Hello everyone,

I want to share something with you that I'm really proud of. I have written a novel about the Syrian civil war and now I have done a lecture at the university. I focused my lecture on the Arabian Spring and America's war on terror, but actually it was about a broader topic: the world history after the Cold War, so the time we live in now. It means that I discuss global warming, social media and the EU as well. I never learned about these things in school. The invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq were never discussed, as well as the cause and consequences of the Arabian Spring, so I felt like it was a good thing to do lectures about it. I don't think that many people of my age understand what's happening now in Venezuela as well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-NlWlUPZrI&t=13s - on the War in Yemen, Saudi Arabia, the EU and Global Warming
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdfXl2wSmtY&t=2s - on America & the War on Terror (Iraq, ISIS, Libya, Afghanistan), 9/11 and Venezuela

I've sent 2 of the 4 videos that I have uploaded so far. I hope you enjoy. I hope the channel can grow a bit. Thanks!

Can someone please quote the one message where a user listened to Fire (Mr. O'Leary's Cow) in her car when it started raining and the song seemed the go on an eternity? I like to read that one but I can't find it anymore in the pile of replies on this topic.
EDIT: It was on the SMiLE topic, sorry.
EDIT: I can't find it on BWPS either.

Wow,thanks ! After 2 years of terrible struggling, a new doctor and new medicines are making me better and I could recover completely. And I’m going to check those out. About those voices, not all of them are worse than usual. I think Mike sounds great throughout the whole album, especially on Airplane. Good song that’s growing on me right now. The ending reminds me of A day in the life from The Beatles.

I’ve been reading on this board for a bit now and I’m impressed by the high level at which everyone is speaking about the BBs music, and some even making their own bootlegs. Don’t expect a very profound review from me, I’m just a kid, dealing with my own share of mental illness. Well technically I’m just grown now but my brain is dragging me down most of the time.

I wanted to love this album. It’s because I love the cover art and always when that’s the case, I also like what’s inside. So I gave it a listen, but I got bored by everything except for Ding Dang, which is accessible in its whole lightheartedness and jolliness.

So I wasn’t very fond of it, initially. The BBs usually do better on vocals and the lyrics are even dumber than usual… Then I read through all the comments here, about how you’re missing something great if you just don’t get its beauty. I gave it another go, especially because of mr_oleary’s comment and I’m glad I did. I now especially like I’ll Bet He’s Nice, Good Time, Johnny Carson and Honkin’ Down the Highway. And Solar System is a nice thing too. Numerating all planets and saying something about them, now isn’t that sheer fun? But still, nothing tops the 58 seconds of Ding Dang. I don’t know what it is about this album that it has to grow on you.

I still find The Night Was So Young slightly disappointing, despite all the praise and recommendations it gets here. Mona is nice but repetitive and I think I will soon grow tired from it. The lyrics on Roller Skating Child are so wrong, sung by the Beach… Men, meantime, but for some reason I can take it and don’t find it at all as cringy as the less crazy/remarkable/paedophile/what else to call it When a Man Needs a Woman from Friends, where Carl gives his son “the talk” way too early. I also think the earlier recorded songs Good Time and if I remember it right Ding Dang fit in very nicely with the rest of the music and even much improve it.

I’m now discovering the later albums of the Beach Boys (it’s great btw) and I’ve now recently been listening to Friends, Holland and Love You. All great and quite consistent, however, there’s nothing on them that stands out for me as much as the Smile stuff for example and all the many hits before that. Even though people either love or hate Love You, I seem to be somewhere in between and give it a 3.5.

The Beach Boys have a massive hit and so many of their fans don’t even like it, never seen this before. Especially because it wasn’t even a break with what they have done before, like Genesis. Kokomo and Still Cruisin’ are Beach Boys classics in my book, and yes, I also dig their old surf songs and even more the Pet Sounds and Smile stuff. But it is exactly that stuff, that is out of place here.

I actually, unlike many others, find this a quite good album and rate 4 out of 5 stars. It was impossible for me, as a BB fan who likes Bachman-Turner Overdrive and is crazy about the Eagles, not to like this Carl Wilson and Randy Bachman surf rocker, with great guitar work from Joe Walsh as always. The album sure has some weak spots, but other highlights are Some of your Love, Livin’ with a Heartache, the fun and silly summer song Sunshine, and, well, the album cover  . I wonder what more Randy Bachman could have brought to the Beach Boys.

Sail On, Sailor 4.5/5 = Great song, should have been one of the BBs last hits. And it could have been if they brought in Ray Charles to do it for them, it’s the perfect song for him to sing. Blondie sounds good, but this song only comes to its full right if it were sung by an even way more soulful voice. Blondie’s voice gets more and more soulful the older he gets, but back then it didn’t differ enough from the others to bring him in the group for that.

Steamboat 4.5/5 = Authentic, Dennis at his best. Competes with the raw title track from his (first) solo album for my all-time favorite Dennis Wilson song.

Big Sur 3.5/5 = Good to see Mike doing something else than surf/girls/cars stuff and bring it to a good end.

The Beaks of Eagles 3.5/5 = The narration doesn’t bother me at all, even if it's about birds pairing... The music is quite good, but not good enough to make me regret that it gets interrupted all the time. Especially not when Mike is talking with his relaxing and (might I add) sexy voice.

California 4/5 = The Mike/Al collaboration comes to an end with the best track of the California Saga musically.

The Trader 4.5/5 = Carl shines most on the album, vocally speaking.

Leaving this Town 3/5 = Overrated, it’s nothing more than okay to me.

Only with You 2.5/5 = I don’t even really like the oo-ooh’s that much, but it’s still the most interesting thing that happens in the song.  The ending of the song sounds like it wants to go somewhere better, but it can’t, because it would sound too similar to another song.

Funky Pretty 4/5 = Quite funky and quite pretty. The outro is almost half the song, maybe a bit long, but maybe therefore it serves as a good “album closer”.

The fairy tale = The strange thing is not that a grown man writes a fairy tale, but that the fairy tale is on an otherwise quite dark and mature album. It contrasts with the rest of Holland in some way. Starts off promising as a fun addition to the album with spoken word alternated with some music, but fails to hold the attention till the end.

All in all a fun little album, and consistent, with all members adding something good to it. This sounds more like the follow-up album of Sunflower than the actual follow-up album of Sunflower, which was good but in its own right. The strange thing is that the album has a quite dark feel, but it seems only because of Steamboat and the album cover. They should have stayed longer in Holland, or at least continued in this style for another album or two. This is in my top 5 BB albums and I rate it a high 4.5.