The Smiley Smile Message Board

Okay, a modification of my running topic themes once again, but this time on those tracks which are declared by the Fans to be 'Travesties'. See: Awful, Repulsive, Musically Inept etc.

Basically your guilty Pleasures in Beach boys music.

Me?

I love Summer In Paradise, and I don't dislike Here Comes Th Night (Disco). Kokomo is too catchy to be unlistenable, and Problem Child is the hit that never was.

the whole Charles manson thing..I wish I could have been hanging out with him and could have been one of his followers. :lol

The only classically-considered-bad Beach Boys song I don't really like is Belles of Paris / Bells of Christmas.

Yeah, to be fair I'll listen to any beach boys very happily, but that song was something I actually found 'uncomfortable'.

Def Problem Child. Have a bit of a soft spot for Our Favourite Recording Sessions if we're counting skits. I do the whole 'what's my note? auuguuuguhhhh' thing when singing with folks all the time.

Island Fever for me! ;D

Carl knocked it out of the park. Would have made a nice backing track for a island resort or cruise commercial IMO.

Kokomo.

Is 'Getcha Back' considered a travesty? I like that one too.

I'm Bugged At My Old Man - love this song.

Palisades Park

I like most of MIU.

East Meets West

Spring Vacation

for reals?

First off, I like both "Barbara Ann" and "Kokomo" (tho the latter, not as much as Mike thinks I should).  
I like a few tracks from Summer In Paradise and I REALLY like the live version of the title track (tho I REALLY wish they would record entirely new backing tracks under the vocals and re-release it).
I really like all of Ricky & Blondie's songs with the Boys (tho while I know they're unpopular within certain circles on here, I wouldn't call ANY of them anything close to travesties!).  
Party! - a lot!  
"Brian's Back" (to a degree)
Most of Keepin' The Summer Alive, especially the title track!
I don't hate "California Calling" as much as most people around here but I can certainly understand the hate.
I like Al's later day covers, although I still wonder why he had such a hard on for covers in a band with SIX accomplished (to varying degrees) of songwriters, not to mention regular outside collaborators.
And while I like some of the songs on 15 Big Ones, I absolutely abhor the album and concept on every level within the context of it's original release.  

Oh, I like "I Write The Songs" too and wish the Boys had done a studio version of it.  The song was a MAJOR hit and is part of their legacy.  They should have embraced it.  If I was Bruce I'd petition to make it a regular fixture in the set lists.

Tears in The Morning,
Endless Harmony.

Thats basically it haha

I'm OK with "Endless Harmony" too. 

And would NEVER consider "Spring Vacation" a travesty either!  It's not "Surf's Up" but I think it's one of the best songs on the newest album and definitely Mike's best "remember the good ole days" since "Do It Again"!

I still think that, after Pacific Ocean Blue, Carl Wilson's Youngblood is the second best BB solo album.

I like a lot of Stars And Stripes and I like "Brian's Back".

I don't think "Spring Vacation" is a travesty. It is my favorite song on TWGMTR. To me, it is an emotional song.

Passing Friend
Hey Little Tomboy + lots of MIU
Island Girl

There are more.

"In my car","Louie Louie","summertime blues","Lahaina Aloha"...

A Thing Or Two and Gettin' Hungry seem to be generally disliked 60s Beach Boys cuts and I like them both (a lot).

I actually like Take A Load Off Your Feet a lot as well, but I agree that it is a major blemish on Surf's Up. It's just too silly for that album (and was recorded about two years before the other songs as well).

Edit:

I find It's Okay really fun too... I doubt I would like 15 Big Ones (I hate Rock and Roll Music) but that song is certainly pretty catchy.

Spring Vacation is my favorite song on the new album.

I love Summer In Paradise and I really like most of Keepin' The Summer Alive and M.I.U.

(How's that for a first post?)

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My initial response to "Spring Vacation" was "Oh, God, not another nostalgia song!" but after awhile, I came to terms with the fact that it's got a great rhythm, guitar, and group vocals.  There's nothing wrong with a nostalgia song, but the fact that the band had made so many already that were transparent attempts to cash in on their earlier hits made me reluctant to accept it.  The lyrical reference to "good vibrations" still bother me though.

