"That's Why God Made The Radio" Single!

[Iron Horse-Apples]

No news?

I've been away. I would read back over the last 5 pages, but quite frankly can't be bothered. Can anyone condense it, beginning with Paco, and ending in Baldwin, into a manageable soundbite for me?

In need of a caterer?

No, a carer maybe.

[Heysaboda]

No news?

I've been away. I would read back over the last 5 pages, but quite frankly can't be bothered. Can anyone condense it, beginning with Paco, and ending in Baldwin, into a manageable soundbite for me?

Actually, you just summed it all up pretty well yourself!

 

[puni puni]

You really expect them, at age 70, to record an album like Smiley Smile?

That's exactly the point... I don't expect them to. Not because they can't, but because they're either lazy or unwilling even though it's much easier than it sounds. Imagine if Mike Love said:

"Conceptually, the album is going to be a little like Smiley Smile. It will be like the Beach Boys circa '67,"

The hype train would turn on full blast. It's not like this band has ever gone back to that phase, so there's no telling what could come out of it. The mere premise of "let's ditch the surf and go back to psychedelia!" would automatically save the album from being forgotten in time, as the fate of Summer In Paradise. The entire project would instantly turn into a very interesting and lasting piece of music history, and could potentially fix The Beach Boys reputation if done perfectly.

This is not 1965. You don't need to write a verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge song to be successful. I don't care if they're 200-years-old, they can still write and record music. It's an unbelievable shame to spend time recording an album in 2012 only to do things you already achieved fifty years ago when you had nothing but three guitars and a drum set.

Really, all I'm asking for them to do with their last album ever is to make it relevant to the year it was recorded in. Who knows, maybe they might have fun recording a fine product and leaving behind no regrets?

[Dunderhead]

I really wish they would just tell Brian record whatever you want. I wonder if he has total artistic freedom and doesn't want to exercise it or if he had an inspiration to do something weird they'd say it wasn't the style they wanted.

[Wirestone]

Really, all I'm asking for them to do with their last album ever is to make it relevant to the year it was recorded in. Who knows, maybe they might have fun recording a fine product and leaving behind no regrets?

No. 1, we don't know it's their last album ever.

No. 2, what would make any Beach Boys album relevant to 2012? Songs about the GOP primary? Rapping? Grizzly Bear producing? I mean, the whole reason they're doing this is because it's the group's 50th anniversary. Some amount of retrospection comes with the territory, surely.

No. 3, it seems like they had a good time making the album, they seem to think it's quality work. We'll see soon enough.

I really wish they would just tell Brian record whatever you want. I wonder if he has total artistic freedom and doesn't want to exercise it or if he had an inspiration to do something weird they'd say it wasn't the style they wanted.

Brian does record whatever he wants. Whether or not any record label is willing to release it is another question. No one would release the Paley sessions. No one would release the rest of his sessions with Scotty B. post-TLOS. The material has been recorded. The demand has not been there since the 70s (Brian's solo work, with a couple of exceptions, does not sell. No Beach Boys album, again with a couple of exceptions, has sold well since the 1960s).

What does that mean? If Brian's music is to be released, it has to be tailored to a specific project with specific goals. It may suck, but he and his people have been unwilling to embrace indie labels or online distribution for his weirder, personal music. So we get mainstream pop.

[Jay]

I really wish they would just tell Brian record whatever you want. I wonder if he has total artistic freedom and doesn't want to exercise it or if he had an inspiration to do something weird they'd say it wasn't the style they wanted.

This is just pure speculation, but I think the group's negative reaction to Brian's production on 15 Big Ones and Love You created a lack of confidence that still lasts to this day. I don't know if even Brian himself would take total artistic freedom had it been given to him.

[runnersdialzero]

You really expect them, at age 70, to record an album like Smiley Smile?

That's exactly the point... I don't expect them to. Not because they can't, but because they're either lazy or unwilling even though it's much easier than it sounds. Imagine if Mike Love said:

"Conceptually, the album is going to be a little like Smiley Smile. It will be like the Beach Boys circa '67,"

The hype train would turn on full blast. It's not like this band has ever gone back to that phase, so there's no telling what could come out of it. The mere premise of "let's ditch the surf and go back to psychedelia!" would automatically save the album from being forgotten in time, as the fate of Summer In Paradise. The entire project would instantly turn into a very interesting and lasting piece of music history, and could potentially fix The Beach Boys reputation if done perfectly.

This is not 1965. You don't need to write a verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge song to be successful. I don't care if they're 200-years-old, they can still write and record music. It's an unbelievable shame to spend time recording an album in 2012 only to do things you already achieved fifty years ago when you had nothing but three guitars and a drum set.

