One way to look at the Today! tracks is as practice for the fuller arrangements on Summer Days, Pet Sounds, and Smile in which the background vocals are fully integrated with the instrumentals and help to drive the musical direction of the track, not just sound pretty at the right moments - e.g. the bass slide at the end of the chorus in Please Let Me Wonder, "kiss a little bit" in Kiss Me Baby, the number chanting in When I'm So Young. By contrast, a song like Don't Worry Baby compartmentalized the solo, backing vocals, and instrumentals in a much more traditional way. The upshot is that there's a certain clunkiness to side 2 that's charming and interesting for fans but you can see why those tracks were not hits and California Girls, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations etc were.
I voted for I Can Hear Music - love the Carl solo and the silky overall sound. I guess releasing a track like this may have solidified their anti-cool status in the press but screw that.
― skip, Sunday, 14 August 2011 16:34 (twelve years ago) link
xp thx iatee that's alright. i never got a "undeliverable message" though so i dunno what happened. i sent it right around the time you posted "4 hours left". it's no biggie. still fun to watch results/posts.
skip, isn't the fact that side 2 is basically straight up doo-wop a consideration for why those songs wouldn't have "hit" in 1965 after the Beatles literally killed doo wop?
― quaff the spud you warbling milkbag (outdoor_miner), Sunday, 14 August 2011 16:42 (twelve years ago) link
xpost was away when the ballot went up. Just hoping others voted for it.
― Trudi Styler, the Creator (ithappens), Sunday, 14 August 2011 16:46 (twelve years ago) link
yeah I'm not seeing it in my spam or trash either. perhaps you sent it to a different address? did you do my ilx name backwards + an extra e?
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 16:49 (twelve years ago) link
#50 (two-way tie)
You Still Believe In Me - Pet Sounds93 points, 5 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8kLrrZKnNU
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:33 (twelve years ago) link
well, at least we've seen the last pet sounds track
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnV99MQMo8k
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:37 (twelve years ago) link
i did indeed, alas and alack
― quaff the spud you warbling milkbag (outdoor_miner), Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:42 (twelve years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Beach_Boys_-_The_Little_Girl_I_Once_Knew.jpg
The Little Girl I Once Knew93 points, 5 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8O1Wpul60E
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:46 (twelve years ago) link
er - non-album single
utter classic
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:47 (twelve years ago) link
from what I've read, the dead-time isn't actually what killed this one's radio success - it was the fact that 'barbara ann' was released less than a month after this
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:54 (twelve years ago) link
i am unfamiliar with a great many of these but they are all wonderful, well done to voters. this would make a great playlist.
― keythhtyek, Sunday, 14 August 2011 17:56 (twelve years ago) link
blerghhh I noticed another math error - didn't combine 'kiss me, baby' and 'kiss me baby', which bumps it up. dunno how I didn't catch that one.
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:22 (twelve years ago) link
actually hmm I'm not sure
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:24 (twelve years ago) link
nm yeah, fucked up, 'kiss me baby' - ps: you didn't see that
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:25 (twelve years ago) link
this means we're back on #50
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:31 (twelve years ago) link
#50
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/30/Beach_Boys_-_Long_Promised_Road_%26_Deirdre.jpg/220px-Beach_Boys_-_Long_Promised_Road_%26_Deirdre.jpg
Long Promised Road - Surf's Up96 points, 4 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVoDULF4sAM
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:33 (twelve years ago) link
great, great song
love the proto-emo video
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 18:35 (twelve years ago) link
in fact, I think Smiley Smile is way better than 2004 Smile for that reason. It's probably my favorite album of theirs taken as a whole, although not many tracks from it made my ballot (and I didn't do an album ballot). I kind of wish Wilson would have just taken all of his various demos and ideas and bits and pieces and edited them together into a sprawling mess of a double album in '67. I don't think it's nearly as interesting in its "finished" form.
I was initially underwhelmed by the 2004 Smile because I liked the rough, fragmented quality of the original recordings (from the 1993 Good Vibrations box set). The new "completed" version felt too much like a whimsical musical revue. But I was eventually able to take it on its own terms.
― jaymc, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:10 (twelve years ago) link
crazy how many of these songs so far i see and think, "oh man should've voted for that one." "long promised road," so great. never seen that video either. in re: to the 2004 smile, i don't take i as the be-all end-all version of Smile, just another piece of the puzzle.
― tylerw, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:13 (twelve years ago) link
yeah, i happened to be in some record stores on the day that 2004 smile was released, and of course they were playing it every where i went, but i wasn't in the least tempted to buy it. i remember being much more excited when the good vibrations box came out. might eventually give in one day, though, who knows...
― dell (del), Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:14 (twelve years ago) link
feel like i ask this in every beach boys thread, but has anyone heard anything more about the alleged smile sessions box set? or was that just a tease.
― tylerw, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:17 (twelve years ago) link
wiki sez: The album originally had a tentative July 12 release date, but this was later pushed back to August 9, 2011, to give the producers enough time to finish the missing pieces of the album. As that date approached, the release was again pushed back to a tentative date of October 4, 2011 and as of August 2011 has been pushed again to November 1, 2011.
― tylerw, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:19 (twelve years ago) link
assuming the hold up is really due to mike love needing more time to record the snarky commentary that will run over the entire box set, a la his contribution to "heroes and villains" on lei'd in hawaii...
