my only problem is that there are spaces between the songs,I wish they had the songs going into each other in medley form like BWPS..but other then that it's great..

Yeah, the worst of the transitions comes between Gee and Heroes and Villains. I'm pretty sure there's not supposed to be a 2 second gap in between those songs, but there is. I've gotten used to most of the other transitions in the album, except that one.

So after 6 months of listening to the SMiLE Sessions, I'm curious to hear what everyone's thoughts are on the reconstructed version of the album featured on disc 1. Right when the SMiLE Sessions first came out there was a lot of shock and dislike about some of the editing choices that were used for the album.

Have you guys rethought your positions now that the changes have had so much time to sink in? Do you like the "official" Beach Boys submission of what might have been SMiLE or are there some things you would have rather seen altered? How much time do you spend listening to the album on disc 1 versus any fan edits you might like?

The Friends album just screams to me "listen to me while tripping out on acid!" Hearing Anna Lee the Healer and Friends (the song) would be quite the experience.

Your Mother Should Know
Revolution #9
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
Maxwell's Sivler Hammer
Yellow Submarine
Something
Within You Without You

Some of these have a few charms, but overall I'm not a fan.

something? really?

I think the first side of Abbey Road is pretty bad compared to most Beatles stuff to be honest. Some people love it, but the second side is much stronger IMO. But that's just me.

I have a mild obsession with this album. Love the energy, especially during the first half of the album. I even like the version of Do It Again that appears here better than the 20/20 version. The brass section is killer.

Your Mother Should Know
Revolution #9
Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da
Maxwell's Sivler Hammer
Yellow Submarine
Something
Within You Without You

Some of these have a few charms, but overall I'm not a fan.

Different sample for "Waves of Love" on BestBuy's site:  http://www.bestbuy.com/site/A+Postcard+from+California+-+CD/4756609.p?id=2375518&skuId=4756609&st=postcard%20from%20california&lp=1&cp=1

Sounds like Al is stretching his voice here. From that 30 second clip, this sounds like a song that might be better suited for Brian's voice than Al's. There's a sweetness that is needed for the song that Al's vocal lacks.

Love this song, it's one of my favorites. As Chuck Berry's signature song, you can point to this song and say that without it, rock and roll as it is today doesn't exist.

The cover version that the Beatles preform on the Live from the BBC CD is my favorite.

If I were in Bruce's position, I wouldn't exactly be jumping out of my chair to join a message board where members claim that they use some of his solo records to spiral slice ham..

1. Darlin
2. I Can Hear Music
3. This Whole World
4. Til I Die
5. Sail on Sailor
6. Forever
7. Do It Again
8. Good Timin
9. Cotton Fields (45 version)
10. Disney Girls

Loved it. All of it's jokes were really funny, the dialogue and story were clever, and it was incredibly well written. My only complaint was that they broke the fourth wall too much. Too many musical numbers in some cases. Simple dialogue would have worked better here and there.

Whoohoo! I got my tickets for the Beach Boys reunion concert at Mohegan Sun this morning! My father and I are gonna go see them for my 23rd birthday together. That's going to be some birthday, huh? We already have our tickets printed out. I'm so excited!!

This is such a sweet photo:



Also my new desktop wallpaper image.

An excellent book that is a must own for the experienced fan. This book literally covers everything that hasn't been primarily been written about the Beach Boys in books before, including a variety of topics that span from their early years as boys growing up in Hawthorne, California, all the way up until 2011 with recent developments like the Ronald Regan reunion concert in Washington DC and the announcement that the Beach Boys and Capitol were planning on releasing the SMiLE Sessions later that year.

The Beach Boys FAQs has some very interesting chapters in it that cover things like who is or was involved with the Beach Boys band at one point or another, who they were, what they did, and even how they became involved with the Beach Boys. It also has chapters about how the Beach Boys were viewed by real surfers in California culture, Murry Wilson, Brian's fragile emotional and mental state, chapters that cover all of the Beach Boys albums released up until certain points, chapters on Pet Sounds and SMiLE, career blunders, famous concerts, comebacks, who sang lead vocals on which song, and tons of other useful information.

In my opinion, the chapter on Pet Sounds was a little short for my tastes given it's importance, but since there has been such a vast quantity of material written about Pet Sounds in other books, this is a minor quibble. I especially liked Jon's chapter covering all the Beach Boys solo albums released up until 2010 because it's so updated and current in what it covers and how the public views each album.

