Reviewing Adult/Child as an actual Beach Boys album

[Disney Boy (1985)]

does anyone know what that awesome swirly effect he appears to use in all the big band tracks 'cept "Life Is For Living"? know what i mean?

Yeh that swirly bit i do love, i'll say that!

[Cabinessenceking]

does anyone know what that awesome swirly effect he appears to use in all the big band tracks 'cept "Life Is For Living"? know what i mean?

Yeh that swirly bit i do love, i'll say that!

My favourite aspect of those songs. Again the divine golden goose Brian Wilson lays yet another concealed golden egg in His works.

 

[Disney Boy (1985)]

But that's about the only thing i like about those songs - that 'neeeeoooow-weeeeooooow' song on the fades. Otherwise - meh!

'Heaven, heaven is faraway, angels no longer play' - awful, awful, awful lyrics.

[runnersdialzero]

'Heaven, heaven is faraway, angels no longer play' - awful, awful, awful lyrics.

You consider these awful, awful, awful? How are you able to listen to other songs of theirs?

Jeez! :O

[TheLazenby]

I listened to this album in full for the first time today, as I made my first lengthy drive to work.  By the end of it, I wanted to kill someone.

WHY would you EVEN CONSIDER releasing an album where NO ONE CAN F**KING SING IN KEY?!  "Deep Purple" is atrocious!!

[Cabinessenceking]

I listened to this album in full for the first time today, as I made my first lengthy drive to work.  By the end of it, I wanted to kill someone.

WHY would you EVEN CONSIDER releasing an album where NO ONE CAN F**KING SING IN KEY?!  "Deep Purple" is atrocious!!

Mike sings in key on "Hey Little Tomboy" 

I would kill for that song's existence to cease.

[TheLazenby]

At least I can honestly say that the whole band is equally to blame here... it's not just Brian singing badly.  I've NEVER heard Carl sing as wobbly as he does here.

As for "Hey Little Tomboy".... *sigh*  Look at the trek it took: "New Album," didn't come out.  "Adult Child," didn't come out.  "California Feeling," didn't come out, got reworked as "Winds Of Change."  "Winds Of Change," didn't come out, got reworked as "M.I.U."  Now, the thing that gets me about this is, first, it wasn't until the final "M.I.U." when they FINALLY decided that the spoken section where the Beach Boys gang up on/gangrape said tomboy should not be included.  It took TWO YEARS to figure that out? 

Even still, without that section, none of the group spoke up and said "Hey, this should never be released"??  There's an interview where Brian is talking about how there's a song on their next album (which would've been "New Album") about a tomboy, and the boys were really proud of it.  Yes, folks, they were proud of the ORIGINAL version, with dialogue!  What's wrong here??

[Quzi]

Aren't most of these at the wrong speed which is partially responsible for Carl's subpar performances? I sped up Everybody Wants to Live and he sounds much more natural and Carl-like.

[Cabinessenceking]

I can't imagine Dennis liking Hey Little Tomboy, but then again Dennis hooked up with ML's daughter so I dont really know what im talking about. I think they liked the idea of the song and wanted to support Brian as much as they could. It was after all the record company that rejected A/C, not the band.

[Jonathan Blum]

I can't imagine Dennis liking Hey Little Tomboy,

Dennis did "School Girl".  I don't think the theme exactly repelled him...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[tansen]

does anyone know what that awesome swirly effect he appears to use in all the big band tracks 'cept "Life Is For Living"? know what i mean?

I think it's flutes drenched in reverb, maybe vibes in the mix? Also heard on God Only Knows on the last verse.

It sounds more like a Moog with arpeggiated notes put through some kind of filter.

Also, play back 'It's Over now' with 48k sample rate and you can hear what it's supposed to sound like

[Reddiwhip]

It's because of the Hey Little Tomboy lyrics and Brian's pitchiness on Deep Purple, that I took what seemed like the best and made my fantasy Adult/Child album:

Life Is For The Living
Soulful Old Man Sunshine (if it would have fit anywhere, it would have been on Adult/Child, although the harmonies overshadow anything else on the album)
Lines
Shortenin' Bread - It really works after Carl's singing on the end section of lines (He's gonna tell her)
Still I Dream of It

It's Trying To Say
Sherry She Needs Me - 1976 vocals with 1965 backing track?  Works for me, especially if there were more backing vocals on the version we have now
It's Over Now
Everybody Wants to Live
My Diane - Brian vocal demo, it's about as raw and emotional as they come

The last three songs on this are pretty depressing, and the total run time is only 27 minutes (of course Friends was 25:30 and Wild Honey was 24:00, so it's not unheard of), but I think it has an overall Sunday morning alone in the house type of feel to it that may have been Brian's intention.

