I have here a copy of Make You Mine, a 7-inch EP containing four songs by Best Coast from Group Tightener Records. This EP pre-dates the band’s debut LP Crazy For You from 2010 by one year, and it’s one of three 7-inches the band released in 2009, along with When I’m With You and a self-titled one.
At the time, Best Coast was Bethany Cosentio and Bobb Bruno. While the band has included others, including Brady Miller and Vivian Girls’ Ali Koehler, Cosentino and Bruno have been the mainstays.
There were three variations pressed of Make You Mine. My copy is the standard black vinyl version. You’ll also find variants on clear wax and yellow wax. Typical to vinyl, the black vinyl version didn’t come with any mention of pressing limitations, whereas the other two are limited editions. Both the color vinyl variants are represses from 2011 with the clear wax version limited to 200 and the yellow one limited to 2000.
Let’s take a look inside.
Jarvis Taveniere of the band Woods mastered the single. He’s popped up on quite a lot, and I tend to like what he’s worked on. Last year I covered a single by Kevin Morby for I Hear You Calling which featured Taveniere as well, and he’s worked on other Morby projects — namely, The Babies.
I’ve been enjoying this quite a bit. The EP opens with “In My Room,” which of course was written by Brian Wilson and Gary Usher and first appeared on The Beach Boys 1963 album Surfer Girl. Best Coast’s cover is quite different; in fact, I didn’t recognize it as The Beach Boys original at first!
Drenched in heavy guitars and lo-fi vocals, this 7-inch seems to take on the fuzzy garage rock sound a bit more than what they’d drop onto their debut 2010 LP. Predominantly, it’s more lo-fi all around.
Title track “Make You Mine” and its successor on the B side “Feeling of Love” are pretty signature to what would ultimately come on Crazy For You, though the songs don’t make an appearance. It’s got catchy garage rock hooks and a nice cool swagger.
Overall, this is a cool piece and it joins the ranks of a few other singles by Best Coast in my collection, including When I’m With You and The Only Place b/w Storms (the b/w, by the way, means “backed with” in record industry terms).
