Gary Zekley - As good as the Beach Boys?

[smokeythebear]

I have been a fan of the Yellow Balloon record for a long time, always thought it resembled Brian´s songs allot and that the magic was in there. But i was totally blown away when i heard Baby it´s you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdEj4OI0DNg

It must be the wrecking crew backing this version and it blows the Yellow Balloon version out of the water!

Any thoughts?

[grillo]

I'm a fan of Zekley but he's nowhere near the talent of BW or even Jan Berry. He has more than a few awesome songs (fun we had, don't be gone long, other towns other girls) but he never seemed to be able to get past that silly sort of lyrical theme and move towards songs with emotion. I do love  (and own tons of) his stuff though!

[dogear]

I'm a fan of Zekley but he's nowhere near the talent of BW or even Jan Berry. He has more than a few awesome songs (fun we had, don't be gone long, other towns other girls) but he never seemed to be able to get past that silly sort of lyrical theme and move towards songs with emotion. I do love  (and own tons of) his stuff though!

True!
Here are my top five 45s (non-LP stuff only):
The Group - Baby Baby It's You WB 5840
The Visions - How Can I Be Down? UNI 55031
The Fun & Games - We UNI 55128
The Visions - Small Town Commotion UNI 55042
The Young Stuff - Poor Boy Canterbury 514

[Andrew G. Doe]

Not. Even. Close.

[smokeythebear]

Not. Even. Close.

Hehe yeah i agree just needed to provoke a little , but to be fair i think the above link goes to show how good you can make it sound when you have the wrecking crew backing you, they provide the magic touch to the song. As i think they did with the beach boys songs, sure the later songs with the boys are good but they miss the magic ingredient of TWC.

[dogear]

In case you're interested, here's a little discography of Gary's output on 45 that I put together a couple of weeks ago. Additions and corrections are welcome. http://www.45cat.com/45_list_view_record.php?li=1392

[Aegir]

I like the Yellow Balloon version much better. this just screams "HEY LOOK AT ME TRY TO SOUND LIKE THE BEACH BOYS"

[Aomdiddlywalla]

Anyone got a latter day photo of Gary?

[roll plymouth rock]

Anyone got a latter day photo of Gary?

not photo, but here's a latter day video of him performing superman with rem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A7N3IypQVYg
he's so excited haha