gfxgfx
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
logo
 
gfx gfx
gfx
680599 Posts in 27601 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 29, 2024, 02:02:21 AM
*
gfx*HomeHelpSearchCalendarLoginRegistergfx
gfxgfx
0 Members and 2 Guests are viewing this topic.       « previous next »
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 Go Down Print
Author Topic: What went wrong after Holland?  (Read 13491 times)
anazgnos
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 384



View Profile
« Reply #25 on: March 07, 2012, 11:53:33 AM »

At some point during 15 Big Ones Carl and Dennis must have turned to each other and said "This just isn't working". And I can only guess the reason they didn't tackle the problem was for fear of upsetting a still very delicate Brian. That, or label pressure to have product "produced by Brian Wilson" no matter what.

From their perspective, they may have been willing to hold their noses on 15BO because it was all about setting Brian up for the next album.  Assuming they were happy with Love You, the plan seems to have worked.
Logged
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #26 on: March 07, 2012, 11:36:20 PM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
Logged
MBE
Guest
« Reply #27 on: March 07, 2012, 11:42:47 PM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
'
Never understood the love for it. The best three or four songs combined with the best six or seven songs on Adult Child  or some  the potential cuts on New Album (not a real LP just a tape of options that is an oddly good boot LP) ) would have been cool. I don't know if I want to destroy it (I think the post KTSA albums are far worse) but I have played it several dozen times and never got into it.
Logged
BJL
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 333


View Profile
« Reply #28 on: March 08, 2012, 01:34:21 AM »

At some point during 15 Big Ones Carl and Dennis must have turned to each other and said "This just isn't working". And I can only guess the reason they didn't tackle the problem was for fear of upsetting a still very delicate Brian. That, or label pressure to have product "produced by Brian Wilson" no matter what.
From their perspective, they may have been willing to hold their noses on 15BO because it was all about setting Brian up for the next album.  Assuming they were happy with Love You, the plan seems to have worked.

My recollection, and I can't remember where I read this, is that there actually was a vote on whether or not to put out 15 Big Ones in its released form, that Carl and Dennis were voted down 3 to 2, and that as a result Dennis then took his songs elsewhere, whereas Carl just sort of became slowly demoralized and gave up, musically.  Also, Carlin's book has a nice two or three pages on the struggles around the release of the album that make clear how disappointed Dennis and Carl were with the record, and the complicated resentment towards Brian that existed within the band even from people like Mike and Al.   
Logged
oldsurferdude
Guest
« Reply #29 on: March 08, 2012, 10:08:19 AM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
'
Never understood the love for it. The best three or four songs combined with the best six or seven songs on Adult Child  or some  the potential cuts on New Album (not a real LP just a tape of options that is an oddly good boot LP) ) would have been cool. I don't know if I want to destroy it (I think the post KTSA albums are far worse) but I have played it several dozen times and never got into it.
Join the club-not as bad as SIP, of course, but never listen to it much. Hard on the ears.
Logged
Cam Mott
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 4171


View Profile
« Reply #30 on: March 08, 2012, 10:25:10 AM »

I'm split on Love You, sometimes I find it charming and sometimes I find it annoying.
Logged

"Bring me the head of Carmen Sandiego" Lynne "The Chief" Thigpen
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #31 on: March 08, 2012, 10:38:55 AM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
'
Never understood the love for it. The best three or four songs combined with the best six or seven songs on Adult Child  or some  the potential cuts on New Album (not a real LP just a tape of options that is an oddly good boot LP) ) would have been cool. I don't know if I want to destroy it (I think the post KTSA albums are far worse) but I have played it several dozen times and never got into it.
And I wouldn't feel this way except I keep reading what a work of genius Love You is. I don't see anyone heaping that kind of praise on the post KTSA albums, although I'm sure ML thinks his SIP is a work of genius. As far as songwriting goes, there's about half a good album on Love You, but the production really grates on me. Some of those songs sound better on the Brian Loves You piano demos.
Logged
rogerlancelot
Guest
« Reply #32 on: March 08, 2012, 12:02:59 PM »

Love You is an excellent album but hard to get into the first time around. 15BO was so bad that even Mike Love refused to discuss it in interviews at the time.
Logged
adamghost
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2107



