The Smiley Smile Message Board

The weaker BBs albums all have a song or two that SAVE the album from being a waste. First of all to everyone who thinks MIU is so bad, side A has 5 upbeat cuts and pitter patter on the flipside, so all in all six rockin.tunes, and six flops; the Light album has shortenin bread thaf saves it from.being adult contemporary diluted fluff...and lastly Keepin the summer alive has the title song, Some of your love and the rendition of School day..so as Ive stated previously- the Beach Boys were and are a rock band but those late 70s albums are ONLY meaningful to us hardcore fans, they didnt have hit singles, they didnt mean anything to that era historically BUT they had a song or two that kept em afloat, get what Im sayin??

The L.A. Light Album had a Top 40 hit with Good Timin'. That and Baby Blue and Angel Come Home help save that album. Shortenin' Bread is filler and help bring the album down. I have rarely listened to it since I bought the album in 1979.

Goin' On is the album saver for me on Keepin' The Summer Alive. Great Brian tune with great vocals from everybody.

Yeah dennis' songs were great but they were supposed to be on the 2nd lp that didn't come out. And shortenin bread was the ONLY rockin cut, without it LA was jus so soft and uncharacteristic.

Angel Come Home was written by Carl and sung by Dennis. Love Surrounds Me is only song pulled from Bambu. I thought Baby Blue was written earlier? If you like disco, Here Comes The Night was pretty fast tune. I'm no fan of disco, but I love the vocals, a real tour de force.

While it may not have 'saved' the album, I always liked 'Island Fever' off SIP.

(I have admitted it before under the'unpopular opinions' thread. :lol)

The title track and "Goin' On" save Keepin' the Summer Alive from being completely bland.

It's all just opinion, but I think LA (Light Album) is solid from tracks 1-10, there's nothing that needs to be "saved."

Somewhere Near Japan is my most fitting answer for this.

If I program Sweet Sunday, Belles of Paris, Matchpoint , Woncha come out tonight and come go with me, for me, that is an enjoyable listen from MIU.

On LA, I always appreciated the effort for the disco "here comes the night" but it's 4-5 minutes too long.  Six minutes should have been long enough.  Love Surrounds me and Al's Lady Linda save that album for me. I know others will disagree but I still like Sumahama. Not sure it "saves" the album but a good contribution by Mike.

Jet without wings

Here comes the night was supposed to be long, though, because it was supposed to be a dance track at a disco.  I've never been to  a disco though, so not sure how that would have worked out. 

I'd like to find some 'hip cat' who was around back then, and find out if there were ever any discos (that this hip cat frequented) that actually played that damn song, and if anybody liked it at the disco. 

completely different audience. 

I think Goin' On and Endless Harmony save Keepin' The Summer Alive.

OK, most people disagree, but I LOVE Summer In Paradise (UK) and Slow Summer Dancin, and I think they saved the SIP album. And that album was HARD to save.

Except from the AWFUL AWFUL super shrill drum snare sound (so, so, so bad... really, soooo bad!), Slow Summer Dancin is a cool track and I quite dig it. It (along with Strange Things happen + Lahaini Aloha, and maybe in a generous mood one or two other tracks) make SIP half a listenable album. It's like an early 90s BB EP. Just pretend about half of it doesn't exist, and it's much better that way.

Well its not an opinion, Light Album was a mix of a godawful disco remake, 2 dennis solo cuts, 3 carl solo cuts, a mike solo outtake, al's take on bach,  a four yr old brian cut and then shortenin bread, the only rockin number on the lp... and likewise w KTSA , when you take away the title track and the rendition of school day its boring MOR/AOR. Their output

on cbs was so obviously thrown together obligationary mediocrity.

Can't think of BBs album. How about solo? Imagination is saved by "She Says that..." & "Happy Days".

MIU and KTSA are steaming piles of sh*t with a handful of decent songs apiece. LA is better, but it contains a fair bit of crap. Ditto 85. The fact that the tunes may be rocking doesn't mean a thing if they're lousy. I am a hardcore fan, but I prefer not to look the other way or attempt to justify some disappointing songs and choices. Imagine some of that crap from MIU had it turned up on Sunflower, Holland or Friends...

