I think the two covers, "Come Go With Me" and "Peggy Sue", have some merit, basically because they're two of Al's best lead vocals - ever.    

They are good leads but the mixes are awful. The version of "Come Go" from the Greatest Hits vol. 3, the "Brother Years" is far superior. I'm not sure if that's the single mix or the one that came out on the "Ten Years of Harmony" comp but either way, it's actually very good.

Dare I say the Denny stuff on here is just a tad overrated. Many refer to Sunflower as his album but to me the BW owns this one!!

Agreed. "Forever" is a classic, along with "SoT"; "IAT" is a great performance but not the best song; and "GTKTW" is uninspired in my opinion. Brian's songs, however, are all top notch, and his voice saturates the record like it hadn't done in a while. If it had been successful, I'm sure we would've seen Brian come back full force. He was clearly into the project (heavy involvement, even taking pictures with the band!), but unfortunately it failed and he sunk further into his tortured psyche. I think "Sunflower" bombing worst than almost any other BB record was the final straw for the head Wilson.

Ditto Synth and Chris Brown. Never thought it was a break up, as much as someone breaking down. It's a beautiful song that perfectly captures that teenage idealization of love and the bittersweet heartbreak when it finally meets reality.

"Kona Coast"! Top that one for guilty listening pleasure! 

Kona Coast is actually quite awesome. In fact, I've really started to dig MIU, except for the covers and "Winds of Change". If only they had put "Our Team" on there instead...

Eh, Tears in the Morning is awful, the real sore spot on the album. To each his own, however.

I personally think that Sunflower's reputation will continue to grow. "All I Wanna Do" to "Cool, Cool Water" is one of the most gorgeous and psychedelic pop sequences in all of recorded music. Lays waste to pretty much everything around it IMO.

From Sunflower "All I Wanna Do" definitely should have been on there, or on some comp by now.

And "Kiss Me, Baby" definitely, a highlight of that album.

Among others.

Heard "Sail On Sailor" blasting at the Whole Foods across from my apartment. Thought that was pretty cool.

Ditto on the two above posts. Imagine if We're Together Again or I Went To Sleep were added? Sleep especially fits the Friends vibe I think and would've been a great ending after TM.

It seems Brian was more involved with TM than is really mentioned much. Not really a religion or anything but definitely a practice with spiritual and metaphysical overtones.

There's his songs (dating all the way back to Friends) but also during the 15 Big Ones he talked about it in interviews and such, i.e. the Mike Douglas appearance during that period. I know there was something in a magazine or two also.

Also, I'm not positive it's Brian, but there's a copy of the "TM in the AM and in the PM" song that has an introductory clip of someone who sounds very much like an early 70s Brian talking about TM and claiming he performs it in conjunction with self hypnosis.

1. "All I Wanna Do"--I cannot understand how this has not ended up on one of the many compilations yet. A beautiful and psychedelic love song.
2. "Celebrate the News"--One of Dennis' best IMO. The tag with all the boys voices shooting all over the place is great. And there's actually some heavy drumming here, unique for a lot of the BB catalog.
3. "Transcendental Meditation"--Many don't like this song but I think the horn arrangement is pretty groovy. I like Brian's take on an "Eastern" scale kind of sound, too.
4. "Airplane"--Just an great song. The organ and bass are some of my favorite on Love You.
5. "She Knows Me Too Well"--This song seems to get overlooked. Probably because it's next to juggernauts like "Please Let Me Wonder" and "Kiss Me Baby". I think it's the best track on the album though; great vocals, great chord changes, that wonderfully understated guitar solo. Plus, if I remember correctly, it's actually the Boys playing, which is nice to know.
6. "Leaving This Town"--That serpentine Moog solo says it all.
7. "Aren't You Glad"--Great white-boy soul. What is that playing the chords in the beginning? Piano, marimba? Maybe both doubled, but either way it's a great sound.
8. "I'm So Lonely"--This is the only song from "85" IMO that is completely successful within it's slick production. Gorgeous chords and melody and just a truly heart breaking song. Everyone has felt this way at some point and Brian really pulled this one off great. Love Carl's middle-eight too.
9. "It's A Beautiful Day"--It bewilders me that this was not a hit. If you've ever lived (hell, even just visited) LA, you know how well this song exudes the feeling of driving around on one of those sunny days.
10. "I Went to Sleep"--This just has an overall amazing sound. Simple but dazzling arrangement and sound effects: the clock-like percussion, snoring, tambourine "sprinklers". I love the sleepy, stoned sounding vocals and lyrics too.

