The Beach Boys new album, That's Why God Made The Radio, has given the band their highest-ever Billboard albums chart debut in their 50 year history after debuting at No 3 on the chart.

While The Beach Boys have achieved Top 10 chart success with several albums, they have never had an album debut in Billboard's Top 10 until now.

The band's last new studio album to peak in Billboard's Top 5 was 1965's Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!!), which climbed to number two after its release, and their most recent Top 5 Billboard Albums chart hit was in 1974 for their Endless Summer hits compilation, which topped the chart at number one.

Beach Boys Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks came together earlier this year to record That's Why God Made The Radio, the first studio album of new, original Beach Boys songs to feature all of the band's surviving original members since 1989's Still Cruisin'.

Currently traveling across North America on their 50th Anniversary tour, the band's first major outing to include Brian Wilson in more than two decades, The Beach Boys will hit the "Good Morning America" Summer Concert Series stage in New York's Central Park this Friday, June 15 for a special performance of the new album's title track plus two of their classic hits. Tune in to "Good Morning America" on ABC at 8:30am ET/PT to watch the performance.

A new PBS special, "The Beach Boys: Doin' It Again," begins airing this month in select markets with airdates scheduled through July for PBS stations across the country. The hour-long special takes viewers along for the exciting ride as the legendary group's members reunite to celebrate their 50th anniversary, with a look back at their career featuring never-before-seen archival concert footage, performances from their anniversary tour, plus a behind-the-scenes look at the recording of their new album. Visit http://www.PBS.org for local listings.

The Beach Boys' 50th Anniversary tour began in March and continues with North American dates through July 15, before heading to Europe, Asia and Australia.

6/13 Cuyahoga Falls, OH Blossom Music Center
6/15 Columbia, MD Merriweather Post Pavilion
6/16 Camden, NJ Susquahanna Bank Center
6/17 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center For The Arts
6/19 Toronto, ON Molson Amphitheatre
6/20 Montreal, QC Bell Centre
6/22 Bangor, ME Waterfront Park
6/23 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
6/24 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theater
6/26 Boston, MA Bank Of America Pavilion
6/27 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
6/29 Darien Lakes, NY Darien Lakes Performing Arts Center
6/30 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
7/1 Milwaukee, WI Marcus Amphitheater
7/3 Virginia Beach, VA Farm Bureau Live At Virginia Beach
7/4 Provo, UT Stadium Of Fire
7/6 Albuquerque, NM Sandia Casino
7/7 Phoenix, AZ Grand Canyon University
7/10 Morrison, CO Red Rocks Amphitheatre
7/11 Calgary, AB Scotiabank Saddledome
7/13 Woodinville, WA Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery
7/14 Eugene, OR Cuthbert Amphitheater
7/15 Stateline, NV Harvey's Lake Tahoe Amphitheater
7/21 Avila, Spain Festival Musicos en la Naturaleza
7/23 Barcelona, Spain Poble Espanyol
7/26 Rome, Italy Capannelle
7/27 Milan, Italy Civic Arena
7/29 Gothenburg, Sweden Tradgaardsforeningen
7/31 Oslo, Norway Spektrum
8/1 Aarhus, Denmark Amfiscenen
8/3 Berlin, Germany 02 Arena
8/4 Stuttgart, Germany Schleyerhalle
8/5 Monchengladbach, Germany Hockey Park
8/7 Lokeren, Belgium Lokerse Feesten
8/16 Tokyo, JP QVC Marine Field
8/17 Osaka, JP Oskaka Prefectural Gymnasium
8/19 Nagoya, JP Gaishi Hall
8/22 Singapore Indoor Stadium
8/25 Hong Kong Conventional Hall
8/28 Brisbane, AU Entertainment Center
8/30 Sydney, AU Allphones Arena
8/31 Melbourne, AU Rod Laver Arena
9/2 Adelaide, AU Entertainment Centre
9/6 Perth, AU Burswood Dome
9/28 London, UK Wembley Arena

Amazon has put the digital version of the album on special for only 99 cents (!) for the next few hours. That's so cheap it's worth getting just to avoid having to rip the CD yourself. Enjoy:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0083GCK5G/?tag=imwan-20

Thanks for the tip, Linda. I just ordered this. For that price, I couldn't resist.

i bought it too.

for 99¢ i couldn't pass it up, i haven't heard it, i am not a big beach boys fan,. but i figured i would never ever even see it used for that cheap, so, why not?

if i like 2 songs, which i hope i will, it's worth it.

thanks linda.

preface:

not a smart-ass question:

does brian wilson have a problem with his legs? i never ever see him standing up.

Renny,

He has some serious back problems. But he has been playing bass standing up toward the end of the shows.

thanks jay, i figured something was up.

Did anyone else notice that the schedule had BB's in Virginia Beach, VA on Tuesday and in Provo, UT on Wednesday? Yikes! That's quite a haul...

Jim

OK, used the 99¢ download for this album. listened to the whole thing. dooubt if i will listen again. might use a couple tunes for a future comp, but nothing really struck me as classic or great. actually, there were time that i thought the vocals were actually overdone, there were places on some of the tunes where less might have been more.

At the Boston Beach Boys concert, they made an announcement that they were selling 10-packs of the CD for $100 and each 10-pack had one CD in it that was autographed by the "original members" or something to that extent. They're trying really hard to boost the sales of this one.

Good for them. I think it's a really fine album from them at this stage of their career, against all odds. They should be proud of it.

As for Renny's reaction, I am not surprised. The album preaches to the converted but won't change anyone's mind who does not already perceive genius in the music of the Beach Boys/Brian Wilson.

There was a CD single listed as a pre-order on Amazon of "That's Why God Made the Radio" which included the vocal and instrumental versions. That mysteriously vanished. It appears to only be on a vinyl 7" single. Does anyone know of any release — promo, import etc. — where you can get the instrumental version on CD?

Haven't seen anything... the only promo versions I've come across online are one-track singles.

FYI, "Do It Again (2012)" is also a bonus track on the Japanese CD release of the album.