I actually like all of side 2. I find "Disney Girls" at least as bad as "Student Demonstration Time", the only Bruce Johnston-led song I really enjoy is "The Nearest Faraway Place" (his two on Sunflower are OK). Holland is my favourite record of theirs when Wild Honey isn't.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 02:18 (two years ago) link
I like "Disney Girls" fine, it's middle-of-road corn, but it's also tuneful and modest. Except for "Sail on Sailor," I never liked Holland. It was kind of depressing to hear Rob Fraboni talk about that album - he gets to produce the Beach Boys, and he couldn't even get them all in the same room together to record their harmonies and apparently did it piecemeal. It's like they didn't give a shit, and Dennis pretty much didn't. IIRC, he was supposed to sing lead on "Sail on Sailor," and Fraboni had to grab him and put him in front of the mic - didn't work, he barely sang the song when he literally walked out in mid-take saying he had to go because he had like a new surfboard he wanted to try.
― birdistheword, Friday, 9 April 2021 02:35 (two years ago) link
You know, I never really got into "All Summer Long" for some reason. Some killer, iconic singles hammocked by some pretty run-of-the-mill car'n'girl songs the like we'd heard before.
Surf's Up is dusky and Septembral. I find Day In The Life of A Tree and Disney Girls both really touching and I'd consider them for a personal best-of.
Haven't had a Beach Boys day for a while. Think I'll change that, perhaps go through the discog for the first time in years, even
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Friday, 9 April 2021 07:15 (two years ago) link
Picking a top 5 is really hard. Ignoring Smile, this is the best I can come up with
1. Smiley Smile 2. Surf's Up 3. Sunflower4. Surfer Girl 5. Friends
But I feel like I killed a lot of darlings there and was especially contrarian for not including Pet Sounds, which I do love of course
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Friday, 9 April 2021 07:23 (two years ago) link
(Beatles)
― Sequel to Sadness (Sund4r), Friday, 9 April 2021 14:23 (two years ago) link
I wonder if anyone would change their vote if the Beach Boys had also made their last album in 1970.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 14:33 (two years ago) link
Beatles here too, and in terms of '60s bands, the Velvet Underground and the Stones too for that matter. The Beach Boys would be right behind with the Who, the Kinks, the Byrds and CCR, but honestly ranking like this feels kind of pointless, they're all great bands - I'd rather focus on their best work than nitpick over the faults.
Speaking of which, I'd probably drop All Summer Long in favor of SMiLE had it been "finished." Brian Wilson circa 2004 isn't the same as him circa 1967, but what they put out in 2011 based on the 2004 template makes the case that what they had was very close to an album that could be considered finished, even if Brian had envisioned a whole lot more work. Some of the lyrics used to finish it in 2004 didn't feel all that necessary, IMHO - "Blue Hawaii" felt like the only song that needed substantial work, and even in its unfinished state, it sounds like the old recordings had the framework and more.
― birdistheword, Friday, 9 April 2021 15:07 (two years ago) link
And I should add, YES, it does live up to the hype. It was kind of tough to listen when I first heard the bootlegs, but when I heard them put together based on the 2004 album (this was before the definitive 2011 reissue), it was kind of miraculous - like it really needed to be sequenced correctly and pruned of the extraneous bits to make everything come through, and it really is brilliant. I don't know if he'll ever admit this, but I think that's what happened to Christgau. He consistently dumped on that work for decades and then he listens to the 2004 album and suddenly lo and behold it's an A+ work of genius. He says it's mainly due to the new vocals, but I don't find that convincing at all.
― birdistheword, Friday, 9 April 2021 15:12 (two years ago) link
"don't worry baby" is better than any beatles songs but i prefer the beatles overall
― treeship., Friday, 9 April 2021 16:18 (two years ago) link
That is sort of my take, although at some point I kind of finally burned out on The Beatles. Although I can still listen in moderation, I guess.
― It Is Dangerous to Meme Inside (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 9 April 2021 16:19 (two years ago) link
"Don't Worry Baby" is probably my favorite Beach Boys track, even before Carl Wilson died. I remember flipping on the oldies station (104 around Chicago) that Sunday while I ate a late breakfast and read the Sunday comics, and then two songs later, they play this while mentioning "you probably heard by now" etc. I hadn't been a Beach Boys fan for that long, but the band felt really gone after that, with two original members dead and Brian far from his former self. "God Only Knows" is right up there too, and Carl sung that.
