The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hello to everyone on the board!  I am a long time fan of Brian and the Beach Boys, but brand new to this board.  I hope to become an active member of the board over time.  Would be appropiate to post in this section about songs (or bands) that sound like Brian and The Beach Boys?  I have been scouring the music universe for several years tracking down such songs and have collected more than 300...and counting!

I am particularly interested in the Today/Summer Days, Summer Nights/Pet Sounds/SMiLE/Friends/Love You sounds.  If anyone on the board could point me toward more I'd appreciate it greatly - and I am open to trading.  I have posted 3 mixes at www.artofthemix.com titled "A Wall of Pet Sounds" (a 4th volume is on the way) with BW/BB soundalike songs.  If anyone is interested in hearing one of the mixes let me know.  Also, an acquaitance of mine has posted 8 volumes under the title "Pet Soundalikes."

Here is what I am trying to find:

1. Songs that sound like Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys

2. Songs that sample Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys

3. Songs that either reference or are about Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys

If you wouldn't mind posting the following info I'd be thankful:

-Artist
-Title
-Album
-Where I can get it
-Which BW/BB era does it sound like?

I know I am asking a lot...if anyone is looking for similar things let me know, I'll see what I can dig up and send you.

Thanks!

AWoPS

To get this thead moving a bit, I recommend the following, in case you haven't heard of them:

1. The Explorer's Club - best thing since the Beach Boys if you are looking for that "Brian Wilson" feeling.  Check them out on myspace and buy tunes at itunes.  Check out "I Lost My Head," "Don't Forget the Sun," and "Forever."

2. The Chymes - Last Gas.  Don't know where you can actually purchase this song, but you can hear it at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/thechymes.  IF ANYONE CAN GET A DECENT QUALITY DOWNLOAD OF THIS SONG (128k or better) I'D MUCH APPRECIATE.  In fact, I'd take any download at all...I've tried to contact the band, but no response.  The song has a bit part that sounds like "Love and Mercy" mixed with Pet Sounds.

3. The Brother Kite - Waiting for the Time To Be Right.  You can get it anywhere.

Will list more if you like.

http://www.beachboys.com/relatedI.html
http://www.beachboys.com/relatedII.html
http://www.beachboys.com/relatedIII.html
http://www.beachboys.com/relatedIV.html
http://www.beachboys.com/relatedV.html
http://www.beachboys.com/relatedVI.html

Shelter - thank you!  I probably should have mentioned that I have scoured this site, but thank you, I had lost the link and now I have it again!

The Thrills "So Much For The City" album really do sound very Beach Boys ish like early 70s sounding. (


There is also a group called Augustana that has a very Beach Boys influnced song ( I feel) called "Boston" which is worthy to check out.

Flash Cadillac & The Continental Kids - "Sons Of The Beaches"

There's a couple of songs from this album, especially "Summer Means Fun" and "Time Will Tell", which resemble the Beach Boys' sound and style...

www.beachboys.com shouldn't be that hard to remember.  ;D

Here is another one:

The Ruby Suns - Criterion.  Great song and it lifts directly from Sloop John B.  Pretty good stuff.

Also check out the songs "Everybody Loves a Happy Ending" and "Only a Summer Away" by Spyderbaby (produced by Mark Wirtz).

For female sung BB soundalike, go to myspace and look for a band called "The Bird and The Bee" - the song "I'm a Broken Heart" has a BW feel to it.

British rock critics have spent the last two or three years dropping the name Brian Wilson into every third rate indie-band's review. Consequently, old suckers like me (who remember when critics knew s**t) have bought the likes of the Thrills, Hal, Cosmic Rough Riders, etc. Almost all this stuff is college-kid dross and sounds nothing like the BBs. Sorry. The Ruby Suns sound more interesting but more like the Byrds. The only guy who recently has shown the spirit of Brian while having very much his own sound is the brilliant Sufjan Stevens.

I agree with your assessment and have been burned several times.  While I more or less like The Thrills, the "Beach Boyness" is minimal.  Bands like Hal are, to me, more "twee" than Brian Wilson-esque.  With the Cosmic Rough Riders, I have no idea why they are compared to the BB.  Sean O'Hagan/High Llamas have been able to pull off some "SMiLE-esque" quirkiness, but the feeling of Brian's music just isn't there.

