The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey, All!
Just thought I'd try this out, and see how it went.
I really liked seeing how different everyone's opinions were on the Top 5 Albums thread.

Also, I'm not including Bonus Tracks

12. Moon Dawg
11. Ten Little Indians
10. Cuckoo Clock
9. The Shift
8. Summertime Blues
7. Chug-A-Lug
6. County Fair
5. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
4. Surfin'
3. 409
2. Surfin' Safari
1. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)

1. Surfin' Safari
2. 409
3. County Fair
4. Surfin'
5. Cuckoo Clock
6. Moon Dawg
7. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
8. The Shift
9. Summertime Blues
10. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
11. Chug-A-Lug
12. Ten Little Indians

12. The Shift
11. Ten Little Indians
10. County Fair
9. Chug-A-Lug
8. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
7. Moon Dawg
6. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
5. Cuckoo Clock
4. Summertime Blues
3. Surfin'
2. 409
1. Surfin' Safari

Cool idea - but can't really do it with this album. Hope you post more polls in the future!

I'll be goin' down the line!
I'll post the next one in a few days.

Surfin' Safari
409
Surfin'

County Fair
The Shift
Moon Dawg
Chug-A-Lug

Cuckoo Clock
Little Miss America

Heads You Win Tails I Lose
Summertime Blues
Ten Little Indians

1. Surfin' Safari
2. 409
3. Surfin'
4. Heads You Win Tails I Lose
5. County Fair
6. Little Miss America
7. Moon Dawg
8. Cuckoo Clock
9. Chug-a-Lug
10. Summertime Blues
11. The Shift
12. Ten Little Indians

1. Surfin' Safari
2. 409
3. Surfin'
4. County Fair
5. The Shift
6. Heads You Win Tails I Lose
7. Moon Dawg
8. Little Miss America
9. Summertime Blues
10. Chug-A-Lug
11. Cuckoo Clock
12. Ten Little Indians

"The Shift" is awesome if only for the line "She'll ball it with her shift on and have a good time"!

Haha, yeah, that's a pretty awesome line.

1. Surfin' Safari
2. Surfin'
3. Moon Dog
4. Chug A Lug
5. 409 (bit bored of it, nut I know I used to be a fan)
6. Ten Little Indians (I don't think any other further single from the album would have done any better)
7. The Shift
8. Cuckoo Clock (this reminds me a bit of "Zing Went the Strings of My Heart")
9. County Fair (trounced by "I Do")
10. Heads I Win, Tails You Lose (I enjoy Mike portray a whiny nerdy loser on this album, but this one goes too far.)
11. Little Girl (Great performance, too sugary a song)
12. Summertime Blues (great song but impossible to improve on the original)

The Shift is the first truly lascivious BB tune. It rules, and it rocks in a way most of the album does not.

Yeah dude, for real. If more songs had been like that it would've been a great (not to mention anomalous) under-appreciated garage rock classic.

Fans of The Who and Blue Cheer might disagree.  ;D

1. Cuckoo Clock
2. Moon Dawg
3. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
4. Surfin' Safari
5. Summertime Blues
6. The Shift
7. 409
8. Country Fair
9. Surfin'
10. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
11. Chug-A-Lug
12. Ten Little Indians

I've bolded the ones I really care much to listen to.  Can't say there is any song on this album I consider indispensable though.  It's crucial from a historical perspective, but beyond that I don't have too much to say on this one.  Cuckoo Clock is the best song in my view because there's just a hint of melancholy and Brian's voice is refreshingly youthful.  I don't consider the title track a total classic, but it's alright, especially in a meatier live form.

Surfin' Safari
409
Surfin'
Cuckoo Clock
Ten Little Indians
The Shift
Little Goil You're My Miss America
Heads You Win Tails I Lose
Chug-A-Lug
Moon Dawg
County Fair
Summertime Blues

1. Surfin' Safari
2. 409
3. Surfin
4. Little Girl
5. Chug A Lug
6. Ten Little Indians
7. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
8. Summertime Blues
9. Cuckoo Clock
10.The Shift
11. County Fair
12 Moon Dawg

Can't rate the individual songs, but I've just noticed I don't dislike any of them, so this is quite an achievement! :)

12. Ten Little Indians
11. The Shift
10. Cuckoo Clock
9. Moon Dawg
8. Heads You Win-Tales You Loose
7. Summertime Blues
6. Chug-A-Lug
5. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
4. Surfin'
3. 409
2. Surfin' Safari
1. Country Fair

