Thanks for your help Mikie. I think I'm going to buy one so I can get rid of my foreign money. Which of those three is the most essential?

I went to a record store in Sweden today--I'm visiting family--and I found three Beach Boys bootlegs in the back, all from the "Collectors Series" that I later found to be by the label Making Waves. The boots were Adult Child, California Feeling, and The New Album, and each was around $30. I didn't buy one, not knowing if it was worth it and what the overlap is on the Made in California box set. Which of these is best/most worth the money, and which do I have the least of if I already own the MIC set and Good Vibrations set?

Thanks in advance.

It seems to me that sometime between the release of 20/20 in 1969 and pictures I've seen from 1970, Carl seemed to sort of grow up a lot. He looked less boyish, and mainly he seemed to have lost some weight. Does anyone know whether this is true, or whether I'm just totally imagining things?

[Love You]

Interesting that both Love You and Smile/TSS got more than half their total points in first place votes. Also the the #1 album garnered more points than 2 & 3 combined.

It goes to show that it really is love it or hate it a lot of the time when it comes to Love You.

I don't know exactly what you have, but I'd go with a plan similar to this.

2012 Remasters

Surfer Girl
Little Deuce Coupe
Shut Down, Volume 2
All Summer Long
The Beach Boys Today! Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Beach Boys Party!
Smiley Smile

Twofers

Surfin' Safari/Surfin' USA
Smiley Smile/Wild Honey
Friends/2020
Sunflower/Surf's Up
Carl & The Passions/Holland
15 Big Ones/Love You
MIU/LA Light
Keepin' The Summer Alive/BB'85

Other

Still Cruisin'
That's Why God...
Pet Sounds Sessions
SMiLE Sessions

If you are interested in live things and Stack-O-Tracks, there would be a few more to add to that list. I'm happy with those on vinyl.

Hopefully, the odds and ends you'd be missing after that will mostly be collected on the new box...

Thanks! I'll probably end up going with something like that!

One of my big concerns though is the bonus tracks. For example, I already own Sunflower, but not Surf's Up. Is there any way I can get the individual twofer bonus tracks as downloads from Amazon or iTunes or from compilations?

I've been working on completing my woefully incomplete collection, but I've hit a wall. I can't decide whether or not to get the new remastered editions or the two-for one CDs. Which is the best to own? Price is not a big issue here.

I didn't get this, partially because the songs aren't my favorites, but also because I thought it was a 78 RPM! I might have gotten it if I knew it was a 33.


I did pick up the reissue of the Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground single by The White Stripes on red (!) vinyl, and some used stuff. A good shopping day.

Is it possible to get the Smile t-shrt that comes in a bundle on the Beach Boys' website as a standalone item? Not really a standard question, but I wonder if anyone has gotten one this way.

1. Pet Sounds
2. Sunflower
3. Today!
4. Smiley Smile
5. Surf's Up/Love You (Tie)


Not including TSS. I could see switching #2 and #3 in a heartbeat. And Love You could drop out at any time.

How about...every record ever released on Pickwick? Or are there good ones?' I've listened to them when I come across 'em,  tried to tell myself they were of some value- "I never know when I might need this Mario Lanza Xmas album!" or "a picture of a surfer girl on the cover of surfer girl...thats SO SURFER GIRL!" but always ended up recycling them. Creepy cover art, bad vinyl, wastes of space. Anyone?

What about The Ostrich?!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r998weOUiM

 

Hurley by Weezer

Probably not a "worst of all time," but it's the best I can come up with.

No! Desmond Child wrote for that album. It's better than Raditude.  

I haven't listened to Raditude in years (saving myself the pain), but have you heard that song "My Friends Are All Insects" or something? I think it was a bonus track on Hurley. It is maybe one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

And the worst part: I saw them on the Memories tour, doing Pinkerton. That was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. How can they un-disown Pinkerton and play it live, but still make this Hurley-Ratitude music? 

IMO Hurley is their best and most cohesive album in years, not sure why you are choosing a bonus track to trash the album? Raditude isn't great but has it's moments but for me Make Believe is Weezer's worst album by far, most of the songs sound exactly the same and suck hard.

I really wasn't trying to bash the album by saying that song was bad! I really just wanted to point out that I really disliked that one song particularly, regardless of the fact that it's a bonus track. I could have said the same thing about "Where's My Sex," (especially because that one teased me by thinking it would be like "Tired Of Sex") but I really wasn't trying to point out one song to say that the album was bad. I really just meant that that song is on the album, and I really don't like that song, but, somewhat unrelated, I also don't like the album.

I do remember thinking that one of the songs from that album (I forget which) was probably their best in years. And another one (also don't remember--sorry) I thought had uninteresting music, but a very Pinkerton vocal line, which I loved.

Does that clear anything up?

 

[will not watch]

I will not watch if every episode doesn't have at least ten minutes of Franklin.


Alright, I'll watch anyway.

Hurley by Weezer

Probably not a "worst of all time," but it's the best I can come up with.

No! Desmond Child wrote for that album. It's better than Raditude.  

I haven't listened to Raditude in years (saving myself the pain), but have you heard that song "My Friends Are All Insects" or something? I think it was a bonus track on Hurley. It is maybe one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

And the worst part: I saw them on the Memories tour, doing Pinkerton. That was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. How can they un-disown Pinkerton and play it live, but still make this Hurley-Ratitude music?  