View Profile
« Reply #33 on: March 08, 2012, 12:06:12 PM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
'
Never understood the love for it. The best three or four songs combined with the best six or seven songs on Adult Child  or some  the potential cuts on New Album (not a real LP just a tape of options that is an oddly good boot LP) ) would have been cool. I don't know if I want to destroy it (I think the post KTSA albums are far worse) but I have played it several dozen times and never got into it.
And I wouldn't feel this way except I keep reading what a work of genius Love You is. I don't see anyone heaping that kind of praise on the post KTSA albums, although I'm sure ML thinks his SIP is a work of genius. As far as songwriting goes, there's about half a good album on Love You, but the production really grates on me. Some of those songs sound better on the Brian Loves You piano demos.

I'm agnostic about LOVE YOU now, but I vividly recall my reaction to hearing it for the first time, which was perhaps four or five years after it came out: I thought it sounded like crap, one of the most unprofessional sounding records I'd ever heard from a major band.  And I'll wager in the context of 95% of the average mainstream record buyers at the time, that was, and would have been, their first and overwhelming reaction.  It was just too different from the radio to make it.  I mean, RADICALLY different.  We can debate the artistic merits 'til we're blue in the face, but that skates around the fact that in the marketplace of 1977, a record with that kind of production value was never going to be a commercial success.  So to me, the whole debate about LOVE YOU misses the point, since the band, and this includes the Wilsons, weren't going specifically for an arty cool record.  First and foremost, they wanted a record that was going to sell.  I think Carl and Dennis wanted a GOOD record that was gonna sell...but having a successful record was job one.
Logged
Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3744



View Profile
« Reply #34 on: March 08, 2012, 01:49:54 PM »

I think Rollerskating Child (creepy lyrics and all) could have been a hit with a little push and some luck.

Same with The Night Was So Young..... If it had been featured in a movie, perhaps ("The Goodbye Girl" or something like that) it could have caught on and given the album a boots..... There were better decisions that could have been made.
« Last Edit: March 08, 2012, 01:52:37 PM by Erik H » Logged
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: March 08, 2012, 02:32:05 PM »

They went right after Holland IMO, With "Love You"  Grin
Oh God Almighty, how I'd love to bury every copy of Love You and forget it ever existed! Embarrassed
'
Never understood the love for it. The best three or four songs combined with the best six or seven songs on Adult Child  or some  the potential cuts on New Album (not a real LP just a tape of options that is an oddly good boot LP) ) would have been cool. I don't know if I want to destroy it (I think the post KTSA albums are far worse) but I have played it several dozen times and never got into it.
And I wouldn't feel this way except I keep reading what a work of genius Love You is. I don't see anyone heaping that kind of praise on the post KTSA albums, although I'm sure ML thinks his SIP is a work of genius. As far as songwriting goes, there's about half a good album on Love You, but the production really grates on me. Some of those songs sound better on the Brian Loves You piano demos.

I'm agnostic about LOVE YOU now, but I vividly recall my reaction to hearing it for the first time, which was perhaps four or five years after it came out: I thought it sounded like crap, one of the most unprofessional sounding records I'd ever heard from a major band.  And I'll wager in the context of 95% of the average mainstream record buyers at the time, that was, and would have been, their first and overwhelming reaction.  It was just too different from the radio to make it.  I mean, RADICALLY different.  We can debate the artistic merits 'til we're blue in the face, but that skates around the fact that in the marketplace of 1977, a record with that kind of production value was never going to be a commercial success.  So to me, the whole debate about LOVE YOU misses the point, since the band, and this includes the Wilsons, weren't going specifically for an arty cool record.  First and foremost, they wanted a record that was going to sell.  I think Carl and Dennis wanted a GOOD record that was gonna sell...but having a successful record was job one.
And I think this is saddest part of all - that  after Endless Summer and Spirit of America, the Beach Boys had the attention of the world again, the public was ready for a great new BB's record, and what did they get? 15 Big Ones. Although that album sold well, I'm sure many fans took it home, played it, and said to themselves "I'm never buying a new BB's album again". Love You only did further damage. Some fans love it for it's portrait of a damaged artist at work, but that's not what the average fan wanted. If the group had come out with great new work in 76/77, it could have been the beginning of another run at the top of the charts. Instead, it was pretty much the end as far as album sales go.
Logged
Les P
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 598


