My favorite non-BB box set -- not that I own many in the first place, but still -- is the Kind of Blue 50th anniversary one I bought a few years back. Loved the look of the CDs and vinyl, and the included book has some great pictures.

1. Surfers Rule
2. Our Favorite Recording Sessions
3. Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
4. Long Tall Texan
5. When Girls Get Together
6. Car Crazy Cutie
7. Brian's Back
8. "Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson
9. Tune X
10. 20 minutes of Denny's Drums
[intermission]
11. In My Car
12. The Rocking Surfer
13. Ten Little Indians
14. The Baker Man
15. A Casual Look / TM Song
16. All I Want To Do
17. Okie from Muskogie
18. Wontcha Come Out Tonight?
19. Pitter Patter
20. 45 minutes of Shortenin' Bread

In general, the Beatles appeal to a different emotional need of mine than the Beach Boys do. I find "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Don't Worry, Baby" equally joyous, but not at all in the same way. I also like Sgt. Pepper a lot, although I don't think it's their musical best (my vote would be for Abbey Road). And its placement at the top of Rolling Stone's list and others -- which I assume is the source for much BB fan ire -- would be a lot less polarizing if the list was called "The 500 Most Historically Significant Albums of All Time."

They're ALL dorky dudes, with the exception of Dennis!

I don't remember where I read/saw this, but some interviewee once argued that, unlike the Beatles or the Stones, you couldn't really imagine any of the Beach Boys doing it...except for Dennis.

Thanks, guys. The other three songs on that EP aren't as Beach Boys-y, but there are some spots of me doing my best BW falsetto, for whatever that's worth. In general, "Girl" is the strongest, but I think we left a nice stamp on our cover of "She's Leaving Home" as well (you can find it on the Bandcamp page).

I like this little section of the board. Perhaps I'll chime in more often!

[Q: Are you a Stevie Wonder fan?]

This 2010 interview with Peter Ames Carlin is the most fun latter-day Brian interview I've ever read:

http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/194

Q: Are you a Stevie Wonder fan?
Have you heard ‘Superwoman’? When I heard that I thought, that guy's really got it on the ball! And ‘He's Misstra Know It All?’ Oh my God! When I heard that I thought to myself, how in the world can Stevie Wonder write that kind of music? In the early-to-mid 80s I bought that album with ‘Superwoman’ and I said - what am I listening to!? That Moog synthesizer, ‘I think I can deal with that, is what went  through my mind. . .’ then he goes into the synth thing and I thought, I’ll never hear anything that good again in my life.’ (made to love cover): I like Carl’s version, too. They’re both good. But Stevie is a fabluous singer, a really good singer.

Q: [...] and you should really check out the albums they made from Woody Guthrie's old lyrics...this one called "My Flying Saucer," it's so not what you expect from the "This Land is Your Land" guy...
Do you think there’s anything real to UFO’s? Or is that just something people say? In general, have they established that there are really UFO’s? They have pictures, don’t they? Is that stuff real, or do they know for sure? (John Lennon said he saw one over New York City in the '70s...)  No kidding!!!! He said he saw a UFO? (throws back his head and guffaws really loudly) Maybe that thing liked the Beatles! They wanted to get his autograph. Jesus, there are so many things out there people don’t understand, it’s a weird trip.

So I recorded a few songs recently with a friend of mine, and thought I'd share the one with the, well, audience-relevant influence:

"Girl, Keep An Open Mind":
http://hellerhenderson.bandcamp.com/track/girl-keep-an-open-mind

All parts/writing done by the two of us (me on the rhythm instruments, him on guitar, shared vocals). It spreads the sixties sauce pretty thick (probably too much), but it was a lot of fun to make, and I've always wanted to get a song like that out of my system.

Enjoy!

That was a fun experiment. I like your vocal parts a lot.

I think it'd be interesting to hear this again, with just the acoustic guitar and in 6/8, but with the original chord progression (or something very close to that). Did you happen to try that before you recorded it this way?