As for the topic, I do like most of Sweet Insanity, except for "Do You Have Any Regrets?" and "Thank You."  Even "Smart Girls" amuses me.

Problem Child
Strange Things Happen
In My Car
Forever - the Stamos version

Not a big fan of 'Loop De Loop' but I love 'Sail Plane Song'

Skatetown USA
Student Demonstration Time
In The Still Of The Nite

Oh yeah.  I'm a long time supporter of "Student Demonstration Time".  Also, I saw "Summertime Blues" mentioned.  Being Dave's only recorded (co-) lead vocal with the band (and not to mention just a good song in general), that one's A-OK in my book!

I've always had a soft spot for "Smart Girls." 

Hmm this is tough because if I like I song I don't consider it to be a travesty. Student Demo Time kicks butt, Drip Drop, and Rolling Up To Heaven are great dirty fun. I like the Casious Love cut. I like Match Point and Wontcha Come Out Tonight.

Back in the day, I found myself liking Summer In Paradise quite a bit.  Then I discovered the 30th Anniversary box set. 

These don't have the best reputation, but I enjoy all these songs.  A few of them may have been out of place on their respective albums, however.

I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man
Transcendental Meditation
Take a Load Off Your Feet
Ding Dang
Match Point of Our Love
Lahaina Aloha

I'm Begging You Please
Lazy Lizzie
Yeaahhh
I Feel So Fine
To Sir With Love
I'll Bet He's Nice Demo
All of 15 Big Ones and Love You
Adult Child minus Hey Little Tomboy, and especially Shortening Bread
Drip Drop, of course.

Basically anything with a raspy, out of tune, coked out Brian dropping F-bombs will do me a body good.  :lol :lol :lol

Still Cruisin'

HCTN (LA - Album version)

Inexplicable...

Spring Vacation, Here Comes the Night disco version,  Sumahama. In fact, I pretty much love L.A. And I also fall into the Beach Boys Love You/15 Big Ones group of fans.

I know some people dislike the early surf/car songs, but I love most of them, and I'm kinda partial to the car songs. I love car songs, period. I grew up around a bunch of gearheads and I love muscle cars. I don't know jack about cars myself, though.

Crocodile Rock. In fact a lot of the 80's. It was my age of BB discovery
 
My deepest apologies !!


 

I don't know if there are any travesties these guys have done that are to my liking but I'll list some seemingly conventionally maligned ones that I enjoy: "I'm Begging You Please"; "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow"; "The Girl From New York City"; "Let's Go Trippin'" (esp. Concert version); "South Bay Surfer"; "Take A Load Off Your Feet"; all of Smiley Smile and Love You; most of Carl & The Passions; "That Same Song" (esp. SNL-associated Beach Boys special version, with choir); "Chapel Of Love"; "Pallisades Park"; "Back Home"...

...I think that's it? Probably pretty mundane comparatively but there ya go!

Spring Vacation
Private Life of Bill and Sue
She Believes In Love Again
Full Sail and Goin' South
Hey, Little Tomboy
He Come Down
Take A Load Off Your Feet
When a Man Needs a Woman
I Was Made To Love Her
I'm Bugged At My Old Man
Do You Remember

Okay.

I quite like Tears in the Morning.  Way more than Deidre, for example.

I think Winds of Change is one of the best three tracks on MIU - especially if you have the version where Al sounds less like Kermit the Frog.

I much prefer the simplicity of Carl's first album to the airbrushed overblown AOR shite of the second.

I like the 'surf' instrumentals on the first few albums. They're part of the band's DNA.

I like First Love and don't mind Country Love, especially when compared with LBWL.

I think 15 Big Ones has a lot of charm and would'nr have minded 15 covers - though I appreciate that coming after Holland and that particular period of their career, it must have been a great disappointment.

I don't mind When Girls Get Together.  There:  I've said it.

Looking Back With Love.

Imagine if something like this was put on a compilation. It would be better than most hit compilations!

What do people think of 'When Girls Get Together'?

Personally I find it very rich in its texture and the lyrics do have significant meaning (though corny at times). I really hope they release a clean 1970 version. IMO the overdubs made for KTSA didn't do the song justice. Do people agree on that or differ?

I think it's nuts. But good.

Well, I'm a big fan of I'm So Lonely and It's Just a Matter of Time, which seem to get dissed a lot.  

