Hey Guys,
I've been reading this board for quite some time and have kept pretty quiet. As a musician and composer myself (
www.justin-taylor.ca), I realize how hard it is to please everyone and to make that perfect piece of music everytime.
I've been listening to MIU alot the past week or so after not listening to it seriously in about 10 years. I remember when I first got this album, the unwillingness of Brian was apparent in just reading the album credits before playing it (I originally bought a used LP back in the early 90s). Despite Al running the show here along with Mike, we get more of Al Jardine's singing than ever on this album and thats not necessarily a bad thing. I myself am a huge fan of Al's voice.
People have commented how this album has rough production. If you look at the credits, the instruments seem to be handled mostly by Brian and Al with some individual contributions from the BB touring band, so it is very much a "band" album vs. LA and KTSA which were mostly performed by session men. We're missing Carl on here though (Sweet Sunday i'm not too keen on and it seems like something he was forced to sing). Dennis gets the great "My Diane". I actually like "Matchpoint" and "Winds of Change". "Kona Coast" is slightly embarrasing, but the ending is nice. "Peggy Sue" is solid. "Why Doncha Come out Tonight" shouldve had the backgrounds rerecorded. Speaking of the vocals on this album it seems someone (Al? Ron Altbach?) has convinced Brian to sing in a smoother tone comparable to his 60's work on this album. Brian stated around '76 or so that some of his vocals on the 60's recordings embarrased him and that was why the sound in his voice changed around this period but on MIU he sounds great (except for Rhythm).
Overall, not as bad as what some fans make this out to be and lets face it, without albums like this one, collecting Beach Boys recordings wouldn't be as fun!
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