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Author Topic: Which album is the Beach Boys' most polarizing release?  (Read 26927 times)
Smile4ever
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« on: January 17, 2013, 08:22:17 PM »
My opinion is that it's likely "Love You." Seems like fans have vastly different opinions on this one.

What do you think?
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EgoHanger1966
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« Reply #1 on: January 17, 2013, 08:44:00 PM »
Smiley Smile.
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« Reply #2 on: January 17, 2013, 08:48:06 PM »
It's definitely either one of them.  Too close for me to call.
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Magic Transistor Radio
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« Reply #3 on: January 17, 2013, 08:53:27 PM »
Love You seems not to far off from 15 Big Ones. Smiley Smile seems like a more logical choice. 15 Big Ones from Holland as well, but they were 3 years apart. Going from Pet Sounds to Smiley in a little over a year is insane.
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« Reply #4 on: January 17, 2013, 09:00:00 PM »
I was going to suggest Smiley Smile too. But wasn't sure if it was as polarizing for content or because it wasn't Smile. But I'm sure you're right.
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« Reply #5 on: January 17, 2013, 09:14:12 PM »
*sigh*
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halblaineisgood
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« Reply #6 on: January 17, 2013, 09:14:31 PM »
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« Reply #7 on: January 17, 2013, 09:15:11 PM »
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« Reply #8 on: January 17, 2013, 09:17:59 PM »
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DonnyL
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« Reply #9 on: January 17, 2013, 09:29:56 PM »
in the grand scheme of things, my vote goes to 'Love You'. Among fans, it really seems to be a love or hate thing (rarely do people seem to think it's just alright, or 'good'). An album considered to be the group's last classic by many critics, yet would also likely cause casual listeners to scratch their heads. 'Smiley' contains 'Good Vibrations' & 'Heroes & Villains' ... universally acclaimed.
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« Reply #10 on: January 17, 2013, 09:30:43 PM »
Quote from: Awesoman on January 17, 2013, 09:14:12 PM
*sigh*

come on, this one's not that bad !
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halblaineisgood
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« Reply #11 on: January 17, 2013, 09:40:26 PM »
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« Reply #12 on: January 17, 2013, 09:41:27 PM »
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Al Jardine: Pick Up Artist
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« Reply #13 on: January 17, 2013, 09:55:39 PM »
Quote from: DonnyL on January 17, 2013, 09:29:56 PM
in the grand scheme of things, my vote goes to 'Love You'. Among fans, it really seems to be a love or hate thing (rarely do people seem to think it's just alright, or 'good'). An album considered to be the group's last classic by many critics, yet would also likely cause casual listeners to scratch their heads. 'Smiley' contains 'Good Vibrations' & 'Heroes & Villains' ... universally acclaimed.

I think it's just alright...I like the "drunk" tunes as I call them (Side 1 + Solar System, Love is a Woman) and not so much of the others.
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« Reply #14 on: January 17, 2013, 09:57:09 PM »
Yes, Hal, it's a list, or it's about to be...

Taking the old poll data and spreading the votes into 5-4-3 and 3-2-1 bundles, you get the following ratios:

Pet Sounds .97; Sunflower .94; Today .92; All Summer Long .92;
Summer Days .89; Friends .89; Wild Honey .86; Surf's Up .84; Love You .84; Holland .83; TWGMTR .81;
20/20 .79; Smiley Smile .76; Shut Down v2 .72;
Carl and the Passions .64; Surfin' USA .62; Stack o'Tracks .61;
Little Deuce Coupe .59; Beach Boys Party .58; Light Album .55;
Surfin' Safari .45; MIU .45; BB85 .44;
Keepin' the Summer Alive .38; Still Cruisin' .38; 15 Big Ones .37; Summer in Paradise .36

The closer to even these two overlapping counts are, the more divided or polarizing the voter opinion is...the ones in bold are the likely "winners" for this concept.

