The Smiley Smile Message Board

Surfer Girl to Catch A Wave

Shut Down Vol 2 to The Warmth of The Sun or Keep An Eye On Summer

20/20 to Do It Again or The Nearest Faraway Place

The Beach Boys to California Calling

The 2012 album to ANYTHING.. I Mean ANYTHING.

I'm sure of the ones I would change, but don't have many creative ideas as to what I would change them to, so I'll mostly use song titles:

Surf's Up to Long Promised Road, I also like Landlocked due to the theme of the album

Carl & The Passions - So Tough to Make It Good or Cuddle Up

15 Big Ones to It's OK! (gotta use the exclamation point!)

M.I.U. to Our Team (with an album cover featuring prominently the 5 Beach Boys surrounded by spouses, girlfriends, children, supporting musicians, parents, whoever - kind of a Sunflower album cover meets the infamous 1966(?) airport photo)

L.A. Light Album to anything, maybe Baby Blue or Angel Come Home, possibly Good Timin'

Keepin' The Summer Alive to Endless Harmony or Goin' On

Beach Boys 1985 to Getcha Back, California Callin', It's Getting Late, or It's Just A Matter Of Time  

That's Why God Made The Radio to Isn't It Time, maybe Summer's Gone but that might be too ominous

Pacific Ocean Blue to Dennis Wilson

Gettin' In Over My Head to Soul Searchin'

SIP to

DO NOT BUY THIS!!!! PUT THIS DOWN!!!!


JK... I guess it's not THAT bad... ^-^

Pet Sounds to just about anything else. It's become an iconic name now, but when you really think about it...its kinda generic and unexciting. If it's gotta be a song title...God Only Knows would be fitting and more intriguing a title. Or Let's Go Away For Awhile... Possibly take the original title of YSBIM, In My Childhood? That would emphasize the theme of growing up and childish but relatable teen angst.

SMiLE should have just kept on being Dumb Angel. Very very cool title, and more meaningful.

Assuming the former didnt happen, Smiley Smile should have been given its own title to distinguish it from its predecessor. By calling it Smiley, they were setting them up to be compared and for this to inevitably come up way short. They did this album and themselves a great disservice here.

Friends to Busy Doing Nothing. Just a cooler title.

Sunflower to something else. Why Sunflower? I just dont get it. Maybe something like Sandcastles? Something intricately constructed and beautiful but also fragile? IDK.

Surfs Up, as the title for a single or at least just a song on a 1967 album wouldve been perfect. As an album title in 1971 it just feels wrong. If it were up to me, that song wouldnt even be on that album, and in any case, it sounds so out of place and IS out of place that making it the centerpiece and titular track comes off as lame and desperate to me. I much prefer the original title Landlocked.

The Beach Boys 1985 - Lonely Days (and Lonely Nights..) or Sunset Moods

Brian Wilson 1988 - After the Storm

and if they had put out an album w/ Don Was and Andy Paley in the mid 90s: Somewhere Out in Malibu

TWGMTR to 'From There To Back Again'

LA to 'Full Sail'

'Love You' to 'Arrested Development'

15BO to 'It's OK'

CATP to 'All This Is That'

BB85 to 'Where We Belong'

'Still Crusin' to 'At the Movies' or 'Kokomo and Assorted Cheese'

20/20 to 'Time To Get Alone' or 'Never Learn Not to Love'

MIU to "Winds of Change'

'Smiley Smile' to 'Flipped Her Lid' or 'Hash It Out'

SIP to 'It's A Love Thing'

Well, assuming that TWGMTR actually ends up being the Beach Boys' swan song, I rather like the sound of Ocean Way for its title.


First, the name is obviously in keeping with the band's traditional use of the nautical theme.  There's something pleasing to the ear, I think, about "The Beach Boys Ocean Way."


But then there's the idea that it would have seen the band taking the name of their recording studio for the title of their final album.  I think that would have been a neat parallel with what the Beatles did with Abbey Road.


