It's About Time: Beach Boys Poll Results

#70

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/4/49/Beach_Boys_-_Here_Comes_The_Night.jpg/220px-Beach_Boys_-_Here_Comes_The_Night.jpg

Here Comes the Night - Wild Honey / L.A. Light Album
60 points, 3 votes (2 Wild Honey votes, 1 LA vote)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qjz_P3ey2Oc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZtTUeR6WS0

dunno what to say 'cept "aw hell yeah!" a good 60% of my mike love love is based on this song (the disco version), and he only appears in the forefront in the "here comes.. the night.. " ridiculous parts. i unapologetically, unironically love the disco version to no end. not to scare you guys off, but it comes on pretty frequently on repeat in my household. (which yeah, is pretty much a de facto miu at this point, except minus the guru adulation and meditation instructions but plus lager and weed. or the opposite. tbf i'm lost after combing through those seventies records)

I really like the single cover art

lol at mike love's voice being vocoded in version iatee posted. SHOW SOME RESPECT G-DAMMIT

this is pretty sexxay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRsvkWokUqU

YES!!

here come here come here come here comes

the night

obligatory shot of dennis on the bongos.

lolll at brian in that video

lol

and then cousin carl wilson comes in and spooges over everything

as it should be

bruce johnston was/is such a good sport

yah, also dw's fleetwood mac t=shirt all time

he was banging Christine McVie at the time

missed op that lindsey buckingham didn't produce a BBs album around this time. sure he would've jumped at the chance. as would all of the coke dealers in los angeles.

#69

The Trader - Holland
61 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a4dxHyhRDlc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=flSpDgZQhu0

I get some fleetwood vibes off that one
come to think of it

good tune with a rather odd structure. loses steam by the second half.

there was some connections between the Mac and the BBs but I don't think it went muchfo farther than Dennis (Christine shows up on some Bamboo stuff, I think? And Dennis appears on some Mac track? I forget. plus I hate Fleetwood Mac.)

yeah it does lose sorta drift off in the second half

minus 'lose'

shakey, why do i feel if i sat you down in a room intervention-style, with some drugs and five of your best friends, you would recant on yr alleged no-no to fm shit?

and by "friends", i mean jerk-asses from ilm

missed op that lindsey buckingham didn't produce a BBs album around this time. sure he would've jumped at the chance. as would all of the coke dealers in los angeles.

In the 33-1/3 book on Tusk, Walter Egan talks about him and Lindsey always eating at the same deli as Brian in the mid/late-70s but never going up to him and talking to him!

can we all move to LA in the 70s please

btw lol @ Al's guitar strap breaking in the middle of that Here Comes the Night video

xxxp

xxp lol that's great. didn't they work together (or try to) in the 80s? is he on the first brian solo album, can't remember.
think i like the live version of trader better. but yeah, when it starts i think it's going to be awesome, but it's kind of dull in the end.

yeah you're right, tyler!

"He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move" ♦ (Lindsey Buckingham / Brian Wilson) – 2:36

haaa, classic song title

wait that's a bonus track only - I guess they didn't include it

yeah I could swear Lindsay's name is in the liner notes of the first released BW solo album (along with Christopher Cross and Terence Trent D'Arby, I think? lol)

can we all move to LA in the 70s please

wish i were joking, but yeah, that's pretty much the first stop on my time machine when affordable versions roll out circa 2015

i think i've read some interview where buckingham was really disappointed with the circumstances surrounding those sessions, thanks to wilson's psychiatrist/guru dude.

that would make sense

is there a thread 'rank the decades + cities you want to time machine travel to'?

LOL at that video. Brian looks horrible and their dancing is hilarious. Carl really is a trooper. I wonder what he thought after realizing he was now fronting a disco act.

The Trader is a bit half baked for me - like Sail on Sailor without a proper hook. Pleasant track though.

Carl really is a trooper. I wonder what he thought after realizing he was now fronting a disco act.

I think this was actually Carl's idea iirc...? by all accounts reception of the song was awful, fans really turned on them.

honestly it's weird that they didn't enlist Van McCoy for that track and make it a genuine hit

yeah, i feel like carl was way into it? and in retrospect he was right? i dunno, cos when yr dealing w/the beach boys all the dysfunctional family sitch invariably comes into play, and being in a band is difficult enough w/o any of that.

You're right, I'm sure he was into it, he probably dragged some of the band kicking and screaming. It still must have been weird to hear that percussion kick in after spending 15 years of being a way different band. Then again they made so many stylistic shifts in their career that maybe it was no big deal.

yeah, i feel like they were probably just like "wtf, let's do this. who cares." guess there are stories of them being booed at concerts when they played it?

#68

River Song - Pacific Ocean Blue (Dennis Wilson)
62 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4yFWBbG_ZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJeHcHzGyZQ

best Dennis song by a good margin! Love that piano intro.

yeah, didn't vote for any solo tracks (except for "wrinkles" natch), but this one is great.

there's a "making-of" clip of that song floating around featuring Dennis conducting the gospel choir in the studio

amazing opener to the album, but not the Dennis solo tune I voted for. happy to see something from POB place.

gonna do two more then I gotta run

5 this evening/tonight

is there a good book about the BBs in the 70s & 80s (& onward if needed)? I'm interested to learn more about the seedier side of the band. The 60s will have some of that too (Golden Penetrators & all that) but I don't want a book mostly focused on the 60s. I want the decadence in (alleged) decline.

#67

Our Prayer - 20/20
64 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swQ1h_As22Q

seediest bio ever = Heroes and Villains. starts (and ends) with Dennis' death.

xp

I voted "Our Prayer" pretty high, top 5 iirc; those harmonies are haunted

I voted for Our Prayer. no many how many times I listen to it I just cannot get my head around the vocal arrangement, it's so strange.

yeah, beautiful track. still nothing i voted for so far, though!

I probably should've voted for "Our Prayer" but didn't. I've started a couple of mixes with it.

maybe I've listened to too much Perotin and Gesualdo but that doesn't sound so special in comparison.

another great potential album opener though.

#66

Let’s Go Away For Awhile - Pet Sounds
65 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwGkv7cuM1k

have you guys heard this album, it's pretty good

ah, i voted for this one. never gets old.

Love the two Pet Sounds instrumentals -- though, like, "Our Prayer," their slightness made me eventually cut them from my ballot.

