The Smiley Smile Message Board

Discuss, review and rate Wild Honey, released December 1967.

(http://www.smileysmile.net/images/albums/wildhoney.gif)

Are five stars enough? Groovy, funky, organic, and a lot of fun. Plus great songs. What's not to like?

one of the most underated albums in the history of music!

I like it, but do wish they'd have Desper engineering it. The songs are generally pretty cool, with so much energy coming out of the guys. I'd love to hear it in a quality, remastered, stereo release (and I usually don't care much to get into those kinds of things), because the Let the Wind Blow on Hawthorne is really interesting.

A joy to listen to. Mike's finest lyrics and Carl's finest vocals.

5. Perfection.

The live versions of all of these fantastic songs are so much better than what's here (Darlin', Let the Wind Blow and Aren't You Glad especially) that it has really turned me off the album.

The songwriting is stunning, some of the best white soul and Bacharach-impressions ever... but it sounds like sh*t.

3 1/2, a little notch above Smiley.  More focussed, and more impassioned.

Scary and fun at the same time. Brian's still using the scary organ and so it gives a blusy demented feel. I like most of the songs even though Mama Says shouldn't have been there. Without the rest of Vega - Tables it loses the humor. I was sad to figure out it wasn't Bruce on How She Boogalooed It. Don't really like I Was Made To Love Her. To me, it seemed kind of stiff. Everything else is pretty cool, especially Here Comes The Night (the disco versions made it suck). A Thing or Two is pretty neat. I'd Love Just Once To See You makes me laugh always.

4 stars  ;D

I agree that the production could have been better, but it's still a 4 star effort.

Got this at the same record show in '85 with Smiley. I didn't so much care for this album at first- but it took roots and grew fast, like! I'd put it in my top 7 BB LP's. Why 7?
Got these other 6 contenders: Sunflower, Pet Sounds, SMiLEy SMiLE, 20/20, Today, Surf's Up!

The shitty production is part of the album's charm!

Exactly. And a lot of people imitated it. McCartney, HELLO?!
And apparently the entire indie lo-fi movement is something that the Honey detractors are unaware of.

Ian, I've always contended that Smiley Smile and Wild Honey were the first lo-fi albums.

Then you're a very, very perceptive cat.  ;D

I've always contended that "Surfin' Safari" was the first lo-fi album...

I was wrong!?  :'(

Like lo-fi was a good thing.

That's like saying you like watching a black and white TV more than a HDTV set.

 ;)

It was a good thing.
But then again, I prefer the Ramones to Yes.

I would like to say that I believe that some records are produced so well they sound sterile, so I like a range of production techniques, but Smiley...

If a record sounds sterlie, it has NOT been produced well.

Well, take Alan Parsons for instance. Great engineer, but sometimes the APP records sound 'sterile' to me.

They sound like utter crap to me!

I mean, does anyone want Louie Louie and Papa Oom Mow Mow and Surfin' Bird to be clean and perfectly produced?

Nope, that's why Surfin' USA is one of my favorite BB's records. I wish the Boys would have played on all their records, Pet Sounds included. Who needs players like Carol Kaye and Hal Blaine anyway.

I do. Considering they are two of the greatest players to walk the Earth. I can't imagine Spector and Jan and Dean records without Blaine.

That's fine that they were on Spector's and J&D's records, but I don't see why Brian had to use them as much.

How many session guys did the Beatles use, strings and horns excluded?

I definitely agree on Blaine, considering Denny aced songs as complicated as When I Grow Up. I believe Carol was perfectly utilised however, as was the great Ray Pohlman.
The Beatles used no session men, excluding strings, horns, Indian musicians and the odd guest spot (Eric on "Gently Weeps", Billy Preston on "Get Back").
With the ONE exception of drummer Alan White on the 2nd version of Love Me Do and P.S. I Love You.

I wish Brian had let his drummers HIT the drums.

It gets really bizarre during the SMiLEY-Lei'd era, where the drums almost disappear completely!

Drums and bass.

Well, Vegetables is ALL bass.

Yeah, I love THAT bass in THAT song, but I can't figure out why it's ignored in virtually every other song on the record.

The oragn-pedal bass on Fall Breaks is something that I love too. And Whistle In is mostly bass too. But Little Pad, Goin' Bald, Wind Chimes and With Me Tonight certainly miss it out completely.

But, back to Honey! Great bass work on this album, especially Made To Love Her, Here Comes The Night, and Darlin'

Who played the bass on Wild Honey?

Did Brian just drop it like a rock after 1965, with a few sparse cuts like Vegetables and Good Time, or did he play more than than, and I just don't know about it?

I wish I knew! It's probably Ray Pohlman on at least Darlin', but I would bank on Carl and Al for a lot of it.

Brian played bass on the Love You Lp, and a few tracks like Susie Cincinnatti, but dropped it for the most part even in 1963 in the studio, when he began playing the piano on the basic tracks, leaving it to Al and Carl, then the Wreckers.

Not true exactly -- though proficient themselves, they brought in Nicky Hopkins to play piano on Revolution.  And he WAS the "Session Man" -- just ask Ray Davies.

Oh, and Wild Honey is awesome!

Well, I would imagine scheduling would have been awfully different without session players, considering Brian worked on tracks while the BBs toured. Instead of a couple of albums a year, I think we could cut that in half if he had to use them on everything.

 ;D

When I heard, what sounded to me like, the blue-eyed psychesoulic Wild Honey on the radio and then Windchimes on the b-side of the single, I thought, and still think, it was/is some of the most avant garde stuff I had/have heard, bar none.

I think 'avant garde' is overused when discussing music.

 ;)

What an avant garde post!

Obi-Wan Kenobi to Luke Skywalker..."Everything is avant garde, from a certain point of view."

Estes Keefauver to Trini Lopez: "Nothing is avant garde from the future."

John Oates to Daryl Hall: "Your ass, MY future".

Wild Honey.......my second favorite BB album, right after Sunflower.


Greta Garbo to her banker: "Ah vant to garde my monee"

That would be Bruce Johnston on bass.

As a lot of you already know, *Wild Honey* is my favorite album of all time. I love it for it's looseness, low-key production, the exuberant singing (especially Carl's), and for the songwriting, which I think is especially strong on WH.

Bruce Johnston played the bass on 'I Was Made To Love Her'? Damn, he's good.  ;D

That's a big controversial topic.  Ask Josh if he shows up around here.  The guy who was the touring bassist then (forget his name) probably did some tracks.  Doubt Bruce did much.

