The Smiley Smile Message Board

When 15 Big Ones was released, it was widely considered the nadir of the group's recorded output. As I started getting into The Beach Boys in the mid-1990s, it seemed like everything I read about the album was universally negative, moreso than KTSA or BB85, both of which I find to be weaker albums than 15BO.

A lot of this no doubt had to do with the group's commercial ambitions at this time. After a concerted stab at artistic expression with Holland, they were once again looking to mine the California lifestyle for hits. The amount of covers on the album didn't help either, and I'd imagine that many fans viewed the "Brian's Back" campaign as a cynical cash grab.

Regardless, 15 Big Ones seems to have a better reputation nowadays than it did in the mid-1990s when I was getting into the group. Paired with Beach Boys Love You on the CD twofer, it seems innocuous at worst, and the production is similar to Love You, with Brian's synths and quirky vocal arrangements.

Of course, as with many spidoes in Beach Boys history, it is easy to think of what could have been released instead, and to rue the fact that we have 15 Big Ones instead of a definitive musical statement by Brian. Luckily, Brian gave us a personal statement one year later with Love You.

What are your feelings about 15 Big Ones? Do you think it ranks above MIU, L.A., KTSA, BB85? For the old school fans, have your views on 15BO evolved over the years?

I think it's definately better than those you mentioned, but it just has so many strange, head scratching moments that it's hard for me not to skip a bunch of tracks while I listen to it.  Part of it, though, was a 'victim of the time'... a lot of songs/albums from that time period are strange and head scratching by any artist.

For instance, why do a cover of "Rock & Roll Music" if you don't have anything good to add to it, since it's already been done perfectly by Chuck Berry, and then amazingly, later improved upon by John Lennon.  There was no way to cover that song and have it be even decent compared to Chuck's or the Beatles version, but yet THEY STILL TRIED IT. 

Well yeah, people's opinions of it improved due to the poor BB's albums released after it. But compared to Holland or Pacific Ocean Blue it sucks. And the real problem with it is that it was highly anticipated because of the long wait since Holland, because of the Beach Boys growing popularity, and because of Brian's much hyped return to studio. The music world had its ear pointed toward the Beach Boys in a way that it never would again...and the album made a lot of people feel burned and embarrassed. But other than that Its OK. :lol

Does it actually have ANY critical standing nowadays? I mean, I would only willingly listen to 15 Big Ones because of Had To Phone Ya, and because I'm a Beach Boys fan, and listening to their bad records is what I like to do at times. But does anyone outside of Beach Boys fandom actually rate it?  

I find I listen to the album a lot these days though it is a guilty pleasure.

I bought the album on the first day it was available and my reaction then sums up what I believe to be the problems with the record:

1. The production was unlike anything Brian had done before at a time that called for a classic Beach Boy sound.  To me, Brian's genius was that he made complex records with a subtle touch.  15BO is too dense - There is too much of a "wall of sound" and I never cared for the moog. 

2. The deteriation of Brian's and Dennis' voices.

What was needed was another Sunflower (which if released in 1976 instead of 1970 would have sold 10 million copies).

To me, Love You was the real "Brian is Back" album. Big Ones was just the warmup. "Had to Phone Ya" is a complete gem though.... as good as anything on Love You.... and there are of course minor classics like "It's OK" and "That Same Song" (although I prefer the gospel version on the Michaels doc).

Infamously, it was Brian who cast the tie vote (with Mike and Al) to rush release this oldies hodge podge, rather than spending a little more time to release something more substantial. Dennis and Carl bitterly dissented, just as they would later with MIU. By the Light Album, Carl seems to be on board and is writing more again. Dennis contributed some Bambu material for LA but his disillusionment never seemed to pass.

As much as I like the original tunes, sometimes I wonder if they wouldn't have been better served to just stick to the plan, and make it a cover album, and save the originals for the next album....   