I'm pretty sure I read the shortened version got some plays. Don't recall where I read it. BBFUN  newsletter maybe?

MIU: Come Go With Me, My Diane (+maybe Hey Little Tomboy)

The rest of that album is quite sh*t really.

on.the.nose. post Holland BBs albums very subpar...sept love you (aka BRIAN loveS you)

(http://s28.postimg.org/gqtvj5ewd/7118707285_31219e39ab.jpg)

Even allowing that LA (Light Album) is mostly a hodge-podge of solo tracks, I happen to enjoy every one of those tracks, and there's nothing that needs to be saved for me, not even the "godawful disco remake."

Keepin' The Summer Alive, on the other hand... that's where we agree. I think that album is one of their worst, and if it weren't for the title track, "Goin' On," and "When Girls Get Together," I'd literally never listen to it. Those 3 songs "save" the album for me. It's all subjective; some people on here LOVE that album from top to bottom (maybe not many, but their opinions and tastes are equally as viable as anyone else's).

It is an opinion, and just like buttholes, pretty much everybody has one. Doesn't mean you're going to eat it like groceries.

I'm not a big fan of Hey Little Tomboy. Personally, my take on it, is that the narrator is trying to change this tomboy into a woman, despite her wishes. Maybe I'm analyzing too much…
I really love Come And Go With Me; it fits in nicely on albums like Sounds Of Summer.
But My Diane has to be one of my all-time favorite Dennis vocal. There is just so much emotion!

L.A. is a very good album and Shortenin' Bread is by no means its highlight, although I do enjoy that track too.

I'm a bit of an MIU apologist... it's quite possibly the most vapid thing they ever released (with the exception of My Diane, of course), but I never really found it offensive. It's nice to listen to (well, apart from Brian's falsetto on SGR, which he makes up for with the vocal on Match Point and SGR being a bloody great song).
LA, not so much. Too many ballads in a row, too many of them mediocre, and it's kind of a dreary experience... to the point where the standout tracks for me are Lady Lynda, something so sincerely proud of being a piece of schlock that I can't help but enjoy it, and Shortenin' Bread, which is the only halfway fun moment on the record.
And I believe I think of KTSA what most other people think of MIU: it's miserable. Goin' On is the only salvageable thing there, in my opinion. I'd like Sunshine more if it weren't for the calypso instruments. I guess the single version of School Day is alright just because the alternate acappella part isn't as unpleasant as the album cut's.

Shortenin Bread was one of the worst Beach Boys tracks ever.  It should never have been released.  Same for She's Got Rhtym from MIU.

I like She's Got Rhythm.
It's no classic, but it's one of the better Rock songs on MIU, in my opinion. Brian's falsetto is similar when Mike called him "Micky Mouse with a sore throughout…" in the '64 skit, but the song is pretty cool. I like Al's arrangement.

Brians soaring vocals save most of their early albums regardless of song selections. The clunky tracks only enhance the better ones IMO, I can find all those 1962-1977 albums worthwhile with the possible exception of 15 big ones which is 2/3rd's crap. 

The later works I have a lot less time for, although I still have favourites here and there.

some of the songs being discussed here from MIU, KTSA etc., have some songs that are HALF good.     I wish , for example, that the lyrics pitter patter could have been dropped for something else.    A strong and appealing song until grown men start repeating "pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter pitter patter....a couple more days thinking about alternative lyrics could have yielded a classic Beach Boys song.    Was this laziness or lack of taste?

I doubt it was laziness... as horrible as it sounds, they probably thought that was the perfect lyric for that.

It's like Ob la Di, Ob La Da.  Paul probably though that was the coolest lyric he ever thought up, that minute.  If he would have spent another 10 minutes thinking about it, he might have came up with something brilliant...

The main thing that saves many of the later day albums with the so-so songwriting, are the vocals.

You know, I never could understand why "Pitter Patter" has such a bad rep. I think it's a great little tune. It's about listening to the rain. Ya know? Just simple life experiences, the kinda thing that I think The Beach Boys do better than anyone.

<<Well its not an opinion,>>

I find this comment very ironic.

You mean kind of like "Well, oh my, oh gosh, oh gee, she really sends chills inside of me"? A grown man singing that too? Nah, I wouldn't change a thing. These kinds of lyrics are quaint, quirky and very Brian, very Beach Boys.

