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Here it is folks: The one you've all been waiting for ...

I'm not ashamed to say this (ok, maybe a little!), but The Beach Boys '85 is one of my favorite albums by this band.

I love both, can't choose right now

Right on, EgoHanger!

I have to say I have a soft spot for both albums. I avoided them for years and finally caved in recently, so I think part of my enjoyment comes from the novelty of hearing 'new' Beach Boys albums, although I was obviously familiar with the more well known tracks.

There's a lot to love on BB85, especially with the current revival of 80s production styles making it the most relevant it's sounded since, er, 1985. Actually I think the production has a lot going for it. A lot of it sounds great. Even Passing Friend - potentially the worst track - has that cool little glockenspiel part or whatever it is. And the vocals really shimmer. I do like many of the songs too though: It's Getting Late, Crack At Your Love, I'm So Lonely & Where I Belong in particular. Oh and not forgetting Bruce's brooding power ballad.

This is a tough one for me.

Passing Friend is one of my favorites. I know it doesn't get much love here. That 5-minute song never overstays it's welcome. There's an overwhelming pop sensibility, and the production actually helps to serve that. Carl sounds a wee-bit drunk, but then to me he always does on any post-60s vocal of his.I especially love the lyrics, so many little catchy lines - "you better get out and move on in!". Or this inspired verse:

"I've been packing up my life in cases / For a hundred years or maybe more / I've been talking to a million people / Don't you think I should have known the score ..."

Yes, I know the Culture Club connection - and The Beach Boys could have done justice to Karma Chameleon too(!) - but I don't think I would like Passing Friend if it was sung by Boy George nearly as much.

I had written a thread here asking about similar music to this album, checked out some suggestions, and I found out for myself that I only like The Beach Boys doing 80s pop, but no other music I heard hit me the same way.

BB85 by quite some distance. Where I Belong is by far the best song (surely it must be included in the box set) and several of the others are decent. I think that things like Crack at Your Love and It`s Gettin` Late could have been good songs with a decent production.

On KTSA the title track is ok I suppose but under-produced, Goin` On isn`t bad and I quite like Santa Ana Winds (though they should have re-recorded all of the vocals). The rest of the songs are forgettable.

Both of the albums make me wish that the band could have found a decent producer when Brian went AWOL.

85, not close for me. I still remember that summer.  I was 17, heard Getcha Back on the local radio station and drove right down to the Wherehouse and bought the cassette. It was my first BB album.  The next day I went right back to the Wherehouse and picked up Concert and All Summer Long (still my favorite) and the rest is history.

The 1985 album is better overall but "Goin' On" and "Keepin' the Summer Alive" are better songs than anything on it.  But I'll still go with the '85 album.  That has good songs too, "It's Gettin' Late" and "Getcha Back," and it's just overall more consistent, even if most of the songs are forgettable, it's pleasant enough to make it more listenable than Keepin' the Summer Alive.  Though I actually do like "Endless Harmony" more than most people on this board I'll admit.

I can't pick either.
I think they're both pretty awful.

KTSA

No contest for me.

As albums, they're both pretty dreadful, but at least KTSA has highlights. KTSA (song) rocks and Goin' On is one of the best of the decade for them. Even Endless Harmony has its moments. I really don't like anything about '85, the songs, the production, the performances. There are no highlights and there's a good chance I will never listen to any of it again.

Pretty much agree with you. I  like the "Getcha Back"/"Male Ego" 45 but the rest of it is junk I never would have played if I wasn't a fan. KTSA isn't good, but it least it feels like the Beach Boys.

LOVE '85. The album just feels good. And at this point, the production is vintage-cool.

Favorite moments:

"Where I Belong" - the bridge. sick harmonies. and an audible Brian falsetto on top of the stack.

"It's Getting Late" - "time waits for noooo one"

"Crack At Your Love" - bridge. very BW.

"I Do Love You" - BB's sing an original Stevie song. hell yes.

"Maybe I Don't Know" - whole song. just awesome. Carl rocker, again with audible BW backing vocals.

KTSA

Not a fan of BB '85.

I really like both, but KTSA wins.