Theory:  Carole Kaye did bass on I Was Made To Love Her and then confused that with the Motown version.  It would explain her vociferous insistence for taking credit for that one.

Bruce played bass on the song "Wild Honey." Not sure about the rest of the album.

Yeah, yeah, Ron Brown was definitely "around" according to Bruce.  He may have played a lot of the bass.  Bruce says he just played bass on the one song, Wild Honey, as was already mentioned.  Ray Pohlman was "present" as well.  Al was a plenty competent bassist to knock out a lot of the songs, and Brian could have, but likely didn't play a whole lot of bass, because he was at the keyboard and they we're still limited in number of tracks.

I don't know about Carol on IWMTLH.  She's so vociferous about the Stevie Wonder element of it...  Plus she's made it very clear she stopped working for Brian with Smile. 

4. One of the Beach Boys best albums. To me this is like Brian's "Rubber Soul."  I would have given it a 5, but I hate Mama Says used as song into itself, and its the last song on the album. A bad way to go out.

He mentioned also that he played the "cheezy organ solo" in the Wild Hony track.

"Cheezy", Bruce?  Ideal, says I.

I can't say enough great stuff about this album.  It's top-shelf musically and it holds together very nicely as a whole.  The raw sound really works here and brings out the best in these tracks, IMO.  Two greasy thumbs up.  5 stars.

I thought the wrecking crew came back to work on Friends?

Carol didn't.

Did she have a falling out with Brian? Or since Brian wasn't really producing the records anymore the Beach Boys picked their favorite session bass players like Ron Brown.

I believe that Carol actually started playing a little less, at that point to spend more time with her family.

But I think it's likely that the Boys were just more familiar with Ray Pohlman, since they had worked with him a lot, and Carol playec for Brian more when the Boys were on the road.  And of course, Ron Brown was probably hanging around rehearsing for tours, so he would have been just easy to plug in.

"Wild Honey" brings back more memories of a Beach Boys album then anything, next to "Pet Sounds."  Not saying they are equal.  But it's the only one I can really remember making an impact on me.  I was just getting into the Beach Boys and had heard very little of their post-Pet Sounds catalog.  I found the cassette in a bargain bin for $3.99.  I remember hating it on first listen.  I didn't dig the sound or the muddiness and lack of drums on all these r&b tunes.  But damn, I ended up wearing that tape out.  I would play it constantly over and over driving to school, and wherever else I went. 

A similiar thing happened with "Love You."  I found the vinyl for about the same price as above and I hated the first listen..  but next thing you know, it was playing constantly.  I have no idea what it is about these albums that are so addictive!

I read the superlatives about 'Wild Honey' on this thread and I find myself asking "Have I been listening to a completely different album?"  I gave it another go the other day and no - the songs for the most part are slight and unmemorable.  Nothing awful, you understand, but not great.  I give it a 3.

Love it ! 5 !!
This is an fantastic album. The Boys really showed they could rock! One of Jim Morrison's favorite albums as far as I know. And rightfully so.
I wish there would be a remastered version of it with outtakes and a stereo-version. The UM-release of it is my favorite of the UM-series. Maybe even a book written about these session (plus Friends and even Smiley Smile) to see how the BBs worked on the albums from that period. Stephen Desper could maybe give some insight.
There was an article 'bout half a year ago where a new rock-band was described (was it the Magic Numbers ? ) and Wild Honey was mentioned as "Brian Wilson's Indi-Rock-Gem", though I think this was more an group-effort, at least more so than Pet Sounds or Smile.

Keep listening.

Is that really true? Where can this be verified? Did one of the Doors mention that Jim loved Wild Honey in an interview?

David Anderle mentioned it in a famous interview with Paul Williams.

I think Ian is right. Morrison was a big Beach Boys-Fan. he said they were the reason he came to California.
If he still thought so after Dennis had beaten him up, I don't know.... ;D

dennis beat him up or is this a joke...sry, i dont know tones online

ell, this was in a club in L.A., don't know which, might be the Whiskey. A young singer was singing and playing and Jim Morrison along with (I believe) Eric Burdon went up on stage, throwing the young singer off stage. Dennis went up and did the same with Morrison and Burdon. At least that's what I heard....

I've read that WILD HONEY was originally to appear with a different
line-up then what we have now.  What would that have been and
why the changes?

The orginal tracklisting (from what I know)

Wild Honey
Here Comes The Night
The Letter (live) - was crossed out on lineup paper
Darlin'
A Thing or Two
Cool Cool Water - Probably too early
Lonely Days - also axed. Not a lot seemed to have come out of that song.
I'd Love Just Once To See You
Country Air
How She Boogalooed It
Mama Says

Don't forget the title truncation, from "Good Lord how She Boogalooed it".

Well they did get the point across  :)

No, the original sequence was...

Wild Honey
Here Comes The Night
Let The Wind Blow
I Was Made To Love Her
The Letter (removed)
Darlin'
A Thing Or Two
Aren't You Glad
Cool Cool Water (removed)
Game of Love (removed)
Lonely Days (removed)
Honey Get Home (removed)

Would it be possible to piece this version together?  I mean, overlooking that "Lonely Days" is only a fragment of a song.  I know "Cool Cool Water" is on the boxed set... are the other missing tracks on bootlegs??

Wasn't there an early version of Can't Wait Too Long that was supposed to go on WH?

Oddly enough, in a Capitol vault search last year I came across a tape box which apparently contained the first generation master of the WILD HONEY album, and the original documentation lists a slightly different line-up from all of these:

WILD HONEY
AREN’T YOU GLAD
I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER
COUNTRY AIR
A THING OR TWO
DARLIN’
I’D LOVE JUST ONCE TO SEE YOU
HERE COMES THE NIGHT
HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY * ?
THE LETTER
LET THE WIND BLOW
I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER (LONG VERSION )

I'm pretty sure that "Hide Your Love Way" is a mistake, and should have listed "With A Little Help From My Friends."

In any case, "With A Little Help From My Friends," "The Letter," and the long version of "I Was Made To Love Her" were removed from this reel and tacked onto a Capitol phono reel (phono reels being compilations of single masters and various one shot recordings that didn't belong on an album), where they were taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long long time until Brad Elliott unearthed them for the "Rarities" album.

Alan

Thanks for the clear up on that Alan

WILD HONEY... still, one my favorite albums. :D

Wild Honey:  Still the album crying out for an incredible stereo-remix.