Wonderful topic. I believe 15 Big Ones is slowly growing in the estimation of fans, possibly because it is -- whatever else one thinks about it -- authentically a Brian Wilson production, and one with distinct charms. That being said --


I think the answer to this is no. But then, no one critically rates any Beach Boys albums other than Pet Sounds, Smile and Holland. Possibly Sunflower. Certifiable fan classics like Friends and Wild Honey are not really on anybody's radar anymore, because the band is thought of as a singles act. And forget about Summer Days or Surfer Girl. My point is, almost all BB albums are criminally underestimated in critical circles.

But back to 15BO. I think someone here suggested that it sounds like a mixtape made for male strippers, which is hilarious and kind of true. There's that weird hyper-masculinity about it, and it really sounds like Brian is trying too hard. This is a man whose best music just seems to flow out of him -- and on this album, it all seems kind of erratic and difficult and sludgy.

And yet. "Rock and Roll Music" was a huge -- and deserved -- hit. I never understand why people badmouth this song -- it's a simple, dumb arrangement, but it's cool. It's different. And it updates the Beach Boys' sound by going back to their origins. A neat trick. The single mix is essential, though. The album take sounds like cardboard. And "It's Okay" is a great retro rocker, again with a cool if simple arrangement, and nice vocals from Mike and Dennis. Ditto for "Phone Ya." And I have a huge soft spot for "That Same Song," even though the performance is the very definition of slapdash.

The covers are more mixed, but stuff like "Just Once in My Life" is awesome, and "Palisades Park" revives the Wrecking Crew sound. "Blueberry Hill" has that haunting intro. And as turgid as they may be, I find the dashed-off-in-an-hour quality of songs like "In the Still of the Night" and "Chapel of Love" compelling in a "I can't believe they did this!" kind of way.

So it's a mess, yes, both conceptually and in terms of performance and production. But there are ideas all over the place. Brian is trying too hard, but he is trying. And it's one of the few latter-day albums where the guys play practically all the instruments. The solution, I've always felt, is that 15BO needs to be dramatically expanded -- into two or three disks. Have the first disc be the original album, along with single mixes and live takes as bonus tracks. Then have the second disc gather up all the oldies Brian cut -- there are a lot -- and offer alternate versions of the oldies that made the album. The third disc should have the original material cut for the record, including some of the awesome instrumental tracks that have surfaced since then. There was so much cool music being made at the time, and 15BO is only the tip of a much bigger, more aesthetically pleasing iceberg.

Palisades park is a highlight for me. 

The "Run, Run, Runnin'... all the Rides are Runnin" backup vocals are brilliant imho.  I'm not aware of that being on any previous versions of the song.  The lead vocal is really hot too. 

It's the last album (until maybe the new one) where everyone seemed to be working on every track together. LY didn't have Mike and Al much, MIU not much Carl or Dennis, LA no Brian, KTSA almost no Dennis, 85 Mike wasn't around often, SC often recorded apart with Mike working much more than the others, SIP ditto -Brian. S&S not really a Beach Boys album as such. 

I suspect -- and this is only a suspicion -- that nearly all of the new album was written and recorded by Brian before the other guys had anything to do with it. Mike may have written a few lyrics, and he's contributed a song he wrote himself, but I suspect this is a solo BW album with BB voices.

Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing! But it certainly sounds less collaborative than the earlier buzz had it.

huh bu wuh??  i'm fairly certain both sunflower and today have landed on rolling stone's 500 greatest albums of all time.  Today has a 5 star rating on allmusic.com.  Smiley Smile has a 9.5 rating on pitchfork.com.  Saying Holland is rated critically higher than Sunflower is baffling too, most people reference sunflower first when talking of non-pet sounds albums. a lot of musicians nowadays are listening to the beach boys music, so i don't really understand this sentiment.  This seems less untrue today than like 15 years ago. 

in regards to 15 big ones, i don't think it deserves any good critical standing.  it's a pure dud. 