Neither album is remarkable, but I'll give the edge to The Beach Boys.  Yes, the production is boastfully 1980's, and most of the songs don't really feel like Beach Boys' songs, but Carl's tracks win me over.  That being said, in recent years I've warmed (ever so slightly) to Keepin' The Summer Alive.  The title track and "Goin' On" are really strong, and then you have a few guilty pleasures ("Some of Your Love", "Sunshine", etc.) that I occasionally don't skip when they shuffle on my iPod. 

Nightmarish albums, both. But if I have to, KTSA only because of Goin' On.

I cannot f**king believe that this poll is neck and neck. Beach Boys '85 is so, so, so blatantly vastly superior to Keepin' The Summer Alive, which is an album almost entirely devoid of merit.

'85 has Where I Belong, a gorgeous song and one of Carl's very finest - nothing on KTSA (or anything else they did in the '80s) even comes close to the quality of this song.

'85 also has Carl's excellent It's Gettin' Late, not to mention his cracking vocal on Stevie Wonder's very nice I Do Love You.

Male Ego is a great little song. Getcha Back isn't a personal favourite but i can see that it's a good albeit throwaway single.

The rest of the album is largely poor, but that's still a comfortable 4 or 5 songs that are better than anything on KTSA.

About the only songs on KTSA i can stomach are Carl's two songs (and the title track is almost entirely ruined by the dreadful production). I've never seen the appeal of Goin' On. The demo of Santa Ana Winds is good, but i hate the released version (again, the awful production ruins it). The rest of the album is irredeemable.

Beach Boys '85 deserves to win this poll!

BB's 85.

It's Getting Late, that's why. A massive jam. If Prince wrote that, it'd have sold a million copies/been the bedroom music for a generation/probably not sound quite so shitty (CHEERS, STEVE LEVINE)

If Where I Belong had a Brian Wilson writing credit then it would be seen as a classic.

A million times this. It's Getting Late decimates everything else from this era, highly underrated.

BB85 all the way! It's nowhere near as good as most of their 70s work but still quite a pleasant record from beginning to end. Getcha Back, Male Ego, Where I Belong, It's Gettin' Late... all beautiful stuff and I have to admit I even quite like California Calling. It's such a typical Al song, i.e. "slightly" derivative and cheesy but still quite charming.

KTSA, on the other hand, is almost in the same league for me as Summer in Paradise. It does have its standout songs, most notably Goin' On, Some of Your Love, Livin' with a Heartache (yes!), and Santa Ana Winds, but overall it lacks spirit and the mixing is just awful! No punch at all. Most of the backing tracks aren't too excting either. By the way, I love the original Oh Darlin' demo version, warts and all, much better than what eventually ended up on the album!

Keepin' the Summer Alive is neck and neck with Summer in Paradise for my least favorite Beach Boys album.  On most tracks (including "Santa Ana Winds," my favorite on the album) the backing vocals either sound like a vicious parody of the band or a poor imitation.  It's enough to make me nostalgic for M.I.U.

The Beach Boys is not a great album, but it doesn't offend my ears in the same way.  There are a few songs that bother me: "Passing Friend" is incredibly boring, and "Where I Belong" sounds like a proto-boy band.  Most of the album, however, is pretty bland and inoffensive.  Brian's contributions sound like half-finished demos dressed up behind fancy production, Carl's other contributions wouldn't have been terribly out of place on his mediocre solo albums from a few years earlier, though they do have superior backing vocals.  "She Believes in Love Again" is a sort of guilty pleasure for me, and even though "California Calling" suffers by comparison to the band's early surfing songs, its rhythm makes it a much worthier surf-nostalgia-song than, say, "Kona Coast."  I agree that "Getcha Back" and "Male Ego" are the best songs on the album, particularly the latter.

KTSA  because of Goin' On and Santa Ana Winds

I cannot stomach the title track to KTSA - just absolutely horrid stuff. Maybe the weather needs to be ice-creamy for me to enjoy it.

Who is to blame for the bass drum overdub on When Girls Get Together? They are largely sloppy and out-of-time. The poor quality version that shows up on the LandLocked and other boots do not have this overdub and the track is better because of it.