Who knows, maybe it can still happen if there's ever another "last" great Beach Boys album in our future?   :p

I'd change Summer in Paradise to "Stamos and the Passions"...

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin would become Wilson Sings Gershwin.
Gettin' In Over My Head would be allowed to self-destruct. Failing that, it would become Soul Searchin'.
Shut Down, Volume 2 would become Fun Fun Fun.
Keepin' the Summer Alive would become The Great West Coast Out of Oil Touring Debacle.
Brian Wilson Presents Smile would become K-Tel Presents Smile.

This actually happened in the 80s when the Capitol albums were reissued (and truncated).

(http://cdn.discogs.com/SYxGdSfyLcryvo9_VkpW_nf29yM=/fit-in/480x500/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(96)/discogs-images/R-2368124-1362724310-6187.jpeg.jpg)

Also, The Beach Boys Today! was retitled Dance, Dance, Dance and Summer Days and Summer Nights was retitled California Girls.

As with my previous iterations of the catalog, I keep the whole thing in one folder and put a customized (low fat) version in my shared folder that goes to my iPod, etc.  I double up the first six albums into three separate albums, cutting songs and sometimes adding contemporary, originally unreleased tracks..

Surfin' Safari/Surfin USA = Surfin'
Surfer Girl/Little Deuce Coupe = Catch A Wave
Shut Down Volume 2/All Summer Long = All Summer Long (because it's such a great title)

Beyond that, my "alternate collection" includes my version of Smile, which necessitates reworking several tracklists (and the occasional title) of the albums that followed.

Smiley Smile/Wild Honey = (new) Wild Honey
Surf's Up = Landlocked

I also combine Friends and 20/20 and previously just used the latter's title but thanks to this thread, I may create a new one for it.  Also Mujan brings up a good point:  WHY Sunflower?  I agree with him (on a lot of things, including the fact that) it and Pet Sounds, among others, deserve better names but many of their album titles have become TOO iconic for me to think of them (or the reconfigured sets of tunes they represent) to be thought of as anything else, but Sunflower really is out of left field.  It's not named after a song and the album cover has nothing to do with it.  Therefore, I'll be naming this new version Add Some Music.

If I think of any others I want changed, I'll add them to the list.  :)

It's OK instead of 15 Big Ones would be the most appropriate title. 

Surfin' Safari to Meet the Beach Boys!
Surfin' USA to The Beach Boys Second Album
Little Deuce Coupe to Something Partially New
Shut Down Vol. 2 to Beach Boys V
Lost and Found to The Early Beach Boys
The Beach Boys Today! to Today, Not Yesterday
All Summer Long to Beach Boys '65
Pet Sounds to California Soul
Smiley Smile to The Green Album
Wild Honey to Let It Cool Out
20/20 to Capitol Tower
Smile to Wilson
Sunflower to Meet the Beach!
Love You to Wilson II

:lol

So glad that none of you are in charge of actually renaming the group's records. ;D

That said, I think TWGMTR was a bad choice for an album title and Summer's Gone would've been much better.

I never did like TWGMTR as an album title. As many have said Summer's Gone would have been the best choice, but I recall reading that Brian purposely didn't call it that because he felt that wasn't going to be the last BB's album. Oh well. I think they should have named that album "Gold", as in their golden anniversary.

Rename Sunflower to "Our Sweet Love" and release it as a single. 

Great catchy song. And "the voice" on lead.

Trilogy theme (like Til I Die)

1 - I thought about a summer day

2 -I thought about a winter's night

3 - Lord knows I love her so...

And leave the great cover/gatefold the same... ;)

That got me thinking...

Scrap 15 Big Ones entirely and release "It's O.K." b/w "Just Once In My Life" as a single. ;D 

I think Summer's Gone would've been just perfect. First, the album has enough upbeat songs to "compensate" for the title's melancholy feel. Second, and most importantly, the title triggers nostalgia but not in a way that's cheap. The song itself was also really classy and would've deserved the extra attention.

