Name One Song You'd Wish The BBs Should Have Covered

[The Heartical Don]

Buddy Holly's "Words of Love" if done in the mid-60s, a full, lush production. Those gorgeous 2-part harmonies could have been fleshed out in true Wilsonian splendor. Or for you Brits, Canadians, and Aussies, splendour.

I reckon they would have made a really good job with this one.  What I love about this thread is that with every suggestion I find myself running the existing version through my head and imagine what the BB's would do with it.

Thank you sir! That was my intent. I have this disorder all of the time: I hear a good song, and 'translate' that inside to a BBs version. In my version of Heaven, there is some kind of BBs translator machine. A device that has an input: 'put song in here', and an output: 'this is the best imaginable BBs version of song'.

However, I am afraid that, should all of us meet eventually around that big machine in the sky, there would be a fistfight to end all fistfights. And we'd end up in Hell.

[Mike's Beard]

Or we would all end up in Hell, where your Beach Boys translator machine would indeed exist but the dial would be stuck on the "Summer in Paradise" setting!!

[hypehat]

I would love a version of Poli High by Nilsson, even though it's essentially a BB's tune anyway - all those interlocking harmonies!

[The Heartical Don]

Or we would all end up in Hell, where your Beach Boys translator machine would indeed exsist but the dial would be stuck on the "Summer in Paradise" setting!!

  this one had me in stitches. Brilliant!

[sockittome]

River Deep, Mountain High--Carl on lead, of course.

Just think what Brian could have done with the backing arrangement!

[jmc]

She's Leaving Home

Helplessly Hoping

Groovin'

and I agree with AGD, something by the Association; either Cherish or Everything....

[Alex]

Or we would all end up in Hell, where your Beach Boys translator machine would indeed exist but the dial would be stuck on the "Summer in Paradise" setting!!

With Adrian Baker's falsetto dominating everything!!!!!!!

[buddhahat]

Any of the Spectorheads here think that the cover of 'Then I Kissed Her' is seriously weak in the production stakes?

I'm no authority on spector, but for my money what Phil S has over Brian is the ability to convey power. Spector's productions sometimes sound like he's set a machine gun up against the entire world, and is gleefully mowing us down one by one. I know Terry Melcher said that you can hear the anger in Phil's records, and as I've got older I can hear it more and more. The guy expresses anger and frustration like no other. The drums so often sound like guns which is clearly no coincidence considering his obsession. I don't know what the general consesnus is here, but I'd say Spector is the more sophisticated, genius producer. His records just sound more impressive. Don't get me wrong - I love Brian's producing, but you can't deny he borrowed an awful lot from Spector.

[gsmile]

'Girl, You'll Be A Woman Soon'

They already did this one...it's called "Hey Little Tomboy" 

Some songs that I'd love to hear the Boys cover:
(and since this is a fantasy list, I'm including newer songs by modern artists)

Blue Ridge Mountains by Fleet Foxes (especially in a Surf's Up LP style)

I Can't Tell You Why by The Eagles (Carl would sound brilliant on the chorus, and screw it, I want Bruce on the verses!)

No Surprises by Radiohead (I can see this getting a Til I Die meets Pet Sounds treatment)

Ballad of El Goodo by Big Star (in my head I hear Brian in his Sunflower voice era singing this song, even if it was written after that period)

At My Most Beautiful by REM (an obvious choice as it's very much a Pet Sounds tribute, but Mike would sound good on lead...think That's Not Me but with a Meant for You vocal quality.  It would suit his current voice nicely)

I Go To Pieces by Peter and Gordon / Del Shannon (Al is the perfect lead for this song, I'd love the style to be more like Del's version on his 1990 album "Rock On"...more straight-forward without the Everly-styled acoustics of the P&G take)

Love is Alive by Gary Wright (the original already has a smattering of Love You-esque synths, and I think Dennis would absolutely KILL on the verses with full group vocals on the chorus, with Carl as the prominent voice in the blend)

I could keep going...maybe later!

G.

[hypehat]

Any of the Spectorheads here think that the cover of 'Then I Kissed Her' is seriously weak in the production stakes?

I'm no authority on spector, but for my money what Phil S has over Brian is the ability to convey power. Spector's productions sometimes sound like he's set a machine gun up against the entire world, and is gleefully mowing us down one by one. I know Terry Melcher said that you can hear the anger in Phil's records, and as I've got older I can hear it more and more. The guy expresses anger and frustration like no other. The drums so often sound like guns which is clearly no coincidence considering his obsession. I don't know what the general consesnus is here, but I'd say Spector is the more sophisticated, genius producer. His records just sound more impressive. Don't get me wrong - I love Brian's producing, but you can't deny he borrowed an awful lot from Spector.

