The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've had two takers in my bid to get a best album covers discussion going on the "Good/Poor/potentially confusing Beach Boys album titles" thread, and it occurs to me that it warrants a thread of its own. I also suggest we nominate least favourites as well as favourites.

From the other thread we've had this from Roger the Shrubber:

01) The Smile Sessions (3D Box)
02) Surf's Up
03) Summer In Paradise (UK Version)
04) Smiley Smile
05) Friends
06) LA
07) Holland
08) Pet Sounds
09) In Concert
10) Wild Honey

And this from Sockittome:

1). Friends
2). Wild Honey
3). TSS
4). Surfs Up
5). All Summer Long
6). Summer Days and......
7). Surfin' USA
Cool. Smiley Smile
9). Surfin' Safari
10). Holland

And here's what I wrote on the previous thread, to which I would like to add that my nomination for least favourite goes to KTSA.

I've only been able to come up with seven covers I actually like. I dare say I'm the only person who'll be including C&TP, which is fatally flawed in its failure to accurately represent the music, but I nonetheless think it's a striking design that would have stood a more "nostalgic" album in very good stead.

1. Smile
2. Holland
3. Wild Honey
4. Surf's Up
5. Smiley Smile
6. Friends
7. Carl & The Passions - So Tough

As far as I'm concerned, anything pre-Smile is just hack work by an art department that clearly had nothing invested in the band emotionally. I've got nothing against the covers of 20/20 or Sunflower, but neither is terribly imaginative. There would be a case to be made for including Endless Summer, but I don't find the image all that attractive personally. MIU and BB85 are inoffensive, but a really good cover has to make a statement about the music, and in neither case does the music allow for a statement worth making. The other later covers are bad to disastrous, the worst offender being KTSA.

As for solo albums, an honourable mention goes to the very elegant design for BW88. TLOS is the best of the later BW solo albums. I find the cover of POB cover a bit boring, I'm afraid - I wish they'd gone for the shot of the title scrawled in beach sand which you see on the foldout for the reissue.

Those I really like:

Surf's Up
Wild Honey
Holland
Surfin' USA
SMiLE
All Summer Long

For the solo stuff - BW88 and POB

The only one I can't stand is KTSA, although Peter Blake's mess for GIOMH cuts it fine and 15 BO and LBWL almost make it into the mix.

Surfin' USA, All Summer Long and Summer Days are the best of the early covers, but I wouldn't go so far as to say that I liked them.

Since you've already seen my favorites, here's my list of least favorites and I'll even give a brief explanation on each because I'm bound to get disagreements.  That's perfectly ok, this is all based on opinion.

1). KTSA--For the same reason that most dislike it.  What a bizarre cover!
2). 20/20--I stated in the other thread why this one bothers me.  Between the apparently hastily set up photo shoot with the ho-hum colors (Dennis almost disappears into the backdrop with that red shirt) and the uninspired black border, this cover screams "Pickwick budget release"!
3). Today--Such a great album with a bland cover.  It's as if the designer was going for a modern look, which results in an enormous waste of space.  And what are they doing, riding a bicycle built for 5?!!  It took me years to learn that they are sitting on a diving board.
4). CATP--Yeah, I find this one a bit confusing and counter to the band's concept of moving forward.
5). Pet Sounds--I really hate to say anything negative about this album.  All I'm gonna say is that I'm not disgusted with the cover, I just wish it was something more.

Well that's all I could come up with.  The rest of the covers are in the middle for me.  They're fine; nothing completely dazzling, but not unappealing either.

Favourite Covers:

Surf's Up
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey

Covers I really like:

Holland
Love You
SD&SN

Covers I dislike:
SIP (both versions)
MIU (boring...)
Today (boring...)
15BO
20/20 (so uninspiring)
KTSA (possibly the worst cover of all time. so utterly uncool. it ranks up with SIP for the title. why are there penguins and polar bears in the same landscape dafuq?)

Favorites:

Summer In Paradise
All Summer Long
Smiley Smile
Surf's Up
Surfin' Safari

Least Favorites:

15 Big Ones (easily my least favorite.  God what an awful cover)
M.I.U.
Friends
Pet Sounds

I really like the covers of Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Surf's Up, and Love You -- they all fit with the music on the albums really well and are rather tastefully done too (unlike, say, Sunflower or Today!). I guess Holland has a neat cover too. Surfer Girl as well, if only because it's so iconic.

My wife has about 25 snow globes displayed on four built in shelves above the stereo cabinet, next to the piano. I'm sure she would like a real snow globe of KYSA.  I kind of like it. I really like the two that came immediately before.