Game Of Love was a track recorded in September 1967 at Wally Heider Studios during productions for the aborted "live-in-the-studio" album. Mike took lead on that (info - Andrew Doe). Honey Get Home was a backing track that was actually a Brian solo performance. Lonely Days appeared on Hawthorne, CA.

I love those Wild Honey rarities. That LP is worth it for those.

Thank heavens for custom iTunes playlists! :)

Love that *Wild Honey*!!

Yes!

For the love of God, did they NEVER think of putting Can't Wait Too Long on a damn album?

Yes, it was actually considered for KTSA!

Here's a typed transcription of the handwritten draft of the Wild Honey liner notes. All mis-spellings and grammatical errors are on the original (soarse, varity, etc.), and anything crossed out is in parentheses.

Honey, of the wild varity, on a shelf in Brian’s kitchen was not only an aid to all of the Beach Boys health but the soarse of insperation for the (single) record “Wild Honey”

Soon after the R&B flavored Wild Honey came eight other new songs, and a Beach Boys version of “I Was Made To Love Her”. “The Letter” was recorded live (on) in Hawaii this last summer. It is to be a part of a new up-coming live album which will be high lights from (different shows) a varity of shows.

(Everyone worked hard. We agreed)

We think it is a great album. We love to listen to it. We might just be bias because we work for the Beach Boys. Please see what you think.

Steve and Arny




Wild stuff. Bringing back an old SmileShop discussion, consider the "up-coming live album" comment: We already know they had two Hawaii shows and the Heider re-records to pull material from as they did "The Letter". I've wondered if this live album could have also been the home for a few of the better cuts from the October 22 1966 Michigan shows, which remain(ed) in the vaults. Dennis did sing an extremely, extremely cool "unplugged" version of "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" at those shows, as an aside to the tape-box typo and explanation.

Cool post.
I wish the Chicago 65 show had been issued. Great performance.
A Heider/Michigan mix would be cool too.
In fact, I'll try that now!  ;)

Wow, that is highly interesting -- and actually a pretty keen lineup. I've always been in the vast minority who LOVES the With A Little Help...and have ALWAYS wondered what exactly they recorded that damn thing for!

Ah, but with a live compilation being in the works according to the Steve Korthoff and Arny Gellar liners, couldn't it really have been "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away" from Michigan 1966?  They were about to include "the Letter", so why not a second live track?

Sometimes a banana is just a banana.

Actually, this strikes me as a truly weird idea on a couple of levels.  Primarily, I have never heard of another band or artist releasing a track from an upcoming live album on the album immediately preceeding it.  I mean, what's the point really?  Fans would have to pay twice for the same song.  And secondly, that version of "the Letter" on Rarities is a studio version, right?  I'm fairly certain it's not even the same one as the Heider sessions, but a seperate take tracked at the home studio.  So why add the live version if they did a studio remake?  Weird stuff to be sure.

That's the point..... ::)

I really like "How She Boogalooed It".

I think the little organ solo stuff is great. The mix they did on this song is great too. The organ just crunches in at a perfect level.

Justified or not, this seems to be the album that seemed to have killed the Beach Boys with the record buying public. It did a little better on the charts than Smiley Smile, probably on the strength of "Darlin", but then Friends totally bombed. I can imagine somebody who was a typical fan of the Beach Boy's earlier music, or even someone who picked up the album because of "Darlin", putting on this LP and going "huh"? The music was too much of a departure to please their older fans, and probably too corny to attract the audience that was into Hendrix or Jefferson Airplane.

Some kernels of brilliance are present, but Brian's lack of focus affects the album's quality greatly. And the other guys were just not ready to pick up the slack.

 

Were they ever ready?  :-\

ZING!!   :D

 
:lol

The Beach Boys almost do a complete 180 here, issuing one of the most abrupt artistic change of directions any major band has ever attempted.  The moody low-key psychedelia found throughout most of Smiley Smile is now almost completely absent, replaced by a sound that's mostly organic white boy r&b.  And if that description doesn't sound complimentary, chances are you haven't heard Wild Honey; an album that makes a case for Brian Wilson as one of the funkiest white guys ever.

The record is brief in duration, but contains plenty of highlights that have held up well throughout the years.  It's anchored by two strong, soulful singles in the catchy "Darlin'" and the title track, with its wailing theremin octaves.  Other high quality soul-pop gems like "Here Comes the Night", "Aren't You Glad" and the cover of Stevie's "I Was Made to Love Her" continue to mine this funky vein.  The Beach Boys have never sounded so dirty on record before, and that's definitely a good thing.  The chugging mid-sixties groove of "How She Boogalooed It" or the jamming chorus to "A Thing or Two" might not rate with the best music the Beach Boys have ever produced, but damned if they ain't every bit as fun as, say, "Surfin' USA" or "I Get Around".

There's a nice transition effect between these rockers and the ballads found elsewhere on this platter.  Brian's "I'd Love Just Once to See You" is slight, but features some lovely acoustic guitar work and can be seen as the immediate precursor to such future "slice of life" tracks as "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Games Two Can Play".  Better yet are two astonishing ballads that recall the sound of the previous album; "Country Air" and "Let the Wind Blow".  Certainly these rank amongst the greatest songs Brian has ever penned, although the latter is hampered a bit by its relatively weak lyrics.

Wild Honey is a classic album that falls just short of "masterpiece" status.  This is due to the fact that while the quality of the material is high for the most part (and every Beach Boys album short of Pet Sounds features at least two clunkers) it's just not quite as strong overall as either Smiley Smile or Friends, the albums that surround it (though "Let the Wind Blow", "Country Air", "Darlin'" and "Aren't You Glad" are individually as good as most anything found on those two records.)  Also, Wild Honey is hampered by probably the worst mono mix of any Beach Boys album.  It is simply crying out for a stereo remix, and perhaps even a new mono mix.  The stereo remix of "Let the Wind Blow" found on Hawthorne, CA gives a glimpse of how fantastic a complete CD remix could sound.  (One which would hopefully include bonus tracks such as "Lonely Days", "Honey Get Home", the early version of "Cool Cool Water", and covers of "The Letter", "With a Little Help from My Friends" and "Game of Love".)

4.5 stars (rounded down to 4)

Great review. Your opening line about a change in direction made me think about what the Beach Boys did, direction-wise, at the time:

Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!) - Tight, wall of sound, good-time summer pop
Party! - Stripped down, acoustic, wacky, loose
Pet Sounds - Lush, wall of sound, emotionally deep, complicated
Smiley Smile - dark, cold, trippy, sparse
Wild Honey - Upbeat, funky, outdoorsy

Every album was markedly different from the one preceding it.