I voted River Song really high. I don't know that it's the best Dennis song but it's the one that I think of the most. I like how it does a lot over the course of three-and-a-half minutes or so (see also It's About Time from Sunflower).

though, like, "Our Prayer," their slightness made me eventually cut them from my ballot.

wait, what?

oh shit I just realized that #70 on my spreadsheet is actually #69 cause the first row is empty. so uh, add 1 to all those ranks, we're doing a top 69 and the next one is #64

it's still an appropriate starting place, cause #70 only got 2 votes whereas 69 on got 3+

#64

California Saga: Big Sur - Holland
66 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KASDsSaJy64
http://www.filesmap.com/mp3/y8KP/the-beach-boys-big-sur-alternate-version/

last 3 later I guess

eh, almost voted for our prayer and let's go away... this waa a tough poll. those are really beautiful songs that are hard to argue with

wait, what?

They were on my shortlist of 40 or so. I needed justifications for cutting stuff, so short instrumentals seemed like a good place to start.

oh shit I just realized that #70 on my spreadsheet is actually #69 cause the first row is empty. so uh, add 1 to all those ranks, we're doing a top 69 and the next one is #64

Cool with me.

http://image.allmusic.com/00/amg/cov200/drc400/c471/c47141hsv99.jpg

I think the Beach Boys were pretty happy with 69 overall.

feel like first image iatee posted in this thread is jut so representative of their uncanny coalescence of cheese and genius during their musty seventies, lurching into eighties on surfboard wax and taco dust fumes days

okay, I just found this thread and I'm real happy to see two of my votes right off the bat

I didn't specify what album my top 20 tracks were from but good call on 'here comes the night'. I'm sure you'll figure out what out album my 'gettin hungry' vote is from (but I don't expect it to place)

'trader' is a great song that I voted for. I didn't know of its existence until this poll

'trader' does lose steam but that chorus sounds amazing

I'm disappointed I didn't know about this earlier. How do we vote for these things?

Good list so far tho. Love the disco "Here Comes the Night" (tho that vid Tyler posted is so NSFW). Fun fact: it's co-arranged and produced by Curt Boettcher of Millennium/Saggitarius fame.

is it too nsfw? there's a shower scene but u know, pretty tasteful stuff.

I'm disappointed I didn't know about this earlier. How do we vote for these things?

Keep a closer eye on ILM and/or Site New Answers?

This is where the ballot schedule is maintained: Thread for coordinating the order and timing of ILM ballot polls

/I'm disappointed I didn't know about this earlier. How do we vote for these things? /

Keep a closer eye on ILM and/or Site New Answers?

This is where the ballot schedule is maintained: Thread for coordinating the order and timing of ILM ballot polls
--L.P. Hovercraft (WmC)

Thanks -- tho I assume voting is closed for this, right? That link says otherwise.

Yeah, ended yesterday, and the results thread started today. Led Zeppelin voting is going to start next week. The only emailed-ballot music poll going on right now is Jazz Albums.

Oh, wait, this is the results thread. whoops

Surprised to see see people saying Trader drifts off, I've always loved that second half of it. Holland is a mixed bag for me but I've always thought Trader, Leaving This Town and Sail On Sailor are some of the very best songs they did, hopefully they will all place.

I was actually disappointed you didn't vote, nti! I was looking at older threads and I remembered you were a pretty big fan.

gonna post 3 more in a bit.

#63

You're So Good To Me - Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
70 points, 3 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjvHKDcp_P8

I don't think I had that one on my ballot but yeah it is great. like their version of stripped down garage rock. vocals on the chorus are killer

wow, didn't know boettcher was involved on here comes the night

effin' blasting here comes the night disco edit right now

#62

Aren't You Glad - Wild Honey
74 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyi_TBBBYK4

one of the things I ended up removing from my ballot, I think. I'm glad it got some support. I've always thought it should be the first song on the album.

amazing song, prob my favorite on wild honey? just classic beach boys chord changes, perfect vocals. impossible to argue with

This was my #4. I am a huge Wild Honey fan and this is the standout song.

tell me tell me you know what I mean

beep badeep badeep

yes!!

man...

#61

That's Not Me - Pet Sounds
75 points, 3 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHCEppiiXL8

must. stop . listening . to . 'aren't you glad . .

love the percussion in this one

Great Mike vocal on "That's Not Me."

two great mike vocals in a row, actually

yes yes and yes! that crystalline mike love sound. i don't care how adolescent the lyrics might come across; this song is devastating on so many levels

the organ, the percussion, the background vocal harmonies. it's situated in-between a bunch of emotionally resonant songs such that it feels almost lightweight by contrast, but man

aren't you glad was my #8, love that song

forgot about you're so good to me, wouldn't have voted for it but solid tune

guitar figure reprised on 'the night was so young', if i'm not mistaken

background vox in that's not me are positively unreal. seriously wonder if those guys ever sounded so sublime before or since then

like, cannot listen to 1:40 to 1:50 or so w/o getting total chills

only one of the bottom 10 i'm not familiar with is california saga but that sounds pretty good and i like/love the other 9, picked 2/10 so far

i feel really lucky, b/c i "discovered" pet sounds when i was 19, and listened to it every night for a month, it was like a ritual, i just soaked it up...i don't think i had ever been so blown away by a record before that. just listening to what they sounded like when they all sang together, it was so affecting. you hear the stories about brian wilson supposedly praying to make a beautiful record or whatever. i dunno, but whatever mojo he had going on at that time was obv. extremely effective

gonna do one more tonight

#60

Wind Chimes - Smiley Smile / Smile
76 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Crcq3G18JLc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2VkxzhWbxI

2004 version vastly superior imo but the part where the drums come in at about 2:00 bugs me to no end, a tasteless addition to the song

surprised that didn't finish a bit higher, that's the one song i kicked myself for not including after i submitted my ballot

if i walked into a church and heard ppl singing like the vocals on that's not me, i'd so quickly be like 'where do i sign up?'

2004 version vastly superior imo but the part where the drums come in at about 2:00 bugs me to no end, a tasteless addition to the song

yeah, get what you mean, that fill is so naff

i can't listen to the 2004 Smile because of the vocals

eh, i like the rockin' part of windchimes.

weirdly, the first version i heard was by baby lemonade. does anyone remember that band?
http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/2010/10/baby-lemonade-wonderful-ep-1993-baby.html

Sure, saw them when they were Arthur Lee's backing band once.

baby lemonade is the wondermints of arthur lee
xp

Great Mike vocal on "That's Not Me."
--timellison

yes! i dunno if i've ever thought about it quite that way, but i'm thinking you are totally otm

^cosign this, and also this

like, cannot listen to 1:40 to 1:50 or so w/o getting total chills

― dell (del), Saturday, 13 August 2011

There's also another version of "Wind Chimes" on the box set (which is my favorite), and there's an instrumental bootleg too.

Here's the version that's on the box set:
youtu.be/sRFE-24ucxc?t=2m20s

ha i put you're so good to me at #1

I voted for it too... not #1 though. Poll results lookin' good so far!

