The Smiley Smile Message Board

Discuss, review and rate Spring, released in 1972.

The last classic Brian album it just gets better and better. Kind of has the sound of Sunflower done with  the 15 Big Ones format. The last time Brian was really Brian.

Complete, utter sh*t.

Sweet Mountain is Brian's swan song. The last production as we knew him. That song makes this whole album.




          5 stars 

"It's about 5% Brian - but then 5% of Brian Wilson is better than 100% of most people" - Steve Desper, 1985.

"5% ? No way - more like 25%" - Marilyn Wilson, 1993

Sweet Mountain or the whole album?

The whole album.

Thanks.

I agree that "Sweet mountain" is one of the best songs Brian's ever done (imo) and I begin to really like this album, it has a great sound. 4 stars.

i really enjoy the whole album. Shyin' away is my fav

I don't think Shyin' Away is on the album...However itIS a great track. I've converted quite a few people to the BW cause using Shyin'Away and Sweet Mountain. Totally beautiful stuff.

i think this is brian's best side project, there's some clunkers in there, but most are all enjoyable...i love their version of Thinkin' bout you Baby, Sweet Mountain is soooo good (mike/brian's backing sounds great), Shyin' Away is a classic...prolly beats some of the beach boys 70's "creativity"

I really love Brian's tag to Forever here, more than the original. It's just amazing.

That tag is so bittersweet because it's almost the last time Brian would sound so good. Moving.

That's why I love it. It's a perfect musical snapshot of what I would imagine he felt like at that time.

Also, Tennessee Waltz is perfect. Great song.

Part's of Brian's backups make him sound like his 15 BO self om "Sweet Mountain". Damn, that is a great track.

I give this a 4. It would be a 3.5 (or thereabouts) if we could give fractions, but I'm rounding up. Really, though, I don't like the women's voices much at all: my ranking is based on the tracks and production more than anything.

Four from me. Charming record.

Four stars from me as well. I actually like their voices. They don't even sound like professional singers, which might make the record less appealing to people outside the circle of BW diehards, but I couldn't care less about that.

In terms of what Brian was up to around '72, this probably gives a bit of a glimpse into what an extended Carl And The Passions could've been like. Imagine Sweet Mountain and Awake (the latter one sung by Brian, of course) being on that album. Very few people would've talked about the record being disappointing.

four stars from semi-new member (i've been reading the board for a long time and using as my place to go get quick answers to those obscure questions i have from time to time)

i love this album, but i've always had the feeling that one of the reasons that people fall head over heels for this album is that by the time the average fan discovers it, they've already devoured just about everything else. The BB unreleased material can be hit and miss at best sometimes. Fir me it was kinda like "ok i've worn out every BB album, solo work included, what now...ok let's see i like dennis...WOW POB and Bambu rocks my socks, awesome! Ok what's this adult child stuff about...let me read this review...uh oh that's not gonna be good...i'll try it out anyhow, ok not as bad as i thought" then maybe some live stuff, a little junk, mike love solo stuff, etc then you get to sweet insanity and it's like "ok no more, i've found all the goodies...wait a sec...american spring? oh yeah i heard of that..." then at that point it just sounds awesome, such a great surprise for me to discover this album! and yes i realize that it is not an "unreleased album" but with it's availability it may as well be for us youngsters

He does do a bass part that sounds quite close but less rasp. He also does do the high parts on that song so it more a matter of him trying out different styles. Something he told me he was doing.

That may be true for some, but I love "Spring" just for what it is - not because I'm bored or looking for something new.  The melodies, the Brian production & backing, and the homey amateurness of the vocals are very appealing to me.   There've been some long-unavailable and/or unreleased things I came across that I didn't enjoy when I finally got ahold of them (e.g., "A World of Peace Must Come") and some I thought were a lot better than their reputation (I actually like "Sweet Insanity" better than "Brian Wilson," despite some of the cringe-worthy Landy lyrics.)

BTW, when do the "Spring" bonus tracks date from?  I'm talking about "Shyin' Away," "Falling in Love," "It's Like Heaven," and "Had to Phone Ya."

Spring to me is just good Brian Wilson, the last full project from his prime. The bonus cuts Shyin Away and Fallin In Love were a 45 from 1973 and Had To Phone Ya was cut at the same time. It's Like Heaven is from 77 or 78 there are two version but I don't know which one was later.

MBE, percentage-wise, how much do you think David Sandler contributed to the Spring album compared to Brian Wilson? I have read varying accounts.

Well I look it at this way. David put in the hours but Brian was still producing, singing, and writing at a very high level when he felt like working. Thus say Brian came in for an hour each session and David oversaw the other four or however many hours, Brian still had a big impact. He worked fast back then and could add a lot in a short space of time. It was (I think) Sandler who had told the story that he was sitting with Brian in his driveway about to go out when Brian heard something coming from the studio. He ran in fiddled with the knobs a few minutes and made the record sound a lot better. So in my eyes the record may not have been completed or organised without Sandler and Desper, but it wouldn't have had the same magic without Brian.

Spoke with Steve Desper in 1985 and he said it was about 5% Brian, and that Brian rapidly lost interest in the sessions. A few years later, asked Marilyn what she thought and she came up with 25% Brian... so whichever way you slice it, according to two of the most heavily involved participants, at least three-quarters of the album was not the work of Brian.

Quite recently, and purely by accident, I discovered that "Sweet Mountain", far from being a new composition, owes a huge debt to a sixties David Sandler song, "Standing Tall".

http://www.glacierdisc.com/littledipper/Standin%27%20Tall.mp3 (http://www.glacierdisc.com/littledipper/Standin%27%20Tall.mp3)

"Everybody" sounds very "Brian".

