AP segment with new interviews & a snippet of a NEW SONG off the new album!!!!

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I think it says a lot that out of all the other songs they could have chosen to show the AP cameras--they chose this one.  The fact that they're overly-protective about any info about this album and the only other song they're willing to throw out for scraps is "Spring Vacation"  sort of shows that maybe even they knew just how weak this one was.  Instead of wasting another song they really cared about they chose to go with the safe filler for the cameras. 

I was thinking it might be the other way round, and that this might be the thing they were proudest of in the entire album. I do hope you're right, but "let's let everyone hear the worst stuff" doesn't sound like a sensible plan to me...

I don't think it's either. Rather, it's because of the line "We're back together." They chose it because i has the lyrics that have the most relevance to these little puff pieces on the reunion. Then the original clip blew it by editing that part out!

[Autotune]

The BBs will never reach or reflect the level of coolness expected by the generation that discovered them through Smile/Pet Sounds in the last 10 years. It's the Beach Boys: great art in a bowl of lard. That's what we're getting with this album, and I'm diggin' it already.

[hypehat]

It's not coolness I'm interested in. Heck, TLOS isn't cool. Doing two albums of Gershwin and Disney covers ain't cool. But they're well crafted (and in TLOS's case) well-written albums. I'd like that.

We are all up in arms about a clip, sure. but I was excited by TWGMTR in a similar circumstance, and I'm not at all with this. But I have still have my hopes for the record....

[Jim V.]

I've been listening to the background track as much as I could and I gotta admit it sounds really synthetic and like 1994 adult contemporary. However, I'm still really excited for the album, even if it ends up being an embarrassment. Which is a major possibility.

I still by the fact that I think there will be a few new Beach Boys classics on this album, and we haven't heard them yet.

[Too Much Sugar]

The chord progression, instrumentation, melody, arrangement sound UNBELIEVABLE. Kind of a modern sound. I think it could have been very accessible to young audiences, if not for the lyrics.

The Beach Boys really are back together! Mike Love takes a beautiful song and quickly transforms it into dreck. That takes talent. Who says Brian was the only genius in the BBs?

Strangely, I agree with this.  I actually don't have many problems with the tune.  It's not really my thing, but it at least sounds original and not another nostalgic song, at least musically.  I could live with that. 

But lyrically?  Goodness, our worst fears were realized, weren't they?  There's a line from "The Office" where Michael Scott blows up at Dwight and says: "Just have a thought!  Have an original thought!"  This applies to Mike Love.  It's not even writing lyrics; it's merely a copy and paste job from the last song with these rhymes, which was a copy and paste job of the song before that, etc., etc.  It's not only wretched, it's lazy.  This guy used to be capable of occasionally writing great, and sometimes even deep, lyrics.  And, unbelievably, I think if he went back to trying to focus on being great, instead of being interested in marketing the band's discography in every damn song, he still could pull it off.  But it just baffles me; for someone who's self-described as being about success, when has this sh*t actually done well and been respected?  Does he really think people want to hear this?  It's crap like this why this band doesn't get the respect it should.  This isn't reminiscent of Beach Boys circa 1965, as he claims, but, rather, 1992. 

And I know, it's only 10 seconds, who knows how the rest of the album will be, and that's true; the rest could be great and I hope it is.  But when the offending lyrics in question are the main hook, and when you've had 20 years between albums to write material, to reflect on your band's legacy, there's no excuse for even one second of this.  There's just not.  And, to be fair, that doesn't fall on just Mike.  Brian, the rest of the group, and the label are also going along with it.  I really do hope this is just a blip on the radar, but I'm fearing it's not.  Though I am trying to keep an open mind.  We'll see... 

[Zach95]

I would just love for someone to explain to me what the people at Capitol were thinking when they decided to put this track on the album.  What the heck was their logic.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I would just love for someone to explain to me what the people at Capitol were thinking when they decided to put this track on the album.  What the heck was their logic.

You're talking about executives. They don't use logic that anyone else is familar with.

[b00ts]

"spring vacation" kicks so many songs in the ass. It's so much better than about 40% of KTSA, 35% of L.A., 60% of MIU, 95% of SIP.

