and the Beach Boys, and so they didn't." In the meantime, Wilson continued working freelance, writing and producing several singles for other acts, none of which became hits. Style and production All Summer Long was largely recorded between April 2 and May 19, 1964, at United Western Recorders in Hollywood. According to music historian Keith Badman, Wilson had been disappointed by the simplicity, reliance on filler, and overall rushed quality of Shut Down Volume 2, and endeavored for All Summer Long to be a more refined and sophisticated effort. The album marked the band's most complex arrangements on a record to date, as well as their first that was not focused on themes of cars or surfing. Wilson remarked, "We needed to grow. Up to this point we had milked every idea dry. We milked it fucking dry. We had done every possible angle about surfing and then we did the car routine. But we needed to grow artistically." Academic Kier Keightley writes that All Summer Long consists of seven "up-tempo/dance numbers", four "ballads", and one "novelty sound collage", with subject matter ranging from "car and motorbike racing" and "teen romance" to "the consumption of mass media forms of entertainment" and "various other forms of summer fun". None of the songs are about cars (although one track, "Little Honda", is about a motorcycle), and the only reference to surfing is in "Don't Back Down". Biographer Mark Dillon states that the album generally projects "a whole season of teenaged good times" with the exception of "a couple of numbers that threaten to kill the buzz", listing "We'll Run Away" and "Wendy". He goes on to describe the lyrical content as "the entire scrapbook[...] of mid-'60s SoCal teenage life", a theme that is reinforced by the front cover. Biographer David Leaf referred to the album as "more autobiographical" than previous records and "the first time the Beach Boys recorded a complete album about their own Southern California lifestyle." He suggested that the album qualified as one of "the first real concept albums". Production-wise, the album introduced exotic textures to the band's sound as exemplified by the use of piccolo and xylophone in the title track. The majority of the instrumentation was provided by the band members themselves, with Carl Wilson and Al Jardine on guitars, Brian on bass, and Dennis Wilson on drums. Studio musicians augmented their sound on select tracks. At