I have to admit, while I very much appreciate what Brian did - from the complexity in his music, to forging a new path in pop/rock, to the feeling his music evokes, I also enjoyh the music, plain and simple.  So when a band does write a good song that has the BB/BW feel to it, I can still enjoy it.  Take Flash Cadillac, for example.  The guys certainly are not hip, and they have a bit of a "cheese" factor - and goodness knows there is nothing original about what they are doing.  However, the songs are good, nice melodies, nice harmonies.  No reason not to just enjoy it for what it is.

I strongly recommend checking out  The Explorers Club at myspace.  These guys write good music and have great voices.  If you don't think "I Lost My Head" sounds like a Brian Wilson song you can ignore everything I post on this board.  Honestly, the first time I heard the song I thought it was a Brian Wilson song I'd somehow missed.  Also check out "Don't Forget the Sun" and "Forever" while you are there.  Forever starts out lifting the Phil Spector drum beat and quickly shifts into a Brian/Phil homage.  Really good stuff.

BTW, I only recommended one song by The Ruby Suns, Criterion, which does have a BB sound.  I do mostly agree about their overall sound though, which is why I didn't comment on any other songs.

Check out any of the *songs* I recommended, you may not like them, but they are clearly influenced by Brian and The Beach Boys.

Agreed.


Agreed.

And I have to disagree with AWoPs' sentiment of the Explorer Club, or whatever they're called. They don't sound like the Beach Boys. Sorry.

Then you haven't listened to the band.  You may not think they exihibit the same level of talent as Brian, or the same level of innovation - and I would agree, Brian is head and shoulders about even Sufjan.  But to say they don't sound like the Beach Boys?  That is not being honest.

The reason everyone name drops the BBs/BW in reviews is twofold:

1) SMiLE has been hip in indie circles for at least the past decade or so, if not longer. (I am not old enough to have known about indie circles before that.) Before it was released, there wasn't much better to mention (as off-handedly as possible, of course...) than that because it proved you had boots, and were thus oh-so fodaing hip.

2) Most critics are, like most fans, merdaty musicians. Vocal harmony = Beach Boys in their minds, just like 12-string electric guitars = Byrds, mellotron or harpsichord in a pop song = Beatles, and out-of-tune singer over acoustic guitar = Dylan. Criticism tends to be about immediate reference points and ego-stroking. Not much more.

As for all this Sufjan is Brilliant talk, please...enough already. He's good. Leave him there.

And as for finding BBs sound-alikes, there are none. There are great musicians who were influenced by them, of course. And there are musicians of varying quality who try to do the most blatant rip-offs possible. But finding them for the latter reason is a waste of time, in my book. A brilliant imitator of the Beach Boys is just a covers band or a jukebox. Big fodaing deal. I'd take the former any day for the same reason that I don't listen to Beach Boys records in order to hear the Four Freshmen or Chuck Berry.

I didnt even have to say anything. :lol

>And as for finding BBs sound-alikes, there are none. There are great musicians who were influenced by them, of >course. And there are musicians of varying quality who try to do the most blatant rip-offs possible. But finding them >for the latter reason is a waste of time, in my book. A brilliant imitator of the Beach Boys is just a covers band or a >jukebox. Big fodaing deal. I'd take the former any day for the same reason that I don't listen to Beach Boys records in >order to hear the Four Freshmen or Chuck Berry.

I think we are talking past one another here.  If you mean that no one has reached the heights of Brian and the Beach Boys, and that to compare The Explorers Club, The High Llamas, etc. to them is an insult to the talent of Brian Wilson and the boys, sure, I agree.  If you mean that when you listen to one of these bands there are not a lot of similarities between their sound and the Beach Boys sound, then you just aren't being reasonable.  Are the songs as complex?  No.  Do the harmonies sound as good?  No.  Is the song as original?  Obviously not, they are purposely copying the Beach Boys.  Do the bands have half the talent BW has?  No.  Do the songs incorporate similar elements - similar melodies and harmonies though less complex, yes.  Similar rhythm?  Yes.  Similar "feeling" though not as deep/transcendent?  Yes.  When one hears, for example, Motley Crue, the music does not call to mind the Beach Boys.  When one hears Cosmic Rough Riders there is very little that calls to mind the Beach Boys, though perhaps more than Motley Crue.  When one hears The Explorers Club, it does bring to mind the Beach Boys, even if to a trained ear the similarities are on the surface.

