The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hope you can forgive the rather elementary poll question but I'm just a little curious how everyone ranks these later albums from this particular 10 year period.

It can be difficult for me to single out a strong album when perhaps another album is a favorite but not necessarily strong...or perhaps the strongest album isn't neccessarily your favorite.  This poll shall be twofold: along with choosing what you think is their strongest album, feel free to also post your ranking of the albums based on just your personal preferences/favorites.

Heres mine:

1 Smiley Smile
2 Sunflower
3 Carl and the Passions So Tough
4 Surf's Up
5 20/20
6 Love You
7 Holland
8 15 Big Ones
9 Wild Honey
10 Friends

The Smile Sessions without a doubt.

TSS was post-77.

I normally choose Sunflower, but I'm in a bit of a Holland mood these days...

Friends without a doubt.

To me, it's the only post-Pet Sounds album that carries out a unified message, it's cohesive, and the guys sound brilliant on every track they sing on. Also, an album that has a good sized snippet of 'Child Is Father Of The Man' deserves to be labeled the best!

Surf's Up is my favourite Beach Boys album - period.
Sunflower is their most cohesive group effort.
Holland may be slightly superior to Sunflower but a near total lack of Brian makes it feel like a different band at times.
So Tough could have been a contender if it were a few tracks longer.
I love 20/20 even if half of the material were covers or were several years old at the time of release.
Wild Honey suffers from really shitty production and poorly mixed vocal arrangements on what would otherwise be a great batch of tunes.
Thanks to the legend of SMiLE and following in the wake of Pet Sounds, Smiley Smile is doomed to be the most misunderstood album of all time.
Friends is a nice mellow record with some cool ideas, but it's just not in the same league as what Brian was achieving just a few years previously.
15 Big Ones is the soundtrack to what occurs when record label pressure and in-house band politics put the two most creative members of The BB's on the sidelines in favour of a guy who would rather be in bed eating junk food, snorting coke and watching porn.
Love You is an audio document of Brian unable to differentiate between great songs and truly awful songs with the added bonus of two thirds of the group's voices ruined by drugs and alcohol.

Still I would not trade these records for the world.

I picked Sunflower barely over Friends.

I've got to really go back to "Friends" one day.  I just can't get through to this album.  


Couldn't agree more. Although, the length of "So Tough" doesn't bother me...I think what made it on the album makes up for it's brevity.  To me, the clusters of albums, "Wild Honey" "Friends" and "20/20" suffer all the same issue for me: inconsistency.  That's just me.  

Great to read everyone's thoughts!

Best:
1.Wild Honey(The Whole album is great..it's the only beach boys "white soul" album..this could've been on motown lol
it's cheap sounding but thats what i love about it ..idk why lol..the cover is amazing as well.)

2.Sunflower(As a group effort this has best songs from all the members..a sunny feeling to it all.)

3.Smiley Smile(Took me quite some time to get used to this one but i love the creepy and eerie feel to all the songs plus it's part of the smile legacy so that alone is a reason to like it.)

4.20/20(such an under-rated album c'mon people it has Do it again,I Can Hear Music,Be with Me,Time to Get Alone,Never Learn Not to Love,Cabin Essence) It's not as bad as people make it seem. :) lots of good cuts on it.

5.Friends (Never enjoyed or got used to this album but always loved Passing by,Anna Lee, the Healer,Little Bird,Busy Doin' Nothin,Diamond Head)

Worst:
1.Love You (Never liked this dorky album but always liked the cover...and absolutely love "The Night is so Young")

2.Surf's Up(The only two cuts from this album which drew me in were "Til i Die" & "Surf's Up"...it's extremely over-rated by bb fans.)

4.Carl and the Passions "So Tough" (Feels like a funk/gospel record and thats not my taste but i do love "All this is that & "Marcella"

5.Holland (Nice name & cover art) (honorable mentions are "sail on sailor" and "funky pretty" also "steamboat"

6.15 Big Ones (Ughhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! this is a musical disaster)

Gotta go with Sunflower.  It's strong. 

