The Beach Boys Love You

[Luther]

Love it. Huge fan.

[Wirestone]

Fantastic in many ways, but I find I love it less than I used to. In some ways, having more solo Brian out makes Love You seem less important -- we no longer need an album from 77 to reassure ourselves that he didn't lose the plot in the late 60s.

[Luther]

Interesting. My "huge fan / love it" comment was in response to the prev. post, just about "Good Time," but I enjoy your post about your changing impression of the album. I can't say I have any similar feelings, though. I really like Love You, which I heard for the first time around the time of Imagination (which was relatively early in my Beach Boys/BW fandom). Loved LY then, love LY now. Brian's continued releases are a mixed bag for me, with BWPS at the top, TLOS very, very welcome in my collection, and everything else in the "nice to hear sometimes, I guess" range. But whether he puts out another Pet Sounds (cough, not gonna happen) or a Sweet Insanity, I guess my feelings about LY are the same. It stands on its own merit regardless of its creator's decades-later state.

[Dada]

It's hard to explain exactly, but I get the sense when I listen to this album that it's from the same guy who made Pet Sounds and Friends. Those three albums share an aura, I feel, they're from the heart in terms of both lyrical and musical content. The spacey sound of Love You reminds me in places of Pet Sounds, which also had a spacious, fairytale kind of sound in areas. It has the homey, simplistic feel of Friends. All three are also musically complex and insane at points in their own ways (obviously, as far as pure all-around complexity goes, Pet Sounds wins).

[Ganz Allein]

Fantastic in many ways, but I find I love it less than I used to. In some ways, having more solo Brian out makes Love You seem less important -- we no longer need an album from 77 to reassure ourselves that he didn't lose the plot in the late 60s.

My impression of this album has changed twice. When I first bought it, I hardly liked any of the tunes because of Brian's rough vocals and the goofy lyrics, so I sold it. But as I got more into the BBs and learned Brian's history, I bought it again and really started to dig it.  Much later, after getting into 15BO and Adult Child, I found that I liked this one less than I used to.

As much as I've grown accustomed to Brian's vocals from this period, his singing here is rougher and displays less control than on 15BO or Adult Child.  (My least favorite vocal performance, though, is Marliyn's on LPOHT.)  Also, the spare, synth-heavy/minimal drums production often sounds undercooked to me.

But with those things said, the great songwriting (albeit with really wacky lyrics sometimes) really shines through and saves the album for me.  And speaking of those wacky lyrics, I really think that "I Wanna Pick You Up" (as opposed to, say, "Hey Little Tomboy") was written in the spirit of all innocence.  Anyway, I give LY a 4.  With more production, fuller drumming, and some vocal retakes (LPOHT) and shuffling (maybe Carl on LIAW) it could be a 5.

[LetHimRun]

5. I don't know why, I just really like this quirky album. In all honesty, I probably should have given it a 4 for the reasons Ganz Allein gave (lack of drums, sometimes too much synth, and I'll throw it lack of guitars) , but I still listen to it and pretty much love it.