It continues on through the 60s and 70s, too...

Friends - folky, laid back, organic

Sunflower - poppy, optimistic, lush

Surf's Up - dark, brooding, pessimistic

So Tough - rocking, straightforward

Holland - ethereal, moody

15 BO - nostalgic, happy

Love You - goofy, unpredictable, weird

MIU - harmonious, peaceful, quaint



(It's hard to quantify the last album from each decade.  20-20 and LA play more like compilations of tracks from each various band member than coherent statements from a unified band.)

Cool review, Jason !
I kinda like the bad mono-mix. It contributes to the dirty sound imo

I think Friends is a pretty good continuation of Wild Honey's ethos, albeit more laid back and better-produced. There's still a lot of organ and detuned piano, only it's augmented by more lush instrumentation and vocals.

In many ways, friends sounds like what Wild Honey would sound like if it had been mixed in stereo.  I think a lot of the cuts would surprisingly fit in. 

Yeah, hearing J.P's stereo mixes really opened my eyes to how well recorded both Smiley and Honey actually were, terrible shame that the mono mix seems it had been rushed.

On the Dumb Angel rarities vol.12, I think that's the disc with live performances and the Hawaii show, anyway it has the Beach Boys doing Aren't You Glad at the Big Sur festival, and it sounds so fodaing awesome! They perform it so much better than the Live In London track, they really do the song justice, and it makes me wish WH had been produced better. It's too bad they didn't do those songs justice when they recorded the album.  :'(

I hadn't actually considered that before......but I agree, it'd definitely work!!

that's a good call

Anyone ever seen a full shot of the stained glass window that adorned the cover ? I know it was from the Bellagio house, but wouldn't it be nice to see the how the entire window looked ? No ?? oh well ...
 :)

I think there actually does exist a photo with the pane in the background. I remember someone posted it once.

Someone posted a video capture from the A&E Brian Wilson bio, but there wasn't an actual picture posted. And that video capture looked like merda.

Ah, there you go. I never said it was any good!

Aha, thanks ! I shall have to go dig out the A&E bio now ...
 :3d

God, I LOVE Wild Honey. It's so fun and charming and like nothing else the band did before, and to a certain extent, since.

Even though Pet Sounds and Today! are my favorite BBs albums, Wild Honey I have more fun listening to, it seems. Every single song makes me feel soo good inside.
I can barely contain myself when listening to WH (just like right now - I'm listening to I Was Made To Love Her; Carl rules on this).

I even love that cover; it's gotta be my favorite BBs album cover. I'm gonna get a tattoo of that one of these days, I SWEAR...

God i love this album...Makes me feel so good.

5

I don't think I've heard this from anyone else, but in my opinion, 'Wild Honey' the song almost seems like a great follow up to 'Good Vibrations'. They both have a therimin thing goin on. Although they are in different styles that is the first thing I thought  when I heard WH the first time.

I would just like to add...After weeks of listening to wild honey, It is now in my top 5 albums of all time... :-D

Best Beach Boys album cover, in my opinion. I see those colors when i hear the music. This album ROCKS!!! I love the singing by Carl .

Yep, Wild Honey is a great, great album!! The production isn't perfect? What'd u expect? They recorded the whole album in less than 3 fucking months!! Besides, who cares? It works! The production fits the songs perfectly. Albums like 'Friends' and 'Surf's Up' might be better known/loved, but they're flawed. Where though is the 'Student Demonstration Time' or the 'Transendental Meditation' on this record? It really flows, and is very complete-feeling and coherent in a way other BB albums are not. And the cover is fanatstic! Fave tracks: Wild Honey, Country Air, Darlin', Here Comes The Night  (VERY under-rated song! That damn disco remake..) and Let The Wind Blow. 4 out of 5. Nah, 4 and a half. Three quarters even. f*** it - 5.

I really dig this album. How an album like this can go so under-appreciated is criminal. Pretty much every song is great on the album except maby Mama Says which is just nice. It really belongs to Vegetables of course and I don't like it as its own song

The reason for the production/sound has little or nothing to do with it being done in three months. It has to do with the changes in the way they worked. Albums like Sgt. Pepper were done in not much more--what did that take, Jan. 67 through April 67, so four months? No, it was more about the fact that they were just doing it themselves (more than in recent years) and at home.

How much of Wild Honey was  actually recorded in Brian's house? I thought most of it was recorded in the Wally Heider studio. I have the  Keith Badman book but I'm too lazy right now to look up the session dates and locations. Anyone else know? Anyway, the Live In London version of Aren't You Glad gives you some idea of the power and punch Wild Honey could of had if it had been produced differently.

Wild Honey kind of is what brought me into the Beach Boys.  Not the entire album, but I was listening to samples of Sounds of Summer one day when I was a casual listener.  The two songs that caught my ear were Darlin' and Wild Honey.  From there I ventured further into their catalogue and was soon hooked.  I really do quite enjoy the album.  Carl's voice was so unique on this album, and he's all over it.

Wild Honey - 5/5
Aren't You Glad - 5/5
I Was Made To Love Her - 3.5/5
Country Air - 5/5
A Thing Or Two - 4/5
Darlin' - 5/5
I'd Love Just Once To See You - 4.5/5
Here Comes The Night - 4.5/5
Let The Wind Blow - 5/5
How She Boogalooed It - 3.5/5
Mama Says - 3.5/5

I gotta round down to a 4, just because of the 2 or 3 tracks which I rate a little lower than the others.  A 4.5 would do this album much more justice IMO though.

This is another one of their "perfect" albums, in my opinion. I love the vibe. I'm amazed at how different the vibes and music really are from Today-Holland. Each album sounds completely different. Each one could make a new fan out of someone.

Terrific.  Insanely catchy and infectious.  4 stars.  If the production had just been a little neater on a couple of the tracks (eg, the title track) and if there were maybe 2 nice originals in place of the cover, it would definitely get 5 stars from me.

Track picks:
I'd Love Just Once To See You (+++), Wild Honey (+++), Darlin' (+++), Aren't You Glad (++), Let The Wind Blow (++)

I can well understand the quibbles with the production, I would add not only is it not "neat" but many of the songs really could use louder drums, IMO. But I have to admit...there's something about the shoddy sound I like, maybe it's the way the backing vocals seem to be mixed too low, the dull thump of hte drums, the way a trombone comes in...you can hear it as it should sound, somehow, but what you get is something stark and somehow (to me) very rock'n'roll added to some pretty perfectly  short  pop songs. I agree that it's probably just a case of them doing it themself and not an intentional thing, but it works for me, it's black and white minimalism.

