The Smiley Smile Message Board

Here's mine:

1 Pacific Ocean Blue
2 That Lucky Old Sun
3 Brian Wilson
4 ... Presents Smile
5 ... Reimagines Gershwin

Mine:

1. BW Presents SMiLE
2. Pacific Ocean Blue
3. That Lucky Old Sun
4. BW Reimagines Gershwin
5. Brian Wilson

Pacific Ocean Blue will probably take this in a walk, but I'm game!

1: POB
2: BWPS (Although I kinda feel bad voting for it, as it's obviously not an exercise in solo songwriting - might as well vote for PS Live or something)
3: Gershwin
4: BW88
5: TLOS

is my uncontroversial choice. Although the Disney record is a bit of a sleeper favourite...

1. POB by a huge measure.
2. Spring
3. The Flame
4. TLOS
5. BWPS

I'll skip live and BWPS

1. POB
2. BW 88
3. TLOS
4. Bambu (I know - not technically an album)
5. Postcard

Spring & Flame are solo albums ?  :o

OK, to define - albums recorded by band members under their own name (or at a pinch, in collaboration, i.e OCA and Like A Brother).

Oh OK but I like those so much better.

1 POB
2 TLOS
3 BWPS
4 WIRWFC (sue me I like it)
5. Brian Wilson

1-pacific ocean blue
2-that lucky old sun
3-orange crate art
4-spring
5-a postcard from ca

Spring doesn't qualify because...

Brian's name isn't on the cover and...
He lost interest pretty quickly. According to the most generous estimate (Marilyn's), there's maybe 25% BW there.

1. Brian Wilson Re-imagines Gershwin
2. Pacific Ocean Blue
3. That Lucky Old Sun
4. Brian Wilson Presents Smile (actually I'm not so into it after the real thing was released, but it meant a lot to me back in the day)
5. Postcard from California (could be a lot better though, but has some great moments)

Nobody's chosen it yet, but do The Bambu Sessions count?  Some people used The Smile Sessions for the top 5 Beach Boys albums, though that was obviously released as a separate box whereas The Bambu Sessions were more of a bonus disc for Pacific Ocean Blue's rerelease.  Anyway, assuming I can use them, here we go:

1.) Pacific Ocean Blue
2.) Brian Wilson
3.) The Bambu Sessions
4.) That Lucky Old Sun
5.) Imagination

I should probably note that I've only ever heard one of David Marks' solo albums.

1.  pob
2.  bwps
3.  bw88
4.  tlos
5.  youngblood

1. Smile
2. Brian Wilson
3. Gershwin
4. Pacific Ocean Blue
5. That Lucky Old Sun

as spring doesn t count:

1- pacific ocean blue
2- that lucky old sun
3- orange crate art
4- a postcard from Ca
5- Carl's first solo

1) POB – no question.
2) TLOS*
3) Postcard**
4) BWPS***
5) Blondie Chaplin****

* I regard this (rightly or wrongly) as a trilogy with Gershwin and Disney, both of which I love much more than I ought to. As the latter two are covers, this gets the gong.
** I like this because it smells of the Beach Boys and is a really laid-back listen.
*** Normally this would have scored higher – much much higher – but TSS has had its effect, plus as others have stated its originality in 2004 was already 37 years old.
**** In fact, I'd rank Blondie's solo work very highly indeed. Between Us is also a great piece of work.

Problem is that, as a fan, I like them all, aye, including Looking Back With Love (thought that'd be in your top five Andrew) and even moments of Going Public. Carl's albums have some real high points for me, and all Brian's solo works work for me.

1. BWPS
2. TLOS
3. BW88
4. POB
5. ITKOD

01) Pacific Ocean Blue / Bambu (2008)
02) Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE (2004)
03) That Lucky Old Sun (2008)
04) Brian Wilson (1988)
05) In The Key Of Disney (2011)
06) Ram (1971)
07) All Things Must Pass (197 oops, wrong list......

EDIT: It's not technically a solo album but the Rutles soundtrack would figure very highly for me.