To deny this is not sensible.

As for finding bands that "rip-off"/copy/imitate the Beach Boys just because they are rip-offs, I am not sure who has stated this reason for searching out such bands.  My personal interest in such music is that, generally, I like the music.  Sometimes for the talent, sometimes for the simple reason I enjoy the tune.  Not everything has to be Bach or Beethoven, sometimes I just enjoy a song because I enjoy the song - and I happen to enjoy songs that have a similar "feeling" as a Brian Wilson song.  Sometimes this happens even when the song is just a shadow of a Brian Wilson-type of song.

Ultimately, I am not interested in what this or that critic claims and why.  I am interested in finding music that I like - tending to like music with a BW/BB feel, I try to find such music.  At other times I am a big fan of soul music, other times folk, still other times classical (I especially like Bach and Handel).  The "I only like brilliant musicians" thing is unecessarily elitist.  There is something to be said for brilliance, but there is also something to be said for a simple tune that recalls a certain memory or makes a guy feel a certain way - and in this there is a brilliance, even if not musical genius.  To find it is not a waste of time anymore than listening to Brian Wilson.

I actually also disagree that nobody has "reached the heights of the Beach Boys." They were a great band who did a lot of great music and they're gone. I guess I just don't see the point of the exercise of finding imitations. Therefore I ought to bow out of the thread. Good luck finding every band you can find that uses vocal harmonies and I-ii chord progressions ad nauseum, or wood blocks, or pianists playing block chords on every beat, etc.

You may as well bow out.  By definition you are incapable of contributing to the purpose of this thread - if the idea is to find a song that sounds like the Beach Boys and you don't think such exists, how could you add anything other than contrary ideas?  Of course you are free to do so, but why poo-poo someone else's party, right?

Ironically, though, while acknowleding that there are "rip-off" bands and naming elements common to BB songs (even if sarcastically), you have acknowleded what you deny - that there is a "BB-sound" and that there are songs/bands that have that sound.  You may think it all rubbish, but you acknowledge it nonetheless.

You are free to your opinion and perhaps you are only able to enjoy the most elite artists (having perhaps convinced yourself that Brian is a modern-day Bach or Mozart), but sometimes a good little tune is just as enjoyable as a complex piece of music.

Ta Ta

Two great bands that combine the early BB sound with Ramones-ish punk rock:

The Queers: they recorded punk rock versions of Hawaii, Little Honda and Don't Back Down and they fit in perfectly with their own songs, that should give you an idea of how they sound.

Travoltas: especially their early stuff was heavily influenced by early BB. Unfortionately it lacked harmonies, but the falsetto, surf/girls/car lyrics and melodies were obviously heavily influenced by the BB. They also did a "Travoltas' Party" album similar to the BB Party album.

Actually shelter, you inadvertently brought up the band that was heavily influenced by early Beach Boys: The Ramones. Forget the buzzsaw guitar, insane tempos and New Yawk vocals; the Ramones always sounded like they were trying to remake "All Summer Long" within their feeble means everytime out. What resulted from those "feeble means" turned out to be something fresh, exciting and/or simply fun. Certainly Spector and a whole host of 60s garage bands also had an influence, but look how many times the band tried to rewrite "Do You Remember?", "Drive-In" and "Little Honda"! The Ramones found a way to bring the innocence of the early 60s sound back to life without it seeming like a nostalgia act.

I also think this points out a crucial difference: musicians that have absorbed the ideas Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys put out there without simply mimicking the vocal sound and production arrangements tend to be more interesting. Blatant imitation is unappealing, but someone like Sufjan Stevens can take some of that BB influence and turn it into something more original. Sometimes the connection is simply an emotional one: I have always associated the Eels' "Manchild" with "Caroline, No". Both songs are placed at the end of their respective albums, both have great plaintive bridges and both feature instrumental fadeouts mixed with sound effects; but beyond that the songs have nothing in common. Still, there is that emotional response that both songs invoke which will always connect the two for me.