 I love the way the acoustic guitars come in I"d Love Just Once to See You, that is one of my favorite moments on any record.

::nod:: Yeah I agree about the drums.  And yeah I think the vocals are a bit too low in the mix on some of the tracks - but it also sounds like they're completely uncompressed, or something like that anyway.  I guess back then if you wanted reverb, compression, etc. you actually had to have an echo chamber, a compressor, etc. and couldn't just rely on digital plugins like we do so easily today and take for granted.

I guess that's why the minimalism of Smiley Smile and the more minimalistic tracks on Wild Honey work so well, whereas with the more grandiose tracks instrumentation-wise, some of the limitations of their home recording shines through a bit more.  But it's also interesting that they really did improve their sound quality with Friends just a year later.

I think David Dalton took a picture of Brian and some friends at the Bellagio house in 1967, with the stained glass panel behind them.

I'd go with the consensus here - some great tracks on Wild Honey, classics, but just not quite the album it could have been. We can talk about  adding "Can't Wait Too Long" but for me the best place for that is on "Smiley Smile"

Fingers pointed at production and delivery, title track especially should've been slowed down and mellowed out. There's a puppyish tone to the r'n'b which some people would like, but in its context though it was a bit of a stylistic dead-end between Smiley and Friends.

Highlights for me are Here Comes The Night, Let The Wind Blow, Country Air.

A Thing or Two sits on the line between the contemplative tracks which I like and the white soul, which I'm less keen on generally. Oh it's good, but not great.

I for one FAR preffer Denny's live drumming on just about everything over the studio cuts whether it was Blain or Jim Gordon or whoever. He was able to nail anything those studio "aces" could. Plus he also made the stuff ROCK. Just listen to Sloop John B on Live In London, then listen to the Pet Sounds cut...... Snore!!!!!
And the studio cuts he is on ROCK. He had a lovely technique. The way he played his hi-hat with his left hand led to things always being interesting when he'd land out of a fill. And watching him on the Kenbworth DVD, even wasted out of his mind and out of practice, he still tore it up, and to this day, I've never seen anyone make so many kick-ass saves when blowing a fill. He had his s*%t together as a drummer. And I give it to Denny and Ringo as the two guys who INVENTED rock drumming!!!!! Ask me and I'll elaborate on that opinion.

Denny was THE perfect drummer for the band. But then again if his ego had been stroked as a drummer or if Brian had heavily leaned on him as a studio drummer he may have never learned piano or ever wrote any songs, and Dennis, for my money, is/was the only Beach Boy without the ability to write any utter crap.

 So well put, esp. the last statement. Can you imagine if Dennis had led the band for an extended period?

I agree. Denny's drumming on California Girls is so much better than Hal's. Especially the intro. Hal treats the drums like they're made of glass and if he hits them too hard they'll shatter, Denny treats them like they just shot his puppy.

I also think Denny on Good Vibrations live blows the drums off the record into deep space..... Though, in fairness to Hal, I'm sure Brian told him to play it the way he did. I remember reading/hearing somewhere that Brian dislikes cymbals/loud drums anyway.

Watch Denny on Wouldn't It be Nice on that live TV thingy in England (youtube-it) Man! if he'd been on the record!!! I love the way Ricky Fattar played it too.

Difficult. The only valid approach is mathematical.

1. Music: 3 (there are a few duds, like: How She Boogalooed It)
2. Sleeve Art: 5 (best of all BBs, in fact, up there with All Summer Long)
3. Production: 0
4. Playing Time: 2

Average: 2.5, so I gave it 3 with some benevolence.

A few pages back there was mention of a long version of I WAS MADE TO LOVE HER.  Does anyone know anything about that?  I have a boot of a pieced together stereo recreation of IWMTLH with an occapella bridge near the end and some sort of effects added in the fade. 

The Wild Honey album is awesome, BTW.  And I'm one of the needs-to-be-in-stereo lobbyists!  Hey, gang, how about a mono/stereo twofer with bonus tracks?  Mr. Linett?

You probably have the extended version you're looking for, reading your description of the version you have. The (badly pieced together) version with a capella bridge + backgroundvoc's fade was released on the 1983 Rarities album. Listening to it I suspect that that a capella bridge is not on the right place anyway (my guess is just before "My little baby wants me, my baby needs me...)

Yeah, it sounds like the bridge was merely tacked on to the end, as there are no lead vocals after it.  Just a drum riff and then a fade.  It certainly doesn't follow the original Stevie version.

How true. WH needs to 'breath' in true stereo, and the mono version is quite suffocating. Again, it is beyond me why it wasn't done in stereo. There were many capable guys and girls around then to do that, and the only reason I can come up with is that people wanted to please Brian, who wasn't in such good spirits at the time.

So how is the 2001 remaster?  I've got the '90 edition and I find that the only way I can listen to it is with my treble control cranked up and the bass backed off quite a bit.  Any differences in the bonus tracks (like FRIENDS/2020)?

2000 ain't that bad. Certainly I don't have to adjust my settings too much.

I just thought about the "Wild honey"-album and it's sound. As mentioned earlier in this thread, it's probably my favorite BBs-album. But I think the problem about the sound is, that it sounds like a "small" album, which it is and which was ok for Smiley Smile. But take a look at the Beatles' simpler albums and they all still sound big. WH could sound like a big album too, if they had used more echo, maybe double the voices, etc. It's not just a mono/stereo-thing, as "Friends" also sounds quite small. I think WH would've profited from a bigger sound like "The girl from New York city", which also is a simple recording.

PURE UNDISPUTABLE TRUTH. Anyone who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves or they're buried in BW's pubic hair.

I'm sorry but I have to disagree. Dennis didn't release THAT many songs in his lifetime and when he did, most of the time it was only a few songs per album. To say that he wasn't capable of writing crap is a bit stupid in my opinion. Who knows, he might have written loads of crap that we've never heard and perhaps crap that was never even recorded. I suppose what a person defines as crap differs from person to person as well.

I'm not sorry at all. Dennis wrote as high a percentage of sh*t as the others, and if we're going to make stupid-ass judgment statements, we may as well make more accurate ones: anyone who thinks otherwise has fallen for the good looks and charm and might just be buried in Dennis' (crab-infested, no doubt) pubic hair.