None of those things you mention have anything to do with whether anyone actually owns those albums, or whether they are part of the mainstream critical discourse. A couple of entries in a list of 500 albums? Allmusic? A random rating from Pitchfork? The citations in and of themselves are proof of how obscure those albums are.

Now, things may be different for the British. But I would say that in the U.S., in talking to my music nerd friends, the only BB albums anyone has heard of are Pet Sounds and Smile. Full stop.

Edit: And anyway, much of this is a matter of personal opinion and difficult to prove either way. I accept that there are critics who are knowledgeable about the group's entire output. Back to 15B0.

Here's the deal with 15 BO...Brian wasn't ready, and his voice was shot. But, they needed a "Produced by Brian Wilson" credit, right? Well, as much as I've always felt bands should be honest with their fans...in this case they should've lied their asses off. Or, at least, cheat. How?

 Well, there were a lot of Brian tracks in the can that they could've used.  Good Time, Games Two Can Play, and When Girls Get Together were released on subsequent albums, after the world already knew Brian's voice had changed! Here, they could've been used to hide his vocal decline, and could've had instrumental overdubs to make them sound more current. Keep Susie Cincinnati (a Sunflower era recording, anyway), It's Ok, Everyone's in Love with You, and Rock n Roll Music. Angel Come Home dated from the earliest sessions, and Good Timin' was also partially completed by that point. 'Mony Mony' rocked harder than any of the released oldies, and the heavy synth might have gone over. The others (esp. Mike) had songs that could've been used as well.  None of these tracks would clue the fans in that Brian's voice had changed. It would've sounded disjointed, but then again so did what we got instead. The public would've been none the wiser, and probably would've liked the album better.

I'll open my heart for you and offer my honest first impression of the 15 BIG ONES/LOVE YOU-twofer (yes, the 2-fers introduced me to the BB catalog):

I thought, that must have been the absolute low point for this group. How could they release something as terrible as this? And was I surprised to find out that LY is one of many fan's favorite BB albums? Yes, I was. I'm even surprised today.
Ok, there are a couple of tracks I learned to like, some even to love, but all in all, production-wise and performance-wise, only hardcore fans can love albums like that IMO.
I know that I'll probably lose all of my BB facebook-friends now.

That's actually what I kind of did with my own "home made" version of 15 BOs: Removed the "new" tunes, removed "Susie Cincinnati" (which I always liked, but which sticks out like a sore thumb in that setting), and then added some of the unreleased oldies from the sessions to it --  making it truly "15 Big Oldies" (e.g. "Sea Cruise," "Shake, Rattle and Roll," "'Mony Mony," etc.).

I then moved the originals that I liked from it it over to my home made version of Love You  -- which I actually think benefits from some of the more fleshed out, fully-cooked numbers like "Had To Phone You" and "It's OK," mixed in with the quirkiness of the better LY tracks. Gives the album a whole different vibe. It also allowed me to get rid of "Love Is A Woman" and "Let's Put Our Hearts Together"....which I always hated. The only strange byproduct is that it now becomes an album with a large Mike Love presence. I also cheated ever-so-slightly and moved "My Diane" back over to LY (and knocked off "Good Time" for the same reason as "Susie").

(Unfortunately, 15 BOs still pretty much pales -- "modified" or not...lol)


Rearranging late '70s BBs albums can be fun. :)

The single version was better than the album version, you can really heard that moog. Dennis or Carl should've sung it, not Mike. They came close to pulling it off.

I can't be the only one on here who absolutely loves Back Home, Chapel of Love and In the Still of the Night, can I?

That would have worked to a point, but they were making the TV show, he was coming back to the stage. Since this was an all out media frenzy it would have been hard to hide for long. It would have made the album better for sure though.

I've never been a Love You fan but I haven't been tied to the stake yet!

Actually I do love Back Home, not thrilled on Chapel, but In The Still Of The Night isn't half bad if not a performance I "love".

