Burton Cummings doesnt like TWGMTR!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Micha, what say we start a new Mike Love thread where we politely see each others point of view for 38 pages?

Just the two of us? How sweet!

Yes. A forbidden love between a Brianista and a Kokomaoist.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breakaway?  It is the east, and Micha is the (lucky old) sun

Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress.

[astroray]

Yeah Burton loves the BEACH BOYS, he tells of the time he was doing the bkgds on "Youngblood" and he was standing between Carl and Timothy B. Schmidt, he was in Heaven, standing inbetween The Beach Boys and  The Eagles!

[guitarfool2002]

Burton's comments remind me of the way I felt most every time a new song from the Beach Boys came out between 1988 and, well, um....up to 2012 and it just felt nothing like the magic or the uniqueness that got me into the band so much in the first place. We like what we like, simple as that.

Looking back I guess it's somewhat of a good thing that there were not too many new "Beach Boys" songs released between 1988 and 2012, otherwise there would have been a lot more of us left scratching our heads as everything from Baywatch to Problem Child came out.

[Shady]

Such a terribly produced album

[DonnyL]

Burton's comments remind me of the way I felt most every time a new song from the Beach Boys came out between 1988 and, well, um....up to 2012 and it just felt nothing like the magic or the uniqueness that got me into the band so much in the first place. We like what we like, simple as that.

Looking back I guess it's somewhat of a good thing that there were not too many new "Beach Boys" songs released between 1988 and 2012, otherwise there would have been a lot more of us left scratching our heads as everything from Baywatch to Problem Child came out.

This is why the Paley sessions stuff not coming out is so criminal to me. Then again, if it came out, it would have been worked up by the Adult Comptempo scenesters to render it unrecognizable I'm sure.

[guitarfool2002]

Burton's comments remind me of the way I felt most every time a new song from the Beach Boys came out between 1988 and, well, um....up to 2012 and it just felt nothing like the magic or the uniqueness that got me into the band so much in the first place. We like what we like, simple as that.

Looking back I guess it's somewhat of a good thing that there were not too many new "Beach Boys" songs released between 1988 and 2012, otherwise there would have been a lot more of us left scratching our heads as everything from Baywatch to Problem Child came out.

This is why the Paley sessions stuff not coming out is so criminal to me. Then again, if it came out, it would have been worked up by the Adult Comptempo scenesters to render it unrecognizable I'm sure.

The Beach Boys new material in the 80's and 90's aside...simply because I think a lot of the released new songs were weak if not bordering on throwaways...I'm thinking if my opinions are any indication, the era in which they were recorded may have sunk them by design.

I think Burton Cummings is like most musicians who fell in love with this band: We took influence from the classic sounds and productions, which just happened to fall into an era when many of us think the art of recording pop music in the moment was at its peak. The limitations of what they could do made them innovate beyond what any "rules" would say they could do, and they fed off of their peers who were mostly in their early to mid 20's working and almost learning in an odd mentoring situation with engineers who knew what the hell they were doing from a technical angle. Thus, the records pushed the boundaries of technology while also working with some of the finest technology for recording that has ever been available.

Then we get into the 80's and 90's, where digital was being used and abused for the sheer fact that it was "new", even in some cases where techniques that seemed cutting edge were found to have inherent flaws and hiccups that affected the music it was being used to record.

Digital reverb racks in the late 1980's versus even an EMT plate...'nuff said? 

I think part of Cummings' opinion comes from seeing "Beach Boys" and expecting something that sounds like the records that he, and I, and Donny, and Lindsey Buckingham, and name anyone else fell in love with and pored over for hours trying to figure out how they captured the magic.

And modern recordings just don't have it by design, they're not aiming for the same goals even with all kinds of plug-ins and simulators designed to mimic the old sounds. It just isn't the same.

And that dooms many "new" recordings from classic bands, by design and fairly or unfairly, not just the Beach Boys but also the Stones, McCartney, CSN, even Dick Dale never captured that undercurrent of chaos and impending danger that one record like Misirlou nailed 50+ years ago on any of his comeback records. They just don't feel the same as what we all loved originally.

Many people felt the same about the BW '88 album, it just missed that undercurrent and feel that we'd expect from the name on the cover due to some now-questionable sounds that were all the rage in 1987-88.

[DonnyL]

yep ... and the rub on the '88 LP is that the songs are GOOD. But it doesn't sound good.

[Micha]

Micha, what say we start a new Mike Love thread where we politely see each others point of view for 38 pages?

Just the two of us? How sweet!

Yes. A forbidden love between a Brianista and a Kokomaoist.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breakaway?  It is the east, and Micha is the (lucky old) sun

Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress.

What's that poetic quote? Unfortunately I don't recognize it.

[phirnis]

...
Many people felt the same about the BW '88 album, it just missed that undercurrent and feel that we'd expect from the name on the cover due to some now-questionable sounds that were all the rage in 1987-88.

The production might sound kind of dated but in a way BW88 always reminds me of Sunflower. Or, to put it more precisely, I feel it could've been the group's late-80s equivalent to the early-70s classic. I don't mind the wall of synths at all, although admittedly the overall arrangements are probably not half as intriguing as the group's earlier use of synthesizers on Sunflower, Holland, and Love You.

[alf wiedersehen]

Micha, what say we start a new Mike Love thread where we politely see each others point of view for 38 pages?

Just the two of us? How sweet!

Yes. A forbidden love between a Brianista and a Kokomaoist.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breakaway?  It is the east, and Micha is the (lucky old) sun

Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress.

What's that poetic quote? Unfortunately I don't recognize it.