Well, you see we differ as to which tracks save the steaming piles of shite otherwise known as MIU and Keepin' The Summer Alive. For me: My Diane, Pitter Patter and even Winds of Change. I can just about stand Why Doncha, at least as much as It's Okay. The covers are fine - just filler out of place. With KTSA, it's Santa Ana Winds and the title track (again, prefer it to It's Okay) and, to a lesser extent, Goin' On. I do think that suffers from over-production, however. LA's much easier: I don't care for HCTN (though I could possibly stand a shorter version; not a fan of Sumahama (despite some gorgeous vocals); Shortenin' Bread is, again, out of place. At a push, I can like Full Sail and Goin' South, but they're pretty sluggish and I'll take Full Sail.

This.  Solid all the way thru except for Shortenin' Bread.

You're right. For example, Kokomo isn't the world's greatest song, however, Carl and Bruce's vocals are awesome!

Its like some agree Holland was the last real lp others count the compilations of outtakes and recycled tracks. 

Were the others that came after fake? If they went in the studio to record then it's a studio album. Now, if they want to say it was last good Lp that they made, then I can understand that. That is their opinion.

Can you please post this a few more times in case some of us didn't hear you the first 267?

 "Cuckoo Clock" saved SURFIN' SAFARI.

  Not even Beethoven's Ninth could have saved SUMMER IN PARADISE.

Summer in Paradise was saved by.......um.......That's Why God Made the Radio

"Sail, On Sailor" literally saved Holland from getting rejected - and that's one of the group's better lesser-known albums!

On that note, did any Reprise albums get through on the first submission?

The way i see it...

Surfin' Safari was saved by Surfin' Safari, County Fair, Ten Little Indians, Chug-A-Lug, Little Miss America, 409, Surfin', Heads You Win--Tails I Lose, Summertime Blues, Cuckoo Clock, Moon Dawg and The Shift; Surfin' U.S.A. was saved by Surfin' U.S.A., Farmer's Daughter, Misirlou, Stoked, Lonely Sea, Shut Down, Noble Surfer, Tonky Tonk, Lana, Surf Jam, Let's Go Trippin' and Finders Keepers; Surfer Girl was saved by... well, you get the picture. ;D 

I really think that Getcha Back kept The Beach Boys 1985 album from sinking like a stone.  It was, IMO, the best track on the album by far, and a minor hit on MTV.  I think the rest of the material on the album is OK, but no real hit potential.  

It's Gettin' Late hit the Top 20 on the AC chart. By 1985 the AC chart was fairly important to those us who were hitting the 30 mark around that time. I know that's when music started changing for me and I started to pay more attention to it.

I'd bet my last dollar that the vast majority bought "Getcha Back" on the Made In USA compilation.

I didn't know that.  Thanks for the tidbit. 

yeah the BBs being on the AC chart was/is a bummer for sure. The chart for muzak.

So One More Night, Everytime You Go Away, Throwing it All Away, Little Lies, Another Day In Paradise, The Living Years, If You Don't Know Me by Know, One, Do You Remember?, Drive, All Night Long, What Kind of Fool, Endless Love... the list goes on.... which are all CLASSIC 80's songs are "muzak" just because they topped AC? Grow up  :lol

Better than Where I Belong?

Thr beach boys themselves knew that 15bO, MIU, LA and KTSA were weak albums that were done for the sake of contractual obligation w no heart whatsoever; theyre not collectable and historically have no value to anyone other than collection completists.

This isn't true, maybe Dennis when it came to MIU but even he put some quality cuts on LA that he would've endorsed. MIU stands for Maharishi International University and the two followers of the Maharishi in the band, Mike and Al, were the driving force for them to record in Iowa. So you could say they were proud to do so. Where are you getting these generalised statements?

Save your breath arguing with the guy. If it ain't the first decade of BB albums, the Ramones or some other shitty surf punk band nobody cares about he isn't interested.

Being a little snobbish there, aren't you? I doubt I would like anything on today's Top 40 and having the AC is more likely to list songs and bands that I prefer to listen to. It is far from Muzak type music. If It's Gettin' Late isn't Muzak then why would the rest of the songs on it be that way?

