New Beach Boys album - That's Why God Made the Radio

no worse than any of Brian's new material over the past 15 years, you guys ever hear his 'Imagination' album? yeesh

Think I vote D)

Genuine love for 'Its paradise when I/Lift up my antennae', mind.

"Oldie artists" make lifeless records now because there's more comping and they're always being tracked so they never sweat it?

I mean, there's more to it than that, but I absolutely think that the newer production style works against people whose training/experience was geared toward performing. The always-tracking infinite-tracks sew-it-up-later style of digital recording is pretty uninterested in performances - it's about getting enough material to make a performance in mix. Brian Wilson's always had a pretty visionary idea of how to fit many different pieces of recorded sound to make one big thing that sounds like a killer, gigantic performance, but the way he got those sounds was by getting good takes. And besides, he's not producing now, as far as I know. I do really think that most oldies types making records would make much better records if they were trying to nail a take instead of just sing through five or six times til the engineer says "I think we've got enough here, let me take an hour to put it together and we'll see what you think," which is how Pro Tools vocal tracking works most of the time.

It's supposed to be produced by Brian.

And the harmonies sound pretty good.

Also, I bet putting digital edition/production tech in the hands of old school perfectionists is a bad idea. It's very Lucas-y, in the sense that I bet some of them only see the limitations of their classic work and believe had they had digital tech back then the recordings would have been much "better."

This feels like a Brian solo record arranged by Bruce Johnston. That is all.

I don't remember any ilx discussion of Brian's last non-covers album, That Lucky Old Sun, which had some nice moments.

personally very excited about the return of the beach boys. one of my favourite bands

This feels like a Brian solo record arranged by Bruce Johnston.

This. A very "Disney Girls" retro nostalgia thing going on.

Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun - not much to go on here.

But is there a need for this type of music anymore, Geir?

Good music is timeless. Good genres are timeless. What was great in the 60s is still great today.

Still curious to hear your opinion on Still Cruisin' in terms of latter-day, Brian-including Beach Boys records.

i think of the beach boys as a band that existed in the 60s, and the stuff that came after as something else.

They exited up to 1971-73, which was roughly when Brian Wilson - for some time anyway - went to nuts he more or less ceased contributing musically to their albums. And Brian Wilson is and will always be the sole musical brain of Beach Boys. Even after he went nuts.

"Still Crusin'" is boringly retro in the wrong 50s rock'n'roll way. Obviously the brainchild of Mike Love.

"In My Car" at least is Brian, right?

But even that one is an uptempo one. Sounding more like Jan & Dean than the fantastic baroque pop and vocal harmonies that culminated on "Pet Sounds".

Wait, so the problem is tempo?

I mean, I'd agree that it's not as good as the slower numbers on that record, especially "Somewhere Near Japan," but I figured that was just a coincidence.

"Somewhere Near Japan" doesn't sound like Beach Boys.

"Still Crusin'" contains nothing sounding even remotely like "Til I Die", "Surfer Girl", "Girls On The Beach", "Don't Worry Baby", "God Only Knows", "Wind Chines" etc.

morbidly curious about "the private life of bill and sue"

Now, Brian Wilson's solo albums don't really either (except for the brilliant re-vamped "Smile"), but they are closer. Particularly the solo debut has its really great moments of pop perfection. And completely devoid of Mike Love surf and girls and beaches 50s rock crap.

The best (new) song on "Still Cruisin'" is probably "Kokomo". Which speaks volumes about the general quality.

When you say 'solo debut', do you mean the Eugene Landy album he did the vocals for?

Geir, since the Beach Boys formed in the 60s and recorded all their original, genre-defining work in the area of surf, girls and beaches during that decade, surely exploring "50s rock" is a legitimate new creative direction for them?

i just think when you find yourself having a conversation like: well, it's not as horrible as that other horrible thing he did...

that kind of horrible/boring by degrees or inches thing...

kinda sad, no?

i actually found myself defending the beach boys to maria last night. oof, i totally sounded like one of those people. it wasn't pretty.

Being sorta serious here, to the extent that it seems weird that to praise the late 60s/early 70s prog-pop side of the band, you have to tear down this other body of work where they were also pretty much sui generis and basically unmatched in quality. "I Get Around" is an amazing piece of songwriting, harmonies and recording - - doesn't it enhance the band that they have that feather in their caps?