Surfer Girl - Catch A Wave (as mentioned by others)
Little Deuce Coupe - Spirit of America
Shut Down Vol II - Keep An Eye On Summer (as mentioned by others)
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) -  Where's Al?!, or One More Summer
C&P, So Tough - All This Is That
Surf's Up - Long Promised Road (as mentioned by others)

haha

Stamos and The Pasions...So Rough!

TWGMTR - Isn't It Time to Take a Spring Vacation To There and Back Again Down the Pacific Coast Highway Before Summer's Gone in This Strange World. 

TWGMTR to Pacific Coast Highway

15 Big Ones to 15 Crappy Ones
Surfs Up to Sound of Free (would be included in the album in this alternate universe)
Smiley Smile to Good Vibrations
MIU to CPA (Creepy Pedophile Album)
BB85 to Male Ego
Summer in Paradise to Summer in Hell

'M.I.U. Album' to 'W.T.F. Album'

I still wish Dennis had completed his early 70's album and used his working title of Dennis Wilson Poops. I wonder what the cover art might have look like.

it just recently occurred to me that the Pet Sounds cover photo was taken in the petting zoo. hard to believe I'm just making that connection but it gives the album title whole new meaning to me. on the one hand you have Banana & Louie barking at the end of the album... actual pet sounds. you have these songs that were very dear and personal to Brian, his pet sounds. but the idea of these deep and rich melodies, harmonies, and arrangements actually reaching out and touching, stroking, petting the listener is very intimate indeed. as is the idea that the listener can do more than just listen to this album, but get very close to it and pet it. i'm finally convinced that the album is perfectly titled.

Shut Down, Vol. 2 should be Fun Fun Fun or possibly The Warmth of the Sun.

Summer Days to California Girls.

Smiley Smile to Little Pad, especially considering the cover art.

20/20 to Time To Get Alone or Our Prayer.

Sunflower I like, but I might change to This Whole World just to draw attention to one of Brian's greatest songs.

Carl and the Passions to Hold On Dear Brother or All This Is That.

MIU to Kona Coast. LA to Full Sail. KTSA to Endless Harmony.

Surfer Girl to Catch a Wave
Shut Down Vol. 2 to The Warmth of the Sun
I like Summer Days and Summer Nights, but might change it to Summer Means New Love
Change 20/20 to The Nearest Faraway Place
Carl and the Passions to All This Is That
Light Album to Good Timin, maybe
The Beach Boys to Getcha Back
That's Why God Made the Radio to From There to Back Again

Reportedly that was originally the title of the album, but the rest of the guys convinced Brian to rename it.

BTW, this thread reminds me of this blog posting regarding Atari 2600 games:

http://mightygodking.com/2008/04/21/fun-from-yesterday

Shut Down Volume 2
Shut Down, In the Parking Lot

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/414EGHZFQ2L.jpg)

Then Lazy Lizzie should be added to the album lineup.

So, refresh me on what the airport '66 photo looked like?

You know, for the most part, I don't have any issues with BBs' album titles. Not to say I LOVE each and every title, but they're more or less fine. I'm not a huge fan of Keepin' the Summer Alive as a title, but it's pretty much fine for that album. That's what they were desperately trying to do, after all, and it's not as insulting as the next few sentences.

Probably my main choice would be MIU. Kind of nonsensical to the average fan. But a replacement? Um ... you can't go with You're Being Robbed of Better Material We Have Lying Around, so ... I don't know. Maybe Pretty Bad Album or something?

I'm also a big fan of the idea of going from 15 Big Ones to It's OK (though I'm anti-exclamation point).

(https://arkhonia.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/22oct66_group_pic_gaines.jpg)

Sunflower - Morning View

Surf's Up - Ride The Black Wave

Smiley Smile--Acid Doowop

Pet Sounds I think was a wonderful title, as the contents were Brian's "pet sounds".

