The Smiley Smile Message Board

Could this album have been better if it was mixed differently? If you think it was done poorly, can you expound on why?

If the songs aren't strong enough, a good mix probably won't save it.  Love You wasn't a great mix, but the music was good. 

Well, we already have the 'hot mix' of Rock & Roll Music as proof that a better mix of that song already existed - not sure if any of the other tracks could have been salvaged. The big problem with that album is the vocals. Had To Phone Ya works wonderfully as an instrumental but with vocals it comes off as oddly shoddy.

From what I've heard, Kiss's Unmasked album was not especially liked in the day as being too wimpy. But the new vinyl edition with much tougher sound and bass has seemed to improve its reputation quite a bit. And I can second that after hearing the song Shandi on the new Kiss 40 collection. So I think a great remix can definitely improve 15 BO.

I don't dislike Love You (apart from Everyone's in Love...): I think it has its charms and, taking it for what it is, I think it stands head and shoulders above some of the later albums, but I do have to be in the right mood to appreciate it, so I'm not sure changing the mix would help - but I agree about RnR Music.

I like the sound of 15 Big Ones. It brings out a lot of the instruments Brian was using. I think it's one of his best productions.

The problems were the song selections and the lead vocals. The song selections could've been significantly improved with just two or three changes. The lead vocals are what they are, based on Brian and Dennis' physical condition at that time. There was nothing that could've been done, other than not featuring them at all!

Poorly mixed, poorly conceived, poorly executed. Three strikes, yer out !

Harsh! I love it! But would welcome a remix… or the release of an existing unreleased mix, if one exists.

A better mix would improve it (by definition, a better mix would improve any music)....

But 15 Big Ones is garbage. Unimaginative choices of covers, very poor productions, awful vocals, few and mostly mediocre originals...

I have somewhere some truly gritty remixes of----off the top of my head----"Susie Cincinnati", "Just Once In My Life", "In The Still Of The Night" and half (!) of "A Casual Look". Anyone know what these might be? Fan mixes perhaps? (I've lost touch with the kind person who sent them to me.) The one of "JOIML" makes my hair stand on end and "Susie C" sounds positively nasty. Unfortunately, there's no way i can upload them here... 

The hot mix of R&R Music is great and I personally love Susie Cincinnati and would love you see (hear) yet another attempt at a clear mix.

In terms of backing tracks, 15 Big Ones rivals stuff like Summer Days.

Yes, there's a reason why many of us call it 15BO, and while some of it is palatable, it's never going to be much more than a curio in BB history. The only albums ranking lower than it in the consensus polls here (which are pretty reliable indicators, IMO) are KTSA, Still Cruisin', and SIP.


Reminiscent of (in certain cases), yes. But rivals? Not really (IMO).

Maybe it's just me because I love Brian's use of synthesizers. He got recognized for his brilliant approach to the classic wall-of-sound technique but he never really got the praise he deserves, in my opinion, for his 1970s synthesizer work.

 :lol

Definitely not 'poorly mixed' from a technical standpoint in my opinion. Stylistically, sure you could say that a more '60s approach would have made the material sound more on par with the group's best-known material. But it was the '70s, and they wanted to sound current probably.

I think if a mix could be created for the rest of the album on a par with the alternate mix of R&R Music on MIC, it would turn 15 Big Ones into a classic Beach Boys summer album.  Hearing the Boyd/Linnett version of R&RM on MIC convinced me thsat 15BO was, simply, poorly mixed. 

after hearing the amazing stack o track version of "had to phone ya" it would be  nice to hear the other songs in either remix form or stack o track form...

I personally think mix can make quite a difference, and production even more so.  The MIC version of Rock and Roll Music as well as the single version are far better than what ended up on the album IMO.  

Then again I consider 15 Big Ones more of a middling album than a terrible one (for music in general).  Though it loses points for some of the half-crazed covers, I think the overall production is more interesting than those on any album they did after Love You.  You play around with some of the elements there, and maybe it goes up another notch.

