Artist:     The Beach Boys

Album:     Becoming The Beach Boys: The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions

Label:     Omnivore

Release Date:     08/26/2016

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The Beach Boys need no introduction. Their fans, however, consistently desire more original content, B-Sides, live tracks, unreleased demos… You get the picture. The Beach Boys could release ten albums a year and those dedicated to the band would grab up every last copy.

Enter Hite and Dorinda Morgan, a husband and wife songwriting duo with an in-home recording studio. It was in this studio in September of 1961 that Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson first stepped up to the microphone to demo their first few songs as The Beach Boys. Over the next six months, before signing a contract with Capitol Records, the boys works with the Morgans to record nine tracks.

“Surfin’,” “Luau,” “Lavender,” “Surfin’ Safari,” “Surfer Girl,” “Judy,” “Beach Boy Stomp” (aka “Karate”), “Barbie” and “What Is A Young Girl Made Of” make up this latest set of must-haves for the Beach Boys’ aficionados out there. Every take and outtake, banter, masters and more are gathered here finally to mark the beginning of this iconic American band.

Author Jim Murphy (Becoming The Beach Boys, 1961-1963) provides the liner notes on this collection, detailing the beginning of the Beach Boys and these early songs. Every word and photo included, as well as all of the tracks, are completely authorized by the Beach Boys themselves.

This is a band that keeps on giving, and their fans will gladly accept the offerings.

– Brenda Hillegas