The Smiley Smile Message Board

unfortunatly, when vinyl shopping today, my local Headstone Store only had the MIU album ... it was 3$...bad condition. and i know i'll be slayed for this, but, i bought it. even though i already own it. pretty much, if any BB item is 5$ and under (not greatest hits) i'll buy it

Drop that needle, punkinhead!

Laaaasssstttt night I went out disco dancin'
Saaaaawwwww a foxy girl out on the floor...

Love it! :police:

yeah, i actually really like the album

Personally, I think that's a kick ass buy.  I'd love a copy of MIU on vinyl.  In fact, I'm listening to it now as we speak!   :hat

you can get them cheep on Ebay some in mint condition. I got a sealed at a used record store for about 7 bucks

I really love Hey Little Tomboy, Belles of Paris, Sweet Sunday Love, My Diane and Match Point. Then you've got crap (imo) like She's Got Rhythm, Kona Coast, Pitter Patter and some cover songs.

Does anyone know if the first songs I mentioned were from previous sessions from the Love You or Adult Childhood era? The same goes for Good Timin.

As far as I know "Hey Little Tomboy" was during the Adult Child album.

Gotta have to say that Come Go and Peggy were started in 1976 but I am not sure on the later. I think perhaps they were finished at MIU. Hey Little Tomboy was a touch earlier then most of Adult Child though it was to go on there.

i wanna say Diane was worked on earlier than love you, but i'm prolly wrong...and bells of paris was originally written for the CHristmas album

"Good timin" was recorded in '74 I believe with Carl's lead. The Background-parts are from the LA-era

Good for you pumpkinhead you buy the same thing twice and one in bad condition. MIU is the kind of album you play all my yourself and get on down to.

The Xmas and MIU were done at the same time basically. I think that Carl's lead was cut in 78 on Good Timin'. I know the track was done in 74. Perhaps some of the vocals were done in 74 but I am not certain.

The backing track and some vocals were cut for "Good Timiin'" in 1974.

"My Diane" and "Tomboy" were LOVE YOU era recordings, both considered for the "NEW ALBUM" prior to their release on MIU (albeit with some sweetening).

"Come Go With Me" hails from the 15 BIG ONES sessions, but was extensively reworked for MIU.

"Lady Lynda" was also initially recorded during the MIU sessions.

I love MIU, when I first got it I had already acquired LA and KTSA and was very unimpressed by them (this was in the days when I searched high and low for the 70s LPs on vinyl, as the 2fer CDS were not out).
I remember the day I got MIU, it was a great warm spring afternoon and I put it on and I thought 'What a great sunny, enjoyable album', who cares about artistic bankruptcy when the tunes on offer are great?
I enjoy the production too, much, much better than the lame MOR that Johnston gave us afterward, It sounds a bit rustic and raw (A Jardine trait, going by his earlier productions of Back Home, Susie Cincinatti, Take a load off your feet etc...), a couple of extra songs might have set the album on fire - 'Almost Summer' for one, which stylistically and production-wise would have fitted on the album very well, even 'Winter Symphony' would have gone well on there. I actually enjoy the covers on here as well 'Come go with me' is ace especially. Probably the only near dud is 'Winds of change' which could have gone out the window for all I care.
Compared to the vastly overrated LA however, MIU is a real treat!  :)

I think it's a fucking awful album except for three or four tracks. Ditto LA.

I think it's the bestest album in the whole wide world. :) 

Seriously...I'm a big fan. 

You need to stay off the drink.  :p

Exactly right, IMO.  There's a warmth to MIU's production that is largely absent in the following 2 records-- and don't get me started on Steve Levine and that crap Culture Club sound he brought to the '85 album!   :smash

Anyway, "Peggie Sue" is the keeper out of the two Al oldies in my mind.  I never get sick of that one.  I love "Winds of Change" as well though, so obviously I don't see eye to eye with a lot of fans in that regard.

The MIU Album as a whole I think is a very decent album. And as mentioned before it was way better than the LA Light Album and Keepin' the Summer Alive. Yeah it did pretty shitty commercially but who cares, the Beach Boys weren't getting very good promotion from Reprise and the climate of pop music at that time was pretty fucking lame anyway. The two covers on the album are magnificent, and all the other songs were very well produced. I think Al Jardine did a good job on that album, considering it was the only Beach Boys album he was given production credit to.

I think as far as songwriting and production goes, though its not in great quantity, Al has quite a good track record.

Good songs on MIU: Pitter Patter, My Diane and, after a fashion, Winds of Change. There's some average stuff on there, like the covers, then there's the rest, which are drek, especially Belles of Paris, Little Tomboy, Matchpoint, Sweet Sunday..., and Kona Coast.

Good songs on LA: Good Timin', Angel Come Home, Love Surrounds Me, Baby Blue.  Average: Full Sail.  I don't really like the rest, but I don't find them as hard to listen to as I do the rest of MIU.

