Ten Underappreciated Beach Boys Albums

[MyGlove]

I like your sentiments on Smiley Smile. Definitely a great album. But according to all the critics it's the point where Brian went off the deep end never to return, therefore allowing the Beatles to claim victory to the "best album ever" title. That's what feeling i've gotten from every Smiley Smile critics review (except maybe Pitchfork). I hate that. Rolling Stone even made a point of it in the "50 years of the Beach Boys" article. That's why Good Vibrations is the last good thing they ever did in most people's minds. Glad it's not absolutely everyone tho  good review

[filledeplage]

He's trying to tell you, quite cordially, actually, that back in the day, Surfer Girl was not an under-appreciated album and neither is it amongst fans today.  It's probably the first fully-realised BB album, one that doesn't rely on isntrumentals (which I kinda like) or weaker songs to beef out a couple of strong numbers. When I saw the title of the thread, I was wondering where you were going with it.  Under appreciated to me would be Carl and the Passions and maybe (just maybe) L.A. and 15 B.O. Even I wouldn't go as far as MIU.

How it sold back in the day isn't relevant to how appreciated it is now though. Same goes for Pet Sounds. Not sure how anyone could sensibly argue that Pet Sounds is under-appreciated in 2011???

Amongst hardcore fans Surfer Girl is indeed appreciated but most music fans will never have heard of it and the same goes for every BBs album other than Pet Sounds and Smile. The exact point of the OP's post.

This was precisely my intention and where I am coming from. Perhaps I should have made this clearer within the article itself, but I was happy enough for it to be left open to interpretation. I'm 26 years-old and mostly deal with 'new' music on my blog, so when I say "underappreciated" I refer solely to its current placement in the world of music at large, not just amongst BB fans.

Most people around my age - even those who are into similar types of music - don't know the Surfer Girl album. I myself only even came round to it recently, despite having been a BB fan for years. I'd just always thought that everything pre-Today! would be mostly throwaway teeny bopper guff and, well, I was very wrong indeed about that. Hence why I decided to write this series of articles. No-one's commissioning me to do this - it's all done in my own time as a labour of love, a celebration of an incredible back catalogue (and of course SMiLE's release) and a genuine feeling that these albums should be reappraised and rediscovered in this day and age, lending it an appreciation that goes beyond the twin factors of contemporaneous sales and a lasting, dedicated fan base.

Without wanting to end this post with a sly dig, I hope that the above clarifies why I was somewhat less than cordial in responding to what came across (and I accept I could be wrong about this) as a haughty and patronising response from Mr Stebbins.

RS - I just noticed this thread and am happy to see younger people approaching the study of the great BB music.  I was about 8 albums behind when I was hit with the "coup de foudre" of the music.  So I can't tell you much except I did  not have the frame of reference of experiencing the music, during the early 5 years or so of the music.  

What I can suggest is that 4 of the 5 albums you include contain about 60% + of the Touring setlist for the Band. You might check out Eric Anniversario's setlist archive and some other websites, where setlists are posted.  Mike does I'm So Young, with doo wop origins, and those 1965 and prior albums are huge and by no means underappreciated.  I bet that people will download some of those older albums, as this whole Celebration of the 50 years heats up. I downloaded a couple just week.  At $4.99 for a double album, it is actually cheaper than $3.00 when they were originally released.  

That said, I will tell you that my own kids, who are in your age bracket, know the music content, but not the historic context , in terms of an "album" - in other words, they know the "setlist" of about 40 or so songs.  Mike Love often talks about writing The Warmth of the Sun, with Brian, the night before JFK was assassinated.  Mike puts it in an historical context.  Otherwise, we work in a vacuum.  We don't know where we are, if we don't know what was happening at the time, the music was composed.  It is a big picture.  Music, Art and History all fit together, somehow.  

