It's About Time: Beach Boys Poll Results

If it had been released in early '67, maybe Smile would have kicked off AOR instead of Sgt. Pepper. Then again, the Beatles were probably the only band that ever got big enough to (repeatedly) force the market to adapt to their creative whims rather than the other way around. Either way, Smile likely would have been a big if not quite Beatles-sized success if it had followed hot on the heels of the "Good Vibrations" single like Capitol hoped it would.

yeah there's def a big shift in mood between Friends and 20/20. 20/20 felt like a sort of hiatus, whereas previously the Boys had ostensibly been making albums on their own terms, that record felt more like a record company hotchpotch. It's incredible they actually recovered and made two albums as good as Sunflower/Surf's Up after that.

alright I figured out the albums NO THANKS TO ANYONE HERE

I think the Head community would really have embraced Smile, if it was released in any form close to the release we've gotten from Brian Wilson recently.

Maybe 20/20 would have worked if the Beach Boys had dragged out Surf's Up and adapted it with the other Smile leftovers, "Can't Wait Too Long" and something else into a mini-suite on Side 2 (beating the Beatles to the punch in the process). Obviously that wasn't going to happen at the time, but it could work, eh?

"Cabinessence" was the song I used to play as a blindfold test for people in college to help them see that "The Beach Boys" weren't who they thought they were. it worked on about 85-90% of the folks who heard it. But it wasn't on my list for the same reason -- it's more of an album song than a piece unto itself.

Btw, I'm on vacation w my kids the only CD in the car is Pet Sounds. The only song my four year-old wants to hear is "Sloop John B" -- which I've now heard about fifty times bc she loves it and is belting it out in her carseat as we go to and from the beach (with mangled lyrics like "Hoist up the joll-EE!"). For the "lite" song amongst Pet Sounds' teenage angst, it's a surprisingly hard song to tire of. The way Brian and Mike alternate leads is subtly masterful -- and the island fisticuffs and food theft make for a hilarious narrative. Also, it really helps break up the heaviosity of the record. Wishing that I placed this now.

We're running out of songs. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Beach Boys Love You has zero representation.

20/20 is a pretty funny name for a record that unfocused.

^^My last post - Remove "Bluebirds Over the Mountain," "The Nearest Faraway Place," and "All I Want to Do" from Side 1 in the process.

We're running out of songs. I'm having a hard time coming to terms with the fact that Beach Boys Love You has zero representation.

xposts to Native - A lot of people slag off Sloop John B, but you're right - Pet Sounds would feel like a real drag without it. Much as I love the second side of Today! it's bloody staid and austere, and that's not what the Beach Boys are about. Also I love the little "ah-yeah-yeah" bits after "I wanna go home".

#8

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2532/3838860134_cf7de611cb.jpg

http://image.kazaa.com/images/56/5099969899256/The_Beach_Boys/California_Girls/The_Beach_Boys-California_Girls_3.jpg

http://blogs.941kqk.com/files/2010/06/BBCaliforniaGirls.jpg

California Girls - Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
396 points, 18 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57P9C4SAW4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a49McFOFp0

love love love the first pic

Shame about Love You - but it's really not a single-song album, more a big fried statement of craziness. None of the songs would really work without each other. It really is like receiving a series of macaroni pictures by a man who lost his mind long ago.

love you suffered from vote splitting

Check out the vocals, if you can, on the acappella California Girls - mind blowing! The baritone "Girls, Girls! Girls, Girls!" on the coda is inaudible in the finished version.

No DLR?

"California Girls" shoulda been top 5, but I get why it's not. It is overexposed...

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

there are like 20 songs that should be top 5

love you suffered from vote splitting

I honestly went for what I thought was the consensus pick in the hopes that it would place (ie the Night Was So Young) :( Curious what other Love You voters went for?

Check out the vocals, if you can, on the acappella California Girls - mind blowing!

where is this...? not on iatee's rarities comp

yeah, " CA girls" is overexposed but still fucking great. the end of this song! is that johnston singing the "wish they all could be" echo part at the end? crazy it was his first recording with the band.

there will be no surprises in the top 7 I believe. there are exactly 5 essential songs left in the BB discography (and 2 big fan favorites)

Shame about Love You - but it's really not a single-song album, more a big fried statement of craziness.

