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What is everyone's  Ideal Track order for the L.A. (Light Album?  I will post mine this week

I'll start it off.  Here's mine:

Side One
 
1. Good Timin'
2. Lady Lynda
3. Full Sail
4. Angel Come Home
5. Love Surrounds Me
6. Sumahama

Side Two
 
1. Here Comes the Night
2. Baby Blue
3. Goin' South
4. Shortenin' Bread 


Dennis' songs sure saved that album, didn't they?

SIDE ONE:

1. Rainbows
2. 10,000 Years
3. Skatetown U.S.A.
4. Lookin' Down The Coast
5. Angel Come Home
6. Brian's Back

SIDE TWO:

1. California Feelin'
2. Love Surrounds Me
3. Sumahama
4. Country Pie
5. Baby Blue
6. Brand New Old Friends

This is my  ideal track order, except Here Comes The Night is replaced with an 11 minute version of Shortenin' Bread. It's still at the end, Baby Blue & Goin' South are just bumped up.


Dennis' songs definitely saved the album, though I much rather would have had a L.A. (Light Album) that was entirely mediocre and a legit release of Bambu instead of that multi-disc re-release of our dear Pacific Ocean Blue.

But hey, can't go back in time and change the past, now can we? We'd throw this entire future we're living in into some sort of chaotic freakshow.

(http://i61.tinypic.com/1r662f.jpg)

(http://i60.tinypic.com/121xsa1.jpg)

Playing a little fast and loose with the actual time period, but good enough for me...

1. Good Timin'
2. Lady Lynda
3. Full Sail
4. Angel Come Home
5. Love Surrounds Me
6. It's A Beautiful Day
7. Here Comes The Night (Single Version)
8. Baby Blue
9. Don't Fight The Sea
10. Goin' South
11. Shortenin' Bread 

The Beach Boys "L.A. (Leftovers Album)"

1. Soulful Old Man Sunshine
2. Do You Like Worms
3. A Time To Live In Dreams
4. H.E.L.P. Is On The Way
5. I'm Begging You Please
6. Our Team
7. I Just Got My Pay

1. (Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again
2. Still I Dream Of It
3. San Miguel
4. It's Trying To Say
5. Fourth of July
6. It's Over Now


Save the better tracks on the actual album for "Bambu" and "Keepin' the Summer Alive" (much needed on the latter)

Not into doing alternative track orders but I wish Calendar Girl and California Feelin' would've been included.

Really don't like Calendar Girl. As for KTSA, let it flatline

As I've said many times, I love this album almost as is.  I just cannot stand Shortenin' Bread.  I think the running order is good as well and I would keep the disco version of HCTN...it's a time piece and well produced.  So here it is:

Good Timin'  
Lady Lynda  
Full Sail  
Angel Come Home  
Love Surrounds Me  
Sumahama  

Here Comes The Night  
Baby Blue  
Goin' South  
California Feelin'  

I love this thread.  My main issues with this album are side two.  The short version of HCTN and two more songs would have made it tremendous.  I wish there had been a finished version of COUNTRY PIE by the Beach Boys.  As I've said before, many of us at the time thought Country Pie and Lady Lynda would be the lead off singles from the first CBS album.

There's a fascinating couple of articles in the final issue of PET SOUNDS from the fall of 1978 about the making of this album, specifically a couple of interviews with Bruce dealing with tracks being considered for the record.

Couldn't have written it better myself:  http://www.musicbanter.com/album-reviews/17601-beach-boys-l-light-album.html

Yep , a very good review and not far from my thoughts on the album HOWEVER i took exception to the following comment

I'm glad Brian didn't produce the album. Given his state of mind at the time, we probably would have been looking at another synth mess, similar to The Beach Boys Love You

Love You ( a synth mess ??? ) is one of my favourite albums of all time by anybody !

I think it's a way too positive view. It's their best album until TWGMTR and thei best album after Love You, and it is, on a certain level, enjoyable (more so than MIU) but it's only half decent and the sad thing is, there other tracks from that period that could have improved it. Sumahama, for one, would not be my first choice track off Mike's aborted solo album (and if I had to use it I'd skip the section with the Japanese lyrics; I prefer the lush harmonies on the LA version though). While I can take one Carl ballad, two in the same style is one too many. The less said about HCTN and Shortenin' Bread the better.

Imagine it with Lookin' Down The Coast, Santa Ana Winds. California Feelin', Country Pie. We may not be talking great art, but that would be a pretty substantial album. Of course, knowing the BB, they'd replace Baby Blue, Good Timin' or Angel Come Home...

HCTN is fine on there, but the single version would have worked so much better. I absolutely agree with the rest of your post. These guys had a bad track record for releasing bad songs, but keeping some really good stuff in the can.

I totally agree with you that Love You is incredibly good.  Even the author indicates a liking for Love You when taken in full context: "...another synth mess, similar to The Beach Boys Love You, but with results nowhere near as pleasing."

I'd rather have a synth mess than an uninspired mess.

>Couldn't have written it better myself:  http://www.musicbanter.com/album-reviews/17601-beach-boys-l-light-album.html>>

This is a great article and review and completely mirrors my feelings about this album.  I was really blown away by this record when it came out.  It was thrilling to hear this band release something so contemporary, polished and relevant to 1979.  It was innovative, artistic, polished and a real stretch. Three 1960s icons released excellent albums in 1979 that all pushed the limits of contemporary sound while remaining true to their roots... and none of these three albums were huge sellers.  But they all have great music.
MCGUINN, CLARK & HILLMAN (Self-titled, with hit Don't You Write Her Off)
WINGS - BACK TO THE EGG (no hit single)
THE BEACH BOYS - L.A. LIGHT

All three of these records are worth a new listen. 
 

