The Explorers Club – Freedom Wind
Beach Boys, you think on listening to The Explorers Club. Not Beach-Boys-with-a-twist. Not ersatz Beach Boys. Just The Beach Boys without the unnecessary lawsuits or substance abuse. At least one hopes as much from a group who describe themselves as “rock and roll good timin’ family guys” and dedicate their top album thanks to Jesus.
From freaky cover fonts to a structure that’s designed for vinyl (with the instrumental Summer Air marking out side 1 from 2), Freedom Wind happily surfs a wave of nostalgia. The vocal arrangements are uncannily familiar and lyrics have the same duality of summertime fun and aching sincerity: while Last Kiss’s rock and roll throb announces that “We’ve been steady for goin’ on a year now”, In The Country soberly croons “I thank the Good Lord up above for your love”. The similarity extends to more than soaring harmonies and falsetto – like The Beach Boys themselves, The Explorers are indebted to Phil Spector, from echoing reverb and layering to the Be My Baby intro of Forever. The symbiotic relationship with The Beatles is not escaped either, with the title track nearly taking the album to a Hey Jude style fade.
In fact, Freedom Wind subtly reflects the shift in Beach Boys output and influences, from cleancut fifties doo-wop to the Californian dream sung by The Mamas and The Papas. Despite, or because of, this embracing of sounds and the obvious love of music, it can’t be more than a pleasantly proficient pastiche.