The Smiley Smile Message Board

heart-warming song, or mushy embarrassment? sweet gesture from mike, or just an opportunist marketing ploy? the best song to quote passages from previous beach boys songs, or does "smart girls" have it beat?

you decide...

I don't like it.

The best song to quote pervious lyrics is "Do It Again."

ahh! good point.

Do you know of plan that Mike Love had to release it as a single?

I think it's a well-intentioned song, with a good melody and touching lyrics, with a fine vocal by Carl. While it would've been nice to include it on 15 Big Ones or even MIU, it would've been awkward for Brian, drawing even more attention to his fleeting "comeback". I think the song is where it belongs, a good choice for a comp of unreleased songs.

Like the background vox, otherwise...meh.

i've never actually sat down and listened to it

i kind of ignore that period of the band except Love You which i think was of the same period

my favorite period is basically from the Today! album through Surf's Up, but I like a select few things from before and after, and I enjoy the story of the early Beach Boys a lot, i just don't like most of the music except some songs like The Warmth of the Sun

just never liked Mike sing: "not to mention ol' Pet Sounds"   

YUCK

lol, didn't even realize that was a lyric. that's foul.

personally i think that mike secretly adores Pet Sounds and puts it on and cries to it perhaps nightly, he's just too tough to admit it

plus, mike sang so sweetly, capturing the mood of "that's not me" so damn well, it goes beyond professionalism

this is my belief in general, that mike loves all of brian's music, just that he finds some of it uncommercial. wasn't there some discussion here or elsewhere about mike humming the melody to "wonderful" in recent years off stage at a concert or something like that? "wonderful" is uncommercial and weird despite its apparent prettiness, the whole structure of the song is deceptive, it's like something out of Alice in Wonderland

i have successfully derailed this thread from a crappy song to a wonderful song

Pun intended?

Anyway, apparently Brian's Back is a song that Mike was really sincere about. Mike's first daughter Melinda posted somewhere (maybe this board) that he played Brian's Back for her on acoustic guitar and had to hold back tears.

I've always liked the song and it would never occur to me to take it at anything but face value. To me it's totally warm and sincere, especially given that it stayed pretty much in the shadows for so long.

there's another one, can you spot it? both totally unintended, but awesome

Goes in the sucky department next to Endless Harmony  >:D

I don't recall reading that story, but if true I would have to admit I'm a bit surprised at Mike's sincerity.  The song has always seemed so contrived, given the context of the whole "Brian's Back" campaign.  I never doubted that there was some love (no pun intended) behind the song, but I would never have guessed that it held such emotional importance to Mike.

I actually don't mind the song too much, cheesy as it may be at times.  The Boys have put out far worse.

I think it's a so-so to good song. The lyrics could be less cheesy, but well, Pet Sounds wasn't as overhyped in the mid to laet seventies as today, so the allusion is a good moment. Mike wrote (or co-wrote) a fine bunch of songs, if not stelar, in '78.

i personally like the song.. i just wish all the BB sang on it..

anyone find it wierd that Mike re-recorded this for his "newest" album?  i find the EH version to be the definative version

I find it even weirder that Brian of all people once produced another version of this song for the BB.

Brian was actually back in 2004 as opposed to when Mike wrote the song.

The BBs version of Brian's Back from the 1978 Miami sessions is hilarious. You can hear Brian in the backing vocals going "I...am...BACK!"

ha! gotta hear that!

Somewhat incomplete - no lead vocals, just track and bvs. To my mind the best ML version - of about five - is the one with the 60-second orchestral intro and the little 'car radio' bit between that and the song itself.

Five ML versions are as follows -

1978 First Love mix
1980s First Love remix
1978 promo cassette edit
1980s uncirculated remix
2004 Unleash the Love

Love the cello that comes in to quote Good Vibs in the second verse. And come on, how can you not love Carl singing You Still Believe in me at the end? Worth it just for that bit.

The one with the radio is on one of the Aussie EP CCS volumes. I like that one too.

I'm glad you mentioned that part by Carl at the end.  I love that part too...it's a touching tribute, perhaps even moreso than the rest of the song.