THE BEACH BOYS - That's Why God Made The Radio SS member reviews

[Wirestone]

I dunno ... you can make a lot of different cases.

BB85 has a lot of really strong vocals. Some weak tunes, though. Not great work from BW.

KTSA has lots of BW/ML collabs, but BW is nowhere to be heard. And things are pretty bad otherwise.

LA has great work from Carl and Dennis, but the disco and Mike and Al tunes drag things way down.

Love You is kind of a BW solo record and features precious little harmony.

15BO, well, let's not even go there.

Holland is strong throughout, to me, but some hate the Flame tracks.

Carl and the Passions is generally so-so, but has some excellent BW tunes.

So then we come to Surf's Up, which is legitimately great.

So you could make a decent "best since" case for nearly any of these albums. It all comes down to personal preference. I say best group album since Holland, but I think you could make a case for Love You, too. But it also clearly has antecedents in BW85 ... tough.

[briwal]

I dunno ... you can make a lot of different cases.

BB85 has a lot of really strong vocals. Some weak tunes, though. Not great work from BW.

KTSA has lots of BW/ML collabs, but BW is nowhere to be heard. And things are pretty bad otherwise.

LA has great work from Carl and Dennis, but the disco and Mike and Al tunes drag things way down.

Love You is kind of a BW solo record and features precious little harmony.

15BO, well, let's not even go there.

Holland is strong throughout, to me, but some hate the Flame tracks.

Carl and the Passions is generally so-so, but has some excellent BW tunes.

So then we come to Surf's Up, which is legitimately great.

So you could make a decent "best since" case for nearly any of these albums. It all comes down to personal preference. I say best group album since Holland, but I think you could make a case for Love You, too. But it also clearly has antecedents in BW85 ... tough.

Great analysis Wirestone....I think for my money it would be since Surf's Up tho....Brian's suite has the same emotional impact as 'Til I Die...something Holland didn't do for me...although it's a very good group effort!  Love You is brilliantly quirky...but almost unfinished sounding...

[hypehat]

isnt it time is absolutely horrible :/ idk what you guys see in it smh

You're insane! the ukelele! The handclaps! Al! that deep as hell bassline! It works on so many levels!

[Paulos]

I dunno ... you can make a lot of different cases.

BB85 has a lot of really strong vocals. Some weak tunes, though. Not great work from BW.

KTSA has lots of BW/ML collabs, but BW is nowhere to be heard. And things are pretty bad otherwise.

LA has great work from Carl and Dennis, but the disco and Mike and Al tunes drag things way down.

Love You is kind of a BW solo record and features precious little harmony.

15BO, well, let's not even go there.

Holland is strong throughout, to me, but some hate the Flame tracks.

Carl and the Passions is generally so-so, but has some excellent BW tunes.

So then we come to Surf's Up, which is legitimately great.

So you could make a decent "best since" case for nearly any of these albums. It all comes down to personal preference. I say best group album since Holland, but I think you could make a case for Love You, too. But it also clearly has antecedents in BW85 ... tough.

Eh? There's only one 'Flame' track on Holland and that's Leaving This Town, which admittedly goes on a minute or so longer than it should.

[chris.metcalfe]

  Very few singers can keep their voice intact that long - the list of casualties is endless -

... as anyone who listened to (suffered) Sirs Elton and Paul at the Diamond Jubilee concert from London on Monday will testify. Someone should have a quiet word with those two.

[buddhahat]

As a summary, I think this could be better than expected from a JT influenced album. I'm waiting for the vinyl, and the general insanity of my life atm has meant I've done lots of listening in stolen moments.

Mostly, I'm very heartened by it - it's delivered on a lot of promise from BW's solo career, namely his improving voice and increasing ambition. The songs are also (mostly) well produced (Strange World!), everyone's singing well....

Mike Love is a problem (I know). His crippling lack of good taste really derails Spring Vacation (and yes, Brian does drop some of the clunkers here) and the inexplicable Beaches In Mind. I mean, it's endearingly dorky for him to write two songs about how f*cking amazing it is to be a Beach Boy, but I really don't care. (Beside the Talkbox on BiM - hilarious). What makes it painful is that he can still lay it down - Isn't It Time! Those lyrics rock!

But yeah, those are contenders for worst Beach Boys songs right there. If they proffered SV as a next single, Capitol Records should drop them. I'm amazed they even put it on the album in place of the 'full suite', but the Beach Boys were never smart, were they.

(as an aside, what's with the fluffed bridge in Spring Vacation?)