Elvis Costello has publicly stated that his "Favorite Hour" was influenced by "Surf's Up". You can spot the influence once pointed out, but the Costello track is not a slavish reproduction of the earlier song. That's the way it should be. If an artist or band is influenced by the Beach Boys, they better be bringing something fresh to the mix as well for the "new" song to hold up.

I know, I played in a Ramones cover band for a (short) while. But I think Spector had A LOT more influence on them than the Beach Boys.

instrumentally, has anyone mentioned the High Llamas "Hawaii"? Got it on the stereo in the bathroom. Excellent music to shave by.

I own the disc.  I have never been able to fully get into The High Llamas, but Hawaii is the one disc I by THL that I have in my collection (or should I say, two discs)...pretty good stuff, though not totally my cup of tea.

I am doing them like this... band (album): what era BBs it sounds like

1. Music Tapes (Imaginary Symphony of Nomad): Smile
2. Pollyphonic Spree (Together We're Heavy): Pet Sounds, Smile and Sunflower
3. Grandaddy (Under the Western Freeway): Friends, Surfs Up and Love You
4. REM (Up): Sunflower and Surfs Up
5. ELO (Time): Love You and LA Light Album

These are a few that I really enjoy

I love the High Llamas' sound, but they seem to lack the skills to write any truely memorable songs.

Yeah, I noticed that. One song seems to run into another without gaining your attention. A couple of songs stand out, but I think there are too many of them on this collection. It would have made a better 'single' album with all of the best songs. I'm not crazy about his voice, his harmony arrangements are not particularly memorable, but the mood he gets from the music is very nice and BW-ish. I wish he would've left out a few of those dumb sound effects segueing between songs.

I recall with great fondness a gig in London, 1999, when they opened for Van Dyke Parks. About halfway through their set, a friend turned to me and said "nice riffs, now how about a few tunes ?"

I've found other High Llamas albums to be better focused with stronger material, but "Hawaii" is the one everyone talks about because it's the most "Beach Boys-like" stylistically (and one of the few albums I traded in for something else because of my disappointment in it).

Over the years some songs that have struck me with a Wilson vibe have been:

"Shannon" by Henry Gross.

"The Longest Drink" by Jules Shear

"Brian Wilson Said" by Tears For Fears.

Most of the first album by Fugu.

"Cruisin' Music" by The Raspberries.

The intro to the Yes hit "Rythym of Love" fooled me.

and most of all "The Love Songs of B.Douglas Wilson" by Splitsville is the most striking tribute I have ever heard.

Okay I wasn't orginally going to respond this but I decide I am going to now. First of all I am sorry you a purist in a bad way. I am sorry someone has to consider you consider the best band on earth to a bunch of  :quote "third rate bands". What do you know what? What if somebody is reading that and goes 'hey who are the beach boys'? Sure you the hardcore fan has to go and on why they have to compare with unkowns but thats how the word gets out. Do you know the youth get into older bands? Its not a lot of times the parents (I was grateful this music was all over my house) but its reviews of other people. Don't you think there is a curiousity factor that goes with that? Everyone compares everyone to The Beatles sometime or another and no gives everything. But when it comes to this everyone has to be a twist about it? Most of the bands that are compared to them are actually NOT BAD. Yes I do love The Thrills, they are 500000 more poppy then a lot of the  :quote  "popular" stuff out there. Same way with The Shins, Chin Up Chin Up, Augustana, and some of the other bands out there. The truth is thats a honor to be in that catagory. Sure they are not rewriting Pet Sounds or Smile (yes there is albums better then these two out there) but its better then it use to be. Musicians are now trying to get in touch with there roots (ie The Killers/Springsteen, Wolfmother/Led Zepplin etc...) You see folks, these are the kind of people that say the music will die with there generation. Its not going to die but its going to be reinterpreted by different groups of people. The people that are influnced by Wilson are not the same people that were say 40 years ago. His influnce is changing with the time. You can call it third rate all you want, but the pop culture of now are finally realizing Brian Wilson/The Beach Boys did do something right in culture :banana . They are not a group spoken by a few musically smart people or laughed at by the masses. Okay end of my lecture and my $0.02  :drumroll

PS: There are critics who do know $%^&*! out there.