A remixed 15 Big Ones would sell squat. with a reluctant AGD as one of the 150 buyers.

Since we can dream, I think a double CD package collecting all the Brian's back era (remixed 15 Big One + outtakes, remixed Love You + outtakes & the contemporary tracks recorded for 'new album' and 'adult/child') could raise some interest. Of course it will never happen. Even if Universal decided to market the Beach Boys catalogue this way there would be Sunflower and Surf's Up to be mined first.

I'd add MIU to that list.

you know, I probably came close to logging as many hours at Brother during 15BO than anybody then than Mankey or Moffitt; sometimes more than either of them, if I'd last through Brian in daylight than Dennis' sessions til dawn.  But let me tell you, between Brian's newfound enthusiasm, (having a studio of his own, just far enough from his bedroom), and the feeling amongst the rest of the band that this was a new beginning, it was an amazing time.


Mr. Doe certainly nailed the 2nd two points - poorly conceived, poorly executed.  You don't have to dig very hard for quotes by Dennis regarding the 'oldies' being a way of getting Brian back up to speed.  And while there was never any doubt some of these covers would make it to the album, where was the logic in choosing Blueberry Hill over The River Song?  It was right around there that enthusiasm waned, and a certain engineer who had grown contemptuous of them was left to mix AND master the album, which was grudgingly released. 

However, search out whatever original/re-mixes that you can find.  I STILL think my rough cassette mix of R&R Music rocks better than any I've heard...  My favorite memories are times like Roy Wood & Wizard coming by for Ding Dang, my ex-wife convincing Brian he could still call the Wrecking Crew, (& the until then immortal Steve Douglas), back to work for him, & bringing in The Double Rock Baptist Choir for Same Song.  Tis a shame, because they had an album or two in them then that could have garnered some attention

I'll slightly revise that statement: technically the mix is adequate. Artistically, it isn't... and remember, Brian wanted all the vocals to be dry. The story goes (and I have no reason to doubt it) that the rest of the band, notably Carl, snuck into Brother Studio behind his back and added echo. Aren't you glad they did ?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. 15 Big Ones was a mistake that the group never fully recovered from.

So, the Cliff's notes are:

• Brian was initially revitalised
• The band thought this revitalisation heralded a new era
• However, the "old" covers for Brian approach clashed with the "contemporary" offerings
• Thus, the bubble burst and both Brian and the band philosophically disagreed on the vox "sound" (Brian dry, band echo), while a disengaged Stephen Moffitt mixed and mastered an disunited album

That it in a nutshell? (a Million thanks to Ed Roach; cheers LAGD)

 It should  have been released as a double album.Round up the fifteen  best oldies and this is possible.Make the second disc a group of songs by the band with some of Brian's new songs some vault tracks like Good Timing and the best the other boys had and you would have a respectable  mid seventies  lp .I think this is what Dennis and Carl wanted and exactly  what was voted down.I think when this happened  it sit in some of the bad blood and apathy  that would eventually  DESTROY the group as we knew it.

.

A number of years ago, alternate mixes of 15 Big Ones tracks started making rounds (most ended up on the "Alternate Dumb Angel" rarities set). Were these legitimate alternate mixes (or sourced from acetates) or was this fan made "outfakery"?

.

.

15 Big Ones is near perfect and was a great success. There are certain Saturdays when it continues to bring the right mood for me.  It was Beach Boys Party a decade later…with a circus as metaphorical scene.  Rock and Roll Music was the ringmaster’s opening gambit.  Palisades Park was the circus-theme vamp.  Just Once in My Life was a parade of elephants.  Suzy Cincinnati was a bunch of clowns careening in little cars.  And so on and so on.  15BO was messy around all the edges, and inside too.  It was perfect for the time.  It sold like crazy.  Brian Wilson is a genius.

I remember reading in at least a couple of places that the backing vocals are "almost inaudible" on the original mix. So bring them up on a new mix.