#59

http://www.sergent.com.au/beachboys/addsomemusic.jpg
Add Some Music To Your Day - Sunflower
78 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBkA4-U4MPk

see, sunflower has never quite lived up to its promise for me. bit of a mystery, b/c i have an enormous soft spot for "sunshine pop" in all of its forms, and this record, with Deirdre, etc., occupies that territory more than anything else in their catalog . but i don't know. whenever i listen to this record it just runs right past me without ever satisfactorily settling in. that being said, i love the way they run through ridiculous vocal acrobatics in this song that you just know they more or less tossed off, but would take hours upon hours of studio time for other acts to replicate

Poll results lookin' good so far!

yeah, new u.s. citizens or just ppl in general should be presented with a comp containing these results. already completely devastating, and we're not even a dozen songs in. i remember telling an ex-gf that i LOVED the beach boys, and of course she was like "oh, Aruba, Jamaica, ooh i want to take her..." can be really tough to overcome people's ingrained prejudices regarding certain artists. but have a feeling whatever songs end up here would go a long way towards dispelling all those preconceptions

#58

Cool, Cool Water - Sunflower
79 points, 4 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niktpOfb79w

Weekend results! Cool! For some reason I thought you were going to do the next batch on Monday.

decided to do about 10 a day for a week

this song. oh man.

add some music to your day was on my shortlist. A bit schmaltzy but I listened to it over and over again as part of a self-made GV CD3-esque loop a few years back.

Aren't You Glad is kind of cool, but I keep waiting for "wah wah, ho wah" to come in. I don't know, it just sounds like they took Water and made it more conventional and less interesting.

2004 version vastly superior imo

that's just baffling to me

huh. i like it precisely b/c it takes on that pop song trajectory. tbh sometimes get bored with the smile-era workouts that anticipate stereolab's career

yeah, I could just get lost in Smile bootlegs forever. I love all of the half-formed ideas, different arrangements, sudden radical shifts, etc.

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 love sunflower but add some music and cool cool water are ones i usually skip

The finished Smile is somewhere around 52 minutes, though, right? I don't think it leaves much out.

xp

you skip cool cool water??!! i don't even know, man.

i like that youtube version posted above which is from warmth of the sun as compared to the sunflower version

The finished Smile is somewhere around 52 minutes, though, right? I don't think it leaves much out.

he may not have left anything out, but he cleaned it all up, and smoothed over the rough edges to the point where he removed everything that was interesting about it. the two wind chimes versions posted above are a great example. Or compare a bootleg version of the original Mrs. O'Leary's Cow to the re-recorded version.

i like that youtube version posted above which is from warmth of the sun as compared to the sunflower version

couldn't agree with you more!

wk offtm

it's slower and spacier, i should download that

Yeah, wk, can't agree with that at all. I think most of the 2004 Smile was remarkably true to the original arrangements.

(The original Smile arrangements, that is. Obviously the Smiley Smile versions of "Vege-Tables," "Wind Chimes," etc. were much different.)

cool cool water is such a gas

#57

Country Air - Wild Honey
84 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDksmHtklqY

ahhh, about time another one of mine shows up

country air is great, maybe my fave from wild honey? of course i didn't vote for it. too many great songs!

#56

Please Let Me Wonder - Today!
88 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kc4jR7ajbpw

can you imagine any other poll where a song this good gets #56

oh man what a tune. have always wanted to sing that w/ a quartet

such an amazing song. The one potential negative is its combination of directness and weirdness - who would ever say "please forgive my shaking" - but the chorus is about as good as it gets in the BBs catalog. And obviously the arrangement and sentiment are so operatic and over the top that it's better considered as a song the narrator is thinking to himself, not singing to someone else.

Such diversity of sound and situation so far in the countdown.

#55

Wild Honey - Wild Honey
90 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NmOE92ACzZY

Wild Honey is being well represented so far, hope that means Darlin' will make it.

#52 (3-way tie)

Then I Kissed Her - Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
92 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwnTzl9HPJM

^^first cover to appear...?

I voted for Country Air, love to play that song on the organ

Wild Honey is being well represented so far, hope that means Darlin' will make it.
--Kitchen Person

It's one thing for a record to sound like it came from a later time, but I think Wild Honey is an extraordinary example. Just the fact that it was recorded in 1967...I mean, I know John Wesley Harding and The Notorious Byrd Brothers came out around the same time, but "Wild Honey" and "Darlin'" sound like early '70s AM radio. In 1967.

I was hoping for some of these Wild Honey megaclassics to place a little higher. Aren't You Glad and the title track should both be in the top twenty.

David Cassidy version of "Darlin'" (produced by Bruce Johnston, Flo and Eddie on background vocals?) is really good, too.

Why, by the way, did I never know that Johnston wrote "I Write the Songs" (also on that Cassidy album, later covered by Barry Manilow)?

Darlin' might be the crowning achievement of post-Brian meltdown Beach Boys. Just a perfect little track. We'll have time to discuss it later though.

and now I learn it's a rewrite of a track Brian wrote in 1964. Never mind.

Always thought it interesting that "Then I Kissed Her" not only flips the gender but also the perspective. He wants to be the kisser, not the kissee.

"Please Let Me Wonder" was in my top 5, and is one of the first songs I play for any nonbeliever friends.

it's pretty clear Brian knew he had something special with Darlin' given its multiple permutations that have been released over the years (a re-write of it also appears on American Spring's 1972 album) and the number of times it was covered

#52 (3-way tie)

Kiss Me Baby - Today!
92 points, 3 votes, 1 first place vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoJ-yulhF8o

war of the !:

today! vs summer days (and summer nights!!)

Bgd vox to this are incredible.

wikipedia sez:

"After Pet Sounds, the album is arguably the most acclaimed album of the Beach Boys' career. The album includes the original version of the classic hit, "Help Me, Rhonda" (titled on this album as "Help Me, Ronda")."

really? I don't think there is a clear critic's #2. maybe I'll go look at that acclaimed music site.

pet sounds -> surf's up -> today! -> sunflower -> all summer long -> smiley smile

by the acclaimed music aggregated critic measure

best album cover imo

yeah, i don't know if it gets discussed much, but i think they always had pretty great artwork, at least on their major studio efforts

recall an entertaining ilx thread in which ppl are trying to figure out the origin of painting on surf's up

#52 (3-way tie)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/7/7a/Beach_Boys_-_I_Can_Hear_Music.jpg/220px-Beach_Boys_-_I_Can_Hear_Music.jpg

I Can Hear Music - 20/20
92 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlH3bZt9ooU

lol, speaking of great artwork...

yeah I'd never seen that one! pretty trippy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTY9BRCg-Ec

hilarious stage setup! carl and dennis both sound fantastic on those songs imo

hoping at least I'm So Young places much higher than the two from side 2 of Today that already made the list. i reckon you didn't get my ballot but that album side was pretty much my top 5 along w/ darlin'

Please let She Knows Me Too Well be in this chart somewhere ...

nope I'm searching my gmail for your ilx name / votes and I didn't get it :( xp

if you want you + naive teen idol + can send me late ballots that we can add to the tally afterwards for an alt list

+ whoever

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.