Favourites:
1] SMiLE Sessions Box - What can I say, it's just brilliant.
2] Summer in Paradise - Grand, Majestic, if only the music inside was reflected by the cover, eh? ;)
3] Love You - Fragmentary and strangely pretty, just like the music within.
4] BWPS - I like the fact that they didn't use the original cover, it differentiates between the two entities and I like the presentation of it, the reflective "SMiLE", the embossed bits.
5] Wild Honey - Hell, it just looks nice  :lol

Least Favourites:
1] Made in U.S.A - It looks like a collection of Clip Arts before there was such a thing
2] BW88 - Looks like they had half a good picture of Brian and had to come up with something to fill the rest of the space.
3] Carl & The Passions - Although it came out exactly one year and a day beforehand it always reminds me of the equally poor "Now & Then" album cover by The Carpenters (great album, just a sucky cover)
4] 15 Big Ones - Looks as half-assed as the music inside it, Al looks like his Bus arrived just as the photo was being taken.
5] BB85 - I see this cover as a form of submission, the surrender of the last stand of creativity, fighting the early image, they succumbed to the nostalgia of the touring act.

Favorites:

1. Surfin' USA
2. Surfin' Safari
3. All Summer Long
4. Party!
5. Stack O' Tracks
6. All Summer Long
7. Smiley Smile
8. Pet Sounds
9. Summer Days

Least Favorites:

1. The Beach Boys
2. Summer In Paradise
3. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
4. Sunflower
5. 15 Big Ones
6. Keepin' The Summer Alive
7. Endless Summer

Smile
Smiley Smile
Friends
Wild Honey
Surf's Up
Holland
Love You

^ Those are the particularly effective ones IMO.  I have to say I don't hate the 15 Big Ones like some people do.  My vote for worst would have to be M.I.U.  The colouring scheme is just awful.

Favourites:

Keepin' the Summer Alive - best album cover eva
All Summer Long and Party - love those very 60's photo arrays
Surfin' USA - epic photo, that dude is obviously not afraid of body whop
Stack O'Tracks - love if for that stack, what an amazing sight
Surf's Up - great choice of album art to match the album - evocative, moody and introspective
Smiley Smile - I wanna live in that house

Unfavourites:
Pet Sounds - yawn and what the, given the album covers a number of their contemparies were coming up with
Shut Down Volume 2 - way too much Dapper Dan action for me
Sunflower (I like the banner and frame, but while the photo was nice for them, seems a bit meh to me)

Like most:

1) Wild Honey (psychedelic in a way, yet still different from the Fillmore-poster-inspired graphics of the time)
2) Surfer Girl (basic but very good)
3) All Summer Long
4) Surf's Up (downbeat, but still a powerful image)
5) Smile
6) Today (just like the background color a lot)
7) LA

Least:
1) KTSA
2) BB85
3) Friends (artwork befitting the laid-back nature of the music doesn't need to have these bland colors)
4) 20/20

The KTSA cover looks like '70s shopping mall art store art. Tacky and a weird glimpse of a biodome world ruled by Mike Love.

Likes (In no particular order)
Pet Sounds
All Summer Long
Summer Days (And Summer Nights)
Surf's Up
Wild Honey

Not so much
15 Big Ones
Keeping the Summer Alive
Still Cruisin'
M.I.U.
The Beach Boys '85

Favorites:

Wild Honey
Friends
Smiley Smile
SMILE
Stack O Tracks
All Summer Long
Summer Days...
Surfer Girl
Holland

Anybody want to mention Looking Back With Love? Or Salute NASCAR? Or KISS Alive!?* Or the first Carl Wilson album cover?

* Oops, one of these isn't actually BB-related. But it is still kind of goofy looking.

TSS
Wild Honey
Pet Sounds
All Summer Long
Shut Down vol 2
Party
Smiley Smile
Holland

...are all fine with me.

Party has some of the most flattering pictures of the Beach Boys. I'm not sure if it's the lighting or what, but they all look better than usual in those photos, as do their wives and girlfriends. Endless Summer is the least flattering picture of them. I know it's a painting and it was the era, but they look terrible in that psychedelic beard painting.

Nice word combo. Or Mumford And Sons' next album, after they drop acid.

Best:

Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
Friends
Orange Crate Art
Keepin The Summer Alive
Surfin' Safari
Love You
Pacific Ocean Blue
Surf's Up
Sunflower
Surfer Girl
Party!

Worst:
15 Big Ones
Going Public
Carl Wilson
Shut Down, Vol. 2
Salute NASCAR
Pet Sounds Live

Best :
Friends
Smile
Smiley Smile
BW88
Summer In Paradise (UK)

Worst :
15 Big Ones
Keepin' The Summer Alive
Imagination
Today!
Little Deuce Coupe

HAHAHAHAH.  "A man waiting for a bus". Love it.