But I don't think any new mix can improve Everyone's In Love With You, I find Mike's vocal too schmaltzy.

Ha, yeh I was thinking about the dry sound. I feel like Brian intentionally was going for a dry sound since the Wild Honey LP. Of course it's easy to theorize that he was intentionally 'underproducing', but I think it had more to do with wanting a 'tougher' sound ... singing in a lower register, etc.

Great info man

(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/00/15BigOnesCover.jpg/220px-15BigOnesCover.jpg)(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/3/33/LoveYouCover.jpg/220px-LoveYouCover.jpg)(http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_CEbnuU3sg9Q/SjC4eir3-TI/AAAAAAAAAQE/f26m6UVDRh4/s400/-2.jpg)

15 Big Ones and Love You (and Adult Child) are cut from the same "cloth."

I think... this cloth might be the LAST of the truly innovative and original output by the "genius" of Brian Wilson.  The last era where we could get something new and inventive out of Brian Wilson.  Something you would NEVER get from anybody else.

At some point in the 80s, I think, he's forever different.  Musically.  As if he no longer uses music to sort through his world, ideas, inventions and feelings.  Various cocktails of medication do the heavy lifting from here on out.  And if he does use and need music -- he's not tinkering with it.  It's rushed and familiar.  The quirks are fried.  Reflecting who he is today, I assume.  A reflex.  Sensitive but rushed.  Rushed out of the deep end -- never in the deep end -- a quick dip into the shallows for the familiar applause.

Even though there are many covers on 15BO, I still hear a free Brian Wilson.  Music and arrangements that ONLY the mind of Brian Wilson would conjure.  Covers -- but all originals.  Swirling in fear, desperation, joy and enthusiasm.  A fellow traveler, still.  And a damn interesting one.

There were many mini-moments that followed this era -- a track here and there -- but pretty much everything since 15BOs and Love You comes off as watered down to me.  Manufactured.  Either by Landy or the prescribed "normal" pills, I suppose.  Regardless of what you may think of 15 Big'Uns... since this era, most of Brian's work just feels shallow and rounded -- eased and stripped of innovation.  Recycled and rolling down the assembly line.  

Bean, you are on the money!

Nicely said, Bean B. 

I just listened to the whole album again.  A remarkable job of sequencing, by the way.
It was an album that was supposed to reintroduce Brian (and the Boys). And it did.
It begins with two tracks featuring Mike lead vocals with strong high harmony (classic).
Then comes an "introduction of the vocalists" as Mike-Al-Carl-Dennis-and finally Brian take pieces
of the lead in Had To Phone Ya.   (A song grown out of a Pet Sounds era track and
given a new production that equals the best of that era).  Oh baby.



   

Thanks guys!

...and by cut from the same "cloth" I clearly mean "terry cloth"   ;D

(http://www.mbird.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/tumblr_ln6ak9gcpJ1qj1j5so1_400.jpg)(http://cdn2.openculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/belushi-brian-wilson-ackroyd.jpg)(http://turnstyledjunkpiled.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/brian-wilson.jpg)(http://blog.seattlepi.com/thebigblog/files/2011/03/dude_robe.jpg)(http://justinthelibrarian.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/brianwilsonfatbeard.png)(http://www.kirkcurnutt.com/pb/wp_ce48c213/images/img219154e59193b94bb6.gif)

Great description!

15 Big Ones does bring out certain emotions, in a way that is different than Today, Pet Sounds, Friends, and others. You'll be listening to it, and enjoying "It's OK", "Chapel Of Love", "Palisades Park", "Susie Cincinnati", "Back Home", and thinking, "Yes! Brian just has the touch. I can see why they wanted him back. It has that special feeling!" Then, a minute later, you're confounded by "Talk To Me", "TM Song", "A Casual Look", and "Blueberry Hill", and you wanna just shout, "Noooooooo Brian! Take those back. File 'em away. Try another oldie. You're gonna regret that one..." It still gets to me.