The biggest disappointment is The Private Life of Bill & Sue, though. Mostly because I was really expecting it to be cool - BW muses on celebrity culture - but he never really says anything! Maybe a better chorus would have saved it, maybe not. Also, f*cking egregious Jersey Shore reference/crummy 'spanish' guitar soloing = my fears of Imagination 2.0 realised.

Shelter hasn't hit me yet either - apart ffrom the 'makealittlelove/makeafewcalls' bit. The chorus is really predictable. And the verses sound like San Miguel.

And yeah, generally the sound/vocal processing doesn't bother me a lot, but there are a few - the first two lines in Isn't It Time are jarring.


But I do like EVERYTHING ELSE

Besides those songs, he's really knocked it out of the park compositionally - the chords posted to TWGMTR were particularly illuminating. Strange World is one I keep playing a lot - the lyrics are supersweet, and so BW. And, yeah the suite lives up to the hype. So glad BW can still DO THAT. The new 'last great' Beach Boys songs. Probably best since Love You - Dennis & Carl's songwriting/vocals are sorely missed.

Isn't It Time and Strange World are the two I keep repeating over and over - love the processed (?) high pitched bits in  the chorus of Isn't It Time, and Mike's bass-riffing.

For my slagging off Mike earlier, Daybreak is really cool - hadn't heard it from boots either. Someone here once said that Mike Love never forgets a riff, and this is doo-wop par excellence. Agree that Christian's Carl impression would have been more than welcome on the album.

There's not much you can say about the suite. But it's  wonderful. When the last section of FTTBA kicked in I was ridiculously happy - again, so happy he can do that.

Also, GOD BLESS AL JARDINE

Great review - you echo a lot of my feelings.

When I heard the samples I could instantly tell which songs I liked/disliked, and that largely hasn't changed. The one that has surprised me though, and gone up significantly in my estimation since hearing the whole song, is Strange World. It shouldn't work for me - there are no special wow chords - and superficially it sounds like something out of modern Disney Movie, but there is something about the harmonies, and interesting little melodic shifts, that keeps me coming back. And that lush, spacey ending is cool too.

For me it is the best BB album since Love You.

[gxios]

I bought it yesterday having not heard one note except for about half of the title cut.  Going back to "Surf's Up" all BB's albums have had to grow on me, but I liked this one from the get-go. Good opening, great closing, couple of tunes I could take or leave, nothing I hated.  Mike doesn't sound too nasal.  I wished for more David Marks guitar, and a more guitar based tune like the early days.

[Micha]

5) The Private Life Of Bill And Sue" - More amazing hooks, even though it's a reworked "South American". Joe wrote a great chorus. I love the "hum-body oddy" background vocals. They could've made that radio broadcast at the end louder; I can't make out what they're saying. If you sit and listen to this song two times in a row, you will be singing it the rest of the day.

Unfortunately, that isn't true in my case. After hearing it twice I got into the habit of skipping it every time I listen to the album. To me it's absolutely awful, even if it's meant to be funny, which I did consider. But I'm still very much pleased with the album overall.

[phirnis]

For me it's probably their best since either the Light Album or BB85.

For my personal taste, Surf's Up, CATP, Holland and Love You are all MUCH better than TWGMTR but overall this new one is definitely stronger than KTSA, Still Cruisin', SIP, and S&S Vol. 1... kind of similar to BB85 in terms of overall quality, so for me it's hard to decide which one's actually better (BW's new 3-song suite vs. Carl's songs and lead vocals on BB85).

[HighOnLife]

I hum "Strange World" more than any other song since I've heard the album. Catchy chorus.

[TimmyC]

Here's my review, fwiw.