Smiley is my personal favorite, and I dig Love You as well, but I feel like Sunflower is the strongest in terms of a cohesive group statement and overall collection of songs.  Many of the others on there are good but feel very disjointed, and I don't find the albums where Brian is barely present to be nearly as strong as the ones where he is.

Love You.

I'm gonna have to say Holland. Not only is it one of the strongest post Pet Sounds BBs albums (I'd technically rate Sunflower as "stronger" but I just like Holland better) but it also boasts one of the best sequences of any Beach Boys album, and yes, it sound almost like a different band, but that's one of the key reasons I love it so much. It is obviously THE BEACH BOYS but it's (to my ears) possibly the only post Pet Sounds album that doesn't have a wet rag of expectation/"does it stand up to Pet Sounds" B.S. hanging over it. It is the perfect moment of the 1973 Beach Boys as an artistically flourishing entity connected to their past glories in only the best way: those heavenly voices. Carl/Dennis were at their peak of their powers and Mike/Al were close behind and making the whole thing still FEEL like The beach Boys. Not enough Brian? Perhaps. But at that moment, it mattered not.

Wild Honey and Sunflower in a tie, really (although I voted for WH, since it's my favorite album of all time). Surf's Up is another favorite.

But right now, I've been listening to The Smile Sessions whenever I get tired of Christmas music.  :)

Love You. Very eccentric, like the man who created it. I dig that.

Another favorite of mine is Surf's Up.

Where's the love for 15 Big Ones? :shrug

FRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIENDS

1. Sunflower
2. Wild honey
3. Holland
4. Love you
5. Smiley smile
6. Friends
7. Surfs up
8. 20/20
9. 15 Big ones

Can't rate Carl and the Passions. I haven't listened  to it enougn

Not sure about 'strongest,' but my favorites are:

FRIENDS
LOVE YOU
HOLLAND

Sunflower is my favorite Beach Boys album, I love it even more than Pet Sounds and Smile.

Sunflower.

With Holland and Surf's Up next on the list.

yeah

holland, love you, and the other good ones running a distance 3rd (friends), and 4th 20/20 tied with Surfs Up, etc.  Just can't/don't listen to the rest nearly as much as the first two.  Both of these are home run lps.   

Some of WH is great but a lot of it seems dated or derivative.

I voted for Wild Honey.  It's the only album on the list that I can listen to in its entirety without skipping (or at least wanting to skip) a track or three.

Yeah no kidding!  Fascinating results here.  Since posting this poll and reading people's responses I've been revisiting most of these albums again. Particularly Friends after seeing how well it was doing in the voting.  I must say that I had forgotten most of this album and was pleasantly surprised what I found and have a new respect for it. 

I also found more love for 20/20....an album that doesn't seem to be represented well in the polls here!  I actually prefer 20/20 over Friends by a small margin.  But either way, I walked away with a reminder of just how great these albums were.

Here's my revised list:

1 Smiley Smile
2 Sunflower
3 Carl and the Passions So Tough
4 Surf's Up
5 20/20
6 Friends
7 Love You
8 Holland
9 15 Big Ones
10 Wild Honey


Looks like I gotta relook at Wild Honey now!

1) Sunflower - great group effort, rolls along until "Our Sweet Love", but Cool, cool water picks it up again - and it's cool to hear the '68 vocals (bouncy like), versus the kinda world weary 69/70 efforts

2) Smiley Smile - previously way down, but I have a higher appreciation since the Smile Sessions release.  It doesn't have the "Humour" of Smile, but is fascinating stuff.  I think the Smiley Smile version of Vegetables is tighter and better than the Smile Sesh versh.

3) Friends - this album, what can I say, it's up there with...