I'd change Shutdown Volume II to Filler Volume I.

20/20 was a perfect title (20th Capitol album), loved the eye chart!

MIU should have been Jai Groovy Dev.  Or the Frown Sessions.

Carl and the Passions to We Give Up.

LA to Gentle-fans You've Just Been F**ked!

The Beach Boys to Hey!  Remember Us??

Sunflower to "Good Weed, Man" (An Offering of Stash).  Concurrent group name change to Marijuana Boys would have helped sales considerably, surprised Reilly didn't think of that also!

A thankyou to Gertie J. might be in order. :hat

Party to "We're Sticking This Thing Out Solely Because Some Jack Off At Capitol Records Thinks We Need To Crank Out A New Album Every Three Months And We Need To Buy Some Time So We Can Complete The Album That Brian Is About To Begin Work On That Will Ultimately Be Regarded As Our Greatest And Most Cohesive Artistic Statement, But In The Meantime, A Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba-Bar Ann."

Smile/Smiley Smile to "Perhaps If This Had Been Completed Properly In 1967, We Could Have Shut Many Of Our Detractors Up And Been Able To Move Beyond The Unfortunate And Inaccurate Public Perception That We're Merely A Surf, Sun And Sand (And Girls) Band, Alas it Was Not To Be For Whatever Reason(s), Depending On Who You Ask."

Endless Summer to "Sadly, This Is The Beginning Of The End For Us As A Vital, Contemporary Commercial Force That Had Just Enjoyed Our Most Creative And Artistically Interesting Period (1965-1973), Despite The Fact That, For Several Reasons, Fewer And Fewer People Were Aware Of What We Were Doing Over The Course Of The Stated Time."

15 Big Ones to the title I understand that Dennis had suggested for it ("Group Therapy") or "Warner Brothers Is Livid Because Capitol Is Making A Fortune From The Endless Summer Compilation So We Needed To Put Something New Out To (Hopefully) Alleviate The Displeasure Of Warner Brothers Over The Matter." (I don't despise 15 Big Ones, but I wish they'd restricted it to one cover song, probably Rock And Roll Music, and filled out the rest of the disc with originals, which, by most accounts, there was no shortage of at the time. Even if it put a crimp in the whole "Brian Is Back" campaign by having the rest of the group actively involved in and credited with the production, it would be more satisfying a record if it were heavier on the originals.)

Summer In Paradise to "Strange Things Happen, Lahaina Aloha And Summer In Paradise Could Have Been Wholly Respectable But The Fucking Drum Machine Is So Loud In The Mixes That You Probably Won't Be Able To Hear Them." (I don't hate SIP, or Mike Love, but the band was in such disarray at the time and the lack of creative input from everyone who wasn't Mike or Terry Melcher hampers the record. It seems like a Mike solo album that features three of the other Beach Boys. And, as with 15BO, there's the excessive number of covers. I don't dislike their takes on any of the non-BB songs, they're pleasant enough, but it's rare that a cover song, even by a great artist, is going to be better than the original version by the original artist, and it's a fools errand to even bother recording a version of something that's already had a definitive version done... IMHO.)

   

Agreed that 20/20 would sound good as Do It Again. I think Surf's Up would work well as Long Promised Road - still gets the grandiosity the band seemed to be reaching for with that album without the baggage of Surf's Up. I've never liked the title of Smiley Smile; calling it Wind Chimes may work. It has similar-sounding words for a follow up to Pet Sounds, points to the low-key, home-recorded vibe of the album, and I can't resist the perversity of having the Smiley version of Wind Chimes as a title track.

This thread made me realize, perhaps the best Beach Boys album name is The Beach Boys Today! It's clearly in the vein of other record titles from the early 60's, but it's just so appropriate for a record as strikingly new as Today.

Fiona? Is that you?

Personally, I think some of their covers from the 1960s are top notch.  ie. Do You Wanna Dance, I'm So Young, Sloop John B, I Can Hear Music, etc etc. 