TATD - 9/10 - I hated the piano at first, it sounded to me more like air supply than the beach boys. But having heard the whole thing, I love it.
TWGMTR - 10/10 - again, if this weren't the single, I think everyone would be including this as one of the highlights of the album along with the last three tracks. I LOVE the "whole new generation" part - brings tears to my eyes.
Isn't it Time - 9.5/10 - only gets a 9.5 because of Brian's drooling old man vocal (I stole that imagery from another smilery smiler). But otherwise it's so good. I love how Brian Mike and Al trade off vocals.
Spring Vacation - 9/10 - I LOVE the lyrics - I think they are obviously autobiographical and that's how I like to think of them. The fact that they're back together again, for at least one last, makes me incredibly happy, and I'm glad that this song celebrates that (together with an AWESOME melody). This also seems to be the only time we hear Bruce singing lead (if just for two lines).
TPLOBAS - 5.5/10 - eh. I  like the chorus, and I'm glad that there's kind of a quirky, somewhat socially relevant track on the album, but it's rather boring to me.
Shelter - 6.5/10 - Upon first listening, I thought I'd really like this one, but alas, it's another one that I'm just not too excited about.
Daybreak - 7/10 - 7 is probably a little generous. I think this is a very nice tune and probably the most "Sunflower-y" of the bunch. I really like the production for the most part, and the doo-wop-y chorus of vocals sounds amazing. But ultimately the song itself is a modest effort from a man with modest songwriting talents.
Beaches in Mind - 8.5/10 - after a bit of a downswing, the album kicks back into gear with this song. I know everyone hates this, but I love it and so does allmusic.com, so I think I'm in good company. I will say though that I am a little disappointed - I thought this track would be a 10/10, but after hearing the whole thing, it just seems like the song never goes anywhere. Although it's interesting, I have no idea why Spring Vacation for instance feels complete and Beaches in Mind doesn't...
Strange World - 9.5/10 - I kinda get the unfinished/going nowhere feeling with this one too, but overall I love it. The melody is fantastic and the chorus soaring. I love the "multi-colored" lyrics....
FTTBA - 10/10 - I can't even address this song. It's too good for words. I will just say that I think comparisons to Pet Sounds is kind of silly. How can you compare this with an album that was released 45 years ago? I just don't think it's a helpful comparison nor do I think that it's necessary. This song stands on it's own in 2012 and is brilliant. Absolutely freakin' brilliant. We don't need to compare it to anything else.
PCH - 10/10 - see review of FTTBA (as an aside I kind of consider FTTBA and PCH to be one song)
Summer's Gone - 10/10 - to me not as great as the previous two tracks, but still brilliant and a perfect career closer  (and I love the story behind the song)

Overall, this album to me is a 10/10. I think objectively it's more of an 8/10 (due to the three middle tracks), but as a Beach Boys fan, the fact that this album exists and is as good as it is is beyond extraordinary. I absolutely love it - it's the perfect mix of Brian's melancholy and Mike's "positivity". I am so thankful to Brian for capping off the Beach Boys career in such an incredibly exciting, joyful, and artistic way. I'm not a fan of Brian's solo career (other than his 88 album). He belongs with the Beach Boys and I'm very, very grateful that he still cares enough about them to PROPERLY and beautifully cap off their career.

[Cabinessenceking]

imo, best album since Love You, although a couple of the tracks since then are better than those on TWGMTR
examples of these songs: Where I Belong (because its carl vocals), dennis LA songs, even Male Ego (because it's so BW)

overall I like the new album alot, though im still getting used to the sound of BB in a modern production setting. Not as warm as the old muddy sound they used to have, but I still like it. Less instrumentation than I imagined. I thought the album would be full PS/Smile in instrumentation and hardly any lead guitar anywhere, guess I was wrong.

[EgoHanger1966]

I hum "Strange World" more than any other song since I've heard the album. Catchy chorus.

Mike Love is doing some really cool bass stuff on the choruses. The 'modern' approach to the mix hides his vocal. I wish this album could have been mixed more authentically. The slickness of hiding all the imperfections and having voices and insturments moving in the stereo spread to cover stuff up. Summer's Gone is *almost* mixed 60s style, and it sounds the most honest because of that.

[EgoHanger1966]

imo, best album since Love You, although a couple of the tracks since then are better than those on TWGMTR
examples of these songs: Where I Belong (because its carl vocals), dennis LA songs, even Male Ego (because it's so BW)

overall I like the new album alot, though im still getting used to the sound of BB in a modern production setting. Not as warm as the old muddy sound they used to have, but I still like it. Less instrumentation than I imagined. I thought the album would be full PS/Smile in instrumentation and hardly any lead guitar anywhere, guess I was wrong.

I don't really know how to place this album against Love You - it's two totally diferent specicies.

Honestly, I think the easiest album to compare this one to is M.I.U. I think the same 'Beach Boys' approach is used. I think I like the new album and MIU about equally.
I dig TWGMTR more than Surf's Up, Carl/Passions, Holland, or LA Light though.

[AndrewHickey]

It's the best since LA... but that's really not saying much.

