Carl looked ridiculously good looking in '67 after he had lost a bit more weight. It's remarkable how quickly his sex appeal improved from '66 to '67. It seemed pretty sudden that Carl was no longer the chubby, dorky looking guy, but a thoroughly attractive male, capable of finding the inner homosexual in even the straightest men. Just look at his smouldering eyes!!!



To be honest, as a collective whole, I don't think the band looked better than they did in '67.

I see this picture and I'm like, "Holy merda, that's Carl?"

I still hold the Purple Chick version near and dear, on account of it being the first one I heard.

Might as well bring up the Chicago connection too.

So there's guy who calls himself Todd in the Shadows. He does video reviews of today's pop songs. One time, though, he did a list of his Top Ten Worst Songs of 1976:

http://blip.tv/todds-pop-song-reviews/the-top-ten-worst-hit-songs-of-1976-5029116

Here's the list in case you don't want to watch:

#10: Henry Gross - "Shannon"
#9: Captain and Tennille - "Shop Around"
#8: Chicago - "If You Leave Me Now"
#7: Dr. Hook - "Only Sixteen"
#6: Silver Convention - "Get Up and Boogie"
#5: Rick Dees - "Disco Duck"
#4: John Travolta - "Let Her In"
#3: Barry Manilow - "I Write The Songs"
#2. C.W. Mcall - "Convoy"
#1. Starland Vocal Band - "Afternoon Delight"

What he does in the video is bring up The Beach Boys and draw the connections between them and Henry Gross, Captain and Tennille and Barry Manilow (he calls "Rock and Roll Music" the unofficial #11 on the list). But there was another very important connection that he missed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oXRzC0izd8

Discuss.

It may just be because it was one of, if not the, first Beach Boys harmony I ever heard, but Good Vibrations is just a perfect mix of each singer's voices on the stacks.

That, and just listen to that bit before the last chorus, where, after everyone sings "ahhhhhhhhhhh", the sound just echoes for a second or two before the chorus starts. To be the proverbial fly in the echo chamber...

Surprised nobody posted this yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Gj0QxfrA

Some pretty interesting harmony stuff towards the end.

Congratulations, you're the third thread to post this video.  Granted, with all the activity, it's hard to keep up with it all.

Man, I plugged that YouTube link into the search page and nothing came up.

Ah well. Still a cool video.

Surprised nobody posted this yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Gj0QxfrA

Some pretty interesting harmony stuff towards the end.

It's Al with a really bad cold. -shrug-

I think he'd sound mostly the same as he does today except:

1. His phrasing would be sharper.
2. The tone might be more even.

On the old songs, I mean.

Far as I can tell, Mike and Al mostly retain their original parts, and Jeff covers most of Brian's high notes. But where does that leave Brian, Bruce, and David Marks in the stack? Who sings Carl's parts, for example, on Surfer Girl?

I ask mostly because I'd like to know where David Mark's voice ends up - I can't exactly pick his voice out.

"Remember us?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trD30bcgkDE&feature=plcp

There's a bunch of new videos like this on their channel. It's weird.

That's it.. I'm going to buy a copy of Uncut magazine and get a pair of scissors and cut it up....

And give them another sale in so doing.

Very strong harmonies and vocals throughout. I was worried from TWGMTR that the vocals on the album might not be distinct, but that's absolutely not the case here - it's Beach Boys from head to toe.

Jeff:  You misundersatnd me.  I don't 'hate on everyone who has an opinion different than me", as a matter of fact I don't know any of you.  I"m sure you're all great people, you're just wrong sometimes and I'm not ashamed to tell you when you are.  You can feel free to tell me if you think I'm wrong too, or not, or whatever.  Maybe you shouldn't get your feelings hurt by somebody you've never met, and never will meet, Jeff.   Exactly why is you're free to have your opinion, but when mine is different you tell me I'm a hater?  LOL  

Also: have I ever even disagreed with you?  Not that I remember, if you remember that then you take it much more seriously than I do.  Anything I say is worth exactly what your opinion is worth, no more.  

You have absolutely no clue where the boundaries of my optimism are  


-------------------------


Professor: I like how you said you were "cashing in", that's a good way of putting it.  I choose to enjoy the song, if others choose to not enjoy it that's their loss!  Cant' wait to hear the album!!!

I like the smiley faces and LOLs, Ron. You've been using them constantly for the last few days and I assume they are meant to be a spoonful of sugar to help your medicine of objective, absolute truth go down easier. A+. We all have much to learn from you.

I look at the lols and smileys and my "smug" alarm goes off, personally.

People don't like him because in their mind, they think they sing falsetto better than him.  99% of the hate you see thrown at him is because of this fact.  Most people don't want to admit it, but when they sing along with their cds, they imagine that they've finally figured out how to hit those notes just right, and Jeff simply isn't doing it right in their eyes.

From there, everything he does is flawed to them, and they think he's convinced Brian he's the falsetto guy the same way Landy convinced Brian he was his friend. 

You'll soon see several of these haters replying telling me I'm wrong, which will tune you into the fact that perhaps I'm right. 

 

Those of us who think Jeff sounded pretty terrible on the Grammys and at Dodger Stadium are not "haters."  I get tired of hearing that world thrown around.  It's a way to invalidate other people's opinions that are quite valid.  "You didn't like that? You're just a hater!" Jeff sounded bad in those two instances, which was not a good way to kick off reunion appearances. Jeff's singing voice was never extraordinary in any range, but it was okay and acceptable in the falsetto range a few years ago.  It might still be okay in the lower ranges, but if that's what his falsetto sounds like now (and he wasn't just having a bad day or hay fever), the powers that be either should have other singers doubling him or they need to turn him down in the mix, a lot.

As for his other duties, I have no idea.  I can see why someone might yell at Brian if he's either being difficult or has a hard time hearing in a loud room.  I've seen pictures of him with Brian at signings at record stores, not just after shows, but then I've seen Taylor Mills in those pictures, too, so they could be coming out to represent the band as well as give Brian support.

Seconding this. Not all critics are jealous or have superiority complexes - hell, probably not even the majority.

I just hope there are more Brian/Mike songs on the album than not.

The best headphones I ever had were about the size of Oreos and they clipped around your ears directly - no band holding them together. Hearing the bass on Wouldn't It Be Nice with those things for the first time was godlike.

So, the event itself:

Kickass. I'm always craving unreleased footage.

Also: think about the Good Vibrations session footage that got shown a few months back. We've been getting some great stuff recently.

I must say, I dug Mark Foster's falsetto when he was going "GOOOooood night, ooh baby".

Al: "What did I tell you about bringing the dogs to the studio?"
Brian: "But they get lonely."

It's the harmony vocals underneath the second verse of "California Girls".

I tell ya, that record sounds strange to me even today. I can't even imagine how strange it must've sounded to people in 66.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0df-9B6Pj9c

Huh.

Truly In Concert is one of THE Best live LP's ever recorded.

God, the Don't Worry Baby on there is cosmic.

So apparently Paul Stanley has no hearing in his right ear?