Cheese Pizza and Apple Pie


View Profile
« Reply #36 on: March 08, 2012, 02:37:34 PM »

Today I listened to "Love You" all the way through for the first time in years.  I agree that commercially it was a hard sell in 1977, but I for one like the farty synths, and enjoy most of the music (if not all the vocals).  But my initial opinion about the lyrics has only intensified...many of them sound like they were written in ten minutes, some just downright cringeworthy.  I know Jack Rieley's lyrics can be pretentious, but at least he put some effort into them.  As a look into the disturbingly regressive mind of BW, an interesting album.  An album I'd play for a non-fan to show off the brilliance of the BBs?  Or to compete with Fleetwood Mac in 1977?  Hardly. 

Maybe Mike's Beard is right, the other BBs just couldn't risk shattering Brian's fragile self-confidence, so they had to let it go out.  After the string of albums they put out 1970-73, Carl and Dennis had to have been embarrassed by "15 BO" and "LY."  No wonder Dennis wanted to launch off on his own.

There, just needed to get that off my chest.  Having said that, I'd much rather listen to the flawed but creative LY than the slab of bland that is M.I.U.
Logged
b00ts
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Female
Posts: 665


Greldont


View Profile WWW
« Reply #37 on: March 08, 2012, 08:39:28 PM »

Today I listened to "Love You" all the way through for the first time in years.  I agree that commercially it was a hard sell in 1977, but I for one like the farty synths, and enjoy most of the music (if not all the vocals).  But my initial opinion about the lyrics has only intensified...many of them sound like they were written in ten minutes, some just downright cringeworthy.  I know Jack Rieley's lyrics can be pretentious, but at least he put some effort into them.  As a look into the disturbingly regressive mind of BW, an interesting album.  An album I'd play for a non-fan to show off the brilliance of the BBs?  Or to compete with Fleetwood Mac in 1977?  Hardly. 

Maybe Mike's Beard is right, the other BBs just couldn't risk shattering Brian's fragile self-confidence, so they had to let it go out.  After the string of albums they put out 1970-73, Carl and Dennis had to have been embarrassed by "15 BO" and "LY."  No wonder Dennis wanted to launch off on his own.

There, just needed to get that off my chest.  Having said that, I'd much rather listen to the flawed but creative LY than the slab of bland that is M.I.U.
Agreed, "Love You" is not a commercial album. It is essentially Brian's "McCartney II" - off-the-cuff, under produced, and pure. I can see why it was a commercial failure, but a someone who loves Brian's music, I find the purity of "Love You" refreshing. There is no pretension, no commercial calculation to it. The songs are great, and even the worst lyrics have a charm to them that is quintessentially Brian.

As a mode of expression - relating where Brian was at the time mentally - Love You succeeds in every fashion. As a commercial album, not so much. It is a work of art nevertheless and I adore it.

15 Big Ones, incidentally, suffers from a lack of intriguing original songs. The production foreshadows "Love You,"  with the subbed-out bass synths, but 15BO suffers from commercial (mis)calculation. I think this is at the heart of all of the Beach Boys ' late-period failures - vaguely commercial aspirations without the wherewithal to make something truly excellent. At their peak, the BB's combined both art and commerce (Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations) but in their later period, they would have been better off just trying to make solid records as they did with Friends, Sunflower, Holland, etc.
Logged

- B00ts
MBE
Guest
« Reply #38 on: March 08, 2012, 09:06:28 PM »

I will admit the production for me too was a problem because yeah some of the songs sound a lot better on Brian Loves You or on the live versions.
Logged
Les P
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 598


Cheese Pizza and Apple Pie


View Profile
« Reply #39 on: March 08, 2012, 11:31:35 PM »


It is essentially Brian's "McCartney II" - off-the-cuff, under produced, and pure. I can see why it was a commercial failure, but a someone who loves Brian's music, I find the purity of "Love You" refreshing. There is no pretension, no commercial calculation to it. The songs are great, and even the worst lyrics have a charm to them that is quintessentially Brian.

b00ts, I largely agree with you.  But I was trying to listen to it as a non-fan might, or -- as was actually the case -- as someone hearing it for the first time in a long time after hearing others describe it as one of their favorite BB albums.  As someone who knows Brian's story and loves him -- emotional issues, drug damage, seemingly stunted adolescence, etc -- I can appreciate the charm.  But I still couldn't play it for someone without caveats.  For me, it's not the production that damages the album, it's the lyrics.  It probably would have been better for everyone had it been a solo album.