1.BW Presents Smile
2.BW Reimagines Gershwin
3.That Lucky Old Sun
4.In The Key Of Disney
5.Pacific Ocean Blue

   1. Pacific Ocean Blue
   2. Brian Wilson
   3. Presents Smile
   4. Disney
   5. Gershwin

My Top 5, but honestly, I only listen to them rarely.

1. Pacific Ocean Blue
2. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
3. Youngblood
4. Brian Wilson Presents Smile
5. Postcard From California

1. Brian Wilson Presents Smile
2. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin
3. Brian Wilson
4. That Lucky Old Sun
5. Imagination

In no particular order because the frequency of listening experiences for each album has varied with my whims and fluctuating moods.  But top 5?

TLOS
Gershwin
Postcards
Youngblood
BW88

I guess next would be POB but only if including the Bambu material.  Incidentally, I know I am not alone in not "getting" the greatness of POB.  As a BB fan, I've run into many others who asked me point blank if I think POB has been overrated.  I usually say yes, according to my tastes.   It certainly did showcase DWs talents at a time when the entire band seeme on the decline.  I also consider the DW songs the better part of the LA album.  Perhaps if BW had not been out to lunch and DW had contributed his catalogue to the BBs lps released in those years, the BAND could have been more successful on a number of levels.

But I digress.  The thread is not about POB or DW in particular.  Just felt the need to defend my position on excluding it from my top 5.

I made my own mix of Bambu, and I listen to it quite often.

If I can count it as a solo album, it'd replace ITKOD on my list.

i ain't gonna be countin' no goshdarn BWPS for reasons that are aforementioned.

1. Pacific Ocean Blue
2. Brian Wilson
3. That Lucky Old Sun
4. Postcard from California
5. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

1/ Pacific Ocean Blue
2/ Surfin' Round The World
3/ Brian Wilson S/T
4/ Blondie Chaplin S/T
5/ Going Public (f*** ya'all I like it!!)

1. Pacific Ocean Blue
2. Youngblood
3. Imagination
4. In The Key Of Disney
5. Looking Back With Love

1.  BWPS
2. Live at the Roxy
3. Just Wasn't Made for these Times
4. POB
5. Reimagines Gershwin

Which just goes to show that the songwriting of the last decades, while sometimes strong, has never been consistently strong, through a whole album.

1. Goin Public
2. Looking back with love
3. CW
4. GIOMH
5. WIRWFC

1. Brian Wilson
2. Orange Crate Art
3. Pacific Ocean Blue
4. That Lucky Old Sun
5. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin

1. 88
2. POB
3. TLOS
4. BWPS
5. Live at the Roxy

It's getting pretty slow around here....

1. Orange Crate Art
2. Pacific Ocean Blue
3. That Lucky Old Sun
4. BW Presents Smile
5. A Postcard From California

6. Youngblood
7. Live In Las Vegas (AJ)
8. In The Key Of Disney
9. Imagination
10. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times

11. Live At The Roxy
12. Gettin' In Over My Head
13. Brian Wilson
14. Surfin' Round The World
15. Looking Back With Love

16. Bambu
17. Blondie Chaplin
18. Carl Wilson
19. What I Really Want For Christmas
20. Mike Love, Bruce Johnston & David Marks of the Beach Boys Salute NASCAR

21. Going Public
22. Pet Sounds Live
23. BW Reimagines Gershwin
24. Rock & Roll City / Rock & Roll Again / Listen To The Air
25. Between Us

1. Brian Wilson - Smile
2. Brian Wilson - That Lucky Old Sun
3. Brian Wilson - Imagination
4. Al Jardine - A Postcard From California
5. Dennis Wilson - Pacific Ocean Blue

1.  POB
2.  TLOS
3.  BWPS
4.  BW
5.  IMAGINATION

1. Brian Wilson Brian Wilson
2. Dennis Wilson Pacific Ocean Blue
3. Brian Wilson Imagination
4. Al Jardine A Postcard From California
5. Brian Wilson That Lucky Old Sun

1. celebration
2. unleash the love
3. pob
4. gettin in over my head
5. youngblood
 

Very hard...