Chug-A-Lug
Cuckoo Clock
County Fair
Surfin' Safari
The Shift
Ten Little Indians
409
Summertime Blues
Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
Moon Dawg
Surfin'
Little Girl (You're My Miss America)

                1. Surfin' Safari
                 2. Cuckoo Clock
                 3. Heads You Win-Tails I lose
                 4. 409
                 5. County Fair
                 6. Chug-A-Lug
                 7. Little Miss America
                 8.Moon Dawg
                 9. The Shift
                10. Summertime Blues
                11. Surfin'
                12. Ten Little Indians

1 Surfin' Safari
2 Moon Dawg
3 Surfin'
4 409
5 Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
6 Summertime Blues
7 Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
8 Chug-A-Lug
9 Cuckoo Clock
10 The Shift
11 County Fair
12 Ten Little Indians

This album has it's charm and I prefer it over "Surfin' USA" and "Little Deuce Coupe".

  1. County Fair
  2. Little Girl (Dennis sounds awesome!)
  3. Cuckoo Clock (silly but cute)
  4. Surfin'
  5. Surfin' Safari
  6. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
  7. Summertime Blues
  8. Chug-A-Lug
  9. 409 (I actually prefer the S&S version)
10. The Shift
11. Ten Little Indians
12. Moon Dawg

Man...no love for Ten Little Indians?  WTF.  Wasn't that a single?  Maybe a B-side.  I don't know.

I think it's a crafty little tune.  Really shows Brian, early on, creating/blending vocal textures and clever "poly-rhythmic" (??) layers.  Also, his classic reinvention of a childhood/nursery rhyme sorta thing -- attempting to highlight and utilize those influences in a new way.

A little trite, thematically and otherwise...but so is the whole album.  Which is the charm -- why I love this album.  It is quintessential Brian Wilson.  Embarrassing but blissful.

"County Fair" kicks ASS. Don't let "I Do" cornfuse the matter, if it had never happened, "County Fair" would still be teh bee's knees.

Man I just listened to I Do for the first time in years. What an amazing song. Especially with the churchbell sounds. I can't recall the name of that instrument, but it's such an emotive instrument. I feel like there's some really popular Coldplay song that has those church-chimes in it and it's probably at least 40% of the reason that song's popular.

but anyway,

1. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
2. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
3. Surfin' Safari
4. Chug-a-Lug
5. 409
6. County Fair
7. Surfin'
8. Cuckoo Clock
9. Moon Dawg
10. Summertime Blues
11. The Shift
12. Ten Little Indians

1.  Surfin' Safari
2.  409
3.  Surfin'
4.  Moon Dawg
5.  Cuckoo Clock
6.  Little Girl
7.  Heads You Win...
8.  County Fair
9.  Chug-a-Lug
10.  The Shift
11. Summertime Blues
12.  Ten Little Indians

1. Surfin' Safari
2. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
3. Surfin'
4. 409
5. County Fair
6. Ten Little Indians
7. Moon Dawg
8. Summertime Blues
9. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
10. Chug-A-Lug
11. The Shift
12. Cuckoo Clock

1. Surfin' Safari
2. County Fair
3. Ten Little Indians
4. Chug-A-Lug
5. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
6. 409
7. Surfin'
8. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
9. Summertime Blues
10.Cuckoo Clock
11. Moon Dawg
12. The Shift

1. The Shift
2. The Shift
3. The Shift

...You get the picture... ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)

How convenient for you.

I don't really dislike any of them. Far from their best, but in the context of a debut, there is a freshness to all the songs. A nice garage rock sound. I tend to not rank covers as high. So here goes.

1. Surfin Safari
2. Chug a Lug
3. Coo Coo Clock
4. 409
5. Moon Dawg
6. The Shift
7. Heads You Win Tails I Lose
8. Little Girl
9. County Fair
10. Surfin
11. Ten Little Indians
12. Summer Time Blues

1. County Fair
2. Surfin' Safari
3. Cuckoo Clock
4. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
5. 409
6. Chug A Lug
7. Heads You Win...
8. Surfin'
9. The Shift
10. Ten Little Indians
11. Moon Dawg
12. Summertime Blues

Probably the album most ignored by me, next to "Party," and I'm regretting how little I've listened to it! It's a really cool, loose album.