4) Love You  - see item 3)

I'll slip Mt Vernon and Fairway '45 in as a 4.1 perhaps - but see item 3) and 4)

5)  20/20, Wild Honey, Surf's up, Holland, Carl and the Passions So Tough - in that order.  These albums are line ball for me - it's hard to choose over one or the other, as they all have great things to offer

6)  Fifteen Big One's is a major lamer - except for Palisades Park, strangely enough

20/20 has better cuts on it than friends :)..it might be mis-matched but still.
i cnt believe u put wild honey at the bottom :'/ (eyes becoming tearful) lol..

Sunflower.

What kills Wild Honey for me is how poor the production and engineering is for much of the album.  OK, so it was clear Brian was not willing to spend too much time on getting everything perfect but don't forget they had Bruce on board as a full fledged member by this point and he was already a very accomplished producer. I think it could have definitely benefited from his polishing up some of the material, hell he could have even got Terry Melcher involved perhaps.

1 Friends
2 Love You
3 Wild Honey
4 Smiley Smile

These first four I could easily put in a different order, they're all great albums, full of charm and originality, rich in character. They all pick me up and take me to a good place. These album show a Beach Boys that weren't competing with anyone but were effortlessly making music that was really different, full of quirky twists. Brian had given up the production race but in doing so he seemed to have invented a new art that was more personal. I also love all their covers.

5 Surf's Up

This album has some great tracks on it Until I die, A Day in the Life of a Tree, Feel Flows & Long Promised Road. These tracks alone make me rate it so highly. I don't really give it credit now for Surf's Up as the proper home for that is BWPS and TSS though Carl did do a nice job of it. The rest is only OK, so it just seems too uneven to be a really satisfying album.

6 Carl and the Passions So Tough
I love Marcella, Mess of Help, All this is that and the rest is good, it is a pretty even album and a very different direction, as others have said this with Holland is almost another band, but its a good band. 

7 Holland
I find this a bit more uneven than the previous album, but some great stuff Sail on Sailor and Trader particularly, Magic Transistor Radio is also really charming.

8 Sunflower
This has got three gems on it, This Whole World, Add some music and Forever, maybe I should rate it higher for them. But the rest of the album seems too watery, its kind of consistent but lacks vitality.

9 15 Big Ones

There is some charm to this, and i like the oldies on it, maybe it helped them get to Love You, it is weird and I do like weird.

10 20/20

This is more a collection of diverse songs than an album, Do it Again is a nice track, I went to Sleep is pretty cool, Never Learn not to Love is pretty good but the vibe is made rather fraught by being written by a mass murderer, Be With Me is good. I can Hear Music has a great lead vocal in places, but i find the arrangement lacking. Time to Get Alone is nice. The Smile tracks are obviously great, but they're Smile tracks not 20/20 tracks. Maybe I should have rated this higher.

Still all of these albums are worthwhile, something I wouldn't say about the ones that followed.

Surf's Up... and Friends and Holland and Sunflower... and Wild Honey!

Another vote for Surf's Up,  but it depends on the day.  I could listen to Wild Honey until the cows come home.  Only CATP and 15 BO come up short, particularly the latter thanks to its schizophrenic approach - I would've preferred an album of oldies to the half-assed mess we got.

Carl & The Passions: So Tough is the one I've been consistently playing over and over (besides TSS) for a couple of years now. Thus it gets my vote. The only album I don't care for in that time frame is 15 Big Ones. I find Wild Honey suffers from a sound quality point of view (hoping that gets corrected with a new stereo mix) and I find that LA (I know it's post '77) is very underrated.

This is me too. 

First post!!!!  ;D Surf's Up. It wasn't even really a hard decision for me. But hey, I'm the guy who like Student Demonstration Time. Here's my order:

1. Surf's Up
2. Smiley Smile
3. Sunflower
4. Wild Honey/Friends/Love You (i can't pick between these, but i know they are somewhere between sunflower and 20/20 for me)
5. 20/20
6. Holland
7. Carl and the Passions (i hate putting this last cuz it makes it seem like i don't like it, but i think its great, just not as memorable, same with holland)

Friends. To me it's their third masterpiece along with Pet Sounds and Smile.

