The Smiley Smile Message Board

I always thought Roller Skating Child was the most commercial track from Love You, at least in terms of radio play.  Having said that, I did always think it was missing something.  I recently heard a live show from 1979 featuring the song, which had been featured again in that tour.  The live version has a great bass line... almost a disco bass line that really drives the song along.  I remember hearing some scuttlebutt that year regarding the song... prior to the demise of Here Comes the Night. I had heard there was some talk of putting out a live "disco" versioin of RSC as a single.  Obviously nothing every came of it - but it might have made a better choice as their foray into disco instead of Here Comes the Night.

Other missed single opportunities... Keepin' the Summer Alive... Matchpoint of Our Love... Angel Come Home... California Calling... Runaway (live)... a summer 1978 Beach Boys version of Country Pie... any thoughts?

Country Pie would be the only of that lot that I would consider single material that might have a chance at charting.

RSC would have been a far superior choice to Love is a Woman, that's for sure.

She's Got Rhythm is a missed single - especially if a disco bass was added on there somehow.  A "dance mix" perhaps.

- "Palisades Park"
- "The Night Was So Young"
- "Sunshine"
- "Runaway (live)"
- "California Calling"
- "Lahaina Aloha"
- "Spring Vacation"
- "Summer's Gone"

...and I always wish(ed) they would re-release "God Only Knows" as a single in the 2000's - with promotion - maybe when it appeared in a movie or something. I am curious how that song would be received by an entirely new/young/different generation. On a different subject, and not to derail this thread, but if I were running a record company, I would be re-releasing old, classic, timeless singles from the 1960's and 1970's to generations who missed it!

RSC was released here http://www.45cat.com/record/p162r (http://www.45cat.com/record/p162r)
California Calling here http://www.45cat.com/record/ba3341 (http://www.45cat.com/record/ba3341)
Keepin' the Summer Alive here http://www.45cat.com/record/crb8663 (http://www.45cat.com/record/crb8663)

Two missed opportunities in terms of single potential for me would have to be 1. that huge lag between Good Vibrations and Heroes and Villains and 2. the Endless Summer boom.  I'm not exactly sure on the songs, however, given the release struggles of those respective periods.  For the latter, it seems like such a waste that other than re-releases and an uncommercial Christmas single, it took two years for something to surface and the result was Rock & Roll Music.

Then again, the band got punished stateside for theoretically smart single choices like Break Away and the Sunflower/Surf's Up singles failed to make much of any impact, so who knows.

I think I'd be most intrigued to see how the more unconventional single choices would have been received at particular times.  What if, instead of a B-side, Please Let Me Wonder was an A-side release before Today came out?  What about if a cobbled together Surf's Up made it in late '66?  These are times when their popular was huge, so imagine if these choices, even if not smashes due to their nature, at least were top 40 hits and standards on BB compilations.

I think Please Let Me Wonder could have been a hit as an an A-side, somewhere along the lines of popularity that Don't Worry Baby attained as a B-side. Maybe not quite on the same level, but perhaps close. It's just so tender and beautiful, and I think it would have crossover appeal - I use the example of my mom (who grew up in the 60s never really liking the BBs/never really connected with them emotionally) who, nevertheless, still really likes Don't Worry Baby, despite whatever BB prejudices she may have.

I wonder how "It's About Time" would have done as a pre-Sunflower roll-out singe instead of Add Some Music.

Rockin' track like that might have managed some FM play.

As great as "Add Some Music" is, people must've heard it and thought "Ah, same ole dorky Beach Boys" ....

Yeah, I mean it actually reached #52 as a B-side, and as far as I know God Only Knows is the only B-side to chart thereafter in the US.  I might even go as far to say it was likely to have been a decent hit at the time.

Dont Worry Baby  should never have been a B-side

Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight might've been a good choice for a single.

Male Ego!


Not kidding!