20 Golden Greats.

Best: Holland, Summer Days, Wild Honey, Surf's Up, Orange Crate Art

Worst: Imagination, Summer in Paradise, Still Cruisin', In the Key of Disney

I've aggregated the various lists here and come up with the following:

1. Wild Honey (79 points)
2. Surf's Up (75)
3. Smile (69)
4. Smiley Smile (64)
5. All Summer Long (52)
6. Holland (49)
7. Friends (41)
8. Love You (28)
9. Summer in Paradise (27)
10. Summer Days (26)

Persons of good taste who would like to see Summer in Paradise blasted out of the top ten might wish to vote tactically for Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Party! and Surfin' Safari, all of which are bubbling under.

Sticking to the ones I think are best:

Surfin' Safari - cool, iconic image
Surfin' USA - see above
All Summer Long - serves the music in the grooves perfectly
Pet Sounds - yes, they ought to have come up with something suited better for the music inside the sleeve, but they didn't, and now, like it or not, this is Pet Sounds.  And I like it.  In its own inappropriate way it's perfect.
Smiley Smile - cover and music go perfectly together.  the back cover could have been better though.
Spirit of America - i don't recall if comps are being included in this poll, but i'll mention this one.  i like Endless Summer too, but not as much.   as well as the cover, i think this has a nice inner gatefold design too.
Surf's Up -  great image.

In no particular order

Best:
Surf's Up
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - LOOKS great but it's bad enough they had to do the shoot without Bruce.  It's beyond dumb there's no Al!
Holland
Smile/The Smile Sessions
Keepin' The Summer Alive - I've always liked it :)

Fine:
Pet Sounds
Party!
Surfin' Safari
Wild Honey
Friends - Would be a LOT better if the artist actually captured their likenesses, especially Carl!
20/20
Carl and the Passions - So Tough
Sunflower
M.I.U.
Summer In Paradise
That's Why God Made The Radio

Worst:
L.A. (Light Album) - All Summer Long was bad enough but this is atrocious!
Surfin' USA - TERRIBLE!  Looks like a pamphlet from a travel agency! 
Little Deuce Coupe - Looks like a budget hits package, which the previously released tracks only reinforce
Smiley Smile - VERY misleading.  Looks like another budget comp.  The black and white mylar cover is WORLD's better than the color one.
Love You - Thanks, Dean.  We can barely make out the title
Stars And Stripes Volume 1 - What a mess.  I was working retail when this came out and I STILL think it looks like sh!t

The rest of them are lame and not even worth mentioning but at least they're less offensive to the eye than those listed directly above.

On the other end of the appreciation spectrum, I have both sides of this one framed.

[/quote]
Surfin' USA (it's dull) [/quote]

Not to the guy on the board!

Yeah, I can think of nothing less dull than the Surfin' USA cover. It is symbolic of Brian, as well.

No problem, RangeRover. Obviously it only works for a surfing-themed album.

I'm a graphic designer...so...at least in my opinion (and you can take them for what they're worth!) here are some comments:

The early covers were good pretty much across the board.  "All Summer Long" is an absolute gem.  I think a part of their appeal to me is the "retro quality" that they have.  If I were going to create a cover today that was supposed to call to mind that period...these covers would come to mind.  I actually really like the "Today!" cover.  I don't mind the "wasted space" because I like the expanse of color...especially with the orange and yellow text.  I agree that "20/20" looks thrown together.  It's not a bad cover...but it's not very inspiring or striking, either.  "15 Big Ones" is really the first out-right BAD cover they ever used.  It just looks extremely cheesy.  The use of the Olympic rings is hokey and the band looks awful.  "KTSA" is also bad.  The illustration is crummy and the text is too hard to read.  "BB85" is not a bad concept...I don't think it was realized very well, however.  The "beach" image is really lost because there is too much contrast between the colors of the land and the ocean.  "Still Cruisin'" is terrible.  It's is completely generic and looks like it took some intern a day to put together.  "SIP" is definitely pretty to look at...but it's too busy.  There is too much to look at.  "TWGMTR" is a decent cover.  It plays at being retro while still looking like something that was released in 2012.

I love 20/20's cover photo. It's such a great portrayal of the group at the time.

1. Bruce is leaning off to the side, glad to finally be significantly contributing to the group (and finally being on a cover).
2. Mike is standing front and center, looking like a deer-in-headlights.
3. Carl is at the center, but still being upstaged by Mike.
4. Dennis is at the side, smirking.
5. Al... I have no clue what Al is doing. He sure looks funny, though! (That facial expression!)
6. Brian is nowhere to be seen, though his presence is still felt.

Thanks to Mike and Al the Sunflower cover really sucks.

Best:
1. Wild Honey
2. Smile
3. Holland

Worst:
1. 15 Big Ones
2. M.I.U.
3. Today!

He's hiding behind the eye chart on the inside cover.