Friends! Great production and songs, the mellow, laid back feel continues throughout making It just as cohesive as pet sounds. The only song I skip Is transcendental meditation but thats at the end of the album so It doesn't really kill the flow. I don't understand the love for sunflower, maybe I haven't listened enough yet, It's a little too sugary sweet for me, and I'm not a huge fan of Bruce Johnstons songs.

Surf's Up...an album just light-years ahead of its time.

Sunflower because it has some of the strongest songs of their entire career even if musically it's all over the place, Smiley Smile because it's just so fucking bizarre coming as a follow up to Pet Sounds and yet it's an album that is no less rich or rewarding despite (rather, because of!) it's obvious lo-fi drug feel, Wild Honey and Friends because they're actually quite aurally cohesive and also full of pretty good to great songs, Surf's Up because I still think it's the most obviously un-Beach-Boys album they've done and it's what first really got me into the group, Holland for doing a good job sounding commercial -- and genuinely seeming to really go for that sound too -- in 1973, and Love You for the sheer and nearly-unvarnished 'Brian Wilsonness' of the album.

These aren't really in order. Want them to be? Okay...

1. Smiley Smile
1. Wild Honey
2. Friends
1. Sunflower
2. Surf's Up
3. Holland
1. Love You

I voted for Surf's Up, but to me it's basically a tie between 8 of the 10 albums.  Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions, Holland, and Love You are all either A or A+ albums.  I would rate 20/20 only a B+, because I don't like "Bluebirds," "All I Want to Do" (Mike's vocal sinks it for me), or Manson's song, and Brian's version of Cottonfields really pales next to Al's.

I would give 15 Big Ones a C-.  The only things I ever listen to from it are "It's OK" and "Had to Phone Ya" (both of which I love).  It really mortifies me that "Rock and Roll Music" hit #5 in the US.

Sorry to break your heart, haha...but there's hope....I originally put "Friends" at the bottom of the list and after a couple listens realized that it deserved to be higher.  I might be able to have a change of heart with "Wild Honey"--thanks to this thread I've begun revisiting these albums and readjusting my original thoughts...hopefully it also did the same for other people too!

Who is?   :-D

It's amazing that Bruce was so influenced by Brian's work on Pet Sounds and he was only able to come up with songs like "Disney Girls (1957)" and "The Nearest Faraway Place," the latter having its moments but overall, passable. 

When I first starting listening to Sunflower, two of the songs that blew me away were Deirdre and Tears in the Morning.

So have I.  It's an amazing little album that packs a huge punch.

Ah yes those two.  Good call...can't say I had the same reaction when I first heard them though!

OK, so I'm the schmuck who voted for 20/20.  I would normally have picked Sunflower, maybe Wild Honey, but i really like nearly all the songs on 20/20 since it was first issued, and it just seemed like the right call tonight.  Friends is a fairly even album as well.  Can't abide Smiley Smile past the obvious two cuts, or about half of CPST.  Surf's Up and Holland have some good cuts, 15BO and Love You, maybe half of each. 

Glad you did, NHC!  When I first started this thread....I chose "Sunflower" without hesitation but after the poll and responses came in I relooked at many of the albums and fell in love with "20/20" all over again.  It's a great album that flows pretty well I think

deidre is actually an amazing song :) i'm not a fan of bruce one bit but i have to say this is a beautiful gem.

Yea Deidre must be Bruce Johnstons best song? I can't believe "I write the songs" went no.1. Awful song.  :)

Deidre has a lot of BW in the background giving it a pretty hefty lift - Disney Girls is probably the best of Bruce as Bruce  (if not Hey Little Cobra  :))

I'm not a fan of everything he did, but I think that 'Tears in the Morning', 'Deirdre' and 'Disney Girls' are really excellent songs (at least in their BB versions, I'll pass for the Going Public versions).

I admire pretty much everything Bruce has ever done. Very overlooked and underated composer in the BB universe.

It's interesting to note that with all the crap 20/20 gets, it peaked at #3 in UK, on of the few top 5 albums for the group in UK (PS #2, party #3). So they must have done something right with 20/20.






