L.A. (Light Album)
Studio album by  the Beach Boys
Released	March 19, 1979
Recorded	April 1974 – January 1979
Genre	Pop
Length	41:33
Label	Brother/Caribou/CBS
Producer	Bruce Johnston, the Beach Boys, James William Guercio
The Beach Boys chronology
M.I.U. Album (1978) L.A. (Light Album) (1979) Keepin' the Summer Alive (1980)
Singles from L.A. (Light Album)
"Here Comes the Night" Released: February 19, 1979 "Good Timin'" Released: April 16, 1979 "Lady Lynda" Released: June 1979 "Sumahama" Released: September 1979

L.A. (Light Album) is the 23rd studio album by the American rock band the Beach Boys. Released on March 19, 1979, it was the band's first album issued on CBS Records. The production was credited to former Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, the band itself, and their manager James William Guercio.

Background

"Baby Blue" and "Love Surrounds Me" were written (and partly originally recorded) for Dennis Wilson's solo album Bambu. Both were included at the suggestion of label executive, co-producer, and former manager James William Guercio, who was worried that Bambu would not be finished. Carl Wilson also gave Dennis the lead vocal on "Angel Come Home", so Dennis would be more involved with the album.

One of the album's discarded tracks was "California Feelin'". The band's recording was later released on the 2013 compilation Made in California.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Blender
Christgau's Record Guide	C+
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
MusicHound	woof!
The Rolling Stone Album Guide

Upon its release, Rolling Stone critic Dave Marsh wrote, "The Beach Boys have not made great rock music since Wild Honey [and haven't] made competent pop music since Holland", concluding that the album "is worse than awful. It is irrelevant."

Retrospectively, Richard Williams of Uncut referred to the track "Angel Come Home" as "the most beautifully textured and exquisitely pain-racked white soul music ever made", while music historian Jeff Tamarkin—who penned liner notes for the 2000 CD reissue—said of the album: "There is undeniable brilliance here if one dares to look." By contrast, AllMusic reviewer John Bush wrote, "The Beach Boys ended the decade by releasing the worst album of their career," describing the album as "yet another oddball attempt to push the Beach Boys into the contemporary mainstream despite their many songwriting and production flaws."

Track listing