Male ego is what love you 2 would sound like. :rock :rock

But it's a catchy-as-hell song!

as a follow up single to Getcha Back: it could have done swell

Hell yeah! Even the drum machine rises to the occassion.

I know Forever was the B-side of CCW, but wonder if it would have performed as an A-side.

Catch a Wave, people.   

Isn't It Time (the album version) would've made a much better single than TWGMTR. Great reunion song, doesn't rely on nostalgia, and catchy as hell, with vocal bits from everyone.

Also, River Song could've killed as a follow-up new single to Endless Summer, if they had gotten it recorded. Hell, they could've released a live version.

Or for that matter, a live single from Beachago.

Denny's "School Girl" coulda been a contender.

I think. It sounds to me like it was absolutely written with intentional commercial potential and radio airplay in mind, moreso than any other DW recording I can think of.

I have to disagree about Isn't It Time.  I thought the album version was cute, sort of a modern day spin on a Friends album track, right down to the keyboard sound and guitar,  The single version was pumped up slightly and fun to hear but tanked as a single.  TWGMTR was a hit so I'm not quite sure why Isn't It Time would have been a better choice considering it followed it and never charted.

Someone else posted that Spring Vacation would have been a good single.  I agree... I played it for my 25 year old son when the album came out and he loved it.  And he don't listen to the Beach Boys, except for an ancient oldie he likes called Kokomo.

I think "Isn't It Time" tanking also had a good part to do with the band not really doing much to promote it, since it came out at a mighty awkward time in the C50 timeframe. I almost feel like there was going to be a push to promote the song (after all, the band went out of their way to re-record parts of it for a single version, but didn't follow through with much, if any promo effort when it got released - that always struck me as very odd).

I think timing is/was a good part of it, but perhaps it would've fared not much better if it had been the lead single.

Let Him Run Wild
I'm Going Your Way
It's About Time
Hard Times
Maybe I Don't Know
I Do Love You

Country Pie is a very good shout. A very commercial singalong song.

Little Honda is an obvious choice.

Something clearly went very wrong in 1970 as The Beach Boys disappeared off the charts completely all over the world. Maybe Forever or Good Time would have been better choices as lead single. Probably partly due to the record labels though...

Male Ego would have required another verse I think.

Spring Vacation is easily the catchiest song on TWGMTR but it would have required some lyrical revisions (and a Spring release obviously) to stand a chance of success.

Lahaina Aloha should have been the single on SIP.

  Back in 1980 I saw The Beach Boys play KTSA on Fridays and assumed it had to be their new single.

 Wish they had released ""KTSA" as the lead single about June 1980, put the album out in July, with "Goin' On" coming out as the second 45 around September. Meanwhile, we can also wish Bruce had convinced the band to lose "Some of Your Love", "Sunshine", and "When Girls Get Together", to be replaced by "Still I Dream Of It", "California Feeling" and something by Dennis, maybe "Love Remember Me" as Bambu wasn't actually happening by 1980.

 I do like "Honkin' Down the Highway" as the single for Love You, but it did not come out until about a month after the LP and received very little promotion. Warners' knew the band was leaving and couldn't care less, but the tune had a bit of chart potential.

 Could "Baby Blue" have been a nice A side? I think so.

 Agreed. Maybe some of the lyrics would have been changed but the same thought has crossed my mind too.

I think Brian and Dennis might have had something to say about that...

Maybe it`s just me but I don`t hear anything commercial about School Girl.

 "School Girl" has a bit of a 70's AOR rock touch, with an eccentric edge. I've imagined it as a cut off KTSA as well.

Man... how much would KTSA have been elevated just by the inclusion of that *one* song. I think a lot. It wouldn't cancel out the turdiness of some of the other tracks, but it would at least have been a major plus.

For KTSA I think Goin to the Beach would have been a better choice than either Livin with a Heartbreak or School Days. It is catchy at least.

