Has there been a more divided band than the Beach Boys? Brian Wilson made ground-breaking masterpieces such as Pet Sounds and Smile, and Mike Love held onto the old surf’n’girls formula for five decades. Both sides, having patched up their differences, are present on this shaky reunion. Think About the Days is beautiful harmony pop, Summer’s Gone is hauntingly melancholic and Pacific Coast Highway is a moving piano ballad on getting old.The mood elsewhere is relentlessly light, selling the dream of a Californian summer to a nostalgia crowd. It’s pleasant, but hardly involving.
(EMI; out Mon)