But "A Day in the Life" is probably my favorite track period, I'm still amazed by it.
― birdistheword, Friday, 9 April 2021 16:28 (two years ago) link
the best thing about The Beach Boys was their sweet Pendleton shirts
― brimstead, Friday, 9 April 2021 18:46 (two years ago) link
Did the Beatles ever team up with the Fat Boys? No? Case closed, I guess.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 18:48 (two years ago) link
Did the Beatles ever let a tremendously coked up, vacation-wear Jimmy Page rend a hole in the fabric of space and time during a corny bar band version of "Lucille"?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EpL-eVpgJpY
― Blues Guitar Solo Heatmap (Free Download) (upper mississippi sh@kedown), Friday, 9 April 2021 18:52 (two years ago) link
I've never been a Beatles fan per se but they're still several orders of magnitude better than the Beach Boys, whose music I actively dislike save for 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations'. Everything else can perish in a fire.
― pomenitul, Friday, 9 April 2021 18:57 (two years ago) link
But have u heard about a little place called Kokomo
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:03 (two years ago) link
Pom do you know “til i die”?
― brimstead, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:04 (two years ago) link
it talks about falling onto rocks and ones soul being killed
― brimstead, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:05 (two years ago) link
'Kokomo' is hilarious, ergo I don't hate it.
I agree that 'Til I Die' is one of their finer moments.
― pomenitul, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:08 (two years ago) link
ITT: Tell The Beatles to Fuck Off
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:12 (two years ago) link
So grateful to my parents and older sister that I could grow up in a household uncontaminated by the works of Paul McCartney.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:13 (two years ago) link
Don't have an older sister but cosign.
― pomenitul, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:14 (two years ago) link
One of my favorite and most underrated Beach Boys songs, in a depresso 'Til I Die' vein
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RO_LX-m74uw
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:14 (two years ago) link
xpost Yes, I will cosign as well. I heard a lot of 'oldies' growing up but weirdly didn't hear hardly any of the post-Help Beatles songs until I was an adult.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:16 (two years ago) link
love it, reminds me of chris bell xp
― John Cooper of Christian rock band Skillet (map), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:18 (two years ago) link
Almost certainly my favorite Love vocal.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:21 (two years ago) link
I never thought "All I Wanna Do" was depressing, it's very nice but basically a 1964 ballad with some weird keyboards and phasing on the vocals.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
In my more provocative moments, I might be inclined to say that Blondie Chaplin's tenure is my favorite BB era
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D10_uNfCW4Y
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:26 (two years ago) link
That is an excellent song, and so much better than the two Fataar/Chaplin songs on Carl and the Passions, I'm surprised they came up with it.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:30 (two years ago) link
I would go so far as to say that Holland contains the personal best songs of everyone in the group except Brian:
Dennis - SteamboatMike - Big SurAl - Beaks of EaglesCarl - The TraderBlondie/Ricky - Leaving This Town
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:32 (two years ago) link
"Beaks of Eagles" is terrible though.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 9 April 2021 19:38 (two years ago) link
I love the recitations, and Charles Lloyd's flute.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 19:43 (two years ago) link
Poetry recitation and flutes, I'll pass.
― Duncan Disorderly (Tom D.), Friday, 9 April 2021 20:09 (two years ago) link
'Poetry Recitation and Flutes, I'll Pass' is my favorite Mike Love song.
― You Can't Have the Woogie Without a Little Boogie (Old Lunch), Friday, 9 April 2021 20:29 (two years ago) link
LMAO
― birdistheword, Friday, 9 April 2021 20:29 (two years ago) link
It's a prose recitation, really.
― Halfway there but for you, Friday, 9 April 2021 20:49 (two years ago) link
I love it. I love the whole "Jardine the eco-lumberjack stuff"
― Party With A Jagger Ban (dog latin), Friday, 9 April 2021 20:53 (two years ago) link
Big Sur is very sweet too.