This album is going to be turning point for the Smile/indie generation of BBs fans. It's the BBs, with Brian at the helm, claiming their place in the music world, at 70 years old, including their summer image with all it implies. It takes some balls and they're doing it big time.

Is there a version of "Spring Vacation" in one of the videos or pieces that I missed? Or are you referring to the snippet from the AP interview? I'd love to hear the whole tune.

it's on page 4 of this thread, another youtube video, but extended

Ah, I had thought that it was the same as the AP interview and so I hadn't clicked it. Some of us had guessed that the song was "Spring Vacation" but I was wondering how everybody was so certain...

I'll preface this by saying that, as most of the regulars around here are aware, I am a fan of Mike Love. I think he is talented and misunderstood, and his artistic and personal missteps are amplified by constant comparisons to the Wilsons and his dry sense of humor. I like Mike, I respect his place in the group, and I think he is a capable lyricist and melodicist when he puts in the necessary effort. I also was heartened by Mike Love Not War, as it evinced a renewed willingness to write songs for the sake of making beautiful music, not just crass commercialism.

That said, this doesn't bode well, for this song or for the album as a whole. From the "We Got Around" to  "Spring vacation/Good vibrations/Summer weather/We're Back Together," it is of a piece with the parody lyrics we were writing a few pages back.

Mike - WHAT THE f*** Come on, man! Your instinct for commercialism has been spot-on at times in the past, but there are a lot of people out there who desperately want one last Beach Boys album that tends towards art as well as commerce. They want Mike Love firing on all cylinders, just as they want 100% of Brian, Al, David and Bruce.

Commerciality and art can co-exist - you can even have well-written summery lyrics that reference your hits - but from an artistic and commerical standpoint, these lyrics just reek of laziness. What about the lyrics for "All I Wanna Do" and "The Warmth of the Sun?" They were commercial (even though AIWD is an obscure song) and 'boy-girl' but they were also tasteful. These lyrics sounds like something from Summer In Paradise.

I am a huge fan of Brian's work and Paul McCartney's work, and in both cases, their lyrics run the gamut from the sublimely beautiful ("Caroline No," "Here Today" by McCartney) to the eccentrically mundane ("Busy Doin' Nothin'," "Bip Bop") to outright lazy ("Night Time," "See Your Sunshine"). The lyrics here just reek of misplaced commercial ambition on Mike Love's part. It can't be that he doesn't care or is phoning it in - Mike is a consummte professional who seems to almost always give his all.

Like many of us on this board, I constantly evangelize albums like SMiLe, Sunflower, and Friends, trying to show people that the Beach Boys evolved beyond their early years. Much of the time, this leads to a reassessment of the early music, and people who may have written it off as anachronistic give it a second chance and recognize it for its beauty and lyrical simplicity. However, when they move on up through the group's catalogue to the late 1980s "summer fun" retreads, the reaction is almost unanimously one of disgust - disgust that this entity that had evolved through Smile, Friends, 20/20, etc. has reverted and regressed into a shadow of its original self.

This is a very real problem with The Beach Boys' image, much exacerbated by their 1980s and 1990s output. It is disturbing to me because I want them to be recognized for everything good and original that they offer - their early beach-themed music, their Brian Wilson masterpieces, and their later collaborative work - a band of artists (including Mike, whether or not he would consider himself an artist). The best of and commerce, all within the same group.

This it is a long-standing image problem for the Beach Boys that has been rehabilitated by the Smile Sessions, and the reunion can potentially go a long way towards resolving it. The funny thing is that the image problem is no longer Brian's - his solo work over the past decade, including the california-themed stuff like That Lucky Old Sun and even the Disney Album, has been tastefully and thoughtfully produced, and his image as an artist is cemented, in spite of his critical and commercial misfires. Even if Brian's next album is crap, he is Brian Wilson.

Likewise, the live Beach Boys (including the Mike and Bruce Show) now have a reputation for respectfully performing songs from throughout the group's vast catalogue. Mike and Bruce used to be regarded by many as a county-fair-oldies band, but they put in the work, diversified their setlist, hired better, more respectful musicians to work with them (Scott Totten, John Cowsill), and they are now regarded even by many Brianistas as a worthwhile live act that does justice to the group's considerable legacy.