Good songs on KTSA: Santa Ana Winds (but I pine for the original), KTSA (well, it's okay as that sort of song goes - it's no Do It Again, though (but what else is?)), and maybe Goin' On - though I hate that sax break; then there's a lot of very average stuff with Sunshine the only real stinko for me.  Nevertheless, I find it harder to sit through this than I do the above.

BB 85: Some nice singing and BW seems to be taking a more positive role, but the production's a thing of its time.  Good songs?  To be honest, I quite like the retro Getcha Back, It's Gettin' Late, Maybe I Don't Know, Where I Belong, Male Ego. The rest of the stuff is fairly average, but Soul Searchin' is a far stronger slice of BW nostalgic rock 'n' roll than the two tracks here.  Passing Friend, California Calling (a pale, if not murky shadow of It's a Beautiful Day) and Crack at Your Love are two tracks that really suck.

Still Cruisin': Good - Somewhere Near Japan. Poor: the rest of the 'new' tracks.

Summer in Paradise: Good - Still Surfin'. Risible? The rest.

I suppose looking it at like that, MIU doesn't seem too bad after all    :-\

MIU was a summer album but it had nothing as bad as Here Comes The Night on L.A. except maybe the Paris song and that was at least only 3 minutes not a third of the frickin album. L.A. has a few other moments of dreck like Sumahama but it's an adult album that if California Feeling and Santa Ana made it instead of HCTN it would have been their only one past 1973 really worthy of study. KTSA is average but at least it has some natural ambience, and a few killer cuts. Some really bad stuff though. The last three I would have to say only have one or two good ones a peice. Really poor albums. SNJ is great. So MIU in the Beach Boys sceme of LPs isn't their worst and probably their most listenable post 77.

man, i love hearing all this defense for MIU   

I've always defended MIU based primarily on one factor - the lead vocals. If you were a BB fan back in 1976, you would understand why.

In 1976, I was listening to Endless Summer and Spirit Of America, which contained some of the greatest singing ever recorded. Then 15 Big Ones comes out and I'm heartbroken, not so much because of the material, but because of the vocals, primarily Dennis and Brian's. Nine months later, Love You is released, and even though the songs are stronger, Brian and Dennis continue to struggle.

Well, a year and a half goes by before MIU comes out, and I don't know what to expect. When I dropped the needle and heard Brian singing "She's Got Rhythm", I was literally doing cartwheels! And then Brian on "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" - yes! And Brian on "Matchpoint" - yes again! And finally, Brian hitting those high notes at the end of "Winds Of Change" - I was almost crying.

In addition to Brian being solid on MIU, listen to how great Al handles "Come Go With Me" and especially "Peggy Sue". And, even though I'm not crazy about the song, Mike is great on "Kona Coast", as well as "Pitter Patter".

Yes the vocals are great on MIU, only the lack of Carl is a sore point, but SSKOL is a great tune and Dennis on My Diane is fabulous too. Brian is all over the album vocally and in much better shape than on Love You, maybe they were bribing him with ice cream...

I think that LA Light was the 'hippest' album they did since 'Holland'. However, it is quite boring, where as Holland is very interesting. When I say hip, I mean that it isn't childish and cheesy (except for Shortnen Bread). Love You is very childish and cheesy, but I love it.

Love You is not cheesy....

I had a cassette copy of MIU from the early 90's that had a version of "Come Go With Me" without the acapella intro.  Was that the 15 Big Ones version?  Or is the acapella one a post-MIU remix?

I just realized I haven't listened to this album for many years!  Something kept me from picking up the 2-fer.

You don't think songs like 'Solar System', 'Roller Skatin Child', 'Ding Dang', 'Honkin Down the Highway' and 'Love is a Woman' are cheesy?  Maybe cheesy is not the right word.  I love these songs, but they aren't a very mature sound. Odd, yes, but child like. Most of the Friends album is like this as well.

But there is a difference between good cheesy/simple/child like, and bad cheesy/simple/child like. Some that IMO are bad would be 'Its Ok', 'She's Got Rhythm', 'Pitter Patter' and 'Kona Coast'. But I like 'Match Point' and 'Hey Little Tomboy'.

I'll give you that...they are not cheesy like "It's OK" and the others you mentioned. To me , songs like Solar System rank among my favorites because they are childlike and not serious. I think that because they have the BW touch they truly shine musically. When much of the mainstream music is quasi-serious and musically bogus, the songs on Love You serve as a breath of fresh air.
Forgive me though, I've never heard MIU!!!

You aren't to be forgiven for that, you're to be envied.

I appreciate the kind words, Luther!! :-D

Well, i'd say that it's certainly a bad album, and it's a TERRIBLE Beach Boys album (these guys made Pet Sounds remember?), but it's not quite as god-awful as legend has it.. My Diane is a classic, a really beautiful song, worth buying the album for! She's Got Rhythm has a tacky lyric but the tune is great, likewise Belles Of Paris and Pitter Patter. It's just a shame then that the rest of the record is such a huge steaming pile of shite! 'Hey Little Tomboy'? Just how appalling is that musical break in the middle of the track? Answer: Very.