Yeah, that's about it. Spector's recordings are brute force compared to Brian - some of them are bizarrely so, like 'Little Boy' or 'Girls Can Tell' which are just tonnes of percussion with tiny bits of the chord structure or the strings coming through in the mix. I would hesitate to call him sophisticated.... I would say Brian is the more sophisticated producer, but Spector might be more of a genius. I mean, the way Brian uses his instruments and creates different sounds is far more advanced than what Spector did, musically speaking.... Brian's advanced musicianship bleeds over into making him a better producer. He never even came close to matching something like 'River Deep Mountain High', though. 

This is in the youtube thread, but a interesting comparison between Brian and Phil is their respective treatment of 'Don't Hurt My Little Sister' - We know Brian offered it to Phil....

Who did THIS to it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo_S8XNtCZY Its so huge compared to the Beach Boys's version its almost not funny.

[Zander]

"Here Comes The Sun" - would've been a belter!

[Steve Mayo]

life in a northern town

[urbanite]

Lonely Town.

[Margarita]

 - "Surf City".  I know they performed it in concert, but I never understood why they never did a studio version with the full BW production treatment.

 - I agree that the BBs could have done much better with "Cherish" than the Association did. 

[Myk Luhv]

Oh, I think they would've done a killer job on "Town Without Pity" too; I don't like Pitney's original much anyway. Possibly they could've done something with "I Am The Cosmos" by Chris Bell, although it was released in 1978 when, in my opinion, the Boys were past their (second? third?) prime -- it might've enlivened them a little bit though and it could've gone well! For "Cosmos",however, I would have ideally wanted a Love You-style ballad with Brian on vocals...

[rab2591]

'Summer Wind' by Frank Sinatra.

I could hear some great Beach Boys harmonies (like those in 'In My Room') being sung on this song.

EDIT: Also 'Strangers In The Night' by Sinatra....BW could easily come up with a brilliant a cappella part for the bridge.

[urbanite]

Summer Rain, the Johhny Rivers song.

[buddhahat]

I mean, the way Brian uses his instruments and creates different sounds is far more advanced than what Spector did, musically speaking.... Brian's advanced musicianship bleeds over

This is a good point and I feel I need to go and have good listen to both and maybe re-assess! I guess what I hear in many of Spector's productions is complete and utter confidence. Brian's production on Pet Sounds (not that this album is typical of his style, but for me it embodies a lot of what he's about) feels much more explorative. Like he's trying new things out, reaching for something. Whereas with Spector you feel like you are getting the complete, polished, fully realised article. I guess Brian's prodcution on Pet Sounds feels like an abstraction of Phil Spector's sound. Like he's taken that sound and is pulling it apart, shaking it, having a look inside! Whereas with Spector, it's still in one piece and is the pure artefact. Because on something like Be My Baby you are hearing the apex of that Wall Of Sound being realised. Then Brian takes it and begins to deconstruct it for Pet Sounds and Smile.

[Eric Aniversario]

life in a northern town

Great choice!  Loved that song when it came out and hadn't thought of it much since then, but the BB would have done that very well.

[Eric Aniversario]

Thought of a few more...

More Than Words

Free Fallin

Yellow Balloon

[runnersdialzero]

"California Dreamin'".

Not the one they DID do in the 80s - that version approaches being embarrassing. I'm talking in the 60s. Proper harmonies done by the group, produced by Brian, recorded at Gold Star or Western - would have been absolutely fucking magical.

[drbeachboy]

How does it approach embarrassing? You throw statements like this out here and don't say why you think so.

[the captain]

I think that one approaches embarrassing (hell, I'd say it more than approaches it, but fully reaches it and dances around on it for a while) in a pretty obvious way: '80s cheese. So if you have to ask, it's pretty obvious that it's just a matter of one's aversion (or not) to that. The delay on the voice alone is just god-awful. Then the thunder rumbling. The drum sound. The list goes on. The only thing not embarrassing is the singing, as far as I'm concerned.

[the captain]

Oh yeah, and the sax solo. And the video.

[rab2591]

Oh yeah, and the sax solo. And the video.

I had to listen to that song again before I answered drbeachboy's question - went to youtube and started watching the video for a refresher. That was my first mistake. My second mistake was listening all the way until the sax solo....

What a terrible rendition of an amazing song.