What is THE most underrated Brian Wilson song?

[Bicyclerider]

Wake the World is one.  I Want to Pick You Up - some characterize the lyrics as icky but I think it's a gem.  You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone.  Good to My Baby.

[Half Moon Bay]

Guess I'm Dumb. I knew the Wondermints version of Guess I'm Dumb before the original. As soon as I heard it I thought it was a Brian track not knowing he wrote it (with Russ Titelman). The Wondermints version is actually pretty good. I also love the instrumental version on MIC.

Solar System. Loving Astronomy  I 've always liked the farty base, the nursery rhyme style and lyrics about the planets. Its funny, simple but very clever. The chorus of wall to wall Brian's(?) harmonies are great. Definitely not Brian's best song but one I think is underrated. I can't stop playing it.

[Ron]

Most underrated?

Solar System.

I can get down with this.  By "Underrated" we're going for stuff that doesn't usually get mentioned as good, and some of the stuff on "Love you" while it's quirky and weird, if you listen those are some really genius songs.  Solar System is one, also I'll bet he's nice, or Airplane.  Airplane is brilliant, it's just all so out of the box that people poo poo it.  

"Over the city in an airplane
I can see everything below
The houses they look so tiny
The cars look like dots
We've only got fifteen minutes to go

The clouds in the sky caress my mind so tenderly
The sun shines down on the great big beautiful scene

The sound of the engine fills my ears up
I'm hopin' this rainy weather clears up
My lover is waiting at the airport
Soon she'll be kissing me hello

The woman sitting next to me tells me 'bout her guy
And I tell her all about you and I"

It's brilliant.  Most songwriters would kill to be able to write like that.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Rio Grande is a good one. I think he went to Smile levels on that one. One that I have recently discovered that blows my mind is Chain Reaction of Love from the Payley sessions.

[donald]

What is meant by "most underrated"?  Almost an oxymoron the way it is being used in this thread.     What makes a song under rated?    That it should be rated higher?    How about something like unappreciated gems or best low charting songs?    Underrated could be any thing from TLGIOK to Still a Mystery.    Most of LOS would qualify as largely undiscovered  gems to the general public.     I say take out the spoken word pieces and get it on the PA at the department stores and grocery chains.     Do a creative rerelease and some PR.   America needs to hear the best solo effort of it's greatest pop composer of the 2nd half of the 20 th century

[If Mars had life on it...]

"Lines" is brilliant imo.  I play it a lot on piano.  Also "This Isn't Love" needs a full on studio recording and release.

[JK]

One that I have recently discovered that blows my mind is Chain Reaction of Love from the Paley sessions.

Yes indeed. Love the organ on that!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZsw8XHxnvY

When oh when are these thrilling tracks going to see the official light of day?

[Beachlad]

Farmers Daughter
Back Home
Lonely Sea
Please Let me Wonder
Ballad of Ole Betsy

[Emily]

Sorry for the revival -
I know that "Don't Talk" is highly rated, but even so I think it might be underrated.

Sometimes I just put all my music on shuffle and listen to whatever pops up. It's many thousands of songs so there are some songs I've never run into on shuffle. I've got classical, jazz and 'popular' music, so I've grown accustomed to hearing very different sounds juxtaposed.

But, today for the first time "Don't Talk" popped up. I don't think I've ever heard it out of context before and it was like listening to something recorded by an extraterrestrial who's been listening to earthling music for a few years. You can hear the earthling influence, but it's so other-worldly and weirdly beautiful and beautifully weird. Where did it come from?

[sockittome]

Ok, I'm gonna chime in with one....and before anyone responds with "What??  How is that underrated?", I'm not citing a song that's ignored...just one that seems like it should have been huge, at least from my own perspective.

She Says That She Needs Me (Imagination)

I know there has been quite a bit of discussion about Sandy and Sherry, etc.  There's no doubt a finished 1965 cut would have been a mind blower, but the 70's frankenstein mix makes me cringe.  Brian's vocal was a mess on that one.

But the cut from Imagination demonstrates what an excellent this song is in a finished form with a decent vocal.  Brian sounds really good on this one, and the instrumental arrangement sounds great, although I do miss the prominent bassline from the '65 track.

I had pretty much forgotten about the songs on Imagination until recently when I revisited it, and I found She Says...to be a real standout.  That one remained stuck in my head for quite awhile.