1. Surfin' Safari
2. 409
3. County Fair

4. Chug-A-Lug
5. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
6. Moon Dawg
7. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
8. Cuckoo Clock
9. The Shift
10. Surfin'
11. Summertime Blues
12. Ten Little Indians

1.surfin safari
2.surfin'
3.summertime blues
4.409
5.county fair
6.chug a lug
7.ten little indians
8.heads you win tails I lose
9.cuckoo clock
10.little girl
11.the shift
12.moon dawg

1.  Surfin' Safari
2.  Surfin'
3.  Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
4.  409
5.  Moon Dawg
6.  Chug-a- Lug
7.  County Fair
8.  Cuckoo Clock
9.  Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
10.The Shift
11.Summertime Blues
12.Ten Little Indians

1. Surfin' Safari - Classic. Helluva way to kick off their Capitol era. A natural progression from 'Surfin'', and way better.
2. 409 - First car song, early Wilson/Usher gem and just plain cool.
3. Chug-a-Lug - "Brian's still glued to the radio..." I dig this song, for some reason.
4. Surfin' - Sped up? Eh. But still good.
5. County Fair - Liking this more all the time.
6. Little Girl (You're My Miss America) - Rather underrated. Nice Denny vocal.
7. The Shift - Dumb but sorta nice.
8. Cuckoo Clock - Uh...well, it's alright.
9. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose - Hmm...it's okay.
10. Ten Little Indians - Doesn't work quite so well today. If it ever did...
11. Moon Dawg - Kinda filler, but hey...
12. Summertime Blues - Not bad, but pretty clunky.

Nice garage rock start. I like coming back to it every now and then.

From Worst to Best:
12. Ten Little Indians
11. Heads You Win (Tails I Lose)
10. Summertime Blues
9. The Shift
8. Chug-a-Lug
7. Moon Dawg
6. 409
5. Surfin'
4. Cuckoo Clock
3. County Fair
2. Surfin' Safari
1. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)

I've been working on tallying up the lists for these threads.  It's interesting to see where the songs end up with a notable sample size.

1. Surfin' Safari - 297 (18)
2. 409 - 245
3. Surfin' - 217
4. County Fair - 207 (3)
5. Little Girl (You're Miss America) - 193 (2)
6. Chug-A-Lug - 173 (1)
7. Cuckoo Clock - 169 (1)
8. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose - 149 (1)
9. Moon Dawg - 141
10. The Shift - 122
11. Summertime Blues - 104
12. Ten Little Indians - 90 (1)

My thoughts? Cuckoo Clock and Moon Dawg are a tad underrated here, while I still can't quite figure out the love for Surfin'.  Then again, pretty much all the songs here fall under that very early garage/surf rock sound.  The title track wins handily.

Cute album.

1. Surfin Safari (although I prefer the early demo version with different lyrics)
2. Chug A Lug (love it!)
3. Heads You Win Tails I Lose
4. Ten Little Indians
5. County Fair
6. Surfin'
7. Cuckoo Clock
8. The Shift
9. 409
10. Moon Dawg
11. Summertime Blues
12. Little Girl You're My Miss America

1. Cuckoo Clock
2. Moon Dawg
3. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
4. Surfin' Safari
5. Summertime Blues
6. The Shift
7. 409
8. Country Fair
9. Surfin'
10. Heads You Win, Tails I Lose
11. Chug-A-Lug
12. Ten Little Indians

Heads I Win, Tails I Lose
Surfin Safari
409
Surfin
Little Girl (Miss America)
The Shift
Chug-a-lug
County Fair
Cuckoo Clock
Summertime Blues
Moon Dawg
Ten Little Indians

1. Surfin Safari
2. 409
3. Summertime Blues
4. The Shift
5. Little Girl
6-12 everything else. (Surfin' ranked low because this version is sped up and sounds like twice-baked ass)

I thought the same thing! I'm actually shocked at how consistently it was voted worst or second to worst. I guess, I just hadn't noticed the dislike for the song elsewhere on the board. Wow. Anyway...


Here's my rankings based purely on personal taste...

1. Surfin' Safari

2. Surfin'
3. Ten Little Indians
4. Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
5. Chug-A-Jug
6. County Fair

7. 409
8. The Shift
9. Cuckoo Clock
10. Heads You Win - Tails I Lose
11. Moon Dawg
12. Summertime Blues