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Written by Kevin Renick Monday, 09 June 2008 12:44

Freedom Wind sounds more like the best of the Beach Boys—and yet different enough to not make you want to go back and listen to them because it's so good itself.

Here's something to ponder: Brian Wilson was regarded as a visionary in the recording studio, but why have so many artists been able to successfully ape his sound? And what does it mean that the debut album by South Carolina sextet The Explorers Club is almost certainly the best Beach Boys tribute album ever made, but with original songs?

Freedom Wind is a startling piece of work in every way. From the pastiche of beachside band photos that grace the cover to the uncannily precise vocal harmonies and sunny melodies that adorn every song, this for all the world evokes some great lost Beach Boys album from the mid-sixties. Straight tribute albums are generally not that exciting, but it's damned impressive to hear a young group actually recreate the entire sound of an iconic band in their heyday.

To put this achievement in perspective, Freedom Wind sounds more like the best of the Beach Boys—and yet different enough to not make you want to go back and listen to them because it's so good itself—than any similar Beatles-influenced disc has sounded like the Fabs. This is not The Rutles, nor is it an affectionate toss-off. The Explorers Club have simply thoroughly absorbed everything that made the Beach Boys such a distinctive American pop band and written fresh, contemporary songs utilizing all their tricks. The sweet, lush harmonies. The singular lead vocals, often falsetto. The unpredictable melodic twists. The sterling production. It's all here, kids.

"Don't Forget the Sun" and "If You Go" are spine-tingling numbers that achieve virtual perfection in the tightness of the harmonies and how they practically surround the lead vocals (shared between Jason Brewer, Jimmy Faust and Dave Ellis -- multi-instrumentalists all, but the sleeve doesn't say who sings lead) in a warm sonic breeze. In these tunes and others, the listener is treated to the kind of oh-so-right melodic shifts that Brian Wilson was noted for. The purity of the plaintive lead on "Lost My Head" has the effect of making the harmonies exquisite beyond belief—the vocal sounds caress each other in a manner not heard on disc in years. And there's a bouncy rhythm between verses that's pure Beach Boys.

But the singular beauty of the lyric "I lost my head over the mountainside" seems to head towards the rarified air of that very mountainside in a way that would even leave Mike Love and the Wilson Brothers in awe. Same with the wistful charmer "In the Country," on which banjo and accordion help create a nostalgic vibe just right for romantic yearning. "Out in the green fields/ I walk with your hand held in mine/ Gentle on my mind," sighs our lovestruck vocalist. The words alone aren't poetry, but lordy, the rapturous sound sure is.

The ultra-peppy "Last Kiss" finds one of the band's singers nailing a perfect falsetto and evoking the days when young lovers talked of "going steady," and "Honey, I Don't Know Why" is a pretty good example of the band both emulating their musical heroes and carving out some new territory; dig the mix of vocals and the arrangement here. And true to mid-period BB form, there's even a lovely, effervescent instrumental titled, aptly enough, "Summer Air." You may find yourself swaying to this one without realizing it.

Bottom line: lots of bands try to be original, and fail. An equal number try to mine similar territory as their musical influences, but end up sounded watered-down or like pale imitations. It takes a rather extraordinary band to craft an entire song cycle done in the style of legends but with enough fresh twists to stand on its own.  That's what The Explorers Club have done on this album, and as a result, they've given us one of the nicest, most charming surprises of the summer. A- | Kevin Renick

RIYL: The Beach Boys, doo wop, summer vacation