Oh yeah I didn't realize BW co-wrote Deidre, that explain alot of it.

Well, go figure. 3 singles appear on this album:
Do It Again: #1
Bluebirds: #33
I Can Hear Music: #10

In Europe the group's popularity was at his height in 1969. These three songs were big hits in most countries here, especially DIA and ICHM. So logically 20/20 did well on the charts as well.

In order+major solo works and productions
Sunflower
Wild Honey
Pacific Ocean Blue
Spring
20/20
Friends
Holland
Surf's Up
The Flame
Smiley
So Tough
Live In London
In Concert
15 Big Ones-The worst is worse than much of Love You but it by default has more songs I like.
Love You-Not without value but I still don't enjoy much of it after 23 years of hearing it. I think the best of it and the best of Adult Child would have been cool.
Beached-Ricci Martin LP produced by Carl. Not terrific but it is better than Carl's solo LP's.

Brian wrote like five words of lyrics for Deirdre to get the co-writer credit.

Listen to "We're Together Again".... again.

Surf's up  :) all the way, any album that has Till I Die followed by SU is top on my list...although I also have a soft spot for Friends, like most people here.

No surprise that Sunflower stands out so much on the poll.  It's the most cohesive, satisfying album after PS.  I can never understand how it charted so badly.

If the rest of their 70s albums coulda stacked up to the content of Sunflower.....all I could say is wow!

What's so annoying is the hot streak could have continued after Holland. Consider the material they had lying around in 1976 if you will,

River Song
Rainbows
Angel Come Home
Don't Fight The Sea
California Feeling
Good Timin'
Pacific Ocean Blues

That's nearly an albums worth of cracking tunes right there, instead they put out the schlockfest that was 15 Big Ones.

I think '20/20' actually contains some of the group's best work ... but the problem with this album (and 'So Tough') is that it doesn't feel very 'united' as an album. 

Although Friends and Love You are my two favorite albums, Friends is too short, and Love You's lyrics are very weak. Wild Honey, 20/20 and Surfs Up are all full of great songs, but all contain a cover song or 3. Smiley is unique, but perhaps a bit lazy to be the best. So Tough and Sunflower are full of good songs, but nothing great. 15 Big One's sucks!!

So that leaves Holland. It rocks as much as So Tough (Sail On Sailor, Funky Pretty), it has some nice Smile - ish moments (California Saga), Proggressive classic rock like you hear on Surfs Up (Steam Boat, Leaving this Town, Trader), a beautiful ballad (Only With You) along with some Brian etcentric Friends/Love You type stuff (Funky Pretty, Mt Vernon).

I've gotta say my top 5 would be...

1. Surf's Up (LPR, ADITLOAT, TID and Surf's Up are amazing.)
2. Sunflower ( If only for "Tears")
3. 20/20 (I went to sleep is incredible)
4. SMiLEY SMiLE (H&V AND GV!?!? COUNT ME IN!)
5. Friends (Little Bird and BDN)

That's how I feel in a way, which sort of makes my vote for it as my favorite "album" a little odd. When it's all said and done, I really like (almost) all the songs, and some of them stand out for me more than the individual cuts I like on the other albums on the list. Unfortunately, for me, it all sort of fell apart album-wise after Pet Sounds.  Lots of good songs, that for me would comprise about 1/3 as many albums as were issued.

I'd vote for Sunflower

As would I, without hesitation or qualification.

Hi Aegir - what about the vox and the arrangement;  Brian's involved in the backing vocals, did he also provide some bedroom pointers re the track?

Seriously?

This is where Brian worship gets ridiculous!

The song (Deirdre) is Bruce's: Bruce sat down at the piano and wrote the damn thing and Brian contributed a few words and Bruce gave him co-writing credit just because. We're Together Again is Brian's song: HE sat down at the piano and wrote it, and it has a chorus and a verse: more than just a few words. When is it OK in The Beach Boys world to give a guy a damn pat on the back for doing something great without having to convince oneself that Brian just HAD to be responsible in some way?