But you have gotten me thinking about personal artistic statements...does one listen to a banal lyric and think "that really represents the artist's current emotional state, or the best he is capable of right now," or "he really didn't work very hard on this, did he?"   We cut him a lot of slack because he's Brian and we love him for everything he has given us, or we're fascinated by his offbeat view.  So I am thinking, would I/should I approach all artists this way, especially those I'm not familiar with?

I know I'm overanalyzing here; bottom line, I like "Love You" but I'm trying to like it more...
« Last Edit: March 09, 2012, 12:01:36 AM by Les P » Logged
Les P
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 598


Cheese Pizza and Apple Pie


View Profile
« Reply #40 on: March 08, 2012, 11:47:36 PM »

And I realize my problem with the lyrics actually falls in two categories:  one is just banal lyrics ("let's put our hearts together/and say we'll leave each other never"), the other is simplistic and juvenile themes, sometimes bordering on creepy ("I Wanna Pick You Up").   I can acknowledge the latter could qualify as a personal, if perhaps disturbing, statement; the former feels like laziness.  


« Last Edit: March 08, 2012, 11:52:13 PM by Les P » Logged
MBE
Guest
« Reply #41 on: March 09, 2012, 12:02:54 AM »

I will admit the production for me too was a problem because yeah some of the songs sound a lot better on Brian Loves You or on the live versions.
.
I also wanted to add that the lyrics bug me too. "Roller Skating Child" isn't really something anyone  should do I mean this is Bay City Rollers type junk lyrically, though I like the rhythm and energy. "I Wanna Pick You Up" doesn't sound right either. I do love "Good Time" and the difference between 1970 Brian and 1976 is made all too clear. It has some goofy lyrics but the vocal and production overwhelm that. "I'll Be He's Nice" is pretty good, very good on Brian Loves You. I didn't really suss out how good the melody and changes were until I heard the demo. "Ding Dang" is cute but is what it is. "The Night Was So Young" works great except Carl's excesses were much more obvious here than before. "Solar System", "Let's Put Our Hearts Together",  "Love Is A Woman" aren't good at all though Andrew does do the first one quite well. "Johnny Carson" is strange and though I thought it was fun one the first few hearings it grew stale fast. "Airplane" has a lot of potential but the production and Brian's singing are terrible. The repeated keyboard farts ruin it for me. "Let Us Go On This Way" and "Mona" could have worked had they been recorded four or five years earlier. "Honkin" was pretty cool on stage and has a great hook and rhythm but it sounds phony on the album. Lyrics needed help too.

I think the Big Band sessions showed a great growth and to me they are what Love You should be. Funny, quirky, and very Brian for sure,  but they are far more musical and the performances are generally a lot better, Maybe not from Carl, but Brian and Marilyn sound so much better.

MIU isn't great  but certain tracks I can play for people without any problem. Brian's leads are not perfect but he's better pitched and sounds professional.  Again I don't love the album but "My Diane" (this is the best I ever heard Dennis sing on a later Beach Boys record. Not the best song just the best vocal) , "Matchpoint", "Come Go With Me", even "She's Got Rhythm" and "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" are all pretty good. The rest is poor but I never understood why it was considered so bad. Beach Boys 85 took things to a much worse A/C extreme and I wonder why it didn't create the same outrage. Heck even "Pitter Patter" has some cool harmony. "Sweet Sunday" isn't good to start and Carl is in bad voice. "Belles Of Paris" is one of the worst things I ever heard, but you would think "Belles" is what the whole album sounds like when you read some reviews.

