REVIEW: Shut Down, Vol 2 - The Beach Boys (1964)

Those are weird looking surfboards.

 First of all I should explain why this one is called Shut Down, Volume 2 because it's one of the stupidest album titles of all time.

Essentially, Capitol put the song Shut Down on this compilation album with various artists on it, which was also called Shut Down, and it sold a bunch of copies, and for some reason they decided to call the next Beach Boys album "Shut Down Volume 2". Yes, this album is a sequel to a various artists compilation. Yes, that makes no fucking sense.

In other news, David Marks is out and Al Jardine is in on rhythm guitar, so this is pretty much the classic Beach Boys lineup now of Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike and Al that will continue (with some additions) until they start dying off. So that's fun!

This album starts off with a bang with Fun, Fun, Fun, which is one of the quintessential Beach Boys singles and one of those songs that most people have probably heard. Maybe they don't know that they've heard it but they've probably heard it at some point or another. And it is indeed a really good fucking song, with a catchy chorus, a fun instrumental break, and some really fun backing vocals in the verses.
It's followed up strongly by Don't Worry Baby, Brian's would-be answer to Phil Spector's Be My Baby, and while Be My Baby is definitely better Don't Worry Baby is no slouch either. As a ballad, it definitely stands up to the Beach Boys' previous best, although I personally think they'd go on to do even better.
In The Parkin' Lot ups the tempo again and is also a really fun, catchy song, with a very pretty tag showing off the Beach Boys' harmonies, which are excellent (at this point in their career that's to be expected).
Unfortunately it's followed up by the very blatant filler "Cassius Love vs Sonny Wilson" that basically involves the Beach Boys yelling at each other and then singing badly. It does kind of presage the eventual Brian vs Mike rivalry (that in my opinion is way overstated, but more on that later...) so it's interesting in that respect. But obviously it's cheesy and stupid and functions mainly to take up space on the record.
Back to an excellent ballad with The Warmth of the Sun, which I honestly might prefer to Don't Worry Baby. It's a very pretty ballad with a lot of nice ambiance and wistful seventh chords, and of course a typically excellent vocal from Brian to top it off.
Speaking of typically excellent vocals from the Beach Boys, I kinda don't like Dennis on This Car of Mine! I'm sure Brian was being nice when he gave him the lead vocals but something about the way he sings the 'o's in this song just sort of infuriates me. Thankfully the song itself is pretty boring so it's not much of a loss.
Why Do Fools Fall in Love is a Frankie Lymon cover and it's definitely a serviceable cover of the song. I don't think it'll really win any awards by itself but it's a nice slice of classic 50s pop songwriting done well. Brian sounds a little bit more like Frankie Valli here than usual, which is interesting. My immature brain also thinks it's funny that the Beach Boys sing the word gay on this one. Yes, I am mentally 12 years old.
I got into an argument about this midway through writing this very review but Pom Pom Play Girl is like... fine. I don't know. A lot of fans think this is underrated (including Mark Linett, one of the main archivists for the band, who keeps putting it on compilations) but I don't really see it? It's just kinda fun for like 2 minutes and then it ends. Not very remarkable.
Keep an Eye on Summer is another very good ballad! Their ballads are starting to get a bit formulaic, but it's an obviously winning formula, so I'm not going to sit here and complain. Another falsetto lead from Brian with another understated arrangement with guitar, bass and drums.
Shut Down, Vol. 2. is another surf instrumental. This one is fun I guess. I don't know. I ran out of things to say about the surf instrumentals by like the third one.
Next there's a cover of Louie Louie where the Beach Boys go R&B sorta kinda and it just ends up sounding a little stupid. It's still fun and Louie Louie is a good song but I would never put this on the aux. the "DUH DUH, DUH DUH" backing vocals are so goofy I kind of have to applaud them.
Next up is Denny's Drums which is... just a drum solo. Riveting.

The first three songs and Warmth of the Sun are great, but the rest is just a bit too fillerific for my tastes. I don't really have a ton to say about this one because unlike the past 4 records, there isn't really any new ground or progression here. Next up is All Summer Long, which tends to get earmarked as the start of the Beach Boys' "leap forward" to the complexity of Pet Sounds, which I'm really not sure I buy - but in any case it's a more interesting record!
A begrudging 6/10 on this one, maybe sliding to a 5/10. Anything less would be a disgrace to the three or four great tracks here, anything more would be a little bit silly for an album with "Cassius Love vs Sonny Wilson" and "Denny's Drums".