― tylerw, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:22 (twelve years ago) link
Not all that excited for the smile box set unless there's some new/fresh or sonically uograded material, which seems unlikely.
― skip, Sunday, 14 August 2011 19:45 (twelve years ago) link
love that sleeve art for I Can Hear Music! nice find. (I voted for it btw)
― Richard Nixon's Field of Warmth (Shakey Mo Collier), Sunday, 14 August 2011 21:15 (twelve years ago) link
...and why didn't 'she's going bald' or 'gettin hungry' make it to smile?
― stop listening to the lyrics so much. you're ruining music (CaptainLorax), Sunday, 14 August 2011 21:33 (twelve years ago) link
I think 'he gives speeches' wasn't on smile either
― stop listening to the lyrics so much. you're ruining music (CaptainLorax), Sunday, 14 August 2011 21:37 (twelve years ago) link
that's true, I remember being disappointed about that
think she's going bald and getting hungry may have been recorded after smile was 'over'
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:33 (twelve years ago) link
hello
#49
Celebrate the News - Break Away single b-side99 points, 4 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwE9aY5F4Jw
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:36 (twelve years ago) link
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7d/Beach_Boys_-_Break_Away.jpg/220px-Beach_Boys_-_Break_Away.jpg
I am a big fan of this track
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:38 (twelve years ago) link
my #5, wasn't sure it would make it
― sb'ilby (buzza), Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:42 (twelve years ago) link
one of those tracks w/ relatively few votes but they all put it high. only one more song made the list w/ 4 votes, anyone want to guess?
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 22:46 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnojeqlzo8s&feature=related
late w/ this one but another great live clip
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:07 (twelve years ago) link
I hadn't spent enough time with "Celebrate The News" to vote for it but I listened to it a few minutes ago & now it's on repeat; that's a pretty out-there song! gorgeous too.
― Euler, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:09 (twelve years ago) link
one of dennis' best
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:10 (twelve years ago) link
the ending is intense! & spooky!
got that Heroes & Villains book from the library that Shakey recommended, gonna start it tonight
― Euler, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:14 (twelve years ago) link
#48
Time to Get Alone - 20/20103 points, 6 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM7vec73eSg
Hawthorne, CA rarity version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o2jWSoOAjB8
Redwood (aka Three Dog Night) version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEkXa28HZ_Y
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:16 (twelve years ago) link
(X-post) When "Celebrate The News" takes off...hoooooollllllly shhhhhiiit. For my money DW's best track w/the Boys.
― Mucho! Macho! Honcho!: Turn Off The Dark (C. Grisso/McCain), Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:17 (twelve years ago) link
there is also *another* version in my rarities comp w/ a spoken interlude if you really luv this song
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:19 (twelve years ago) link
(ttga not celebrate the news)
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:20 (twelve years ago) link
recap:48 Time to Get Alone 10349 Celebrate the News 9950 Long Promised Road 9651 The Little Girl I Once Knew 9352 You Still Believe In Me 9353 I Can Hear Music 92 Kiss Me Baby 92 oops54 Then I Kissed Her 9255 Wild Honey 9056 Please Let Me Wonder 8857 Country Air 8458 Cool, Cool Water 7959 Add Some Music To Your Day 7860 Wind Chimes 7661 That's Not Me 7562 Aren't You Glad 7463 You're So Good To Me 7064 California Saga - Big Sur 6665 Let’s Go Away For Awhile 6566 Our Prayer 6467 River Song 6268 The Trader 6169 Here Comes The Night 60
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:27 (twelve years ago) link
no thoughts on ttga? it's not a personal favorite but I think the hawthorne version is more interesting.
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:50 (twelve years ago) link
I'm really happy to see Long Promised Road and The Little Girl I Once Knew in the list,they both were in my top ten. I remember trying convince someone I worked with that The Beach Boys were so much more than just a bunch of surf songs so I told him to listen to Long Promised Road, of course he hated it but he did only listen to Gary Moore so not too sure why I bothered. Little Girl is just perfection, probably my favourite song they did until Pet Sounds came out.
― Kitchen Person, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:55 (twelve years ago) link
you could include it on pet sounds w/o changing much
― iatee, Sunday, 14 August 2011 23:58 (twelve years ago) link
#47
Forever - Sunflower103 points, 5 votes - oops these last two were tied
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tokxcbu_Uohttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZpRfkzEIDIhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcC5Ztwmir4
― iatee, Monday, 15 August 2011 00:32 (twelve years ago) link
The bridge on "Long Promised Road" is the most gorgeous moment of any Beach Boys song Brian didn't write. Also one of the first completely effective usages of synthesizers in a pop song (following various songs on Abbey Road and Who's Next, of course). Too bad Carl never came close to creating something this good again.
― Melle Mel and the Coconuts (thewufs), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:35 (twelve years ago) link
feel flows imo
― iatee, Monday, 15 August 2011 00:36 (twelve years ago) link
when the strings(?) come in near the end of ttga and repeat the melody it's one of the most beautiful moments in the beach boys catalog
i like forever but it is a little too corny/wedding song to make my top 20
― sb'ilby (buzza), Monday, 15 August 2011 00:39 (twelve years ago) link