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This was in an era that Jack Reiley was tying to change their profile. This cover looks like it was made by whoever was managing the Beach Boys in the 80s! Who's idea was it? Why? WHy? WHY?!?

I was just thinking about this cover last night because i was looking for an alternative for it in my itunes because i can't stand to look at it because it's so egregious. I, too, have wondered how in the world this could have happened and why. Who was responsible for this? What were they thinking? This is, in my opinion, easily their worst/ugliest album cover of their entire career. Funny that in 2012 they reveal one of their best covers. Which had me wondering...to the people who do not like the TWGMTR cover, what are your thoughts on the CATP cover?

Also, the title Carl And The Passions - So Tough is terrible. A title and cover that couldn't possibly be further removed from the music on the record.

as someone who didn't like the TWGMTR cover, CATP cover/title is also super bad.  However it is still a shade above "15 big ones".  i'd like to know what the reasoning behind the CATP cover is too, just seems so detached from anything relevant at the time.

Its a bad application of a concept with potential. No BB's name on the cover, Pet Sounds on the back. Is it new, is it old? Yes. Where do you file it? As uncommercial as you can get. But if anyone's point is that visually projecting a retro or oldies bag was trite in 1972 then you don't know 1972. For that time it was actually progressive. In the case of CATP it was applied badly. Something like Zappa's Cruising With Rueben And The Jets is the angle they were going for. Tongue in cheek 50's references were cutting edge in '72. But this didn't work on any level. However... don't compare it to 15 Big Ones because that cover concept is a total sell out. CATP's cover was the opposite. And yes four years made the difference.

But concept and execution of said concept aside, it's so ugly and cheap. Plus, the Rueben And The Jets cover fits that music very well. What in the world does tongue in cheek 50s nostalgia have to do with the music that is contained on the CATP album? That concept failed before it was even born. And, by the way, the BEACH BOYS name is on the cover, look again.

I agree, the cover does not fit the music.    There is a photo of the group from that time where they are leaning against a car, it's black and white, it would have been a perfect cover.

Coming off Surf's Up and some publicity in the Rolling Stone they deliver a weak album with a stupid cover and pair it with their best album so people who already have Pet Sounds might be less apt to buy it and those who do are gonna feel like the new stuff doesn't cut it compared to the old. Who was the marketing geniuses behind this move? Should have capitol-ized (ha ha) on their new found momentum. Instead let it slip away.

I don't have to "look again". Anyone who has a U.S. first pressing knows the name Beach Boys was NOT on the cover. If it shows their name its a later reissue or from somewhere other than the U.S.

http://www.pipeline-operaglass.moonfruit.com/#/carl-the-passions/4518036646

Wasn't Carl in a band as a young teenager called Carl & The Passions? That explains the retro-style cover art just fine to me.

Yes I understand why the cover was used.  Still does not suit the music though.  Probably would have been a better cover for 15 big ones with it's retro songs.

The first time the name "Beach Boys" appeared on the cover was, I think, on the 1990 single CD reissue. In packing crate stencil.

Personally, I think the album is full of great songs. It reminds me of 20/20 in that it has a lot of great songs that don't fit together well. From Pet Sounds to Love You, there seems to be a musical concept in all but 20/20 and So Tough. Although, I will say that So Tough doesn't have a week song.

As for covers, I love Wild Honey, Surfs Up and Love You the best. Although, I understand the 50s retro thing was hip at the time, perhaps it was not a good idea for the Beach Boys.

I agree, CATP -- although abbreviated -- is full of great stuff.  I would really appreciate a remix of it.

My original German pressing has their name on the front.

I love CATP but it's threes songs too short...much prefer it to Holland, but with an extra song or two it could have been an excellent album.

I have a programme for Mike's band gig where CATP was left off the discography (which included SIP) - that made me angry!

It's a good - but not great - album, although not a patch on either Holland or Surf's Up, both of which had fantastic cover artwork. Smiley Smile and Wild Honey also have brilliant album sleeves. (As does Stack-o-Tracks funnily enough...)

FYI: '72 Australian release has "T H E    B E A C H   B O Y S" in small print across the top of the album cover.

Love the album ... and love the cover ... spray art was so cool in '72!

Yes it is too short, but it is what it is and I love it, and I don't think the cover is cheap and nasty.

Same place as it is the German copy. I bet the original UK one has it too.

'Marcella' and 'All This Is That' are wonderful.

The rest plods along.



My two cents.

I love the tack piano on the intro tack. Marcella has a lot going for it, though for what should have been a focused pop song, it outstays its welcome by quite a bit. I find that All This is That is trying to go for the same sort of vibe as Feel Flows and I have to say, it's not as perfect, but it's still sublime. Dennis' ballads are pretty, but are practically nothing compared to what he had already penned and what he would go on to write.