A few words from Brian means it must be genius? Mike wrote tons of words, ALL the words for many songs and he still sucks, right?

It's sooooooooooo silly!

Cool, an interesting comment, Erik H, I find it to be a bit of a grey area.  

Doe and Tobler's '04 - Complete guide says "Deirdre (Johnston/B. Wilson) - Developed from a musical theme first used in 'We're Togerther Again', Bruce Johnston delivers his first fully realised Beach Boys song..." and Timothy White says "Brian and Bruce Johnston penned the dazzling "Deirdre" (liner notes and book) - Timohty White also recounts (book) "Brian was a recommitted participant, working happily during 1969 to help the band amass approximately four dozen tracks"

Then the SF/SU liners quote Brian with "Loved it...One of my very favourites.  I thought Bruce's harmonies were beautiful - harmonic genius."

Perhaps we do need to give Bruce his dues for nailing it and pull back on the Brian thing.  And then ask what the heck was goin' on with the version of Deirdre on Going Public  :lol

WHY DO SO MANY BB FANS HATE "BLUEBIRDS OVER THE MOUNTAIN" ? :/

That's obvious, he didn't have Brian's golden touch to guide him second time 'round.  ;)


Mainly because it's sh*t.

Ron Wilson not Brian Wilson wrote We're Together Again. For what it's worth I surmise the parts Brian sings co-lead on are what he wrote. Not half but not 5 percent either. Bruce was exaggerating.

Speaking for myself I find it jarring and annoying, not Bruce's fault as I don't like any version of the song. The coda, however is great.

I don't hate it. But IMO, it's a childish song, and although I usually love loud distorted guitars I just don't think they belong on Beach Boys records.

:/ i'm the only that likes it.

It's not bad but they were so good at the time that it just wasn't quite up to par. I do like it quite a bit compared to say anything after 1979

Oh yes, they did several things right.  Let me list them for ya:

Do It Again
I Can Hear Music
Be With Me
The Nearest Faraway Place
I Went To Sleep
Time To Get Alone
Never Learn Not To Love

and especially...

Our Prayer
Cabinessence

With all those things done right, I can easily forgive a few mistakes...

I couldn't agree more! Incidentally, Friends and Love You are the two records that have been played the most around here.

i agree :)

I swear, every time Brian gets interviewed, he has to mention how HE wrote Dierdre. I for one am getting tired of him trying to hone in on Bruce's song.  :p

Brian's never made any such claim

I would surmise that he was referring to how a certain self proclaimed "Doctor" Love always seems to mention how he wrote the lyrics to "Good Vibrations" or what have you.

Wow, I don't know what you're going on about. I seem to have touched a nerve with you and I'm not sure why. I'm not trying to make a value judgment here or denigrate the relative contributions of any group members... I'm just pointing out that.... "together again" and "tomorrow at ten".... that repeated melodic phrase, clearly is heard in both songs and there is one person listed as a contributor for both tracks. You're free to draw your own conclusions if you wish.

A nerve has indeed been touched! As both a Brianista and a Boyista, it's annoying when people try and split hairs to prove that anything good must be somehow due to Brian's magic touch.

Brian is a musical genius but the Beach Boys were awesome and talented too! Big deal!

"So young" .... from the line "The night was so young" is the same melody as the  "write their names" part of the line "who couldn't even write their names" from The Trader. Should we suggest Carl get's co-writer credit on The Night Was So Young???

Such analogies in music would be bottomless if one cared to sniff around.

I really hope Mike isn't reading this or there will be a flurry of new lawsuits for songwriting credit!

Ron Wilson wrote We're Together Again, not Brian.

Well, then Ron deserves the credit on Deirdre!

Marilyn remembered Ron when we talked. Brian simply liked his music and thought he was a nice guy. It's funny how he has never turned up.

Your summation is correct. ;D

Thanks for all the votes everyone--definitely cured my curiosity.

