The Beach Boys finally releasing lost ’70s album ‘Adult/Child’ in new box set

The Beach Boys have announced a new mid/late ’70s-era box set We Gotta Groove: The Brother Studio Years, which arrives February 13 via Capitol/UMe. It features a newly-remastered edition of 1977’s cult classic The Beach Boys Love You, as well as outtakes and alternate takes from that album and the 15 Big Ones (1976) sessions, but the big news is that it features Love You‘s planned followup album Adult/Child, an experimental crooner-inspired album that was shelved and then heavily bootlegged over the years but never officially released. If you’re unfamiliar with the album, here’s how writer Morgan Enos described it in a 2018 Billboard article:

The Beach Boys recorded their fair share of unreleased albums, including 1967’s Smile and 1970’s Landlocked. But the oft-bootlegged Adult/Child, which can be found in full on YouTube, is Brian’s strangest cry for help. He wrote these big band pastiches for Frank Sinatra in mind, and even had the Chairman’s arranger, Dick Reynolds, assemble the horn and string sections. A couple of the tunes stand up to any ballad on Pet Sounds, and others, like “Hey! Little Tomboy”’s creepy leering at a girl who throws out her skateboard and “shaves her legs,” mostly reflect Wilson’s declining mental state. Considering it was recorded during rough times of obesity, alcoholism, drug abuse and Wilson going as far as digging a grave in his backyard for himself, Adult/Child offers a degree of quixotic beauty; it’s their “outsider art” moment. Case in point: when Mike Love first heard Brian’s horn-accented, swinging demos, he responded in horror: “What the f— are you doing?”

According to a press release, the recordings on the We Gotta Groove box set “powered the era’s ‘Brian’s Back!’ campaign — launched to rebalance the band’s commercial fortunes — which presented Brian as returning to full creative command even as his participation in the studio remained uneven and, at times, fragile.”

It’s a six-disc box (3CD & 3LP) with a total of 73 tracks, including 35 unreleased and 22 newly-mixed tracks. It was co-produced by acclaimed producer/mixing engineer James Sáez and longtime Beach Boys historian Howie Edelson, with artistic direction from band archivist Alan Boyd. There’s also a 40-page booklet “with extensive, illuminating 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 to tell the story of this integral and influential era,” as well as “a slew of rare photos, tape box images and artifacts of the era and a complete sessionography detailing when and where every recording was made.”

The first song to be released is a new mix of Love You outtake “We Gotta Groove,” which also gives the box its name. Listen and check out the full tracklist below. Pre-order the box here.

Disc 1 — The Beach Boys Love You Album (1977 Mix)
LP1 Side 1
1. Let Us Go On This Way
2. Roller Skating Child
3. Mona
4. Johnny Carson
5. Good Time
6. Honkin’ Down The Highway
7. Ding Dang

LP1 Side 2
8. Solar System
9. The Night Was So Young
10. I’ll Bet He’s Nice
11. Let’s Put Our Hearts Together
12. I Wanna Pick You Up
13. Airplane
14. Love Is A Woman

Love You Outtakes (CD Only)
15. Ruby Baby *
16. Marilyn Rovell *
17. Sherry She Needs Me *
18. Lazy Lizzie *
19. We Gotta Groove (2025 Mix) *
20. Hey There Mama (2025 Mix) *
21. Clangin’ (2025 Mix) *
22. Love Is A Woman (Al Jardine Vocal) *
23. Johnny Carson (Alternate Mix With Intro) *
24. You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling *

Disc 2 — Adult/Child Sessions
LP2 Side 1
1. Life Is For The Living *
2. Deep Purple *
3. It’s Over Now
4. Still I Dream Of It
5. Everybody Wants To Live *
6. Lines *
7. It’s Trying To Say *

LP2 Side 2
8. Shortenin’ Bread *
9. New England Waltz *
10. Life Is For The Living (Backing Track) *
11. Deep Purple (2025 Backing Track Mix) **
12. It’s Over Now (2025 Backing Track Mix) **
13. Still I Dream Of It (2025 Backing Track Mix) **

1974 – 1977 Select Outtakes (CD Only)
14. Holy Man (2025 Mix Carl Wilson Vocal) **
15. Carl’s Song 1 (It Could Be Anything) (2025 Mix) **
16. Carl’s Song 2 (Angel Come Home) (2025 Mix) **
17. String Bass Song (Rainbows) (2025 Mix) **
18. 10,000 Years Ago *
19. Gimme Some Lovin’ (2025 Mix) *
20. Honeycomb (Marilyn Wilson-Rutherford Vocal) *
21. In The Back Of My Mind (1975 Alternate Take 2025 Mix) **

Disc 3 — 15 Big Ones Outtakes and Alternate Mixes
LP3 Side 1
1. Just Once In My Life (2025 Mix) **
2. Mony, Mony (2025 Mix) *
3. Running Bear (2025 Mix) *
4. Shake, Rattle And Roll *
5. On Broadway (2025 Mix) **
6. Sea Cruise (2025 Mix) **

LP3 Side 2
7. Chapel Of Love (2025 Mix) **
8. Short Skirts (2025 Mix) **
9. TM Song (2025 Backing Track Mix) **
10. Rock And Roll Music (2025 Backing Track Mix) **
11. Had To Phone Ya (2025 Deconstructed Mix) **
12. Just Once In My Life (2025 Backing Track Mix) **

Love You Alternate Mixes (CD Only)
13. Let Us Go On This Way (Alternate Mix) *
14. Mona (2025 Deconstructed Mix) **
15. Honkin’ Down The Highway (Billy Hinsche Vocal) *
16. Ding Dang (Session Highlights and Unedited 2025 Mix) **
17. Solar System (2025 Backing Track Mix) **
18. The Night Was So Young (2025 Vocals Only Mix) **
19. Let’s Put Our Hearts Together (2025 Coda Mix) **

Love You Brian Cassette Demos (CD Only)
20. That Special Feeling (Demo) *
21. It’s Over Now (Demo) *
22. They’re Marching Along (Demo) *
23. Love Is A Woman (Demo) *
24. Mona (Demo) *
25. Airplane (Demo) *
26. Let’s Put Our Hearts Together (Demo) *
27. I’ll Bet He’s Nice (Demo) *
28. Still I Dream Of It (Demo) *

* previously unreleased
** newly mixed in 2025