Beach Boys Cover Review: Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964)

Look at Al Jardine's smilin' mug. Way to make the cover, Al! Both more and less goofy lookin' than David Marks (probably because he wasn't fifteen years old), will his first cover appearance alter the score of Shut Down, Vol. 2?

Not really, but it's neat to finally have him in the fold. If you've heard the epic "California Saga," then you know what I mean. This guy rules, in a very mild and unusual way. I don't think this cover rules, though.

There are some established trends showing up here which don't help it out. As usual, Dennis totally sells it. And, as usual, Mike tries really hard to sell it also, but can't pull it off. He looked out of touch even back when the Beach Boys were hip. His sneer never really did suit that hair-line in any kind of positive way. Also, as is the case more often than not on Beach Boys covers, Brain just does not look like he wants to be there. Of course, odds are he didn't, so it makes sense. Like the other older album covers, it's hard to say where Carl fits in here, but something just looks off about him. Finally, that dreary old backdrop creeps in again, stifling the excitement factor.

As a plus, the cars are cool, just like on Little Duece Coupe, and the text is modeled after the super-cool layout of that album as well. However, the black and blue scheme (think: WARM COLORS VS. COOL COLORS. Come on, Capitol!) only drags the thing down more. It sure does look like there are LOTS OF EXCITING SONGS, though, regardless of whether there really are. The layout, then, is full of simultaneous plusses and minuses.

The jackets? I don't know about the jackets. The Beach Boys were never that successful with matching outfits on the whole, I feel, and once again they are just too un-stylish here to sell it. That is one thing they never seemed to be able to admit--they just weren't a stylish group. They should have been okay with being an incredibly musical group, but hey, hindsight. Nobody can fault them for trying to stay "with it". That is so much what music was about back then (as oppspoed to now, where you have to stay "with it" while appearing not to care enough to realize it) that it is easy to forgive them for playing to the wrong strength.

Nothing about the cover of Shut Down really sucks at all, but nothing about is very good. Okay, Dennis looks like a total badass, but besides that nothing is working that well. In the end, I'm going to have to say that cool cars and a decent 1964 Beach Boys shot, despite the dreariness of the scene, comes out to 3 out of 5, or a Mike Love on the Beach Boys Beard Scale. Stay tuned, because, after this, they get on a more-or-less incredible hot streak until 1968. And for the Beach Boys in the 1960s, that's a pretty good number of albums. Next time we'll look at 1964's All Summer Long.