15 Big Ones was the first new BB album I purchased, so I guess it's sentimental value. And, I can still pull it off the shelf and enjoy it. But...but...it is still frustrating what a 1976 album could've been. They had so much material. So much. I still wonder how 5 brilliant musicians couldn't see the flaws and nip it in the bud.

  Greed by someone and their brother/manager ?

Whats with all the negativity toward 15 big ones? It was a great album, their biggest selling studio album in the 70s and they were label mates w the Ramones in 76-7!

I love 15BOs.  Sloppy.  Floppy.  Maybe even a little sweaty?  This is "Saturday" music.  Right around Miller time.  Yard work's done.  Folding chair on the lawn.  BBQ goin'.  And 15 Big Ones on the Hi-Fi.

Focusing on the imperfections -- and what this album isn't or wasn't -- is understandable.  But so utterly missing the point, I think.  It's flip-flops.  Not penny loafers or sneakers.  Flip-flops at most.  Shirt and shoes optional.

15 Big Ones is great if you want to study Brian's ressurgence as a producer in 75/76. Lots of quircks and special touches that no one else would have done.

But as a straight listen.... it's tough.

"OK, first lot of burgers are ready, guys. Who wants one?

"Hey, where'd everyone go?"

can we have a listening party at your house? :-D

I like how the oldies are recast to great effect. Pulled into Brian’s swirl
in 1976, with all that electronic keyboard (humorous) bombast. Palisades Park,
Chapel of Love, Just Once in My Life and the others as if history were revised
and these were the originals from a moon of Jupiter back in those days.
A great gauze thrown over the remembered lot.  And yet, human voices.
Alas, the Beach Boys.

Yeah, I like it too, BB.

So 15 Big Ones, Love You, and Adult Child were cut from the same cloth. And a gauze was thrown over them too. Sounds like they were bloody good albums......

Reading other fans thoughts on 15 Big Ones before actually listening to it, I was expecting something on-par with KTSA in terms of quality.

Nope! Not a bad album at all, but being right next to Love You  doesn't help it. LY is a masterpiece, 15BO is just an innocent, fun time.

For me, 15 BO is All Summer Long '76, and KTSA is All Summer Long '80. Just light fun, without the depth of a Today!

For me All Summer Long is the carefree soundtrack to a young man`s summer vacation.

15 Big Ones is the summer of a fat, unemployed guy who is having marital troubles and is looking back nostalgically because life hasn`t turned out how he planned.

KTSA is the summer a few years later when said fellow has divorced, been forced to move into his parents` basement and spends his time drinking excessively and masturbating furiously over pictures from his high school yearbook.

Brian himself seems to really love it. He named it his favourite several times (I know he even named So Tough once but 15BO seems to come up quite often actually). He probably felt around the time that he was taken very seriously in his role as the group's producer. Also, part of what he likes about it could be that he did breathe some new life into some of the music of his youth.

Damn. It's harsh, but true. That's what's so upsetting to me about their career. The fans wanted the hits and you gotta deliver. But it is comes off as desperate old men trying to relive the glory days squeezing into their letter jackets that no longer fit and calling the old High School flames to find out they're unhappily married with 5 kids on welfare.

  15 BIG ONES can frustrate at times, but I like your thinking here!

.

I think 15 Big Ones is a damn fine little album.

The slide into goofiness was inevitable and that side of the band was always there anyhow.....

I know the making of the album was an apparent nightmare, but it sounds like a great time to me. I personally love to hear the older, a bit more ragged "Boys" tearing through all those oldies, and the original material never fails to bring a smile to my face.... I find it much easier and enjoyable to accept these guys are who they were/are rather than endlessly pining for what might have been.... By the time they released 15BO's they'd previously gifted us with Holland, my favorite album ever by anyone, so, all is happily forgiven.

Am I the only one who likes to play the cd twofer starting at track 15 (Just once in my life, where the raspy voices really work) and following it with Love You?

