Album Review:

As with the plethora of Beatles Songbook reimaginings, Capitol Records opted to follow up The Beach Boys' Songbook with a second volume of recent releases. 

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'Good Vibrations' works fine in the second half though Brian Wilson's inventive recording splicing methods don't translate as well in orchestral form. The heart-wrenching 'Caroline No' is an inventive arrangement complete with sax, while 'Sloop John B.' ''Dance Dance Dance' is an alluring listen with some blaring French Horns and an ultra-sixties flute solo. 'California Girls'' arrangement is inventive and almost sounds like flight music meant for a midcentury journey through each location mentioned in the song. 'Little Deuce Coupe' features an electric guitar solo with some tender brass picking of the backing vocals ' parts. 'God Only Knows' sounds like it was written with orchestra in mind.  The sparse 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' gets a cabaret groove with that emblematic string and pitched-percussion doubling sixties sound. 'Surfer Girl' is a bit syrupy, though not detrimentally so. 'Help Me Rhonda' clips along cheerily with string flourishes while 'Be True To Your School' leans into it's marching roots and feels as though it's rushing to the endzone. 

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Perhaps it's the later-sixties material or the arrangements themselves, but the music on The Beach Boys' Songbook Vol 2 feels a little more dated than the first installment of tunes. Standouts are 'California Girls,' 'Little Deuce Coupe,'  and 'Help Me, Rhonda.'