The Beach Boys - Shut Down Volume 2

The ultimate pressings of the Beach Boys discography from Analogue Productions!

Original mono mix produced by Brian Wilson

One of 10 titles featuring 33 1/3 mono and stereo remastered editions: Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Today!, Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!), Beach Boys Party!, Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile

Audio production — Mark Linett

For Brother Records — Elliott Lott

Mastered by Kevin Gray at Cohearent Audio, most from the original master tapes or best sources available

Lacquer plating by Gary Salstrom and 180-gram vinyl pressing by Quality Record Pressings!

"These are the best sounding and best-looking versions of the Beach Boys records that have ever been produced. We want everything about these to be better than the original." — Chad Kassem, owner and CEO, Acoustic Sounds

"These reissues restore whatever was really on the tapes — and given who was involved and where they were recorded, you can be sure the bass heard on these reissues was not added by Kevin Gray. ... As for the quality of these reissues, it's quite clear that, whether or not you like the sonic results, Analogue Productions sets the reissue standard. The company insists upon using analog master tapes (where available), not analog copies, it uses the best available artwork, and packages in 'Tip-on'^TM jackets. It masters where the tapes are located using Kevin Gray in California, Ryan K. Smith in New York and Willem Makkee in Germany." — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com

"The sound is rich in detail, yet one of its key strengths is how "mellow and romantic" it sounds. While listening to these records, I was never fatigued. ... the AP Beach Boys significantly betters the original U.S. Capitol pressings that I've heard, with considerably more separation, detail, fullness and presence." — Jeff Wilson, The Absolute Sound, October 2015

"What I can say is that Kevin Gray has been able to extract every last bit of information from whatever tape is in the box, and present it in a way that is pleasing and natural to the ear. ... in my opinion, the Analogue Productions pressings are now THE definitive issue of each Beach Boys album, and will be my reference copies until if and when something better comes along — which may be never." — Lee Dempsey, Endless Summer Quarterly, Summer 2015 Edition

"Like previous albums there are a few stunners (here), ('Don't Worry Baby' and 'The Warmth of the Sun') a great uptempo catchy pop hit ('Fun, Fun, Fun,') ... 'Keep Your Eye on Summer' at least has soaring, ear pleasing harmonies even if the lyrics are more insipid high school stuff." — Michael Fremer, AnalogPlanet.com. Read the whole review here.

To meet the standards of Analogue Productions, our Beach Boys album reissues had a mission to achieve: Present the band's music the way that Brian Wilson — famed co-founder, songwriter and arranger — intended. Mono mixes created under Wilson’s supervision were how the surf rockin’ California crew rose to fame! And we’ve got ‘em!

For the early part of the Beach Boys career, all of their singles were mixed and mastered and released only in the mono format — they didn't release a single in stereo until 1968. In those days, hits were made on AM radio in mono. And the mono of those times worked well for Wilson, who suffers from partial deafness. Still, apart from Surfin' Safari, which was mono only, the Beach Boys did turn in stereo masters on all of their early albums up until 1965. The Beach Boys Today! was the first LP for which they only delivered a mono master.

The stereo editions of Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol. 2, All Summer Long, Beach Boys Christmas Album and Beach Boys Concert were all mixed in stereo by their own preferred engineer, Chuck Britz, ostensibly under the group's supervision.

"Brian may or may not have been present for those mixing sessions — evidence suggests that he trusted Chuck's skills enough to let him prepare those mixes on his own — but the group held onto their multitrack tapes and delivered stereo masters to Capitol, rather than allowing Capitol to prepare their own stereo versions. Later, when Brian was only delivering mono masters, Capitol would prepare the Duophonic pseudo stereo editions for the stereo market," says Alan Boyd, producer and Beach Boys' archivist.

Still, bottom line, the mono mixes were where Brian Wilson paid intense attention, and the dedication paid off!

We’ve taken 10 of the most classic, best-sounding Beach Boy titles ever and restored them to their mono glory!

But there’s no disputing that the close harmonies and one-of-a-kind rhythms of hits like “Surfer Girl,” “In My Room,” “Little Deuce Coupe” and more lend themselves naturally to stereo. So we’ve got your 2-channel needs covered with prime stereo mix versions as well. 

Mastered by Kevin Gray, most from the original master tapes, and plated and pressed by Quality Record Pressings, the finest LP pressing facility in the world, these are awesome recordings to experience. And the look of each album befits its sonic superiority! Presented in "old school" Stoughton tip-on jackets, these time honored favorites shine brighter than the originals!

The first Shut Down was a hugely successful Capitol Records Various Artists compilation LP that had included a pair of Beach Boys tracks. Whereas their previous album Little Deuce Coupe had been a full-on car themed concept album, the Beach Boys' Shut Down Volume 2 was pretty much evenly split between songs with car themes and various high school and summertime-themed tunes. The album sought to further the Beach Boys beyond its ironic sea-and-sun fetish (none but Dennis Wilson ever surfed) into the burgeoning hot-rod subculture. "... the high points remain nothing short of spectacular, including the Mike Love-propelled 'Fun, Fun, Fun,' Wilson's knowing nod to Phil Spector, 'Don't Worry Baby,' and the (hit) 'The Warmth of the Sun.'" — Amazon.com

 

1. Fun, Fun, Fun

2. Pom, Pom Play Girl

3. This Car Of Mine

4. In The Parkin’ Lot

5. “Cassius” Love Vs “Sonny” Wilson

6. Shut Down, Part II

7. Why Do Fools Fall In Love

8. The Warmth Of The Sun

9. Don’t Worry Baby

10. Denny’s Drums

11. Keep An Eye On Summer

12. Louie, Louie

Customer Reviews (4.50 Stars) 4 person(s) rated this product.

Pressing is Perfect/Album is 2nd Tier Beach Boys posted on 10/27/2022 5 Stars Reviewer: Another dude named "Matt" I bought this because all the Beach Boys pressings are incredible from Acoustic Sounds. I can say, safely, this pressing is as good as all the rest. Superb and clean. It's the best you'll EVER hear "Don't Worry, Baby." Unfortunately, that's the sole highlight of the record itself. It's worth owning if you're at all a fan of the Wilsons or of great-sounding records, but the music is less than our other favorite BB records.

Fun, Fun, Fun to Spin, Spin, Spin posted on 12/31/2014 5 Stars Reviewer: Superbee These beach boys albums are beyond first class, they sound better than ever and the package is awesome, beautiful record jackets and vinyl, I would be in absolute heaven if The Beatles recent record reissues were made by analogue productions, if only chad could do for The Beatles what he has done for The Beach Boys which is lovingly make these albums the absolute best they could ever possibly be!

Write a review and let people know what you think of this product OR just rate it.