The Smiley Smile Message Board

Lately I've been checking out some bands that tried to copy the early Beach Boys sound... The Sunrays, Boys Next Door, Ronnie & The Daytonas, The Fantastic Baggies, The First Class... Most of them sound pretty bland and uninspired most of the time, but there definately are some gems to be found here and there... What are the best soundalikes to check out?

The Ripchords-Bruce sings backup on Hey Little Cobra
Then of course there's always Jan and Dean.


Also check out The Thrills, The Explorer's Club, The Flaming Lips, and The High Llamas for BB and Wilson inspired (primarily Pet Sounds and SMiLE) modern bands.

Not that they are a soundalike but very similar in some ways - The Four Seasons, love Frankies falsetto and there's stacks of great pop songs.

Brian challenged them to a fight at the end of Surfer's Rule (Four Seasons you better believe it) and even sings Valli's falsetto line from Walk Like A Man, and I actually think Brian's version sounds better, or at least smoother and less nasal.

More modern day bands/artists (besides the ones mentioned above) that have listened to The Beach Boys (post 1966) more than once:

The Besnard Lakes
Panda Bear
Caribou
The Apples In Stereo

Apples In Stereo and The Wiggles (yes the Wiggles).

First time I heard Apples in Stereo it sounded like the classic Byrds lineup....of course that was just the one song....but much like the Mints and other E6 bands, there is a certain sound there.


How about the Modern Folk Quartet or the Association?

All of Bruce's pre-BB bands. I don't get it, he wrote such great Beach Boys soundalike music until he joined the group, then he started writing things like Disney Girls and Endless Harmony. Not that I dislike those songs, but it always puzzles me.

Brian Wilson band.
Mike and Bruce Show are ok I hear.

Yes, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear, Panda Bear!!!

And of course Animal Collective sound like they all have Smile bootlegs in their possession.

Panda Bear's song "Bros" (as in brothers, not the 80s boy band) sounds like Phil Spector trying to imitate Brian Wilson. The best song of 2007 by a mile.

I forgot to mention Simian, their first album "Chemistry Is What We Are" in particular (from 2001). "One Dimension" was a minor (radio) hit. Very nice as well.   

And The Bees!! How could I forget The Bees?

Is that the same Simian that gave way to 2 of its former members forming the techno act Simian Mobile Disco?

I think The Bees are called A Band of Bees over here in the states.

Yes, that's the same Simian. They split up in 2005, and two members formed Simian Mobile Disco. One of them, James Ford, (co)-produced the last Arctic Monkeys album.

And yes, The Bees are called A Band Of Bees in the US.

i gotta give some props to The Explorers Club as well.  I saw them this weekend in Nashville and they were super BB influenced...to the point of stupid almost.  But if you put that aside and just listen it's pretty awesome. 

http://www.myspace.com/explorersclub (http://www.myspace.com/explorersclub)

hp

Wow yeah they are really good...definitely no mistaking the influence, but they pull it off quite well!

To find more sound-alikes, all you have to do is a Google Blog search for Brian Wilson or Beach Boys. They are being name-checked left and right, especially since SMiLE '04 came out. Plus every other new band, especially if they sing in harmony, gets compared to the BB's in review articles. It's actually starting to get a bit silly.
 

Early Beach Boys sound, hey? You should check out a song called 'Desert Drive' that came out a few years ago. It really has that early BB feel and was written by some guy named Brian Wilson.

I also love the two PF Sloan songs Tell 'Em I'm Surfin' and Summer Means Fun. I Live For The Sun ain't bad either :)

The Baggies were Fantastic, I think... T'EIS' and SMF are both GREAT tracks. I have a whole album of theirs somewhere...

Here's a question: who are your favourite BB tribute bands?

Though they're technically not a tribute band, Adam Marsland's Chaos Band on their Dennis and Carl album.
The Fendertones also seem pretty good, or at least what they've put up on youtube is great.

Papa Doo Run Run were great on "The California Project" CD from Telarc.

Wow, the Explorer's Club is really Beach Boys-esque. "Last Kiss" is a big ripoff of "I Do" and the backing vocals in "Do You Love Me" were lifted straight from "It's OK".

I have a 3-track single of BB-soundalikes from the Grace of My Heart film. The lead track is Dinosaur Jr's 'Take a Run at the Sun.'

Each of the 3 songs is from a different BB-era: Sun&Fun, Smile, post-Smile. I don't have it with me right now, but there's the Smile-esque track is about a Pickle. These were some guys who knew their BB history way back in the mid-90s, before the more recent press coverage and elevation of Pet Sounds to one of the perennial top10s.

Listen to  'My World Fell Down' by Sagitarius, it's very good and BB like!

I believe this was the track that started Brian thinking that someone was listening to his SMiLE sessions and ripping him off! Given that Bruce is a featured vocalist on the song, that may have been the case.

makes sense, pretty smile-esque stuff, the my world fell down 45, not so much fun & sun though...

if you're into that, all the curt boettcher/gary usher sunshine stuff is interesting (and Awesome):
ballroom
millennium
tommy roe (winters day/phantasy)
along comes the association
eternity's children
friar tuck, etc, etc...

fun & games is a good one too! and then there are the sunshine 45s, but it takes too long to get into those...