McCartney II is a good comparison but Paul was in great voice and he came up with some good melodies and songs that stretch him. Some crap too.
Logged
Phoenix
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 1212



View Profile
« Reply #42 on: March 09, 2012, 12:23:49 AM »

The McCartney II comparison is perfect but it's best to remember Paul considered both it and its companion album as side-projects from the bands he was working with at the time os their respective releases.   They were intentionally different from his usual, more commercial sound.  Keep in mind that the Top 10 hits from those albums (one, a chart topper) were the live versions, performed by Wings, in styles much closer to his usual stuff.  I think Love You is a very charming album, but I honestly don't think it's a very "good" album.  I think it should have been released as a solo album with "guest vocals by the Beach Boys." 

Honest to God, my Beach Boys experience went like this: Hits via the oldies station -> Endless Summer -> Spirit Of America -> the Priess book (which started my obsession with Smile -> the Good Vibrations/Great Concert two-fer -> In Concert (which blew me away!) -> Love You.  And that was it for a long while.  Just like that, I put the band on the back shelf for a very long time. 

(The next think I remember liking was "California Dreaming"!  "Oh, that's right.  I LIKE this band!"  Then I picked up BW88.  "Um...?  What's with this cheesey production and very different vocal style?"  Back on the shelf for a short spell  -> "Kokomo" (which I liked) "No, come on.  What's the deal here?  Do I like these guys or not?!?"  The 93 box set (Smile!) convinced me I DID like them and I finally bought a copy of Pet Sounds.  And what pushed me over the edge to "fanatic"?  The Pet Sounds Box and...Imagination!)

The point is, to me, having Love You sit right along side the rest of the catalog runs the chance of scaring off potential fans (like it did me!). 

It reminds me of a friend who grew up on classical music and finally got turned on to the Beatles in his mid 20's.  He liked the first couple he bought and dove into the rest of the catalog.  Liking all of that, he wanted even more.  Knowing that Lennon was the group's leader, he bought his ENTIRE catalog.

I can't tell you how sceptical he was to try McCartney's stuff after hearing Two Virgins, Life With The Lions, The Wedding Album, and Sometime In New York City!  He told me he nearly threw in the towel and to him, at the time, it made listening to stuff like the White Album and Let It Be less enjoyable because it made him notice any of the similarities to John's "weirder" stuff.

But those above me put it best.  In 1977 that album was a HUGE mistake.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought mine out of the cut out bin, very shortly after its release!
« Last Edit: March 09, 2012, 12:32:06 AM by Phoenix » Logged
MBE
Guest
« Reply #43 on: March 09, 2012, 12:36:40 AM »

Well Lennon really shouldn't have put those albums out. I know they weren't albums aimed at being commercial but they were awful and put a stain on his solo career. My love of his Beatles stuff remains undiminished but those albums made me realize how self indulgent much (if not all) of Lennon's solo career was. Even Plastic Ono is way too subjective for me to enjoy unless I am in the mood to hear about his anger at that time of his life. Double Fantasy is more melodic  but John never understood that forcing Yoko on his fans was never going to work. Also it looses much of the old edge he had before. Walls and  Bridges I really like as I do (most of) Imagine but outside those I can't say I like John solo work except for drips and drabs. Tight A$, Nobody Told Me, Instant Karma those are really cool, but Clean Up Time, Flower Princess, WITNOTW, what was going on there? Lemnon's work on every Beatles album was so good that it's hard not to blame Yoko for some of this.
Logged
Phoenix
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 1212



View Profile
« Reply #44 on: March 09, 2012, 12:40:31 AM »

I couldn't have put it better myself.
Seriously Thumbs Up.
Logged
Roger Ryan
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 1528


View Profile
« Reply #45 on: March 09, 2012, 10:32:06 AM »

...Honest to God, my Beach Boys experience went like this: Hits via the oldies station -> Endless Summer -> Spirit Of America -> the Priess book (which started my obsession with Smile -> the Good Vibrations/Great Concert two-fer -> In Concert (which blew me away!) -> Love You.  And that was it for a long while.  Just like that, I put the band on the back shelf for a very long time...

This was very close to my experience with the band as well. The only difference is that not long after 15 BIG ONES had been released I owned all the post-PET SOUNDS albums and half of the pre-PET SOUNDS material. So, when LOVE YOU made it's appearance I saw it as a worst misstep than 15 BO, but already loved the majority of the band's work. I can't emphasize enough how Dennis' PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE (released five months later) restored my faith that the Beach Boys could do solid work again. Unfortunately, the albums after LOVE YOU only got slightly better and I took a break from the band in the early 80s until Brian's solo album came out in '88.

