The Smiley Smile Message Board

I would be curious to know your preference.
Reason for comparison being that they both occupy the second slot on their respective LP's; the only two full studio albums of the '80's by the band. Both Carl leads, with similar tempo and length.

It's Getting Late

I like both, but will go with "It's Getting Late" -- love Carl's emotion in that one.

Oh Darlin'

It's Getting Late. I hate Oh Darlin' (although the version with Brian's lead is much better IMHO)

Oh Darlin' by a million miles. Although I admit It's Gettin' Late has its sporadic charms.

Oh Darlin'.

Odd pairing of songs, but as for my choice I'm goin' with "It's Gettin' Late" by a mile. Honestly, if pushed properly I think songs like this and "Where I Belong" coulda been soul-pop hits like some of Steve Winwood's stuff. And no, that's not a diss towards Carl's songwriting. "Oh Darlin'" on the other hand, might be the most boring Wilson-Love co-write I've ever heard. It just is so workmanlike in a bad way. And Carl's vocals are so draggy. And then there's Bruce's cheesy "God Only Knows" callback near the end. Just a total faceplant. Now, just as others have mentioned before, the version with a Brian lead vocal is actually a bit better, and that is surprising cuz usually when it's a post '75 Brian vocal versus a post '75 Carl vocal, one would think Carl would usually win out most of the time. But not this time. Brian's vocal just has so much more, depth, grit....everything.

Brian's roughness gives the song an edge it otherwise lacked.

Neither are standout songs, but between the two, I prefer It's Gettin' Late.

It's Getting Late is actually one of my favorite Beach Boys songs.

It's Getting Late.

And I love Passing Friend.

I prefer Oh Darlin', because the Brian version compensates for the slight staleness of the released version. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to listen to most of the 1985 album, with the exceptions of Getcha Back and Male Ego.

I'd probably have to go with Oh Darlin. Love the vocals on the chorus.

It's Gettin' Late.  And the title is It's Gettin' Late, not getting. Sorry....

This. 

Though the Wilson-Love "When Girls Get Together" is probably just as boring.  Same album, too.  Hmm.

Is it the processed sound?

IMHO the '80s have a lot to answer for.

Like Kokomo? ;D

The poor songwriting and Brian's ragged voice hurt the 1985 album a lot.  Mike Love's vocals are lacking as well.

I totally agree about the Bruce GOK callback being pretty cheesy in Oh Darlin'... unlike, say Carl's swooping wordless vocal callback to You Still Believe in Me at the end of Brian's Back from the same time period, which in my opinion is an unexpectedly heavenly part in an otherwise very cheesy, if well-intended song.

As relatively humdrum as Oh Darlin' is overall, I think it's LEAPS AND BOUNDS more enjoyable to listen to than When Girls Get Together. Gawd I don't like that song. I kinda dig Mike's bridge and the unexpected melody that the song takes there in Oh Darlin'. Overall it's an ok, somewhat mediocre song.

That said, I like It's Gettin' Late a lot better than Oh Darlin'. It's just a really passionate vocal from Carl, as is the case with the entire BB85 album. Carl at top form, despite the songs not being of an overall caliber worthy of his godlike voice.

While the audio quality would probably be middling at best, if you seek out the 1980 "Going Platinum" TV special, the mix they used of "Oh, Darlin'" was apparently an early mix that was missing some later overdubs, so Bruce's "god only knows" bit is missing on that mix.

I like them both. Neither is a classic. Like many others, I prefer Brian's early version of Oh Darlin' over what ended up on the album. I've always had a soft spot for BB85 and I really like some of Carl's songwriting on that one and L.A. Light. It's Gettin' Late is a nice song and Brian's among the background vocalists, right?

Very interesting... thanks for the tip! I suppose it was a well-intended part of the song, but coming on the heels of Kona Coast and Brian's Back, it was really getting silly and overdone.

I've always thought "Oh Darlin'" has a really good composition and elements of an arrangement buried under a kind of clunky, cheesy arrangement. In particular, I've always loved the atypical (for the BBs, especially for the KTSA album) dissonant bridge backing vocals under Mike's lead.

"It's Gettin' Late" is a better overall presentation; a good song with good (if somewhat 80s-ish) production and arrangement.

"It's Gettin' Late" by a mile - although I would have preferred guitars to synths. The song itself is similar to "Of The Times" from "Youngblood"; I like Jeff Baxter's production of the latter much more than Steve Levine's production of the former. I realize they were trying to be "with the times" with all the synths and drum machines, but....I wonder if there is a decent live recording of this one? When I saw the group in concert that summer, Carl was absent.  >:(

It's Getting Late was not much of a tune.  One of those songs that sounds good initially, but upon more repetitions, is simply monotonous.  Carl doing his funked up "I'm a soul daddy thing", er, no you are not!  Oh Darlin' was not much either.  Hated the "God only knows how I love you" part, I just hate it when they use self-referential lyrics like that and referencing a much better tune at that is not so smart and really just highlighted how much the current material sucked in comparison to oh, say, Pet Sounds....or even Carl and the Passions!

Everyone I have ever played that particular two-fer for has hated it.   I as a fan am more forgiving in general, but 85 and KTSA are definitely for fanatics only, IMHO.  You had to have had a history with them to appreciate the rot that had set in by then....

A bit of screen time for Oh Darlin' here

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=qLqvRpN_bSE

It´s Gettin Late