Great article on all the 50th anniversary reunions going on such as the Beach Boys, the Stones, the Chieftains and El Grain Combo. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/arts/music/stones-chieftains-beach-boys-and-el-gran-combo-turn-50.html?_r=1&ref=music

Two words - Pink Floyd. One of my roommates from a college program I did a while back turned me onto them, and I became obsessed. Definitely my second favorite band after the Beach Boys.

Currently I'm into the era of the of Brian's greatest creativity, the 1964-67 era (Today!-Smile Sessions). I love all of the 60's and early 70's material, but I just sort of have to be in the mood to listen to the early surf stuff and the later albums that feature far less Brian contributions. I also like listening to all the live albums, especially Live in London for some reason.

Are they still printing 2 CD sets? It looks like Amazon is still out of them. It's way past the 15th..

http://www.amazon.com/Smile-Sessions-2CD-Beach-Boys/dp/B005J29HCQ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1327057772&sr=1-1

Surfin Safari - County Fair
Surfin USA - Farmer's Daughter
Surfer Girl - The Surfer Moon
Little Deuce Coupe - Be True To Your School (album version)
Shut Down Volume 2 - In The Parkin Lot
All Summer Long - We'll Run Away
Today - She Knows Me Too Well
Summer Days - Girl Don't Tell Me
Party - The Times They Are A-Changin'
Pet Sounds - Here Today
Smiley Smile - Gettin' Hungry
Friends - Anna Lee The Healer
20/20 - All I Wanna Do
Sunflower - It's About Time
Surf's Up - A Day In the Life of a Tree
Passions - haven't listened to it yet.
Holland - Pretty Funky
15 Big Ones - It's OK
Love You - Roller Skating Child

Haven't listened to anything after Love You.

We'll Run Away
Mona
Wendy
Good Time
In The Parkin' Lot
Don't Back Down
You Still Believe In Me
Child Is Father of the Man
Let Him Run Wild
She Knows Me Too Well

[Albums:]

Albums:

Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Rubber Soul - The Beatles
The Smile Sessions - The Beach Boys
Piper at the Gates of Dawn - Pink Floyd
Village Green Preservation Society - The Kinks

Songs:

God Only Knows - The Beach Boys
Be My Baby - The Ronettes
Johnny B Goode - Chuck Berry
Penny Lane - The Beatles
Do You Believe In Magic - The Lovin' Spoonful

One thing Beach Boy music absolutely cannot be described as is "simple." I absolutely hate it when people try and pass off their music as "simple, fun in the sun surf rock."

My point is that in my experience, some are more drawn to the harder rocking surf songs, while others can be more attracted to the more emotionally resonant stuff. I personally love both, but I definitely find that some casual fans can often prefer the less deep (lyrically speaking), more harder rocking-type stuff. You never really know what they're going to like. But it's all absolutely beautiful music.

With that being said, you can always try both.

I wouldn't go the route of showing them instrumentals. The Beach Boys are the best vocal group of all time (IMO). You've got to show them some stuff that shows off their beautiful, complex harmonies.

OK so the set list sucks and there is some studio overdubbing... But it's kind of interesting to hear the Beach Boys do so many covers before they really started composing and preforming a lot of their own stuff. I kind of like a few tracks - The Little Old Lady From Pasadena and Johnny B Goode, plus the renditions of their own songs (even if there is cheating on some of them). Otherwise, there's a lot of fluff.

2.5 stars.

I don't understand how people "take issue" with this album's lack of musical unity when Sunflower is at least as bad in this way, if not worse!

Count me as one of the people who think Sunflower's unity and flow is a lot worse. That may be why I prefer this album to it, but I know people will disagree!

One quick question, if you wanna get someone into liking the BBs, what song(s) would you choose?

I've had the tendency to always try to use the more sensitive songs (WIBN) or the complex ones (Surf's up, DYLW) to show that the band was more than Surfing USA or Fun, Fun, Fun... Not that there's anything wrong with that  but you know, when you're a fan and you want to convince others, you kind of aim high, no?

What do you think? What songs have you used? This could be a nice thread 

I think there are two types of Beach Boy fans, the ones that like the more emotional, complex stuff, and the more casual fans who like the Fun Fun Fun or Kokomo types of songs. You really never know what type of song they will like or what kind of fan they will be, but I agree that if you really want to get them into the BB you should probably show them the more emotional songs.

Emotional songs that I think newbies might like are Don't Worry Baby, Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations, etc. I might start there and see what happens.