And I also like A Thing or Two, which somehow always puts me in mind of the Beatles' "Wild Honey Pie."

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spring vacation, be still, everyone's in love with you, ding dang, belles of paris, still surfin' (perhaps the only achievement of SIP), endless harmony, pretty much everything on SC.

I'm OK with "Crocodile Rock" too.   ;D

Daybreak over the Ocean. I don't really dig the melody itself and the lyrics (which seem to be taken from "Bluebirds over the Mountain" etc), but the instrumental arrangements and percussion are spectacular. I really don't think Mike was responsible for them, actually.

And I think Friends was their best post-Pet Sounds album in the sixties - and in some ways better than Surf's Up, Sunflower and Holland, but don't see people talking that much about it here.

Yes, 'for reals'. Many fans would label Spring Vacation as a travesty but I like it, it's harmless fun and is a very 'ear worm' type song.

I agree with all the folks saying Spring Vacation, The Private Life Of Bill And Sue and Daybreak Over The Ocean.

A major dud from an otherwise excellent creative period

I really like When Girls Get Together. A nice, pleasant song. The two part Brian/Mike harmonies remind me of the closeness of the Everly Bros. Would have been a good fit on Sunflower if it was a double album. For some reason, the KTSA version has an obnoxious, out of time kick drum overdub. Bruuuuce??? Anyway, the version on Landlocked, despite being in less than great aural quality, lacks this overdub, and that's the version I like the best.

"Student Demonstration Time" - The lyrics are admittedly awful, but that's a pretty rocking track...and the "stay away when there's a riot going on" group vocals are terrific.

"Summer In Paradise"  - I'm fond of this song, especially live versions I've heard.  In fact, aside from "Surfin'" and "Summer of Love" (the all-time low point of the BBs) I enjoy most of the SIP album, albeit only about once a year or so.

"I'm Bugged At My Old Man" - It's funny, it's a dig at Murry, and I really like the call and response type vocal, even if they were purposefully singing it goofy.

Lahaina Aloha (horrible drums aside)
Much of the LBWL album
Kona Coast

Man, nobody has mentioned "Life Is For the Living", yet!  I don't know why...but whenever I hear it...I feel happy!  Maybe it's the jaunty Dick Reynolds horn charts...or Carl's swingin' lead!  Or maybe it's because I can imagine the look of horror that must have crossed the face of Michael Edward Love the first time he heard it!!

"...don't sit around on you a*s...smokin' grass..."

I've always felt that it didn't sound like it fit into the context of KTSA.  You can tell it's an older song.

Lahaina Aloha is one of my very favorite post-Light Album songs of theirs.

Other than that, The Private Life of Bill and Sue, Island Fever (both versions actually), Make It Big, Still Surfin', Spring Vacation, and Rockin' the Man in the Boat. :-D

Those are the two things that make that song for me!

I love SIP, MIU, KTSA, and BB 85. I like parts of Still Cruisin' and even Stars n Stripes (mainly the cuts by Lorrie Morgan, Willie Nelson, Kathy Trocolli, Junior Brown, and Timothy B Schmit). I love this performance. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ySCOM9UeOE  Soulful backups.

Really, my least favorite album is the debut, but it has its charms. And, I love Brian's rough vocals.

Is it me, or are like a third of the songs posted here not "travesties" in the least?

Oh, I agree. I prefer the so-called 'worst' Beach Boys song to just about any other artist's best song.

I have to admit that I have a serious soft spot for Still Crusin' and SIP, which were my first and second Beach Boys albums.  I remember playing SIP over and over after I first purchased it - of course, I was a 10 year old girl when it was released, so that might have something to do with it. 

I agree. It doesn't fit with the rest of KTSA, but I love the song. I think it was an attempt by Brian to combine humor and art, and I think he succeeded. I think it was one of his last attempts at doing that.

Keep seeing the thread title as "Which Beach Boys "Transvestites" are.. 'To your taste?'"

I like Mike Love's robe

Lola

Bruce.

Matchpoint
KTSA (love Carl's voice on this)
She's got rythym.

THE KINKS!!!!

The latter.

No such thang as travesty. They're all Beach Boys songs, and thus part of their interesting and multi-faceted legacy. I dig 'em all.

