Spirit of America (The Beach Boys album)
Spirit of America is the 1975 follow-up to the Capitol Records compilation of music by The Beach Boys, Endless Summer, released the previous year. Although it features only a handful of genuine hits, Spirit of America proved to be another success for The Beach Boys' former label, reaching No. 8 in the US during a chart stay of 43 weeks and going gold.
| Spirit of America | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Greatest hits album by | ||||
| Released | April 14, 1975 | |||
| Recorded | April 1962–April 1969 | |||
| Genre | Rock | |||
| Length | 48:52 | |||
| Label | Capitol | |||
| Producer | Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys and Nick Venet | |||
| The Beach Boys chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| Encyclopedia of Popular Music | [2] |
| MusicHound | 3/5[3] |
Content
After the success of its predecessor Capitol rounded up the few remaining early hits that were not released on Endless Summer, as well as some album tracks, in addition to two rare singles, "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and "Break Away". As with Endless Summer, Spirit of America was compiled and released while The Beach Boys were contracted to Reprise Records and, as such, is not considered an "official" album.
The song "Dance, Dance, Dance" featured in this album was also one of 2 Beach Boys tracks included in a promotional-only various artists compilation album issued by Capitol records entitled "The Greatest Music Ever Sold" (Capitol SPRO-8511/8512), which was distributed to record stores during the 1976 Holiday season, as part of Capitol's "Greatest Music Ever Sold" campaign which promoted 15 "Best Of" albums that were released by the record label. "Help Me, Rhonda" (the retitled original "Help Me, Ronda") from "Endless Summer" was the other Beach Boys song included.
As with the Endless Summer compilation, the 2-record set was pressed with Sides 1 & 4 on one disc and Sides 2 & 3 on the other.
The "Spirit of America" (and "Endless Summer") cover art illustrator was Keith McConnell.
Other formats
Side 1 of the cassette version features all tracks from Sides 1 & 2 except "Tell Me Why", which was placed on Side 2 as the first track, followed by Sides 3 & 4
The Capitol Records 8-track tape (8XWW-11384) running order differs from the LP and cassette, and is as follows:
PROGRAM 1: Dance, Dance, Dance : Break Away : A Young Man Is Gone : The Little Girl I Once Knew : Spirit Of America
PROGRAM 2: Little Honda : Hushabye : Hawaii : Drive-In : Good To My Baby : Tell Me Why
PROGRAM 3: 409 : Do You Remember? : This Car Of Mine : Please Let Me Wonder : Why Do Fools Fall In Love : Barbara Ann
PROGRAM 4: Custom Machine : Salt Lake City : Don't Back Down : When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) : Do You Wanna Dance? : Graduation Day
Reissues
The album was also released as a limited-edition Gold CD, and included 2 bonus tracks: "Darlin" and "I Can Hear Music". In addition, the live recording of "Graduation Day" was substituted with the studio version.
Track listing
All songs by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Dance, Dance, Dance" (Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson/Mike Love) | The Beach Boys Today!, 1965 | 1:59 |
| 2. | "Break Away" (Brian Wilson/Reggie Dunbar aka Murry Wilson) | 1969 single | 2:54 |
| 3. | "A Young Man Is Gone" (Bobby Troup/Mike Love) | Little Deuce Coupe, 1963 | 2:15 |
| 4. | "409" (Brian Wilson/Mike Love/Gary Usher) | Surfin' Safari, 1962 | 2:00 |
| 5. | "The Little Girl I Once Knew" (Brian Wilson) | The Best of The Beach Boys Vol. 3, 1968 | 2:36 |
| 6. | "Spirit of America" (Brian Wilson/Roger Christian) | Little Deuce Coupe | 2:23 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Little Honda" | All Summer Long, 1964 | 1:51 |
| 2. | "Hushabye" (D. Pomus/M. Shuman) | All Summer Long | 2:40 |
| 3. | "Hawaii" | Surfer Girl, 1963 | 1:59 |
| 4. | "Drive-In" | All Summer Long | 1:50 |
| 5. | "Good to My Baby" | The Beach Boys Today! | 2:17 |
| 6. | "Tell Me Why" (John Lennon/Paul McCartney) | Beach Boys' Party!, 1965 | 1:38 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Do You Remember?" | All Summer Long | 1:37 |
| 2. | "This Car of Mine" | Shut Down Volume 2, 1964 | 1:35 |
| 3. | "Please Let Me Wonder" | The Beach Boys Today! | 2:45 |
| 4. | "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" (Frankie Lymon/Morris Levy) | Shut Down Volume 2 | 1:58 |
| 5. | "Custom Machine" | Little Deuce Coupe | 1:38 |
| No. | Title | Original album | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Barbara Ann" (Fred Fassert) | Beach Boys' Party! | 2:07 |
| 2. | "Salt Lake City" | Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), 1965 | 2:00 |
| 3. | "Don't Back Down" | All Summer Long | 1:44 |
| 4. | "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)" | The Beach Boys Today! | 2:02 |
| 5. | "Do You Wanna Dance?" (Bobby Freeman) | The Beach Boys Today! | 2:18 |
| 6. | "Graduation Day" (J. Sherman/N. Sherman) | Beach Boys Concert, 1964 | 3:30 |
Charts
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1975 | Billboard Pop Albums | 8 |
References
- Eder, Bruce. Spirit of America at AllMusic
- Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
- Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel (eds) (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 84. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
