Most Polarizing Beach Boys album

[JK]

Shut down vol. 2- It's either all time classics or horrible filler.

In that case it's not polarizing but polarized.

[SMiLE Brian]

Right!

[KDS]

TWGMTR certainly polarized Mike from the band and a lot of the fan base who bought and enjoyed it, and he's still grinding his axe about it as of recent interviews. It was a top-5 album that got mostly positive reviews, was it polarizing? I think people were happy to have it come out when it did and the music (save for a few missteps) actually holds up pretty well 5 years later.

I just listened to it recently, and I think it still holds up.  But, it has its share of detractors across several BB/BW forums. 

[KDS]

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....

I like about half the album, but Summer of Love marks the absolute low point in the BB canon. 

[Love Thang]

Summer in Paradise is one huge pile of dog sh*t. Anyone that says they like it is merely trolling.

[rab2591]

Summer in Paradise is one huge pile of dog sh*t. Anyone that says they like it is merely trolling.

As cheesy as it is, I don't mind the live version from the MiC box set...that version is packed with a lot of energy.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....

I like about half the album, but Summer of Love marks the absolute low point in the BB canon. 

I think that's about as far as anyone will go in defending it from what I've seen.  There's the odd youtube comment where someone proclaims it's their favorite album, but that's expected on that site.  I'm in the same boat as you in thinking there are about six decent songs on the album.  Some songs are hurt by the production more than others.  The only songs I listen to with somewhat regularity are Lahaina Aloha, Strange Things Happen and the live version of Summer in Paradise.  As rab said, it packs a lot of energy and you don't have the bad production of the studio version. 

[CenturyDeprived]

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....

I like about half the album, but Summer of Love marks the absolute low point in the BB canon. 

I think that's about as far as anyone will go in defending it from what I've seen.  There's the odd youtube comment where someone proclaims it's their favorite album, but that's expected on that site.  I'm in the same boat as you in thinking there are about six decent songs on the album.  Some songs are hurt by the production more than others.  The only songs I listen to with somewhat regularity are Lahaina Aloha, Strange Things Happen and the live version of Summer in Paradise.  As rab said, it packs a lot of energy and you don't have the bad production of the studio version. 

There's an okay EP buried in SIP. Like a 4 or (if feeling generous) 5 song EP. But the bad stuff is *so* bad, it almost makes one forget that there is some decent, yet very poorly produced, material still on it. If it had been released as an EP minus the absolutely terrible tracks, I can't imagine it would be hated in the same way.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....

I like about half the album, but Summer of Love marks the absolute low point in the BB canon. 

I think that's about as far as anyone will go in defending it from what I've seen.  There's the odd youtube comment where someone proclaims it's their favorite album, but that's expected on that site.  I'm in the same boat as you in thinking there are about six decent songs on the album.  Some songs are hurt by the production more than others.  The only songs I listen to with somewhat regularity are Lahaina Aloha, Strange Things Happen and the live version of Summer in Paradise.  As rab said, it packs a lot of energy and you don't have the bad production of the studio version. 

There's an okay EP buried in SIP. Like a 4 or (if feeling generous) 5 song EP. But the bad stuff is *so* bad, it almost makes one forget that there is some decent, yet very poorly produced, material still on it. If it had been released as an EP minus the absolutely terrible tracks, I can't imagine it would be hated in the same way.

It's too bad Brian wasn't around the band at this time.  You could have swapped in some of the rejected Sweet Insanity songs. 

[Don Malcolm]

Our best bet is to define "polarizing" as those records that sent the group off into the wilderness surrounded by fully sprouted seeds of doubt.

If you define it that way, it's clear that Smiley Smile and Love You are the two most polarizing. Both critics and fans were confused by Smiley at the time, and that was a lingering effect despite the intense cult that built up around it. It left people unable to process the set of changes that came after it, and it's only fifty years later where a consensual counter-narrative is gaining significant strength to elevate Wild Honey to greater esteem.

Critics loved Love You because they heard the quirks and shards of Brian Wilson in the material and wanted to create/extend that narrative (do we call it a "meme" these days??), but the fans (even those who'd soldiered through the 67-73 period and had greeted 15BO with stony silence in hope that the next record would bring things more "on track") were divided by what they heard. Unfortunately the LPs subsequent to Love You did not come close to matching what followed Smiley Smile, and this created a semi-permanent malaise mitigated briefly by "Kokomo" (though it, too, was polarizing despite its popularity...) and that lingered around the remnants of the band until TWGMTR, a collection that was--ironically--more universally admired by the casual fan than the long-term die-hard.

[Rick5150]

Endless Summer. Just when the boys were continuing to try new things this awesome 'greatest hits' album comes out and pretty much reintroduces the public to what an amazing band the Beach Boys are and forces the band to become an 'oldies' touring act to appease them. Such a double-edged sword, that album.

[NHC]

Summer in Paradise is one huge pile of dog sh*t. Anyone that says they like it is merely trolling.

I like most - not all - of it, and did when I first got it 24 years ago. Sorry, not trolling, just a fan since 1962 and long-time member of this board. Sorry to have a different view than you, but that's life.