The best of 15 Big ones is the ARP Strings / Moog bass work of Brian (often in tandem with an electric bass), some quirky and still inventive arrangements and most of the originals. The worst: a mix sometimes too slick, some bad singing, a couple of lifeless versions (P. Park/ Talk to me). Anyway, the groundbreaking keyboard work of Brian is much better appreciated on the less compromised and wackier Love You. And the vocal intro to Everyone's in love with you (arranged by Billy Hinsche, IIRC) is an unprofessional steal from A Whiter shade of pale

Considering the kind of work that Dennis/Carl had to offer at the time (That Newsweek '76 article put it very clearly). A hit in the day, but a misfire in the long run. The alt mixes on bootlegs doesn't make it better

Wow.  :lol

But, how well does it capture that?  That's all that matters, really.

A beautiful photograph need not be of a flower in bloom.

You could argue it captures that well. By that token though you could also argue that Summer in Paradise captures beautifully the image of an old man, colostomy bag on hip, scouring the beach for lady lovelies offering to display his cutlery collection to anyone who will grant him sexual favours.  ;)

.

Alan Boyd has criticized the mix on 15BO many times.  I think it's one of the things that led him and Mark to take another crack at HTPY.

The thing about not being able to improve a bad song with a good mix -- you know, as a songwriter, it took me a long time to understand that when people say "this or that is a great song" they really are saying, without realizing it, that it's a record that makes sounds they like.  The art of songwriting and the art of production and execution are not the same, but I have found that the old maxim "it's all about the song" is not really true.  Rather, it's all about how you develop and present what you write.  If you are starting with a good idea and the production and arrangement respect and enhance that idea, you are good to go.  If you take that good idea and go down the wrong road, then your great idea won't connect.  Even with an acoustic-only presentation, try listening to Paul Simon singing one of his songs and then go listen to the karaoke guy down the street do it, and you'll see what I mean.  A bad execution can make a good song seem bad; a good execution can bring out the potential in a mediocre idea and what might be flat-out bad with one approach would be quirky and interesting another way.

I myself find that on the rare occasions I bust out a BBs album for other than work, it's 15BO a lot of the time because I just always forget it exists.  I always find it kind of an enjoyable listen because it's this weird hybrid of LOVE YOU with a veneer of attempted commerciality over it.  It's just such an odd and thus fascinating artifact.

I don't think it's that GREAT, mind you.  But it still intrigues me.

I completely agree with this and it's an argument I don't see nearly enough.

Put any Beach Boys classic in a contemporary top 40 sheen, and you can be sure I'll dislike it.  Conversely, I'm sure a circa-1966 Brian Wilson could have pulled off some of my more maligned tracks of all-time.  I'm at the point where, although a song being strong compositionally can still separate itself from others, it's really the execution that makes or breaks any recording to my ears.

Holland was the last orig BBs album with all new material that was a group effort BECAUSE- 15 Big Ones was 2/3 covers, Love You was all Brian, MIU was a mix of previously recorded songs and re-worked xmas songs, the Light Album and KTSA were previously recorded songs... right?

It was an awful album, there's a reason why there's a lot of negativity against it. The fact that it was their biggest selling album of the 70's is irrelevant, sales does not equal greatness. Literally every other album they made in the 70's is better than 15 Big Ones.

All they gotta do is the same thing they did to the alternate "Rock & Roll Music", released on Made In California. Push all the faders up!!

Ive never listened to 15 big ones and thought "this album sucks", and considering how awful music in the 70s was in general its a damn good album. Nostalgia and 50s/early 60s rockNroll was/is the greatest music the world has ever seen, so who cares that after a 3yr absence the Beach Boys paid homage? how is that a bad thing? EVERY beach boys album from surfin USA thru love you is amazing to my ears, even with the alleged "filler" tracks.

