Editing The Beach Boys (section)

==== British Invasion, ''Shut Down Volume 2'', ''All Summer Long'', and ''Christmas Album'' ====

The surf music craze, along with the careers of nearly all surf acts, was slowly replaced by the [[British Invasion]].{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|pp=1313–1314}} Following a successful Australasian tour in January and February 1964, the Beach Boys returned home to face their new competition, [[the Beatles]]. Both groups shared the same record label in the US, and Capitol's support for the Beach Boys immediately began waning. Although it generated a top-five single in "[[Fun Fun Fun]]", the group's fifth album, ''[[Shut Down Volume 2]]'', became their first since ''Surfin' Safari'' not to reach the US top-ten. This caused Murry to fight for the band at the label more than before, often visiting their offices without warning to "twist executive arms".{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=50}} Carl said that Phil Spector "was Brian's favorite kind of rock; he liked [him] better than the early Beatles stuff. He loved the Beatles' later music when they evolved and started making intelligent, masterful music, but before that Phil was it."<ref name=HimesSurf/> According to Mike Love, Carl followed the Beatles closer than anyone else in the band, while Brian was the most "rattled" by the Beatles and felt tremendous pressure to "keep pace" with them.{{sfn|Love|2016|pp=88, 104, 184}} For Brian, the Beatles ultimately "eclipsed a lot [of what] we'd worked for&nbsp;... [they] eclipsed the whole music world".{{sfn|Leaf|1978|p=52}}{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|p=70}}{{refn|group=nb|He remembered "flipping out [over the Beatles]. I couldn't understand how a group could be just yelled and screamed at. The music they made, '[[I Want to Hold Your Hand]]' for example, wasn't even that great a record, but the[ir fans] just screamed at it.&nbsp;... It got us off our asses in the studio. [We] said 'look, don't worry about the Beatles, we'll cut our own stuff'."<ref>{{cite AV media|people=[[David Espar|Espar, David]], [[Robert Levi|Levi, Robert]] (Directors)|year=1995|title=Rock & Roll|medium=[[Miniseries]]}}</ref> He recalled that he and Love immediately felt threatened by the Beatles, believing that the Beach Boys could never match the excitement created by the Beatles as performers, and that this realization led him to concentrate his efforts on trying to outdo them in the recording studio.<ref name="MSLE">{{cite book |year=2002 |title=Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967)|title-link=Mojo (magazine)#Special editions|location=London |publisher=Emap|page=4}}</ref>}}

[[File:Sullivan Beach Boys.jpg|thumb|right|The band performing "[[I Get Around]]" on ''[[The Ed Sullivan Show]]'' in September 1964 ]]

Brian wrote his last surf song for nearly four years, "[[Don't Back Down]]", in April 1964.{{sfn|Carlin|2006|p=51}} That month, during recording of the single "[[I Get Around]]", the band dismissed Murry as their manager. He remained in close contact with the group, offering unsolicited advice on their business decisions.{{sfn|Gaines|1986|pp=112–113}} When "I Get Around" was released in May, it would climb to number 1 in the US and Canada, their first single to do so (also reaching the top-ten in Sweden and the UK), proving that the Beach Boys could compete with contemporary British pop groups.{{sfn|Moskowitz|2015|p=42}} "I Get Around" and "Don't Back Down" both appeared on the band's sixth album ''[[All Summer Long (album)|All Summer Long]]'', released in July 1964 and reaching number 4 in the US. ''All Summer Long'' introduced exotic textures to the Beach Boys' sound exemplified by the [[piccolo]]s and [[xylophone]]s of [[All Summer Long (The Beach Boys song)|its title track]].{{sfn|Schinder|2007|p=110}} The album was a swan-song to the surf and car music the Beach Boys built their commercial standing upon. Later albums took a different stylistic and lyrical path.{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|pp=72–73}} Before this, a live album, ''[[Beach Boys Concert]]'', was released in October to a four-week chart stay at number 1, containing a set list of previously recorded songs and covers that they had not yet recorded.{{sfn|Bogdanov|Woodstra|Erlewine|2002|p=72}}

[[File:The Beach Boys (1965).png|thumb|left|The Beach Boys in 1964; clockwise from top left: Mike Love, Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, [[Al Jardine]]]]
In June 1964, Brian recorded the bulk of ''[[The Beach Boys' Christmas Album]]'' with a forty-one-piece studio orchestra in collaboration with [[The Four Freshmen|Four Freshmen]] arranger [[Dick Reynolds (musician)|Dick Reynolds]]. The album was a response to Phil Spector's ''[[A Christmas Gift for You from Phil Spector|A Christmas Gift for You]]'' (1963). Released in December, the Beach Boys' album was divided between five new, original Christmas-themed songs, and seven reinterpretations of traditional Christmas songs.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=59–60}} It would be regarded as one of the finest [[holiday album]]s of the rock era.{{sfn|Moskowitz|2015|p=42}} One single from the album, "[[The Man with All the Toys]]", was released, peaking at number 6 on the US ''Billboard'' Christmas chart.{{sfn|Badman|2004|p=75}} On October 29, the Beach Boys performed for ''[[The T.A.M.I. Show]]'', a concert film intended to bring together a wide range of musicians for a one-off performance. The result was released to movie theaters one month later.{{sfn|Sanchez|2014|pp=30–31}}