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?

xpost was away when the ballot went up. Just hoping others voted for it.

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?

#50 (two-way tie)

You Still Believe In Me - Pet Sounds
93 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8kLrrZKnNU

well, at least we've seen the last pet sounds track

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnV99MQMo8k

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?

i did indeed, alas and alack

#50 (two-way tie)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/3/37/Beach_Boys_-_The_Little_Girl_I_Once_Knew.jpg

The Little Girl I Once Knew
93 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8O1Wpul60E

er - non-album single

utter classic

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

i am unfamiliar with a great many of these but they are all wonderful, well done to voters. this would make a great playlist.

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.

actually hmm I'm not sure

nm yeah, fucked up, 'kiss me baby' - ps: you didn't see that

this means we're back on #50

#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 Up
96 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVoDULF4sAM

great, great song

love the proto-emo video

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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...

Not all that excited for the smile box set unless there's some new/fresh or sonically uograded material, which seems unlikely.

love that sleeve art for I Can Hear Music! nice find. (I voted for it btw)

...and why didn't 'she's going bald' or 'gettin hungry' make it to smile?

I think 'he gives speeches' wasn't on smile either

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'

hello

#49

Celebrate the News - Break Away single b-side
99 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwE9aY5F4Jw

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

my #5, wasn't sure it would make it

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?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnojeqlzo8s&feature=related

late w/ this one but another great live clip

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.

one of dennis' best

the ending is intense! & spooky!

got that Heroes & Villains book from the library that Shakey recommended, gonna start it tonight

#48

Time to Get Alone - 20/20
103 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

(X-post) When "Celebrate The News" takes off...hoooooollllllly shhhhhiiit. For my money DW's best track w/the Boys.

there is also *another* version in my rarities comp w/ a spoken interlude if you really luv this song

(ttga not celebrate the news)

recap:
48 Time to Get Alone 103
49 Celebrate the News 99
50 Long Promised Road 96
51 The Little Girl I Once Knew 93
52 You Still Believe In Me 93
53 I Can Hear Music 92
Kiss Me Baby 92 oops
54 Then I Kissed Her 92
55 Wild Honey 90
56 Please Let Me Wonder 88
57 Country Air 84
58 Cool, Cool Water 79
59 Add Some Music To Your Day 78
60 Wind Chimes 76
61 That's Not Me 75
62 Aren't You Glad 74
63 You're So Good To Me 70
64 California Saga - Big Sur 66
65 Let’s Go Away For Awhile 65
66 Our Prayer 64
67 River Song 62
68 The Trader 61
69 Here Comes The Night 60

no thoughts on ttga? it's not a personal favorite but I think the hawthorne version is more interesting.

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.

you could include it on pet sounds w/o changing much

#47

Forever - Sunflower
103 points, 5 votes - oops these last two were tied

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Tokxcbu_Uo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZpRfkzEIDI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcC5Ztwmir4

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.

feel flows imo

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

'feel flows' vs. 'long promised road'

I totally forgot about that thread

yeah I would never turn off forever if it were playing but it's not a personal fav. I think dennis wilson wrote 10 better songs than that.

that said it feels 'complete' in a way that a lot of his songs don't

Forever is a beautiful song but I always thought All I Wanna Do and Tears In The Morning were quite a bit better and touched me a lot more. Sunflower really is such a great album, buying that two albums on one disc set with Surf's up really was one of the best things I bought when I was younger.

Good description of forever as "complete", a lot of Dennis tracks sound like they could use some outside tlc/help.

Time to Get Alone - interesting 3/4 track but it's more frilly than pretty IMO. One of a few really solid songs on an underappreciated album though.

Celebrate the News is killer. I've definitely been sleeping on that one.

but "Wild Honey" and "Darlin'" sound like early '70s AM radio. In 1967.

otm

Many thanks for this thread - this is my first exposure to Time to Get Alone, Celebrate the News, Big Sur and The Trader.

not a big deal for me personally because i don't have much to add, but any chance you could post these a little earier in the day? might get more the the euro vote chiming in? at the moment they're going up overnight here.

yeah I can try not to post them America-latenight

The Little Girl I Once Knew is too low but I didn't vote so I can't really complain. Hope She Knows Me Too Well places high

man looking through all their album covers is a horror show

wish i voted in this

catching up with the latest posts -- some great stuff. and it's about time stamos made an appearance, for christ's sake. where would the beach boys be without stamos!

#46

Little Pad - Smiley Smile
104 points, 5 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZGPxesVlUo

Came super close to including Little Pad -- but it felt a little too slight at the end of the day.

Did include it. Bit silly but what the hell. Regretting not including "Country Air" btw.

didn't vote for it, but it is lovely. great mixtape song.

Do it!

yeah, no way I could rank this as one of the Beach Boys' 20 best songs. But still fun to listen to, if also a little disturbing.

They were on my shortlist of 40 or so. I needed justifications for cutting stuff, so short instrumentals seemed like a good place to start.

I don't understand. Our Prayer isn't an instrumental, and is one of the least "slight" things the BBs ever did. People go to school for decades and can't write stuff like that. Like, if that's slight, then Bach is AM Gold. :(

voted for Little Pad because when I tried to learn to play it recently I was totally flummoxed by the chord changes, it is a really oddly-constructed song.

also it is purty and the first time they really got the SOUND of Hawai'i down (even though they have earlier songs that are about Hawai'i)

I don't mean that it sounds like a traditional Hawai'ian tune btw, just that it successfully evokes the tropical-island-paradise vibe, where earlier songs with the same subject matter did not

"Our Prayer" is 1:10, though. I think the original poster was just questioning whether it belonged amongst the twenty best things the BB ever did.

the answer is yes!

I have a special place in my heart for their a cappella tracks, and that's probably the second best one

"Our Prayer" is spooky and perfectly titled - sounds like monks in a huge medieval cathedral. Probably would have been #21 or #22 for me.

here's a spotify playlist: http://open.spotify.com/user/sp10000/playlist/36kXCKE1TDnsvQHiUCtfPt

#45

Wonderful - Smiley Smile
105 points, 5 votes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5CD40z6S60
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muSou79UFXQ&feature=related

One oddity I probably should have voted for: "The Old Folks at Home/Old Man River." They don't know the words to the latter, but the arrangement is so wistful and lyrical it doesn't matter.

this is one of those tracks whose life was completely sucked out on Smiley Smile. Love the Smile session work on it though.