Here She Comes, He Come Down and Hold On Dear Brother do nothing for me, sorry  :(.

CATP is one of my favourites, by far. Dennis's contributions are to me great moving symphonies; Here She Comes has some of the best drumming on any BBs track; Marcella just rocks, Mess of Help even more so – check out the video of it being performed on (I think) Whistle Test back in the day – what a groove... see how Carl's totally into it! All This Is That possibly the best non-BW track the band made between the years of 1961 and 2012 (I think AGD's with me on that; great to hear them add it to the set now).

Hold On Dear Brother is dirge-like, easily the weakest track on the album, but has redeeming features, particularly that wonderful steel guitar. He Come Down is jubilant.

As someone mentions above, it has that 20/20 pathwork feel, though the production ties it all together better.

There are some great vocal performances on there also, not necessarily the harmonics we expect (and demand) of the band, just a bunch of guys singing cos they love it, and love making great sounds with their voices.

The sleeve… well, I bought the album in about 1979 when I was about 15, and the fact that it told me nothing about the band or what to expect allowed me to listen to the music with completely open ears. Wasn't even sure it was the Beach Boys, just the guy behind the counter in the store assured me it was (he also sold me a copy of Holland without the EP… grr). It was so utterly different to anything that I'd heard from them before that I took it on its own merits – Cuddle Up became a life-long favourite (one of many, admittedly!).

I hear new (then) influences in the sound – Neil Young, The Band… – and a sound that could have given the Beach Boys a wonderful new, creative direction to follow. This was recorded at a time when they were doing great tours, hanging with cool rock (rather than pop) peers, and was maybe the last time it seemed they didn't give a sh*t what anyone thought.

Then the sun came out, the surf rose, and the Endless Summer returned. hum…

BTW I can write up a Zen interpretation of the CATP cover.

If you want me to.

I think the LP itself is a really nice collection of stuff. Brian's work on it goes into some cool areas he rarely explored like country rock and gospel. I personally feel the Dennis songs are a tad over produced but Cuddle Up is an amazing performance and composition. I don't like Hold On much but I think Here She Comes is an excellent slice of early seventies rock. It's not as well made as the first two WB LP's as a whole, but I find it's a lot of fun for casual listening and I return to it a lot.

Very fond of CATP, to the point I'm actively seeking out an original CATP/PS vinyl twofer (for the apparently excellent Warner Reprise pressing of PS)

Oh, man - this is a bit distressing for me as I think it's a great cover by a pretty interesting artist (Dave Willardson).  Yeah, maybe it's a little out there in the context of the songs, and and a little dated.

But, we still get a cover that covers elements of the BB's history in a decidedly early 70s, evocativepiece of Americana.  The artist has a few things in common with the band's culture and history (he's from San Diego, was interested in car culture and car paint work back in the day), and his work relates to an (his) ideal image of the band, rather than attempting to present a cohesive theme for an uncohesive bunch of tunes. 

This clashes with how the music on CATP is itself idealised; this album is musically distanced from the brief 60s car era, and therefore, the art is considered inappropriate.

But, hey; it's by that same bunch of guys from Hawthorne CA (welllll, plus Blondie and Ricky) who grew up in the car days and still lived and remained immersed in a very LA lifestyle.  So, perhaps it's not too far off base or outside of the BBs sensibilities.

The album covers for Surf's Up, CATP, Holland, Love You, LA and (even) KTSA are all great pieces of art, a pity that Sunflower, Concert, 15BO and MIU couldn't compete.

By the way, here's a cross section of the top of the Australian '72 pressing mentioned earlier for those interested;

(http://img827.imageshack.us/img827/4624/catpi.jpg)

 ::)

Your opinion on the KTSA cover is, um interesting.

 ;D ;D

I think this is the picture you're referring to, Wild-Honey. It was used for the "Marcella/Hold On Dear Brother" single in Germany and The Netherlands. Another old car; it shows sideman Daryl Dragon sitting in the car, but it would have made a nice album cover at the time.

http://www.musicstack.com/item/111627858

The thing I always wondered about was the inner sleeve for the CT&P album. Was Brian really airbrushed into the black & white picture? I think he was, but don't remember if it was ever confirmed.

Confirmed many years ago. Amongst many other past employs, I was once a printer, and the cut-in lines around Brian on the back of CATP-ST were obvious to em from the very first moment I saw it. Confirmation came with the publication of the original (or one from the same shoot) minus Brian.

They did a good job of putting Brian in the picture. It was many, many years before I found out (probably from the purveyor of phony info) that he was inserted in that picture. Not too many picures exist of him around 1972 anyway, so it's kinda rare. I have the promo poster for the album and concerts for that era, so the picture with Brian was used elsewhere too.

