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- Latest Member: Dae Lims
| March 29, 2024, 02:03:53 AM |
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452
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / The Sandbox / Portugal!!!
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on: July 11, 2016, 10:21:30 AM
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I think I'm happy for Portugal's victory over France just as the Portuguese are. The victory of the small against the big, of the underdog against the arrogant, and most of all of those who hit the ball against those who prefer hitting people's knees (right, "Monsieur" Payet?), with that sorry excuse for a referee "looking the other side" instead of ejecting the offender on the spot, as he should have. After that, the French surely thought they had the title in their hands. Instead, the Portuguese showed them that they could beat them also without the great CR7.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Carl Wilson - The Man - The Mystery
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on: June 30, 2016, 06:39:46 AM
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You're conflating so many styles together that it's meaningless to state "mid-60s" when these are separate influences. If anything, LOVE YOU moves in a direction that would become popular later--synth-based pop. But would I try to say that BW's "farting synts" were the "inspiration" for all that 80s music? No. I would be making the same overly generalized, meaningless comparisons that you are. Patti Smith's hit ("Gloria") is Them, sure, but just how is Them part of the garage rock in America? Answer: it ain't. And Welshman art-rocker John Cale produced Patti's first LP, Lenny was just the guitarist.
Dave Edmunds' name-checking of the BBs in that song is great...except that the song was written in 1994. Rockpile was an extension of what he'd been doing for several years after debuting as a flashy instrumentalist. Sure, Edmunds and Nick Lowe (an original member of Brinsley Shwarz, the first pub-rock band, first LP in 1971...) glommed onto "new wave"--who didn't in 1977-79? Even Bill Nelson broke up Be-Bop Deluxe and went "new wave" for an LP.
"Garage-rock" ain't the BBs, and "new wave" didn't even dominate the airwaves in the USA in the time frame. Face it, the BBs tried nostalgia, milked it for a hit, but the LP was mostly a steaming pile and that cost them a great deal with the record-buying public. A lot of buyer's remorse with that record--and yes, I was there and I was one of them! Something that bridged the gap, songs that broke new ground while still keeping a significant flavor of the vocal blend, was what they needed in the long in-between from Holland to 15BO. They didn't deliver it, they became slaves to their past, and the factions in the band became permanent and insurmountable--except when there's big enough bucks in it (50th anniversary) for them to get back together and "do it again."
According to your logic, the BBs should have released "Sea Cruise" in early 1977. I would love to go back in time and wager some big bucks with you on whether that track would have gone even Top 40 if they'd done so. It certainly was a better overall record than any of the oldies they put out on 15BO. "R&R Music" made it because the pump had been primed for any BB product in the summer of '76 and the clever strategy of covering Chuck Berry got them a lot of airplay--until people eventually came to their senses and realized what an clunky track it was. The backlash was pronounced that even through the most of the critics praised LOVE YOU, fans were confused, leery and weren't ready to embrace "teenage Brian Wilson."
If their attempts at being retro had contained the same magic as the original 60's hits, they would have been HUGE hits. Nostalgia was still big in 76-80, but there was not a large audience for lame remakes like School Days and Peggy Sue. My two cents: there is no way the Boys could have recaptured the "magic of the '60 hits", not even if Brian had still been 100% functional. Life simply doesn't work that way. The pristine magic of being young artists just starting to know the world can't be recaptured, only imitated and often badly. Magic has to be reinvented and rebuilt, every time, and that requires growing (really growing, not just getting older) and not living in the past. In any case, there is no way they could have returned to "hit machine" status, but if they, as a band, had accepted to grow instead of becoming a pure nostalgia act, they would have avoided the post-1977 artistic suicide. And who knows, Dennis and Carl might even be alive now.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: 10 best tags
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on: June 29, 2016, 04:39:32 AM
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Nice thread!
Among the many, I'd choose:
10. God Only Knows. 9. California Girls. 8. Can't Wait Too Long, bass guitar ending in the twofer version. 7. Wind Chimes, Smiley Smile version ("Whispering Winds"). 6. Fun, Fun, Fun (live rendition with baritone sax riff). 5. Time To Get Alone. 4. 'Til I Die. 3. Airplane. 2. "Barnshine", the softer version with plucked strings at the end of Heroes and Villains, Part II, in the two-CD Smile Sessions and the 45 vinyl. 1. Vegetables, from CD1 of the Smile Sessions, with that unique kaleidoscope of voices, partly reused in the middle section ("Hey Baba Ruba") of Wonderful in Smiley Smile.
