We Gotta Groove

The Beach Boys have announced a new box set celebrating their mid 70's era. "We Gotta Groove : The Brother Studio Years" reframes 1976–1977 as one of the most revealing and creatively restless chapters of the band’s evolution. "We Gotta Groove : The Brother Studio Years" is out February 13th, 2026, via Capitol Records and Universal Music.

Co-produced by acclaimed producer and mixing engineer James Sáez and longtime Beach Boys historian Howie Edelson, with artist direction from band archivist Alan Boyd, "We Gotta Groove" is an expansive 73 track collection containing 35 unreleased and 22 newly mixed tracks. The release is anchored around a newly remastered edition of "The Beach Boys Love You" and the album sessions, the 1st ever official release of the long shelved "Adult/Child", and outtakes and alternates from the transitional "15 Big Ones" sessions.

"We Gotta Groove" presents the majority of the album sessions across 3 LP's with additional outtakes, alternate mixes and demos on 3 CD's, which also include the same tracks as the vinyl. The albums are packaged in a slipcase emblazoned with a picture of the stunning stained glass window that hung in Brother Studio and features a 40 page booklet with liner notes by co-producer Edelson that draws on new and archival interviews with all of The Beach Boys and the Brother Studio engineer team of Stephen Moffitt, Earle Mankey and John Hanlon. The booklet is filled with a slew of rare photos, tape box images and artifacts of the era and a complete sessionography.

The Grammy Museum in Los Angeles will celebrate the historic release with a special evening on Thursday, February 12th. Compilation producers Edelson and Sáez will be in conversation with Moffitt, Mankey, and Hanlon, marking the trio’s 1st reunion since these recordings were made 50 years ago.

Following the unexpected success of two back to back Top 10 greatest hits, The Beach Boys filled sold out stadiums and arenas across the USA. Amidst this era, Brian Wilson returned to songwriting and producing, working from the band’s new home base at a former X rated movie theater at 1454 5th Street in Santa Monica, California, that they christened Brother Studio. All 5 principal members, Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, and Al Jardine, contributed to a series of raw, surprising, and vulnerable recordings.

The first disc of "We Gotta Groove" features "The Beach Boys Love You", newly remastered from the original 1977 mix, alongside 10 period outtakes. Recorded largely at Brother Studio from October 1976 to January 1977 with Brian behind the console and playing most of the instruments, "Love You" strips the group to analog synthesizers and close mic’d vocals.

Though divisive among critics and fans at release, Brian frequently cited "Love You" as his favorite Beach Boys record, calling it “the best album we ever made.” It has since become a cult classic. R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck singled it out as his favorite Beach Boys album. As Edelson writes in the liner notes, “Upon the initial release of 'The Beach Boys Love You', non believers picked up on the D.I.Y. punk ethos from the Lower East Side all the way to the hipper enclaves across Europe. Today, Brian Wilson’s left field use of keyboards in the 1970's is considered to be an early influence for 1980’s new wave, synth pop, and new romantic record makers”.

The 1977 recording "Adult/Child" was the intended follow up, but its release was ultimately vetoed. After circulating for decades through collectors’ tapes and bootlegs, "We Gotta Groove" presents the near mythical material in a coherent album sequence for the first time, supplemented by new 2025 backing track mixes and session highlights. “I wrote a song for Frank Sinatra once called ‘Still I Dream Of It’. He didn’t say yes to the song. It was a beautiful song about loneliness and hope. The song ended up on an album named 'Adult/Child', which was filled with those kinds of songs. It was a Beach Boys album that never came out”, Brian remarked in an interview.

"We Gotta Groove" also offers a new perspective on the 1976 album "15 Big Ones" through its wealth of studio material. Recorded mostly between March through May 1976, the album was the band’s 1st to credit Brian with sole production credits since 1966’s "Pet Sounds". Its release was accompanied by the controversial “Brian’s Back!” campaign, which was intended to advertise his return to full creative command. "15 Big Ones" produced the major hit “Rock And Roll Music”, and returned the band to the US Top 10. "We Gotta Groove" presents a variety of covers that didn’t make the final cut, including “Mony Mony”, “Running Bear”, “Shake, Rattle And Roll", “On Broadway”, and “Sea Cruise”.