Since Brian Wilson’s death the good lady and I have been listening to the Beach Boys a lot. While doing so it struck me that even without God Only Knows, Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains they would still be remembered – even revered – for songs like I Get Around, Wouldn’t It Be Nice, Help Me Rhonda, California Girls, Do It Again, Break Away and the arrangement on Sloop John B. And too, the slower, more thoughtful tracks like In My Room, Don’t Worry Baby and The Warmth of the Sun.
I discount here the early surfing inspired tracks Surfin’ Safari, Surfin’ USA and Surfer Girl. (Very few people now remember Jan and Dean, after all.) The ‘hot rod’ songs, Little Deuce Coupe and Fun, Fun, Fun might just creep in however.
I always had a liking for this one though, the B-side of Sloop John B.
The only Beach Boys single I actually bought was Darlin’ from 1967. God Only Knows and Good Vibrations were before my singles-buying days.
The Beach Boys: Darlin’
Their Wiki singles discography page says its B-side was a song called Here Today from Pet Sounds. Well not in the UK it wasn’t, as I remember it very well. That was instead Country Air from the later album Wild Honey. As this video displaying the record label shows. (The murky sound quality was apparently due to a problem with the master tape.)
The Beach Boys: Country Air
Still brilliant as always.
Brian Douglas Wilson: 20/6/1942 – 11/6/2025. So it goes.
Where does this stand in the panoply of Beach Boys’ singles?
Not very high if you go by its chart placing (no 29 in the UK.)
But to me it’s up there. Not as high as God Only Knows or Good Vibrations certainly, but it’s from that time when the Beach Boys were in their mid-60s pomp.
