Mike's Best

[MBE]

I like Mike's voice from 1961-73 very much. I always thought Here Today was an amazing performance. After Smile I would say his work from 1969-72 as a whole was excellent. Wild Honey is a great album on all levels too. Mike did a lot of good work. Solo it's kind of sad that his best two albums (First Love, Unleash The Love) didn't come out. They aren't a patch on Dennis' work, but only the best by Brian (88, TLOS, BWPS) better them as far as solo work goes.

[Cam Mott]

I'm Waiting For The Day is favorite and I wish Brian had let Mike use his "Devoted To You" voice more.

[cablegeddon]

Songwriting:
1.Big Sur
2.Summer in paradise (live version)
3. Getcha back

Lead vocals:
1. Add some music to your day
2. Meant for you
3. Big Sur (Holland)

[Andrew G. Doe]

Check out Mike's lead vocal parts on Kiss Me Baby. Astounding.

Word. And if those lyrics are his... whoa !

[Andrew G. Doe]

Viggie. For those who haven't heard it, seek it out forthwith. THE great lost Mike Love song, on a par with Big Sur.

Yay !

[Moon Dawg]

  Mike's overall vibe in 2012 has been impressive. The dude is definitely thinking legacy.

  Let's just admit it: Mike Love is Brian Wilson's greatest lyricist. No offense to Gary Usher, Roger Christian, Tony Asher, Van Dyke Parks or  Jack Rieley, but Mike is Brian's once and future lyricist. "Fun, Fun, Fun" is worthy of Chuck Berry, and I will stack Chuck against any of the aforementioned wordsmiths.

 Don't get me wrong: As a fan, Mike has pissed me off over the years, but he deserves credit as one of the foundations of the legend.

 (BTW- Just recently, RS published a new collector's edition of the revised "500 Best Albums of All-Time" w/ PET SOUNDS at #2. About half of the essay went out of its way to portray Mike as a jerk. This line of thinking is starting to seem dated and simplistic, which come to think of it is pretty typical for Wenner's rag.)

[Mikie]

Forgot "Brian's Back". One of his best - top 5 in my book. And agreed on "Kiss Me Baby" too.

[Jason]

There's more to like about Michael than there is to dislike. Great lyrics and bass vocals, the swagger (Michael was OG before the term existed), the bad jokes...what else do you want from a frontman? He's one of the five best in rock music.

[hypehat]

Compare that accomplishment to being an old, ranting, bitter person on an Internet messageboard, spreading nastiness against someone who really doesn't deserve it.....

Thank God none of us are like that.

[Mr. Cohen]

Saying Mike was Brian's best collaborator is kind of like judging an artist by how much he sells. Who's more talented: the starving avant-garde artist that gets mentioned in textbooks and is respected after death, or the dude that just did a sketch of a cat for Hallmark and sold a couple million copies of his art? Brian built the Beach Boys brand, just like whoever built Hallmark's brand. All people like Mike and the sketch artist have to do is plug in their 'art' and it sells. Gary Usher's early success proves this. Obvious, you have to have some lyrical talent to score a hit, but Mike's lyrics aren't rocket science.

[Autotune]

Mike deserves praise for his humour and resilience over the years. Especially considering a lot of the crap that's been written about him and became gospel. Perhaps he had no choice but to smile and move on, but he did it. This reunion is about the guys getting their dues, including Mike.

And a recent glorious moment: the "She said" in the video to DFTS. Ass-kickin' moment.

[Cam Mott]

Well, Pop music is the art of making popular music, so by that objective measure Mike is out in front.

How come nobody ever calls into question Christian's, Usher's, Park's, Asher's worthiness as full credited collaborator in the creative honor? 

[I. Spaceman]

Compare that accomplishment to being an old, ranting, bitter person on an Internet messageboard, spreading nastiness against someone who really doesn't deserve it.....

Thank God none of us are like that.

I'm not tearing down Mike Love. Keep your eyes on the prize.

[AndrewHickey]

Saying Mike was Brian's best collaborator is kind of like judging an artist by how much he sells. Who's more talented: the starving avant-garde artist that gets mentioned in textbooks and is respected after death, or the dude that just did a sketch of a cat for Hallmark and sold a couple million copies of his art? Brian built the Beach Boys brand, just like whoever built Hallmark's brand. All people like Mike and the sketch artist have to do is plug in their 'art' and it sells. Gary Usher's early success proves this. Obvious, you have to have some lyrical talent to score a hit, but Mike's lyrics aren't rocket science.

Claiming Mike Love is a better lyricist in any artistic sense than Van Dyke Parks is, of course, nonsense, but you're going too far the other way here. Just look at his lyrics for Good Vibrations -- his lyrics ground the song -- a song whose chorus is about 'extra-sensory perception' in the sensory -- "I love the colourful clothes she wears/and the way the sunlight plays upon her hair/I hear the sound of a gentle word/on the wind that lifts her perfume through the air". As well as being good-sounding lyrics, they also over and over again emphasise the sensory and the physical, so that when later in the song it starts being about more abstract, ethereal notions, the listener will come along willingly, because it's starting from somewhere familiar.