There are some pretty informed people on this board, some who have even written books.  I'm just a hack fan.  But, I was listening to the Beach Boys instead of doing Geometry, so it was important to my "formation" as a teen, and in college and grad school.  The music has a message, I guess even now, as young people such as yourself embark on its' study. But you might look with a larger lens, at the music, in terms of what was happening at the time, with respect to both composition as well as lyrics.  And have fun with it...if you have fun, it isn't work!  

Fun is in; it's no sin!

[rocksucker]

Thanks for the message, fdp. I completely agree about historical context being intrinsically linked with any music - it can't help but seep into the appreciation one way or another, helps you to look past facets that are a bit dated, emphasizes others as being 'ahead of their its time' and therefore that much more dazzling. It's something I've always wandered about with music, even from a much younger age when I used to treat it with suspicion.

That's perhaps not what you meant - just thinking aloud But I appreciate your comments, and shall endeavour to do a little more digging. I will say that each of my remaining 'underappreciated' selections is liable to attract howls of derision...

[bluesno1fann]

Well I can't check out the article as it is a dead link now 

So here's my Ten underappreciated Beach Boys albums, in chronological order:

Surfin' Safari
Surfin' USA
Shut Down Volume II
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
20/20
Carl And The Passions: "So Tough"
L.A. Light Album
The Beach Boys (1985)
Still Cruisin'

[metal flake paint]

Try this:

http://rocksucker.co.uk/?s=10%20Underrated%20Beach%20Boys%20LPs

[bluesno1fann]

Try this:

http://rocksucker.co.uk/?s=10%20Underrated%20Beach%20Boys%20LPs

Very Interesting, Thanks for the Link!

Surprised at some of the choices as some of them aren't underappreciated at all, in fact the only ones I agree are underappreciated are Smiley Smile (to some extent) and Wild Honey.

[donald]

LDC  was underappreciated by ME until fairly recently.  with all of the comps and rereleases, boxes, and various twofers etc, It had benn many years since I actually played all LDC straight thru as an album.      pardon the pun, But that album Is a GAS!    Great theme, great music, production, and oh, those harmonies!     If you have not listened to this lp as an lp unto itself in a while, do your self a favor and put this on and listen some eveniNg, alone, puttering around the house or chilling with a brew or cup of tea.

[RangeRoverA1]

Wow, pretty rude for just your third post. So, it's OK for you to write about and critique Beach Boys albums, but not OK to critique your blog?

Is it me, or are us Beach Boys fans a dysfunctional lot?  Whilst I don't see the logic in how some of the albums mentioned in this blog are exactly "under-appreciated", why must we get so worked up over this? 

Well, the blogger shouldn't have responded to Mr. Stebbins with the "I think you could use some fresh air" comment. It's not rude but it definitely sounds like he is good friends with the latter, thus is allowed to talk so. That said, I'm with you, Dr. Lenny & others who don't find anything remotely bad about these kind of lists. They can be accurate or not, we can disagree or agree with the author's POV, but I myself don't care; I read blogs for entertainment, it's fun to me compare my own thoughts with the writers'.

[Gabo]

I don't know if I'd call any Beach Boys under appreciated. Pet Sounds is their only album that really deserves classic status IMO. Smiley Smile, Surf's Up, and Love You are all favorites of mine, but I recognize they are fundamentally flawed works that can't really be recommended to the unconverted.

[bluesno1fann]

I don't know if I'd call any Beach Boys under appreciated. Pet Sounds is their only album that really deserves classic status IMO. Smiley Smile, Surf's Up, and Love You are all favorites of mine, but I recognize they are fundamentally flawed works that can't really be recommended to the unconverted.

What about Smile Sessions, Wild Honey or Sunflower?

[Mike's Beard]

I don't know if I'd call any Beach Boys under appreciated. Pet Sounds is their only album that really deserves classic status IMO. Smiley Smile, Surf's Up, and Love You are all favorites of mine, but I recognize they are fundamentally flawed works that can't really be recommended to the unconverted.

What about Smile Sessions, Wild Honey or Sunflower?

The same.