The Smiley Smile Message Board

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When I first heard that Culture Club's producer was picked to oversee the tracks, I thought it was a bad choice.  I couldn't stand Culture Club, not one track.  They were popular, so it was difficult to completely shut them out.

I also didn't think it was the best idea for Carl to come back to the band.  But regardless of what I read around here, Carl was the Boss of this band.  Live - now when they did oldies you were more likely to hear deep cuts, overlooked for years - Carl even worked in his solo stuff, the 1983 sets were fantastic.  And in the studio... especially in the studio.  They were so dependent on him, even Bruce turned his one song over to Carl to sing.  Smart move.  Brian was struggling a bit by 1985.  He brought what he had, unlike later when he saved songs for future projects - I don't think he was doing that here.  I had heard a piece of "It's Just a Matter of Time" back in 1979.

Mike is solid on this record too.  His vocal on "It's Just a Matter of Time" is a wonderful throwback to 15 Big Ones.  "Getcha Back" and "Male Ego" are both classic.  I believe since the late 70's he was happy just doing his part (the popular oldies) at the concerts.

Carl wanted to sound modern, something he had been pushing for years.  He may have thought it was a good idea to bring in Levine, but to me he is very much in control of the production on the tracks he is singing.

I'm going to try and start putting up more input on all the polling/ranking around here.  For now I need to vote, my first on this record.  My very favorites aren't doing too well.

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My vote goes to "I'm So Lonely"

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Let me first say, one more time before we leave the dance floor - I Love this album.

Carl's last attempt at bringing a modern sound into the camp.  Things were about to get tough for a fan like me.  They were still drawing crowds to the shows, but something was changing.  This is where they started trying to play what the majority of the fans wanted to hear - the old hits.  All through the late 80's, I found it difficult to enjoy the shows.  Don't get me wrong, I love the old songs.  I wasn't against surf-n-car medleys and enjoyed Mike bringing in Jan and Dean tracks, or acting like their first live album was the one that really mattered, but please... I kept leaving asking myself why was that all they wanted to play.  What about the fans like me, who wanted to hear deep cuts?  I guess Mike started doing this in the early 80's while Carl was out trying to stay relevant.  But when Carl came back, for awhile, Carl (and Al and Brian to a lesser extent) had a lot of input in the band's choice of material.  By the 90's I didn't even make every show.  And I was the kind of guy who would buy tickets to both shows, and spend the day (and night) with my favorite band.  The easiest way to say this, is that I thought bringing in Stamos was a bad idea.  I liked the cheerleaders out front of the stage, but soon the girls were on the stage!  Mike was in a whirl, and seemed distracted by all the attention (though I'm sure he loved it- who wouldn't).  It was his idea of what a Beach Boys Show should be - give the people what they want.  But this was everybody's Beach Boys, not the Kinks.  And as good as Matt is, I wanted Carl and Al to be taking the old Brian leads.  I missed the energy of Dennis too, that played into it.  But now Brian didn't seem very interested either.  This is how it seemed at the time, before I started reading some of the awful books and articles detailing their personal lives.  Something I'm still not that interested in.  This fan was there for the music.

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In 1985 this album showed hope.  But these songs were left in the dust at the live shows.  Maybe this isn't the right thread to say anymore, so let me get to my vote.

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Only one of my very favorites made it to the final.  My #1:  "Maybe I Don't Know"

#2:  "I Do Love You"

#3:  and my vote, "It's Gettin' Late"

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I'll have some of that!

Zooming in for the Win...

"Where I Belong"

My 4th favorite track on Beach Boys