It's hard for me to separate my awareness of what a letdown 15 BO was with the 11 year old who used to listen to the 8 track of it in the backseat of his parents' Grand Prix. As silly as this sounds, the album was sorta scary to me in 76-77. I mean, those freaky synths on "TM Song," Brian's nutty countervocal on "Chapel of Love," the whooshing "strings" toward the end of "That Same Song." Yes, I led a sheltered life. Lord knows I'd have been institutionalized if I'd been exposed to Metal Machine Music. But I think I was becoming aware in this period that adults weren't always in control of their lives, and there was something unhinged to the music that made me think adulthood was this ... weird. I could sense if not see that same uncomfortable oddity in the lives of many parents' family and friends---people turning thirty who started living second adolescences, overworking their youth, trying too hard to have fun and be wild. I think every adult man I knew in this period grew a mustache. My dad had a red leisure suit he wore with a white turtleneck. He looked like a pimp Santa Claus. But that's what 15 BO is for me: a red leisure suit. Thank God MIU came a couple of years later to assure me it was okay to be a middle-aged 13 year old.

Nowadays? 15 BO tends to be the CD I mow the lawn to. My neighbor once told me, "You look way too happy when you're mowing."

As someone who was also eleven when 15 BOs came out, my experience was vaguely similar. That is, at the time, I was pretty much oblivious to the disappointment I would develop for this album in the ensuing years. I actually remember listening to the radio for five hours on New Years Eve, and the Casey Kasem, end-of-year countdown, just so I could tape Rock 'N' Roll Music when it finally appeared (on my trusty 8-track recorder of course)!

When I finally got the album around that time, the two things I also remember: 1) How I thought TM Song was the most bizarre thing I'd ever heard, and 2) how gruff, greasy and old -- both vocally and visually -- the Beach Boys sounded and appeared to me. As someone who was pretty much aurally attached to the sound of Endless Summer at the time, it was all quite shocking. Still, as noted, there was something charming about it all. It was a current album and, to the 11-year-old mind, the Beach Boys very much still seemed like a relevant, current band. Little did I know about the back-drama. Though, that would soon come into my mind as well.

Funny thing is...even though time and "musical sophistication" has robbed me of just about all the innocent affection for the record I felt at the time -- that is, I pretty much consider it the biggest dog in their 70's output -- I still really like Rock 'N' Roll Music. Mike's insufferable, nasal vocal and all!



TM Song still sounds pretty freakin' bizarre, too.

Yeah, although the song's key is a little too low for Carl to really shine, I think.

For those who had been there from the beginning, how big of a shock was it to hear what Brian's voice had become on 15BO's ? I had just become a fan 2 years prior with the Endless Summer release so I really did not know much about who was who. In hindsight, if I had grown up on Brian's voice and then purchased 15BO's I think I may have been devastated.

then what are you talking about when you talk about critical circles?  allmusic.com reviews are what people see when they scan an album at barnes and noble, not that obscure.  a random rating at pitchfork? opposed to a non random rating?  do you know what pitchfork is?  not exactly a small website, they have their own music festival.  And yeah a couple entries in ROLLING STONE'S 500 greatest, not exactly "obscure".  and yeah what i said has nothing to do with whether people own the album, but neither does what you originally said

Allmusic reviews practically everything released. Has  nothing to do with how well an album is known. Pitchfork was simply reviewing the re-releases back in 2000. In each case, the fact of the review -- however good it is -- has nothing to do with how widely the album is known.  Sunflower, by any objective measure, is an incredibly obscure album. When is the last time you've seen it in a store? I can tell you when -- one week in 2000. IIRC, it has sold fewer copies than any BB album besides SIP. No album that is so hard to find and so low selling is part of any serious, broad critical conversation.

Yes, fans of the band know about it. And folks in the UK. But outside of the BB bubble, it's the definition of obscure. Compare it to any Beatles album. Or any RS record. Hell, any album by the BeeGees.