Dang, the Panda Bear song "Bros" really IS BB influenced and very cool at the same time. Reminds me of Terry Riley's "In C" also. Very neat  :)

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51g2jO31XuL._AA240_.jpg)
The Ruby Suns from Australia are great. Not exactly BB-sound but heavily influenced.


If you especially go for harmony vocals and doowop, try
(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41KJPAVW9TL._AA240_.jpg)

live,

(http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/5100G2M4Q6L._AA240_.jpg)
or this a capella recording from the early 70s. They sounded even better then in the 60s!

Bob Hanes turned me onto The Tokes' album INTERCOURSE. It's really great and everybody should give it a listen.

I meant The Tokens' album INTERCOURSE.

The two singles from the "Present Tense" album, "My World Fell Down" and "Another Time", are both amazing... But IMO, the rest of the album is pretty weak...

the dukes of the stratosphear doing 'pale and precious'.

and possibly the ink spots, as valuable archaeology.

cheating, i know...

The Manic Street Preachers, "So Why So Sad", even the video was shot on the beach, how's that?:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hSMklt5i614

A few others, that spring to mind

Gorkys Zygotic Mynci - Diamond Dew. It's like Smiley Smile in 3 minutes!

Euros Childs - Bore Da (the last third) is a pure Brian Wilson tag

Jim Noir - I can't See. Wouldn't be out of place on Sunflower

"Awake in a Dream" by The Giant Jellybean Copout (7" Poppy 504 ca. 1968). Great Good Vibrations stuff, written and produced by ex-Critters Jim Ryan (check out The Critters' later albums on Enoch Powell's  Project 3 label - some godd stuff on there as well - although hard to find and very pricey now.

REM's "At My Most Beautiful" is a fantastic Pet Sounds/Smile era influenced song.  It even mentions  the word smile.

Mark Eric Malborg's Mid Summer's Day Dream album is pretty great. I also like Pete Townshend's attempt at a Smiley Smile vibe with Goin' Fishing from Scoop

Possibily my favorite album, ever.

Absolutely.  Person Pitch as a whole is a great, great album but Bros is positively transcendent.

Panda Bear, like others said. Person Pitch is like his Pet Sounds. Not saying that it sounds much like good old Pet Sounds, but it's a similar achievement. The Fleet Foxes sound a lot like the Beach Boys at times, but more folksy. Kind of like an amalgamation of Brian's work in the late 60s (especially if you include DIY music like "Leaves of Grass", or songs like "Old Man River").  Of course, I hear a lot of CSYN in their music, too.

Wings

The Brian Wilson Band... or did somebody already make that joke?

What about The Raspberries or some of Elton John. Especially on the BLUE MOVES album.  Even when Eric Carmen left the Raspberries, some of his solo stuff sounds like the Beach Boys. 

 :hat

Yeah, Elton even said that in the early 70s, when he couldn't find a musical direction, he was inspired by the release of Carl & the Passions. Strange, since that has always been considered a mediocre BB album by most, be he said it.

The Welsh band Super Furry Animals have been known to cite the 'Surfs Up' lp as their favorite album, and have a bunch of songs where they sound just like the songs from the period. I recommend them.

They once compiled a CD with the songs that influenced them most, it included "Lady" and one of Carl's BB songs, 'Feel Flows' I believe. I love SFA's 'Hey Venus!' album. I can definately hear the post-Smile BB influences there.

The Happenings have an early Beach Boys sound, with harmonies and falsetto.  "I Got Rhythm", "Go Away Little Girl", "See You in September", etc.

Explorers Club indeed...verging on plagiarism, but enjoyable.
A couple that haven't been mentioned: Not sure how you'd find this one--I don't think it ever even came out on CD, but an early Rhino Records LP by a group called The Toons is full of great 6-part harmonies and a very BB-ish song called "Looking at Girls."
Two albums, available on iTunes, by the Vinyl Kings, a group of Nashville session cats. The first record, A Little Trip, is a total Beatles homage that many have said actually sounds like a lost Beatles album. Their second album, Time Machine, also has a lot of Fab Four influence, but has several cuts that echo Smile-era BB records. Listen to the song called "Sycamore Bay," which includes a perfect Mike Love impression, a very Carl-esque vocal, and a coda that is so sublime it has become my ringtone. There's not a bad cut on these two albums.
Finally, Roger Joseph Manning, Jr., formerly of Jellyfish, is making awesomely-produced pop records that should have a much wider audience. His first solo album, The Land of Pure Imagination, has two GREAT songs on it: 'In the Name of Romance' and 'Wish It Would Rain.' You should own these two songs! His voice is very Bruce-like and there's a lot of Disney Girls in these two, with incredible backing vocals. His newest album, Catnip Dynamite, is more consistent and I'm enjoying it a lot.
Also worth a look: listen to a sample of "Would You Call It Love?" by Big Kid. I only have one of their three albums, but it's tasty stuff. And June & the Exit Wounds have a stripped-down BBs vibe which is nice, too.

