Best songs from their worst albums

[Dudd]

Although MIU and LA are sub-par albums, everyone seems to have at least one song they like from them. Not many people seem to have a problem with "My Diane" or "Good Timin'". Even "Goin' On" from freakin' KTSA gets a fair amount of praise here. It doesn't seem that every track is terrible - it's just that there's the occasional big stinker that goes and ruins everything. More or less everyone hates "Belles of Paris" and the 10-minute disco version of "Here Comes The Night". Do you think if you were to compile all the more tolerable tracks from the BB's worst albums, it would make something worth listening to?

[Wah Wah Wah Ooooo]

I have such a mix, and I listen to it occasionally....Good Timin', Going On, Baby Blue, Angel Come Home, Where I Belong, Somewhere Near Japan, Lahaina Aloha, among a few others.

[NHC]

The thing that annoys me about Belles of Paris is not so much the song itself, which is OK on its own, but that it seems to be the "structural template" for almost every Mike Love song written since, or maybe before for all I know, which would mean it wouldn't be the template, but anyway they all seem to be built around that same unimaginative pattern.  As for MIU, my favorite is Matchpoint.  Always has been, always will be. Maybe Sweet Sunday Kind Of Love second.

[Mike's Beard]

Where I Belong is one of my all time favourites and it's on one of The BB's worst albums ever, second only to you know what...

[buddhahat]

Crack At Your Love

[Slow In Brain]

In My Car

[TimeToGetAlone]

Beach Boys '78-'92

1. My Diane
2. Match Point of Our Love
3. Good Timin'
4. Angel Come Home
5. Love Surrounds Me
6. Baby Blue
7. Goin' On
8. Getcha Back
9. Where I Belong
10. Somewhere Near Japan
11. In My Car
12. Kokomo
13. Lahaina Aloha

It's not particularly cohesive, but I'd be quite satisfied with this in terms of overall listening experience.  I mean, if they went 14 years without making any albums -- stockpiling recordings along the way -- and then suddenly this appeared, I wouldn't be doing much complaining.  Add the best stuff from the maligned 15 Big Ones and the standout one-off singles/unreleased songs and you could come up with a few more.

[SamMcK]

Goin' On is just as good as many of the group's classic tracks IMO.

[Gertie J.]

my diane, goin' on, summer in paradise, still cruisin', getcha back

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

LA in it's entirety, as-is, is one of the The Beach Boys best albums IMO

[Cabinessenceking]

I agree lists and comparisons are fun, but best songs from worst albums? c'mon...

[Myk Luhv]

I honestly don't get the love for "Good Timin'" or "Goin' On". They're fine, catchy songs but very Beach-Boys-by-numbers to me, and they're maybe classics compared to the rest of the group's late-'70s/entire '80s catalogue -- though I think even that is a stretch -- they're nowhere near the standards of the '60s or early-'70s.

[I. Spaceman]

I don't get anyone who calls themselves a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan and can't recognize a great tune from his pen. But what a lotta folks around here are best at is disliking the band's music, and talking about it incessantly.

[Dudd]

I don't get anyone who calls themselves a Beach Boys/Brian Wilson fan and can't recognize a great tune from his pen. But what a lotta folks around here are best at is disliking the band's music, and talking about it incessantly.

That's eerily true.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I have such a mix, and I listen to it occasionally....Good Timin', Going On, Baby Blue, Angel Come Home, Where I Belong, Somewhere Near Japan, Lahaina Aloha, among a few others.

I gave it a shot, too. Took three songs from each album. It's OK...

The Beach Boys : It's OK  1976 - 1992

1. Back Home
2. It's OK
3. Palisades Park
4. Roller Skating Child
5. The Night Was So Young
6. I'll Bet He's Nice
7. Matchpoint Of Our Love
8. My Diane
9. Pitter Patter
10. Baby Blue
11. Lady Lynda
12. Good Timin'
13. Sunshine
14. Livin' With A Heartache
15. Goin' On
16. Getcha Back
17. She Believes In Love Again
18. Where I Belong
19. Still Cruisin'
20. Kokomo
21. Somewhere Near Japan
22. Hot Fun In The Summertime
23. Lahaina Aloha
24. Summer In Paradise

[drbeachboy]

I honestly don't get the love for "Good Timin'" or "Goin' On". They're fine, catchy songs but very Beach-Boys-by-numbers to me, and they're maybe classics compared to the rest of the group's late-'70s/entire '80s catalogue -- though I think even that is a stretch -- they're nowhere near the standards of the '60s or early-'70s.

