Product Description

The Beach Boys are the obvious touchstone, but dig a bit deeper and you'll hear flourishes of Paul McCartney, The Byrds, Emitt Rhodes, ELO, and doo-wop. Embracing a pop blueprint from a time when great songs were played on the radio and everybody loved them all, The Explorers Club has recorded the sweetest pop record you're likely to hear this year. They're doing for summer beach song what Amy Winehouse has done for R&B or Sharon Jones for funk and soul; what Antibalas have done for Afro-beat. They're reclaiming the classics as their own, injecting them with life, and making music that transcends any era.

Track Listing

1. Forever
2. Honey I Don't Know Why
3. Don't Forget The Sun
4. Lost My Head
5. Do You Love Me?
6. Summer Air
7. If You Go
8. In The Country
9. Safe Distance
10. Hold Me Tight
11. Last Kiss
12. Freedom Wind

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20456 in Music
• Released on: 2008-05-20
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds

Customer Reviews

A indie modernization of classic mid 60's harmony pop!
These South Carolina dudes have made an outstanding Brian Wilson influenced album. This new band has taken all the great things I loved about the Beach Boys and 60's California soft pop, and given this classic sound a modern indie pop twist. Theres been hundreds of Beach Boys tributes over the years, but only a few have been able to capture the sound and spirit of the original group and their music.

Traces of The Apples In Stereo, REM, ELO, Paul McCartney (Wings era), Jimmy Webb, Phil Spector, Buffalo Springfield, Curt Boettcher, The Association and Turtles also pop up.

Great hook-filled songwriting, tight harmonies (sadly lacking in most modern rock) with smart production and arrangement skills. They honestly add nothing new to this sound, but they all have youth on their side (they are in their early-mid 20's) and the Club amazingly makes it all sound fresh and cool again. It's far from your usual "oldies" tribute band stuff.

If you love the "boys" and classic 60's soft pop you'll be right at home with the Explorers Club.

(And could Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnson & Co. come up with something this good now?)

Today's Harmony Heroes
This is a special find.
"The vocal group sound is an American art form that is becoming a forgotten part of our heritage", wrote Jay Warner in the preface to his 1992 edition of `The Billboard Book of American Singing Groups'. As a UK collectors group that has tracked and documented the career of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons it seems totally appropriate for us to continue Jay's good work and to devote blog space to preserving and informing re other great `harmony' groups from the 60s. "
The Explorers Club prove that the harmony sound will never die
I grew up with the harmony groups of the 60s and hearing this group made me realize the legacy the harmony groups and artists have left for future generations. This group may sound like the Beach Boys at times but they have their own style with all the influences mentioned by other reviewers.
We will be featuring this album at our blog site as today's `Harmony' Heroes.
[...]
Fantastic stuff guys.
....... from the Four Seasons UK Appreciation Society

Freedom Wind is the best album of 2008!
Seriously, this album is incredible! The Beatles and Beach Boys are obvious influences, but so are the Mamas & Papas, the Byrds, the Zombies, Glen Campbell, the Bee Gees, the Association, and Emmit Rhodes.

Songs like "Don't Forget the Sun," "Freedom Wind," "I Lost My Head," are classic pop songs as good as anything that would have been a huge radio hit in the 1960s or 1970s. And how about them having the balls to do an instrumental, "Summer Air," something most bands don't do anymore, and it's in a 6/8 time signature, which is just perfect. If you don't have Freedom Wind you're missing out on a great pop record.