Santa Ana Winds would benefit from the Al spoken part being removed and thrown far, far away.

bb '85 --love "it's getting late"

A little off-topic but I hate those damn music videos for the '85 album.  Except for the ending of the "It's Getting Late" video when Brian walks down the beach listening to "California Calling" through a seashell, I love that.  But otherwise, I don't know whose idea it was that the very first Beach Boys music videos (for the MTV era I mean, I know they made promotional films before) should focus on not the Beach Boys, but the romance of some nerdy dude who gets into hilarious hijinks!  Just, no.

Just a quick question, out of interest: are the people voting for BB85 folks who grew up in the 80's?

i only wish that was true for me    :)

BB85 is one amazing song from Carl and a bunch of horrid half ass Brian/Landy songs and Culture Club rejects, smothered in bad 80's production.

KTSA is much better (by comparison). Two good songs from Carl, Goin' On (the last great Wilson/Love tune) and my personal highlight - Santa Anna Winds. Bruce's effort is ok too. The rest however, is pretty bad.

KTSA - 2.5.
BB85 - 1 (for Where I Belong).

Grew up in the nineties!

I don't like hearing this! I am biased, and I admit I do have that nostalgic trigger built in whenever I hear songs from the early-to-mid 80's because it triggers other memories that went with the actual song. But there are and were some really, really good songs happening at that time, and I am being honest when I say if the thought is that the Beach Boys doing 80's pop is setting a standard for the enjoyment of that era's music, there are too many songs that perhaps you have not heard to make that kind of judgement. I'm not being critical, but I think something is still missing and maybe hearing more of what the Beach Boys were trying to latch onto would affect that opinion.

I will say this much, from personal experiences: The way music was being delivered from 81-86 was as exciting and as vital to pop culture as perhaps it had ever been since the glory days of AM top 40 radio in the 60's and in which it will probably ever be in the current download-centric culture. MTV was new and exciting, but basically they were doing what Top 40 radio was doing only with pictures and a VJ rather than DJ. It was based on radio programming. Radio in some markets like mine in Philly was exciting, diverse, and the singles were at times terrific. There were dance programs on after school just like Bandstand had done in the 50's where you'd come home from school and be able to hear and see what was going on, then listen to the radio at night, then go to your local store on weekends to buy the singles you had heard that week. And then, find Solid Gold, Bandstand, etc in syndication on weekends to get even more of your top 40 fix.

I loved it, looking back I probably remember it as better than it actually was, but what the hell, I'm in good company with all the folks who swear they saw Hendrix play at Woodstock, right?

There is some terrific 80's pop music out there, and the whole scene was perhaps as close to the way AM-radio fueled pop culture existed in the 60's, with the same energy too. I swear by that, and will give examples any time someone would start slagging off on that era.

Things got bad, sometimes really bad, around 1987 and the whole scene was gone, including radio's impact on the music.

But I think the Beach Boys '85 may be enjoyable, but it was jumping on a bandwagon which was already part of a lot of kids' daily lives, and I can't see it as more than that no matter how good some of the songs were.

I love 80's music, up to a certain point when it all changed.

What are some examples of music you like from that era?
I'll admit to liking Madonna, Prince, Michael Jackson, Cyndi Lauper, Rick James, all the early hip-hop of that era, there may be one or two others. The other stuff I like from that era is mainly on indie labels (SST, Twin-Tone etc.) or mainstream for other countries (Smiths, Echo etc.).
I mean, do you like that Ghostbusters song, for example?

I like singles, not much of an album person although the Duran Duran albums were on my Christmas lists each year from Rio to Seven... to Arena, then it stopped.

It would take me a long time to list them, and I'll probably leave out key examples, too. But certain songs still hold up with all the great pop singles through the decades, songs like "Come On Eileen", "White Lines", "Beat It", "Steppin Out", "Our House", "Rio", "True", "Church Of The Poison Mind", "Overkill", "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" (one of the finest lead vocal performances of the 80's, IMO), "Everybody Wants To Rule The World", of course Prince, etc. Even a one off hit like "Pass The Dutchie" or "Electric Avenue" or "Apache" or "Double Dutch Bus" can sound great in the car! Those are just a few of the key singles out of dozens I could list.  Go through Billboards top singles, from 81-85 or so, and there are some really good singles that have a lot of musical highlights and are as good in context as similar pop-driven scenes from previous decades.

