The Smiley Smile Message Board

This is the "Good Time" appreciation thread. I love that song, especially when I listen to it in the context in which it was created, with other early-'70s recordings. I love Al's and Brian's voices. I love how it's goofy. I love the cheesy organs. I love the horns. I love the percussion. I love singing along with all the parts at once (or thinking I am doing so until I realize that's impossible and maybe I've had too much to drink and am actually massacring the song).

"Good Time."

It needs your vote. Vote yes for "Good Time."

Yes....... :rock :rock

You've mentioned all the reasons why I love "Good Time". Definitely a big, hearty "yes!"  :rock

I like "Good Time" because it's so original, it's so Brian. I miss those types of songs from him, the sophomoric humor...

That being said, "Good Time" should not have appeared on Love You. It ruins the purity, the gruff/simplistic approach that I enjoy from the album. Maybe if Brian would've re-recorded his lead vocal with a 1976-77 one. Granted it wouldn't have been as good as the earlier one, but the way it exists on the album, it sounds so out of place. I sometimes wonder how anyone who was involved in the release of the album could not have pointed out the glaring differences in Brian's voice, as if we fans weren't sophisticated enough to notice. Or maybe they just didn't care.

Not only "yes" but YES!!!!!

Putting the song on "Love You" is out of whack... but everything Brian's done since the late 60's has SOMETHING wrong with it.  That's part of who he is.  So it makes perfect sense to me!  He'll have moments of genius, and moments of "what in the hell was he thinking???" sometimes in the same song. 

the lyrics are kinda 'love you' like...but obviously the voice isn't...what about the American Spring version?

"my friend O'rian is self-relyin'"
 :-\

I have a softspot for this song. But not sure if Al sings on it. I thought it's all Brian.
This was the last song on the first version of Sunflower, too bad it wasn't included in the final album, instead of "At My Window". Fans who heard it on LY probably thought it's Carl or wow, now Brian is really back!

Great song, it fits lyrically on Love you, i'm not sure whether it would have done so on Sunflower. Perhaps if they'd made it into a double album they could have had a side of the more 'odd' songs available - Good time, Take a load of your feet, I just got my pay, HELP is on its way etc..
It has a great production, nice and bouncing, it reminds me a little of Supergrass (mid 90s Britpop band)

That's the Beach Boys and that's how I love them.  :-D

Back in '77 (before I was hip to the history of the song) I simply thought Al had sung lead. The arrangement seemed out of place on "Love You" so, again, I thought that maybe Al had an uncredited production hand in the track. As incongruent as it may have seemed in '77, I'm just glad it was released.

By the way, I love that vocal line "...on the radio..." that appears on the Spring version during the keyboard break; I wish Brian used it for the BB release.

Like much of Brian's output, the music is sophisticated and brilliant and the lyrics are cringeworthy - they really needed some kind of lyrical quality control during this period (like Reilly exercised a bit later).  Incredible track, as was it's sound twin, I Just Got My Pay.

"My girlfriend Penny is kinda skinny and so she needs her falsies on..."  :lol

I love, love, love that song. No matter how strange it sounds on 'Love You', it's just a great song to listen to. A big YES from me!

It's cute.  I like it.

And I like "Take a Load Off Your Feet," too!

So do I.

So do I... but there's no ACJ lead on this song. That's BDW from 'get' to 'go'.

The Spring/Spring mix is much preferable to these ears, however.

In the refrains, at least, I think it's both. Sounds like Al in there, too, to me.

Love this song. It has kind of a tin pan alley feel to it, and I'm a sucker for that. That's why I even liked McCartney's cheesy stuff to. Bring it on!

There's a story somewhere (Carlin's book?) about Brian writing down the horn part while having a conversation with someone about something completely different. Anyone remember what I'm talking about?

I like the Spring version with the synth too, or whatever that is.

I don't doubt you, but neither will I feel shame: I'm not the first to confuse those two voices. I could've sworn in the "maybe it won't last but what do we care" segment, I could hear Al. Maybe I do hear him--in my mind. I have auditory hallucinations of Al's voice.

One other thing I want to mention about this song: like so many of the era, it has that brilliant, bright, present quality (I know that isn't a good description, and apologize.). Stephen Desper is a great man for the work he did in those years with the band. The sound on those tracks is distinctive and, to my ears, wonderful.

I would wager that's all singer the "Dirty Boogie" section. Great song, love Brian's Sunflower era material which I think was his last GREAT era.

To me, the "sound of pitter-patter"section sounds a little like Al, and the "Dirty Boogie" section sounds a little more like Brian.  I guess it's all Brian, but it's really hard to tell.

I love the production on this.  The percussion is great, the harmonica is awesome, and the horns are perfect.  Another fine example of Brian firing on all cylinders after '66.

The Beach Boys version of "Good Time" would have totally ruined the artistic integrity of Sunflower.  The Beach Boys really needed to be taken seriously when Sunflower was released, and most listeners back in 1970, myself included, would have considered the song idiotic.  Not that it doesn't have its charms -- it's one of those many BW songs that has potential, and has some really enjoyable parts, but overall comes across as too quirky.  I do really like the Spring version, which is far more palatable to my listening sensibilities.