Alan Boyd's "Channel Surfing" - It's like a Brian Wilson/Beach Boys pastiche.

Not original but a great homage to the masters

I still think Everybody Hurts by REM sounds a lot like Lonely Sea.

Sure it's a very common riff, but still...

I checked out the tunes on the Explorers Club myspace page, and while they do have an uncanny ability to nail the BB's vibe, it's a little too slavish for my tastes. The EC are to the Beach Boys, what the Rutles are to the Beatles, only without the humor. I mean this from the fact that you hear their songs and know exactly what BBs song they are ripping off/rewriting. Hearing the "cabinessence" banjo in their song "I Lost My Head" made me roll my eyes more than think "cool!"

Then again, just like with the Beatle zombies I don't get the religious zeal they dissect minutia with- as somehow if they know what the thread count in Paul McCartney's sheets were in '64 they'll somehow become Paul McCartney. I much prefer someone being inspired by someone else's work and then putting their own stamp on it (much in the same manner Brian Wilson did with Phil Spector's influence) rather than training themselves to be a magpie. 

But you know, different streaks for different freaks...

Dean

Voxnut - I agree with what you've said, though my reaction to the more slavish copies is different than yours - if I like the song I am able to overlook that fact that it is a ripoff/slavish imitation.

The initial purpose of my AWoPS (A Wall of Pet Sounds) mix series was a reaction to some friends/co-workers who seemed to love a lot of bands influenced by The Beach Boys, yet they hated The Beach Boys themselves.  As I set out to prove a point I wound up discovering a lot of songs/bands I hadn't previously heard.   Even before the first mix was complete it had turned into something I was making for my own enjoyment (and I'd quit the crummy job which left me with no one to make the mixes for anyway).

So that's the story.  I'd still like to see what songs some of the other board members have discovered that sound like/are influenced by BW.  Post away...

A few moments of Olivia Tremor Control's second/final album, Black Foliage, are pretty obvious nods to the Smile and Smiley Smile eras. There are similar moments in both of their primary splinter bands, Circulatory System and The Sunshine Fix.

(Rather than argue the merits of the idea of this thread, I thought I'd just shut up and contribute.)

AWoPs, wow, I tried posting a similiar subject on another BB site, and there was zilch interest, except for one person - none, nada.  You think like me.  I used to think I was a BB purist, then came to the conclusion I love the sound, so I started searching high and low for any music that gave a nod to the BB and could care less if critics, both by calling and self-appointed, called them ripoffs.  If it pleased my ears, so be it, call it what you may.  The majority of people out there - and I have alot of friends and throw parties all the time - couldn't tell you the BB were made up of 3 brothers and a cousin, much less which ear Brian was deaf in.  The "experts" are in the minority so it doesn't bother me what they say.  I am a big country rock fan - The Eagles, Poco, Pure Prairie League - and I have discovered several lesser known bands that do what these guys do - and they do it well.  By the same token, I love Jimmy Buffett, and have found several songs by different artists that I have made compilations of that put me in the same spirit -  some gems by Jackson Browne, Kenny Chesney, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, fall into that "tropical" category.

Now to the meat.  Only one person here mentioned Alan Boyd, but since nobody has mentioned the following, I'll assume you may not be familiar with them.  I've included websites where these can be purchased.  Granted, not all the music on these CD's may emulate the BB sound, but a few do, and they are finds.  I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

One other note.  I tend to agree with the poster who has been disappointed by the mention of some other bands that were likened to the BB -The Thrills, for example.  My opinion on the the bands music in and of itself doesn't matter, but I don't think they're very BB-ish.  I have read many reviews and eagerly visisted websites to hear soundbites of recommended music, only to be disappointed.