In the early 70s, the airbrush was experiencing a rediscovery, having slipped into obscurity after its heyday in the advertising art of the 40s and 50s. Dave Willardson was a fairly well-known artist who was in the forefront of bringing the airbrush back into use in "fine" art instead of just advertising. I believe that the CATP cover was an existing work by Willardson, and its use at the time for an album cover was actually hip and current, like using a Warhol for Sticky Fingers. I liked it then and I like it now.

I consider the KTSA artwork utterly obnoxious and perhaps one of the most tasteless covers of all time, tho it did represent the band at the time - out of touch with anything.
And more or less all the music on it is garbage and disposable, I would actually (Am I getting banned now?) buy MIU over KTSA.

The only BB covers I never liked were 15BO, LA, and BB85. The rest never really bugged me.

I think "All This Is That" would have made a better album title.

I like the KTSA artwork so much that I have a big poster of it hanging up at home.  :p

I always thought the KTSA artwork was kind of whimisical, to be enjoyed and not taken seriously. To each his or her own!

 :lol It's a hard one to justify, but I like the bubble world concept, and it gets a reaction from me

I've always considered KTSA was among their best album covers.

Never was much of a fan of the artwork, and the album title has always seemed a really bizarre choice to me.

My original May 72 purchase (got it the day it was released) still has it's shrink wrap cover, with a good size round sticker on the cover which reads, "The Beach Boys Specially Priced 2-Record Set", so although the group's name did not appear on the cover artwork, Warner/Reprise made sure it did appear on the outside of the album when seen in record stores.  (I can post a photo if anyone is interested.)

I bought mine on day of release and mine had nothing on the shrink wrap, as I recall. I remember finding it odd and thinking they changed their band name.

Thinking about BB album covers, I always wondered why Al is the only one looking away on the cover of 15 BO. The encircling of the photos makes that fact even more glaring.

Oh man, that's a great pic.  Thanks for sharing!  :-D

That's it! Thanks Mikie.   I thought I had seen it in black and white.  What a great photo.  Wonder if I can get it printed somehow, would love it as a poster.

yeah it might not seem so great now, but i think it was pretty cool at the time.

Willardson's airbrush art was used a lot in the early/mid 70s, including the sweet Steely Dan design for the cover of Rolling Stone.
(http://www.barewalls.com/i/c/417843_Steely-Dan.jpg)

and this Grammy-nominated gem:
(http://img11.nnm.ru/a/9/2/5/0/a92505b1a5ec72a43ba9b56d41a4aa68_full.jpg)

So Tough works on a lot of levels I think. It's not totally apparent what you're looking at on first glance. The retro/car theme was kind of hip, predating American Graffiti and the Beach Boys own resurgence a couple years later. The title is obviously a nod to Carl, who at that point had become the band's leader in a lot of ways.

it's not the most exciting album cover, but I like it overall. It certainly beats quite a few Beach Boy albums in terms of artwork...

Willardson did the American Graffiti art too:
(http://www.burningsettlerscabin.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/DaveWillardson1973.jpg)

here's a promo insert from So Tough:
(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_knLOBP6FJ_k/SXfISaA1yBI/AAAAAAAABbs/8SDyxI_Yq70/s1600/sotough.jpg)

I understand the CATP reference, but what about So Tough ? Was it a song or something about Murry ?

Yes. Because it Kept The Senile Afloat.

Surf's Up had just brought them some much-needed media attention and here they are trying something entirely different all over again, both in terms of the music and the cover art. Personally I don't mind "Hold On Dear Brother" at all. It's a good song which wouldn't have been out of place on The Band's second album. Now does that mean it belongs on a Beach Boys album? Well, the group must have thought so! They were clearly searching for new directions around that time and on Holland they managed to make it all sound a little more cohesive. Still, CATP remains a huge favorite of mine.

I agree with Phirnis on 'Hold On Dear Brother'. I really like that song. Quite frankly, the 'weak' cuts on So Tough and Holland just might be Dennis songs. I love Dennis, but I think he has better songs in the bag then what ended up the albums. Cuddle Up is powerful, but Make it Good and Only With You don't excite me too much. Steam Boat is excellent. I wish Carry Me Home was on an album.

Regarding the cover...yeah, I have a UK copy of a Pet Sounds-less So Tough and I think that one too has the group's name at the top, very subtly.

Regarding the group name that's on the current CD -- that stencil font is actually taken from the longboxes that the 1990 CDs came in. They ALL had The Beach Boys' name in the stencil font face on the front of the longbox. For So Tough they replicated it on the actual cover.

Can I say here that I loved the longbox packaging format? It had a degree of luxuriousness that is a lot higher than the average and very fragile jewel case format itself lacks.

If I remember correctly So Tough is actually a reference to Carl.

No. You cannot say that here. Uh-uh. Sorry.

OK. I will pray the Beads of the Rosemary things to make amends. And rinse my mouth with the meanest gallbladder soap I can find.