, Phil Spector, Johnny Carson, and the Solar System; two more were co-written and recorded several years prior, "Good Time" with Al Jardine and "Ding Dang" with Roger McGuinn, while Mike Love co-wrote "Let Us Go on this Way". Wilson called the record his most creatively satisfying work since Pet Sounds and later his favorite Beach Boys album overall. Although it received near-unanimous critical praise, some listeners were put off by its tone, production, and vocals. It sold poorly, peaking at number 53 in the U.S. and number 28 in the UK. Lead single "Honkin' Down the Highway" did not chart. A follow-up, Adult/Child, was completed but unreleased.

Love You later gained a cult following and became sometimes regarded as the band's "punk" album

The sessions marked the first time that Brian was granted complete artistic latitude on a new Beach Boys album since the 1967 Smile sessions. He wrote nearly all of the material and played most of the instruments, including keyboards, synthesizers, drums, tubular bells, and harmonica. and added, "The title of that album is really The Beach Boys Love Brian."

Songs

Overview

The first side of the album consists of uptempo songs, while the second reflects a more adult perspective. The lyrics range from stream-of-consciousness writing to adolescent themes such as roller skating, schoolmate infatuations, and interacting with a girlfriend's family. Wilson stated that he pursued this lyrical direction because he believed it was what fans expected from the Beach Boys.

Comparing Love You to 15 Big Ones, he said he aimed for it to be "more creative, more original" and "lyrically much more interesting."

Side one

"Let Us Go On This Way" is a rock song in which the narrator, a schoolboy, pleads, "To get you babe, I went through the ringer / ain't gonna let you slip through my finger", followed by an appeal to God to "let us go on this way". Wilson said he wrote the song with Mike Love when they felt the rest of the album was too "deadbeat and we needed something uptempo". As it predated Wilson's vocal decline, it is the only track on Love You in which his voice is not gravelly.

"Honkin' Down the Highway" is a rock and roll song about a man driving to a woman, at her father's behest, for an engagement that the narrator states will conclude with himself "Takin' one little inch at a time, now / 'Til we're feelin' fine, now". Wilson said that the highway theme was inspired by country music.

"Ding Dang" is a brief track composed of one verse and chorus, written by Wilson and the Byrds' Roger McGuinn in the early 1970s. Wilson repeatedly recorded and revised the song in the studio throughout the mid-1970s, and Mankey recalled that "everybody who showed up [to the Love You sessions] got subjected to 'Ding Dang'." The album version runs under one minute and remains nearly unchanged from the original Wilson–McGuinn version. Former member Ricky Fataar played drums on the track. "Let's Put Our Hearts Together" is a duet between Wilson and his wife Marilyn, in which they address mutual insecurities before agreeing to "see what we can cook up between us". Wilson stated that he involved Marilyn after inadvertently writing the song in a key outside his vocal range.

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"I Wanna Pick You Up", Wilson said, is about a man pretending a woman is "small like a baby" and "really wants to pick her up!" "11th Bar Blues", "Clangin'", "Hey Little Tomboy", "Lazy Lizzie", "Sherry She Needs Me", "Marilyn Rovell", "My Diane", "Hey There Momma", and "We Gotta Groove". Wilson also recorded covers of the Drifters' "Ruby Baby" and the Righteous Brothers' "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", the latter originally produced by Spector. Wilson performed and recorded the latter track in one take; Boyd characterized his performance as "very dark" and "very raw" with "kind of a punk edge to it". "Lazy Lizzie" recycled a melody from Wilson's Mount Vernon and Fairway (1973). "Hey Little Tomboy" and "My Diane" were completed for the group's next released album, M.I.U. Album (1978). "11th Bar Blues" remains unreleased. On December 31, the band held a fifteenth anniversary concert at the Los Angeles Forum, including a performance of "Airplane".

By early 1977, media interest in the "Brian's Back" campaign had waned. The Beach Boys had been legally obligated to deliver two more albums to Warner Bros., whose contract was set to expire later in the year. Biographer Steven Gaines writes that the label were "none too happy" with Love You. Road manager Rick Nelson stated, "Most of the people at the company liked it, but [label head] Mo Ostin thought that it should be touched up. He didn't think it was finished. It wasn't that he didn't like it musically. Somehow, word that Mo felt that way got back to Brian and hurt him deeply." As Love You neared completion, band manager Stephen Love began negotiations for the group to join CBS Records after fulfilling their Warner Bros. contract. According to biographer David Leaf, there had been rumors that the band would have the album issued by CBS or Caribou Records.

Warner was reportedly aware of the CBS deal by January 1977, which contributed to their disillusionment with the band, according to Gaines. The Beach Boys Love You was released on April 11, peaking at number 53 on the U.S. Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart during a seven-week run. Its sole single, "Honkin' Down the Highway", failed to chart. Group members, including Mike Love, blamed Warner's restrained promotional efforts for the album's poor sales.

Contemporary reactions

thumb|left|upright|One of the album's admirers, [[Patti Smith, penned a review of Love You that was written in the form of a poem]]

Love You received near-unanimous critical praise but divided public opinion. Schinder described a "sharp divide" between fans and critics, the latter viewing it either as "eccentric genius" or dismissing it as "childish and trivial". Record reviewers were broadly favorable. A reviewer for Melody Maker wrote that the album "can appear insubstantial on early acquaintance, but further attention yields many riches." Wilson reviewed the album himself in the May 1977 Crawdaddy!, stating in part, "I like the new album better than the last one... It's a cleaner album; the tracks and the songs seem to come off cleaner."

Post-release, Adult/Child, live performances, and We Gotta Groove

thumb|Wilson in the late 1970s

In early 1977, Wilson completed a follow-up album, Adult/Child, but its release was vetoed by his bandmates, partly due to the poor sales of Love You. He did not write and produce another LP until his solo debut, Brian Wilson (1988), and, according to Carlin, did not again compose material reflecting his full musical, emotional, and intellectual interests until the aborted Andy Paley sessions in the 1990s. Love You remained the last Beach Boys album he actively led in production.