only with you

the aforementioned summer tunes over at MoB came at an appropriate time given that for the past week weather in colorado has been pushing over ninety or close to it. the most obvious response from me might have been a Beach Boys song if i wasn't so fond of the song i choose instead. i recall one of my first summer visits to california where we drove along the coast listening to Beach Boys albums, every bit aware of just how cliche that was. back in 2000 the german label Marina records put out a compilation of Beach Boys covers from around the globe entitled Caroline Now! that made for an interesting listening because a majority of the artists opted to cover more obscure and in some cases, unreleased songs. today's track, from that album, is by June & the Exit Wounds, a project by Todd Fletcher who is an IL-based keyboardist that had played with Nikki Sudden as well as Very Secretary before embarking on his strangely titled project, noted for it's Beach Boys-like vocals over the course of two releases. Fletcher opted to cover a song from Sunflower, a Beach Boys album from the early seventies that began a period of struggle between the band and it's labels, who would either scrap or ask to have several of their recordings reworked. in fact the band's first post Capital recording was scrapped and Sunflower was the response, a return to the groups mid-sixties orchaestrated pop sound, following several years of the band experimenting with rock music. while the album flopped in the u.s. and was deemed "too conservative," the album marked personal highpoint for the group as Sunflower was their first true group effort, with each member penning songs. Brian Wilson co-wrote "Only With You" along with Mike Love and the song includes the chord changes and harmonies that at least for me makes them not just the summer band, but of course the best pop band of all time.

June & the Exit Wounds "All I Wanna Do"