Greetings

Hello---I'm new to the board, although I've been lurking for a while now--and yes, I joined before the Grammy appearance. I think this place is fantastic and I've learned a lot eavesdropping as it were.

For the record, I've been a die-hard Beatles fan for most of my life. I was born after they broke up, but my father was a fan and I grew up listening to his Beatles Oldies...but Goodies 8-track. I pretty much know everything there is to know about the Fab Four.

Being a fan for so long I think hard-core fans are predisposed to two beliefs---the "Sgt. Pepper is the best album ever" belief and, as it relates to other groups like the Beach Boys, "the Beatles are clearly better than the Beach Boys" belief.

I will admit, that I did by into those for a long time--but I am here to say that I have since been reformed. I grew up listening to oldies music and the mid-late 60s are my favorite by far. Listening to the local oldies station here in Jersey (101.1 FM) they played mostly Beatles, Beach Boys, Stones, etc., the typical stuff. As I accumulated Beatles albums, I only ever listened to the standard Beach Boy stuff on the radio (I Get Around, Fun Fun Fun, Surfer Girl), but again, I succumbed to the aforementioned belief #2 and shrugged them off. About 15 years ago, I bought Pet Sounds out of curiosity (because I'd heard so much about it and it was the album that had Wouldnt It Be Nice), and was completely blown away--I mean utterly blown away. The instrumentation, raw emotion and of course the harmonies---just blew my mind. Much later, I heard some of the Pet Sounds Sessions box from a friend---and was blown away again. When I got my first iPod, Pet Sounds was one of the CDs that I had to load (with the Beatles catalog of course). I really didnt think much about the BBs for a while, besides loading the occasional song to iTunes.

Fast forward to this past October. You all will have to excuse me for getting too personal, but this past fall I had a breakdown of sorts and things were a bit bumpy for me. During this time, a friend of mine, who's into music as much as I am, gave me his opinion about "Wendy" and sent me a clip of the BBs performing it on the Ed Sullivan show. That clip really sparked my interest---don't know why. I started listening to Beach Boys again, but going beyond the standards. That was around mid-October. Then of course, started reading about the impending release of the TSS. I got around to "Surf's Up". I listened to TSS version of Surfs Up over an over again and can honestly say that that tune truly helped me at a really dark period of my life. As hokey as it sounds, and I'm a musician, I didn't think music like that was possible. I'm still in awe. That track is probably the best pop production recorded. Ever. And that's from a Beatles fan.

Anyway, sorry to ramble but I just felt like I had to get that out. I've since learned more about the BBs than I ever had in my life---a lot of it due to this board as well--and am grateful to find such great music--music that I had never heard until recently. Brian Wilson is a true musical genius and was ahead of his time with Pet Sounds and SMiLE, without a doubt. It's great to see him somewhat happy after all he's been through. And to me, SMiLE is right up there with Pepper. End of story.

Thanks and again, apologies for rambling.

Best regards...

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