"In Fort Worth, Texas there is a drug clinic which takes people off the streets and helps them get over bad LSD trips. They don't use any traditional medical treatment whatsoever. All they do is play the patient our Smiley Smile album and apparently this acts as a soothing remedy which relaxes them and helps them to recover completely from their trip."

... uhhhhhhhhh... perhaps Carl was referring to a secret CIA establishment investigating methods of extreme mental torture.

this is one of those tracks whose life was completely sucked out on Smiley Smile.

It just got really weird and creepy.

Thanks to Mike Love!

(prob)

off topic, but I'm going through that "singles collection" box and it appears there's lots of stuff in mono. Is Hushabye available in mono digitally anywhere else? I can't recall ever hearing it and it sounds great. What is it going to take to get some of those original albums in a mono/stereo twofer?

#43 (tie)

Wendy - All Summer Long
111 points, 6 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkqhZJTLulQ

hmm, never been crazy about this song. this clip is great though.

yeah I rate it in the lower half of their radio pop hits. not a bad song but nothing that really makes it stand out.

Oh, they're not spectacular but I think there are definitely things that make it stand out.

yeah Wendy is okay but nothing special imho. Brian's falsetto really does approach "Mickey Mouse with a sore throat" territory here, as Mike would say

good things about this track: Brian's vocal, Mike's tag, the amateurish organ solo, the Good Vibrations-esque changes in instrumentation and sound and use of open space, especially near the end. I see where people who slag it are coming from though.

listening to it now, i pretty much like everything about it except the "wennnnndy" part.

It's subtle. There's no chorus. And the refrain line is this beautiful derivative of the first line of the fantastic two-part verse.

The intro is incredible.

I don't understand. Our Prayer isn't an instrumental, and is one of the least "slight" things the BBs ever did. People go to school for decades and can't write stuff like that. Like, if that's slight, then Bach is AM Gold. :(

If you're trying to make me regret not voting for it, you've succeeded!

No, it's not an instrumental, but there aren't any lyrics, and it's just over a minute long. So that's why I called it "slight." But don't get me wrong: I still love it. Honestly, if I'd known it had so much support, I probably wouldn't have given it short shrift. Although I guess the other thing is that I felt like I already had too many Smile tracks.

but there aren't any lyrics

You know what I mean by this: the "mmm"s and "aah"s are vocables.

#43 (tie)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/0/0b/Beach_Boys_-_Sail_On%2C_Sailor.jpg

Sail On Sailor - Holland
111 points, 6 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDWyxogL3KM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMdaFVovbng

man kinda wishing I had a stack of Beach Boys 45s just for the sleeve art alone

yeah another really nice one

This track epitomizes the mature Beach Boys sound

also their extensive use of beards

didn't vote but that would've been pretty high on mine

This was one of my last two or three cut - This Whole World and I Can Hear Music felt like better representations of this era and of course the Boys aren't singing. The lyrics and over-rhyming are really kind of ridiculous...VDP plus roots instrumentation doesn't really work. I love the song overall though. Who would have thought the Beach Boys would be singing about "sewer rats".

I sailed an ocean, unsettled ocean
Through restful waters and deep commotion
Often frightened, unenlightened
Sail on, sail on sailor

I wrest the waters, fight Neptune's waters
Sail through the sorrows of life's marauders
Unrepenting, often empty
Sail on, sail on sailor

Caught like a sewer rat alone but I sail
Bought like a crust of bread, but oh do I wail

Seldom stumble, never crumble
Try to tumble, life's a rumble
Feel the stinging I've been given
Never ending, unrelenting
Heartbreak searing, always fearing
Never caring, persevering
Sail on, sail on, sailor

I work the seaways, the gale-swept seaways
Past shipwrecked daughters of wicked waters
Uninspired, drenched and tired
Wail on, wail on, sailor

Always needing, even bleeding
Never feeding all my feelings
Damn the thunder, must I blunder
There's no wonder all I'm under
Stop the crying and the lying
And the sighing and my dying

Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor
Sail on, sail on sailor

who is singing lead on this, Blondie...?

love this song but you nailed why it's not top 20 for me.

yeah it's blondie

iirc carl also recorded the vocal but they prefered blondie's

Brian Wilson was not involved at all with the song's recording sessions, leaving the basic track to be recorded by Brian's brother Carl and ex-Flame and then-Beach Boys members Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin. The lead vocal was first attempted by Dennis Wilson, who sang the vocal once before leaving to go surfing. Carl was the next to attempt a vocal, but he then suggested that Chaplin make an attempt. After two takes, Carl decided that Chaplin's vocal would feature as the lead.

lol

I think Chaplin and Fataar's contributions to the band during this time are generally underrated tbh

#42

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cf/AllSummerLongCover.jpg

All Summer Long - All Summer Long
114 points, 7 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upLsOaU9f2g

voted for that one. surprised it placed so low. one of my favorite pop hits.

not a bad tune but not one I would really set apart from the pack ever. something about the marimba/xylophone/whatever that is kind of annoys me.

ever either

love this one, tons of fun.

yeah, great song.

I have always thought this song sounded out of tune, which kind of ruins it for me. Good coda to the pre-drugs sun-surf-cars phase of their career.

#40 (tie)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/65/LittleDeuceCover.jpg

Little Deuce Coupe - Little Deuce Coupe
116 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXFFLuoaMzM

I don't have a lot of opinions on this song

The lyrics and over-rhyming are really kind of ridiculous...VDP plus roots instrumentation doesn't really work.

invented the concept album y/n

great lyrics on this

LOVE Little Deuce Coupe. I've always gotten a kick out of how the song starts "I'm not bragging babe" and then he goes into this laundry list of reasons why his car kicks ass. It's like the prologue to "Don't Worry Baby". Mike's lead sounds as amateurish as "Luau" but the backing vocals and track have taken a huge leap forward.

is Don't Back Down going to make it?

invented the concept album y/n

definitely N

as for Little Deuce Coupe, I didn't vote for it but it's classic nature is pretty indisputable. Mike Love at his best

Can't believe All Summer Long wasn't top 20 at least.

dunno there's still a ton of major songs coming up

#40 (tie)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/63/Beach_Boys_-_Barbara_Ann.jpg/220px-Beach_Boys_-_Barbara_Ann.jpg

Barbara Ann - Beach Boys' Party!
116 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_9hm5ibXOw

I have never liked this song. Perhaps marred by 4th grade me having to witness some students singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb bomb Iran" to this tune as part of a school "talent show"

you went to school with john mccain?

more like John McCain has the mental capacities of an elementary school student from the early 80s

the dumbest of the Beach Boys' hits on their dumbest album.

yeah, i could go without ever hearing this again.
great b-side, tho!

back in the days when people sang and played guitars to amuse themselves it may have been just the ticket though.