The reputation of Mike Love as an artist, and the reputatkom of the late-period Beach Boys as a viable recording group, is what is hurt by this kind of stuff. That's why I view it as Mike shooting himself in the foot in a misguided attempt at commerciality,  as he did with Summer In Paradise.

The best Beach Boys music is groundbreaking and authentic. It can have inane or ephemeral lyrics, but it comes across as real, whether it is "Surfin' Safari," "Surf's Up," "'The Little Girl I Once Knew," "Do It Again," "California Saga" or "Johnny Carson." Even Al's solo album, which includes a new version of "Help Me Rhonda" along several other remakes and an Alec Baldwin spoken word passage, comes across as sincere and authentic.

Nothing could ruin my enthusiasm for the new Beach Boys album, as at the very least, we will get to hear the Boys' blend again, and we will get some new Brian-Mike songs as well as a new Beach Boys suite written by Brian, all produced by the man himself... but my expectations for the album are a little bit less after seeing that extended clip.

/Whining over a 15-second clip of one song from a 12 song album

[BiNNS]

I don't know why, but i have a feeling i'm going to kind of dig this tune. I'm just glad it's not the opening or closing track on the album.

[Justin]

Nice write up b00ts.


I dunno...when we all read the track listing from this album a few weeks ago almost everyone here predicted "Spring Vacation" to probably be the stinker of the album (plus "Beaches In Mind).  We knew even then....and it seems are instincts could be right.  If we were to trust our instincts again, then the songs we were all intrigued by could in fact deliver the goods:  "Shelter" "Private Life of Bill and Sue" "Life Suite" "Summer's Gone."  Let's not all crap on this before we even get to listen to it, eh?

[Runaways]

i was actually relieved when we found out that this song was indeed "Spring Vacation", it just felt like the song we knew would be crappy was the song that sounded crappy.  nice and condensed.

[Too Much Sugar]

Brilliant post, b00ts.  Sums it all up very well. 

[monicker]

It's remarkable that these lyrics are exactly like the Mike Love parodies that people here do, some from even a few days ago, maybe even in this very thread before this extended video clip came to light. Those worst-case-scenario absurdist jokes actually became the reality. Unbelievable. Mike puts down Smiley Smile in recent press releases, says he's really trying, and then here's a sample. And it's gotta be said: Brian is just as much to blame, seeing as how he's the PRODUCER and yet he didn't veto this tripe. This is why i wish the band had called it quits permanently in 1978. It's unbelievable that no one in their camp put their foot down and drew the line with these lyrics. It's been 20 years since the nadir of Summer In Paradise, and in some ways, nothing's changed at all.

"To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public."

I am reminded of why it can be exhausting being a fanatic of this fucking band.

[MBE]

I have to slap the new record on my turntable to judge fully, but since I heard Joe Thomas was back I wasn't expecting much. Like I said before I just hope it is up to MIU where you can listen to it in the background without gagging much. Unless they would have gotten Rick Rubin or someone with his guts to work on it, we can't hope for more. The issue is lack of vision.

[b00ts]

It's remarkable that these lyrics are exactly like the Mike Love parodies that people here do, some from even a few days ago, maybe even in this very thread before this extended video clip came to light. Those worst-case-scenario absurdist jokes actually became the reality. Unbelievable. Mike puts down Smiley Smile in recent press releases, says he's really trying, and then here's a sample. And it's gotta be said: Brian is just as much to blame, seeing as how he's the PRODUCER and yet he didn't veto this tripe. This is why i wish the band had called it quits permanently in 1978. It's unbelievable that no one in their camp put their foot down and drew the line with these lyrics. It's been 20 years since the nadir of Summer In Paradise, and in some ways, nothing's changed at all.

"To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public."

I am reminded of why it can be exhausting being a fanatic of this f*cking band.

I'm with you on the feelings of disappointment, and I whinged for quite a while in the post upthread, but it is important to remember that we will probably get at least a few good new tunes from this album, with Brian producing and all the surviving Beach Boys - including David Marks - singing beautifully.

In particular, the suite and, as mentioned upthread, "Shelter," "The Private Life of Bill and Sue," and "Summer's Gone" sound like they could be artistically rewarding and interesting new Beach Boys tunes.