I guess erik5000 was just having a little irony going on here.
As for Dennis' crap, what about "What's wrong"? That's quite an awful song.

Anyway, back to topic. It's Wild Honey on here....

Starting to think this is the sort of album to make the whole rating system a bit pointless.

When this album is good it is great. World-beating. I'm surprised at the Don's paltry score.

Seven brilliant tracks on one album. Damn, it would be good enough for 99.99% of bands.

How She Boogalooed It - Carl lets out an air biscuit. It's a couple of minutes of egg-flavor. So what?

It's the band's album and it has stacks of personality, cheek and vibes. I find my way back to it, a lot.

Wild Honey is a standout. There is no other Beach Boys album like it.

The Beach Boys are a unique band in that you can say that about quite a few of their albums: Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, Holland, 15BO, Love You and LA all, to me, are very unique in the BBs catalogue. Others are near-unique, where an album and a half or pair of albums fit together (how I think of Sunflower/Surfs Up).

I think that was their only R & B and soul album

It's better than anything Radiohead has ever put out!!

That's kind of a weird statement. Why mention Radiohead in relation to Wild Honey? Why not any other band?

(By the way, I am not a huge Radiohead fan, but I disagree with your statement. In fact, I think Kid A, OK Computer and The Bends are all quite a bit better than WH.)

It is kind of weird...I don't think one is better than the other but totally, totally different.

Yeah, and Wild Honey is certainly no Tales From Topographic Oceans!!!  :p

I think DoYouDigWorms was just trying to say that Wild Honey holds up compared to whoever is considered a hip/trend setting band of this era!

And I think it's a good point!!!

I agree that it holds up as a quality album (though as I said, I disagree on the specifics), just was surprised by the left-field comparison, I guess.

It was a random comparison, I'll admit to that...but for some reason I've been wanting to start a Beach Boys vs. Radiohead grudge match for a while. The greatest band of the 60s and (part of) the 70s vs. the band that critics claim is the greatest of the 90s and 00s. I personally like WH more than I do OK Computer or Kid A...but I think PS, SMiLE, or SS would be more comparable to OK Comp or Kid A, though.

Well, the Beach Boys would win in a fight, at least. Well, in their primes they would have. (Two dead guys and a bunch of sexagenarians probably couldn't win. Well, check that: Yorke, Greenwood et al don't seem all that tough, even against old men.)

haha...

I can see Mike Love and Thom Yorke getting into a fight, which would start by Mike calling Thom a limey and a homosexual.

Mike would kick his fucking ass. Unless Dennis took Thom's side...which he would...then Dennis would kick Mike's ass...

actually the Beach Boys would probably all start beating each other before Radiohead ever had a changed to get punched.

So, actual victor: Radiohead by default.

I like where the conversation is going

I really like this album and the unique vibe it gives off. I gave it a 4. The last two tracks drop it from a 5 for me. Mama says is a butchering of the original version to me and Boogalooed doesn't sound like the rest of the album, but it isn't that bad.

You know, I've never seen the back cover to the Wild Honey LP! Nor have I seen the inside jacket. Could somebody post them?

If I could make love to this album, I would.  And my standards in vinyl-copulation are high.

 
:lol nice!

But make sure to clean up after yourself! Vinyl should always have proper maintenance, almost like a pet.

Do people seriously not like How She Boogalooed It?

It's a slight song, but I'll be damned if it's not a fun little blast too! I'm rarely ever like, "Oh man, I want to listen to 'How She Boogalooed It' right now!" though...

I fucking love this album, so many great songs. one of the reasons i haven't posted in the top 3 songs from each album thread is because i simply can't choose with this album. my favorite songs from it have to be "Wild Honey", "Aren't You Glad", "Country Air", "Darlin", "Here Comes The Night",  "Let The Wind Blow", and "How She Boogalooed It"(i just find that song incredibly amusing for some reason). That's most of the album right there. If i had to choose an absolute favorite I'd have to go with "Let The Wind Blow" since it resonates the most with me emotionally. As much as i like the originals, i'd have to say i like the versions of "Aren't You Glad" and "Country Air" from the Big Sur Folk Festival more. I didn't care too much for the production at first, but it's grown on me.

5/5

An album including "Here Comes The Night" and "Let The Wind Blow" can't really get a lower rating than 5/5

Let the Wind Blow is an incredible song.  I love Mark Linett's stereo mix.  I play it for people and they say things like, "That's the Beach Boys?  Get outta here!!!"

I just heard that in "An American Family" and sh*t myself. IT'S AMAZING.

You never heard the song before? Oh man, check out the live version from the 70s.

Let The Wind Blow is pure bliss and although it's a Brian and Mike collaberation I read somewhere that Mike actually came up with much or even most of the music as well as the lyrics for it, if so The Lovester has more musical talent than we give him credit for.

Let the Wind Blow is the "God Only Knows" of Wild Honey. If you don't like that song, i think i might hate you...

4/5 ...the only reason it doesnt get the 5 is because of cwtl :/...it should've made the cut!

You're down-rating an album because of a song that's not on said album?

Are you at all surprised why some board members rip into some of the posts and threads you come out with?

On topic: Great album. Love every second.

am i suprised? well no i'm kind of used to it :)

This would be a five if it wasn't for How She Boogaloed It and the absolutely appalling production (I think the tape the hiss is highest in the mix on most tracks). A four as it is. 

Brief but catchy and funky! All their vocals sounded great especially Carl's rocking vocals in many of the tunes and Mike's higher and softer voice. Love arrangements-especially the piano. Favorite tracks at the moment - Darlin', Wild Honey, Here Comes the Night, Aren't You Glad, and Here Comes the Night.

I re-listened to this album recently and my opinion of it has greatly improved. The sound quality is still bothersome but I enjoy the songs a lot more than before. 4/5 (Previously 3/5)

I feel the sound quality adds to the whole feel, the whole...petina of the album. Kind of like that organ bleeding through the channels on 'Country Air'. Groovy outta-sight trip. I'll never understand so many fans' wish to hear Wild Honey in stereo. A big part of what makes the album sound so rockin' and raw (well, raw for the usually slick Beach Boys) is the mono, baby.

Used to dislike this album, until I heard it in stereo. Now it's one of my favorites.

But there is no official stereo version available. Did you listen to a duophonic copy?