I would put the latest Record Store Day EP up there with one of their best covers. I recently scored one off of E-Bay and it's really nice up close. Nice illustration of the band done in retro style, great rendering of the PeeChee folder concept (right down to the color and feel of the cardboard).

And the dude hanging-ten looks like ESQ Editor

Surfin Safari- great cover, at a great location with a rad old model A.
Surfin USA- the huge wave is awesome.
Surfer Girl- classic, iconic.
Little Deuce Coupe- I see what some people were saying bout it looking like a hotrod comp but I like how it was put together.
Shut Down Vol2- they looked slick.
All Summer Long- great cover.
Today- the dead space where the picture is cut off is kinda odd.
Summer Days- they shoulda done the photoshoot when Al wasnt sick yknow.
Pet Sounds- anyone that dismisses that cover is an idiot- fucking classic.
Smiley Smile- gorgeous artwork.
Wild Honey- very appropriate for the psychedelic era.
Friends- once again appropriate for the era.
20/20- aint the best cover, nothing bad bout it.
Sunflower- the cover goes well with the tone of the record.
Surfs Up- classic.
So Tough- n/a
Holland- makes sense.

As pretty much everyone put- the album covers after that reflected the quality of said albums, so I won't even go into it.

what he said.

I think that if any 80's or 90's BB album had a picture of the members at the zoo as artwork, it would've been bashed to no end.

Best

Smiley Smile - I just love this image. This is a great example of cover art that perfectly captures the mood of the music on the album.

Surfin' Safari - Especially in retrospect, 51 years on, this is an suberb, fitting image for their debut album. They're still young and fresh, and it seems like they're looking forward to the incredible adventure that lies ahead of them. I just realized that it would be so amazing if they'd take that photo again at the same spot with an identical car (perhaps a little beat up), with Brian, Mike, Al, David and Bruce sitting in it and looking satisfied yet a bit exhausted.

Surf's Up - Great painting, you don't have to be an art lover to just stop and think "Wow, that's a really powerful image" when you see something like this hanging in a museum. Pretty daring of the band to pick this image, up until then they always had pretty sunny album covers and this one is the exact opposite. It goes especially well with the last three songs on the album.

LA (Light Album) - I absolutely love the concept of giving each song on an album to a different artist and have them each design a postcard that captures what the song is about. Brilliant.

Summer in Paradise - It might look like a picture from a travel brochure, but I think that this is exactly what the cover for an album called 'Summer in Paradise' should look like.

So I just photoshopped it myself.

(http://i20.photobucket.com/albums/b245/BiscuitPower/SS6213_zps02259e53.jpg)

Ha. Nice.

My fave covers (in no particular order):
SMiLE ('specially that 3D box - one day it shall be mine)
Surf's Up
Summer Days and Summer Nights
Pet Sounds
MIU Album (what? It's a nice cover!)

My least favourite covers:
LA: Light Album
Love You
The Beach Boys

Favourite solo album covers:
Pacific Ocean Blue
Orange Crate Art

That's Why God Made The Radio is the worst album cover in the history of album covers. Actually everything about that album is well... Bad. Except for the title song and from there to back again (those are good). Disappointing 50th anniversary reunion album...
Stars & Stripes Vol. 1 album cover is not good because that album should have never been made. But it does hold a special place in our hearts cuz it's Carl's last.
That's about all the bitching I feel like doing for now.

I just loved the cover of KTSA when it was first released (Joke= keepin the Beach Boys Alive).  However, the music was mostly DOA.

MIU is not an unattractive cover.  Tasteful and understated.
Surfin USA, Wild Honey and Smiley Smile would be my top three if I had to choose.

I'm torn over the KTSA art. It's actually kind of sad if you think that the picture is supposed to show them in a bio-dome, trapping in the summer while the world goes on around them. They're literally trapped in their own little bubble. Hell, it's depicting summer being on life support, and, by extension, the Beach Boys being on life support, which they pretty much were at that point.

I agree the cover art for TWGMTR is poor, but the music itself is won-won-wonderful.

I don't even think the proportion is right. The three in front look horribly small.

(http://userserve-ak.last.fm/serve/_/77697622/Keepin+the+Summer+Alive+keepsummer.jpg)

Either way I personally love the cover. Especially that little penguin.

Favourites:
   
Holland
Smiley Smile
Party
LA Light Album

Unfavourites:

15 Big Ones
Love You
MIU
The Beach Boys

   

MIU is cool.  I always dug this cover.  It's easily their most sophisticated and classy.  It's soothing.  I like the tan color.  And that shot looking down the pipeline if badazz.

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/6/68/MIUCover.jpg/220px-MIUCover.jpg)

A good cover makes me want to play an album, whether I like it or not.  That makes for a good cover.  I don't think it matches the music all that much.  But... the photo on the back sure does!

(http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/Miu.jpg)

I wish there was 10 more albums right there, like that.