Again, I'm talking only of top 40 singles, a *very* small sample listed above, and obviously there was a lot of very influential music which was happening far removed from that.

Edit: Ghostbusters theme, never liked that one even back then. I liked it better when Huey Lewis first released it as "I Want A New Drug"... :-D

KTSA, easily. I hate the 80s production of BB85, and KTSA has better songs. The title track, Some Of Your Love, Livin' With A Heartache, Goin' On, When Girls Get Together, Santa Ana Winds and Endless Harmony are all somewhat decent songs. But apart from Getcha Back, California Calling and Where I Belong, all of BB85 can dissapear out of excistence for all I care.

Last time I listened to KTSA (although that's quite a while ago), I was surprised how much of it actually sounded not so bad. But BB85... Almost as bad as SIP, if you ask me.

Voted for BB '85. I find it easy to listen to in comparison to KTSA, which to me is merely average (not to say I don't like it).
BB '85 was produced well, even if it is very 80's ish sounding. Carl's voice on it is outstanding. Favorite songs are It's Getting Late, Passing Friend - really overlooked solid efforts. I find Getcha Back and California Calling "catchy" tunes meant for commercial appeal. All in all a very consistent album.
KTSA is less consistent in both song offerings and production. Living With a Heartache, Goin'On and Some Of Your Love are good ones IMO.

BTW, I was well into my adulthood in the '80's (doesn't mean I was "grown up"!), and didn't (and don't) particularly care for much of the music from then (don't mean to offend anyone!). But, statrting with the Endless Summer release, I was able to but BB albums as they were released (anything before that I purchased in retrospect), so there's a bit of a soft spot for any of the releases from 15 Big Ones and forward for the memories they bring (some good, some less than stellar) when first listening to them when purchased. The feeling was "hey, its a new BB release!!!"Some of the songs lived up to expectations of what the group could do, some not so, but it was new material and gave the hope that they'd keep going on - which they have!

No. The production of BB85 is awful and has dated terribly but the production of KTSA is dire as well no question about that. One of the great pities about the BBs is that when they decided to bring outside producers they decided on Bruce, Steve Levine, Terry Melcher and Joe Thomas. All crap.

The song Sunshine sums up the problems with the band at that time in a way. Bruce has spoken about the lengths they went to to take what Brian had done then cut it and loop it etc. What he hasn`t said is why? They could have hired the best studio musicians in the world if they`d wanted to but they didn`t have the confidence to record a simple song like that in a conventional way. Also can`t believe they kept the group vocals on Santa Ana winds from the demo as they are awful.

I can't get past the production of 85 and as much as I like some of the singing (especially Carl and Al), there's an emptiness to some of the songs. I don't particularly like KTSA (apart from Santa Ana Winds and Goin' On, despite both being a little overproduced), but I prefer it to 85.

Cool post. I like most of the songs you mentioned, so maybe I agree with your viewpoint more than I thought I would.

Born 1991.

I was born in the mid '80's though i completely fail to see how that should affect what i think about BB '85. I only heard it for the first time about three years ago. Otherwise generally not a big fan of '80's music (except for the Smiths, Erasure, and Depeche Mode).

And i completely agree with the posters who said that if It's Gettin' Late was a Prince song everyone would be banging on about what a work of genius it is, likewise Where I Belong if Brian had wrote it.

I go for BB85, more consistant overall than KTSA, although the latter has one of my favorite Carl songs - Livin' With a Heartache - and I also love the title song and Goin' On. Getcha Back is one I probably like more now than when it was a hit, and It's Gettin' Late and Where I Belong are highlights. I'm surprised no one's mentioned I'm So Lonely - to my years, the most "Brian" sounding track on the album (unless you count the cd only Male Ego). Almost a preview of his solo album.

KTSA for me.

Hate just about everything having to do '85 -- save for a couple of tracks. And the synthetic production almost sinks those two. Damn that Fairlight. Grade: D+.

KTSA, for all its abundant faults, and as some others have noted, still feels like a Beach Boys record. Albeit not a very good one. The backing vocal production suffers from plenty of Johnston-itis in places, and there's a few moments where Mike's about as nasal as he's ever been, but at least there's a good sampling of Carl and Al leads to offset all that for me. Production and song-wise, the whole thing just sounds like a slightly crappier version of LA, IMHO, particularly without the Dennis input. (those records are my actual imaginary "twofer"). Good to see Carl's worst days behind him, too. Grade: C   (C- if I stare at that album cover too long).