To a significant extent, this is the first album where I really start to connect with BW's songwriting in a different way than I can with Today through Smiley Smile. I hesitate to draw my comment away from Wild Honey, but I want to make my point a clearer. To me, BW as a songwriter appeals to me in these distinct forms:

1. The simple idea, the simple tune. No less brilliant, but more succinct, more narrow. This form is delivered on the albums Surfin' Safari through All Summer Long. Then a departure, and a return to this form on Wild Honey and Friends, a departure, then another return from Love You onward.

2. The complex structure, the ornately produced. Concepts are a bit more abstract, and even the simple ideas have a bit more dimension. Shown on albums Today! through Smiley Smile, return to the style discussed in [1.], and back to this form with Time to Get Alone, All I Wanna Do, This Whole World, Our Sweet Love, 'Til I Die, A Day in the Life of a Tree, Funky Pretty... then in like '75 or so he goes back to "older" form.

I really have some sentiment for this notion, so I hope someone else kinda gets what I'm saying. I can't speak to any method or reason for his going between songwriting styles -- it may simply be incidental, no intent on his part, and just that I happen to categorize his songs in such a way.

Back to the album specifically:

It contains great keyboard-rockers ("Wild Honey," "Here Comes the Night," "Darlin'"), my favorite melodic, sentimental expressions ("I'd Love Just Once..." and "Aren't You Glad"), one of my favorite sets of Beach Boy lyrics ("Let the Wind Blow"), an odd little harmony-rich, atmospheric joint ("Country Air"), and  then "A Thing Or Two" which I think is great and unique because of the chord it starts on, and "How She Boogalooed It" which is a lot of fun. And finally, "Mama Says" which sucks and is useless.

Love this album!

That was a great review right up until you dismissed the lovely Mama Says as 'sucking and useless'. You can not like a song (although how you can not like such beautiful harmonising is beyond me?), but 'useless'? A little harsh for such a fun, inoffensive, nicely sung ditty, no?

I prefer it as part of "Vegetables." It's nicely performed, yes. But it being inoffensive is just the problem: it's totally not invigorating to me, which is disappointing coming from a group whose catalog, in large part, is otherwise just that -- invigorating and memorable. So I think "useless" still describes the way I feel: I don't actively hate it, but I would've liked it left off the album.

In terms of actual duration, not a proper album! Goddammit!  ;D And thank god for these rulebreakers. Short and sweet, and if in my stupid opinion Surf's Up is really overrated, this one is really underrated (of course a firm favorite among those with an excellent taste). Nice home-baked sound bliss.

For crying out loud, release a stereo version and take my money.

if ifs and buts were candy & nuts:
this album would be pretty out there if the last two tracks had been dropped. And something of a truly kick-ass quality stuff of the era would've been there instead, like Can't Wait Too Long or Cool Cool Water or Lonely Days or whatever unfinished stuff there was.
 Can't Wait Too Long is probably my favorite song from the Beach Boys.
Love the mono, but a two-disc edition with bonus material worth six times the album's actual duration would be sufficient.

I don't like that organ, but the songwriting and energy more than makes up for it all. 4

The Wild Honey album has some rough garage-rock stylings and I dig it! I love how the Beach Boys have albums like Pet Sounds which are produced with magic, and also have gems like Wild Honey which sound like they were recorded in my basement. Let me just skip to How She Boogalooed It first. Don't throw tomatoes at me but I love that song. In the same way I love Sam The Sham's 'Wooly Bully' or Swingin' Medallions 'Double Shot Of My Baby's Love'. Great fun. Not everything has to be complex and prog. Give me The Ramones over ELP anyday.

Anyway... Darlin' rocks. So does Wild Honey and Here Comes The Night. Country Air is a highlight for me, very atmospheric. I'd Love Just Once To See You is a great tune and somehow reminds me of Velvet Underground (Who Loves The Sun, which came out 3 years later). A Thing Or Two has that two-part structure that I really liked on Gettin' Hungry from the previous album. Let The Wind Blow is a lovely gem with beautiful vocals. But I Was Made To Love Her sounds like Carl is straining his voice which is uncommon. Mama Says is cool but once you've discovered it belongs on Vege-Tables it all of a sudden sounds unfinished.

4.8.

"Boogalooed" needs a bit of a rewrite but it's still an admirable rocker.

I've given this album a 3/5. It's a good album and the first four tracks are cool, with "Darlin'" and "Here Comes The Night" also being noteworthy songs. I find the rest of the songs enjoyable, but not of a caliber that really stand out for me.

:) Mark

One of the best Beach Boys albums. Love how it's a great rocker/R&B album, with touches of Psychedelia.
Completely different from anything else they made, before or since.
Love the title track! Plus it has the best version of "Here Comes The Night"
4 out of 5

I love it.  Carl's really shines on it in his best soul voice.  It really grew on me since I first heard it and wasn't really impressed with the mix - especially how the drums were so blah.  But I've grown to love it and with each new stereo mix that surfaces, it gets better and better.  Kind of wished they finished things like Lonely Days to go on it.  It's a pretty short album.

I need to get the stereo version.

That's so true. Darlin' is like one of the best songs ever live, but I almost hate the studio version. The studio Wild Honey is OK, but hearing the live one from early 70's with Blondie on lead... Just WOW! The whole album is filled with awesome songs, but production uhmm sucks compared to what it could be. Don't get me wrong, I love this album, but it could've been so much better with a little bit different approach and that makes me sad.

My favorite tracks are:
Wild Honey
Aren't You Glad
Country Air (This one is perfect and I wouldn't change a thing in it)
Darlin'
I'd Love Just Once to See You (Here's another one where the "cheap" production works again perfectly)

How She Boogalooed It should have more recognition, it's so underrated. I'd pay anything to hear a fast rocking live version of it!

4/5, it's fun and cool and I love the cover art. Wild Honey is one of the best rock songs ever, LIVE! John Cowshill does it great too, actually I think that he's as good as Blondie.

Oh and the disco Here Comes the Night is soo much better than the original here!

Thank you very much! I didn't know they ever played it live, this is very cool!

I think this might one of the coolest albums the Beach Boys ever did. I mean, it is not very often that we can link "cool" to them, but this album's got it all, really. It's unpretensiously genius and refreshing. I have to agree with someone who said that there was a lot of energy coming out of everyone, and it clearly shows on every song. It sounds very honest and full of life.

Special mention to Mike's lead on "Aren't You Glad". Even he sounded unabashedly cool.