1. BWPS
2. POB
3. BW '88
4. Gershwin
5. TLOS

VERY close final vs Postcard...

Imagination
BWPS
Live At The Roxy
Blondie Chaplin
BW Reimagines Gershwin

That Lucky Old Sun
Imagination
BW '88
Orange Crate Art (not sure this counts)
Pacific Ocean Blue

Agree with Southbay - it's gettin' slow around here. But I'll bite:

1. Pacific Ocean Blue
2. Brian Wilson '88
3. Brian Wilson Presents Smile
4. Bambu
5. That Lucky Old Sun

1. Pacific Ocean Blue
2. That Lucky Old Sun
3. Youngblood
4. Sweet Insanity (if that doesn't count, sub it with BW88)
5. Getting In Over My Head

1. BW88
2. POB
3. BWPS
4. Bambu
5. Sweet Insanity
(6.) Looking Back With Love

I really, really want to hear Unleash The Love..Where can I get it??

P.S. Goin' Public and Youngblood are horrible..

1 - not solo...
2 - unreleased thus ineligible...

In the pipeline... compilations.  ;D

OK, standings to date based on 35 submissions (any list with 2 or more unreleased/ineligible albums not included):

  1   POB 123 [18]
  2   BWPS 80 [8]
  3   TLOS 80 [2]
  4   BW 88 66 [3]
  5   BWRG 36 [1]
  6   Imagination 21 [1]
  7   Postcard 19
  8   OCA 13 [1]
  9   Youngblood 13
10   Live/Roxy 8
11   Bambu 7
12   Goin' Public 6 [1]
13   ITKOD 6
14   Surfin' Around TW 6
15   LBWL 5
 =   Blondie Chaplin 5
17   Carl Wilson 4
18   WIRWFC 3
 =   IJWMFTT 3
 =   GIOMH 3

I can't say I listen to any of them very often but...

1, POB
2, BW88
3, Imagination
4, LBWL
5, Youngblood

She and David Sandler made it seem like more to me. Desper said he wasn't there much but made a big difference when he was. Plus you can hear him singing on half the cuts.

POB
OCA
Postcard
BWPS
BW 88

+ special props to Carl side 1 on vinyl only

The 25% is an actual quote from Marilyn, in interview by me in 1986 as a response to SWD's 5% claim.  :old

Just out of interest, and with no censure intended, why no love for POB ?

I find your use of the old man emoticon recently very funny... :lol

Respect yer elders, sonny.  :old

1. OCA
2. BWPS
3. POB/Bambu
4. Postcard
5. WIRWFC

I have to admit that I have never heard any of the following:

- Any David Marks cd (I have to get them)

- "Unleash The Love" (I heard it's not too bad)

- "All I Want For Xmas" (I hate Xmas albums)

I have Surfin' Pajama Party on vinyl but no record player so I've never heard that. I downloaded one of Blondie's album a long time ago and don't remember anything about it at all (unlike "The Flame" which gets a regular rotation in my top 500 cds). Al's album was okay but didn't merit a second listen for me (must dig it out again). I really enjoyed GIOMH when it first came out but I have kind of lost the love for it over time. OCA only has 2 good songs on it in my opinion (title track and "San Francisco") which was disappointing to me as I am a fan of VDP and BW.

I guess in all fairness, I need to order the David Marks albums, find a download for Unleash The Love, get all my cds together and listen to them in chronological order to get a fair assessment. I still have a feeling that POB/Bambu (the 2008 2-fer) will come out on top but I am intrigued by the possibility of David Marks blowing away some of the others in my top 5. Thanks for starting this thread, Andrew. It's been kind of slow here lately.

No doubt but in 1995 and 2003 respectively they gave me a slightly (if not wholly) more generous impression.

Researcher's Golden Rule #3 - unless you have compelling evidence to the contrary, go with the source that's closest to the actual event.

1) POB - Miles ahead of the others
2) TLOS
3) Brian Wilson
4) Orange
5) Postcards

This also raises a point… how much output has Ricky had since leaving the band (other than the Rutles).. I'd be interested to hear any solo material he's put out, very interested. I feel a chump for not knowing the answer myself.