Favorite tracks:
Santa Ana Winds
Livin' With A Heartache
KTSA (though I actually think they did this one much better live)
maybe......School Day (another one I think I preferred live)

Is there actually a harder hitting KTSA in the vaults or is Carl only quoted as saying it should have been harder hitting?

I think Randy Bachman said that. I'd love to hear it if does exist. Like many of the faster, newer songs, many sounded better live than what was put to tape. I think some of that has to be production technique.

Randy Bachman's band Union did a version of it, it's a little "harder" but more lifeless. and it sounds even more like Takin' Care of Business.

Tracked in down in a couple of places online a few months ago. Agree with Aegir's assessment.
http://grooveshark.com/#!/s/Keep+The+Summer+Alive/3CBiGa?src=5

Love the drums on the BB's KTSA, by the way. And Randy Bachmann's explanation makes the "ice cream weather" line a bit more forgiveable. The "bow, bow, bows" and "sum-sum-sums" get a bit annoying, but I still like the track way better than anything on '85.

BB85!

I could've sworn everyone hated BB'85. this is definitely the most interesting poll, just for that reason.

speak for yourself. just because you hate bb'85, doesn't mean other people do. bad logic.

I hate it!
Eymmmm soooo lonelyyyyyyyyy.

I started getting into the Beach Boys circa summer 1980. KTSA had already come and gone with little fanfare...so BB85 was the first album I bought at the time of release. Maybe that explains my liking it. I still remember the excitement of buying a new BB's album, taking it home, and playing it for the first time. Is it Sunflower or (blashphemy!) Pet Sounds? No, but it's still miles better than SIP.

The Beach Boys - played it again today, and I found great enjoyment in doing so. Side one was stringer than side two, but that's because I really like Getcha Back, albeit because I have a comedic soft spot for Mike's awful delivery. The production isn't always too over powering, but it would have been nice to have been softer than it is. Some times, however, it is just too much. I'm also a fan of She Believes In Love Again, and, as awful as it is, California Calling is just too try-hard to ignore ;D

My vote für BB85, just because KTSA seems much more like a puzzle to me than a coherent album. Listening to the title track from Knebworth makes me wonder what the album would have sounded like with a better production. The archive songs don't fit in for my taste (When girls get together)

BB 85 has some tracks I love (It's getting late, Where I belong, Hungry heart a.k.a. Getcha back...) and a few I hate (I'm so lonely e.g.). I like to combine the Carl tracks with his solo tracks from Beckley-Wilson-Lamm to make a great 80s AOR album.

you have bad logic to assume that I hate BB85! I really enjoy it!

My vote goes to BB85. It feels as if more effort has been put in and is ultimately a more soulful offering, although KTSA has the high points for me in Goin' On and Santa Ana Winds. I also have a soft spot for Endless harmony.

There's something strangely comforting about BB85 though. Maybe it does remind me of the era I grew up in, although I wasn't at all familiar with the album at the time.

Hmm though I grew up in the eighties I was listening to The Beach Boys to get away from music like the 1985 album. I gave it a chance, but I don't get a thing from it past the "Getcha Back"/"Male Ego" 45. I find the post Dennis pre 2012 stuff hard going for the most part. Even 1976-80 only does it for me sporadically with only Dennis' stuff and a few cuts off each LP of that period meaning much to me. I love The Beach Boys, but it's basically for what they did from 1961-72. 

No. I just think most of the songs on KTSA stink to high heaven, and '85 has a some better songs songs, despite the slick production.

Say what you will about the production on the '85 album, it sounds fantastic next to nearly anything Terry Melcher produced for the group (though to be fair, there were some good ones like California Dreamin').  In fact hearing the Melcher produced material from Still Cruisin' and Summer in Paradise, it almost makes me wish Levine had remained as the Beach Boys producer throughout the rest of the 80s and early 90s.  With a better producer, Summer in Paradise would not be looked at with nearly as much disdain.  At least that's my opinion.  For instance, Hot Fun in the Summertime.  Already a great song.  A Beach Boys version would be an awesome idea.  But with the wrong producer, it sounds like crap.  And it does, in fact it's almost unlistenable.  Steve Levine was an 80s producer taking the Beach Boys sound into the 80s and I think he did a pretty good job.  Terry Melcher was a 60s producer trying to take the Beach Boys sound into the 80s and my god, did he fail miserably.

