click the link to listen. i love the beach boys & mr. wilson. top 5 LP's: pet sounds, holland, love you, smile (67), pacific ocean blue.
cheers!
love to all,
paul starling

if you get some time please check out some of my tunes & let me know what you think.
http://www.myspace.com/paulstarling
cheers!
Paul Starling

3.
i like it, but more because i love the man's voice, and less for the production and songwriting. when i first heard "hold me" on the 'american band' dvd i felt sick to my stomach. the same feeling happened when i heard it on the record. for some reason that feeling has gone away and i now actually find myself listening to that song quite often. my 3 favs are: hold me, hurry love, & heaven.

i found this in my town's record shop about 6 months ago and i have really fallen in love with it. i would give it a strong 4, and rank it among the best of the bb's solo albums. river song, moonshine, you & i, & time are among my favs.

interesting side note: i was born the day that he died. dec 28, 1983.

i really love this album and for all the same reasons most of you have already mentioned. 'wake the world' 'arn't you glad' & 'bluebirds over the mountain' make it a treat. by far my fav live album by the bb. 'in concert' is wonderful in its own right, but if you think about it they were a different band by then with blondie and ricky, so its hard to compare the two. but i will! and this is my fav.

i read somewhere that john loved 'lonely sea'. anyone know where this was printed? (or caught on film?)

thanks for all your thoughts people. i would have to agree that it seems like john wouldn't have really enjoyed the smile material, had he heard it.

it would be interesting to know if john lennon ever heard any of the smile stuff. i bet sean would know.

i'm glad dennis's pacific ocean blue got a good amount of votes. not that anyone cares but my 10 top were in no order:
1. pet sounds
2. sunflower
3. surfs up
4. carl & the passions
5. holland
6. love you
7. pacific ocean blue
8. bw presents smile
9. 20/20
10. friends

"Darling Marie" is nice stuff, almost "Hollies/Kinks" sounding.

thanks for listening PMcC! i never thought about 'darling marie' sounding like hollies or kinks, but i can see it now that you mention it. cheers.

3.5

i have to say that when this album came out it kind of scared me with all the hype about elton, macca, & clapton. i was afraid brian wilson had turned into ringo starr with a album full of filler tracks for the guest stars to do THEIR thing on. to my surprise it was not like this at all (save for the total let down that 'a friend like you' turned out to be, but more on that later).

how could we still be dancin' - wonderful opening vocal blend by brian. really great chords. elton sings in a voice i haven't heard since 'tumble weed connection' back in the early 70's. really strong opening track.

soul searchin'- carl wilson... it was good before i heard it.  i first heard about carl adding his vocal to this track back in the mid 90's & i knew i needed to get my hands (or rather my ears) on it. unfortunatly that never happened until i bought this album. i gotta say that the first momment i heard it i really got emotional. great track. i love the bridge by brian. i could have done without the sax solo though.

you've touched me - really bad title imo, but a great track. has a today! & summer days feel to it.

gettin in over my head - my favorite track on the album. great chords, great bridge, awesome backing vox. it has everything that a brian song should have. i haven't heard the 80's version so i can't compare the two, but i really can't imagine it being any better.

city blues - nothing special, but kind of fun. is it just me or is clapton a 'special guest' whore? and usually his results are not that great. (ok ok, i don't mean 'while my guitar gently weeps' or anything off 'all things must pass', but i think you know what i mean)

desert drive - this cut makes you wish brian let his band sing more on the album. brian sounds good doing all the vocals, but the blend these guys create together is just so much better. really fun track. (side note: the bridge "come on", sounds exactlly the same as the song 'dance with me tonight' on the 'that thing you do!' soundtrack. anyone else think so?)

a friend like you - damn it! i thought they were gonna give us lovely rita meets caroline no..... what happened? all i can say is that this IS interesting. i'd rather have it than nothing at all. sadly i think paul is the one that ruined this track. i feel like he just showed up to hang out with brian and his vocals took a back seat to him and brian hanging out and being pals. oh well. nice try i guess.....

make a wish - first off, great bass sound. as for the track its nice, though i think its a case of a not so great song sounding a lot better than it actually is due to a strong studio performance. the bridge is kind of a drag, sounds like a revolutionary march. over all not completely a waste of a track, but i tend to skip it most the time.

rainbow eyes - i first heard this on the caroline now! disc and really loved it. this version is pretty good, but not nearly as good as the caroline now! one. great song none the less. don't hate me for saying this, but i can really hear mike love singing the verses on this spot on. kind of in the same style he did "all i want to do" from sunflower. (he never sounded better, and i mean that) nice track though.

saturday morning in the city - i wish brian would have let paul have a go at this one, and just left 'a friend like you' off the album completely. i think paul could have handled the bridge pretty well, and it would have just been a nice treat, cause imo i think brian's voice sounds the best on this track. a pretty good song.

fairy tale - nice backing vocals. not a great song, but ok none the less. prob my least favorite on the album (besides "a friend like you")

don't let her know she's an angel - i like all the instruments on this one. i'm not sure i like brian's vocals very much. the melody is wonderful, so i can kind of have a hard time saying his vocals are not so great, but i really think he could have done a better job which would have made this song amazing. not that its not amazing now, but if he would have recorded this in 65, well we would be writing books about it. you know its true.

the waltz - awesome. a really weird song imo, but that only makes it better. its like a 50's doo-wop song with a creepy 1800's violin section that gives me images of the ghosts from the haunted house ride waltzing in that ballroom. van dyke is the man.

great great read. by far the best book on brian i have ever read. many new stories and quotes that peter must have really had to research to get. great work.
cheers

http://www.myspace.com/paulstarling
i would be interested to know what you think. i'm really into beach boys harmonies and i think that shows on some of my songs.
cheers,
~brian~

4.5
when i heard 'love you' 5 years ago at a friends house, i couldn't believe it was the beach boys, let alone brian wilson. 5 years later (and much more interested in all things BW) i went out and bought the twofer "15bigones&loveyou". i won't say much about 15 big ones cause i haven't really given it the time of day yet, but as for "love you" it has to be one of the greatest albums i have ever listened to. i played it for my girlfriend and she said "this is the creepiest thing i've ever heard...". i have to kind of agree with her, but i also have to add that its so childish and charming that you can not help but love it. "The Night Was So Young" kills me everytime. that guitar is perfect and along with carl and brian's vocals, it is in my top 5 favorite BB's songs. the other track i find to be wonderful is "Mona". the line "i know you're gonna love phil spector" is so great cause only brian wilson would ever say that to a girl! its the same as you or me saying "i know you're gonna like my parents". i love it. i love the way dennis sings it. perfect. great album.

"Disney Girls" was intended for Bruce's solo Lp.
Art Garfunkel did a better job (with Bruce on piano/vocals).
Pete

the garfunkel version is a lot better. i've always loved 'surfs up' and surpsingly i really like 'a day in the life of a tree'.