It's About Time: Beach Boys Poll Results

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