While the LA album didn´t need saving, one can wonder if it could be made better by the label insisting on the inclusion of better songs i.e California Feelin´, Santa Ana Winds, Holy Man etc.

It could´ve been better if they were forced to cut down the length of HCTN, remove Shortenin Bread (or make it a "hidden track"), Demand english only version of Sumahama or basically ask them to write a few more upbeat tunes.

Had LA come out after Holland it would be viewed as a strong follow-up to a series of great album. Instead it is placed in the middle of a cluster of directionless and uninspired albums stretching back through 15BO, Love You (to some extent, it´s just so weird), MIU and continued after with the ridiculous KTSA. As a consequence it has been dismissed or forgotten.

yep you pigeonholed the kook...cant argue w someone that says it like it is, gotta jus follow the asinine bs like the majority and stick w blissful ignorance ;-)

Yep, liking more than about 5 bands or 1 genre of music is 'blissfully ignorant', you've got me rumbled.  :o

....sigh....

You can't possibly claim an opinion as a fact. Doesn't work like that, unless you had everybody in the known universe (and 3 1/2 Klingons) in complete agreement, with no dissenters.

For the record, I like MIU despite it's flaws, and think LA Light is mostly a boring shitpile. That's my opinion. Don't expect everyone to agree, and that's ok. That makes discussion and debate fun. Some of the posts in this thread, though, are the antithesis of fun. A few are barely intelligible.  Noe wut I meen, rite?

I agree, the first 5 cuts on MIU and pitter patter are fun, LA is weak, but dennis' bambu tracks are good, I just dont get why anyone would deny it was a hodgepodge collection.

That's right. Opinion is evenly divided between you on one side and everyone else on the other.

For some of us it doesn't matter because to us it sounds pretty much consistently good from beginning to end. I'm aware it's not Pet Sounds. So what? It contains one of my favorite Brian songs (Good Timin', not Shortenin' Bread) and several nice, occasionally even great songs by the other members. Don't care if it's a hodgepodge collection, save for the inclusion of HCTN it doesn't even sound like one.

I do agree with you that the Beach Boys golden age is 62-73, but some of those albums are hodgepodges too (Little Deuce Coupe, Smiley Smile, 20/20, Surf's Up (the title track was four years old)). 

And The Beach Boys aren't the only band who does that.  The Beatles went back to their early days several times.  Just recently, Van Halen's comeback album A Different Kind of Truth from 2012, included a song or two that dated back to 1977. 

So, it seems a little unfair to discount an album just because all of the songs were written and/or recording during a specific time period. 

Indeed. Every album released does not always have to be a Concept album.

<<I agree, the first 5 cuts on MIU and pitter patter are fun, LA is weak, but dennis' bambu tracks are good, I just dont get why anyone would deny it was a hodgepodge collection.>>

Abbott: You throw the ball to first base.
Costello: Then who gets it?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: Now you've got it.
Costello: I throw the ball to Naturally.
Abbott: You don't! You throw it to Who!
Costello: Naturally.
Abbott: Well, that's it—say it that way.
Costello: That's what I said.
Abbott: You did not.
Costello: I said I throw the ball to Naturally.
Abbott: You don't! You throw it to Who!
Costello: Naturally.

Thats true huh, little deuce coupe was four rereleased tracks and a couple rewrites brian did along with half a new album, 20/20 compiling recent singles and outtakes. But after holland they were literally taking old songs, outtakes and solo cuts and caribou/columbia was promoting LA & KTSA as "new" albums.

You're kind of proving my point. 

Also, LA and KTSA did both include a fair share of new material.  Short on material, they looked backwards.  This is nothing new.  Go back to Surfer Girl.  The song Surfer Girl was the first song that Brian says he ever wrote.  Didn't appear until the third LP. 

If you want to say that the Beach Boys peak creative period ended after Holland, I'll buy that.  But to constantly tear down albums for how they were compiled rather than the material on the records doesn't make much sense to me. 

After Holland you also had 15 Big Ones and Love You and MIU. Plus, from 1974 on into the early 80's many artists made covers of old songs. It was nothing unusual for the time. As far as the older original material goes, if it only ever got released on LA or KTSA, then it was new to the listener. For instance, When Girls Get Together on KTSA, in 1980 I had never heard nor heard of that song. So, it was completely new to me at the time. Then as now, an unreleased old song is still new, especially if you don't know any better.

