This isn't the Beach Boys your parents listened to in junior high. Instead, this is the Beach Boys your parents may have heard in passing while attending college. Written over the course of two years, 1973's 'Sail On, Sailor' was the carefree band's attempt at recaputuring a position in the Top 40.'Sail On, Sailor' was more soulful than other Beach Boys singles quite simply because it was sung by Blondie Chaplin, a South African who briefly joined the band in the early seventies. Minus the defining vocals and sound of musical architect Brian Wilson, 'Sail On, Sailor' sounds more like Stevie Wonder and less like the earnest oceanside pop that dominated Stateside summertime radio stations in the sixties.
Recently, 'Sail On, Sailor' was featured in 2006's The Departed, the Irish-Mafia gangland masterpiece that only last night gave Martin Scorsese his long awaited Oscar, as well as took home the Academy's paramount award for Best Picture.
Listen to 'Sail On, Sailor' here.