and for the holidays

11. "The Man with All the Toys"--All the vocals are just great. The "whoa" background part is the best.
12. "Child of Winter"--I'm surprised this bizarre nugget hasn't been discussed more. Weird backing vocals, Brian's somewhat creepy spoken section and most of all Moog/synth lines floating all over the place. I believe it was Brian's first "solo" production since "Add Some Music" and it's a great portrait of how he developed up in his bedroom alone. Definitely a sign of things to come, too. Scary, funny, outrageous. Oh, and that "ding dong ding go the bells" with that 8-bit sounding synth at the end is far-out. Sounds like a Nintendo game.

What we really need is reissues of all the albums from 1970 on, at least, if not the whole catalog. All of them have an insane amount of unreleased material that could be used as bonus tracks. With a little bit of marketing and hype around the 50th anniversary of "America's Band" I think some reissues of these albums could really start to change the way most people in the States view the Beach Boys as artists.

Apparently Brian produced "Add Some Music" alone--his name appears as the producer on various 45 releases of the song. That's the last song that bears that label until the bizarre "Child of Winter" if I remember correctly. "All I Wanna Do" also really sounds like a Brian thing to me--those high guitar parts throughout, the amazing bass sound, subdued drumming, and of course the vocal arrangements in that insane break before the third verse. I could be wrong but it sounds like Brian had a bit to do with that song.

Sorry if this is a "re-post". Found these after searching YouTube in vain. Poor Brian looks a bit nervous/uneasy throughout but he turns in decent performances, especially of the then contemporary material. "Back Home" rocks pretty good and Brian, appropriately, seems to get a little into it; dig the head shake on the "thinkin' about tomorrow" line, at about 2:35!

Enjoy!

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Brian+Wilson+SNL

So I was just curious as to what other BB fans consider to be the "danciest" BB songs. The Beatles and The Stones both have music that is fairly danceable, but the BB's are a bit slim on this area, or at least it seems to me. There songs are often too complex and strange in their rhythmic/chord changes that sometimes I imagine it'd kill the groove. Plus the harmonies takes up such a huge chunk of their music. Here's what I could think of:

Slip On Through--obvious choice
You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone--seems danceable to me anyway, it's got a real steady rhythm
Sail On, Sailor
Mona--if the production of the it wasn't so bizarre I think people could dance to it
She's Got Rhythm and Matchpoint of Our Love--both very poppy, disco tracks that definitely want to be danced to
I Just Wasn't Made for These Times--the chorus especially
Good Vibrations
Darlin'
When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)--the piano has a real driving beat
All I Wanna Do--in a slow dance, blissed out kind of way
Funky Pretty--though the verses are a little low key it is a pretty "funky" song...the live version kicks it up a bit with that hi-hat

So, what are some of your guys' favorite BB songs that 1. Make you feel like dancing or 2. You think would go over well with a crowd that can dance to stuff like the Beatles and the Stones

"At My Window" totally blew my mind when I first really sat down and listened to it. It's bizarre and childish but that's what makes it amazing. At the exact halfway point is where the song starts getting really trippy...the "puff" part, "he came to my window" vocals, the discordant piano behind Al's last verse, and then the incredible tag. A really psychedelic song when you pay attention, much like the rest of the album.

"Our Sweet Love" is also a wonderful song. I see the comparison to GOK even though the two have obvious differences. They just move similarly somehow, although "Our Sweet Love" is something I can listen to any day because it's just so beautiful and uplifting. GOK is a bit of a downer at times. My favorite part is the guitar (or is it a horn and guitar playing the same line? I can't tell) that begins at 1:44, when Carl sings "I feel it down inside my soul". Such a beautiful little flourish that just helps push the song higher.

So I was reading the "[Band's] best album, and why" thread and was wondering if any other Beach Boys fans are also King Crimson fans. I was going to post something about them on the aforementioned thread, but thought it might be interesting to start a whole new one, considering they are a band that is so different than the Beach Boys.

I think their best albums are their debut "In the Court of the Crimson King," "Red," and "Discipline". Anyone else listen to this amazing prog rock band? And if so what are your opinions of them?

Speaking of Jesus and The Mary Chain and the Lost in Translation soundtrack, how about My Bloody Valentine's "Loveless," an obvious choice. A cohesive, unique and gorgeous album. There's nothing really that sounds like it, even all the other "shoegaze" bands sound top 40 in comparison.