The Doctor is right. 

Pink Floyd had a brand new album debut at #1 last fall.  This despite the fact that about 95% of the album was recorded in 1994. 

Since these tracks had never seen the light of day, they were new, and actually got some rave reviews. 

So, I have no problem with a 1980 Beach Boys album including a song from 1970. 

<<yep you pigeonholed the kook...cant argue w someone that says it like it is, gotta jus follow the asinine bs like the majority and stick w blissful ignorance ;-)>>

Abbott: Strange as it may seem, they give ball players nowadays very peculiar names.
Costello: Funny names?
Abbott: Nicknames, nicknames. Now, on the St. Louis team we have Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third--
Costello: That's what I want to find out. I want you to tell me the names of the fellows on the St. Louis team.
Abbott: I'm telling you. Who's on first, What's on second, I Don't Know is on third--
Costello: You know the fellows' names?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: Well, then who's playing first?
Abbott: Yes.
Costello: I mean the fellow's name on first base.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The fellow playin' first base.
Abbott: Who.
Costello: The guy on first base.
Abbott: Who is on first.
Costello: Well, what are you askin' me for?
Abbott: I'm not asking you--I'm telling you. Who is on first.
Costello: I'm asking you--who's on first?
Abbott: That's the man's name.
Costello: That's who's name?
Abbott: Yes.

What Im getting at is that the Beach Boys were pretty done album-wise as a band. From 73 onward it was all bout touring: 15bO was sort of a fluke riding the coattails of Endless summer being that their output of their early years was what was selling, and their renditions of old tunes as well. 76/7 was literally their last era of productiveness in the studio being that from the beginning of 76 to the end off 77 they recorded 4,5 albums (15bO, love you, adult child, 2nd xmas lp and MIU). With 15 being covers&outtakes, love you Brian's solo piece and MIU old cuts and rewrites of the xmas songs.. LA had good timin which was 4 yrs old at the time they were putting it together and the disco remake of HCTN is just horrendous. And my orig statement bout Shortenin bread was referring to it being the ONLY rockin cut on LA. I understand that the group recycled songs on earlier LPs but after Holland its like they were fresh out of anything new; and being that Brian contributed nothing new to LA and his "new" material on KTSA was rehashed from older songs. Its been stated repeatedly that Brian was pretty much over it and that their albums in the late 70s had no heart/soul. I mean seriously "IF" the BBs never put out a new album after Holland and just stuck to touring and maybe just the singles (rockNroll music, peggy sue, good timin, goin on) theyd still have the same impact; even w Komomo, it was on Still cruisin but that wasnt a proper album either.

Completely disagree, but you're entitled to your opinion.

What is it thats incorrect that you dont concur w?

He didn't say anything was incorrect, just that he disagreed with you.

Highlighted all the incorrect stuff in your post. Not difference of opinion, just flat out incorrect.

Weren't pretty much all of the songs on BB 85 newly written and not leftovers?

What Kook says is partly true, that the Beach Boys scaled back on albums, but most bands from that era did the same thing. 

In the early 60s, it was common to put out multiple albums a year.  Then, in the 70s, it became normal to put out an album yearly.  In the 80s, it became every few years.  Most classic bands from that era followed the same pattern.

Yes KDS I was saying that but ''mikebeard' doesn't agree that love you was brians album w the BB name attached to it w their minor contribution and other random parts he highlighted maybe because of how it was phrased cuz there's nothing incorrect about the synopsis, maybe just a misconstrued.

And four of the cuts on MIU were recorded a year earlier than the others- peggy sue, come go w me, my diane and tomboy, all 76.

Exactly what minor contributions? Lead vocals?, Background vocals? Playing the instruments? Mixdown Producing?

They were all started earlier, but were all worked on at MIU, as well.

