Is That’s Why God Made the Radio (the album) among their very best?!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

[adamghost]

[Ziggy Stardust]

I think the album has some solid moments, but with stuff such as Spring Vacation or Beaches In Mind (and even Bill And Sue, which is very meh..aaand Strange World doesn't do much to me), all the terrible effects on the vocals and the VERY FLAT production, plus all the guest singers taking a huge spot (Jeff Foskett on the chorus of Shelter, ect) i can't really say it's among their best stuff... but honestly, if you change the tracklist and give it a better sound, i would definitely agree tho that it's one of their best stuff.

VERY FLAT indeed.  I'm glad someone else mentioned this, because I've been complaining about this on my own Facebook page.  You have some wonderful arrangements (and some cheesy ones) and vocal performances that have no definition or dynamics whatsoever.  The mix is so murky and midrangey that I feel like I'm listening to the record through a wall.  I tried to do a little mastering with the car radio, but the tracks themselves all seem to be really processed and compressed.  I know this sounds like sound engineer talk, but it really blows the record for me, which I otherwise quite like.  Put it on next to any other Beach Boys record pre-1980 with the possible exception of HOLLAND and you'll hear what I mean...by comparison, just mushy, no dynamics or depth.  It really bums me out.  Mixed differently it could have been so much more vibrant.

It reminds me of a time I got a file in to my home studio from another place.  The engineer had taken every single track and put a compressor on each one, with the attack and release set to maximum.  Basically squashing the life out of each and every element.   At least that's the way I hear it. 

This pretty much says it all, couldn't agree more.

[Wirestone]

This album is a wonderful surprise and an amazing effort for a 50 year old band with a bunch of 70 year olds.

But can't rate it ahead "LA (Light Album)"  or any album before cause no Carl or Dennis in their prime.

Only if you think those two are critical for a good BB album. To my mind, they're not.

LA strikes me as profoundly mediocre, Dennis's songs excepted.

[Quzi]

Personally, until last month, I thought that L.A. Light was miles above any post-Endless Summer album the boys put out, Love You being the exception. I have to say, since TWGMTR came out, there's been a shift in the winds. Ranking the tracks of the two albums gives me a list that looks like this:

1. From There to Back Again
2. Baby Blue
3. Love Surrounds Me
4. Summer's Gone
5. Pacific Coast Highway
6. Angel Come Home
7. Isn't it Time
8. Good Timin'
9. Shelter
10. Think About the Days
11. That's Why God Made the Radio
12. Lady Lynda
13. Sumahama
14. Strange World
15. Full Sail
16. Daybreak Over the Ocean
17. Spring Vacation
18. Goin' South
19. Shortnin' Bread
20. The Private Life of Bill and Sue
21. Here Comes the Night
22. Beaches in Mind

That list echoes my gut feeling that objectively speaking, they're about as good as one another. However, when I take into account that for TWGMTR they are down a remarkable songwriter, their strongest vocalist and that they're 33 years older, I think TWGMTR edges out for the best album the Boys have put out after Holland (excluding Love You).

[Wirestone]

Don't get me wrong -- I think if you take the best the band was capable of in the LA period and put it on a record, you'd have an awesome album. But they didn't do that. You instead get this rather fragmented attempt at democracy that leads to some stunning moments, some ho-hum ones, and a couple of outright clunkers.

Whatever you say about TWGMTR -- and it's not a perfect album by any stretch of the imagination -- it sounds all of a piece. That is, there is a single creative vision behind it (mainly Brian's, but definitely with Joe T. contributions), and there is a fairly unified sound. To me, that makes it a better album, even if LA has a couple of tracks that are better than nearly all of those on TWFMTR.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

This album is a wonderful surprise and an amazing effort for a 50 year old band with a bunch of 70 year olds.

But can't rate it ahead "LA (Light Album)"  or any album before cause no Carl or Dennis in their prime.

Only if you think those two are critical for a good BB album. To my mind, they're not.

LA strikes me as profoundly mediocre, Dennis's songs excepted.

I don't think anything here is as good as "Good Timin".  "Full Sail" is a great Carl vocal. "Sumahama"  beats Mike's "   "Daybreak Over the Ocean"  hands down.     "Lady Lynda"  is a great song (for Al).
All the background vocals beat the pants off TWGMTR.  And two great Dennis songs.

Conversely, LA (LA) is too short, and yes, doesn't highlight their best material.  Brian is mostly MIA and we have "the disco song".

To me, it's hard to rank "Brian Projects" vs. "Band Projects".  I agree that there is a creative vision here that LA (LA) lacks.

[DonnyL]

no way, nowhere near in my opinion. the only albums i feel it's better than are BB '85, Still Cruisin, Summer in Paradise and Stars & Stripes. So I guess you could say their best in 30 years, which is quite a feat. But that's only because they released so much $hit during this period ... and BW '88 & the Paley Sessions are better, so I'm not sure if that's entirely accurate.