Spotify playlist updated with the list so far: http://open.spotify.com/user/sp10000/playlist/36kXCKE1TDnsvQHiUCtfPt

Songs like Barbara Ann are why I ignored the Beach Boys for the better part of my life.

i think party! can be a good time but i don't love it. i imagine actually partying with the band at the time might've been fun. at least partying with dennis anyway.

ooh and thanks for the spotify playlist. i just got on there. i know, i'm behind. i just wasn't made for these times.

great b-side, tho!

yeah Girl Don't Tell Me is superior in almost every way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy3IkXrgv3I&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfDZn1crMU8

lol at all the barbara ann hate, who voted for it

yeah show yourselves! talk about "slight"!

#39

Little Bird - Friends
122 points, 4 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BLyXRPl1aE

I did not vote for Barbara Ann, but I'll take a shot at defending it. I was just listening to Friends and I thought I would pause it for a minute to listen to Barbara Ann. It's one of those songs that I feel like I pretty much never need to hear again for the rest of my life. But when I started listening to it, you know what, fuck it, this song is a classic. If you can set aside all of the mccain-etc baggage for a moment and actually listen to it, the song is undeniably great. It's a bit pitchy, but it adds to the silly "party" vibe.

At the very least it's hard not to have some kind of reaction to it, even if your reaction is hate and disgust. Which is a pretty sharp contrast to the first 8 songs I just finished listening on Friends which just kind of drifted by in a mellow wash of meh.

that mellow wash of meh kicked barbara ann's ass by 6 points

haha, xpost. case in point.

yeah show yourselves!...

i voted for it!

I didn't vote for Little Bird but it's a solid, strange little tune. Love the "guess I'll go mow the lawn" bit. song strings together a whole bunch of little, simple riffs in an engaging way.

I believe it uses a melody from child is father of the man

that's at the tag, I think...?

oh yeah, I didn't notice that. maybe that's what bugs me about it.

my favorite part of Little Bird is the "there's fruit so me and it tastes so good" line. The cello at in the bridge is very Smile-esque (is that the part from Child is the Father?) and the song rocks harder than it first appears (turning it up helps). If I had to pick a song from Friends that would have been it.

the whole backing track at about 1:25 sounds like it may have been recycled or at least just replayed from Child is the Father. The bass line, wah wah muted trumpet, etc.

#38

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c9/Surfin%27SafariCover.jpg

Surfin' Safari - Surfin' Safari
123 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FS7SUFz36lg

oh shit forgot to note, barbara ann had one #1 vote

Hard to believe this is the same group that released "Surfin" only a few months previously. Plus, great album cover.

oh shit forgot to note, barbara ann had one #1 vote
--iatee

oh shit forgot to note, barbara ann had one #1 vote

wtf

One thing about this poll: every time one of the canon/greatest hits songs that I didn't vote for places, I feel guilty and pretentious.

didn't vote for anything earlier than girl don't tell me, lots of these early ones are obv great but between being oldies radio fodder (ie played out) and not ~speaking~ to me like the 66-72 period they didn't make the cut

xp lol

#37

http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lfr2q4yzGh1qa488po1_500.jpg

Guess I'm Dumb (Glen Campbell) - Single
125 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k_Yj9oHikgY

Is Barbara Ann the first one so far to have had a #1 vote?

I didn't vote for Little Bird but it's a solid, strange little tune. Love the "guess I'll go mow the lawn" bit. song strings together a whole bunch of little, simple riffs in an engaging way.

yeah, i didn't remember it being made up of all those different little parts, with little in the way of repetition. love that chord change around 1:36, too!

Guess I'm Dumb is epic

You're So Good To Me did

Kiss Me Baby did too but that was a mistake reveal

xp

if the beach boys had recorded this song, as was apparently the initial plan, who would best for the lead vocal? I can't figure it out.

oh crud, i forgot to vote for guess i'm dumb. should been included on pet sounds imo... as good as anything on there

would guess brian would do the vocal best.

never heard this before. What's the story?

who would best for the lead vocal? I can't figure it out.

Brian for sure! it has a bit of an "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" vibe.

http://naiveharmonies.com/2010/02/stacks-glen-campbell-guess-im-dumb/ x[

xp

yeah I guess brian makes the most sense

Did anyone vote for My World Fell Down by Sagittarius, or would that have been too much of a stretch?

guess i'm dumb is pretty sweet (tho i don't think it and solo material should really be in this poll w/e)

i could see mike love almost pulling that off using his "sensitive" voice from a few years later, but not at the time of the glen recording

nobody voted for it, woulda been a stretchhh xp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIeC8WU3tbg

this got two votes tho

I didn't vote for any of the later solo work, but I included Guess I'm Dumb as it feels like part of the Today->Smile peak era despite the different vocalist - and it's really strong.

man, guess i'm dumb is tooo good. i could have thrown that in my number one spot without much hesitation.

37 Guess I’m Dumb 125
38 Surfin' Safari 123
39 Little Bird 122
40 Barbara Ann 116
41 Little Deuce Coupe 116
42 All Summer Long 114
43 Sail On Sailor 111
44 Wendy 111
45 Wonderful 105
46 Little Pad 104
47 Forever 103
48 Time to Get Alone 103
49 Celebrate the News 99
50 Long Promised Road 96
51 The Little Girl I Once Knew 93
52 You Still Believe In Me 93
53 I Can Hear Music 92
54 Then I Kissed Her 92
55 Wild Honey 90
56 Please Let Me Wonder 88
57 Country Air 84
58 Cool, Cool Water 79
59 Add Some Music To Your Day 78
60 Wind Chimes 76
61 That's Not Me 75
62 Aren't You Glad 74
63 You're So Good To Me 70
64 California Saga - Big Sur 66
65 Let’s Go Away For Awhile 65
66 Our Prayer 64
67 River Song 62
68 The Trader 61
69 Here Comes The Night 60

I would have no second thoughts giving someone that tracklist

nobody voted for it, woulda been a stretchhh xp
this got two votes tho

Interesting. That and the Campbell song are both pretty cool. I've never heard either. It's kind of funny how Brian Wilson in the producer's chair makes something seem more "Beach Boys" than a Gary Usher / Terry Melcher / Bruce Johnston / Glenn Campbell (and probably Wrecking Crew) collaboration.

I'm trying to decide which is less convincing: Glen Campbell's lip-syncing or that guy strumming but not bothering to fret his guitar....

Surfin' Safari and Little Deuce Coupe both TOO LOW

Loved that Glen Campbell video, esp the dancers doing variations on The Swim. They looked like they'd rehearsed about 10 minutes.