Geir, since the Beach Boys formed in the 60s and recorded all their original, genre-defining work in the area of surf, girls and beaches during that decade, surely exploring "50s rock" is a legitimate new creative direction for them?

In my view, they didn't create much of interest until Brian Wilson started making those beautiful ballads with lots of vocal harmonies and chord/key changes. The more Four Freshmen and less Chuck Berry, the better.

As for "I Get Around", it is probably among the best of their early uptempo songs, although I would say "All Summer Long" is even better with its great vocal harmonies.

No love for "Help Me Rhonda"? I mean, you will find fewer bigger Chuck Berry fans than I on this board, but I think they had a pretty distinctive sound that was at least as synthetic as the Beatles circa 63-64. And a lot more interesting compositionally, lyrically and musically than the Four Freshmen, I have to say, although maybe I'm selling the FF short as I only know a couple of hits.

you really don't need the four freshmen in your life. just listen to the Hi-Lo's or the Four Preps instead. or doo-wop.

or The Fleetwoods. man, i could listen to the fleetwoods all day long.

morbidly curious about "the private life of bill and sue"

Involves some sort of sex slavery, I'd imagine.

I imagine that if this song was about something more palatable to people than why God made the radio that they would be all over it. It's gorgeous.

It's no "Lay Down Burden," that's for sure.

'In My Car' is great

Wow that Flash animation music video is just, almost shockingly banal. And it really doesn't help that the music sounds like I pressed "Doo Wop" on my Casio CTK-100.

this sounds like cdbaby music

Said it was a "lyric video." Maybe there will be another video.

The same video without the lyrics, I'd imagine.

z_s otm, this song is atrocious.

Good music is timeless. Good genres are timeless. What was great in the 60s is still great today.

Hm, I'm not sure I agree with the notion of "timelessness" actually. I think that certain idioms, in any art form, eventually become archaic and stale and cease to be meaningful conduits of artistic expression. Or at least, they become different types of conduits. While I love the paintings of Monet, for instance, I wouldn't be as impressed with someone making equally proficient impressionistic landscapes today. To do that, in 2012, means something different than it did in the 1870s. At worst, it would code as reactionary rather than progressive. I tend to think that their is no such thing as the pure experience of an artwork; cultural baggage inevitably comes to bear on how we view things, even if we try to avoid it. Everything has a context. This is a postmodern cliche, I admit, but I think it's true. Anyway Geir, thanks for responding.

Also, I like the idea many posters have put forward of seeing a radical break between the Beach Boys' early material and their later stuff. I think that makes sense. Something like "Somewhere Near Japan" doesn't have much in common with "God Only Knows."

FWIW, Pat, you will find a lot of love on ILM for Beach Boys from almost any era. If I remember right, the big Beach Boys poll that happened here a while ago ended up rating a TON of stuff from the 70s that I had honestly never even heard before.

Huh, that's really interesting. I'll try to find that poll and explore some of that material. I love the obvious, canonical Beach Boys stuff but my knowledge of their work terminates around Surf's Up. Thanks.

Aside from the odd track and the entirety of the wretched 15 Big Ones, the stuff on the fourth disc of the Good Vibrations is really good. Some of it is among my favorite stuff by them. I'd seek it out if you're curious.

cool. that shouldn't be too hard to track down. thanks.

I played 15BO for the first time in a while the other day and was surprised how much I enjoyed listening to it. But then again, got the same thing from MIU immediately afterwards.

I'm really, really fond of the cover of "Just Once In My Life" that's on 15 Big Ones.

this is shit.

in response to tim's enthusiasm, i listened to it a couple more times. while they aren't great, it's not the lyrics that are tripping me up. in fact i appreciate the creepy, angel-zombie earnestness. the harmonies are sweet and the basic melody serviceable, but the whole thing sounds lifeless to me. that's the problem. it's nostalgic, but in this freeze-dried, joyless sort of way that makes me think of an online funeral parlor more than anything else.

i did realize that if this were a beach boys pastiche by someone i'm more in the habit of forgiving (jeff lynne, say), i'd probably have at least a few nice things to say about it. wouldn't make me like the song though.