Yeah, who would've guessed? Melcher - former producer for the Byrds and Paul Revere and the Raiders - with the BB's sounds like it should be a perfect match....far from it. But by then, it had become essentially Mike's band. If Brian and Carl had stayed more involved during that period, who knows?

I agree with you regarding Summer in Paradise and Terry Melcher probably would have as well. Bruce said that Terry Melcher hated it as they had to rush it out due to the demands of the distributors.

I don`t really agree about the other Terry Melcher stuff though. Rock and Roll to the Rescue sounds ok and while the 4 Melcher songs on Still Cruisin` are very 80s, I don`t think they are anywhere near as sterile as the BB85 recordings. Somewhere Near Japan is a fine song and Kokomo is a good pop song (sorry). Make it Big is ok for what it is and the later Problem Child isn`t bad musically to my ears.

I can pick out more songs on KTSA that I listen to more often than any on BB85....maybe if Male Ego was originally on the album.

I think most everyone here has made all the right points.... Here's my synopsises...

First...The Bad (and the Ugly!)...
KTSA
Too much of a mix and match
Minus a few moments, it's the classic definition of a "bottom of the barrel" album

The Beach Boys ('85)
Dreadful SQ/Production.  Just awful.  It only works if one wants to be ironic/retro.
Just weird.  A nightmare.


The Good... (As a fan., I tend to focus more on these)
KTSA
I love this era of the Beach Boys for some reason...
Love the SQ of 1980 production
Some very good songs:  Goin' On, Girls Get Together (love this!), etc.

The Beach Boys ('85)
Consistent
Interesting/unique in the catalog
Some very good songs:  Getchya Back, I'm So Lonely, Male Ego, etc.


In conclusion, I love both of these albums because of my insane, irrational fandom.  I tend to say BB85 is better because it is simply a far more consistent album.  It stems from a real effort to reinvent the group...for better or worse.  Yes, mostly worse.  But a real effort nonetheless.  It's unique and the song quality (which is dated and not really Beach Boy-esque) is far better in strict "quality" terms.  And I can appreciate it.  It took a lot to appreciate it ...but it is a better "album."  And I like it.

KTSA is not nearly as difficult to like.  But, as I said, is such a "bottom of the barrel"exercise in many respects, that it tends to exude this sense that it really doesn't want to exist.  Like it wants to be forgotten.  And there's little to invite you back.  Even the cover art says:  "we're trapped in here, help us!!"  But... it's better in many respects than '85.  Far better production.  And far more "Brian Wilsony" and "Beach Boysy."  It truly has some excellent high points.  It's pleasant, and I like it a lot.  It's an easy listen.

So...I'll have to vote later.  This is tough.

Great post Bean Bag! You sum up a lot of my sentiments towards these two.

I hate BB85 too. When I listen to that album, I hear the world's greatest band of the 1960s and early 1970s trying to be hip again in the mid 1980s and doing so with very uninspired song material and a digital sound that didn't fit them at all. KTSA is not a great work of art either (although I do think it has much better song material) but at least they weren't trying to be something that they weren't on that album.

And the fact that The Beach Boys recorded a Culture Club outtake is, for as far as I'm concerned, purely musically speaking the band's all-time low.

I agree with every word.

I haven't seen: Is "Sunshine" pretty much hated around these parts, or do people like it?

I like it. If only for BW's falsetto. That and Goin' On are the songs I listen to most on that album.

I personally don't hate it. Though, I'd reckon that the whole BB's meet Jamaica/reggae thing is annoying to some. At the very least, as noted, it's one of the few tracks on the album where Brian's clearly audible. IIRC, when they did that whole Goin' Platinum promo thing for the album, this was one of the songs they showed the band performing (albeit staged)...and Brian was fairly into it.