What's wrong with 70's music in general? At least compared to what came after, 70's music is awesome!
As AGD said:

I think this really sums things up perfectly.  A thing to keep in mind: Brian is being treated rather successfully for his mental illness now, certainly more successfully than in past decades.  That is a good thing for Brian himself.  But... so much great art in this world has been born out of the mind of an untreated, depressed mentally ill person.  I've read about situations where a mentally ill artist has refused to be treated for fear of losing their creative edge.  Of course Brian has produced some great stuff since 1976, but "innovative" and "free" would probably not be the word to describe it.

Unless we're talking about "Smart Girls" or something of that caliber.   ;D

Damn, you guys are brutal!

NOTHING created by ANY of The Beach Boys alone or as a group could ever be as bad is described above (and beyond) ..... In fact, I'd happily take Looking Back With Love, KTSA, and Summer In Paradise any day over many other bands/artist's complete catalog!

Right... you could argue that, Nicko.  This is why I've been unable to regulate myself -- musically.  I don't know what's good and bad anymore!

Seriously.  It's like I've received an artist/musical lobotomy.  (I'm hearing... Shortenin' Bread!)  Quite liberating, frankly.  The truth, being something like "it's whatever one likes."  Whatever moves you.  Basically, Pinder's point above -- I'd take all of the Beach Boys stuff over most other artist's best.  Cuz we're moved by the Beach Boys saga.

But it's also about whether you can articulate a convincing case for liking something really.  For me Bummer in Paradise, is decent.  Cuz it chronicles a once great band's continued trajectory through our space and time.  Downward, yes.  But here, they're trying to (somewhat desperately -- but also kind of in a cocky and cheesy-slick way) do what they feel they've always done.  It's shallow, limp and in no way their best music... but it's a fitting Polaroid in the scrapbook that gives one good vibes and a few chuckles.

Yes, chuckles.  For fans only.   ;D

Yeah Summer In Paradise is far from the best BBs album but its still better than most albums by most artists. The only other band I can think of with an extensive output of great music is the Ramones; with that being said the best BBs being up to 77 and the Ramones best starting in 77 and going thru 84... as far as great music after that, there was wasnt much in the late 80s/early 90s, then came a great band from new hampshire: the Queers! great albums in the mid 90s up to the present and the great dutch band the Travoltas, who started putting out albums in the late 90s, and ALL those bands came from the Beach Boys!! EVERY great band is descended from them.  Several bands that might be on the more obscure side being not so well known in the mainstream...
I remember when Summer In Paradise came out, it may have that cheesy 90s sound but thats the kinda sh*t that was popular then and lets face it- SIP was/is a Mike Love/Terry Melcher album minus the covers and re-do's.

That is just unbelievably wrong.

For just about any dinosaur band circa 1992, Summer In Paradise is pretty typical of that sort of group in that era...... People hate on most everything most "classic" bands were doing right then.... The Division Bell came out a couple years later: lots of hate for that one ..... Sure, Neil Young put out Harvest Moon in 92, but there's no lack of hate for most of what he'd been doing the entire 10 years prior (excluding Ragged Glory and, to an extent, Freedom) ...

I love 'Summer in Paradise'!!!

I mean, really!

it's not like any other BB album...... remnants of 'still cruisin' (the newer tracks)

I loved it immediately when I heard it.....

it's like 'love you' in reverse.......

Yin and Yang ......  put both albums together, you get 'The Beach Boys'.  ;D


RickB

Dig your positivity, Mr. Bartlett. Not the worst album ever like most make it out to be. At all.

Most Pink Floyd fans (I don't for the most part) seems to love Division Bell. In fact there's a 20th Anniversary box set that came out.

I was in my Q magazine reading phase in 1992-3 (my first regular music magazine, before I discovered Melody Maker) and they were very positive about a lot of the "dinosaur" releases of the time- e.g. Dylan's "Good As I Been To You", Bowie's "Black Tie White Noise" and the Neil Young album you cite- but they gave "SiP" one star, and you sensed they would have rated it even lower if they could.

I don't think Summer in Paradise offers much worthwhile, with Lahaina Aloha being the only song I make an effort to revisit.  That being said, it's certainly not the last thing I'd choose to seek when it comes to the wide world of music. As much as I hate Summer of Love and, out of anything The Beach Boys have done, wish it didn't exist, I'd still take it over something like Tik Tok by Ke$ha.