And it`s been mentioned a few times that Mike`s Runnin Around the World seemed to have hit possibilities but other things got in the way of it being released.

Why wasn't Going to the Beach on KTSA?  It's an okay song and miles ahead of School Days and other junk on that album.

KTSA suffers, I think, from what was left off, as does LA LIGHT. 

To me, KTSA is not so much a bad album as it is simply gutted... like a movie badly edited for television.

Goin to the Beach, Da Doo Ron Ron, Wild Situation, School Girl, It's Not Too Late from Dennis, the as-yet-to-surface Surfer Susie... Can't Wait Too Long... San Miguel... I'll Always Love You... all could have helped the record.  I understand there was a certain amount of label politics involved, including a requirement that there be at least 6 Brian Wilson songs on the record.  With close to 30 tracks considered for the album the only two that really disappoint me are Oh Darlin' (there's a great song in there somewhere) and When Girls Get Together.  With all the wonderful stuff in the vault, why that one?  Bruce Johnston told me in 1982 he found it in the vault and fell in love with it, particularly the tympani.  So you can blame him for that one.

Clearly there was a lot under consideration for LA Light as well, including Do You Like Worms as an album opener, Can't Wait Too Long as a closer (apparently the preference of Jim Guercio).  To my ears, Bruce was trying to make another Sunflower with this album, with multiple contributions, albeit updated to 1979 radio play.  For the style he went for, and my reaction at the time, side one was, for the most part, well sequenced - although I've always though there needs to be a track between Angel Come Home and Love Surrounds Me to break up the back to back Dennis.  Side two is weak by comparison.  Like many, I never understood why the almost 11 minute mix of Here Comes The Night is on the album, followed by three short songs... and that's it.  I love Baby Blue - and Bruce did a great job adding vocals and sweetening the track (can anyone tell me if that's Brian doing an almost gospel falsetto behind Dennis during the middle 8?  During the lines... "late at night... late at night... honey, late at night...").

California Feeling was in the hopper, unfinished... reportedly they had re-recorded Endless Harmony already... Calendar Girl had been tracked.  Santa Ana Winds (though the first version sounds pretty shaky) For some reason Bruce didn't like California Feeling and Brian's Back (I can understand the reasons for leaving off that one - I like it... but would sound a little strange on the album).  Wild Situation, which features Carl, and I think Bruce on BGs would have been a good one, except that there are so many Dennis and Carl leads on this record that it might have turned this into a Dennis & Carl album, with guest vocals from Mike and Al, which it pretty much is, anyway.  It could use another Al song and another Mike lead.

The album was overdue... it may be simply that Bruce, Guercio, et. al simply felt that they didn't have enough tracks close to finishing... so the long mix of HCTN was used to fill out the space.

Well, Roller Skating Child does sound like a logical follow-up to Rock N Roll Music. They're not that far apart musically even though RSC is more synthed out. I guess it could have a hit since Roller Disco was all the rage at the time, and Disco music never shied away from the use of synthesizers.

Regarding Roller Skating Child... I love the track... don't get me wrong... and Carl did an excellent job mixing Brian's tracks... making them sound like a synth wall of sound.

But RSC is missing the bottom.  It's got real life guitar all through it but only synth bass.  It needs a real rocking, driving bass sound to push it along.  That bass sound is present in the live version but missing in the studio track.  A tricked out mix with additional bass and vocals ala Alan and Mark's 2012 remix of Rock & Roll Music might have been a major hit in the summer of 1977.

I love "Roller Skating Child"; it might be the best song on the album IMO. But, for that song to be a single - even in 1977 - they would've had to tweak the lyrics and have somebody other than Brian sing the closing line/tag.

Is it Bruce who didn`t like California Feelin? I`ve always assumed that it was Brian who said no to this (and presumably Do You Like Worms and Can`t Wait Too Long as well).

Since Pet Sounds was an album that took some time to grow on some listeners, I wish that Gold Only Knows hadn't been the B side to Wouldn't It Be Nice.