Yes, new Beach Boys tines. In 2012. Even in a worst case scenario, I sincerely doubt the album will be as bad as "Summer in Paradise," although we may end up with an album of the same quality as the '85 record, sans Carl but with the additions of David Marks as a singer/performer and Brian as a producer. That sounds like a worthwhile endeavor to me, even if it is not the career-capping record we are all hoping in vain for.

[coco1997]

One terrible song (and that's assuming it's fair to label a song terrible after hearing one ten second clip of it  ) does not a terrible album make. Remember, Brian has been writing good music lately, and unlike on "Summer in Paradise", he's actually involved with this one.

Keep the faith until June 5th (or whenever it is the album leaks).

[b00ts]

I have to slap the new record on my turntable to judge fully, but since I heard Joe Thomas was back I wasn't expecting much. Like I said before I just hope it is up to MIU where you can listen to it in the background without gagging much. Unless they would have gotten Rick Rubin or someone with his guts to work on it, we can't hope for more. The issue is lack of vision.

Rick Rubin is not a hands-on producer, which the Boys clearly need. Nigel Godrich would be better, as he has a good filter for separating the wheat from the chaff.

However, Brian is the producer of this record. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like it is going to be a fully Brian-driven record like "Love You," but more of a collaborative effort, in between "Love You" and albums like "Friends" and "Sunflower" crossed with the too-many-cooks aspects of "Beach Boys '85."

Still, it is said to be an album that Brian put a lot of work into writing and producing, so I am hoping that in spite of the dubious writing credits for "That's Why God Made the Radio" and the Mike Love cheese of "Spring Vacation," the pervasive Brian influence wins out for most of the record.

[coco1997]

Do we even know for sure that Mike wrote "Spring Vacation"? I mean, I guess it's safe to assume, but I was just curious.

[Summertime Blooz]

I think a little Mike Love cheese is the perfect companion to all the whine generated by this unfortunate clip. I think it is just really silly to rush to judgement on the final version of this song (let alone the entire album as a few have done), based on a crude performance for the cameras. The BB's biggest error in judgement at this point is letting that be filmed at all. My two cents.

[I. Spaceman]

This thread is hilarious. I hope the entire record sounds like that last clip, just to piss everyone here off royally. "OH MY GOD, HE SAID FUN FUN FUN!!!!".

[Andrew G. Doe]

Problem I had with the clip of "Spring Vacation" wasn't the track, or even the lyric (I like "Sum-Sum-Summer Yer Lurve", did from day one) but the totally wretched vocals from Brian. Whoever gave the green light to let that clip out needs their ears syringed.

[Smilin Ed H]

Good ol' Ian.  Yawn.

Both their vocals are way off. And the song still sounds like the great steaming turd in the room.

"It's remarkable that these lyrics are exactly like the Mike Love parodies that people here do, some from even a few days ago, maybe even in this very thread before this extended video clip came to light. Those worst-case-scenario absurdist jokes actually became the reality. Unbelievable. Mike puts down Smiley Smile in recent press releases, says he's really trying, and then here's a sample. And it's gotta be said: Brian is just as much to blame, seeing as how he's the PRODUCER and yet he didn't veto this tripe. This is why i wish the band had called it quits permanently in 1978. It's unbelievable that no one in their camp put their foot down and drew the line with these lyrics. It's been 20 years since the nadir of Summer In Paradise, and in some ways, nothing's changed at all.

"To sum it up, they blew it, they blew it consistently, they continue to blow it, it is tragic and this pathological problem caused The Beach Boys' greatest music to be so underrated by the general public."

I am reminded of why it can be exhausting being a fanatic of this f*cking band. "

Apart from the fact we don't KNOW Mike is responsible, I find it hard to disagree.

[Smilin Ed H]

"There's nothing shocking here. "

There is. 

[I. Spaceman]

Good ol' Ian.  Yawn.
 

What's your problem, moron? I was just having a little laugh, that's allowed. Next time you yawn, open wider. Pop that "great steaming turd" (in your own deathless, poetic prose) right in there.

[Nicko1234]

I do wonder again how Al is feeling deep down about things.

His songs were apparently cut from the album and yet this made the grade...