I will *almost certainly* change my views about the album *substantially* over the next few months, but after listening through it maybe twenty times, my thoughts:

Think About The Days -- Sounds like something Bruce would write. Nice french horn. Not much really there. 3/10

That's Why God Made The Radio -- album mix is better than the single mix, and it's grown on me, but it's still a patchwork of bits of better songs. 4/10

Isn't It Time -- the best Beach Boys track since at least Where I Belong, maybe the best post-Love You Beach Boys track full stop. Great. 9/10

Spring Vacation -- Utterly irredeemable. Trite melody, awful lyrics, and production that sounds like a bad mid-90s US sitcom theme. 1/10

The Private Life Of Bill And Sue -- Fun, if a little derivative. Love the opening couplet, but less so the list of placenames in the chorus. 7/10

Shelter -- There are bits of four great songs here (admittedly, one of them is Save The Last Dance and another is Thinkin' Bout You Baby, but the other two seem new), but I'm not entirely convinced that they've been joined together properly. 8/10 but would be a 9 if some more work had been done on smoothing the transitions between sections. On the other hand, this is the one song where the robo-processing works.

Daybreak Over The Ocean -- dull. 2/10

Beaches In Mind -- Unsure if this is worse than Spring Vacation. 1/10

Strange World -- I am honestly unsure if this is genius or bombastic nonsense, and suspect I won't reach a decision for some time. It's either 2/10 or 9/10, but I'd lean toward 9 if only because it's actually interesting enough to make me wonder which way I'll end up thinking of it.

From There To Back Again -- sounds like something Paul Williams would write. This is A Good Thing. And Al does an excellent job -- just a shame he's ruined by the worst vocal processing on the album. 8/10 but would knock it up a couple of points if we had a mix with a clean vocal.

Pacific Coast Highway -- nice, but not really something you can judge on its own. A fragment, not a song, but a solid 6/10 fragment.

Summer's Gone -- I know literally *everyone* else on this board thinks this is Caroline No, Surf's Up and Wonderful combined and made better, but I really, really don't get it. To me this is about thirty seconds of rather dirge-like musical material repeated ad nauseam, with tedious, uninsightful lyrics. I can only presume I'm missing something and that in six months or so I'll say "OH!!! I GET it now!" and hit myself for being so stupid, but right now I can honestly not give this any better than 3/10.

[Ron]

Spring Vacation is weird genius. It really is dumb and brilliant at the same time. There is no reason why the most shallow song on the album feels like the deepest.

I really think it's a fantastic song too.  Deceptively good. 

[Newguy562]

There has'nt been a strong album like this since sunflower
this new album has 6 great songs and sunflower has 8 ..imo

[beach boys fan podcast]

My little review via podcast is up at http://www.thebeachboyspodcast.podbean.com

[Nicko1234]

My take on things...

Throughout the album the lyrics bring it down. Obviously that`s the case with the references to the old hits but even on the songs when Mike isn`t listed as a writer the lyrics are still iffy. Some just poor and others knowingly nostalgic.

The production is also substandard to me and the 80s MOR comments are fair enough and there is a lot of cheese. I sincerely doubt that Brian produced this album alone and kind of hope that he didn`t.

Having said that, this is as good an album as the band has released during the wilderness years. Half of the songs are genuinely good and the others are listenable. The only possible exception being Beaches in Mind which is lyrically obvious and musically meritless.

The album isn`t in the same league as Holland imo and when the dust settles and time passes I would expect that to be a widely held view.

[Nicko1234]

My take on things...

Throughout the album the lyrics bring it down. Obviously that`s the case with the references to the old hits but even on the songs when Mike isn`t listed as a writer the lyrics are still iffy. Some just poor and others knowingly nostalgic.

The production is also substandard to me and the 80s MOR comments are fair enough and there is a lot of cheese. I sincerely doubt that Brian produced this album alone and kind of hope that he didn`t.

Having said that, this is as good an album as the band has released during the wilderness years. Half of the songs are genuinely good and the others are listenable. The only possible exception being Beaches in Mind which is lyrically obvious and musically meritless.

The album isn`t in the same league as Holland imo and when the dust settles and time passes I would expect that to be a widely held view.

Quick thought on the tracks...

1, A pleasant if unspectacular opener. A nice start.
2, Since first hearing the single I haven`t been able to warm to it. Not a bad song at all but it doesn`t sound like a BBs song to me (maybe because it was written by outsiders?) and I don`t like the voices are produced. They don`t sound as distinctive as they should.
3, The opening to this song sounds slightly too slow to me and isn`t helped by Brian`s slightly slurred vocals. It is quite catchy and Al`s and Mike`s vocals help but not a favourite.
4, Obviously some poor lyrics but very catchy and shows that Brian and Mike can still come up with ridiculously singable songs. If this were 1965 it would be massive.
5, Nonsense lyrics and fairly dull.
6, Shelter is an improvement on what`s gone before and Foskett does a decent job on vocals.
7, Daybreak is still a very good song but sounds a little out of place here. Would have been better if they`d re-recorded it.
8, Beaches in Mind is bad lyrically but the music is worse.
9, Things are starting to pick up.
10, Superb vocal by Al which lifts this song immeasurably. Excellent.
11, Short but sweet.
12, A fine album closer. Only issue is the lyrics to the last few songs are in danger of being too knowingly nostalgic.

