What is THE most underrated Brian Wilson song?

[shangaijoeBB]

Without a doubt: Sweet Mountain

[Bill30022]

Surf's Up - Brian's best

From There To Back Again/Pacific Coast Highway

Had To Phone Ya - I love this instrumental track:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BDr2jZzirw4

[Coda Hall]

Soulful Old Man Sunshine, Mama Says, and Let the Wind Blow.

[shadownoze]

Excellent question. "Kiss Me, Baby" springs immediately to mind, with "The Little Girl I Once Knew" in close attendance.

I must agree with Andrew; "Kiss Me, Baby" has always been one of my very favorites. TLGIOK was never that big a deal to me until I heard it on Brian's Live at the Roxy album. The power and imagination in just the INTRODUCTION of the song is simply amazing. Now it's right up at the top of my list. It's also my ringtone when my daughter calls.

[Emily]

Excellent question. "Kiss Me, Baby" springs immediately to mind, with "The Little Girl I Once Knew" in close attendance.

I must agree with Andrew; "Kiss Me, Baby" has always been one of my very favorites. TLGIOK was never that big a deal to me until I heard it on Brian's Live at the Roxy album. The power and imagination in just the INTRODUCTION of the song is simply amazing. Now it's right up at the top of my list. It's also my ringtone when my daughter calls.

Also the vocals on TLGIOK are as jazzy as BBs get. Love it.
Please Let Me Wonder has been getting more attention lately but for a long while was a forgotten beauty.

[Emily]

Soulful Old Man Sunshine, Mama Says, and Let the Wind Blow.

Yeah, you know? People diss Let the Wind Blow all the time and I like it!

[SenorPotatoHead]

Rio Grande   

One For The Boys

A Day In The Life of A Tree

H.E.L.P. Is On The Way

At My Window

That Same Song

TM Song 

[marcella27]

Soulful Old Man Sunshine, Mama Says, and Let the Wind Blow.

Yeah, you know? People diss Let the Wind Blow all the time and I like it!

People diss LTWB? It's one of the most beautiful things - musically and lyrically - that I've ever heard. The version on the live album is unreal.

I can't think of a single song that should get the title of most underrated. The crappiest BB songs are still better than the vast majority of other pop music. But in the spirit of the thread, I'll throw out this underrated gem: Our Car Club. The key changes and the harmonies that they bust out in the second verse! 

[Lonely Summer]

What do you think? Including beach boys work.  There are a ton of potential answers since much of his later work is ignored. I was considering Being With The One You Love or Let's Put Our Hearts Together but have to go with:

Rio Grande

Too good, too under-appreciated.

Rio Grande is a good choice, although I like Being With the One You Love, too - and Melt Away. Sure wish Brian's band would work up a few of these songs for the live set, but it seems the standard set list is a bunch of Beach Boys classics, with some songs from whatever his new album is worked in. And then the next album comes out and the songs from the last album are dropped.

[Micha]

Drive-In, Good To My Baby, Here Today. Even Brian himself underrates Here Today.

[Rentatris]

Soulful Old Man Sunshine, Mama Says, and Let the Wind Blow.

Mama Says! Yes! I can't believe the 'meh'ness around this song on the board, a beautiful arrangement of one of Brian's greatest refrains.

[Peter Reum]

I'd vote for the 2 Gershwin songs that Brian finished for his Gershwin album...

[Custom Machine]

It's Like Heaven.

Shaun Cassidy version... produced by Michael Lloyd... great key change and falsetto tag at 2:20.

A Beach Boys version of this would have been a standout on MIU...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqiZQe3ufB0

I enjoy Shawn Cassidy's version but I absolutely love the Spring version. Would have been great to hear a BB version, but I really can't envision any recording of this song sounding better than that done by the Rovell sisters (all three in this case).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=othG9M3ieVc

[Custom Machine]

Excellent question. "Kiss Me, Baby" springs immediately to mind ...

Yes, an absolutely sublime song from Brian and Mike.

[phirnis]

Drive-In, Good To My Baby, Here Today. Even Brian himself underrates Here Today.

Good to My Baby - yes! That song really clicked with me as soon as I heard the instrumental version on the Hawthorne CD. Drive-In is great too, loved it when Brian's band did it in concert.

Talking about their earlier stuff, another one that comes to mind is Cherry Cherry Coupe.

[KDS]

From his solo years, Southern California comes to mind. 

Also, the final four songs from TWGMTR.  With the short lived nature of that BB lineup, and the fact that neither the BB or BW do those songs live, mean that they may be lost treasures over time. 

[petsoundsnola]

Let Him Run Wild

[Pet Sounder]

"The Little Girl I Once Knew".  The backing track (or what fragmented sections of it that I've heard) sounds like it belongs on Pet Sounds.  And the tag just explodes with joy.  What he does with the organ and saxes is amazing. 

[Sound of Free]

Let Him Run Wild

That's a good one.

Another is "We'll Run Away." Has that ever made a Beach Boys comp?

[Steve Latshaw]

<<I enjoy Shawn Cassidy's version but I absolutely love the Spring version. Would have been great to hear a BB version, but I really can't envision any recording of this song sounding better than that done by the Rovell sisters (all three in this case).>>

I have to give the Michael Lloyd/Cassidy version the edge... more developed production (the Spring version has always sounded like a demo to me, rushed and sparse ala Love You)... and the Cassidy version has a great middle 8 that gets repeated twice.  The Spring version has a completely different and very weak bridge.  Better tag on the Cassidy version as well. 

I spoke at some length with Michael Lloyd about this one.  He said he really tried hard to do Brian's sound... but studio time limitations kept him from making it as big a production as he wanted.

[KDS]

"The Little Girl I Once Knew".  The backing track (or what fragmented sections of it that I've heard) sounds like it belongs on Pet Sounds.  And the tag just explodes with joy.  What he does with the organ and saxes is amazing. 

Yes, that, and Let Him Run Wild, definitely pave the way for Pet Sounds. 

[Toursiveu]

"Smart Girls" : It has a positive feminist message and... you know... it raps!

[JK]

I've always considered "The Shift" to be shamefully underrated.

On the face of it, the main tune is a 12-bar blues (I I I I IV IV I I V IV I V). However, Brian "shifts" the key up a whole tone in bar 3 and back down again in bar 12 (in Carl's solo too).

As far as I know this is unique----no-one else has ever done this.

[barto]

I would also add In The Back Of My Mind

[Rentatris]

"Smart Girls" : It has a positive feminist message and... you know... it raps!

 I know that Smart Girls is a bit of a joke of a song. I know it's bad. But.... I'll tell you what, I play it a hell of a lot more than the 80's dirge output of SIP and SC.

 It's entertaining.....maybe entertainingly bad maybe? But still entertaining....