Beach Boys Survivor #15 Winner: BUSY DOING NOTHING

[bossaroo]

Be Still is not lazy. It's spare. It's brief. It's not lazy.

It's a benediction. An affirmation. A moment of tranquility and reflection.

The full poem by Steve Kalinich is much longer, but the way Dennis simplified it into a few lines and gave it a gospel melody and feel is utterly brilliant.

[John Manning]

Be Still is not lazy. It's spare. It's brief. It's not lazy.

It's a benediction. An affirmation. A moment of tranquility and reflection.

The full poem by Steve Kalinich is much longer, but the way Dennis simplified it into a few lines and gave it a gospel melody and feel is utterly brilliant.

Spot on. One of Dennis's skills was whittling Stevie's poems down to the heart of their message. I find his poetry rambling and sometimes gratuitous but in Dennis's hands it became something else entirely. If Brian had done/had known to do the same thing on A World of Peace Must Come we might have had a stone cold classic instead of a curio.

[pixletwin]

Tallying votes at 11 am PST. VOTE!!!!

[retrokid67]

Be Still is not lazy. It's spare. It's brief. It's not lazy.

It's a benediction. An affirmation. A moment of tranquility and reflection.

The full poem by Steve Kalinich is much longer, but the way Dennis simplified it into a few lines and gave it a gospel melody and feel is utterly brilliant.

it's  a beautiful piece, I wish people would stop putting it down 

[Forrest Gump]

tm

[leggo of my ego]

Switchin Vote to TM

[pixletwin]

Heads up.. if you are changing your vote you must quote your original vote... I am not combing through the threads to find that info.

You change your vote and there is no quote I won't count it.

[pixletwin]

Friends is the 14th studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on June 24, 1968 through Capitol Records. The album was the first Beach Boys release in true stereo since 1964's The Beach Boys' Christmas Album and was the first time a Beach Boys album had not been issued in mono. Friends was the final album until 15 Big Ones in 1976 to feature Brian Wilson as a dominant creative force in the group. On this album, Brian had contributed to the writing or production of each song with the lone exception of "Be Still".

TM has gone AWOL.

VOTE FOR YOUR LEAST FAVORITE TRACK!!!

I'll tally on January 5th

Meant for You
Friends
Wake the World
Be Here in the Mornin'
When a Man Needs a Woman
Passing By
Anna Lee, the Healer
Little Bird
Be Still
Busy Doin' Nothin'
Diamond Head

Round#1 - Transcendental Meditation January 3

My least fave track is...  When a Man Needs a Woman

[alf wiedersehen]

TM has gone AWOL.

Heathens, I say! Heathens!

I vote for "Be Still" again.

[Mike's Beard]

Be Still must Be Gone.

[shelter]

Anna Lee, The Healer.

[EgoHanger1966]

Diamond Head

[baseball95]

Diamond Head

[Matt H]

Anna Lee, the Healer

[Fall Breaks]

Be Still

[musicismylife101]

Diamond Head again

[feelsflow]

TM has gone AWOL.

Heathens, I say! Heathens!

I vote for "Be Still" again.

You tell 'em!

I'm not voting off Brian tracks until a lot of other stuff is gone.  This was Brian at his Best.

.

My vote goes to "Be Still" again.  Dennis was just getting warmed up on this track.  I do love it, but I love every track on this long-player.

[Summer_Days]

I HATE to say it...but 'When A Man Needs A Woman'.

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[Alan Smith]

Diamond Head

[Disney Boy (1985)]

It's full of moments I love, but I vote for When A Man Needs A Woman.

This is going to be a hard round.

[Marcella]

Diamond Head--last 2 tracks are the weakest on Friends--T M is gone, now it is time for Diamond Head to be gone--then the hard part starts for this, my favorite BB album

[Dudd]

Little Bird 

[Gabo]

Be Still. If people on this board weren't so preoccupied with exalting Dennis than it would have been the first one to go, bar the truly grating TM.

[Gabo]

'Be Still' is better than TM, I feel. Sometimes I feel like I'm the only one that loves that song....oh well!

Nope, I love it too! As with Make It Good (which I'm sure will also be voted off early, and which I also love), it's more of a poem than an actual song - but... so what? Dennis was doing something unique and he should be applauded for that, not voted off in the first round.

"Doing your own thing" doesn't justify laziness, which Be Still and Make It Good both are.

THE WHOLE ALBUM is lazy - and all the better for it! Just look at Brian's song titles.

And what's remotely 'lazy' about the carefully crafted Make It Good, with its orchestra and dense production?

Listen to the melodies of Busy Doin' Nothin' and Passing By -- absolute heaven. Be Still doesn't have that. It just sounds like the ten minute effort of an unskilled songwriter. Boring chords, boring melody, dumb lyrics. You probably just grew to like it because of its context (the Friends album).

Make It Good is even lazier than Be Still. Instead of spending ten minutes on the song, it sounded like he just improvised everything and overdubbed strings to make it at least somewhat palatable. It didn't, and the track is truly embarrassing.

This is a great description of Make It Good, taken from the review of CATP on Beachboys.com:

"Make It Good is a pointless, rambling song, sung by Dennis as if he was fighting off the effects of chloroform, and orchestrated to little effect by Daryl Dragon."