Let WIBN have the spotlight, and after that's peaked, THEN put out God Only Knows to keep Pet Sounds selling and maybe keep Capitol from putting out Beach of the Beach Boys.

I also think the lead single from LA should have been Angel Come Home. Even though Dennis' voice was rough, I think it suited the song well and it could have been a hit.

I agree with Catch A Wave.

I agree with the Pet Sounds idea. I suppose Angel Come Home should have been the second single, with Good Timin' as the B-side, and Lady Lynda as the main single with Love Surrounds Me as the B-side.

And I completely disagree with Catch A Wave.

Didn`t Good Timin get loads of airplay? I would say it is much more commercial than Angel Come Home.

I think had Good Timin' been the lead single it would have been a bigger hit.  But hindsight...

From an interview with Bruce in 1978, he was really pushing Angel Come Home as a hit single.  I think there was a conscious attempt to create a sound with that record similar to Exile (I Want to Kiss You All Over) and Eddie Money... and I think it could have been a huge hit had it been properly promoted... it really fit right in with the top 40 sound that year.  But it wasn't chosen... and as Dennis was a bit erratic that year... it probably wouldn't have had as much of a chance. 

Anyone remember the radio commercials for LA Light?  They were very good...

By the way... has anybody heard this Mick Fleetwood remake of Angel Come Home from 1983?  First time I've heard it..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guEtDXIGgvE

Good Timin's should have been the first single off the album, instead of the botched disco version of HCTN.

What is the song School Girl?

Dennis song released on the re-issue of Pacific Ocean Blue in 2008.

That version ^ received steady airplay on MTV for a couple of weeks. I've sure the overwhelming number of BB/Dennis fans prefer The Beach Boys' version, but I liked Fleetwood's take, mainly because I thought The Beach Boys' version dragged. I like "Angel Come Home" a lot but the production let it down. That song is dying to rock; the Midnight Special version hints at how good the song could've/should've been.

Sad but true story, a co-worker who loves the Beatles but once mocked me for liking the Beach Boys was humming GOK (it had been used in a British Gas advert) and I said 'good tune' she was like 'yeah it's a classic'.  She had no idea it was the Beach Boys....

Chug a Lug/Coo Coo Clock
Catch a Wave/ Your Summer Dreams
Wendy/Pom Pom Play Girl
Good to My Baby/All Dressed Up for School
Girl from NYC/Amusement Parks USA
Hang on To Your Ego/Pet Sounds
Vegetables/Wind Chimes (Smile)
It's About Time/All I Wanna Do
Marcella/Wouldn't it Be Nice to Live Again
Johnny Carson/The Night Was So Young
Match Point/Bells of Paris
Keepin the Summer Alive/Santa Anna Winds(early version)
Male Ego/Where I Belong

And if any of these were singles they should've been hits!

Unfortunately, It's About Time was recorded after the first version of Sunflower was rejected, later in 1970.

Here's that live version of Roller Skating Child from 1979... with the missing bass part.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Cu0SCxEths

 "Marcella" b/w "Hold On Dear Brother" peaked at #110 on Billbord's Bubbling Under Chart, July 29, 1972!

I can't remember the last time that they had the correct first single from an album.  'It's OK'

As for singles that should been:

"Love Surrounds Me" and "Full Sail" from LA.  Both fit the times well.  If you look at the Billboard Top 100 for 1979 it is littered with things such as "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "Lady" (LRB), "She Believes in Me" and "Time Passages".

"Maybe I Don't Know" from BB85

"From There to Back Again"/Pacific Coast Highway" - There is something to be said about releasing the best damn Brian Wilson song in 40 years.

"Marcella" and "Funky Pretty" from "In Concert" - Both blow the originals away and provide a great example of how powerful the Beach Boys were as a live act.   

Where I Belong should have been a single from BB85. Simply because it is by far the best song.