EDIT: Sounds like a proper fanboy opinion, but so be it. I'm not going to lie, not on an internet discussion forum!

Don't think I've ever seen Pet Sounds referred to as a travesty!

I think it's only a vocal minority that believe it's a bad track. Personally I love it....and the PSS version without the guitar over-dub is great too.

Yeah! I dig it, too.  It's totally MIU.

I like MIU!

The albums Smiley Smile and Surfin' Safari.

both were travesties when I first heard them (I thought, "What the F$%k is this?).  They're very similar albums to me.  Cut from the same cloth.

But more traditionally... MIU, 15BO, BB85...total guilty pleasures.  SIP... I like'em all.  Wipe Out.  Doesn't matter.  You name it.  I like it.

What I Really Want For Christmas - the track, I mean. If it had non-Christmas lyrics it would be even better.

Yeah, I really dig Brian's Xmas album. But then, at that time of year, I dig most christmas music so it's kinda moot  ;D

I guess "Little Children" is considered a slight song but I've been digging that song lately -- I think it's a combination of the overwhelming synthesizers, percussion and drums, plus layers of vocals both lead and background -- and I'm increasingly coming to think it's demented... but in a good way?

I love that song. Whenever I hear it though, I imagine Brian doing his marching motion with his arms that he does in the SMiLE doc during rehearsals of (I think) Do You Like Worms. Priceless.

It's probably one of the closest cases he ever came to plagarism though - parts of it are identical to Mountain of Love, Johnny Rivers version.

I'd say Surfin' USA is a lot closer to plagiarism than Little Children is.

For sure.

Problem Child
Still Surfin'
Summer In Paradise
In My Car

Another vote for Bill and Sue over here.

I guess the song is on the whole pretty innocuous (although I am a sucker for the humbuddyaaddeyeeh backgrounds), but I just can't get enough of the 'Sometimes, life can be so strange...' bridge/middle 8 (?) section - pure BW to me (even if I don't know for sure how much he had to do with it) and strangely profound cos, ya know, life can be so strange.

I like how happy Brian sounds in The Private Life of Bill and Sue.

Anyone else think that Jeff's chorus vocal "California to Mexico" is a bit strained - and he almost hits the note, but he doesn't?

I've loved the sound TPLOBAS ever since I've heard it, but Jeff missing that note just kills it for me.

Haven't noticed that in particular, and I'll try not to as well  ;D

I will also add that I'm a sucker pretty much (nearly) any song that mentions California in the lyrics.

I never heard it at first, but it nags at me now....maybe I'm just hearing things haha

I've never heard that, rab, but then I try to avoid listening to that song whenever I can so I guess we're cool. I do hate stuff like that, though....

Right on!  Bill and Sue jumps out at me.  It's so Brian Wilson -- at least, what we've been used to for the last 10+ years.  I can imagine it being on any one of his solo albums.

It's a nice counterbalance to (what I assume is Mike's) Daybreak Over the Ocean.  Which I "tolerate."   ;D

the thing I love about the chorus is that Jeff's lines blend with Brian's so well that if you're not paying attention it just sounds like Brian is singing the whole thing (ie I think Jeff is bad at faking 1965 Brian but is pretty good at faking 2012 Brian). Maybe he's straining on purpose to sound more like Brian.

I almost thought it was Brian the first time round - but my senses told me other wise.

Island Fever
Still Cruisin'
Bells of Christmas

It did appear on one of Brian's solo albums, as "South American" on Imagination. :p

And, I'm not totally sure, but I think Joe Thomas wrote the catchy chorus.

Jeff sings part of the Bill/Sue chorus? Wow...I'll have to go back and listen...

It's very Jeff sounding - all the names of the places are Jeff.

I still think, though, that it was intentional that the chorus, to an uneducated ear, is supposed to sound completely Brian. Imagine if two people with completely different sounding voices traded off lines in the chorus, it would sound really weird.

Sounds like two people trading off, to me. Jeff and Brian's voices really stand out apart from one another there and elsewhere. Just me, though.

Seperately, I don't think Jeff and (modern-day) Brian sound anything alike at all. Jeff is pretty good at blending in with Brian, but I don't think that vocal trade off on Bill and Sue was meant to fool anybody.