Bonnie Raitt.

AND some Crowded House tracks

5. Surfin' Round The World (imo Bruce's greatest achievement is this album, not The Grammy for composing I Write The Songs)

Have to admit, I find this a badly produced, underwritten tacky album. The one with the bonus tracks is slightly better.

1. BWPS
2. TLOS
3. POB
4. Postcard from CA
5. GIOMH (yeah, I do like it)

It's one of the greatest surfing albums ever IMO. It's suprising to hear Bruce rocking so much. For anyone who hasn't heard it, if you can listen to Surfin' USA without saying "Oh god not another surf instrumental", then this album is for you!

He composed the score for an Australian film called Spotswood, 13 tunes. A listening can be arranged if yer keen.

1) Smile
2) That Lucky Old Sun
3) Orange Crate Art
4) Gettin' In Over My Head (yes, really -- half of it's dire, but there's some stunningly good stuff in there)
5) Pacific Ocean Blue

(and just because I feel bad leaving off there, 6 through 10:
6) Brian Wilson
7) Postcard From California
8) Pet Sounds Live
9) What I Really Want For Christmas
10) Carl Wilson)

1/ Pacific Ocean Blue
2/ BW/ 1988
3/ Does orange crate art really count given that it's basically a VDP record? Still, that.
4/ Going Public

The rest of them I can't bring myself to care about because in my opinion they are all tasteful and dull with none of the bad but wacky qualities even the lamest BB material had, up to a point. Going public makes the cut because there is something brilliantly perverted about the disco version of Deidre.

I wish I could hear what everyone loves so much about POB.  Reminds me of trying to learn to like watermelon as a kid because everyone else seemed to love it and but I just couldn't develop a taste for it. 

If we all liked the same things, the world would be a very tedious place. Peaceful, but most tedious.

My favourites - though I would say only the first two get regular airings...

1. Orange Crate Art
2. Reimagines Gershwin
3. Brian Wilson
4. Imagination
5. That lucky old sun

Dennis -Pacific Ocean Blue - Better than all but a handful of the BB's group albums too.
Brian -TLOS - A distant 2nd, but good.
Dave Marks- I Think About You Often - A fine and underrated solo album
BW 88- good songs, bad production
BWPS- pales compared to the BB's version, but still really cool

Apart from #1, the other positions are all subject to change, but this morning i'll go with:

1 - POB (it just has to be)
2 - BWP Smile
3 - Reimagines Gershwin
4 - Brian Wilson
5 - Imagination

POB, BW88, and BWRG are the ones I play regularly. Loved both BWPS and TLOS when they came out. Does the Pet Projects compilation count? Would be tough for me decide between that one and POB when it comes to the #1 spot. Orange Crate Art is great but to me it sounds like a VDP album first and foremost. Definitely a favorite though!

"if you can listen to Surfin' USA without saying "Oh god not another surf instrumental", then this album is for you!"

I can do that, but the charms of Bruce's album escape me.

1. BWPS
2. Lucky Old Sun
3. Reimagines Gershwin
4. BW88
5. POB

To add to the POB debate, I enjoy that album but simply listen to those above it on my list (far) more often. I also listen to Orange Crate Art more than POB but that's not a solo BB's album.

 :thumbsup  Hear hear!

Agreed, Jon. Been listening to POB since the Summer of '77 and it's far and away the most played of all my BB solo albums (CD's) and I still never get tired of it

1. Pacific Ocean Blue - in its entirety
2. Brian Wilson - mostly good songs though production isn't at its best
3. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin - pretty good cover album
4. A Postcard From California - not a big fan of some of the tracks and could do without the guests (other than the BBs)
5. Youngblood - mainly because it has Of the Times which has a great Carl vocal and would've made a good BB song

1. Brian Wilson - BW
2. Gettin' In Over My Head - BW
3. Pacific Ocean Blue - DW
4. In the Key of Disney - BW
5. What I Really Want for Christmas - BW

Yes, GIOMH is at #2. I think almost all the songs on this album are great from a compositional standpoint. His vocals don't really ruin the experience for me like a lot of people.
Obviously this list takes a pretty big drop after POB. I find all of BW's solo work enjoyable, but I miss having original songs from him. The lyrics on Imagination ruin what could be a decent album. The lyrics on TLOS put me off very much, and when you factor in the spoken interludes and reprises -- fuhgedaboutit. Takes itself way too seriously -- totally unlike BW.