That may be true, but with 70 songs, we could have gotten a couple in. Honkin' Down The Highway fer sure.

All my Love You votes were evicted eventually, but I would have liked to have voted for The Night Was So Young, Johnny Carson and Let's Put Our Hearts Together.

being that it's pretty obv they're not gonna make it, I can be a little spoilery, here's the love you vote breakdown

Love You I Wanna Pick You Up 21
Love You Mona 33
Love You The Night Was So Young 36
Love You Honkin' Down The Highway 26
Love You Roller Skating Child 21
Love You Let Us Go On This Way 18
Love You I'd Love Just Once To See You 12
Love You Mona 33
Love You The Night Was So Young 36
Love You Johnny Carson 14

As a Love You fan, I voted for Honkin' Down The Highway, Roller Skating Child & Let Us Go On This Way. Mona just missed.

Check out the vocals, if you can, on the acappella California Girls - mind blowing!

where is this...? not on iatee's rarities comp

― that mellow wash of meh (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 19 August 2011 17:23 (1 minute ago) Bookm

On a CD-R my friend made me unfortunately. I have no idea where it originated. Possibly a boxset?

uh that's total points on the side not individual votes, sorry, I was looking at that wondering why the night was so young didn't place

here ya go shakey
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKxukL9rKTk

21 Love You I Wanna Pick You Up
12 Love You Mona
20 Love You The Night Was So Young
26 Love You Honkin' Down The Highway
21 Love You Roller Skating Child
18 Love You Let Us Go On This Way
12 Love You I'd Love Just Once To See You
21 Love You Mona
16 Love You The Night Was So Young
14 Love You Johnny Carson

yeah, " CA girls" is overexposed but still fucking great. the end of this song! is that johnston singing the "wish they all could be" echo part at the end? crazy it was his first recording with the band.

― tylerw, Friday, 19 August 2011 17:24 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

Incredible how long for and how much Johnston contributed to the band and yet he was doomed never to be counted as a proper member my most fans :-(

FWIW, the "stereo remix" on the Spotify playlist is actually mono. There is a new stereo remix on the Classics selected by BW compilation for people into that sort of thing.

Somebody else voted for Mona! Cool. I get a little misty-eyed when Dennis croaks "I know you're gonna love Phil Spector" (Brian's words, of course).

that was me actually

alright I figured out the albums NO THANKS TO ANYONE HERE

ROFLing on putting the Katy Perry vid in the middle there, or was that an accident?

Despite overexposure, I voted for CA Girls (#13); it ain't right to leave something this amazing off. One of a kind song. I'm amazed this didn't top the charts but Help Me Rhonda did.

NO votes for Solar System?

there's a vote for solar system in the 'too late to be included in the posted results' file

Incredible how long for and how much Johnston contributed to the band and yet he was doomed never to be counted as a proper member my most fans :-(

http://media.lehighvalleylive.com/today_impact/photo/9470438-large.jpg
stamos shreds the waves too

#7

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e2/Beach_Boys_-_I_Get_Around.jpg

I Get Around - All Summer Long
468 points, 20 votes, 2 #1 votes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7Xs9WVNBU

Best pop single ever

between the two tracks, I mean.

yeah that's a doozy.

FWIW, the "stereo remix" (of CA Girl) on the Spotify playlist is actually mono. There is a new stereo remix on the Classics selected by BW compilation for people into that sort of thing.

"California Girls" b/w "Let Him Run Wild" also contender for Best Pop Single Ever (although I'd probably go with I Get Around, because it's more pop)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YifXjLbveE
this is great

i voted for Solar System in a ballot that got sent late. best song on Love You, imo. so i guess i shouldn't be surprised if my #1 pick doesn't place (Don't Worry Baby)

dennis' enthusiastic clapping makes that tv clip wonderful

yeah I was weirdly surprised that don't worry baby didn't place