[EDIT: see further below in the thread for what is quite probably a better way to do this, if you are inclined at all to look at it in such a way.]
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« Reply #15 on: January 17, 2013, 10:20:49 PM »
Love You is it for me. Smiley took me some time but the vocals won me over. Love You just never did it for me outside maybe three or four songs.
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Sheriff John Stone
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« Reply #16 on: January 17, 2013, 10:26:17 PM »
Smiley Smile first, 15 Big Ones second.
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halblaineisgood
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« Reply #17 on: January 17, 2013, 10:39:20 PM »
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Andrew G. Doe
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« Reply #18 on: January 17, 2013, 10:49:34 PM »
Love You - says so in my book, so it must be true.  Old Man
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« Reply #19 on: January 17, 2013, 11:16:28 PM »
Quote from: Mike Eder on January 17, 2013, 10:20:49 PM
Love You is it for me. Smiley took me some time but the vocals won me over. Love You just never did it for me outside maybe three or four songs.
That nails it for me - how can anyone fail to be won over by the flawless vocals on Smiley? It was hard at first for me to "get" the idea of the BB's singing with such sparse backing; I grew to love it over time. Love You's vocals in no way compare to Smiley's. And the backing gets kind of grating after a few songs.
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« Reply #20 on: January 18, 2013, 12:19:11 AM »
I dunno - Whenever I see posts about the quality of Love You, most people here seem pretty into it. Smiley even more so. I'd say the BB albums that are most polarizing are ones like MIU, LA, BB85. These albums really split the board straight down the centre into those that find things to enjoy in them and those that revile them!
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« Reply #21 on: January 18, 2013, 12:36:19 AM »
In the US: Pet Sounds
In the UK: Summer in Paradise
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smilethebeachboysloveyou
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« Reply #22 on: January 18, 2013, 05:48:53 AM »
Quote from: buddhahat on January 18, 2013, 12:19:11 AM
I dunno - Whenever I see posts about the quality of Love You, most people here seem pretty into it. Smiley even more so. I'd say the BB albums that are most polarizing are ones like MIU, LA, BB85. These albums really split the board straight down the centre into those that find things to enjoy in them and those that revile them!

Perhaps, but I've never encountered anyone who has counted MIU, LA, or BB85 as one of the band's greatest albums.  The debate is more over whether the albums are completely unredeemable or whether they have a handful of good songs on them.  They are not "love or hate" albums so much as "hate or tolerate" albums.  "Love You," on the other hand, really does seem to be a "love or hate" album, with few opinions in between.

As far as the mathematical approach goes, I'm not sure I completely understand the formula for calculating, but if you split the votes into 5-4-3 and 3-2-1, won't the formula overrepresent albums that have gotten lots of middling votes (i.e., lots of 3s, some 4s and 2s)?  It seems to me that such an album would have a fairly solid consensus of opinion.  For it to be polarizing, I think it would have to have lots of 5s and 1s or perhaps 4s and 2s with very few 3s.
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« Reply #23 on: January 18, 2013, 06:54:56 AM »
Quote from: smilethebeachboysloveyou on January 18, 2013, 05:48:53 AM
Quote from: buddhahat on January 18, 2013, 12:19:11 AM
I dunno - Whenever I see posts about the quality of Love You, most people here seem pretty into it. Smiley even more so. I'd say the BB albums that are most polarizing are ones like MIU, LA, BB85. These albums really split the board straight down the centre into those that find things to enjoy in them and those that revile them!

Perhaps, but I've never encountered anyone who has counted MIU, LA, or BB85 as one of the band's greatest albums.  The debate is more over whether the albums are completely unredeemable or whether they have a handful of good songs on them.  They are not "love or hate" albums so much as "hate or tolerate" albums.  "Love You," on the other hand, really does seem to be a "love or hate" album, with few opinions in between.

I don't know... while I wouldn't say I 'love' LA, I'd put it at least as high as Sunflower, and track-for-track I'd say the only 70s albums that beat it are Love You and Carl And The Passions... I certainly don't just tolerate it.

But in general, I'd agree that Love You and Smiley are the two most polarising albums the band ever did. They're also my two personal favourites.
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« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2013, 06:55:46 AM »
Quote from: halblaineisgood on January 17, 2013, 09:17:59 PM
We all like Smiley Smile. Some folks don't like Surfin' U.S.A. though, right ?

We don't all like Smiley Smile. Other than the two obvious hit songs, it's unlistenable to me.  But I can listen to Surfin' USA all day long.
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