What songs do you have in mind? I have a lot of SFA mp3s that I downloaded after my Welsh teacher played us "Y Teimlad", which has a great Beach Boys-esque chorus but I haven't got around to listen to them yet.

Also, the band Grand Drive sounds like TBB from time to time, perhaps most on their 2000 album True Love And High Adventure. Besides, they have two brothers named Wilson singing!

Yeah, The Toons' album is excellent.  Actually, it was available on CD online directly from group leader John Milne some years ago, but apparently is no longer.  One of the power pop blogs, "Power Pop Criminals" has it posted at 320 kbps; for anyone who wants to hear it you can find it at http://powerpopcriminals.blogspot.com/2007/08/toons-looking-at-girls-1982-there-was.html.  Definitely worth any BB fan's time and effort, plus the album is dedicated to Brian Wilson!
They also issued the LP track "Video Games" as a 45 the following year on a small San Francisco Label called Megatone Records; the B-side, which sounds even more BB-ish than anything on the album, is called "Japanese Kids" and is exclusive to this single.

And there's actually three GREAT songs on Roger Manning, Jr's first album.  The original Japanese issue, which preceded the US issue and was called SOLID STATE WARRIOR, has a very Left Banke-ish song called "What You Don't Know About The Girl" that's irresistably catchy.  It eventually DID come out in the US on the INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW VOLUME 9 compilation CD on Not Lame Records, and it's still available on the Not Lame website (www.notlame.com) for $12.00 (great price for a 3 CD set), plus it also features "Fly" by The Skies of America, which is Rob Bonfiglio, and "Popsound" by Nushu, a duo featuring Lisa Mychols whose "Lost Winter's Dream" album was produced by Darian and Nick (they also cowrote some songs and played on it as well).

And I"m surprised to see that no one has mentioned The Malibus, whose two CD's - 2007's KEEP AN EYE ON THE MALIBUS and 2008's NOW! - are pure 60's BB-influenced all the way.

Velvet Crush has an album titled "Teenage Symphonies to God".  Unfortunately, it sounds more like the Gin Blossoms than the Beach Boys.  It's still a good listen.

Fleet Foxes are great! Lots of vocal harmonies.

Check out this song at 2mins28secs for a very SMiLE-like section.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugxXqqGepCU (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugxXqqGepCU)

Best ever: Side 1 of the album 'Sons Of The Beaches' by Flash Caddillac & The Continental Kids. The songs 'Time Will Tell' and 'Summer Night' would have done any pre-Pet Sounds album proud. I mean it, maaannn!

Further tips: The Flaming Groovies: 'Good Laugh Mun' (from Now!), Dave Edmunds: 'Where Or When', 'Little Darlin'' (from Get It), and of course 'London Is A Lonely Town' (a cover of the Tradewinds' 'New York Is A Lonely Town'), was a single, is available on Pebbles Vol. IV).

I don't know if the debut by the Shoes (Black Vinyl Shoes) can be classified as a BBs tribute album. But it surely is power pop at its finest, with great vocals and harmonies.

And, of course, their cover of "Summer Means Fun" from that same album....

I was just listening to Chicago's "Wishing You Were Here"; and, it never hit me before, but that would've been the perfect song for The Beach Boys to either perform live or record. Just picture Dennis singing Terry Kath's parts, including "Even though you're far away you're on my mind....", and Carl singing Peter Cetera's part, "And I'd like to change my life and you know I would....". Perfect fit.

it's all good really. You might want to try Rings Around the world, Hello Sunshine, Ysbediau Heulog, Fire In My Heart, Northern Lites, and their Hey Venus! record - Most of it's got a Sunflower/Smiley kind of feel

Sorry that I missed that for a few days...

I'd recomend the singles "The Gift That Keeps Giving" and "Show Your Hand" for sounding VERY 'Surf's Up' era BB. The entire "Rings Around the World" album is highly recommended. They actually have a new album out today, and I'm just starting to put it on now. So far, very good.

Follow up:

For anyone who might be midly interested, the brand new Super Furry Animals album is FANTASTIC. Possibly there best, and that's not any easy claim for me to make. Simply, a whole lot of fun.

If you're interested and would like to hear, it's currently only for download for a month from their website: "www.superfurry.com", and is well-worth the asking price.

End rant.

I enjoy the Mailbus, total  BB & Jan & Dean influence - Matt Tyson does a great job or writing 21st century beach songs:

http://www.myspace.com/themalibusnow

www.cdbaby.com/cd/malibus

Phil

Was just listening to some AM Radio Hits, and was enjoying "I Need You" by America. So many of these oldies would've and could still be good songs for the Beach Boys to cover. However, and sadly, I usually think of Carl Wilson as the best "fit" for the lead vocal part. "I Need You" is kinda Beach Boyish. And, I wouldn't mind hearing a mellow, "All I Wanna Do"-like Mike Love lead with a group of harmonies featuring Brian on top. I don't think "I Need You" has been covered by a major group. Just thinking out loud.... :police:

Paul Steel has a great BB sounding song called "In a Coma." Really like that song.

If you're looking for a more Dennis - soundalike, try Eels. the Blinking Lights record is essential