[Roger Ryan]

I would have preferred the vocals to be less processed and would have appreciated if Mike wrote at least one set of lyrics that avoided the "hey, we're doing it again" vibe, but this is a pretty solid release. Taken altogether, I think it edges out "LA Album" and "Love You" and becomes the best Beach Boys release since HOLLAND (although BWPS, TLOS, Gershwin and possibly BW '88 are all better).

The album is clearly co-produced by Joe Thomas...but I have to say that some of what he brings to the mix is fantastic: moody piano, odd sound effects, extended intros/outros. And speaking of sound effects, the combination of the ocean waves, the rain and the wind chimes at the end of "Summer's Gone" is brilliant. Can anyone think of three better sounds to represent what Brian Wilson is all about?

There's no need for me to comment on the majority of the tracks since I'm in agreement with what many have already stated. For the record, I'll say that "Spring Vacation", "Daybreak Oven The Ocean" and "Beaches In Mind" are the three mediocre tracks; everything else ranks from pretty good to great.

I will show my support for "Bill And Sue". I can't imagine anyone listening to Brian sing lines like "Can you dig what I'm telling you?" and "...in line at the grocery store" and not hear a continuation of the 60s Brian who wrote "H.E.L.P. Is On The Way", "Games Two Can Play" and "Busy Doin' Nothing". While it's a bit underdeveloped, I like how Brian's light critique of reality show fixation echoes his own dismay over his life being publicly dissected. One could even note that the song's title contains the name "Brian Wilson" (provided you allow for "Bill" to stand for "William" as well). The news report at the end is a delightful and odd touch that reminds me of how Brian reportedly insisted on layering in the "emotional weather report" into "Happy Days" (from "Dante's Inferno"?). It's interesting how often Brian has used the spoken word throughout his recordings.

While I would have loved to have the full "Life Suite", I still find the thematic quality of TWGMTR to be quite high. "Think About The Days" invites the listener to be contemplative. What we're treated to is a declaration of love to a great pop song, a series of tracks which attempt to justify the importance of the here-and-now, a critique on the unnecessarily media examination of private lives, an appreciation of a place away from the "parade" and, finally, an acceptance of the end. That so much of this seems to be presented in Brian's "voice" if not his own lyrics outright is what gives this album a purpose I wouldn't have expected.

[donald]

I think more than anything, the melody and harmony, and yes, the hooks, make the album.  These songs are really getting stuck in my head.  Lyrics are sometimes touching, sometimes silly, just like so many BB albums over the last 50 years.   I find the whole thing listenable, unlike anything else since "85" or prior to that, Holland.  Really, it is surprising how well it turned out.  A good effort and nice accomplishment given how quickly it materialized.  I think some of these songs are KEEPERS and will be part of a personal mix that will include some of the better Al and Brian solo efforts of the new millenium.

[LetHimRun]

isnt it time is absolutely horrible :/ idk what you guys see in it smh

Dude, you ask my opinion and then immediately bash it? I never said Isn't It Time reminded me of Wouldn't It Be Nice or Good Vibrations. It was one of the ones I remembered because of the hooks, etc. I'd probably put it somewhere in the 5-7 range on list of my faves on the album when all said and done.

[Newguy562]

isnt it time is absolutely horrible :/ idk what you guys see in it smh

Dude, you ask my opinion and then immediately bash it? I never said Isn't It Time reminded me of Wouldn't It Be Nice or Good Vibrations. It was one of the ones I remembered because of the hooks, etc. I'd probably put it somewhere in the 5-7 range on list of my faves on the album when all said and done.

oh ok ..it does have a beach boys feel to it but it's so corny it's like ughhh seems like something that would be on summer in paradise lol

[Newguy562]

My favorite moment on FTBBA is 2:02-2:23 it sounds so breezy and heavenly.

That's my favorite part of the whole album!  Whatever I'm doing, (unless I'm driving!), I stop what I'm doing, close my eyes and just soak it in.

mee too it makes me smile so big and i just love it!