Leads

1.      "Let Us Go On This Way"    Carl
2.    "Roller Skating Child"      Mike
3.    "Mona"                              Dennis
4.    "Johnny Carson"              Mike & Carl
5.    "Good Time"                      Brian
6.    "Honkin' Down the Highway"  Al    
7.    "Ding Dang"                       Mike
Side two    

1.    "Solar System"              Brian
2.    "The Night Was So Young"   Carl   
3.    "I'll Bet He's Nice"               Dennis, Brian and Carl
4.    "Let's Put Our Hearts Together"      Brian and wife
5.    "I Wanna Pick You Up"       Dennis
6.    "Airplane"                       Mike & Brian
7.    "Love Is a Woman"              Brian & Mike

Solo album my ass.

While I'm definitely not a huge fan of Love You, it's definitely a Beach Boys album.  It may have been originally intended as a Brian Wilson album, but the full group contributes. 

Yeah, I can't stand that offhand statements like "Pet Sounds and Love You are basically Brian's solo albums" gets turned into "these albums are Brian's solo albums, and The Beach Boys had little to do with them." It's just not true. As far as I know, none of Brian's Beach Boy albums were ever supposed to be solo.

On the other hand, you have a band like Fleetwood Mac, who actually has taken what were going to be solo albums from their members and reconfigured them into group albums. For instance, they took Lindsey Buckingham's work for what he thought was going to be his third album and transitioned it into the Mac album Tango In The Night. Same thing happened with Lindsey tried to again make his third album in early part of this century. And once again the Mac came a-callin' and he mixed his material with Stevie Nicks and we got the album, Say You Will. Now it must be said, it was Lindsey's decision to transition those solo projects into Mac projects. But regardless, the beginnings of those projects were solo. Not the stuff Brian's done with The Beach Boys, outside of, say, "In My Car."

And TWGMTR.

I agree 100%.  There were a LOT of GREAT vocals from the BBs on Love You.  Took me a while to appreciate "Love You" but boy I really like it, beautiful melodies, great song writing and YEAH lots of crazy quirkiness!

I couldn't think of any examples at first but on reflection I agree with KDS that the self-titled album is saved by "Getcha Back". And, thinking about it Keeping the Summer Alive is saved for me by "Oh Darlin'". I know most of you don't like that song and I admit the lyrics are terrible, but there's something really catchy and hummable about it that makes it easily the highlight for me.

So there's two albums that were saved: in the sense of being saved from being terrible, and made merely mediocre.

That middle section with Mike & Carl is Brian at his best. Just a terrific transition within the song.

Well...its pretty written in countless Beach Boys books and articles that Love You was intended to be "Brian loves you" and righ before its release  the group signed with Columbia and due to the group being signed as a group and not solo artists they were obligated to have the BB name on it. And Im very aware that Brian wasn't the only singer on the album, Im also aware that the rehashed tracks on MIU were polished during the sessions in late 77. Its so easy for people to contradict something just because they haven't said it first. Just because I dont quote something word for word doesn't mean it cant be slightly rephrased if its essentially the same.

I get the point you're making bud, but at the same time if it didn't get released as a solo album and has significant contributions by the rest of the band then how close is that really to a solo album?

It doesn't help that he's getting his facts twisted either.
Brian demoed many of the songs he written as part of his therapy sessions with Landy. Initially the idea was that Brian would use them for a solo project titled 'Brian's In Love'. This changed when the band heard them and wanted to use them for the basis of the next group record. With Brian firmly at the helm he then recorded THE BAND'S next album with FULL PARTICIPATION from THE BAND with a working title of 'Brian Loves You'. The title was changed to just 'Love You' at some point before it's release. Also worth noting that Carl reworked much of the album after Brian handed in his proposed completed mix, hence his 'mixdown producer' credit.

Yep thats the plot. As we know there is the recording of I'll Bet He's Nice being demoed presumably to the rest of the band to which I think Mike says:
'sh*t, ain't that a motherfucker"

Also unless a contract explicity covers solo endeavours as part of it's terms, a band member of a signed group can't just hand in a solo album to it's label. If that were the case then Dennis could have just gave Warners POB and told them to release it.

Yep. Definitely THE last legitimate BBs album and not a hastily thrown together soulless product like the 3 albums that followed.

 <<Its so easy for people to contradict something just because they haven't said it first. Just because I dont quote something word for word doesn't mean it cant be slightly rephrased if its essentially the same.>>

Or as the great Robert McCloskey once said,

“I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant.”