British Beach Boys-like band you should hear!!

[thomasogg]

Hi to everyone in the States! I think i might have mentioned them previously on this site, but there is a great British band (actually they're welsh, but hey ho..) called Super Furry Animals. They're very much a cult band in the UK so i'm guessing they're practically unheard of in the US. Anyway, they've just released a new album called 'Hey Venus!' and it's basically just the Beach Boys album the Beach Boys never made - fantastic, melodic, harmony-filled pop songs throughout! I strongly recommend that any BB fan out there (whom, as you're reading this message, i'll assume you're one of) purchase it forthwith. And while you're at it, get hold of the same bands 'Rings Around The World' album, which is basically a modern-day Surf's Up (it's even got Paul McCartney munching celery on one of the tracks as a homage to 'Vegetables'. Absolutely true! Check out the sleeve notes...)
Anyway, the Furries don't hide the fact that they're so heavily influenced by the Beach Boys (on a recent 'bands that've influenced us'-type compilation album, they picked TWO Beach Boys songs for inclusion: Feel Flows and Lady) and as an absolute Beach Boys fanatic myself i just cannot recommend them enough, so check 'em out! They're experimental, funny, melodic, profilic - basically everything the BB's were when at their best!

(And if anyone else can suggest a similar modern-day group worth seeking out if you're a BB fan than please do...)

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I have heard them. They are out of sight!

[the captain]

Super Furry Animals ... i'm guessing they're practically unheard of in the US.

Actually they're quite well known among fans of modern and indie pop/rock (we could be lazy and call them the Pitchfork set). I agree with you that they're good.

[thomasogg]

That's 'clean outta sight!', not 'out of sight'.

[thomasogg]

Oh, and while you're groovin' to the Super Furries give 'Odessey & Oracle' by the Zombies a good spin. Amazing album from the sixties! It's often cited as the British Pet Sounds. Well, it's not as good as Pet Sounds, but it sure gets damn closer than most - buy it forthwith! You'll struggle to believe that 'Maybe After He's Gone' wasn't actually written by Brian....

[Alex]

And if anyone else can suggest a similar modern-day group worth seeking out if you're a BB fan than please do...

The Flaming Lips-check out The Soft Bulletin

The Apples In Stereo

Barenaked Ladies (they even have a song called "Brian Wilson"-BW covered it for Live At The Roxy)

Wilco (they do a folky sounding cover of BW's "Love and Mercy")

And though I absolutely despise the All-American Rejects (formulaic top 40 emo-pop), I read an interview in Rolling Stone with their frontman, and he said he loves Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations".

[Aegir]

I like the Apples in Stereo. The guy singer tries to sound like Mike Love, it's funny.

I listened to SFA on youtube. They're crap.

[thomasogg]

As a Beach Boys fan - a band who's best work is largely unknown - you should know you have to listen to more than just one or two songs before judging a band.. Sod U Tube. Buy an album and sit down and have a good listen before deciding if someone is crap. Ever heard anyone claim the Beach Boys are crap on the basis of their surfing hits or not liking Barbara Ann? Yeh, me too. Listen to the song 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You' (availiable on U Tube) and lemme know if you still think they're crap... cheers!

[thomasogg]

And also 'Run Away'. very funny video and great Spector-esqe tune.

[pixletwin]

If pot is the gateway drug that leads to heroin, than I would say The Flaming Lips were the gateway that led me to the Beach Boys... There album which I think is the most Beach Boys is Clouds Taste Metallic.. Especially the track called "They Punctured My Yolk"

I remember the FLips were doing a concert here and while they were setting up Wayne Coyne (the Band's leader) played an interview he did for VH1 where he interviewed Brian-who looked kinda scared of wayne. 

[PMcC]

On the new Super Furry Animals cd, it's impossible to listen to 'the gift that keeps giving' and not think of circa 1969 BB's. The majority of the album has that vibe.  "Hey, Venus!' should be found, and listened to, especially by the folks on this board, who would appeciate what they are doing in these songs more than most others, I believe.

[thomasogg]

Damn tootin'! 'Give That Keeps Giving' is essential for anyone who wishes Brian still wrote 'em like he used too

[Aegir]

As a Beach Boys fan - a band who's best work is largely unknown - you should know you have to listen to more than just one or two songs before judging a band.. Sod U Tube. Buy an album and sit down and have a good listen before deciding if someone is crap. Ever heard anyone claim the Beach Boys are crap on the basis of their surfing hits or not liking Barbara Ann? Yeh, me too. Listen to the song 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You' (availiable on U Tube) and lemme know if you still think they're crap... cheers!

I didn't like that song either. Very boring.

And more people I know like the Beach Boys' surf songs and Barbara Ann than songs like Don't Talk Put Your Head on My Shoulder or Cabinessence.