The thing is...that even amidst the stench of those well-worn oldies, lies glimpses of brilliance if one is willing to dig a little. For me, the "strings up" backing track of "Had To Phone Ya" that circulates is probably the closest example in the 70s of Brian nearly reaching what he was doing -- production and arrangement-wise -- in the previous decade. No hyperbole even needed with that one. There's a track that with, say, the vocals of 1969 layered over it would've been a real contender -- at least musically if not so much lyrically. IMHO.

In the UK the BB's albums have a higher standing than in the US i think. Surf's Up has a very good reputation. UK music mag Mojo included Today!, Friends and Surf's Up in their Essential Albums book.

I see 15 Big Ones as Brian blasting through a long-term artistic block. At least that's how it seems. If anybody has ever busted through a creative block, you will know that the results are usually poor at first, you're rusty. So it was necessary for Love You, just as 'I'm so Lonely"and Beach Boys 85 was necessary for Brian Wilson 88.

I don't usually comment on people's personal tastes, but did you just call Had To Phone Ya garbage? Like Dave M. just said above me, that backing track is a real wonder. Find the All This Is That SOT boot that has the backing track on it. Hopefully it will give you a new appreciation of the song and not make you want to click skip. I also think it's an interesting track when you compare it to the Spring version, I would be really curious to learn about how it transformed. Maybe someone writing a song-by-song breakdown of the band will be able to enlighten us on this one in the future  ;) Plus if you skip Had To Phone then you're left with Chapel of Love, which is only fun because of the crazy background vocals.

I think this is very true. And Beach Boys nuts (of which there are more than a few) have some touchstones too -- Friends and Love You among them.

When I listen to 15 Big Ones, it reminds of "Right Back Where We Started From", which was a hit at almost the same time. The sentiment and production is quite similar. I think Brian had some good ideas with that album, but he was too scattered to pull it off. "It's OK" probably would've been a hit, but it fell a bit flat due to Brian's tendency to use too slow of a tempo on his rockers (see: "Marcella"). I mean, you gotta love listening to "It's OK" with headphones on and having Mike tickle your right ear with his somewhat creepy bass vocals.

"Had To Phone Ya" has that bizarre transition in the middle that shows Brian's occasionally ham-fisted approach to rhythm during this period, as best characterized by that outtake "Hey Pretty Mama" (or whatever it's  called). Such a demented, mechanical sense of rhythm!

"Everyone's In Love With You" is Mike's idea of heaven. Take that for what you will. I actually like the interplay of the different keyboard/string instruments.

"Talk To Me" is another "Right Back Where We Started From", but it has a druggy feel to it. That organ gives it a bit of funeral dirge feel, although the "Tallahassee Lassie" break is crazy cool, if random as hell.

"That Same Song" is cheesy and a bit bland. "TM Song" has such a mid-70s sound, kind of like "It's OK". Only 1975/76 could've birthed such a song.  The different breaks in the song are pretty effective, I think. People just hate it because it's about transcendental meditation, and Rolling Stone told you that ain't cool.

I'd review the rest of this album, but I'm bored with it. Which is probably the album's biggest problem. Songs like "Palisades Park" and "A Casual Look" are actually fairly professionally done, and evidence that this album isn't as sloppy as some try to make it out to be. But there is just nothing exciting about the covers. It just sounds like Brian practicing his skills.

A substantial amount of people actually dislike "Had To Phone Ya"? Damn :'( . If there were ever a song that sounded like the stuff he was doing in the mid-60s after that period, it'd be that one, to me. The mix certainly undersold that a bit, but it's still plain as day when I listen to it.

Actually, Dennis provided those bass vocals.

And...for anyone who hasn't heard that backing track, I'll link to it here. I'm without sound on my 'puter at the moment, but I'd reckon that this is the same "strings-up" mix that Amanda and I referred to. :)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDr2jZzirw4

15 Big Ones is fairly underrated, I think. It is definitely heading into Love You territory, and I think that is a good thing.

