1968 The Beach Boys: Do It Again

"It's automatic when I talk with old friends. The conversation turns to girls we knew when their hair was soft and long and the beach was the place to go" - it seems odd that on 'Do It Again' the Beach Boys were indulging in wistful nostalgia that's all 'was' and 'when' barely two years on from their perfect statement of female desire that gave them those 'Good Vibrations'. But as even the casual fan knows, the late sixties had not been a happy ship for either band or their de-facto leader Brian Wilson as they turned away from the sun and surf that made their fortune into the introspection of 'Pet Sounds' and the grand yet flawed meisterwork that never was 'SMiLE'. "Don't fuck with the formula" warned Mike Love as the hits dried up.

From its title in, 'Do It Again' is a return to roots, a barer boned, surf styled recording that purposely harks to the slow build of 'California Girls' but with a self checking, self reverential lyric from Love that's happy to acknowledge that they'd been away too long. It's a move that falls in step with other major sixties stars who retreated to a more basic path after the comedown of psychedlia, but what was hip in 1963 isn't necessarily so in 1968 and few were calling out for a surf revival. Luckily, Wilson was at hand to lift it above mere retro retread by adding a metallic drum intro that squelches as it clangs and a close of hammering lifted from those 'SMiLE' sessions. Token gestures perhaps, but they succeed in raising 'Do It Again' above the formulaic statement that Love was loathe to fuck with. Its number one status may have proved him right in the short term, but as serviceable as it is, 'Do It Again' is a step backwards from what the band were capable of.