I love this album, or rather the (American) Spring CD I seem to have in my possession. I hear from AGD that the CD tracklist "is all to c*ck":

1. Everybody
2. Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby
3. Forever
4. Good Time
5. This Whole World
6. Awake
7. Sweet Mountain
8. Shyin' Away
9. Fallin' In Love
10. It's Like Heaven
11. Had To Phone Ya
12. Now That Everything's Been Said
13. Superstar
14. Mama Said
15. Down Home
16. Tennessee Waltz 

The original 1972 LP tracklist is as follows:

1. Tennessee Waltz
2. Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby
3. Mama Said
4. Superstar
5. Awake
6. Sweet Mountain
7. Everybody
8. This Whole World
9. Forever
10. Good Time
11. Now That Everything's Been Said
12. Down Home

I may get shot for saying this but in my opinion Spring knocks 15 Big Ones into a cocked hat----five. 

What label is that CD?  I have the See For Miles Records CD and it has the LP tracks in the correct order followed by the four bonus tracks.

And I agree that the Spring stuff sounds much better than 15 Big Ones.  For one thing, Spring's version of "Good Time" has a better mix with the Beach Boys more prominent.

This is such a wonderful record, the fourth best BBs-related record from the 70s I've heard so far. (The three others being Sunflower, Surf's Up and Love You).

Heard this and Friends for the first time in SoCal, hard to explain why but it made them sound even better!

Oh, also, I heard POB for the first time driving into Santa Monica. An experience like no other...

SolCal?

Satellite of Love California?

Lol iPhone problems... I meant SoCal

Does anyone know how much a copy of "Spring" may go for on vinyl? (Sealed?)

Been a huge BB fan for over a decade now and only just got into this album and the other Spring recordings. I don't know why but I just kind of ignored this material for some strange reason until I realized how amazing a few of these songs are, especially "Sweet Mountain". I'm guessing Brian had a huge hand in the synth sounds on that one. I could be wrong but it sounds so much like what Brian would do a few years later that he had to have some input on how that one sounded. Plus he apparently sang on it (which he sounds extremely weird and I thought it was D Sandler doing those bass vocals at first).

Anyways, Sweet Mountain is pretty much a masterpiece. What an amazing song that is. There are some throwaways here and there, but this album is overall really well done and incredibly tuneful. Very enjoyable and I love Marilyn and Diane's vocals. I don't understand all this "they sound unprofessional" crap, like that really matters.. In fact these girls sound way ahead of their time. Kind of reminds me of all the indie type bands that would do stuff like this 15-20 years later, like Kim Deal/Kelley Deal from the Breeders for example. Their voices are fine and I love them. They aren't perfect but I love them for what they are.

"Thinking About You Baby".. wow what a great cover. Really can see how this song would have fit on 'Today' don't you think? Reminds me of "Please Let Me Wonder" or "Kiss Me Baby", with the same vocal interplay between Mike and Brian except with M and D doing the voices instead. Really shows how the style of this song was when it was first written in '64, before deconstructed for "Darlin'" later on. It's quite incredibly well done, I love it!

Everybody is really good too.. Tennesse Waltz is really beautiful.. Some really melodic stuff here that is pure ear candy. "This Whole World" is really bizarre on this record. Just makes me believe there's gotta be touches of Brian on certain songs more than others. The ending to this version is just plain odd! Some other great stuff like "Awake" and their version of "Good Time". The whole album isn't as incredible as the songs I named but it is all very enjoyable and should be essential to Brian Wilson fans.

The bonus tracks just make this collection even better because Shyin' Away is one of the most perfect pop songs that should have been a huge hit, Fallin In Love is beautiful with Diane's sultry vocals and a few others like "It's Like Heaven" which are awesome and have the touches of Brian for sure. "Do Ya" (and a few others which apparently Brian had much MORE input on that aren't on this reissue but on other collections of Am Spring/The Honey's archives/ old out of print LPs or whatever) and others are also worth seeking out, very great stuff. It's a shame that Brian didn't keep working with the girls on this stuff because he was doing really good things, even by the late 70s when he recorded/produced them again. I personally think that despite how much influence/producing he did on this eponymous LP that perhaps he's the one who got them to work and to do this stuff. I mean once Brian completely lost interest, and after this LP didn't do jack on the charts, Spring just ceased to exist didn't they? Sandler apparently didn't do anything to keep them going, when they had plenty of talent to do so. Something to think about. I do commend Stephen Desper and him for a job well done on this recording, I know they also deserve the credit and accolades for what they did to make this album sound so good.

Regardless of how much Brian did on this record (which I will continue to be fascinated about and read about), I love this LP and love what American Spring did on this LP, singles around the era or what they did later with Brian in the late 70's. It's mostly gold as far as I'm concerned. Love their voices, love the melodic, beautiful, catchy songs on this record and wonderfully quirky arrangements. I am grateful that we have at least some Brian touches/co writes in an era where it was rare to hear any true inspiration come from him, same with Love You and a few other songs in the mid and late 70s. I think that a lot of this LP sounds even better in modern times than it may have at the time. It's a joyful, unpretentious, fun and catchy record so far removed from the overblown and pompous production types of this era, and more in line with what modern indie/underground rock/pop type bands would do later.

4/5 The best record Spring/Honeys were involved in IMHO.. Very Listenable and doesn't sound dated.

Anyone know where I can get a copy of this without paying out of the a$$?  I'd love to hear it in the original track listing rather than spotty YouTube videos. 

Wish it was on Spotify.