Really, all I'm asking for them to do with their last album ever is to make it relevant to the year it was recorded in. Who knows, maybe they might have fun recording a fine product and leaving behind no regrets?

How high are you right now?

[The Shift]

The album didn't really do a heck of a lot for their standing back in the day, and I can't see it being an exercise they'd wish to repeat, even now.  Remember, these were drug-addled, generally inferior versions of songs from an album that had already been ditched.  The BBs todays aren't retrospective-glory-obsessed fans, they're the actual, physical, real, touch-em-and-squeal blokes who went through that bad trip.

[hypehat]

You really expect them, at age 70, to record an album like Smiley Smile?

That's exactly the point... I don't expect them to. Not because they can't, but because they're either lazy or unwilling even though it's much easier than it sounds. Imagine if Mike Love said:

"Conceptually, the album is going to be a little like Smiley Smile. It will be like the Beach Boys circa '67,"

The hype train would turn on full blast. It's not like this band has ever gone back to that phase, so there's no telling what could come out of it. The mere premise of "let's ditch the surf and go back to psychedelia!" would automatically save the album from being forgotten in time, as the fate of Summer In Paradise. The entire project would instantly turn into a very interesting and lasting piece of music history, and could potentially fix The Beach Boys reputation if done perfectly.

This is not 1967. You don't need to write a verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge song to be successful. I don't care if they're 200-years-old, they can still write and record music. It's an unbelievable shame to spend time recording an album in 2012 only to do things you already achieved fifty years ago when you had nothing but three guitars and a drum set.

Really, all I'm asking for them to do with their last album ever is to make it relevant to the year it was recorded in. Who knows, maybe they might have fun recording a fine product and leaving behind no regrets?

So they should make a record that is relevant to 2012, and also make a psychedelic album? Psychedelic music hasn't been in the popular eye since (at a stretch) the 80's in Britain (Spacemen 3, JAMC, Loop, and stuff), and certainly was never 'pop' outside of 1967 - 1970.

Also, the bolded section - read it again, spot the difference, and see if the meaning has changed a great deal or not. 

[Dunderhead]

The thing is though, Smiley Smile, Friends, and Sunflower all sold poorly upon release, but they've done so much for the band in the long term.

[The Shift]

"Long term" probably isn't on their minds much these days…  I suspect they'd rather have their last bout of success in 2012…

[hypehat]

The thing is though, Smiley Smile, Friends, and Sunflower all sold poorly upon release, but they've done so much for the band in the long term.

I won't deny that, but then Today! and Summer Days have also enjoyed that same distance too. Hell, most of The Beach Boy's music is getting understood nowadays.

I just get riled when people go 'Brian can still be psychedelic, maaaan', because he was the dorkiest guy in 60's LA and now he's a pensioner.... but he can still be hip, maaaan. Get real.

[UK_Surf]

I looooves me some Imagination. I almost like the heavy tinsel production....

Yeah, I'm the same way.  I know it's overdone.  I know it's all processed.  I don't care.  I love it. 

It's almost like - to get this great song, that was the cost, and it's become inseparable from the experience.

Someone...understands!

[UK_Surf]

You really expect them, at age 70, to record an album like Smiley Smile?

That's exactly the point... I don't expect them to. Not because they can't, but because they're either lazy or unwilling even though it's much easier than it sounds. Imagine if Mike Love said:

"Conceptually, the album is going to be a little like Smiley Smile. It will be like the Beach Boys circa '67,"

The hype train would turn on full blast. It's not like this band has ever gone back to that phase, so there's no telling what could come out of it. The mere premise of "let's ditch the surf and go back to psychedelia!" would automatically save the album from being forgotten in time, as the fate of Summer In Paradise. The entire project would instantly turn into a very interesting and lasting piece of music history, and could potentially fix The Beach Boys reputation if done perfectly.

This is not 1967. You don't need to write a verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge song to be successful. I don't care if they're 200-years-old, they can still write and record music. It's an unbelievable shame to spend time recording an album in 2012 only to do things you already achieved fifty years ago when you had nothing but three guitars and a drum set.

Really, all I'm asking for them to do with their last album ever is to make it relevant to the year it was recorded in. Who knows, maybe they might have fun recording a fine product and leaving behind no regrets?

So they should make a record that is relevant to 2012, and also make a psychedelic album? Psychedelic music hasn't been in the popular eye since (at a stretch) the 80's in Britain (Spacemen 3, JAMC, Loop, and stuff), and certainly was never 'pop' outside of 1967 - 1970.

Also, the bolded section - read it again, spot the difference, and see if the meaning has changed a great deal or not. 