Looks like we all feel the same about "15 Big Ones"!  ;)

but Rock n roll music peaked at #5 in the US? ;

For me, it's gotta be a tie between Surf's Up and Holland. I've never understood the overwhelming love that Sunflower and Friends get. I suppose my time for those albums hasn't come yet.

Edit: This IS aside from SMiLE, of course.

Of course only very few (if any) hardcore fans are going to select it as their favorite record but personally I think it's underrated. BW did some amazing things on the Moog for 15BO and I really don't mind most of the cover songs. "It's OK", "Had to Phone Ya", "Just Once in My Life", "In the Still of the Night", "Back Home" - all great stuff as far as I'm concerned! Alan and Mike's contributions, however... ugh.

I did enjoy "had to phone ya", "it's o.k." & "just once in my life". :)

This could be it's own thread.  I've wondered this a number of times myself.  It's not a favorite of mine, but I certainly don't dislike it.  Yeah, it's kind of a goofy arrangement.  The lead guitar riffs have not dated well and they seem really out of place against an old classic standard type song.  But the vocals are top notch and the whole thing somehow works.  There are worse songs (IMO) on 20/20.

I totally agree with you. :)..that song is listenable. to be honest i actually like the guitar on it and the vocals and the outro.

Nope.  Not the only one.

u do too? :)

Bluebirds is an awesome song!  Upbeat!  Great vocals...I just downloaded 20/20 (Friends) for cheapo  $4.99, today.  (I wish it had been paired with Stack-O-Tracks!)

With (sure-to-go-deaf earbuds) I heard it, differently, for the first time today! the guitar parts are fabulous...(Ed Carter) and what sounds like a marimba (xylophone) - the album rocks!  It was a weird time, (post-psychedelic lasting about the same length as disco) music and in the middle of the Woodstock social consciousness, post MLK and RFK murders.  Sort of a transition period...

Do It Again!  The summers of '68 (the single) and '69 (20/20) Charting is irrelevant to me.  But, weird that some songs were hits abroad. 

The impossible poll - Best since Pet Sounds...(one is not enough)  :lol

1. Surfs Up - tie with Holland etal (So Tough)
2. 20/20 (a gem!)
3. Wild Honey (Get a breath of that Country Air, Darlin'!)



   

i agree with everything you just said except "1. surf's up" c'mon now, There aren't any good songs on there besides surf's up and til i die. everything else is ughhhhh :/

Oh, well...if we all agreed on everything. t'would be a boring existence...Surf's Up and Til I Die are very fine work...But, I also love Student Demonstration Time (I was a college student at the time) Disney Girls - 1957, a BB concert classic..."darkness goes, and softness shows a changing style..." - the proverbial look in the rear view mirror...

Long Promised Road, Feel Flows...the prophetic Don't Go Near the Water...

Listen to the guitar on "Lookin' at Tomorrow" (never mind the lyrics)  and completely goofy, but also prophetic, Take a load of your Feet...wrinkled like a raisin, if you stay too long in the tub of life!  ;)



 

Now, c'mon, you whippersnapper, listen to Day In The Life (a stunning production and song) Carl songs (Ditto), Disney Girls, and try and be kind to Feet. Lookin' At Tomorrow is in exactly the right place, but doesn't hoe my row, and Don't Go Near The Water is redeemed from boredom by the godly tag and generally fantastic production. Student Demonstration Time can piss off, I don't care how good it sounds.  :lol

For me:

Sunflower: A
20/20: A
Surf's Up: A -
Friends: A -
Holland: B +
Wild Honey: B + (unfortunately, sound quality alone probably pushes this one out of "A" territory for me)
CATP: B
Smiley: B -
Love You: B -
15 BO: C - 


Can we keep going? This is fun.

Now, Darlin' Mr. Hypehat - You might be trying to trick me!  Day in the Life's "cathedral  organ"vocals are listed on wiki as having been sung  by Mr.  Al  Jardine alongside  VDP and an impostor.

