1979 L.A. (Light Album)

Side A
 
1. Companion
2. Lady Lynda
3. Full Sail
4. Love Surrounds Me
5. Viggie
6. Almost Summer

Side B

7. It's A Beautiful Day
8. Baby Blue
9. The Monterey Saga : Looking Down The Coast
10. The Monterey Saga : Santa Ana Winds
11. The Monterey Saga : Goin' South
12. The Monterey Saga : Mexico


Continuing this series of reimagining of The Beach Boys' 70s albums
Thanks to Malcolm C. Searles for parts of this following text.

After the lows of the 1977/early 1978 Winds Of Change sessions, and the subsequent public airings of the internal animosity when there was the strong probability of the band disintegrating permanently, to pull this album out of the bag, a result of seem- ingly more harmonious sessions held at the Gibb brothers favored Criteria Studios in Miami, Florida, was a major coup. Having sold Brother Studios in summer '78 and signed a multi-million dollar deal with their new record label CBS and with Bruce Johnston returning to the fold to after leaving the band in 1972 to assist (initially on a temporary basis) with production, the sound flowed effortlessly. Their next opus would be called L.A. (Light Album).

Unfortunately however, underneath the glossy sheen and glamour that the album suggests, all was not quite as it seemed. It was business as usual. The division between the wild life- styles of the Wilson brothers and the clean living Love/Jardine axis was still causing tension on the road, coming to a head a few months before these sessions commenced, during the early 1978 tour to Australia, where excessive drug use was a clear chasm between the parties. In addition, Brian, only recently to be found holed up in a Los Angeles mental ward, was still unwilling, incapable or just downright uninterested enough in maintaining his studio production chores of yore, hence the hasty California-bound telephone call to Bruce - once their new CBS record company execs had heard what Brian had initially prepared for them (a handful of demos like "Im' Begging You Please" and a dreadful remake of "Calendar Girl"). “Gentlemen, I think I’ve been fucked...” was the much-quoted response from CBS head Walter Yetnikoff.

Dennis, meanwhile, was still looking to further his solo career, a diversion that had kicked off magnificently in 1977 with his wondrous  hit  Freckles, although he was obviously in tune enough with his fellow bandmates to offer up four compositions to the new album. Then, in addition to all of this, various marriage break-ups were also hindering the family harmonies. However, out of all the morass and chaos, arose this delightful album release, proof that the group could still combine effectively enough to produce material recalling the "Holland" and "Ecology" period. How much of it was actually a group effort is open to debate, with some numbers reportedly featuring just one or two recognizable vocalists, and including one track pulled from the unreleased first Mike Love solo album and that they there were no new joint songwriting collaborations between band members, but nevertheless – the album still flowed. Sadly, the media only chose to focus on the band's inner fighting.

While the new contract with CBS Records was calling for Brian Wilson to write and produce 75% of the songs on each new album, his contributions to L.A. (Light Album) are minimal. His presence on the album as a vocalist has only been confirmed on one song, Al's "Looking Down The Coast" and on his own version of "Almost Summer", which was co-written by him and cousin Mike for the soundtrack to the same-titled movie of the previous year. The first song attempted for L.A. was  Dennis' funky "Constant Companion", which, with an unusual samba instrumental introduction, would be the lead-off single. The finally-titled "Companion" hit #17 in the US during summer '79. His other compositions included were "Baby Blue" (sung magnificently by Carl) and "Love Surrounds Me", which were originally recorded for Dennis Wilson's never-released second solo album, Bambu. Christine McVie, with whom Dennis had recently started an intense relationship, also appears amongst the ‘special thanks’ (she assisted with backing vocal contributions to “Love Surrounds Me”). Dennis also provides the melancholic instrumental closing coda to both the "Monterey Saga" and to the album, the lovely "Mexico". Mike Love's folk-flavored "Viggie" was taken from his solo album sessions. Carl's association with lyricist Geoffrey Cushing-Murray produced two wonderful ballads, "Full Sail" and the penultimate part of the Monterey Saga, "Goin' South". Cushing-Murray also contributed lyrics to Dennis' "Love Surrounds Me". L.A. (Light Album) also spawned a top-ten hit in the UK with Al Jardine's Bach-inspired "Lady Lynda", written with Ron Altbach for his wife. Jardine recently revealed that Dennis Wilson made an uncredited contribution to the song's lush string arrangement. He also contributed to the sunny "It's A Beautiful Day", which opens side B of the LP. Closing the album's second side, Jardine also presented a suite of songs which were the spiritual sequel to the band earlier "California Saga" on Holland. Al's "Looking Down The Coast" and "Santa Ana Winds" initiate the suite with the tale of early California settlers which eventually leads to the protagonist moving with his life towards the south with the addition of Carl's "Goin' South" and Dennis' "Mexico.  

Possibly the group's weirdest moment of this period was the release of an eleven-minute disco recasting of Wild Honey's "Here Comes the Night. Released on March 16th 1979, it caused considerable consternation among fans. The song was only played live during a few dates at New York City's Radio City Music Hall in March 1979 before being dropped from the live set due to adverse audience reaction. Nevertheless, an abridged 4:34 radio edit made the charts in the US at #44.  The 1979 disco version of the song, produced by Bruce Johnston is over eight minutes longer than the original song. Despite the dominance of disco music at the time of song's release, this version of "Here Comes the Night" peaked at #48 on the Disco Top 80 chart. The b-side was Mike's "Brian's Back". 

During the sessions of the album, Mike Love explained to the press the album's title: "L.A. (Light Album), was titled in recognition to our homeland, and to the word ‘light’; as in ‘the awareness of, and the presence of God, here in this world as an ongoing, loving reality’, was packaged in a wonderful cover made under the guidance of CBS art directors, Tony Lane (previously responsible for such recognizable work as Simon & Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Water) and Nancy Donald and would be featuring an impressive Heimann-designed logo. The inner sleeve would features twelve individual pieces of art, each designated to represent one of the featured tracks, and all were commissioned from some of the finest and promising young artists from the Los Angeles area. For the back of the record the record itself, Tony Lane presented a series of strong color photographs, all taken during the preceding months by Beach Boys photographer friend and associate Ed Roach. The ten featured frames, five of the individual group members, are some of the strongest images to grace a Beach Boys album insert, each capturing the band in natural music-making status, including bass-wielding Brian, resplendent in over-sized shades, pictured at the Omni in Atlanta on September 2nd 1978. 

L.A. (Light Album, the 24th studio album by The Beach Boys, was released on July 19th, 1979. Although Brother Records was still in operation during the time of the albums' release, the band's manager, former Chicago producer James William Guercio, had his own label, Caribou Records, distribute the album in conjunction with Brother. Produced by Bruce Johnston, James William Guercio and the band itself, the album reached # 15 in the US during a chart stay of thirteen weeks, and #12 in the UK. Upon its release, L.A. (Light Album) received generally favorable reviews. Rolling Stone argued that, "The Beach Boys have made their most competent pop record since Holland". Contemporary critics stated that "The Beach Boys ended the decade by releasing of one their finest album of their career," describing the album as "a paean to the California lifestyle for which  The Beach Boys are well-known for."

This LP would be the last release of the decade from The Beach Boys. With Brian withdrawing more and more from the group and touring, the band would struggle to make an album release the following year, leading up to 1981's "Endless Harmony"....