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- Latest Member: Dae Lims
| March 29, 2024, 02:41:48 PM |
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: Sunshine songs
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on: February 04, 2016, 12:17:31 PM
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I tried it a few months ago myself and think it's fantastic. Maybe not perfect, just because the good stuff is so good it makes the weaker songs all the worse, but I reckon "I Just Want to Be Your Friend", "5 A.M.", "It's You", and especially "There is Nothing More to Say" (which might now be one of my favourite songs) all deserve a spot on any sunshine pop collection. I've been off on a bit of a sunshine pop phase and it's led me to finding a lot of great music that I'm late to the party to (including Eternity's Children, and also A Midsummer Day's Dream by Mark Eric, which is wonderful). The Sandy Salisbury solo album is pretty awesome too... it has a very fun cover of "With Me Tonight".
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: 2015 New Releases
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on: December 28, 2015, 11:45:24 AM
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Excellent year!
I've become rather well acquainted with: Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper - Kinda spotty but it gets much better the more I listen, along with the two EPs that came out around it (favourite song: "Mr. Noah") Surf by Donnie Trumpet at the Social Experiment - This has also grown on me a lot, really good-spirited stuff even if there's not much in the way of fully realized songs (favourite song: "Sunday Candy" or maybe "Pass the Vibes") To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar - ditto (favourite song: "For Sale", just gorgeous) No Pier Pressure by Brian Wilson - Feelings are still mixed; I think Brian may have surrounded himself with too many people and lost the directness that made his best work so affecting, but there are good tracks (favourite song: "I'm Feeling Sad" or "One Kind of Love") Natalie Prass - Can only be the best-sounding album of the year, although I find the songs slightly lacking for some reason (favourite song: "Bird of Prey") Goon by Tobias Jesso Jr. - Very flawed (the lo-fi touches come off as gimmicky) but the guy shows a lot of talent and he clearly knows his way around a song, so I'm excited for whatever's next (favourite song: "How Could You Babe") Another One by Mac Demarco - Hadn't even heard of Mac before this thing, was pleasantly surprised by his style before getting sick of it then coming back round to liking it again (favourite song: "No Other Heart") (Salad Days is a rather fab album btw)
I enjoyed and intend on becoming better acquainted with: The Great Pretenders by Mini Mansions ("Any Emotions" might be the best Brian track of the year) The Epic by Kamasi Washington Recreational Love by the Bird and the Bee The Desired Effect by Brandon Flowers ("Still Want You" is an excellent song) Star Wars by Wilco ("Random Name Generator" is even better)
I listened to maybe once and should probably give more time to: Have You in My Wilderness by Julia Holter But You Caint Use My Phone by Erykah Badu Poison Season by Destroyer Choose Your Weapon by Hiatus Kaiyote Calling Out by EZTV Sometimes I Sit and Think and Sometimes I Just Sit by Courtney Barnett Divers by Joanna Newsom
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Let's complete the circle - release an un-Landy version of BRIAN WILSON
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on: November 19, 2015, 08:53:48 AM
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It would indeed be nice - certainly something I've fantasized about - but probably a waste of time at the end of the day. I'd prefer more original material rather than another cover album.
Besides, I think the biggest problem with the album isn't the production (which does sound ugly in places, although I really rather like how grandiose the arrangements are, and you can forgive it as a product of its time), it's just that the material is kinda scattershot. If every song were as good as the first four, even with the same sound intact, we'd still have a stone cold classic.
I'm with sweetdudejim anyway really, it is what it is and I love it despite its flaws.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / 21st Century Beach Boys Albums / Re: That's Why God Made The Radio
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on: September 29, 2015, 10:55:16 AM
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Daaamn.
Lesse here
1. Think About the Days - Inexplicably really beautiful, makes the following dreck all the worse 2. That's Why God Made the Radio - Not too shabby, but sooo thin 3. Isn't it Time - Best of the fun-in-the-sun cuts, very summery despite poor Mike's mangled "isn't it time" at the end of the chorus that sounds like they got the robot from ELO 4. Spring Vacation - Awful lyrics, kinda nice backing track, nothing special overall 5. Private Life of Bill and Sue - Absurdly ridiculously preposterously meh 6. Shelter - Close to a decent song, some nice moments ("shelter from the sunlight") but distressingly half-assed and thin-sounding 7. Daybreak - Really just a nothing song, not offensive or close to good 8. Beaches in Mind - Could actually come from SIP and wouldn't be anywhere near the best track 9. Strange World - Nice, but a bit too flawed for me to consider it part of the closing medley (apart from those EERIE noises at the end, gimme chills) 10. From There to Back Again - Out of nowhere, something really wonderful (excusing the processing on Al's lead), far and away the best song on the album 11. Pacific Coast Highway - A lovely link between FTTBA and SG, but a bit too short to work on its own the same way the previous track does 12. Summer's Gone - A bit too simple and repetitive, but with beautiful moments ("I should wait/ I should stay", the sounds on the fadeout). Still miles ahead of tracks 2-9, makes for a fitting end
Ratings are too hard
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Smiley Smile Stuff / 1970's Beach Boys Albums / Re: The M.O.R. Album
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on: September 24, 2015, 03:02:08 PM
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M.I.U. sounds totally MOR to me, in a much less ambitious way than L.A., and yet I greatly prefer it to that album. I think there's kind of a nice intimacy to the mellow sound, although it becomes too much in places ("Sweet Sunday" is the most aggressively M.I.U. track on M.I.U., by which I mean it's frustratingly bland), but when they go for something with a bit more scope in sound ("Winds of Change") it doesn't work at all. Maybe that song and "Good Timin'" should have swapped places, they seem to fit each other's album.
I suppose those two albums are as good as each other really... neither come to life very often. But M.I.U. is all in all pretty modest, and L.A. attempts to be colossal and ends up sounding like the adult contemporary Holland. I guess I just prefer the former because I like my sh*t twee.
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Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: 2015 New Releases
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on: September 05, 2015, 09:21:37 AM
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I didn't realise how small a release that album was at first, initially leading me to believe it was to be her career-killing artistic opus (blehh). Turns out it was a heartfelt little side project that came about as a result of her humongous amount of free time and ability as a pop superstar to do literally anything. Which is still nice. I don't find it to be as weird (or anywhere near as shocking) as I think it wants to be, and it isn't particularly good either, but there are a few bright spots and on the whole it's a nice-sounding album. Nothing I'd call abysmal and nothing great, but "Karen Don't Be Sad" is probably the best track and "Pablow the Blowfish" is a nice sentiment.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Love and Mercy - News and Reviews - First clip is out.
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on: August 21, 2015, 06:19:20 AM
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We do have in the archives partial vocals for "Good Vibrations," from a copy of an original 4 track master. This 4 track (which now exists only in a vintage 8 track copy) only had some of the vocal parts, none of them doubled, and was apparently copied to a separate, now missing 8 track onto which Brian would have then added all of the rest of the vocal parts and layers heard in the final mix.
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