The Smiley Smile Message Board

I dunno if this has been mentioned on here yet but I wanted to bring to light all the great instrumental songs that the Beach Boys did. There was their cover of Moon Dawg from Surfin' Safari, Their covers of Misirlou and Lets Go Trippin' from Surfin' USA, and the great originals of Stoked, Honky Tonk and especially Surf Jam; Rocking Surfer and Boogie Woodie from Surfer Girl, Shut Down Part 2, Carl's Big Chance, Pet Sounds, etc., these were some great songs. And I know the Beach Boys get all their acknowledgment for their harmonies but in those early years they made some great instrumental tracks and it showed how great they were as musicians, I mean Carl was fucking 16 when they recorded the instrumentals on Surfin' USA, you gotta give him some fucking credit, he had great chops! 

You forgot Summer Means News Love. I really like the guitar sound in that one. Of course, I don't think any of the Beach Boys played on it.

From memory, didn't Brian play on it? I'm guessing piano if that is the case.

Can't forget "Denny's Drums" either. Neanderthaal rock.

When this topic comes up, I always like to recognize one of my favorites, "The Nearest Faraway Place". I've always felt that if the songwriting credit had B.Wilson on it instead of B. Johnston, it would get more respect.

Also, a mention of the two instrumentals from "Pet Sounds" LP, and the Survivors b-side, "After the Game." I also like the Pendleton vibe of "Punchline," an unreleased instrumental on disc one of the GV boxed set.

Oh, and "Fire," of course.

In the '60s, Japan released a Beach Boys instrumentals LP. I'd actually like to get a copy of that.

I'm not a fan of the earlier garage/surf rock kind of instrumentals so much, but I love the two Pet Sounds tunes and the aforementioned "Summer Means New Love." And I'm with Aegir on that one in that the guitar tone is fantastic--a real favorite sound of mine.

yes those are great songs and real 'surf music' songs. I also liked what Bruce did with the nearest faraway place on 20/20 great track

Being in Japan, I recently picked up the Instrumental Hits CD for about $10 US. Nothing new on it but nice to play while doing things around the house from time to time.

http://www.amazon.com/Beach-Boys-Instrumental-Hits/dp/B000066ACJ/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1213158837&sr=8-1

Yeah Punchline is a good one.

With Brian having to dip into his back catalogue substantially on all of his solo albums, and without the Beach Boys' voices and a consistent lyricist, I'm surprised he didn't include any instrumentals on his solo albums. Even the Christmas album would've been a good opportunity to do a nice, creative instrumental.

I'm with you Sheriff. I've always thought it was a great tune. Off the top of my head, the only other Beach Boys instrumentals (that have seen an official release) that I like WAY better are Let's Go Away For Awhile and Summer Means New Love. I just love those two songs.

Gotta agree, Fire is awesome !!

Brian did an instrumental with Andy Paley in 1996 for the Del-Fi compilation "Pulp Surfin'."

I'm not sure whether or not technically In My Moondreams is an instrumental since it does have Brian singing harmonies over the top of it. Not sure though.

I consider those to be instrumentals... Duane Eddy, Dick Dale and Link Wray all had instrumentals with smatterings of "ah," "bah" or "oooh" vocals.

If Passing By counts I definitely have to mention it. ;D

I'd count them, and I love them.

If Passing By is an instrumental, then Our Prayer is an instrumental. And Our Prayer can't be an instrumental, because it doesn't have any instruments!

That's actually an excellent song with very good vocals from Brian. After his performance on OCA and IJWMFTT I was shocked. Of course I haden't heard some of the other Paley demos that show him in good voice yet most notably the original Gettin In Over My Head.

One of the main reasons I love Brian is that he DIDN'T write 'The Nearest Faraway Place'.   :p

No love for Diamond Head?

I'll show it some love. One of those tracks that makes Friends such a great and unique album.

Fire and Let's Go Away for Awhile are my top 2 instrumentals though.

Haha well obviously everyone is entitled to their opinion, but why do you (and a lot of others around here) dislike it so much? I mean it's got none of those corny Bruce lyrics that we know he's capable of. It's not the greatest song but it is fairly pleasant to my ears. Hell, I wish I could write and arrange a song as good as that!!

Richard Clayderman-esque schmaltz to my ears - sorry!  I've a lotta love for Diamond Head, and (if we're allowing it) Passing By.  I think the most stunning BB instrumental though is 'Pet Sounds'. 

Hmm, well Moon Dawg has wordless vocal harmonies as well.