 Is it just me, or is the music track on Spring Vacation kind of like an uptempo gospel song? It kind of reminds me of Here Come Down.

I really strongly like a good half of Beach Boys '85.

Student Demonstration Time
Rock and Roll to the Rescue
Spring Vacation
Everyone's in Love With You
The Private Life of Bill and Sue
Endless Harmony
Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson
I'm Bugged at My Old Man

"Everyone's in Love With You" is one of my favourite Mike songs along with "sumahama", those are widely considered travesties, right?

I dunno.  Sumahama's pretty nifty, and I wouldn't turn off Everyone's either.

You should explain , I have no idea why you don't like it  :lol

Recently on the video site I found several unheard BBs songs which one can think of as travesties. From them I liked:
- Wish You Were Here In Hawaii (great b/g harmonies! The song itself is catchy enough, should be a tad longer)
- East Meets West (when heard that "tragic intro" going crescendo I thought I won't like the song. But luckily it's a rather joyful song. Frankie, Mike, Carl, Al = rollicking quartet trade-off!).

I'll also add "Tricia" (sans corny-sounding Hawaiian guitar solo);
Mike's "Over & Over" (maybe my most favorite cut from LBWL, good fun-and-innocence type of song), "Be My Baby", LBWL, "Calendar Girl", "Endless Summer Beach Band" (great r&r kind of song), "Almost Summer";

Brian's "Daddy's Little Girl", ""How Could We Still Be Dancin'", "Concert Tonight", "Sunshine", "Let Him Run Wild", "Market Place" (though it doesn't sound like a classical example of dreadfulness - it is more like an outtake from some Chicago musical), "He Couldn't Get His Poor Old...", "Smart Girls", "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car", "Too Much Sugar", "Goodnight Irene", "Someone to Love" (it's both beautiful & funny), "Christine", "Sweets for My Sweet";

Carl's "The Grammy" (imo best song of the record), "Bright Lights", "Rockin' All Over the World" (in some way, reminds me of The RS, which is a jolly good thing; suitable song for finger-snapping imo), Hold Me (Myrna actually has a good singing voice, didn't notice it before at 1st listen);     

Bruce's "Sealed with a Kiss" (if this was composed by Johnston, then hats off to him coz the song's got a very beautiful melody imo, plus I really like his singing there), R&R Survivor, Rendezvous (though I'm not quite certain if any of the latter 2 is "travesty").

I won't add Al's songs since I don't reckon any of them to be fitting in this thread.     

Sealed with a Kiss is something of a standard and has been a hit for a few people. Certainly not composed by BJ.

Thanks for the info, Nicko1234! Tbh, I suspected it, 'cause when I listened to this cover, I caught myself thinking that the melody sounded very familiar, I might've heard it on radio or TV some time ago. And definitely, it wasn't Bruce, since his version isn't that popular, sort of obscure even.

The interesting thing about "Sealed With a Kiss" is that it's written as a duet (the hit version had Brian Hyland double-tracked, and so did Bobby Vinton's version).  The Bruce version is listed as by "The Rip Chords'" and the photo on the Radio Shack album shows both Bruce and Terry, so I wonder what happened to the second vocal part -- which I assume Terry would have sung?

Lee

Rock And Roll To The Resuce is quite a kicker! Only in context for the band though, I fully understand why it didn't chart high.

Sumahama with the Japanese part at the end edited out is certainly a solid track!

TAAAAAKE GOOOOOD CAAAAAREEEE OOOOOOOF YOOOOUUUUR FEEEEEET (pete)


that's about it I s'ppose

What are you guys talking about? The Beach Boys have never done anything bad.

Have you heard "He Come Down"? Damn...

Yes I have and it gets cranked to the max each and every time..... The middle harmony part brings tears to my eyes!

‍

Word! Great song

Love that soul!

Ackkk, I had an online crush on you till you said that. Maybe I still do.  :P

I think their song "wheeeeeeeeen" is a fantastic song

not sure that where this thread is at now, but going back to the original question, I really like happy endings. There I said it. And I love problem child, most of Summer in Paradise. Heck, I'll even say that I like summer of love in a train wrecky sort of way. They're the Beach boys man. Even their objectively awful s--t is still awesome.

So did Brian, just ask Anna Lee and Marcella.

I think you still do