Love You is the twenty-first studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by the American rock group The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys

The Beach Boys are an American rock band, formed in 1961 in Hawthorne, California. The group was initially composed of brothers Brian, Dennis and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and friend Al Jardine. Managed by the Wilsons' father Murry, The Beach Boys signed to Capitol Records in 1962...

, released in April 1977. Almost entirely written and performed by Brian Wilson

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

, it sharply divides critics' opinions from then and now on the project. Some feel that this record is Wilson's real return to form in the 1970s. Others feel it marks the point where Wilson seemingly lost the ability to produce and sing at a professional level. A pop/rock album full of Brian's recent songs, Love You has a unique and distinct sound. It was during the album's recording that Wilson made his awkward Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

appearance on November 27, introducing "Love Is a Woman" for the first time.

Not all of the songs were strictly new, a few having been written during the 15 Big Ones period, but more specifically "Good Time", which hailed from the 1970 Sunflower

Sunflower (album)

Sunflower is the sixteenth studio album by American rock group The Beach Boys, their first on Reprise Records. The album achieved number 151 on the US albums chart during a four week stay, becoming the lowest charting Beach Boys album until 1978's M.I.U. Album equalled it. It reached #29 in the...

era, and "Ding Dang", which was co-written with The Byrds

The Byrds

The Byrds were an American rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in 1964. The band underwent multiple line-up changes throughout its existence, with frontman Roger McGuinn remaining the sole consistent member until the group disbanded in 1973...

' former leader Roger McGuinn

Roger McGuinn

James Roger McGuinn is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' records...

 and recorded in late 1973. "Good Time" is a particularly anomalous inclusion because, unlike the rest of Love You, it features Brian's voice as it sounded before it was affected by heavy tobacco and cocaine use in 1973-75.

Considered by some to be The Beach Boys' last truly great album, others have found the release's unconventional sound difficult to swallow. Released just after announcing the band's new record deal with CBS Records (now Sony Music), Reprise Records

Reprise Records

Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...

 put little promotion into the album, and with the advent of disco

Disco

Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...

 and punk

Punk rock

Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

, The Beach Boys' commercial steam had run out once again. Peaking at a disappointing #53 in the US, and #28 in the UK, Love You was overlooked and soon forgotten by the mainstream pop music audience. However, Brian Wilson fans continue to claim for it an awkward beauty and high level of musical creativity. Peter Buck

Peter Buck

Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....

 of R.E.M. called it his favorite Beach Boys album, on liner notes of the CD re-release.

Track listing

Singles

• "Honkin' Down the Highway" b/w "Solar System" (Brother 1389), May 30, 1977

Love You is now paired on CD with 15 Big Ones

15 Big Ones

-Singles:* "Rock And Roll Music" b/w "T M Song" , 24 May 1976 US #5; UK #36* "It's O.K." b/w "Had to Phone Ya" , 9 August 1976 US #29* "Everyone's In Love With You" b/w "Susie Cincinnati" , 1 November 1976...

.

Sources

• Surf's Up: The Beach Boys On Record Brad Elliott
• 15 Big Ones/Love You CD booklet notes, Dennis Diken and Peter Buck
  Peter Buck
  Peter Lawrence Buck , is an American rock guitarist who is best known for playing in and co-founding alternative rock band R.E.M....
  
  , c.2000.
• "The Nearest Faraway Place: Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and the Southern California Experience", Timothy White, c. 1994.
• "Wouldn't It Be Nice - My Own Story", Brian Wilson
  Brian Wilson
  Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...
  
   and Todd Gold, c. 1991.
• "Top Pop Singles 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• "Top Pop Albums 1955-2001", Joel Whitburn, c. 2002.
• Allmusic.com

C albums