It's a *stunningly* well-crafted lyric, as is Fun Fun Fun, and the fact that he apparently wrote it in a matter of minutes suggests a real talent there, and the fact that he's spent the last few decades squandering that talent on a series of horrors like Summer Of Love doesn't mean he wasn't capable of greatness (after all, how many great songs has Tony Asher written without Brian?)

I think it's interesting, actually, that Mike's greatest achievements as a lyricist have come when he's been given subject matter by someone else -- Good Vibrations already had an inferior dummy lyric, and Fun Fun Fun was suggested by Dennis IIRC, and both were written very quickly. Maybe what Mike needs is for someone to sit him down with a stopwatch and say "Here's a song title, you're not allowed to mention any old Beach Boys songs or place names, you've got ten minutes to write a lyric. GO!"

[Wirestone]

Mike is a talented person who has never valued his own talent enough. By the time he may have had some inkling of his abilities, he was too out of practice to fully regain them (he never really committed to working as a lyricist -- it was an outgrowth of his natural role of front man to the band).

It's a tragedy, in some ways. Brian has always had people to tell him how talented he was, and to encourage his more esoteric notions. Mike has never had that encouragement -- and may have actually discouraged it in himself for many years.

I love Van Dyke and Tony's work, and feel both were artists who ultimately created work that was at the highest levels of their ability. I don't know if Mike ever got the opportunity to do that -- to concentrate and craft his work the way they did. But songs like "Let the Wind Blow," and even recent things like "Cool Head, Warm Heart," suggest a person with real natural reserves of lyrical and (to an extent) musical ability.

[Mikie]

How come nobody ever calls into question Christian's, Usher's, Park's, Asher's worthiness as full credited collaborator in the creative honor?

I never did. In fact, I've always thought that they haven't received nearly the accolades that they've deserved. It seems that Van Dyke has always gotten extensive acknowledgement for his contributions, albeit for his work during a very short period. Asher second, especially when the Pet Sounds Sessions came out and the interviews and accompanying book pretty much covered it. But Usher and Christian - those guys' contributions have shown up on every Beach Boys greatest hits comps to date (along with the early 2-fers) and I don't think, with exception to the co-writer credits , that they've been given the songwriter credit in articles/publications/books that they've deserved for those great lyrics. I mean Christian....that guy was VERY hot in the early 60's with Brian, Jan, and others and contributed to their many hits.

Steve McParland released a few things on Usher and Christian that were very informative and filled the gaps. But for the most part, the general public doesn't really know their stories. I think they're highly underated.

Wonder what Roger and Gary would think of this 50th reunion.

[NHC]

Something about Mike's Swag on "409" always struck me as about the coolest he ever sounded.  He sounds more like a bad-ass on that song than any other one... something about the casual way he sings the vocals, it's similar to how "Danny & the Juniors" sang things like "Rock & Roll is here to stay" and "At the Hop".  


"Well; I saved my pennies and I saved my dimes...
Before I knew there would be a time....
When I would buy a brand new 409...."

that.... is legend.  If you played somebody that song, then said "Here, that's the man who sang that" they'd fawn all over him.


His most impressive vocal would be to me though the aforementioned "All I wanna Do"... amazingly he showed shades of that Wilson magic even though he's not really a Wilson.  It's one of those rare instances where his voice reached the beauty of his cousins'.  

Others that jump out, you'd be remiss not to mention "California Girls".  Such a huge part of the pop music of the 60's, and he's the singer that did it.  That's such a memorable, and imitable vocal, everybody and their brother can sing that and when they do, they try to sound just like Mike did.  

If you look at his 'bass' vocals (wouldn't it really be a barritone?) almost every one of them without exception is pretty good.  

Another thing I think that's worth mentioning is the trick he and Brian used to play where they'd trade vocals.  Two jump to mind, "Catch a Wave"... Mike sings the lead, then the low line going into Brian's "Those who don't... just have to put it down!".  Another would be "Little Deuce Coupe"... Mike sings lead, then for the chorus immediately dives down into a bass vocal line, and lets Brian take the falsetto melody for the chorus.  The way their voices weaved back and forth on tracks like that was nothing short of magic.

Finally I'll mention one of the most mind blowing uses of his voice ever: "Let Him Run Wild"....

"I Guess You Know I!......"

".... waiiiiiited, for you girlllllll......."

Gives me goosebumps everytime I hear it.  

Right on all counts.  Great analysis.

[Moon Dawg]

  Maybe Mike isn't Brian's greatest lyricist in purely artistic terms. The issue is that for years - decades - Mike was not credited as the main and/or contributing lyricist for tunes like "Be True to Your School", "I Get Around", "Help Me Rhonda, "Let Him Run Wild", "California Girls", "Kiss Me Baby", "When I Grow (to Be a Man)", etc, and as a result did not receive wide recognition as a lyricist, period.  That situation, and Mike's own behavior at times (R&R Hall of Fame) led to the widespread perception that he was essentially a talentless jerk, a line of reasoning still being promoted by RS magazine.  This theory is of course balderdash.