And speaking of Sunflower, I was thrilled, when I got the album in Aug 1970, to discover that Susie Cincinnati, which had been released 6 months earlier as the flip of "Add Some Music to Your Day", had been left off the album.  To me, it was another dumb song that did nothing but reinforce many people's attitudes that the BBs were uncool.  While a song like "Got to Know the Woman" came across to me as totally cool, "Good Time" and "Susie Cincinnati" have always seemed lame to me.

"Good Time" does fit on Love You from a quirkiness standpoint, but at the same time, it really accentuates the decline in Brian's voice from 70 to 76.

Custom, while I don't disagree about "Good Time" being a little quirky, do you think it could've found a home on Side A, maybe between "Got To Know The Woman" and "Deidre"? The sequencing of Sunflower is all over the place; that's another issue. But look at that possible sequence.

Sunflower is sophisticated musically, but it does have it's funny/goofy moments - "come on and do The Chicken", "we'll take a bath and then I'll laugh again with Deidre", "I ran out of breath and I fell to the ground - poof", and "in an ocean or in a glass, cool water is such a gas".

They wouldn't have had to delete any songs, just include "Good Time" possibly...

 "The Beach Boys version of "Good Time" would have totally ruined the artistic integrity of Sunflower.  The Beach Boys really needed to be taken seriously when Sunflower was released, and most listeners back in 1970, myself included, would have considered the song idiotic.  Not that it doesn't have its charms -- it's one of those many BW songs that has potential, and has some really enjoyable parts, but overall comes across as too quirky. "


Maybe like Take A Load off Your Feet, HELP and I've Just Got My Pay!

Yes. Yes.

I also enjoy the low key "Hey" with 7 seconds left in the song.

And that effort was so successful, they were able enough to be taken seriously by all 213 people who bought the album. Serious, my ass. Such efforts may well have helped them sell concert tickets and a few albums in the early 70s, but I don't think anyone loves the Beach Boys for their somber outlook or deep ruminations. They should have put out their best music. They failed to do that consistently from 1966 onward (despite plenty of great stuff in those years). Brian was correct when he thought humor was an important part of music and life.

Yup. Its that kind of second guessing that screwed the Beach Boys out of a greater legacy.

Sorry to necro such an old thread, but can anybody give me more info about the version found on Dumb Angel? It's an interesting arrangement, and the booklet tells me nothing. Is it just an alternate take or is it from a different time period or what?

Yes from me too. As a notorious Love You disliker it is the best song on that album. ;D

Someone mentioned Sunflower should have been a double album - so do I think, there was enough material, and I absolutely love the collection of songs commonly referred to as "Landlocked" which could have been the second disk. Minus Til I Die, plus Games Two Can Play. "Good Time" was part of that collection. I don't think a double album would have sold any better, though.

Oh hells yes, this song is awesome. Probably the best on Love You, next to Johnny Carson.

I've been messing around with the settings on my phone's media player (Android) where you can change the speed of the music you're playing for a slight reduction of quality. At 0.7x speed, Good Time sound pretty dope. It adopts a sort of drunk/sinister vibe. Try it out. 

Ding Dang is another one that sounds particularly good at that speed.

 :hat

I think the box set would've been a good opportunity to put out this version (this would be the "Landlocked" one?).  The backing vocals being more present make it really come alive compared to the Love You one.

There's only one version, really. The 1970 take, the 1977 take and the Spring version are all remixes of the same basic track.

Definitely YES! Great, fun song. I can't think of which Beach Boys album it would appropriate for. I'm used to it being on Love You but I agree that it's out of place on it. What if it wound up on 15 Big Ones instead? Musically would it make more sense there? :-\

It always seemed to weirdly suit Love You to me... no idea why though

The album it might have fit best on is Surf's Up - it could be a fourth comedy track after Feet, Don't Go Near the Water and A Day in the Life of a Tree.

It doesn't fit musically on Love You because the bass synth vibe and the non gruff Brian vocal (or non drunk Carl vocal or superraspy Dennis vocal) is not there.  Lyrically it's a good fit though.

Don't you mean "because...the GRUFF Brian vocal...is not there" ? The vocal that IS there is NON-gruff.  :)

Yes you are of course correct - I did double negatives . . . It should be gruff Brian vocal or drunk Carl vocal!

I like it on Love You. I think it really fits, even if Brian's vocal sounds so much different. It even has weird organ sounds on it. I don't think Brian threw the song on "just cuz." It fit the project in his mind, even if it was 7 years old by the time it was released (who in the public would know that, anyway?).

I accidentally played "Our Favorite Recording Sessions" at that speed once and it had definitely a "Smiley Smile album" vibe that way! Try it! :)

The same type of humor. To me, it totally fits on LY.

The production style and the use of horns makes it a fit on Sunflower, in my opinion.

Given it was initially recorded January 1970, that's not such a huge surprise.

Ah, well that explains it. Thanks.

I'm shocked that it didn't make it onto Sunflower. It's such a good song.

It was on the Add Some Music master assembled 2/18/70... and also, oddly, the "2nd Warner Brothers LP" master assembled 9/1/70 (the alleged Landlocked album).

I think the 'Landlocked' mix is better. Especially the instrumental bridge.