That's the one. How can you not love the backing, especially around the "Come on, come on and answer the phone" part. Absolutely beautiful, thanks for posting.

The intro/argument of the TM Songs cracks me up. Just brilliant.

Good 'ol Pitchfork gave it a 3.5  ::)

I love "Just Once in My Life" and "Back Home" is a lot of fun.

Thanks guys.  I've been walking around all day now with "Run Run Runnin, All the Rides are Runnin" looping in my head.  'Preciate that. 

I would love to Mike and Al on Mike Douglas in 1976. They did Everyone's In Love With You and TM Song around a piano. I once had a chance to trade for it and I never saw it offered again. Really cool missing video I would think.

I bought my CD 2-fer copy in a Borders in '05. Also saw it in a mom and pop record store in '06. Unfortunately, had to order my Sunflower vinyl from Amazon.

I do review both versions in my book. I like the Spring version because it feels more adult to me, yet Amanda is right that the backing track of The Beach Boys version is very cool.  I think it's no more than the song just evolving from one group to another really. Wish the Beach Boys recording was from 1973 too as all but Al sounded far worse in 1976 than 1973.

I actually think that Brian's more tattered vocals add something to the song. There is a tinge of desperation during his part at the end that takes the song to another level. It adds a deeper layer of emotion. I'm sure he still could have conveyed this with his sweeter early '70s voice, but I like the feel his rougher voice creates.

I prefer the American Spring version of "Had To Phone Ya." The lyrics are depressed and somewhat dementedly manipulative. The narrator is calling a friend in the middle of the night because he has been weeping. The narrator wakes up his friend and harangues them for being the cause of this emotional distress. I think this is emblematic of the mental problems that affect people with severe depression and those around them, who must suffer through these mood swings along with the person afflicted.

In that sense, the Spring version is, perhaps unwittingly, brilliant in a lyrical sense. It encapsulates something about the human experience that I have not heard elsewhere. It engenders sympathy for the narrator, but perhaps moreso for the recipient of the middle-of-the-night phone call.

In contrast, the lyrics to the 15 Big Ones version are cleaned up and any trace of sadness is erased. It seems similar to the revised lyrics of "'Til I Die" which thankfully weren't used on the released version... changing "I lost my way" to "I found my way" or "It fills me up," etc... a strained attempt at positivity.

At any rate, I agree that a listen to the backing track of the 15 Big Ones recording evinces a brilliant arrangement. I no longer skip over the song after having heard the American Spring recording and the backing track from 15 Big Ones.

It's interesting because that was the moment the new voice was revealed. I suppose he does sound more desperate.

I'm gonna be a little daring here and say that Had to Phone Ya would probably hit the list of my top thirty BB songs. The arrangement and the lyrics are simply sublime, it's as if "Trombone Dixie" had a kid with "This Whole World" and Mike of '65 was called in to pen top-tier feel good lyrics. What I especially like is how Brian wove the structure of the song in a way that makes it feel "right" not in a way that makes it "conventional" - a classic Brian Wilson touch. Definitely one of the few songs to come after the Brian's Back campaign that can stand on its own if it were played back-to-back against something Brian produced in his heyday.

I often wonder if "Had to Phone Ya"'s astonishing quality was just a fluke or if Brian still had that 'magic' in him and just needed more time/more rehabilitation before he could consistently produce at that level.

I always kinda wondered what exactly possessed the group to use "Had to Phone Ya" for 15 Big Ones. Did Brian suggest it while in the middle of crankin' out all of those oldies he was recording? It seems odd that he would pick out that random song that was already released and work on it. I wonder if that was a song the band coaxed him into recording because they wanted more Brian written material. Although it was just as odd that he would pick a song out from the early '60s ("Back Home") and work on that too. And it's kinda weird how differently produced it is, especially compared to the rest of the album. Its more akin to Pet Sounds than 15 Big Ones. Perhaps the instrumental was really tracked in 1973 or 1974 or something, and we don't know that?