You won't sway me on Student Demonstration Time...;-)

Well, Brian did get a cowriter credit on Dierdre. It's not like we're adding him into the equation out of thin air. I was just responding to the suggestion that Brian did little to deserve the credit. Strange how the tables of logic somehow got turned there.

Why are Brian and Ron listed everywhere, then?

I like it too, although IMHO the horns were a bit of overkill.

This is a great topic!  It's a tough call to say which is my favorite.  I think these albums sometimes get overshadowed by Pet Sounds and even all the attention the SMiLE project has gotten over the years (both deserving the attention I might add).  These were all great projects and I've had periods where I've really dug into each.  Right now though, I've been listening a lot to the Carl & The Passions and Friends albums.  Some great stuff!  I love that they've surprised us many times over the years with doing something different.  For that fact alone, I'll go with Carl & The Passions.

Definitely  Sunflower  with  Wild Honey second...

I now understand the fellow who once raged about how annoying it was that most people only think of the Beach Boys pre-Pet Sounds and post-Pet Sounds.

Sunflower by far and also Love You, Surfs Up although a great record could have been better but unfortunatly bad decisions were made.

Still haven't gotten to Wild Honey but I did revisit Holland and found a new appreciation for it.  I've deleted the Mt. Vernon EP from my Ipod...didn't need it. 

Revised list!

1 Sunflower
2 Smiley Smile
3 Carl and the Passions So Tough
4 Surf's Up
5 20/20
6 Friends
7 Holland
8 Love You
9 15 Big Ones
10 Wild Honey

1. Love You
2. Smiley Smile
3. Sunflower
4. Friends
5. Surf's Up
6. 20/20
7. Carl and the Passions So Tough
8. Wild Honey
9. Holland
10. 15 Big Ones

1. Smiley Smile
2. Love You
3. Sunflower
4. Friends
5. 15 Big Ones
6. Surf's Up
7. Wild Honey
8. 20/20
9. Carl and the Passions So Tough
10. Holland

I agree 100% :)
As strange as it sounds besides Smile/Wild honey it's the only post Pet Sounds album that I can listen to entirely and be completely satisfied with.

I picked Friends barely over Sunflower.

1.Sunflower
2.Friends
3.Smiley Smile
4.Wild Honey
5.Love You
6.20/20
7.Surf's Up
8.Carl and The Passions - 'So Tough'
9.Holland



10.15 Big Ones

Strongest: Sunflower
Favourite: Love You

I'm having trouble deciding between Sunflower and Friends. It's one of those, though.

Funny, I was thinking of reviving this thread also because I was just amazed how I rated these albums some seven months ago--especially since then I've completely fallen in love with a few albums that ranked so low in my list! Making this list today would be pretty difficult.  I wondered if others would feel the same way when they see their rankings here.  Very interesting!

strongest - Sunflower
favorite - Friends

1. Sunflower
2. Holland
3. Surf's Up
4. Love You
5. 20/20
6. Friends
7. Carl and the Passions "So Tough"
8. Wild Honey
9. Smiley Smile
10. 15 Big Ones

From my least Favourite to my Favourite:

10. 15 Big Ones.
09. Smiley Smile.
08. Friends.
07. Holland.
06. Wild Honey.
05. Love You.
04. Carl And The Passions: "So Tough!".
03. Sunflower.
02. 20/20.
01. Surf's Up.

Kids! Not enough poll threads clogging up your favourite forum? Why not ressurect some from years ago. Maybe start a few new ones too.....

Been rediscovering the Holland era. So good!

Love You... best collection of melodies after Pet Sounds

My favorite may be "Smiley Smile", but I just don't feel like I could call that album "strong", for half of it is weak (in the best way possible, though).  Hope that makes sense hah.

"Sunflower" seems to be the strongest effort, IMHO.  It's probably my second favorite of the bunch, but the effort just feels much more even & solid than "Smiley Smile", which puts a lots of effort into GV and H&V, but not much else.

I wish this poll included Pet Sounds so I could not vote for it.

Sunflower... best collection of melodies after Pet Sounds IMHO