But I agree that the ones of 15BO, and many that came after, sound somewhat lazy.

That or Fractured Frown.

 Beach Boys Love you to Brian Loves you....

No Fionas here. Just a Jared. :)


Yeah, the songs they covered in the '60s were pretty solid. My complaint (albeit 50 years too late) really is that their doing a cover song meant one less slot on an album for another original song. Given some of the previously unreleased tracks from the '60s that have surfaced in the past 20 years, it's sad to think they were left off of then current albums in favor of covers... or at least that's my perception, which doesn't necessarily reflect the reasons for those choices. (Don't know. Wasn't there.)   

I think the early 60s were just a different time.  It was so common then for bands to fill albums with a mix of covers and originals. 

I'd have rather jettisoned those dreadful "in the studio" bits that The Beach Boys used to put on their pre Pet Sounds records. 

Sunflower to We Are Hip, Really!

It definitely needed a new name, that's for sure. Nothing else I think of really suits it either tho

What if the album were called Shitting Dicknipples: The Album! ?

Shut Down Volume Two > Keep an Eye On Summer

Surf's Up > Pendulum (serving as both, as a cultural reference taken from the title track and as a hint on the inconsistency
of the material included)

Carl And The Passions - 'So Tough' > So Tough

15 Big Ones > Back Home or Rock 'n' Roll Music

M.I.U. > I Want You Back (quote from "My Diane")

L.A. Light Album > Good Timin'

Keepin' The Summer Alive > Goin' On

The Beach Boys `85 > Where We Belong

Did Brian (or anyone else for that matter) ever explain what exactly a 'smiley smile' is?

This A-hole did.

https://soundcloud.com/paul_phipps/smiley-smile-a-wednesday-night-improv

M.I.U
Lost In Iowa

(http://assets.rollingstone.com/assets/images/album_review/1c8a2e3757b9ab4f888ea12f293a99e55757e2c6.jpeg)

Ha! And Pacific Ocean Blue to One Virgin with some glorious cover/back photos!

I finally got to 1971 and finalized the revised tracklist for (the now former) Surf's Up. With its title track now (retroactively) at home on my version of Smile, I added the "missing" Dennis songs and retitled the album End Of the Trail.  Boom.  Same "Check, please" feel of the former, ironic title and now the cover art makes even more sense.

 Use these titles where they best fit;


Add Some Music to Your Day
Warmth of the Sun
the Nearest Far Away Place
Surf and Turf
Spring Break
Girls on the Beach
High Tide and Hot Rods
Catch a Wave
Beach Party
Palm Tree and Moon

Assuming no one else has covered this, sorry if someone already has; I haven't had the chance to read more as I'm at work...anyways, I always assumed Sunflower got its name from Al's version of Back Home from this era "where sunflowers keep growing" or something like that, haven't heard it in a while. Hope that helps!

Thank you

Friends to Wake the World
20/20 to Can't Wait to Long
Still Cruisin' to Captain of My Destiny
Smiley Smile to W. Woodpecker Symphony
Brian Wilson (88) to Let it Shine or There's so Many
Imagination to Tumbling like a leaf (out on the sea of doubt) or Never Ending Sorrow

Since the cover already makes it look like a children's record, sure, why not?

I usually prefer an original title rather than simply using a song title.  Summer Days, Pet Sounds, and Holland are probably the best in this regard in the Beach Boy's catalogue.  I would say of the song title approach, Wild Honey and All Summer Long are the most fitting.

I actually like a few of the alternative/unreleased/rumoured titles.  Dumb Angel, Reverberation, Landlocked, and Adult/Child offer a little more imagination in their name than a lot of the proper releases to me.  Heck, even though Sweet Insanity comes across as a little uncomfortable given the context of that period with Brian, a work under that name would make me very curious on first listen.  It's the type of image that would be fairly appropriate with a release like Love You.