It's Romeo and Juliet.

[Lonely Summer]

...
Many people felt the same about the BW '88 album, it just missed that undercurrent and feel that we'd expect from the name on the cover due to some now-questionable sounds that were all the rage in 1987-88.

The production might sound kind of dated but in a way BW88 always reminds me of Sunflower. Or, to put it more precisely, I feel it could've been the group's late-80s equivalent to the early-70s classic. I don't mind the wall of synths at all, although admittedly the overall arrangements are probably not half as intriguing as the group's earlier use of synthesizers on Sunflower, Holland, and Love You.

It's hard for me to fault the group for using synths on the 1985 album, or Brian on his 88 debut. I'm sure they were told "it's what everybody's doing now" and "you want to get played on the radio, don't you?" If Brian had told Landy in 1986/87 he wanted to make a record "the way I used to do", the wacky doctor would have laughed a good laugh, and then given Brian some heavy duty sedatives. It was an era everyone had to go through before they could get back to a more natural sound with real instruments. I find both the BB85 and BW88 albums infinitely more listenable than, say, McCartney's "Press to Play".

[Andrew G. Doe]

Micha, what say we start a new Mike Love thread where we politely see each others point of view for 38 pages?

Just the two of us? How sweet!

Yes. A forbidden love between a Brianista and a Kokomaoist.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breakaway?  It is the east, and Micha is the (lucky old) sun

Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress.

What's that poetic quote? Unfortunately I don't recognize it.

It's Romeo and Juliet.

Just like (ya see what I did there ?).

[Micha]

Micha, what say we start a new Mike Love thread where we politely see each others point of view for 38 pages?

Just the two of us? How sweet!

Yes. A forbidden love between a Brianista and a Kokomaoist.

But, soft! what light through yonder window breakaway?  It is the east, and Micha is the (lucky old) sun

Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress.

What's that poetic quote? Unfortunately I don't recognize it.

It's Romeo and Juliet.

Oh yes, I see now - I didn't remember "Sorry old bean, you're wearing the dress" was actually a Shakespeare quote.

[Dirtyfaz]

'scuse my ignorance but how do you distinguish/recognise what has been auto tuned?

[Iron Horse-Apples]

The bits where the Beach Boys sound like robots, which is pretty much the whole LP.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

'scuse my ignorance but how do you distinguish/recognise what has been auto tuned?

'Baby just yoouu and meee' in shelter is a prime example.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

'scuse my ignorance but how do you distinguish/recognise what has been auto tuned?

'Baby just yoouu and meee' in shelter is a prime example.

An Optimus prime example

[DonnyL]

...
Many people felt the same about the BW '88 album, it just missed that undercurrent and feel that we'd expect from the name on the cover due to some now-questionable sounds that were all the rage in 1987-88.

The production might sound kind of dated but in a way BW88 always reminds me of Sunflower. Or, to put it more precisely, I feel it could've been the group's late-80s equivalent to the early-70s classic. I don't mind the wall of synths at all, although admittedly the overall arrangements are probably not half as intriguing as the group's earlier use of synthesizers on Sunflower, Holland, and Love You.

It's hard for me to fault the group for using synths on the 1985 album, or Brian on his 88 debut. I'm sure they were told "it's what everybody's doing now" and "you want to get played on the radio, don't you?" If Brian had told Landy in 1986/87 he wanted to make a record "the way I used to do", the wacky doctor would have laughed a good laugh, and then given Brian some heavy duty sedatives. It was an era everyone had to go through before they could get back to a more natural sound with real instruments. I find both the BB85 and BW88 albums infinitely more listenable than, say, McCartney's "Press to Play".

It's not really the synths, it's just the whole production ... doesn't sound very good. 'Male Ego' sounds cool in that form I think.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

'scuse my ignorance but how do you distinguish/recognise what has been auto tuned?

'Baby just yoouu and meee' in shelter is a prime example.

An Optimus prime example

I see what you did there.

Would you like me to autotune that for you?

[Mr. Wilson]

Yea the auto tune gets on my nerves and affects my enjoyment of the record but they have been playin games with their vocals for a long time..Examples: Air that I breathe   Happy Endings  Problem Child  SIP album  Country tribute lp just off the top of my head.Sometimes the back ground vocals are mixed weird and it sounds generic and not BB like at all.

[phirnis]

Yea the auto tune gets on my nerves and affects my enjoyment of the record but they have been playin games with their vocals for a long time..Examples: Air that I breathe   Happy Endings  Problem Child  SIP album  Country tribute lp just off the top of my head.Sometimes the back ground vocals are mixed weird and it sounds generic and not BB like at all.

There's some heavy vocal processing on the Still Cruisin' album as well. To me, however, all the examples from the past don't sound half as robotic as the stuff on TWGMTR. I'm not the biggest fan of Alan's solo album but the overall vocal sound of that album is quite pleasant I think and they probably should've went in that direction as a group. (That said, I still like TWGMTR for what it is and consider it on par with BB85, which is another album of theirs that I think is quite pleasant despite its flaws and dated production.)

[Mr. Wilson]

Ya know I believe your right.! Alan"s solo lp has nice vocal sound and they should have went in that direction..Good Observation. !

[puni puni]

the auto tune is no reason to dislike the album

It makes it pretty unlistenable so yeah

[Summertime Blooz]

Cummings is a fantastic vocalist and a pretty darn good songwriter too.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

the auto tune is no reason to dislike the album

It makes it pretty unlistenable so yeah

I would go as far as to say the auto-tune seriously ruins TWGMTR, and makes the recent live album just outright unlistenable...