Wild Honey

[KokoMoses]

I also think Denny on Good Vibrations live blows the drums off the record into deep space..... Though, in fairness to Hal, I'm sure Brian told him to play it the way he did. I remember reading/hearing somewhere that Brian dislikes cymbals/loud drums anyway.

Watch Denny on Wouldn't It be Nice on that live TV thingy in England (youtube-it) Man! if he'd been on the record!!! I love the way Ricky Fattar played it too.

[The Heartical Don]

Difficult. The only valid approach is mathematical.

1. Music: 3 (there are a few duds, like: How She Boogalooed It)
2. Sleeve Art: 5 (best of all BBs, in fact, up there with All Summer Long)
3. Production: 0
4. Playing Time: 2

Average: 2.5, so I gave it 3 with some benevolence.

[sockittome]

A few pages back there was mention of a long version of I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER.  Does anyone know anything about that?  I have a boot of a pieced together stereo recreation of IWMTLH with an occapella bridge near the end and some sort of effects added in the fade. 

The Wild Honey album is awesome, BTW.  And I'm one of the needs-to-be-in-stereo lobbyists!  Hey, gang, how about a mono/stereo twofer with bonus tracks?  Mr. Linett?

[smile-holland]

A few pages back there was mention of a long version of I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER.  Does anyone know anything about that?  I have a boot of a pieced together stereo recreation of IWMTLH with an occapella bridge near the end and some sort of effects added in the fade. 

The Wild Honey album is awesome, BTW.  And I'm one of the needs-to-be-in-stereo lobbyists!  Hey, gang, how about a mono/stereo twofer with bonus tracks?  Mr. Linett?

You probably have the extended version you're looking for, reading your description of the version you have. The (badly pieced together) version with a capella bridge + backgroundvoc's fade was released on the 1983 Rarities album. Listening to it I suspect that that a capella bridge is not on the right place anyway (my guess is just before "My little baby wants me, my baby needs me...)

[sockittome]

Yeah, it sounds like the bridge was merely tacked on to the end, as there are no lead vocals after it.  Just a drum riff and then a fade.  It certainly doesn't follow the original Stevie version.

[The Heartical Don]

A few pages back there was mention of a long version of I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER.  Does anyone know anything about that?  I have a boot of a pieced together stereo recreation of IWMTLH with an occapella bridge near the end and some sort of effects added in the fade. 

The Wild Honey album is awesome, BTW.  And I'm one of the needs-to-be-in-stereo lobbyists!  Hey, gang, how about a mono/stereo twofer with bonus tracks?  Mr. Linett?

How true. WH needs to 'breath' in true stereo, and the mono version is quite suffocating. Again, it is beyond me why it wasn't done in stereo. There were many capable guys and girls around then to do that, and the only reason I can come up with is that people wanted to please Brian, who wasn't in such good spirits at the time.

[sockittome]

So how is the 2001 remaster?  I've got the '90 edition and I find that the only way I can listen to it is with my treble control cranked up and the bass backed off quite a bit.  Any differences in the bonus tracks (like FRIENDS/2020)?

[lance]

2000 ain't that bad. Certainly I don't have to adjust my settings too much.

[Rocker]

I just thought about the "Wild honey"-album and it's sound. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it's probably my favorite BBs-album. But I think the problem about the sound is, that it sounds like a "small" album, which it is and which was ok for Smiley Smile. But take a look at the Beatles' simpler albums and they all still sound big. WH could sound like a big album too, if they had used more echo, maybe double the voices, etc. It's not just a mono/stereo-thing, as "Friends" also sounds quite small. I think WH would've profited from a bigger sound like "The girl from New York city", which also is a simple recording.

[Jason]

Dennis, for my money, is/was the only Beach Boy without the ability to write any utter crap.

PURE UNDISPUTABLE TRUTH. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves or they're buried in BW's pubic hair.

[mikeyj]

Dennis, for my money, is/was the only Beach Boy without the ability to write any utter crap.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. Dennis didn't release THAT many songs in his lifetime and when he did, most of the time it was only a few songs per album. To say that he wasn't capable of writing crap is a bit stupid in my opinion. Who knows, he might have written loads of crap that we've never heard and perhaps crap that was never even recorded. I suppose what a person defines as crap differs from person to person as well.

[the captain]

I'm not sorry at all. Dennis wrote as high a percentage of sh*t as the others, and if we're going to make stupid-ass judgment statements, we may as well make more accurate ones: anyone who thinks otherwise has fallen for the good looks and charm and might just be buried in Dennis' (crab-infested, no doubt) pubic hair.

[Rocker]

I guess erik5000 was just having a little irony going on here.
As for Dennis' crap, what about "What's wrong"? That's quite an awful song.

Anyway, back to topic. It's Wild Honey on here....

[carl r]

Starting to think this is the sort of album to make the whole rating system a bit pointless.

When this album is good it is great. World-beating. I'm surprised at the Don's paltry score.

Seven brilliant tracks on one album. Damn, it would be good enough for 99.99% of bands.

How She Boogalooed It - Carl lets out an air biscuit. It's a couple of minutes of egg-flavor. So what?

It's the band's album and it has stacks of personality, cheek and vibes. I find my way back to it, a lot.

[SmileySam]

Wild Honey is a standout. There is no other Beach Boys album like it.

[the captain]

There is no other Beach Boys album like it.

The Beach Boys are a unique band in that you can say that about quite a few of their albums: Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, Holland, 15BO, Love You and LA all, to me, are very unique in the BBs catalogue. Others are near-unique, where an album and a half or pair of albums fit together (how I think of Sunflower/Surfs Up).

[SmileySam]

I think that was their only R & B and soul album

[Alex]

Wild Honey is a standout. There is no other Beach Boys album like it.

It's better than anything Radiohead has ever put out!!

[the captain]

That's kind of a weird statement. Why mention Radiohead in relation to Wild Honey? Why not any other band?

(By the way, I am not a huge Radiohead fan, but I disagree with your statement. In fact, I think Kid A, OK Computer and The Bends are all quite a bit better than WH.)

[lance]

It is kind of weird...I don't think one is better than the other but totally, totally different.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Yeah, and Wild Honey is certainly no Tales From Topographic Oceans!!! 

I think DoYouDigWorms was just trying to say that Wild Honey holds up compared to whoever is considered a hip/trend setting band of this era!

And I think it's a good point!!!

[the captain]

I agree that it holds up as a quality album (though as I said, I disagree on the specifics), just was surprised by the left-field comparison, I guess.

[Alex]

It was a random comparison, I'll admit to that...but for some reason I've been wanting to start a Beach Boys vs. Radiohead grudge match for a while. The greatest band of the 60s and (part of) the 70s vs. the band that critics claim is the greatest of the 90s and 00s. I personally like WH more than I do OK Computer or Kid A...but I think PS, SMiLE, or SS would be more comparable to OK Comp or Kid A, though.

[the captain]

I've been wanting to start a Beach Boys vs. Radiohead grudge match for a while.

Well, the Beach Boys would win in a fight, at least. Well, in their primes they would have. (Two dead guys and a bunch of sexagenarians probably couldn't win. Well, check that: Yorke, Greenwood et al don't seem all that tough, even against old men.)

[lance]

haha...