I would say that Al is my favorite Beach Boy, most definitely. His voice is so good. He sounds like a grainier version of Brian to me, but with a slightly lower range. To me he could have been the lead singer on a lot of the early hits had Mike not been in the band. I always thought he would sound good singing the lead to California Girls, and indeed he does sound good singing it in his solo band even today.

It would be an especially fitting title considering it's the Beach Boys 50th.

Does anybody else think that "From There to Back Again" would have made a better album title than the overly long "That's Why God Made the Radio?"

My first reaction upon hearing this album all the way through was something akin to this:



And I mean it. Insipid lyrics, horrible remakes of his own songs. Schmaltzy stuff that Bruce is known to write. HORRIBLE production. What the hell is going on with Bruce's voice on this album? Little girls randomly popping up in songs singing "Daddy? Why won't somebody dance with me?" Disco remakes? Yuck!

Happy Star Wars Day everyone. I honestly had no clue anyone had designated May 4th as "Star Wars Day" until I started reading some internet sites today, but cheers.

I really hope that by "mellow," Brian doesn't mean the new album is full of Joe Thomas adult contemporary schlock like Imagination.

I like it. Not great, but not terrible either. I was expecting much, much worse.

I personally think it would look better without the thick black border around it.

http://vimeo.com/41099670

OK, after viewing that video, I can hear it much more clearly now. My bad. Color me disappointed.

But that leaves the question as to why some people at the concert didn't hear what we are hearing.

From that Youtube video, I'm just not noticing it guys. I hear what can be described as an echo coming after Brian's vocals, but I have no idea whether that is definitively autotune, Jeff doubling his parts, or just distortion coming from the equipment.

My friend was sitting in the seventh row last night. I told him about what's happening on this board, all the talk about Brian being autotuned, and he told me he did not notice anything going on with Brian's vocals from where he was sitting. He thought Surfer Girl sounded fantastic, and sounded shocked when I told him that there's accusations that autotune might have been used on Brian's voice.

I've got to say... The song keeps growing and growing on me the more I listen. I think it's one of their better songs from the past 30 years, although that's not saying much when you consider what came in that time frame.

It's also not nearly as derivative of Keep an Eye On Summer as I originally thought.

  It's here!! Finally! Great song.

They just played TWGMTR. Mike and Mike congratulated the Beach Boys on their 50 years together, and mentioned that the new single would be available for download on iTunes tomorrow. Now they're talking about the NFL Draft.

The show is already about seven songs in, they just played Surfer Girl. My friend, who is a casual Beach Boy fan, just told me that I'm going to have the time of my life when I go. He said the set list is fantastic so far from what they've played. Some very good signs.

My friend who is at the show just sent me this pic.



Shows you just what the stage looks like.

Sounds like TLOS mixed with Don't Worry Baby to me. And I like it. It also kind of reminds me of certain ballads on Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!).

Any fans out there? I used to be a massive Star Wars fan growing up, but I have since lost my interest in the franchise and moved on to other passions.

I've been thinking about picking up James Luceno's new book on Darth Plagueis. He was my favorite Star Wars author growing up. I've been reading about his new book on the Star Wars wiki, but I'm not sure I like some of his ideas about the Sith and Palpatine's back story.

Any of you guys like the movies, or dabble into the Expanded Universe stuff?

For me it's the sheer emotion Brian Wilson put into his music, as well as his inventiveness in the studio. It goes into many different directions over the course of time, from fun times, to the fear of loss, Pet Sounds/Smile, etc. Beach Boy music is feel-good music, and for whatever reason people have this weird idea that feel-good music is "lesser music."

For the life of me I have never understood why people think this. What do people listen to music to be emotionally disturbed? I don't get it. Of course music is meant to make you feel good.

The version of Waves of Love on Spotify has been changed to the CD version. You can listen to it there now (legally of course ) if you want to hear it.

Piper
Dark Side
Wall
Meddle
Wish You Were Here

TSS has got me thinking about box sets from other artists. What is the best box set in your music collection? Obviously this shouldn't include TSS or any other Beach Boys box set. With other artists in general, is there a box set you have that is your prized possession in your music collection? Or do you have a specific box set you own that is the best you ever got?

I'd love to hear the alternative version from the physical cd. I only have the one from amazon...

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Now this I like! I stand by my comment that the download version is out of Al's range. This version is much better.

Along with Pet Sounds and SMiLE/TSS, this is easily one my favorite works by Brian. This album is utterly eccentric, cooky, brilliant and far out, an obvious reflection of Brian's mental state at the time. I would characterize Love You as the last truly great Beach Boy album. Let's hope the new reunion album can change that. 5 stars all the way.

Random thought here, but I always thought Al Jardine would be a great vocalist for this song. I remember seeing an article linked to on Wikipedia where Van Dyke claimed that the lyrics to this song are vintage 1966, but that they were never recorded. The article has since disappeared though, and a quick Google search hasn't brought up anything.

According to Frank Holmes, the lyrics for Holidays were given to him in 1966.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,11738.0.html

Thanks, never saw that before. I sure wish I could find that old Van Dyke Parks interview though, but I guess it's not important.

Random thought here, but I always thought Al Jardine would be a great vocalist for this song. I remember seeing an article linked to on Wikipedia where Van Dyke claimed that the lyrics to this song are vintage 1966, but that they were never recorded. The article has since disappeared though, and a quick Google search hasn't brought up anything.