Shut Down, Volume 2

Shut Down Volume 2 is the fifth studio album by The Beach Boys, and the first of four they would release in 1964. The album's "Volume 2" refers to it being a follow-up to the 1963 hot rod compilation Shut Down, released by the band's label, Capitol Records, which included "409" and "Shut Down" but was not a Beach Boys album. Shut Down Volume 2 hit No. 13 in the US charts during a chart stay of 38 weeks. Recorded just as "Beatlemania" was beginning to reach American shores (and would soon profoundly affect leader Brian Wilson's writing and career goals for The Beach Boys) Shut Down Volume 2 was meant to cement the band's position as the biggest band in America. Instead, The Beatles' invasion was so overpowering that the album peaked outside the US top 10 -- number 11 Record World, number 12 Cash Box, though it was listed by Cash Box as fourth-biggest selling rock album that year and eventually went gold. It didn't enter the Billboard albums chart until six weeks after release and stayed a shorter time in the chart (nine months) than their other albums of the time. By midyear 1964, The Beach Boys' career had recovered its self-generating momentum. Part of the blame for the album's…