Right now, I want you to name as many vocal harmony a cappella groups – those who can create great songs without the need of an orchestral backdrop. Ready, set, go.
Manhattan Transfer.
Pentatonix.
The Hi-Los.
The Nylons.
Take 6.
The Beach Boys.
Wait, Chuck, you said the Beach Boys? Dude, you are aware that they have lots of musical instruments on their hit songs, right??
Well, yes, that’s true.
But what if you wiped away all the orchestrations – all the Wrecking Crew music and tracks and whatnot – and created an album featuring the Wilson Brothers, Al Jardine and Mike Love – with nothing but those five voices intact?
How would it sound?
It would sound like the clips below. Some of these tracks were digitally enhanced to remove the instrumental backing; others are isolated vocals from the studio.
And in listening to them, you can definitely appreciate the Beach Boys as straight vocalists. Very very impressive.
In fact, here’s some examples of what the album would sound like.
WOULDN’T IT BE NICE
GOD ONLY KNOWS
CAROLINE, NO (Brian Wilson solo)
I JUST WASN’T MADE FOR THESE TIMES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0l8AAEIzs
SLOOP JOHN B
I GET AROUND
HELP ME, RHONDA
FUN, FUN, FUN
SURFER GIRL
Yeah, I definitely want a Beach Boys album that sounds like this.
Definitely would make for a great summer experience.
Chuck The Writer 
In the Beach Boys box set, which I gave to my friend Donna, then got back when she died, there are a bunch of a cappella songs. Disc 5 -https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Vibrations:_Thirty_Years_of_The_Beach_Boys
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