Only shame is, if Brian and the boys were into using previously used American Spring material, I wish they would have used "Sweet Mountain", although I have the vibe that it was written more by Sandler than Wilson, especially with that melody of Sandler's from a few years before or something.

And I know it's lame of me to bring it up again, but I still just don't understand why "Good Timin'" and "California Feelin'" weren't used for their followup to Holland. I know Dennis and Mike both talked up "Good Timin'", and Brian even played "California Feelin'" to a writer in the studio during the sessions for 15 Big Ones, so it's not like they were forgotten or thought of as unworthy of release. I think it's possible that Brian knew when he had a great song, and by say, 1972 or so, he would rather not send that song out to the world to be judged, and would rather just leave it unreleased. Kinda like the "Surf's Up" scenario.

Awake is also a great song that I wish they did

Ditto on the good timing thing... It's really pretty mind boggling.  If I had a song that sounded that good, hell I'd rush to get it to be the next single... and when they finally did release it as a single, it did pretty good comparitively, right? 




I think what we don't take into account is just how space-cadet Rock Stars get when they're rolling in it.  I guess what it comes down to is, they had a concept for 15 Big Ones, and while it appears to us tht the concept was abandoned and the album just came out as kind of a hodge podge of whatever the hell they wanted to put on there... they probably had it in their mind that it sounded just how they wanted it to sound! 

They've all done crazier things, so it's not a stretch to think they didn't realize Good Timin and California Feelin' were good tracks. 

Or maybe your Brian theory is true, I've thought that from time to time.  For instance I'm convinced he sabotaged "Wonderful" and "wind chimes" when he put them on Smiley Smile. 

Not to mention the insanely catchy Rollin' Up To Heaven (a few lyric changes would've made it album-friendly) and the avalanche of amazing material Dennis was producing around this time.

Re: Everyone's In Love With You
Prior to 15 Big Ones, i can honestly say their isn't a single Beach Boys song that i hate. Tears In The Morning, Student Demo Time, etc - they may not be entirely my cup of tea, but i can still at least see some merit in them. HOWEVER... Everyone's In Love With You - i can see absolutely no worth whatsoever in this song! It is absolutely ghastly - trite lyrics, vomit-inducingly twee singing, dreadful melody.

Although I love Mike, I think the reason "everyone's in love with you" doesn't work is because of his vocal.  If Carl sang it, everybody would talk about what a masterpiece it is.  It just wasn't Mike's type of song, or he didn't sing it the way he could have. 

Well I wouldn't be talking about it being a masterpiece i can assure you. The song itself is awful, such a weak melody.

in hindsight it´s a bit sad it wasn´t more ambitious, they were still young and could do a lot. I love it just because it´s one of the first beach boys albums I got into as a child so it has sentimental value. contrary to some, I also like dennis´ and brian´s rough voices on it, adds a bit of humanity and heart (and even pain)to some rather bland songs.

Am I the only one who's attempted to gift 15 Big Ones to a member of the opposite sex?  That instance has been forever immortalized by this drawing...

(http://willcmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/dialation.jpg)

Also, I don't have it in great quality, but isn't this the Brian shot from the album cover?

(http://willcmusic.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/bri_15.jpg)

love the drawing Will:)

 As the follow-up - and a long awaited one at that - to a strong album, it's beyond disappointing.  As a therapy album for Brian with songs from his younger years and some somgs in that kind of groove, it has a certain charm.  I also think Had to Phone Ya is wonderful and Everyone's in Love is frighteneingly awful.  Like other posters, I made a 'boot' of 15 oldies recorded around this time and I appfeciate them for what they are, kinda like Dylan's Good as I Been To You; I also made a 'boot' incorporating the better new tracks from 15 BO and most of Love You. Works for me, but I love Love You as it is.