Au contraire...spiritualized were quite a big deal until early 2000s, there was that bizarre mid-90s phase when Kula Shaker inexplicably surfaced with patently psychedelic nonsense (catchy tunes tho), the Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev had that great run in the early 2000s, Smile, fer crimeny's sake, was rampant in 2004-5, and there are pschedelic lo-fi folk troupes and nu gaze groups all over the UK and North America. And that's not even counting electronic interpretations. Psychedelia refuses to die. That doesn't mean the BBs should do it, necessarily, but they played and are playing a big part in its ongoing success, so it would be great to hear one or two tracks on the new album tip the hat to that.

Bring Back the Baldwin!

[hypehat]

You're right, of course! I knew that was a bit iffy when I posted it. It's still not 'pop' (as in, massive-selling records in the popular conscience, which is what Kappa is saying), though. The Flaming Lips get closest to selling tonnes of records, and they've even gone back to it with the 6 hour and 24 hour songs. Modern psych rules though - you listened to Wooden Shjips?

Smiley Smile isn't typical psychedelic music, too. The 13th Floor Elevators it ain't.... more akin to sunshine pop, but it's still too weird/underproduced. It is the sound of a great bunch of singers goofing around with a few instruments. It's brilliant! But hard to reproduce.

[UK_Surf]

I hadn't heard of Wooden Shjips, but am just checking 'em out...I like what I hear. Big fan of Thrill Jockey bands, so no surprises there, thanks for the tip.

I'm a fan of Besnard Lakes and Black Mountain (heavier end of the psychedelia thing) tho. Check those fine canucks out...

The examples you cite just show how broad a church psychedelia is...Smiley is enormously influential in certain segments of new psychedelia, particularly the folk offshoots. It's still in the psych camp,  and I think all the more so because it's so uncompromising and unique.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Hypehat already made the best point here. 60s psychedelic music stopped being relevant with the release of The Band's Music From Big Pink.

I've said this already but the best hope for this album is not to go for a "Today! sound" or a "Pet Sounds sound" or a "Sunflower sound" but to try and make an album that years from now people will call a "New album sound" (insert title for "New Album").

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Let's face it. Whatever they do, there are people on here who are going to hate it, and criticise it, no matter what it sounds like.

Personally I feel lucky to be getting anything from the reunited Beach Boys.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Let's face it. Whatever they do, there are people on here who are going to hate it, and criticise it, no matter what it sounds like.

I don't think that's true. Everybody has certain expectations and that's understandable.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Let's face it. Whatever they do, there are people on here who are going to hate it, and criticise it, no matter what it sounds like.

I don't think that's true. Everybody has certain expectations and that's understandable.

It's happened with every BW release. There were people who hated BWPS on principle.

And yes, it is about expectation.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

It's happened with every BW release. There were people who hated BWPS on principle.

Well, not everyone, including fans, have to like every release. And if people don't like the idea of a project, I think that's fair enough. Form is as important as content.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Absolutely. And as much as I respect peoples opinions, I find it a shame that most of the posts about this album seem to be negative. I'm excited as hell about it. I'm also being realistic in my expectations. We're not getting Pet Sounds here.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Absolutely. And as much as I respect peoples opinions, I find it a shame that most of the posts about this album seem to be negative. I'm excited as hell about it. I'm also being realistic in my expectations. We're not getting Pet Sounds here.

Agreed. There are expectations that are much more understandable than others.

And like I said earlier, when we were conditioned to believe that this particular standout song was written by Brian, and then found out that it was written by other people and not him, it did  understandably take the wind out of someone's sails. Naturally, it would be exciting to find out there's a new great Beach Boys record but what if you were told that while this is a new great Beach Boys record, most of the work, including the vocals, was done by outsiders. But, you know, the music is still great! Well, that's not the case here but imagine such a hypothetical situation. It would be deflating.

[The Shift]

It's not real negativity, simply realistic anticipation.  Cautious optimism. The excitement of those with many years' experience of the way the BBs handle things.

[Amanda Hart]

I've said this already but the best hope for this album is not to go for a "Today! sound" or a "Pet Sounds sound" or a "Sunflower sound" but to try and make an album that years from now people will call a "New album sound" (insert title for "New Album").

This is my hope too. I hate when people say "Ooh, mellow? Hope it sounds just like Friends" "Mike said it's got a '65 vibe, another Today!" Why does the new album have to sound exactly like an album they did 30 or 40 years ago? Let's hear what they have to bring to the table now. Pressure to sound like songs or albums past holds them back creatively. For me the sub-par parts of any BB related solo project are when they are clearly trying to recreate the sound of their younger selves.