[HeroesandVillains]

Love You is the obvious contender but I think M.I.U gets a lot of flack along with L.A

[MikestheGreatest!!]

Starting to think it may be Wild Honey!  Some on here are attempting to turn it into another Pet Sounds, while others think it is kind of a slight, ho hum effort, competent but hardly great....

[Emdeeh]

And some of us actually think it's a better album than PS (yes, really)! I'm not trolling, either -- just not as big a fan of PS as many others are. It ranks somewhere in the middle of the catalog for me. Your mileage may, and probably will, vary and that's OK with me.

OTOH, I don't think PS is overrated, because it's been so influential.

[RangeRoverA1]

What do you say?

Smiley Smile & Holland. SS is wow; SS big disappointment after PS/ Smile failure. Holland the BBs at best, rocking with Blondie & Ricky, Carl etc.; Holland overrated/ Jack Rieley bad lyricist, voice/ not too inspiring songs. Re: LY - broadly, it's liked, 3-5 dislikes isn't "polarizing".

[Lee Marshall]

Only in your world, which seems to be dominated by a neverending stream of perceived Mike Love trigger moments

So then what you're saying is S.I.P. is totally and obviously a complete and total piece of mega-fly-swarm attracting sh*t and therefore not polarizing?  I agree with you 1000%.  It gets played on my various players...vinyl, c.d. or otherwise as often as these next 2 dollops listed below.  Anyone who defends this one as worthy of anything other than being ignored and forgotten is lying to everyone...especially themselves.

Smiley Smile was a total disappointment...an unreasonable facsimile...a musical faux pas issued by a bunch of hash inhaling stoners fiddlin' around in the studio on a t.h.c. induced lark.  A masterpiece was expected.  A practical joke was delivered.  Many didn't get 'the joke'.  Some suggest that they do.  So?  It's a polarizer.  Hey!!!  They had to release something.  So they did.

Love You is Simple Simon met a Pie-Man going for a dump.  Said Simple Simon to the Pie Man "let me hear your record".  Said the Pie Man to Simple Simon "what?  You mean this turd?"  Yet some folks think it's just the cat's ass...a release worthy of adulation.  It's a retroactive return to the simplicity of Surfin' Safari with timely production values if I'm being kind...and it's, therefore, a polarizer.

There are some other crappy releases.  Not many.  A few.  Most agree that they obviously  L A C K and work against the numerical rating in terms of the group's entire body of work.

[clack]

I interpret "most polarizing" as those lps evoking the most passionate disagreements.

M.I.U. might have fans disagreeing about its quality, but those disagreements seem to be low-key. Folks don't really care all that much. And SIP has, on the one side, fans who passionately hate it, but then we have on the other side people only saying that it's not total garbage, it has 4 or 5 ok songs. Passion on one side, but not the other.

Love You and Smiley Smile, though, have passionate proponents on each side of the quality argument. Now, whether fans consider Smiley Smile great, near-great, or a mere shadow of what should have been, I think everyone agrees that it's a Beach Boys record, fitting more or less comfortably into their existing canon.

Those fans who dislike Love You, though, tend to consider it as an anomaly, a Brian solo album in all but name -- a Brian at his most eccentric, synth-crazed phase to boot, and as such not really belonging in The Beach Boys mainstream.

So, the correct answer to the question of "what is the most polarizing Beach Boys album" is : Love You.

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

Don't know about polarised. People who don't love Love You should be VAPORISED!

Or ostracised.

And don't get me started on Smiley Smile dislikers. They should be victimsed, paralysed and then sodomised. 

[Lee Marshall]

Don't know about polarised. People who don't love Love You should be VAPORISED!

Or ostracised.

And don't get me started on Smiley Smile dislikers. They should be victimsed, paralysed and then sodomised. 

  THIS!!!     I agree with everything you 'said'.     But what you typed is urine infested and severely soaked. 

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

Don't know about polarised. People who don't love Love You should be VAPORISED!

Or ostracised.

And don't get me started on Smiley Smile dislikers. They should be victimsed, paralysed and then sodomised. 

  THIS!!!     I agree with everything you 'said'.     But what you typed is urine infested and severely soaked. 

Add Some, I wrote it 'cos I knew it'd make you SMiLE.

[Lonely Summer]

If Love You had the quality of vocals of Smiley, I might like it. They may have been higher than whatever while recording Smiley, but they could sing beautifully when high in 1967. Not so in 1977.

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

If Love You had the quality of vocals of Smiley, I might like it. They may have been higher than whatever while recording Smiley, but they could sing beautifully when high in 1967. Not so in 1977.

To appreciate either of these albums you have to listen beyond production and performance.  Those are just surface things. Amazing things await the deeper listener. Brian Wilson music is much more than just production and 'good' singing.

[phirnis]

Love You and Smiley Smile are two of the best, most original and most emotionally beautiful albums produced by anyone in pop/rock music history.

I remember that some time ago Carl and the Passions used to be quite controversial among fans. Many seem to like it a lot now, myself included.

[KDS]

To be fair, the only things Smiley Smile and Love You are missing are good songs, good production, and good vocals.