Alan Boyd - Channel Surfing: http://www.boydproductiongroup.com/ (also amazon.com)
It's Only Roy -  http://www.itsonlyroy.com/, among others Gentle Soul is excellent
Vinyl Kings - Time Machine, www.cdbaby.com, 4 or 5 songs, including Sycamore Bay, which is the best one
The Malibooz (Walter Egan) - CDs: Beach Access and Living Water, www.malibooz.com (also cdbaby.com)
Northern Light - Both CD's, http://www.glacierdisc.com/; if you can get past a couple of the songs that are too "Up With People-ish", they have some very good songs. 
Henry Gross - Best Of , amazon.com; I think the songs What A Sound and Springtime Mama are better than Shannon
The Raspberries, besides Cruisin' Music, Drivin' Around and Eric Carmen's She Did It and That's Rock And Roll

I have some onesies, twosies things, too, so send me an e-mail and I can get you the info.

Thank you for the post!  Check your email.

And or thoes looking for something BB-esque, check out the song "Soft Carousel" by Maple Mars - has a psychedelic "Feel Flows" feel to it.

Very well put. I've been wasting time and money...and money on cds  by bands I were told were Beach Boys influenced. You've just cured me of the dissapointment I felt.

Why did you spend money on product you haven't first listened to?  Why did you do it multiple times?

Would be interested in learning what you were told was influenced by the BB and was not.

The Magic Numbers, The Heavy Blinkers, The Raspberries (they also claim to have a Phil Spector production  ::)), The Vines (all the critics said the third album was Beach Boys/Beatles influenced), Big Star (everyone told me that Alex Chilton claims to be heavily influenced by the Byrds and the Who, two of my favorite bands, but I ain't hearing it), The High Llamas. That's all I can think of right now.

None of those bands particularly sound like the BB.  The whole purpose of the BB soundalike exercise is to find enough songs to make a compilation.  Rarely do you find a CD with music that is entirely BB, save maybe Alan Boyd's.  Thats why I find the songs off those albums and record them to my compilation.  The Raspberries were not a BB type band.  Rather, Eric Carmen was a BB fan and had been influenced by them.  The best you can say about the Raspberries is that they did 3 songs that emulated the "spirit" of the BB sound - and those were Cruisin' Music, Drivin' Around, and Overnight Sensation, more so the first two than the last.

www.myspace.com/sloppyhorse

That's my band. Our music is heavily influenced by the Beach Boys, but it sounds absolutely nothing like them.

Well, yes, you did get screwed on these.  I don't hear it in The Magic Numbers at all - average "power pop" band in my humble opinion (and even the term "power pop" is way over used these days).  The Heavy Blinkers have a couple of tunes that have a Beach Boys feel to them but even those songs are more Bee Gees-esque.  The Raspberries have a few tunes that more "inspired by" than "sound like."  I have read the comment on The Vines record and I agree, I don't see it at all, ditto Big Star (though the opening riff of "Turn My Back On the Sun" steals the opening riff of "Wouldn't It Be Nice."

The High Llamas are a different story alltogether.  A lot of O'Hagan's music reminds me of SMiLE-era Brian Wilson stripped of all emotion.

I guess the difference between your experience and mine is that I listened to clips from these records prior to handing over my cash and saved myself a lot of money.  If you want, send me your mailing address and I'll send you a disc of songs that, in my opinion, sound like the BB...would be interested in hearing what you think.

Could you upload those songs and post them on yousendit.com, or a site like that, and post the link on this thread? Or send me a private message witht the link?  ;D

Another group I've found dissapointing is The Polyphonic Spree.

Here, here!

I compare the Polyphonic Spree to the High Llamas in this way: they're both very one-dimensional. Both have found a way to almost perfectly capture a certain feeling or vibe, but they never really expand beyond it. There are no great songs, just the vibes or feelings...over and over and over and over and...

The Polyphonic Spree is dissapointing on CD, but they're the best live act I've ever seen. And "Section 12 (Hold Me Now)" is one of my favorite songs of the last few years.

The Poly Spree is disappointing in as much as they are often touted as "sounding like the Beach Boys" - they don't.  As a band, not too bad...but I also agree that they seem to capture the same vibe/feel over and over again - Section 12 does the best job of capturing this feeling.

I guess I am agreeing with all of you.

Yep, it would be totally jackass to say that "Pale and Precious" sounds like The Beach Boys.

Don't know why I felt the need to go back to this, but I did.

people tell me my band sounds like beach boys music.

www.myspace.com/pacificcoastband (http://www.myspace.com/pacificcoastband) -- rehearsal demos and video from our recent show at the Whisky.

we're beginning recording our first cd this week on vintage analog equipment with the musicians playing together live with vocal overdubs.