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: Worst Beatles Songs :/
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on: June 28, 2016, 05:04:34 AM
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Imho the Fab4 are usually at their best in their more whimsical things, and at their worst in the slow/"serious" numbers. I think songs like Michelle and Let It Be, for example, are very overrated (my sugar detector beeps wildly on them). However, the one which makes me really cringe is "The Long and Winding Road". Brian should have covered it in GIOMH.
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462
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Smiley Smile Stuff / Welcome to the Smiley Smile board / Re: Welcome thread
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on: June 25, 2016, 07:08:04 PM
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Some scattered thoughts...
I never visited those specific tearooms (which are spectacular) in Glasgow, but had my tea with milk & a cone of assorted sweets in many other smaller places in Scotland. Uniformly excellent! I love frogs, and find them extremely cute. Would never dream of killing or eating them. One of the many things I am at odds with the French (I am part Breton, so it's a given). Ditto squirrels. Like most rodents and many other small animals, they will come to eat in your hand if you are friendly enough to them. Only, beware not to have too much of a tan: they may believe the top of your finger is a nut. (TRUTH!)
Russia: I went a couple of times to watch the Red Army shows. Fabulous. I also think the Russian circus artists are the best in the world.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson: ‘The voices started after LSD’
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on: June 23, 2016, 02:22:15 AM
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Ty Billy. Of course I agree with you that Brian would've had his issues whether or not he had dropped acid, and don't see any contradiction in what Brian himself says. When he names "doing drugs" as his grestest regret, he's perfectly right. He can't regret his genes, his father or people's greediness: he had no responsabilities there. Drugs he could have avoided, though with a great exercise of willpower. Probably drugs weren't his main problem, but they surely didn't help. I think today's Brian is rather self-conscious about his public character and doesn't want to be "a bad example" for youth. Imho that explains two of the main staples of his interviews, i.e. his regret for drugs and his advice to young musicians to always complete songs (another big regret of his, I guess).
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468
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Smiley Smile Stuff / Welcome to the Smiley Smile board / Re: Welcome thread
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on: June 22, 2016, 10:07:37 AM
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I haven't been in all those countries, but, adding Scotland's due place: UK: rhubarb pie Scotland: the tea rooms Republic of Ireland: the Chieftains France: Brittany Belgium: nothing. Terrorist factory. Baudelaire was right Luxembourg: nothing good can come from the place that inflicted that weasel Juncker on us Austria: Salzburg and its theatre of marionettes Germany: should say "nothing" until they throw away Merkel, but I'll make an exception for Neuschwanstein castle Denmark: agreed, the music of Carl Nielsen Sweden: STIEG LARSSON, of course, God bless him always Norway: the trolls (not the Internet ones) Italy: the Dolomites Spain: paella valenciana Cyprus: don't know either the place or the Archbishop, pass on this one
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / The Sandbox / Re: Pet Sounds Forum
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on: June 21, 2016, 10:14:30 AM
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As I am already "guilty" of contributing to this thread, I'll try to "atone" with my 2nd (and last here, I promise) post. I am a "Brianista" (whatever that should mean), and have no plan to register in the PS board. Two are enough for me. Said that, my humble plea to Charles, Billy and Craig: please lock this thread and let these matters rest. Everybody, by now, has read enough and knows enough to have made up their minds. As Billy said, let's cut the losses.
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: I Hear A Symphony: A \
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on: June 20, 2016, 04:32:25 PM
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Ah, the Saga-Drøm, another fantastic (in more than one meaning) piece, and Jascha Horenstein directs it so well. Thanks for the link! Speaking of underrated music, imho this is a very underrated gem, though it's by Beethoven himself. I noticed that classical works integrating folk or folk-like tunes (here, starting at 6.57) tend to be underrated. The great Ludwig putting folk dance music in the middle of a serious piece? Preposterous! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQaS5P9gxwg
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