Al Jardine saying "totally rad" on California Calling is even worse than Passing Friend.

It's not very good, although I wouldn't say it's the worst thing on that album. School Days takes that prize...

Good question. I don't know. The "Going Platinum" special was produced for Showtime back in 1980. Though, I saw it in the summer of that year when it was part of a syndicated series of shows known as The Blue Jean Network. It was basically a documentary on the recording of the KTSA album. One interesting part of the doc had them briefly playing an off-the-cuff bit of Brian's unreleased song, "Goin' To The Beach."

Since then, some of the footage has popped up in other places as well....such as the "An American Band" doc. For example, the scene where the band is walking along the Monterey coastline in AAB.


PS - I don't think the album ended up "going platinum" after all...lol.

What's the deal with "totally rad"? Not a native speaker here so I've always wondered why this particular phrase seems to annoy so many hardcore fans.

I actually really like the song. It's very up and very Brian to my ears. I like all the songs on side 2 of KTSA for what it's worth, but side 1 is a real let down.

`Rad` (short for radical) was the sort of word that you would have expected teenage boys, girls and turtles to use at that time. Hearing Al, in his forties at that point, using it just feels like a middle-aged man trying to sound cool and is faintly embarrassing.

Thank you, makes perfect sense to me! I always feel it's way easier for non-native speakers to look past the sometimes embarrassing nature of the group's post-Holland lyrical output.

  This one won't let me vote........ I would have gone for KTSA

And I say, let's hear it for insane, irrational fandom.  The same irrational fandom caused me to buy all the new remasters, and I love them!

It's perhaps the single most embaressing moment in the entire BB catalogue, which is saying something! To get it into perspective, imagine if on one of the TWGMTR songs Al had sung '...and then i started to LOL'.

I feel like KTSA could be made into a great mix, like the way we (some Smilers) like to put Smiley-WH-Friends-20/20 together as a perfect mix of awesomeness!

But with KTSA, I think we could make a great mix of songs from MIU/Adult Child/Outtakes from that era/L.A./KTSA, if I wasn't in a hurry, I'd be able to crank out a double LP that would be listenable.

Big fan of Sunshine!
I'm guessing Brian didn't realize there was a song titled this or maybe we woulda got a different track name on the Imagination album. You'd think with Joe Thomas carrying the weight (I thought he was a big fan of the BB) he woulda said, "hey, you prolly don't remember way back to 1980, but you wrote a song with that title already."

But then again, you could say the same about his naming the suite on BW88 Rio Grande, as it was already a title by Al and Gary W. (I think but I could be wrong), but then again, that song was never released, so it's all good.

KTSA by a mile. Some good songs notwithstanding (getcha back, sbila, igl, and male ego), 85 is horrible. Their worst effort.

it's tied....what will be the tie breaker,who will win???

Beach Boys 85 has to win. The idea that Keepin' The Summer Alive is the better album is lunacy i tell you, lunacy!!!!!

I feel I must reiterate how strange it is to me that so many people like BB85, I could've sworn before this thread that I was one of the only people who liked it. The only time people posted about this album was to make fun of "Crack at Your Love" for being about butts or something.

I'm surprised there are 78 people in the world who care enough about either album to place a vote.

I did once call it the worst album the group made with Brian on this board but I listened to it again with an open mind when this thread came up and realized that it's actually pretty decent.  It's odd and doesn't fit in with the rest of the Beach Boys catalogue but I think in retrospect, that gives it a certain charm.  It's still far from a great album but some of the songs are really good and it's a pleasant album to listen to I think.

I don't know about much of this poll is about liking. More like tolerating.

I genuinely really like a comfortable half of Beach Boys '85.

I like or love every song on BB'85.

With the exception of It's Just A Matter of Time, me too.
Some albums go well with repeated playings, I think this is one of them.

I don't think of myself as an 80's music lover - prefer the 60's and 70's - but I grew up in the 80's, so there is a lingering fondness for much of what I heard on the radio back then. Maybe that's why BB85 doesn't bother me like it does some fans. I'd prefer less synths, but the guys still sound good, some good songs, Carl at his best....also, BW88 is full of synths, and I love that album.