My own personal mondegreen was from Surf's Up - hearing 'muted trumpeter swan' as 'mutant trumpeter swan'.

But, to be fair, that's a great band name.

Very, very cool. As I think someone else mentioned, it's really difficult to harmonize with yourself and make it sound like a blend of multiple people, but I think you've pulled it off well. Your Heroes and Villains is also really nice and cohesive. Nice job!

I think the criticism of sound quality comes partially from listeners' expectations. People want Brian Wilson albums to sound like the 1960's, not the 2000's.

I heard BWPS before I really delved into any BB-related albums (Pet Sounds excepted), and I thought it sounded fantastic. It's only been on repeated listenings of TSS that I've started to find BWPS too slick for my taste.

Also, on the topic of sterile production: although tape can add some pleasant imperfections, don't forget that a huge bulk of that sound comes from the console and preamps. A really colorful analog console, even if it's going to Pro Tools, is still going to impart that warm sound. Heck, an album like Nirvana's Nevermind was recorded to tape, and that's one of the slickest-sounding rock records of the early-90's.

I see that on this US Singles collection from 2008 there is a stereo backing track for Do You Wanna Dance. Is there a good sounding stereo version with the vocals? Has anyone else tried synching the stereo instrumental with the Today! version?

About a year ago I put together this mix (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nrj91gwuONM), which combines that stereo track with a vocal track of, ah, dubious origins.

I'm not aware of a sync with the mono mix, probably because it's so easy to run into phase issues, but it's probably doable with enough patience.

As far as Pet Sounds goes "weak" is pretty relative for me. If I had to cast a vote, I'd go with the title track or "I Know There's An Answer" (but the latter might just be because it has to follow "God Only Knows.")

As for Smile, assuming we're talking just albums proper (BWPS/TSS CD1), "I'm In Great Shape." Even on BWPS, it's just a little...formless for my taste.

In iTunes, make a smart playlist and configure it to automatically update with all your songs. Sort the playlist by chronological order, sync the playlist to your iPod, and your iPod will comply with the sorting.

When listening to the stereo remixes, it's important to consider how much of the problem is it being an inferior mix vs. simply letting your ears get used to the differences in the two versions. As someone who got into the group fairly late in the game, with compilations that largely featured stereo remixes, this actually bugged me in the reverse direction. I couldn't listen to the original mono mixes without wanting that separation.

Enough listens later, nowadays I don't find myself regularly finding one mix of a song vastly superior to another, but here are a few remixes I strongly prefer:

- California Girls
- Then I Kissed Her
- Please Let Me Wonder
- Kiss Me, Baby
- Break Away

(I'll also somewhat agree with you on She Knows Me Too Well and disagree on Don't Worry Baby -- I think the whole remix, including the drum intro, sounds wonderful.)

I go back and forth between 'Til I Die and This Whole World, but for the last year or so, it's been the latter. Wonderful production, gorgeous vocal tag, and catchy as hell. Plus, it serves as an excellent way to get music snobs into the Beach Boys. When I put the song on and count off the number of chord changes it goes through in two minutes, it blows some minds.

The big draw towards Pro Tools, and the main reason it's industry-standard, is its TDM (time-division multiplexing) support. I'm oversimplifying here, but basically, it allows you to run the app (and plugins, etc.) on external hardware and not tax your main computer's processor. This is different from having an outboard recording interface, like your Motu 8pre, which just provides I/O. Although, as Sam mentioned, nowadays you can run Pro Tools without any TDM hardware.

Anyway, TDM is a necessity if you're in a professional studio. But if you're just recording at home and don't anticipate interacting with studios much, I can't recommend Pro Tools. Its interface is dated and bloated, you need a $50 USB dongle plugged in just to run the app, and the included plugins, by and large, don't compare to Logic Pro's. And Pro Tools costs $700 -- Logic Pro costs $200, and your Motu 8pre will run just fine.