1. POB
2. BWPS
3. TLOS
4. BW88
5. Gershwin

I'd exclude BWPS from my list since it's not exactly new some 30 years later ;) This'll be easy too:

1. POB
2. BW88

There, all done.

TLOS
BW 88
OCA
POB
BWPS

OK, final standings, and as with the band albums, it was always going to be an exercise to see who came second: as you can see, it was a damn close-run thing. 52 lists were counted.

  1   POB - 183 points [26 first place votes]
  2   BW 88 - 116 [5]
  3   TLOS - 116 [3]
  4   BWPS - 114 [12]
  5   BWRG - 51 [1]

  6   Postcard - 45 [3]
  7   Goin' Public - 27 [2]
  8   Youngblood - 27
  9   OCA -17
10   Imagination -12
 =   ITKOD - 12

12   Bambu - 9
13   Surfin' Around TW - 8
14   LBWL - 7
15   WIRWFC - 6
 =   GIOMH - 6
17   Carl Wilson - 5
18   Live/Roxy - 4
 =    IJWMFTT - 4

20   Blondie Chaplin - 3
 =    I Think About You... - 3

POB
Youngblood
BW88
TLOS
LBWL

I'll exchange Bruce's effort for Al's Live in Vegas, without any 2nd thought. Have been listening to it lately & it's great cheery music. I like Family & Friends' version of Sloop John B. Also, it's amazing how Al manages to sing the Mike-sung songs. Even my least favorite Little Deuce Coupe sounds good, from now it's the definitive version to me. Wendy did nice vocs in DWB as well. Generally, she has quite a pleasant voice, sth. about it is folky imo.

1. POB
2. That Lucky Old Sun
3. Unleash the Love
4. A Postcard From California
5. Brian Wilson '88

Unleash the Love really, really, deserves an official release.

‍

1. POB. No contest, really. None of the other Boys put out a record at the height of their powers. Dennis did, and it's a corker.
2. TLOS. Everything comes together for Brian on this. He's justifiably proud of the record, and it's still surprising he managed this level of sustained creativity in his 60s.
3. BW88. Songs are great, while the vocals leave a bit to be desired. The 2000 edition is the must-have.
4. Gershwin. Brian's vocals and imaginative approach to arrangements and production really seal the deal here.
5. Postcard. Al's album is not the most original thing ever, but by gum he knows how to produce a genuine sounding BB blend. And the tracks sound great too.

-----

I find Carl's solo material pretty darn dull. Like a Brother is good, but not really a solo thing. Mike's latest is pretty good, but his limitations as a songwriter hamstring a lot of the material. And Dennis's later material is brilliant, but no one could accuse it of being coherent.

As to BWPS, I just can't bring myself to count it as a true solo release. It's a great record, but I could it as a spiritual and personal triumph. The true artistic achievement is in the original sessions.

I don't see much love for Imagination.

1. BW Presents SMiLE
2. Imagination
3. Orange Crate Art
4. Pacific Ocean Blue
5. That Lucky Old Sun

6. A Postcard from California
7. Gettin' in Over My Head
8. Brian Wilson
9. Reimagines Gershwin
10. Youngblood

You mention Mike's latest offerings being alright, are you describing his albu that's not released from early 2000's? I believe some of the songs are: anything for you, Brian's back, cool head warm fart, daybreak over the ocean, pieces brother, 100,000 years, etc… or are you mentioning something else?

It's true worth is that you probably would not have The Beach Boys Smile Sessions without it. It is what caused Brian to come to terms with Smile. Well, that and the Smile Tour.