[the captain]

By the way, while I like SFA, I don't even think that they're even the best Brian-ish Welsh band. Euros Childs, or his former band Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, are better and more interesting to my ears.

[shelter]

I got their new album today, I like it! It really reminds me of Surf's Up/Carl & The Passions/Holland era Beach Boys, especially Carl's songs on those albums.

[thomasogg]

Yeh they're really good, very under-rated indeed. Anyone who likes 'Hey Venus!' i advise checking out the rest of their stuff, as a huge B Boys fan i can honestly say they're the only modern day band i'm REALLY enthusiastic about. They seem to stand for everything the Beach Boys did in their prime, a really great, exciting band to be able to get into. 'Radiator' and 'Rings Around The World' essential albums, trust me! Purchases you will not regret. And the track 'Something's Come From Nothing'? HEAVEN!! Download IMMEDIATLEY!!!! I promise you will love it!! Lemme know what you think...?

[thomasogg]

......Oh, and I've never met a non Beach Boys fan in my life who has even HEARD of Cabin Essense, but hey ho.... 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You' is a pop masterpiece, but each to their own. ('Gorky's' kick ass, agreed, but not quite as good (and certainly not as consistent) as the Furries..)

[the captain]

('Gorky's' kick ass, agreed, but not quite as good (and certainly not as consistent) as the Furries..)

I agree on the not-as-consistent part. But as for not as good, that'll just have to be another of our "agree to disagree" points. Have you listened to Euros Childs' solo albums, though? I've heard two of the three, The Miracle Inn and Chops. I think they're both better than most SFA.

[thomasogg]

No unfortunately not, however just thought of another great UK band worth listening too: Supergrass. Very much under-rated, particuarly in their home country. They're one of those bands who, as they're so consistently good, just seem to get taken for granted... They're not overly BB influenced, though they're certainly on the record as being fans. 'Life On Other Planets' probably there record BB fans most likely to enjoy the most...

[the captain]

Many moments in the two Childs albums I have bring to mind mid-70s Brian Wilson. Relatively straightforward but very melodic, piano-based, sometimes with cool, clunky synth lines, etc. Other times it's more like GZM and others like neither.

[Daniel S.]

Listen to the song 'If You Don't Want Me To Destroy You' (availiable on U Tube) and lemme know if you still think they're crap... cheers!

Watched the above on youtube and one thing I can tell you is that these guys desperately want to be the Beatles, a lot of lifting from the Magical Mystery Tour film in this video. I've spent the past hour listening to their songs on the iTunes store, and I ain't the hearing the Beach Boys dude. Sorry, these guys can go join the Magic Numbers and every other band CLAIMING to be Beach Boys influenced BUT I CAN NEVER HEAR IT. It's sounds like wannabe jangly 60's pop but the melodies that made those pop tunes from the 60's so great are not there and the harmonies and vocal chops are not there. And of course the production doesn't measure up either.

I do enjoy their cover of Lady except they don't bring anything new to it. Their cover of Lady is a xerox copy of the original sung by Dennis. They do a good job covering it, but they don't improve OR ADD ANYTHING TO IT. Why would I want to listen to their cover when I can listen to the real thing. When the Beach Boys covered a song, like 'There's No Other Like My Baby' by the Crystals, they REALLY made that song their own. Another good example of the Beach Boys doing a great cover is 'Do You Wanna Dance'.

[thomasogg]

Each to there own... I disagree entirely of course. Have you heard 'Slow Life'? Just unspeakably great! I'll stop going on about 'em, this is after all a Beach Boys site, who are of course better than all these bands we're mentioning put together, and yeh, that includes the Beatles (PS I loathe the Magic Numbers. Now THEY are boring!!!)

(Oh, even you don't dig SFA, see if you can find their lead singer Gruff's comments re the Beach Boys facial hair. Hilarious stuff, especially re Mike...)

[thomasogg]

Although re SFA 'so wanting to be the Beatles'. Which band doesn't? Four words: 'Girl Don't Tell Me'. I think the video was intended as a homage.

[No. Fourteen]

Watched the above on youtube and one thing I can tell you is that these guys desperately want to be the Beatles, a lot of lifting from the Magical Mystery Tour film in this video. I've spent the past hour listening to their songs on the iTunes store, and I ain't the hearing the Beach Boys dude. Sorry, these guys can go join the Magic Numbers and every other band CLAIMING to be Beach Boys influenced BUT I CAN NEVER HEAR IT. It's sounds like wannabe jangly 60's pop but the melodies that made those pop tunes from the 60's so great are not there and the harmonies and vocal chops are not there. And of course the production doesn't measure up either.

Have a feeling your not interested in researching SFA any further, but I'd recommend the track "Rings Around The World", if you didn't hear that one. 

[Daniel S.]

I'll check it out. Also, where can I find those comments on the Beach Boys facial hair, sounds funny.