Beach-Boys-by-numbers is a bad thing? I would think that by the numbers means comparing them to their old 60s and early 70s sound. Not a bad thing, a Beach Boys thing.

[drbeachboy]

1976-1992 - 3 Songs per Album

It's OK
Palisades Park
Back Home
Let Us Go On This Way
Roller Skating Child
Honkin' Down The Highway
Peggy Sue
Kona Coast
Pitter Patter
Good Timin'
Angel Come Home
Baby Blue
Keepin' The Summer Alive
Some of Your Love
Goin' On
Getcha Back
It's Gettin' Late
Male Ego
Somewhere Near Japan
Kokomo
Make It Big
Hot Fun In The Summertime
Strange Things Happen
Lahaina Aloha

[Myk Luhv]

I honestly don't get the love for "Good Timin'" or "Goin' On". They're fine, catchy songs but very Beach-Boys-by-numbers to me, and they're maybe classics compared to the rest of the group's late-'70s/entire '80s catalogue -- though I think even that is a stretch -- they're nowhere near the standards of the '60s or early-'70s.

Beach-Boys-by-numbers is a bad thing? I would think that by the numbers means comparing them to their old 60s and early 70s sound. Not a bad thing, a Beach Boys thing.

It is when they're a group capable of much better songwriting, even during the time period(s) in question as unreleased tracks help show. I think "Stevie", for example, is a far better contemporaneous tune from the pen of BW than either of the above-mentioned songs.

[NHC]

Yes.  Lahaina Aloha.  Played it twenty times in a row the first time around. Didn't mind the rest of that album either, as a whole. Some of it not so much, but what the heck.

[I. Spaceman]

I honestly don't get the love for "Good Timin'" or "Goin' On". They're fine, catchy songs but very Beach-Boys-by-numbers to me, and they're maybe classics compared to the rest of the group's late-'70s/entire '80s catalogue -- though I think even that is a stretch -- they're nowhere near the standards of the '60s or early-'70s.

Beach-Boys-by-numbers is a bad thing? I would think that by the numbers means comparing them to their old 60s and early 70s sound. Not a bad thing, a Beach Boys thing.

It is when they're a group capable of much better songwriting, even during the time period(s) in question as unreleased tracks help show. I think "Stevie", for example, is a far better contemporaneous tune from the pen of BW than either of the above-mentioned songs.

Yeah, and God Only Knows is a far better composition than I Know There's An Answer. Nevertheless, both are great. If Good Timin' and Goin' On had gone unreleased, and Stevie had been released, their roles would switch anyway. The grass is always greener in the tape vault.

[the captain]

If Good Timin' and Goin' On had gone unreleased, and Stevie had been released, their roles would switch anyway. The grass is always greener in the tape vault.

BB Proverbs 1:1-2.

[SMiLE Brian]

Brian's take on Good timin on the C50 tour was one of my favorites. It felt closer to 1974 version he never finished.

[filledeplage]

Yes.  Lahaina Aloha.  Played it twenty times in a row the first time around. Didn't mind the rest of that album either, as a whole. Some of it not so much, but what the heck.

Yes! 

[Myk Luhv]

I honestly don't get the love for "Good Timin'" or "Goin' On". They're fine, catchy songs but very Beach-Boys-by-numbers to me, and they're maybe classics compared to the rest of the group's late-'70s/entire '80s catalogue -- though I think even that is a stretch -- they're nowhere near the standards of the '60s or early-'70s.

Beach-Boys-by-numbers is a bad thing? I would think that by the numbers means comparing them to their old 60s and early 70s sound. Not a bad thing, a Beach Boys thing.

It is when they're a group capable of much better songwriting, even during the time period(s) in question as unreleased tracks help show. I think "Stevie", for example, is a far better contemporaneous tune from the pen of BW than either of the above-mentioned songs.

Yeah, and God Only Knows is a far better composition than I Know There's An Answer. Nevertheless, both are great. If Good Timin' and Goin' On had gone unreleased, and Stevie had been released, their roles would switch anyway. The grass is always greener in the tape vault.

...but I don't think the two released songs are great, I find them to be an imitation of what "The Beach Boys" should sound like -- except that it's because the group recording them is in fact The Beach Boys they're thought better of than being just-fine songs -- and I wouldn't think they were great even if they were unreleased. But I'll turn in my Beach Boys badge if you want I guess, dude.

[I. Spaceman]

Keep it. More great Brian Wilson music for me to enjoy, dude.