TWGMTR best album since....

[Melt Away]

Definitely best since LY.

[Michael Edwards Love]

Best since Love You, and most Brian involvement since Love You. No coincidence.

+1

[phirnis]

Best since BB85. I think it's much better than KTSA but not quite as good as L.A. (Light Album). I enjoy most of Still Cruisin' to a certain extent but except for "SNJ" and "Kokomo" it's pretty sub-standard as a collection of newly written songs. Now BB85 has some real high points alongside the cheese and some of the singing on it is absolutely great. For me, TWGMTR is about equal, in a good way! "From There to Back Again" I think is every bit as good as "Getcha Back" and "Where I Belong".

[musicismylife101]

Best since Love You, and most Brian involvement since Love You. No coincidence.

+1

+ another 1

[oldsurferdude]

Best since Holland-Luhv Yew should never have been released.

[Ziggy Stardust]

facepalm

[MyGlove]

I voted for M.I.U. Though I like more or less all of their albums. I somewhat miss the original BBs harmonies. TWGMTR is certainly the better comeback effort that any of us, fans, expected from these old musicians but seems to me it lacks something from their good old group singing.

Dennis and  Carl?

Well, it's gotta be Love You. I'm really starting to take a liking to MIU and LA, but Love You is GREAT in my mind, and the last one they did that i can say that about. TWGMTR is probably a notch or two below, but i still have more listens in my system.

[Lonely Summer]

Best since Holland-Luhv Yew should never have been released.

right arm! 

[I. Spaceman]

Best since Holland-Luhv Yew should never have been released.

You should never have been released.

[runnersdialzero]

Best since Holland-Luhv Yew should never have been released.

I gotta ask - what's with the constant misspellings (always involving an H, for some reason) when you dislike something? From now on, I'm going to misspell all band member's names, album names, and song titles. Just because.

LOL HAWLLUHND RULLZ, OLDSURFHURD00D

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Best since Love You, and most Brian involvement since Love You. No coincidence.

+1

+ another 1

Make that 3

 +1

[Sav-Man]

Best since Love You, and most Brian involvement since Love You. No coincidence.

Agreed! While MIU, LA, KTSA and BB 85 all had some good songs, those albums (and of course, SC and SIP as well) suffered from a "too many cooks spoiling the broth" effect--they just didn't sound cohesive to me. I think that having Brian writing and arranging most of the music (w/ help from Joe Thomas, string arranger Paul Mertens, etc.) gives the album a more unified feel. And while some songs on TWGMTR are better than others, none of them out-and-out "suck." Which songs are your favorites and which you don't like as much just depends on your personal taste. For example, "Beaches in Mind" is my least favorite, but I don't dislike it, whereas all of the BBs albums from 1978 through 1992 all had songs that I just plain couldn't (and can't) get into, no matter how open-minded I tried to be. With TWGMTR, I can pop it into the player, and just let it play from beginning to end.  

[oldsurferdude]

Best since Holland-Luhv Yew should never have been released.

I gotta ask - what's with the constant misspellings (always involving an H, for some reason) when you dislike something? From now on, I'm going to misspell all band member's names, album names, and song titles. Just because.

LOL HAWLLUHND RULLZ, OLDSURFHURD00D

Guhd won,RDZ! It's all about embellishment and emphasis-beats underlining, ya knoh?

[mabewa]

It's their best album since Surfin' Safari...  just kidding.  Glad to see Love You in the lead, because that's what I voted for. 

[Menace Wilson]

You guys are nuts.

LA (Light Album) has two Dennis Wilson tracks, including Baby Blue for cry-eye!  Good Timin' is great, and Al and Carl have their moments to shine, as does Mike (to the extent that he can).  I mean, the album ends with friggin Shortenin' Bread!

   

[buddhahat]

It's their best album since Surfin' Safari...  just kidding.  Glad to see Love You in the lead, because that's what I voted for. 

Yeah, who'd have thought prior to release that the majority here would rank it the finest since Love You. That's really no mean feat, all things considered. Let's hope this reunion produces at least one more studio album.

Not sure if this has already been posted, but Mojo gave it an absolutely glowing 4 star review in the latest edition.

[Wirestone]

You guys are nuts.