"I'd Love Just Once To See You" epitomises a lot of the Brian Wilson we know and love. Indeed the cheap production works perfectly (though I wish more people payed attention to that beautiful ending-harmony), but the lyrics, on his voice, are so charming and endearing it's hard to resist. Brian Wilson alone with an acoustic guitar! And what a lovely melody, what a whimsical choice of words and theme.

I could utter a lot of peculiar traits about each song, but I think I should restrain myself. I'll just say that "Let The Wind Blow" is the kind of thing you'd expect to be playing as you're lifted into heaven at the end of your life - and Wild Honey is criminally underrated.

This album sounds something like Brian scraped off his head in a very lazy fashion, almost unwillingly so, as if he were pouring music just for passing by and living through the days - and that's why it sounds so honest. Those 29 minutes somewhat captured a much longer flow of music genius that their creator was emanating.

Excellent summary of an excellent album - agree with every word (except the albums 24 minutes isn't it...)

4/5 A back to basics LP that a lot of people at the time were doing.. There is not a bad cut on here + live versions sound even better.. Great period cover rockin songs good harmonies a classic BB LP that you can play anytime of day.. 

 They could have pumped up the R&B elements for "Darlin" just a bit. I agree with Jon Stebbins that more guitar would have been nice. A good album but slightly overrated. Sometimes loved by critics who are not Beach Boys' diehards, such as Dave Marsh, who has praised the title track, and Robert Christgau who has deemed the whole album fairly essential.

You could call this album: The Beach Boys Soul Jam Album.

Not intended to be masterpiece, just something you can listen to and enjoy. That's what it is.
This album does feature some of their bass playing on I was made to love her and Here comes the night.

4.5 Stars rounded to 5.

I give it a 3. Pretty forgettable, a total musical regression from the most acclaimed pop album ever (Pet Sounds) the Mozart-level brilliance of SMiLE and the far-out, one-of-a-kind experiment of Smiley that all came before. It's just out of left field and not in a good way. A very short album in a style that isn't theirs and with no particular stand-out tracks. Mama Says being included is almost an insult. A fragment of genius taken out of context, stripped of all life and used as cheap filler. This was their chance to regain momentum after the commercial failure of Smiley and they blew it. Not even to make another cool progressive album either.

I SO loathed Smiley Smile that I was glad to get and hear this simplistic little throw-away.  Kind of a 'party' like album in a 'soulful' style with SOME decent songs included like Country Air, Let The Wind Blow and Here Comes the Night.  [The ONLY version of HCTN worth hearing.]  I even dug How She Boogalooed it even though I knew that the title was dated before the album was even off the shelf.  Darlin was OK too.  The rest?  It depends on the weather and my mood.

The album cover isn't a favourite either.

All in all I'd say this one was filler.  A 'what the phuck do we do now' kind of cheapo throwaway to kill time and tread water while they sat in dumb awe and watched as the world collectively said UP YOURS' to Smiley Smile.  A purposeful back to simplicity album my arse!!!

No it was a collective  back to the drawing board...and put those damned hot knives down stupid.  You really and truly blew it.  1967 was a VERY bad year.

I ranked Wild Honey as a 4.  Depending on my mood, it's either a low 4, or a very high 3. 

This is the album where The Beach Boys start to pick up the pieces after the debacle of Smile / Smiley Smile.   

One can make an argument that this album kicks off the second golden era of The Beach Boys, the more band oriented era. 

They go back to basics.  No Wrecking Crew on this one, but the great harmonies are still there, particularly on my favorite track - Country Air. 

Carl is in top form on the title track, Darlin, and the cover of I Was Made to Love Her. 

Brian has some good contributions with Let the Wind Blow and I've Love Just Once to See You. 

This album is proof that there's life after Pet Sounds after all. 

Love be this song. A 5 from me.

 A perfect response to the events that preceded it. One this I don't get is all the negative views on 'mama says' on here. I love it as a filler in a playlist and in general listening. 1:07 of a harmonised series of variations on one of Brian's greatest riffs...sign me up....

Weird... I didn't realize Mama Says was so disliked. I heard Wild Honey before Smile, so I actually think falling in love with the vocals on Mama Says just made me love Vege-tables even more. I'm a sucker for pretty vocals.

Overall, this isn't the best album ever or anything, but it has a good handful of songs that I love (Darlin', Wild Honey, etc.). I want to say 3.5, but owning this album has helped to expose me to more Beach Boys than just surf songs and Pet Sounds. So 4?

It's frustrating that they chose to remaster Smiley Smile and not Wild Honey. I would pay more money than
I should for a remastered Wild Honey ! ! !

Wild Honey - 5/5
Aren't You Glad - 4/5
I Was Made to Love Her - 5/5
Country Air - 4/5
A Thing or Two - 3/5
Darlin' - 5/5
I'd Love Just Once to See You - 3/5
Here Comes the Night - 5/5
Let The Wind Blow - 5/5
How She Boogalooed It - 4/5
Mama Says - 5/5

Fittingly, after being shut out of the creative side on the last two albums, Mike delivers some of his best set of lyrics ever here. Very strong songwriting on the Wilson/Love front - shame the recording quality is below par.
A very good 4/5.

These days, I've found that Wild Honey has become my favourite Beach Boys album.... At least it's the album I go to the most by them lately

A good album, but one I've always thought was widely overrated. Wild Honey, Aren't You Glad, Darlin, and I'd Love Just Once To See You are among their best songs though.

I love the guitar under the part where Brian is singing "remember when you baked me your pie" etc. On "I'd Love Just Once to See You".  I even love the distortion on the organ on "Country Air". I was never satisfied with the sound of this album on vinyl, and I do love vinyl, but the cd is the way to go on this one. It's just such a feel good album - and not in a stoned way as on Smiley Smile. If Brian was depressed, I sure don't hear it. People don't like "Mama Says"? What's not to like?

Been loving this album more than ever since i got the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey (1990) two-fer.

I like this one a lot. Let the Wind Blow, Darlin', Wild Honey, Aren't You Glad, Here Comes the Night and I Was Made to Love Her are my favorite tracks. The latter because it just rocks, though the Stevie Wonder version is better. The thing is, and this may go against the grain, I feel that the other songs, like Country Air and I'd Love Just Once To See You are pretty but they could've been better. I still get the vibes of the stripped down, mellower brilliance of Smiley Smile, but also some of the same rushed, toss-off nature as well. Darlin' and Let the Wind Blow are two of my all time favorite BB songs, but the rest are either solid or just okay. Still good, but I prefer Friends. 3.5/5