[runnersdialzero]

My Diane - Brian vocal demo, it's about as raw and emotional as they come

wat

[Exemery]

I'm a little nervous to say that I do like "Little Tomboy". I don't suffer any mental disorders. I just like the song but I hate the lyrics. It's like "I'd love to pick you up", catchy but creepy lyrics

[Aegir]

I Wanna Pick You Up wouldn't be anywhere near as good without the creepy lyrics.

[Ovi]

I'm a little nervous to say that I do like "Little Tomboy". I don't suffer any mental disorders. I just like the song but I hate the lyrics.

I don't think there's anything to be ashamed of. I like it too. It's got a nice, catchy melody and most of the times that's enough for me.

[Reddiwhip]

My Diane - Brian vocal demo, it's about as raw and emotional as they come

wat

Sorry, I meant the Dennis vocal demo from the Love You sessions.  Head not screwed on all the way.

[Aegir]

yeah, I spent like an hour fruitlessly scouring the internet to find this supposed Brian demo and now here I find it doesn't exist! ahhh

I even listened to the earlier Dennis version about four or five times to make sure that beyond a shadow of a doubt it was Dennis.

[Shane]

does anyone know what that awesome swirly effect he appears to use in all the big band tracks 'cept "Life Is For Living"? know what i mean?

Yeh that swirly bit i do love, i'll say that!

Sounds like a phaser/flanger to me, applied to a guitar as an effect.  Very popular studio effect in the 70s.

[Dunderhead]

Can I just say that Lines is one of the most tantalizing fragments that Brian ever worked on.

[Cabinessenceking]

Can I just say that Lines is one of the most tantalizing fragments that Brian ever worked on.

I dig the verse, especially Brian's voice on the second. The part of Carl doesn't sound complete and is a bit to jagged for my taste, but man did that song have potential, more lyrics telling about something banal on the cinema screen and some creative bridge would make that song a quirky classic. As it stands I cannot put it in a playlist due to the 'He's gonna tell her' part

[Disney Boy (1985)]

Can I just say that Lines is one of the most tantalizing fragments that Brian ever worked on.

I dig the verse, especially Brian's voice on the second. The part of Carl doesn't sound complete and is a bit to jagged for my taste, but man did that song have potential, more lyrics telling about something banal on the cinema screen and some creative bridge would make that song a quirky classic. As it stands I cannot put it in a playlist due to the 'He's gonna tell her' part

The 'He's gonna tell her' section is the only good bit!! Prior to then it's a lame lyric set to an utterly nondescript melody; in fact the song only comes alive when the end section begins (take out the 'He's gonna tell her' part and there's nothing left!)

[EgoHanger1966]

Can I just say that Lines is one of the most tantalizing fragments that Brian ever worked on.

I dig the verse, especially Brian's voice on the second. The part of Carl doesn't sound complete and is a bit to jagged for my taste, but man did that song have potential, more lyrics telling about something banal on the cinema screen and some creative bridge would make that song a quirky classic. As it stands I cannot put it in a playlist due to the 'He's gonna tell her' part

The 'He's gonna tell her' section is the only good bit!! Prior to then it's a lame lyric set to an utterly nondescript melody; in fact the song only comes alive when the end section begins (take out the 'He's gonna tell her' part and there's nothing left!)

The beginning bit is pretty good, I think - it's very Harry Nilsson. The "He's gonna tell her bit" is in line with the more wacky, quirky side of the Wilsons - but it almost seems like an ape of the end of "Airplane".

[I. Spaceman]

I love Lines, beginning to end. I think that whole Adult Child thing is pretty great, with a couple exceptions. Fascinating piece of work.

[runnersdialzero]

does anyone know what that awesome swirly effect he appears to use in all the big band tracks 'cept "Life Is For Living"? know what i mean?

Yeh that swirly bit i do love, i'll say that!

Sounds like a phaser/flanger to me, applied to a guitar as an effect.  Very popular studio effect in the 70s.

Ill-fitting for "Still I Dream Of It", in particular. Not a fan of that arrangement in general, really