HOW is it wrong? Seriously think about the quality rock music of the last 40 years::: very little exists with the exception of the Ramones, Queers, and a handful of obscure groups with no commercial existence. Commercially viable QUALITY rockNroll faded away in the late 60s/ not saying there hasnt been great music the last 4 decades but very little of it has been on the charts or in the mainstream media/ prove me wrong with examples IF you can, which I doubt. :-)

 :lol :lol :lol :lol

First of all, you didn't say Summer in Paradise was a better album than most other popular albums in the past forty years. You said that Summer in Paradise is better than most of the albums by most bands. You're twisting your own words... I could probably list a hundred or so albums better than SIP just from my own collection. I will, if that's what you want.

Secondly, no matter what I name, you clearly have no time for anything other than 70's punk music. I don't see what the point would be.

 Bruce   Springsteen

I never said summer in paradise was a great album/ I jus meant that in comparison to the mainsteam garbage of the last twenty yrs it is.  Good music has TWO types- the kind in the past and the kind based in reverting to that past . Thats what punk was-reverting to the great rock of the late 50s/early 60s.

Let it be known, an astounding amount of blocks have been snorted in the lifetime of one "kookadams."

.

A+

I suppose - as is it's nice and slight. But as the vocals are less than gorgeous it makes it a slightly patchy listen for me; I just get the sense it could have been better.

.

R&R Music is, also, too slow. Sounds way better sped up a bit and heard on something with a subwoofer. THEN it has some punch.
It's Ok is good, very energetic, great in concert, etc.
I loved Phone Ya the first time I heard it. I don't listen to it much, but it'll always be a nice, short, endearing Brian song.
It's a good opening salvo to an album.

The rest of the tracks might benefit from a remixing....maybe. It's hard to tell. The only song that does need a redoing is Just Once In My Life. It's a nice song, but the mix makes it really hard to listen to - the instruments lack clarity, and not in a good, Spector-y kind of way.

What a weird album. I don't think I'll ever make up my mind on it. It's quite an oddball album. Not the greatest!

Couldn't agree more! This is exactly what makes many of Brian's productions stand out. They're intricate but never are they pompous.

One more thought on 15BO in general... As I said before I love the album as is, definitely one of my most-played records by the BB. Still I can relate to why some may find it weird. I'm about the same age now as Brian and Dennis were when this was recorded and still, when I hear their voices on this record I find that kind of hard to believe. Their voices were really shot by this point, to such an extent that it's kind of bizarre. I don't like to judge anyone's lifestyles, it's just something that I've grown aware of while I got older.

That said, I still absolutely love the rawness in their vocal performances on 15BO and Love You. It's unique for a major pop/rock group to even consider releasing stuff like that and I totally appreciate it. Would be 100% impossible today, by the way. Just try and imagine Love You given the Joe Thomas treatment.

I've actually always felt Love You needed some nylon string guitars plucking around in the mix.

Would probably fit best on Love Is a Woman. Also, imagine that slowed-down, sexier version of Ding Dang.

We had murk already. I waited for many years for the unreleased version with the original 'extra' track and they did a great job with it. I love it. It shoulda been released in 1976 on the album or single.

I think if you use the single mix of Rock N' Roll Music and It's Ok, and ditch Everyone's In Love With You/A Casual Look/Blueberry Hill and replace them with Sea Cruise/Ruby Baby/Mony Mony and FINALLY use the Dumb Angel bootleg alternate mixes for all the rest, you've got a pretty decent album. Not great, but so much better! :hat

Like Bean Bag mentioned, 15 BO/Love You/Adult-Child should really be considered like some kind of trilogy. Id' even compare it to Neil Young's 70s ditch trilogy. :o

Don't kid yourself; this is one of the worst recordings by anyone.  The concept was quite simple: since "Kokomo" was such a big hit, Mike decided to make an album of "Kokomo's".  Utterly dreadful and misguided.  Their attempts at improving the album by rerecording a few of the songs is even worse!