 Mike is not my favorite Beach Boy, but he IS essential to the group and its creativity. The 2012 reunion is making this point clear in a way that is both obvious and subtle, with a sense of grace that has eluded the band for many many years.  (I hope I don't  regret this post in a few months.)

 

[Ron]

You probably will   But let's swim in it for a few weeks, eh???

[hypehat]

  Maybe Mike isn't Brian's greatest lyricist in purely artistic terms. The issue is that for years - decades - Mike was not credited as the main and/or contributing lyricist for tunes like "Be True to Your School", "I Get Around", "Help Me Rhonda, "Let Him Run Wild", "California Girls", "Kiss Me Baby", "When I Grow (to Be a Man)", etc, and as a result did not receive wide recognition as a lyricist, period.  That situation, and Mike's own behavior at times (R&R Hall of Fame) led to the widespread perception that he was essentially a talentless jerk, a line of reasoning still being promoted by RS magazine.  This theory is of course balderdash.

 Mike is not my favorite Beach Boy, but he IS essential to the group and its creativity. The 2012 reunion is making this point clear in a way that is both obvious and subtle, with a sense grace that has eluded the band for many many years.  (I hope I don't  regret this post in a few months.)

 

This post is fairly On The Money, except for the caveat that Be True To Your School makes me want to vomit and is entirely not part of the groups legacy, because I refuse to believe it is so.

Although you have to admit that whilst Mike was talented, the Brian/Mike divide is still present. Brian wrote Lazy Lizzie, Hey Little Tomboy, destroyed his voice, released Imagination and had a terrible habit of not finishing amazing songs.  Mike Love still goes WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEN, wore robes onstage, recorded Country Love and released Summer In Paradise.

Yet Brian is Mr. Pet Sounds yadda yadda and Mike wrote those wonderful lyrics, kicks ass singing those leads (although I have my doubts as to how great a singer he actually can be) and whilst he may be an asshole, he is our asshole and we love him for it. Popular culture hasn't caught up with us yet, mind.

[I. Spaceman]

Huh. Be True To Your School is one of my favourite records of all time, let alone The Beach Boys.

[oldsurferdude]

Huh. Be True To Your School is one of my favourite records of all time, let alone The Beach Boys.

Space Cadet, I've  got to hand it to you-You've got a HUGE set of balls admitting that BTTYS is one of your fav BB cuts. That is raw courage to say the least for probably one of the most cringeworthy songs that they did back in the day. Cooler than cool when it was released, it quickly became passe after  my class of '66 graduated high school.

[Magic Transistor Radio]

Let the Wind Blow is perhaps my #1 favorite Beach Boys song. And it was mostly Mike's songwriting.

Also the claim that a capella means nude. Although, I see that Bruce said it as well. Not sure where that joke originated.

Sumahama, Don't Go Near the Water, Big Sur and All I Wanna do are all great songs.

[I. Spaceman]

Huh. Be True To Your School is one of my favourite records of all time, let alone The Beach Boys.

Space Cadet, I've  got to hand it to you-You've got a HUGE set of balls admitting that BTTYS is one of your fav BB cuts. That is raw courage to say the least for probably one of the most cringeworthy songs that they did back in the day. Cooler than cool when it was released, it quickly became passe after  my class of '66 graduated high school.

Great music can never become passe, old tiny penis. Great tune, great arrangement, great production, a master class in dynamics. The lyrics are a dream, but the same is true of much rock and roll music. I'd rather hear Mike Love sing about how great his school is than be invited by Robert Plant to squeeze his nonexistent lemon any day.

[Cam Mott]

How come nobody ever calls into question Christian's, Usher's, Park's, Asher's worthiness as full credited collaborator in the creative honor?

I never did. In fact, I've always thought that they haven't received nearly the accolades that they've deserved. It seems that Van Dyke has always gotten extensive acknowledgement for his contributions, albeit for his work during a very short period. Asher second, especially when the Pet Sounds Sessions came out and the interviews and accompanying book pretty much covered it. But Usher and Christian - those guys' contributions have shown up on every Beach Boys greatest hits comps to date (along with the early 2-fers) and I don't think, with exception to the co-writer credits , that they've been given the songwriter credit in articles/publications/books that they've deserved for those great lyrics. I mean Christian....that guy was VERY hot in the early 60's with Brian, Jan, and others and contributed to their many hits.

Steve McParland released a few things on Usher and Christian that were very informative and filled the gaps. But for the most part, the general public doesn't really know their stories. I think they're highly underated.

Wonder what Roger and Gary would think of this 50th reunion.

Point taken Mikie. I guess I was thinking of the PSMLy-type fans [not that there is anything wrong with that].

Is Leon still the mod of PSML? Is there still a PSML?