BB85. If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times, It's certainly not their best album but it is what it is, a nice pop album from a difficult point in time for older musicians, especially The Beach Boys. Then again, I'm a big fan on the Fairlight, it fascinates me, so that may be a big contributor to why I like that album so much.

How about this for a hypothetical BB85 alternative:

1] Chasin' The Sky [Always thought this was album worthy]
2] Getcha Back [Obviously has to be here]
3] It's Gettin' Late
4] Crack At Your Love
5] Maybe I Don't Know [I don't care, I love this one  :P]
6] She Believes in Love Again
7] Oh, Lord [If Brian had finished the 1984 recording of it]
8] And I Always Will [I don't know what state of completion the 1985 recording of this is in, but I'm sure it could have been done]
9] Where I Belong
10] California Dreamin'
11] Are You Real [Yeah, the Dennis song, I think this could have been either remixed and tidied up by the boys, similar to how George Harrison remixed "That's The Way It Goes" for the 12" of "When We Was Fab", or re-recorded as a tribute to Dennis]

The remaining six tracks could be spread across B-Sides and version exclusive releases.

I was just about to post something like this!
Add It's a Beautiful Day!

I didn't really consider that one, but I think with a little bit of a remix it would have been one of the best tracks on there.

I wonder if on a Chicago message board somewhere, they are doing a Chicago 18 vs. Chicago 19 poll.

Ooh, I just voted for BB85, which once again tipped the polls towards... a perfect tie!  :)

And yeah, I find BB85 pretty groovy.  Like, a B- kinda groovy.

And I find KTSA less groovy, like a.. C.

I'm being pretty generous...

I'd have to go with '85.... despite some decent songs, KTSA has just the most uninspired production  ???
Its getting Late, She believes in love again, even I'm so lonely have something about them I love..  :)

Nothing "does it" for me after Chicago XI personally. After Terry Kath was gone, why bother?

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I voted on KTSA because I like the overall sound of it better. I enjoy about half of the songs. I don't like the 80's sound on '85 (I was born in 1972 and grew up in the 80's but didn't listen to the current pop music then) so it gets little to no play for me. No apologies.

And I Always Will was written that long ago?

Coming off a fresh listen of both of these, I had to give the vote to the Beach Boys '85.   The production on both is questionable at best, but I think '85 has a higher quantity of enjoyable songs.

Where I Belong
Goin' On
Getcha Back
It's Gettin' Late
Male Ego
Endless Harmony
I Do Love You
Livin' With A Heartache
Oh Darlin'
Santa Ana Winds
Keepin' the Summer Alive
Maybe I Don't Know
California Calling
Sunshine
Passing Friend
I'm So Lonely
It's Just a Matter of Time
When Girls Get Together
She Believes in Love Again
Crack At Your Love
Some of Your Love
School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes the Bell)

Anyone know the status of the Carl song "Down By The Pier" from this era?  Was it ever finished?

The Beach Boys 1985 hands down!!!

Maybe I Don't Know, Getcha Back, I Do Love You, She Believes In Love Again, It's Gettin' Late, etc. All great songs!

How Keepin' The Summer Alive is ahead I'll never understand.

The Beach Boys is light years ahead of Keepin' the Summer Alive - it's so blatantly obviously a better album in every single respect, how is it 2nd??

Agreed. So underrated it makes me sad.

KTSA has the title track, and maybe Endless Harmony.

The Beach Boys on the other hand have so many great songs, including the brilliant Maybe I Don't Know!

I loved Maybe I Don't Know and She Believes In Love Again from the first listen. The rest of the tracks I currently like or love, it came with repeated listens

I'd go for '85 easily, one of the last great Beach Boys tracks in Where I Belong....Carl and Al both shine, and why it's never been included in any Best Of or Box Set compilation is beyond me.

It's 51 vs. 52 votes right now..!
To me, it's clearly The Beach Boys. Great songs on there. Theoretically one of their best post-late60s/early70s, regrettably marred by the horribly dated production style. Still, an enjoyable LP. More so than KTSA - at least to me.

I picked '85, but I actually think that album could have used another Mike Love song, as crazy as that sounds.

"She Believes In Love Again" is one of my favorite Bruce songs. I think I like it because his voice isn't as syrupy, sugary sweet as it usually is. It's more like those "raw" sugar packets.