Relistening now. Another one from this album is Dennis drumming on most tracks

Those such rags toe the party line pretty hard ...... The Beach Boys have always been fair game bashing-wise.

There's a lot to love in the details on that album.

Dennis and Ricky's tandem drums on It's OK .... Dennis dropping the beat each 4, Ricky keeping it straight.

The Wilson Brother's tortured harmony coda on A Casual Look ....... Al on the verses, Mike on the chorus are great too..... LOVE what Dennis does on the drums coming out of the bridge. Fantastic!

Brian's voice cracking on Just Once In My Life.

Dennis' drums on Back Home.

Dennis' drum into and vocal on In The Still Of The Night.

Carl's lead on Palisades Park.

"Hi Brian" on the outro to Had To Phone Ya.

"Time for me to meditate"

Dragon's awesome drum pickup out of the break-down on Susie Cincinnati.

I could go on and on......

like McCartney defending his/their double 'white album' when people said this and that, it's too long, too many crappy songs etc etc....

he says something to the effect 'leave it alone, its great, it is what it is, it's the Beatles bloody white album'.....

same goes for 15 big ones!

its great, its flawed, its brilliant and weak.....its the 'bloody' Beach Boys!

RickB

Do you realize that you just compared 15 Big Ones to.....The Beatles' White Album! :o >:D :police:

oh gawd! shame on me!  :o

I should be banned here for a month at least!

RickB

 ;D

well.. sunflower was THE last BBs album we hear brian and dennis' voices before they got fuc.ked up. But yeah one reply I noticed saying love you is just as much BBs as all summer long °°NO°° . Love you was intended to be 'brian loves you' I dare ANYONE to disprove that/ its been said before and bares repeating- love you was/is a brian wilson solo album with the BBs minor comtributions and name on it due to their contractual obligation.

But a win-win all the same!!!

Just think about how gloriously creepy Rollarskating Child is thanks to Mike getting to sing it!

Getting back to topic: Some tracks would be significantly improved by remixing (has no one else heard the gritty alternate mixes I mentioned?) but others are way, way past redemption. In my perhaps jaundiced idea of a perfect world, 15 Big Ones would have been 2 Big Ones: "It's O.K" b/w "Just Once In My Life". :=)

Damn you Smiley Smile board! Since this thread appeared, iv'e been listening too much to 15 BO!  :lol

For those interested, iv'e made a mix on my blog called 15 REAL ONES featuring the original artists on the tracks (and outtakes). Enjoy!

http://gabmixorama.blogspot.ca/2014/06/7-15-real-ones.html

Boy, that Little Willie John single is great (Talk To Me). Can anybody help with two questions?

1 - Did Spector have anything to do with it?

2 - Was the song (or the subsequently recorded version a couple years later) really a favorite of young Brian and Marilyn?
(I'm thinking of the notice in the Spring version of Good Time)

I like the fact that people noted Dennis' drumming is all over this album.

One thing I love about the '76-'77 era was the Wilson Brothers cutting their own tracks.  They had awesome feel and were massive underplayers.  They may not have been the best technical musicians but man, they knew how to make a track.  It's like a thick slice of pound cake.  Dennis' 2/4 on the '70s Brother recordings is wondrous.

p.s.: The Jean DeShon track is confirmed as a PS work, I reckon.  I was wondering if anything earlier...  (Talk To Me)

Curse you sir. By putting these classics together you have just reenforced once again how crappy the Beach Boys versions are.  :)

I totally agree with you.

interestingly also, they must have been fans of Freddy Cannon....

Palisades Park and the 'tallahassie lassie' part in 'Talk to Me'...

RickB

http://www.discogs.com/Jean-Du-Shon-Talk-To-Me-Talk-To-Me-Tired-Of-Trying/release/1664995
"Supervised by".