Surfin' Safari and Little Deuce Coupe both TOO LOW

― confidence mane (crüt), Tuesday, August 16, 2011 3:32 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

srsly

i voted for mostly oldies and even i didn't vote for barbara-ann.

Hi,

Did anyone vote for "You're Welcome" ?

Didn't vote for it, but always kinda liked it. So simple, yet so trancelike, like it was a reading of a 450-year-old hymnal.

It's songs like these that make me miss B sides.

["Celebrate The News" is] 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?

"Shortnin' Bread" (great track btw)

it was "Little Bird"

yup

yup

#36

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/7a/The_Beach_Boys_-_Fun,_Fun,_Fun.PNG

Fun, Fun, Fun - Shut Down V2
132 points, 5 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgS_Wf5i38k

told myself I would not be that guy, but TOO LOW! My #3.

tbh it just makes me think of present day mike love

Present day Mike Love makes me think of Can we be shown weirdos + Mike Love?, and that makes me SMiLE

Anyone know why there's two mixes of this song? Easiest way to tell them apart is the quick fade at the end of the album version. The link here has the long fadeout so it's the 45rpm mix. Don't think it's just a mono/stereo thing.

I think it might be a mono/stereo thing, actually. Mono appears to have a longer outro.

I haven't heard the mono album mix so that may be, though I've also read that the single mix was designed to sound better on circa-1960 car radios.

Actually this is IMO one of Mike Love's best lyrics. Apparently a completely true and accurate account of a girl he knew who asked to borrow her dad's car to go to the library but really had other things in mind. And it really was a Ford Thunderbird. Think of how different the song's meter would have had to been if her dad drove, say, a Studebaker Hawk...

The mono album mix and single mix appear to be the same thing according to Spotify.

"Shortnin' Bread" (great track btw)

agree!

In some downtime, what's the best track on MIU? I'd take Peggy Sue.

"Come Go With Me", at least of the MIU songs I know.

re: mono vs. stereo - I would want to check a vintage vinyl copy to know for sure though - there's been alot of remastering and retouching over the years, and small differences often go unnoticed by the record companies. For instance, several of the songs on the "Classics selected by Brian Wilson" comp sound very different than the same songs on the regular CDs. That disc sounded way off to my ears, as if it has been reprocessed with more reverberation or something.

Don't remember much about that album except "Matchpoint of Our Love" being more "Matchpoint of Our LOLz". "Sweet Sunday Kinda Love" is quite nice perhaps? Expunged the album from my memory tbh.

#35

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beach_Boys_-_Friends_(single).jpg

Friends - Friends
137 poits, 7 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyxTMfh81K4

Didn't vote for it but it's a good one

did that img not work, I can't tell I'm on a phone

re: Fun Fun Fun. According to the Beach Boys album archive the album and single versions are indeed different:
http://www.surfermoon.com/tracks/files/f/fun_fun_fun.shtml
http://www.surfermoon.com/tracks/files/f/fun_fun_fun2.shtml

iatee, it won't steal any thunder if I go ahead and start Led Zeppelin balloting, will it?

fit and working, they could be talking about the stereo LP version though. the mono album version should be the same as the mono single.

This track has a creepy edge to it. Kind of like the album cover.

xp yeah, i see what you're saying

wmc I thought that's how it worked, one votes while the last one posts the results

ok, just wanted to check. the fewer hard and fast rules, the higher the enthusiasm level, I think.

this got two votes tho

almost voted for that American Spring track myself. definitely the standout track on the album, a really interesting piece of work.

I think it might be a mono/stereo thing, actually. Mono appears to have a longer outro.

the coda is the best thing about this song!

#34

I'm Waiting For the Day - Pet Sounds
140 points, 6 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QsdMKybsJg&feature

YOU DIDN'T THINK!

Great song

and the Pet Sounds parade begins!

I wonder if any of the songs from Pet Sounds might not make it? Maybe the title track?

that's probably the only one.

Perhaps "I Know There's an Answer" and "You Still Believe in Me" could slip through the cracks.

"waiting for the day" = really great, though it didn't make my ballot. starts out a little bit ho-hum, but it goes so many different places in the space of three minutes. good example of the pocket symphony thing wilson was shooting for at this time.

33

Kiss Me, Baby - Today!
141 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NoJ-yulhF8o

4 real this time

re: Today's cover photo - why are they hanging out by the pool in sweaters

since we already saw that one:

#32

Can't Wait Too Long - Rarity/Outtake
144 points, 5 votes, 1 #1 vote

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHXGvDP8iLI

my #1

yeah this one was way up there for me as well, remember being totally knocked out the first time I heard it. Oddly, structurally it reminds me of that other legendary outtake "You Know My Name, Look Up the Number", with the different permutations on a single theme being strung together. Of course, the effect here is entirely different - less comical, alternately exuberant and meditative, and of course with better vocals

Damn, forgot how good that one was.

it's not hard to see how Brian felt overwhelmed by the prospect of stringing all these musical ideas together into a cohesive 40-minute LP during the Smile process. This one track has about 15 of them, and it's a mess, but an enjoyable mess.

Fun Fun Fun should have been top 10!

the weird thing is, by all accounts Can't Wait Too Long was written/constructed AFTER Smile had already crashed and burned

yay for can't wait too long!

woulda been my #1 too. had I voted :/

I'm collecting late/missed votes and showing the alt results when it's over, so you can still send one. someone else voted it high too, so that would potentially make it bizarro world top 20.

can't wait too long was my #2 i think. prefer the good vibrations box set version -- that opening! good lord.

Dom you didn't vote?! wtf

also I'm lazy and still haven't compiled the album results so it's not too late for anyone to officially vote for those

heh, that sounds like me at work.

"When's the ad deadline?"
"When do you want it to be?"

i know i know. it was a busy time when this was happening, and I just couldn't get it together. but maybe I can think about it today and come up w/something. also I'm lazy

can't wait too long needs you

it's a mess, but an enjoyable mess.
--skip

I've said it like 10 times on ilm but this song is straight stereolab

maybe not the bongos + shouty "baby you know that I/can't wait forever" part but yeah I definitely think the 'Lab took notes on this one

What instrument/effects are used for the bass that comes in at about 1:20?

I think this might have made my ballot if I'd done more research listening before voting. But it still felt like I listened to nothing but Beach Boys for a week!

What instrument/effects are used for the bass that comes in at about 1:20?

pretty basic - sounds like picked bass with a slapback echo/plate reverb on it to me

Anyone know why they abandoned this one after that much work on it, given how promising it was? I have to mentally shift the lyrics from the last part to the lushly-produced middle section for it to work as a song.

What instrument/effects are used for the bass that comes in at about 1:20?

Just sounds like regular old bass to me. If it's Carol Kaye, she played a P-Bass with pick and mute which leads to that plunky sound.