When I listen to LOVE YOU now, I hear the lovely melodies that Brian wrote that I didn't focus on during those early listens. However, uninspired arrangements, poor vocals and crappy lyrics undermine those melodies at almost every opportunity.
Logged
Les P
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 598


Cheese Pizza and Apple Pie


View Profile
« Reply #46 on: March 09, 2012, 01:17:52 PM »

I think Love You is a very charming album, but I honestly don't think it's a very "good" album.  I think it should have been released as a solo album with "guest vocals by the Beach Boys." 
 

Very well stated.  I share that assessment.


MIU isn't great  but certain tracks I can play for people without any problem. Brian's leads are not perfect but he's better pitched and sounds professional.  Again I don't love the album but "My Diane" (this is the best I ever heard Dennis sing on a later Beach Boys record. Not the best song just the best vocal) , "Matchpoint", "Come Go With Me", even "She's Got Rhythm" and "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" are all pretty good. The rest is poor but I never understood why it was considered so bad. Beach Boys 85 took things to a much worse A/C extreme and I wonder why it didn't create the same outrage. Heck even "Pitter Patter" has some cool harmony. "Sweet Sunday" isn't good to start and Carl is in bad voice. "Belles Of Paris" is one of the worst things I ever heard, but you would think "Belles" is what the whole album sounds like when you read some reviews.

Your comments prompted me to listen to MIU for the first time in many years, and it was better than I expected.  One of my issues with it is that, in general, Mike’s nasal vocals have not aged well for me at all.  So Carl’s relative absence hurts.  Another is that it is one more step down the covers/retro road that killed the group as a vital artistic force.   “She’s Got Rhythm” has energy and a catchy chorus, but with a “Brian Is ALMOST Back!” vocal that falls short.  “Come Go with Me” works well enough.  “Matchpoint” has what would turn out to be Brian’s last really good lead for decades, and the production is not unlike what, say, the group America was doing at the time.  But it could have used some dynamics or variation on the bridge; "How could love slip away from me?" is a dramatic line; instead the track keeps plugging along blandly.  With a less contrived lyric and a little imagination it might have been a single. 

I share your feelings about “My Diane.”  “Pitter Patter” is pleasant enough and I’ll give “Winds of Change” credit as an attempt at a Broadway-type song with a mature Mike vocal.  “Tomboy” could have been charming with less creepy lyrics.  The rest strike me as forgettable to regrettable.  Taken on its own terms and not compared with other BB albums, a half-decent album IMO.
Logged
Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3744



View Profile
« Reply #47 on: March 09, 2012, 01:47:37 PM »

Winds Of Change is Al doing a Kermit The Frog impression on lead though, right? With a barely audible Mike on the bridge.
Logged
Les P
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 598


Cheese Pizza and Apple Pie


View Profile
« Reply #48 on: March 09, 2012, 02:12:35 PM »

Winds Of Change is Al doing a Kermit The Frog impression on lead though, right? With a barely audible Mike on the bridge.

Oops, you're right, that is Al.  He's singing with a different tone than usual.
Logged
anazgnos
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 384



View Profile
« Reply #49 on: March 09, 2012, 02:30:55 PM »

The point is, to me, having Love You sit right along side the rest of the catalog runs the chance of scaring off potential fans (like it did me!). 

From another perspective, I think it's actually a crucial album in terms of their legacy, for younger fans getting into them later in the game (i.e. myself, in the 90s).  It's a bump of, at least, genuine weirdness in what would otherwise be a long unbroken stretch of mediocrity and blandness, and in that respect I think it's really important.  If you approached the group primarily from the Pet Sounds/Smile axis, as I did, you're hungry for more of that kind of weirdness.  Admittedly, in the beginning I was pretty much all about Brian and was a bit slower to warm to the group-led period, but Love You for me, was the Brian-led signpost that said it was always worth looking deeper.  And  "look deeper" is pretty much the one thing every new Beach Boys fan should learn.
Logged
gfx
Pages: 1 [2] 3 4 Go Up Print 
gfx
Jump to:  
gfx
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Page created in 0.636 seconds with 22 queries.
Helios Multi design by Bloc
gfx
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!