I saw them play live on their 2008 comeback tour--unbelievably loud. The security were handing out earplugs--a couple folks shook there heads and said no thanks. The security guards literally forced the earplugs into their hands anyway. And with good reason. During a 15 minutes juggernaut of feedback at the end of the show, as the music quieted down I thought I was safe and took out an earplug only to have my ear blown out by the volume. I couldn't hear clearly for about 4 days. Altogether an amazing show though.

I'm pretty sure theres a live version of "All I Wanna Do" on Youtube. No footage, just the song. I'm obsessed with that song.

I know there's the recorded track from Sunflower on youtube for All I Wanna Do, but I can't find a live version. Maybe it got deleted? Either way, I understand your obsession. One of the top 10 BB songs ever, unbelievably beautiful.

I'd pay to ensure Deirdre & Tears In The Morning don't ever again get played live.

I agree with you on Tears Wee Helper, but Deirdre has grown on me. Just so strange though that apparently there's recordings of Tears live but none of All I Wanna Do or Our Sweet Love that I know of.

Never mind. Figured out whats going on. Changed the topic to Sunflower Live. Thanks.

What's with the lack of Sunflower songs being played live. "It's About Time," "Forever,"  and "Add Some Music" are really the only songs I've seen or heard live. Even from their early 70s shows the Sunflower songs seem curiously absent from concert recordings. I'd love to hear a live version of "All I Wanna Do" or even "At My Window" if they even exist.

"Deirdre" is a great track. Originally, I couldn't stand the whole middle section of Sunflower, being "Got to Know the Woman" to "Tears in the Morning". "Got to Know" has grown on me a bit, though I still can't stand the female backing vocals and the lyrics are sophomoric for most of the song. "It's About Time" just isn't happening for me and "Tears" as someone said in an earlier post is "overwrought" if anything.

"Deirdre" however has become a favorite of the album. Like a little 1970's pop hit that should've been. The great vocals (Brian's parts are ethereal), the flutes fluttering in the back...for some reason the "Deirdre" at the end of the chorus sounds like it's from some sort of TV sitcom though. Like "Deirdre" is the title character and that's part of the theme song. However, this, for some reason only adds to the commercial charm of the song.

And can't agree more with the comments on Love You. For instance, listen to how pure and beautiful his vocal is on "Good Time" (recorded during the Sunflower sessions, why didn't they put it on the album! Just one full Brian lead would've perfected that album!) compared to "Let's Put Our Hearts Together," in my opinion the roughest vocal cut on the album. Although there's still a lot of emotion there, you can tell his voice has just been ravaged from the smokin' and cokin' he was so into. He should've just stuck to joints and acid.

I think Lee "Scratch" Perry on the job would be better. His style would compliment Brian's. You know there'd be a whole lot of flutes.

Good call. Perry seldom took out the whole of the melody and let the drums and bass only then go on a long time (with faders, mainly). Perry was more into melodic dub, using a simple phaser to color the vocal harmonies a bit, and yes, he loved flutes and Ernie Ranglin's majestic guitar work.

There are few classic albums that I love as a whole, unreservedly. 'Heart Of The Congoes' is one of these.

Love that album. The first time I heard the opening track, "Fisherman," it completely blew my mind. Just a great roots reggae record with Perry's touch. I know it's not from Love You, but songs like "Caroline No" or "The Little Girl I Once Knew" would be great dub material. The flutes in Caroline No and definitely the bass line in "Little Girl". Such a heavy bass sound in that song. Unbelievable how it wasn't a hit. To bad it's never on "oldies" or "rock" radio these days.

 Hopefully that answers your question. I would gather that this Chant predates our particular civilization and would go back to the ancient Vedic civilization. Sounds "Sanskrit" to me.

 Cheers,
 Bri
[/quote]

Thanks for the cool info Bri. I'm not sure if it dates from the Vedic period, but it definitely is Sanskrit.

My wife and I looked into taking the TM courses as a form of stress-relief. We had no idea it cost so much to learn to close your eyes and talk to yourself. Guess I'll be sticking with a cold beer and a left handed cigarette as therapy.

Yeah, I know what you mean. But apparently back before it became extremely popular in the late 60s it only cost about 50-100 dollars. Adjusted for inflation that's about 500$ which is still a bit, but nowhere near the 2000+ that it now costs. Really, you can just go with almost any basic form of "mantra" meditation and it could help with stress. Though beer and cigarettes help too!