Can't wait to long also kind of reminds me of Child is Father to the Man in its structure. Instrumental parts + a minimal repeated lyrical riff of sorts.

IDG the stereolab connection though?

I know Brian liked to use a bass harmonica for that buzzy low sound sometimes, though this did sound like a bass guitar. I'm not a bassist so not familiar with common effects pedals or amp settings.

oh wait no I was thinking of Carol's bass tag at the end, sorry.

1:20 mark = I'm a little less sure what's going on, sounds like there might be Carol's standard P-bass pick + mute as well as a bass run through a fuzz/distortion channel? Fuzz just might be a guitar too though.

xp

didn't high llamas actually cover this at some point? am i making that up?

at 1:20 the bass line is also doubled with piano. that might be what you're talking about

IDG the stereolab connection though?

wordless vocals, droning two chord changes, multiple permutations of a single theme - these are things Stereolab did a lot of

xp

just noticed your screen name lol

Oh, and "Kiss Me Baby" amongst my higher picks - one of their best lyrics. The second verse is especially devastating - so many mood shifts in such a short space - "As I drove away I felt a tear/it hit me I was losing someone dear/Told my folks I would be alright/tossed and I turned, my head was so heavy/Then I wondered as it got light/were you still awake like me?"

Spectacular!

Not the clean plucked bass, but the fuzzy bass or thick stringed guitar on the right channel, also prominent at 1:54 - 2:04

didn't high llamas actually cover this at some point? am i making that up?
--Dominique

I think you are cause I feel like i would have come across that at some point in my life. I hope you aren't, tho.

iirc they did anna lee the healer

i don't think the high llamas have done it, though i hear more of them than stereolab here.

Hey - I've been at a festival - did I miss everything?!

haters, i'm the one who voted for Barbara Ann. and I did know it's a cover - but it's just so fun! Great dancing song. I like the Beach Boys when they urge me to dance. The beauty of the write-in poll!

#31

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Beach_boys_surfin%27_usa.PNG

Surfin' USA - Surfin' USA
146 points, 6 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMwU30Cw5q8

classic. even with overexposure, still sounds fresh/fun to me.
bonus: my hometown mentioned in this song.

It's instructive comparing this to, say, "Hey Little Cobra" by the Rip Chords or "GTO" by Ronny & the Daytonas. This may sound kind of stale nowadays (disagree, but you could make that argument) but it's head and shoulders above pretty much any pure surf vocal track I can think of. With the possible exception of Surfin' Bird :)

the Chuck Berry lift doesn't hurt either

does berry get royalties on this song? doesn't seem like he'd hesitate to sue.

According to wiki he did just that:

"Berry received co-writing credit for composing the song after litigating."

it's a total bite, Berry very justified imho

yeah i suppose he deserves credit -- wilson adds quite a bit though, doesn't he?

re: Smile vs Smiley Smile versions of Wind Chimes/Wonderful - I'll take the creepy Autumnal Smiley Smile vershes every time.

Not the clean plucked bass, but the fuzzy bass or thick stringed guitar on the right channel, also prominent at 1:54 - 2:04

aha, I hear what you mean now

#30

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/a/a1/Beach_Boys_-_Sloop_John_B.jpg

Sloop John B - Pet Sounds
149 points, 6 points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdov2UIjUpY

yeah i suppose he deserves credit -- wilson adds quite a bit though, doesn't he?

song was mostly Carl's idea iirc...? I dunno if Brian even had anything to do with this song. Lyrics are pure Mike Love, for instance.

oh man love Brian's pose in that Sloop John B single sleeve

xp huh, really? guess i figured it was mainly brian because of the solo piano demo on the good vibrations box.

haha yeah it's totally something a 5 year old would do

always the odd man out, i guess.

guess i figured it was mainly brian because of the solo piano demo on the good vibrations box.

I could be totally wrong! (my memory may be based entirely on that Stamos TV movie lol) haven't heard the demo

huh wiki says it was all Brian, which seems... odd

change the article imo

"Co-written by john stamos, mike love and chuck berry, "Surfin' USA" was recorded by The Beach Boys released as a single on March 4, 1963 and it also appeared on the 1963 album of the same name."

What's the rarest track yall voted for? I had the Four Freshmen cover of "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" which got packaged next to 'Can't Wait Too Long' on a Smiley Smile/Wild Honey reissue

I had the Four Freshmen cover of "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring"

this was in my top 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ojc5wq-GAQ

^^^Dennis presumably off being drunk somewhere

but the part where they break down their individual harmony lines in that song o_0

I wanted an excuse to post that song too

how about the alternate lyrics?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQFvobezpjI

yeah I like the original lyrics better

James Dean was lame.

haha yeah, not the most inspired cover of all time. The singing is great however.

#29

I Know There's An Answer / Hang On To Your Ego - Pet Sounds
153 points, 8 votes (2 for Hang On To Your Ego)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVIlp5_w4f8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQ5J2GkhiBo

Def one of my faves from PS. Although I think I Know There's An Answer is a better lyric.

yeah me too esp in the context of the album

On HOTYE/IKTAA, there's a little flourish at the end of each chorus line - "I know there's an answer/Ba Ba Ba Ba/I know now but I have to find it by myself" - which appears on nearly every version of the song except the ones on the finished album. A shame really, as it makes the song.

this, like many tracks on Pet Sounds now that I think about it, is one that only really works for me in the context of the album. The backing track beats you over the head with its Brian Wilson-ness and borders on chintzy, but after 9 tracks it's easy not to notice.

it kind of feels like an intermission to me

#28

Do It Again - 20/20
173 points, 9 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHpjILzv1P4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd9S5KA9lbE

By far their best drums.

oh crap there's gotta be single art for that one. I'm on a phone (lol work) could someone post it?

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/Beach_Boys_-_Do_It_Again_%28single%29.JPG

damn you
http://www.chartstats.com/images/artwork/3035.jpg

Air used those drums for "Remember" off their first album.

Their first flirtation with becoming an oldies band. Rekindled but didn't quite recapture their '62-'64 sound.

Do It Again, I'm not a big fan of though - sounds like the Boys submitting to their status as an "oldies" band - and this was what? 1969? Only four years after Pet Sounds? Proof that premature nostalgia was rife even in the sixties.

xpost

An oldies band with totally futuristics robotic drums!

It's as if Blur's 13 had songs all about recapturing the days of Parklife and how everything was better in 1995.

that's the received wisdom about the song and also what it was sorta meant to do. but I think it's actually got a radically different sound from their endless summer stuff. xp

Three years after Pet Sounds, probably equivalent to about 10 years today

I mean there's the drum sound obv, but also the vocal harmony is loud, crashing...almost menacing? it's not something they did pre-smile