"My Friends Are All Insects" wasn't written by the band and was recorded for a children's TV show. 'twas included as a bonus track on the deluxe edition.

They never really "disowned" it (especially the rest of the band), Varz was just crushed at the initial poor response it got from most people back in 1996 and spoke ill of it in a few interviews in 2001 and 2002 because of said crushingness. He'd put his all into it, it was an extremely personal record, and having it be so rejected must've been devastating. So devastating that it kinda seemed to f*** with his brain a lot considering he spent much of 97 to early 2000 in solitude trying to figure out how to write "perfect" songs and all (there have been other intensive songwriting periods since), especially 1999. As early as 2005, though, Rivers was saying he was proud of Pinkerton, so there y'go. As for playing the album live, it was simply a matter of realizing fans wanted it and giving it to them.

I like their newer stuff, though. You sometimes have to dig a bit deeper to find the better material (I won't justify them making poor choices for the standard albums, just sayin'), but it's almost always there, and the lesser material is often (not always) worthwhile in one way or another, too. A lot of people draw parallels to Weezer and the Beach Boys, most are pretty goofy, but Jack Rieley's brilliant little "they blew it" speech is probably the biggest parallel I can draw between the two.

I didn't know they didn't write that! They just gained a lot of respect back!

You're totally right about the Jack Rieley thing, too. I think the issue is that Rivers knows it. As much as I think that maybe this is the kind of music that he wants to make now, I keep going back to this quote from the liner notes of Alone I (I think) where he says that some drunk guy comes up to him on New Year's Eve and starts singing "Say it ain't so-ooooooooo." He says he wrote in his diary that one thousand "Keep fishin's" does not equal one "Say it ain't so-oooooooooo." Even though he might just be saying that that one line has more power, I think that he really felt that his recent stuff was lightweight and couldn't stack up at all to his earlier songs.

Hurley by Weezer

Probably not a "worst of all time," but it's the best I can come up with.

No! Desmond Child wrote for that album. It's better than Raditude.  

I haven't listened to Raditude in years (saving myself the pain), but have you heard that song "My Friends Are All Insects" or something? I think it was a bonus track on Hurley. It is maybe one of the worst songs I've ever heard.

And the worst part: I saw them on the Memories tour, doing Pinkerton. That was one of the best concerts I've ever seen. How can they un-disown Pinkerton and play it live, but still make this Hurley-Ratitude music? 

Arrington De Dionyso- Mani Malakait

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CD4QtwIwAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DqKVm-BpWP6Q&ei=vFCRUMbnK4Le0gHuyoDICg&usg=AFQjCNFe--YU-FJXZzMvfVHcHmO2QQ8kgA

My brother got me this CD for my birthday. A sticker on the CD said that it is post punk, psychedelic trance, free jazz, with Indonesian throat singing of translated William Blake poems. Indonesian. And the guy is some white guy from Olympia, WA.

I get what you're saying, and I agree that it doesn't matter whether it's psychedelic or not, I just hate it how people point it out as jump starting the psychedelic era, as if other bands had started doing the same thing, and people like Hendrix were already doing real psychedelic rock.

My favorites on Abbey Road (in no order) are a John song (I Want You), a George song (Here Comes The Sun), and a Paul song (You Never Give Me Your Money). I guess I understand what you're saying about it being mostly Paul's statement, but George had two of his strongest songs ever on that album, and so did John (IWY and Come Together). But if you listen to Ram (my favorite Beatle solo album after John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) you'll see that Paul was still using these definite rock ideas, but translating them to a solo (or duo really) format.
I guess what I'm saying is, I both agree and disagree with you!

Hurley by Weezer

Probably not a "worst of all time," but it's the best I can come up with.

I'm 100% Abbey Road. It's my favorite album of all time. My vote for the unquestionable masterpiece above everything else I've ever heard. Been so since I first heard it when I was nine or ten. We were on vacation in Puerto Rico, and I think I listened to it everyday. It still makes me happy to listen to it, even though I don't do it enough.


On an unrelated point, I think that Sgt. Pepper's is the worst of The Beatles' "classic" albums (Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's, The White Album, and Abbey Road). That's not to say that I don't like it, it's still a five star album. I used to like it less, and I've come around on it a bit more, but I still don't totally see why people think it's the best album ever. As baroque pop albums go, I think that Pet Sounds and Revolver are fuller albums, less caught up in themselves. Sgt. Pepper's seems, at least to me, to be an example of one of those albums where they say, "Hey, look what we can do!" Also, I don't think it's very psychedelic at all. Besides Lucy In The Sky and Mr. Kite!, it's definitely a baroque pop album. I have no doubts that Magical Mystery tour is their psychedelic statement, and, in many ways, the album closer to Smile. Strawberry Fields is, to me, closer to Smile than anything on Sgt. Pepper's.

In light of the hurricane, I've been listening to Shelter From the Storm by Bob Dylan a lot, but my 45th anniversary set of the Velvet Underground & Nico (a late birthday present) did just come in the mail, so I'm sure I'll be obsessing over Heroin all over again soon.


EDIT: Oh, and Stolen Moments by Oliver Nelson.

Does anyone know if this still exists on the internet for download somewhere? I don't really need it, but the idea of having so much right at my fingertips (even though I do have the Smile Sessions) is pretty tantalizing...