LA (Light Album) has two Dennis Wilson tracks, including Baby Blue for cry-eye!  Good Timin' is great, and Al and Carl have their moments to shine, as does Mike (to the extent that he can).  I mean, the album ends with friggin Shortenin' Bread!

    

Yeah, that's two songs on a 10-track album. And it's not like late-period Dennis is to all tastes -- the songs sound like they're taken from a separate project, and so they were.

The other eight tracks have exactly one good (not great) tune -- Good Timin -- and other material that is among the most cringe-inducing the group ever cut. TWGMTR doesn't just pull even with L.A. -- it smokes it.

[Ziggy Stardust]

Mmmmh, not sure, still can't really tell.

[Menace Wilson]

TWGMTR doesn't just pull even with L.A. -- it smokes it.

Maybe I just need to hear it some more.  It does seem to start well and end well, though there's stuff in the middle that I could take or leave.

[runnersdialzero]

TWGMTR doesn't just pull even with L.A. -- it smokes it.

Maybe I just need to hear it some more.  It does seem to start well and end well, though there's stuff in the middle that I could take or leave.

That's exactly how I feel about L.A.

[TimeToGetAlone]

You guys are nuts.

LA (Light Album) has two Dennis Wilson tracks, including Baby Blue for cry-eye!  Good Timin' is great, and Al and Carl have their moments to shine, as does Mike (to the extent that he can).  I mean, the album ends with friggin Shortenin' Bread!

L.A. has four tracks I think are great (Good Timin', Angel Come Home, Love Surrounds Me, Baby Blue).  TWGMTR, on the other hand, has five (Think About the Days, Isn't It Time, From There to Back Again, Pacific Coast Highway, Summer's Gone).   From There to Back Again is the best song from either of the albums to my ears as well.  And to TWGTR's Beaches in Mind and Bill and Sue, L.A. counters with an 11-minute disco song (even if I liked it, it shouldn't go on that long), a dull Shortenin' Bread, a sleepy Goin' South, and a lesser sibling to Somewhere Near Japan.  L.A.'s highs are respectable to say the least, but listening as an album from beginning to end it's not even my favourite post-Love You besides TWGMTR.

[Menace Wilson]

I guess one think I prefer about LA Light is the fact that they were still trying (for the most part) to write lyrics beyond just the old BBs cliches about beaches, driving, and summer.

As good as I think TWGMTR is (I love the same 5 songs others have mentioned), the lyrics do often fall back on those things.  It's also more of a "meta" album in that the BBs are consciously addressing themselves and their career, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess.   

[drbeachboy]

I guess one think I prefer about LA Light is the fact that they were still trying (for the most part) to write lyrics beyond just the old BBs cliches about beaches, driving, and summer.

As good as I think TWGMTR is (I love the same 5 songs others have mentioned), the lyrics do often fall back on those things.  It's also more of a "meta" album in that the BBs are consciously addressing themselves and their career, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess.    

Agree! Actually, this "...addressing themselves" and coming to terms with where they are now, will be a great chronicle about them as time goes by. Much how we look at songs like "Busy Doin' Nothing" chronicling Brian's day.

[Jason]

Best since LA, easily, although I'd rank LA and That's Why God Made The Radio equally. Love You is a notch higher.

[TimeToGetAlone]

I guess one think I prefer about LA Light is the fact that they were still trying (for the most part) to write lyrics beyond just the old BBs cliches about beaches, driving, and summer.

As good as I think TWGMTR is (I love the same 5 songs others have mentioned), the lyrics do often fall back on those things.  It's also more of a "meta" album in that the BBs are consciously addressing themselves and their career, which isn't necessarily a bad thing I guess.

I understand what you mean from that perspective.  It was really the last instance where they weren't regular nostalgic nods and self-references (Full Sail is closest being water/ocean/sea-oriented).  That being said, I've never been one to pay much attention to lyrics at all.  I don't even know the lyrics of my favourite songs all too well.  Short of making me downright uncomfortable (e.g. Hey Little Tomboy with others in earshot) I can't say I care as long as the music works.  That doesn't mean strong lyrics don't add to an already nice song, but my music appreciation pretty much begins and ends with the music.