[Lonely Summer]

What is meant by "most underrated"?  Almost an oxymoron the way it is being used in this thread.     What makes a song under rated?    That it should be rated higher?    How about something like unappreciated gems or best low charting songs?    Underrated could be any thing from TLGIOK to Still a Mystery.    Most of LOS would qualify as largely undiscovered  gems to the general public.     I say take out the spoken word pieces and get it on the PA at the department stores and grocery chains.     Do a creative rerelease and some PR.   America needs to hear the best solo effort of it's greatest pop composer of the 2nd half of the 20 th century

Agreed - it bugs me that it is largely unheard by the masses. Would be nice if the general public was aware of Brian or the BB's for more than just the early hits and PS. It seems like every notable rock musician of the last 40 or 50 years praises PS and has it in their collection; but have they explored any of the other music Brian or the group created (well, other than Smile)? Imagine a world in which the only Beatles album people know is Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band; other than that, they stick with the 1 collection. Yeah, right. Everybody knows the Beatles catalog, from beginning to end.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Mount Vernon & Fairway.

I wish Brian had been given free rein. I don't particularly care for how it was presented when it came out with Holland, but I am always entranced by the sections on their own, as presented on the GV box set.

[Andrew G. Doe]

"The Little Girl I Once Knew".

[SteveMC]

Melt Away...had it been produced differently, say, in the style of Pet Sounds it would be much loved. Great chords & melody.

[JK]

Melt Away...had it been produced differently, say, in the style of Pet Sounds it would be much loved. Great chords & melody.

I'm told the mix was different, richer, back in '88. Still nowhere online, unfortunately... 

[Wrightfan]

All I Wanna do is fantastic in every way.

[Don Malcolm]

I think most of the non-45 tracks from PET SOUNDS tend to get "underrated" in the sense that they are not, pardon the pun, frequently "singled out" for praise.

Of that group, I'd rank the songs (with lyrics) as follows:

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times (6.48)
Don't Talk (5.44)
Here Today (4.65)
You Still Believe in Me (6.14)
I Know There's An Answer (3.07)
That's Not Me (3.99)
I'm Waiting for the Day (4.34)

Now we get wonky...the values in parens are the weighted averages from a long-ago "rate the songs" poll conducted here. They shouldn't be taken as anything like gospel (and I know many/most won't!!) because they rank the songs only in the context of the PET SOUNDS album. There was a great deal of individual variation with respect to this song group, which was higher than the average difference of opinion amongst voters on most of the other LPs. That explains the low rankings here, and why few of these tracks have been mentioned here as being "underrated."

[KDS]

Here's one that I listened to a lot last month when I finally heard Ultimate Christmas for the first time.

Winter Symphony

Not strictly a Christmas song.  But I love the arrangement and Brian sang pretty well for that time period. 

Also, with a blizzard threatening the Mid Atlantic this weekend, it's pretty timely right now. 

[Steve Latshaw]

Matchpoint of Our Love.

[JK]

All I Wanna do is fantastic in every way.

Agreed! To me, those initial chords are like opening a door into another world only to be found there. "Feel Flows" and "Can't Wait Too Long" are similarly unique----nothing like them anywhere. The Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes For You" is another. I'm sure everyone can name a few.

[Steve Mayo]

"The Little Girl I Once Knew".

i agree

[NateRuvin]

LIFE IS FOR THE LIVING!!!!!!!!!!!

And All I Wanna Do

[Lonely Summer]

Melt Away...had it been produced differently, say, in the style of Pet Sounds it would be much loved. Great chords & melody.

I think they felt that style of production was for the 80's what PS was for the 60's. It doesn't bother me, but maybe that's because I was growing up in the 80's, hearing all the pop music on CHR.

[adamghost]

First tune that popped into my head was "Our Sweet Love," and since nobody on this thread has mentioned it, but I'm sure nearly everyone is fond of it, I'm stickin' with this as my choice for most underrated. 

BTW, thanks to the person who mentioned "Just Like Me And You," which I am now listening to for the first time and enjoying it immensely (though I can see why all those delightful rough edges caused it to not to make the final cut).

[CarlTheVoice]

Every Beach Boys song is underrated by the general public! As we all know by now, they seriously don't get enough respect and love as they deserve.

Without wanting to get everyone on my back, I'd say they should have been more influential than The Beatles and in my opinion, were much, much, much better than them. I grew up listening to The Beatles so I do like them, but compared to the complexity of the BB stuff, their music is just more 'tune' like than masterpiece!