 
   
 

OMG Yes!  The M, C & H record was incredibly good (and btw included a disco-esque tune called Release Me Girl).

Maybe it's just uninspirING from your perspective.

In any event, two very different albums indeed...both of which I love.

I really wouldn't change anything about LA, other than trimming down the long HCTN (they could have saved that for the 12 inch single), and adding in It's a Beautiful Day. I liked the McGuinn, Clark and Hillman album, too, although Roger's presence on that one was rather muted - and yet one of his 2 songs became the hit single.

I've always wondered why California Feelin' was not included here or elsewhere.  Soulful Ole' Man Sunshine, Sherry She Needs Me... nice tunes.  I never understood how this group found themselves hurting for material.

Why California Feelin' was not included on the LA album must be the single most questionable decision in the BB's career.

Absolutely! Imagine if they could've come up with a rendition similar to the cut-and-paste version we got on MiC, I mean with Brian singing the opening lines. That song would have been an instant classic. So, do we know why it didn't appear on L.A. (or any other late-70s album)? Did Bruce not approve its inclusion (for whatever reason)? Did Brian pull it back? Who thought it might be a better idea to close the album with a largely lifeless (compared to earlier versions) rendition of Shortenin' Bread?

There's gotta be a reason for these types of decisions.  Maybe the group was afraid to touch a Brian song/production and finish it on there own, perhaps?  I can understand that.  And respect it too.

But... in general, the fact that they relied on (or wanted to) include their own stuff over Brian's inspired music is odd.  I know they tried and tried to get Brian to work, to no avail.  I get that.  But how hard would it have been to have a tape recorder next to his house piano.  I can imagine hundreds of gems were banged out at 2 in the morning, with no one around.

Brian may have been lazy and "lost" -- but I guarantee he was and alway will be a spring of musical ideas.  They should have hired some mind gangsters to follow him 24/7, with a tape recorder.  Paid the maid perhaps?

I'm gonna piggyback on this, too. While it probably wouldn't have affected sales very much, but it might've improved the reviews/critical reception of the album a little, I believe that just by adding ONE SINGLE SONG - and subtracting one song - some of The Beach Boys' albums would be better by one grade.

Surf's Up - add "(Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again" and subtract "Take A Load Off Your Feet" or "Student Demonstration Time"
15 Big Ones - add "Sea Cruise" and subtract "Talk To Me" or "A Casual Look"
M.I.U. - just add "Our Team", maybe close with it right after "Winds Of Change"
L.A. Light Album - add/close with "California Feeling" and subtract "Shortenin' Bread"
Keepin' The Summer Alive" - start Side B with "It's A Beautiful Day"

My alternates...

For LA LIGHT
Good Timin
Lady Linda
Full Sail
Angel Come Home
Still I Dream of It
Love Surrounds Me
Sumahama

Here Comes the Night (single mix)
Baby Blue
California Feelin'
Brian's Back
Goin' South
Shortnin' Bread
Country Pie

KTSA
Keepin' the Summer Alive
Goin' to the Beach
Da Doo Ron Ron
Oh Darlin
Some of Your Love
Wild Situation
Livin' with a Heartache
School Days

It's A Beautiful Day
Goin' On
Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love
Sunshine
When Girls Get Together
It's Not Too Late
Santa Ana Winds
Endless Harmony

I was thinking about that PET SOUNDS interview from the fall of 1978 and Bruce... and just for grins, I compiled a mix of just about everything that was under consideration for LA LIGHT at that time, using the overall structure of the album.  I always felt the two weak points on the record (apart from the inclusion of the long version of HCTN) were the following:

Side One - seemed an abrupt transition between Angel Come Home and Love Surrounds Me.
Side Two - what's missing between Baby Blue and Goin' South.

Of course, all of this is obsessive/compulsive disorder at it's finest, but here's my mix.

Single teaser
COUNTRY PIE / Country Pie (live)

SIDE ONE:
Good Timin'
Lady Lynda
Full Sail
Angel Come Home
California Feelin' (MIC mix)
Love Surrounds Me
Sumahama (single mix)

SIDE TWO:
Here Comes the Night (single mix)
Baby Blue
Brian's Back
Calendar Girl
Santa Ana Winds ('78 mix)
Goin' South
Shortnin' Bread

Tbh. I think the California Feelin' from MiC is severely lacking. Most notably those heavy drums ruin the song for me. Brian's vocals are nice because it's Brian but the double 'california feelin' first alone and then the group does the song no favours.


I really prefer a version more like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTEOvYfViHU

Really good editing btw if the maker is on this board.  ;)

<<Tbh. I think the California Feelin' from MiC is severely lacking. Most notably those heavy drums ruin the song for me. Brian's vocals are nice because it's Brian but the double 'california feelin' first alone and then the group does the song no favours.>>

This is surprising.  The you tube example you provided sounded like the same, flat. demo from the sessions we've heard all the years.  For me, the drum sound on the demo is particularly horrible.

I loved what Alan Boyd did to California Feelin' on MIC.  The remix of the drums, with the echo, give the some some badly needed sonic depth.  His repositioning of the bg vocals in the last section as a call and response with Carl give it a shimmering church-like quality... and double tracking Bruce so he sings harmony with himself on the last chorus really polished the song for me.  And the addition of Brian's vocals, particularly the humorous bit at the beginning ("...like most days...") was the icing on the cake.  I thought Boyd turned the flat 1978 demo into a classic, finished track.  It's both loose, impromptu and polished, with gorgeous vocals.  Together with the "faders up" mix of Rock & Roll Music, the new mixes of Brian's Back and It's A Beautiful Day (with the cute keyboard fills on the chorus) and Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again, the new California Feelin' makes disc 4 my favorite from MIC.

.