Logic's biggest weaknesses are a) the lack of TDM compatibility, which means many (most?) studios don't support Logic project files; and b) it being Mac-only, you can't run Logic if you ever switch to a PC. Even then though, it's not total isolation: I move between Logic and Pro Tools pretty frequently so I can mix in our university studio, and it's not seamless, but converting between the two is possible.

Assuming we're just talking studio albums, and not counting discographies that only consist of a few albums at most, the only band I can count is the Beatles.

I agree that it doesn't mean anything as far as studio albums go. I just figured that was where everyone was pulling their info.

Anyway, continue speculation.

[a new hits collection and a career-spanning box set.]

From the main BB website (past the tour splash page):

"The Beach Boys and Capitol/EMI have also teamed up for a 50th Anniversary campaign spotlighting the band’s entire catalog, with several new commemorative releases planned for 2012, including a new hits collection and a career-spanning box set."

Interesting. There's a lot to like in this rendition -- I like the sound of it, largely, some of the leads are quite good, and the video is very sweet.

But this is from last summer's sessions, right? To me, it sounds like a band (and production crew) still getting the hang of working with each other. Some of the performances, especially out of the rhythm section, sound a little stiff. Not bad, but it doesn't totally gel yet.

It's a strong effort, and I'm more optimistic after seeing this. But I hope that the album sounds much tighter.

My second Beach Boys album was Sunflower, which seemed to do the trick pretty well. But if I was free of picking a "proper" album, I'd actually throw together a compilation. A cop out, sure, but I've had a good amount of success doing a carefully-picked mashup of 20/20, Sunflower, and Surf's Up.

Fascinating topic.  I don't really know how to apply criteria to any wide genre of music, though. Could I offer one example?

"Good Vibrations" is not my favorite Beach Boys song, but the bridge might be one of my absolute favorite segments of music, and I think I know exactly why. For me, the juxtaposition of that fast, quirky, bouncy backing track with those very pure, delicate vocals perfectly conveys what it feels like to be smitten -- not in love, but just that raw excitement (track) tempered with very sweet, pure affection (vocals). The chord progression (I-IV-I? Something like that) is extremely familiar, something I've been exposed to thousands of times, and has been used in many other songs I love. The actual sonic qualities of the record remind me of the mid-60's, a time period I associate with great musical innovation and social change, which makes it feel more important. And all of that is colored by my love for the group, and validated by the fact that I know many, many people feel the same.

This is just one example, but I believe this meets all of the criteria you listed. Or am I way off-base?

I think you'll get more valuable feedback if you specify what your ambitions are. If you're making music for fun, as a way to enhance your production chops, or even to compete in some kind of student songwriting competition, you're going to need different feedback than if you want to sell and perform music professionally -- or go into, say, professional audio production.

From a musical standpoint, I'd say it's a nice little song. I like the chords and the delay effects in the chorus. The synth textures are nifty -- they remind me of BW88. And the lyrics are pretty solid too. My favorite section is the instrumental section from about 1:00-1:30. The instrumentation choices are very apt, and it's all very evocative of the image you're going for, I think.

Now, if you were asking how this competes on the level of, say, a professionally-produced studio recording, I'd say you still have a long way to go. A lot of the instrumental and vocal parts would benefit from EQ and compression, and in the case of vocals, even a little pitch correction. I hear samplers where I would like to hear real instruments. Presentation counts as well: you can't just lift some random video, without permission and without credit, with the intent of making money. Selling music is not strictly about the music -- it's the packaging, the website, even the way you write about it in the YouTube description.

But like I said, that feedback might not be relevant to you depending on what you're going for. You're a freshman in high school, right? Considering that I'd say you're heading in the right direction. Just be aware that people are going to give you different feedback -- and have different expectations for your work -- depending on how you want to be perceived.

What kind of feedback are you looking for, specifically?