Has anyone checked out "the Lost Album" by Lewis Taylor? I have a copy in transit and the bits that I heard has me really looking forward to spending time with it- there seems to be a huge Pet Sounds vibe without being a direct and earnest rip off.   

Dean

Yes!  Agreed!  Lewis defintely channels those influences without sounding like he is copying anyone - "Let's Hope Nobody Finds Us" is like the lost track from Pet Sounds.  FYI, there is a Lewis  myspace page - http://www.myspace.com/lewistaylorstoned

I really didn't dig the Pacific Coast band or that Lewis Taylor guy.  ???

I got the Lewis Taylor CD and after one full listening, I've got to admit it's not as much of my thing as I had hoped it would. There are moments certainly, and I like the one really Brian Wilson-esque song "Let's Hope Nobody Finds Us" but overall the record is too dense in that kind of '70's Todd Rundgren way for me to really get into. Every line has a complex melody with a complex harmony and chord pattern under it. So while it's technically pop because it's melodic and there isn't much in the way of time signature changes or odd time signatures, the "hummability" factor isn't really there for me- which as advanced as Pet Sounds is, it manages to hold on to. While this isn't through composing, it has that feel to it. I'm sure other folks will just love this, and while it's not my thing there is no denying that he's a talented guy.

But other than the one song, I have to retract my thought of it being more BW/BB influenced that I originally thought after listening to 30 second snippets of a few songs.

Dean

The harmony in the beginning of Kenny Loggin's Thats allright (I think thats the title...from the Caddyshack soundtrack) sounds very Wilsonesque...very much so.

has anyone heard a song that samples "Busy Doin Nothing"???
a friend of mine heard it, and thought it was used in a Sugar Ray tune but couldn't be sure.
i haven't had any luck locating what the heck she was referring to.  maybe she was just high.

She might have been high, but either way I am pretty sure she's referring to the guitar hook of "Every Morning," their hit from 1999. I know I was just getting into the Beach Boys around then, and had picked up Friends. That guitar hook is pretty similar to the little line at the beginning of "Busy Doin Nothing."

It wouldn't surprise me if it was an intentional lift, either. After seeing Sugar Ray Mark McGrath on RnR Jeopardy back around that time, I am pretty sure he knows more about pop music than anyone on earth. Too bad his band kinda sucks...

Jason Lytle of my favorite modern band, 'Grandaddy' is a genius of today IMO. Not to mention that his voice sounds hauntingly like Brians.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hKmAosunA

Formerly of Grandaddy, that is. They broke up last year.

I know. It's so sad. :(

hmm, I like Grandaddy, they were good. But I dont think they were at the 'genius' level. Especially when a lot of their songs had a similar feel and they never really experimented with much.

I agree with you, Joe. IMO, they were a good band, but that's about it. Of course, a good band is a good thing, so I'm not knocking them one bit.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the apex of all Wilsonian tributes ~ Chris Rainbow's 'DEAR BRIAN' from his album 'Looking Over My Shoulder'.

L&M
Polly

The intro/chorus to "Carrie-Anne" by the Hollies reminds me of BB harmonies, especially the intro.

From out here in the Sonoran desert, the cut 12 on the Gin Blossoms latest CD (Major Lodge Victory) is a delightful Wilsonesque harmony piece called "California Sun".

The whole disc deserves more attention....but that's the only song on it that is a BB soundalike.

That's a good point. I agree that over their existance they didn't really progress much. Perhaps the Flaming Lips would fit that better. Having said that, I still like the sound of G more then the FL.

This isnt' quite a Beach Boys soundalike, but it is a pretty obvious retro-influenced group: Apples (in Stereo). I have always admired their sound more than their actual albums, but I have to say, their new release is really good. New Magnetic Wonder is the name of the album. I really do recommend it.

If you haven't done so yet, I highly recommend checking out the new song by The Explorer's Club called "Last Kiss."  If you like BB/BW-esque songs, this is for you.  Go to myspace to have a listen:  http://www.myspace.com/explorersclub

Certainly derivitive, but great tunes.