The Beach Boys

[phirnis]

I can totally agree on what you wrote about the Surf's Up album. It's still one of my favorites however as it features quite a few contributions that might well be among the group's greatest ever songs and furthermore the whole story about the record's genesis and Brian's role within the band around that time was what probably first got me deeply intrigued with the Beach Boys and the numerous myths surrounding the group.

Bruce Johnston obviously had a lot to do with the making of BB85, most notably (as I understand it) suggesting Steve Levine as producer after having met him before while working with British (?) group Sailor. Therein lies a great mystery however, as I frankly don't see why the Beach Boys would allow BJ to decide on the group's artistic direction after the commercial failure of both the Light Album and KTSA.

[lance]

Oh, God, yes, it's one of my favorites too, definitely. Five stone-cold Beach Boy Classics. I don't think I would be nearly the Beach Boys fan I am without those songs.
 I was just trying to find some justification for Johnston saying it was the best one [that he had worked on] since Sunflower.

[lance]

Did I say five? I meant six.
And to be honest, the other four aren't that bad, I even like SDT. But the peaks are high and lows significantly lower, so in that sense maybe it's a deeply flawed album.

[Erik H]

For anyone who cares: Rocketship Records in Silverlake CA has a whole bin of "Getcha Back/Male Ego" 45s in the original picture cover for $1.99 each!

And no, I don't work for them!

[LetHimRun]

Okay, so I listened to this album as a whole for the first time. Not horrible, not great.

The one thing that struck me was "It's Just a Matter of Time." Something was weird. I had heard that song before. I had to listen a couple more times and then it hit me. It's Brian channeling "This Boy" by the Beatles. The bass line, the vocal arrangement, etc.

[punkinhead]

GREAT CALL!

I never thought of it that way, I like that though!

[slothrop]

Wow, yeah I never noticed that! But then again, I don't listen to early Beatles or late Beach Boys too often.

[Jay]

It's really a shame that the production is so terrible. This really tries to be a good album. The songs are decent...some of them. Getcha Back is a good song with nice harmonies, especially from Brian. Brian's bit at the end is great. Mike's vocal strains a little. It's Getting Late is a really good song. It's one of my favorites. Where I Belong is one of Carl's greatest songs. She Believes In Love Again is a great song. I think it's Bruce's best. The production is just a little bit to processed though. California Calling MIGHT have been decent  had it been recorded about 10 years earlier.  Now it's just...degrading. Al's faux enthusiasm is annoying and quite frankly pisses me off. It's Just A Matter of Time has terrible lyrics, but it's a decent song. It's a fun little doo wop style song.  Male Ego kicks about 5 kinds of ass. To paraphrase somebody talking about the last few films Laurel and Hardy made,and to turn it into a Beach Boys reference: All in all, I think we should pat the boys on the back for one last noble group effort and go on to more important things, like Pet Sounds.

[slothrop]

I don't know what's wrong with me, but I've been thinking "California Calling" might be genius...