M.I.U vs L.A.

[Newguy562]

Both albums have their moments but neither one are "essential listening" as far as the Beach Boys go. The last good album was Love You. After  that it's ehhh

IMHO, the last good album was Sunflower. I admit though that Love You was the last unique album.

I agree ..

[Lonely Summer]

Both albums have their moments but neither one are "essential listening" as far as the Beach Boys go. The last good album was Love You. After  that it's ehhh

IMHO, the last good album was Sunflower. I admit though that Love You was the last unique album.

lol

[bluesno1fann]

L.A. Light Album, hands down!   It isn't even a contest!

Let's see: M.I.U. has:
My Diane
Pitter Patter
and maybe Match Point Of Our Love for it's beautiful music and one of Brian's last great vocals. The lyrics are rubbish though.

L.A. has:
Good Timin'
Lady Lynda
Love Surrounds Me
Angel Come Home
Baby Blue

Hell, even give me the Disco Here Comes The Night over most of M.I.U. Though Sumahama is worse than anything off M.I.U.!

[Blue2013]

L.A., although M.I.U. has its moments.
I know everyone hates the Here Comes The Night disco remix, but it's still a great song in disco form. imo.

[bluesno1fann]

L.A., although M.I.U. has its moments.
I know everyone hates the Here Comes The Night disco remix, but it's still a great song in disco form. imo.

Agreed. People talk about how horrible the disco Here Comes The Night is and how it's one of the worst BB's songs ever made, yet it isn't even the worst song off L.A. Light Album!  
Honestly though, the disco version is very underrated, I've always liked it although I prefer the original Wild Honey version

[metal flake paint]

L.A. definitely had the better merchandise, including coloured/picture disc vinyl, posters, displays, towels, postcards, buttons, etc...

[Micha]

L.A. Light Album, hands down!   It isn't even a contest!

Let's see: M.I.U. has:
My Diane
Pitter Patter
and maybe Match Point Of Our Love for it's beautiful music and one of Brian's last great vocals. The lyrics are rubbish though.

L.A. has:
Good Timin'
Lady Lynda
Love Surrounds Me
Angel Come Home
Baby Blue

Hell, even give me the Disco Here Comes The Night over most of M.I.U. Though Sumahama is worse than anything off M.I.U.!

It's all subjective. In my mind:

MIU has

1. She's Got Rhythm
2. Kona Coast
3. Woncha Come Out Tonight
4. Pitter Patter

LA has
1. Angel Come Home

which I would include in a best of 70s compilation. MIU beats LA 4-1 in my mind.

BTW, does anybody have Good Timin' in its 2004 unplugged live incarnation? That one is awesome.

[bluesno1fann]

L.A. Light Album, hands down!   It isn't even a contest!

Let's see: M.I.U. has:
My Diane
Pitter Patter
and maybe Match Point Of Our Love for it's beautiful music and one of Brian's last great vocals. The lyrics are rubbish though.

L.A. has:
Good Timin'
Lady Lynda
Love Surrounds Me
Angel Come Home
Baby Blue

Hell, even give me the Disco Here Comes The Night over most of M.I.U. Though Sumahama is worse than anything off M.I.U.!

It's all subjective. In my mind:

MIU has

1. She's Got Rhythm
2. Kona Coast
3. Woncha Come Out Tonight
4. Pitter Patter

LA has
1. Angel Come Home

which I would include in a best of 70s compilation. MIU beats LA 4-1 in my mind.

BTW, does anybody have Good Timin' in its 2004 unplugged live incarnation? That one is awesome.

Seriously? Kona Coast?
The song with some of the lyrics taken from the classic Hawaii from 1963?

[rogerlancelot]

L.A. Light Album, hands down!   It isn't even a contest!

Let's see: M.I.U. has:
My Diane
Pitter Patter
and maybe Match Point Of Our Love for it's beautiful music and one of Brian's last great vocals. The lyrics are rubbish though.

L.A. has:
Good Timin'
Lady Lynda
Love Surrounds Me
Angel Come Home
Baby Blue

Hell, even give me the Disco Here Comes The Night over most of M.I.U. Though Sumahama is worse than anything off M.I.U.!

I completely agree with this with one small addition:
add "Full Sail". I know it's wimp-rock (MOR) or whatever but it has an instant calming effect on me and Carl sounds nice and not forced on it.

But I completely agree with Fading Rock Genre (thought it was Group?) Revival. Those are the only 3 songs on MIU I can handle. I absolutely hate Brian's vocal on "She's Got Rhythm". "Pitter Patter" starts off sounding almost like a rock song. "My Diane" is very emotional but does suffer from some bad editing on the ending loop. "Kona Coast" is so awful it makes my ears bleed. "Shortenin' Bread" should have remained in the can as well (or at the very least been edited down to "Ding Dang" length).

[Please delete my account]

Nobody asked me but I like M.I.U better.  Half of it is horrible but the other half is good. Whereas L.A. is so boring I can hardly bear to listen to anything on it except Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. And even those twain are further into the realms of AOR than I normally allow myself to go.

Though in fairness L.A. is more artistically valid as it sounds like they were engaging with their times and doing stuff they'd never done before, and it could have been a path leading to better things. 

[Mike's Beard]

Both albums are flawed vocal wise. MIU has hardly any Dennis and Carl, LA is missing Brian, Mike and Al for the most part.

[bluesno1fann]

Both albums are flawed vocal wise. MIU has hardly any Dennis and Carl, LA is missing Brian, Mike and Al for the most part.

Not to mention MIU has literally no Bruce and LA has

[Loaf]

I listen to MIU much more than LA. MIU sounds like an album, but LA sounds like a collection of unrelated songs with transitions between tracks I find quite jarring. Production is pretty poor too on LA.

Baby Blue is the best song on either album, but i find i rarely listen to it.

[Micha]

Seriously? Kona Coast?
The song with some of the lyrics taken from the classic Hawaii from 1963?

Yup. I like its cheerfulness and enjoy listening to it. It has a nice drum sound and a nice melody too. I don't care they cite a 1963 song, it's only in the fade. I told you this was subjective.

[RangeRoverA1]

Seriously? Kona Coast?
The song with some of the lyrics taken from the classic Hawaii from 1963?

Yup. I like its cheerfulness and enjoy listening to it. It has a nice drum sound and a nice melody too. I don't care they cite a 1963 song, it's only in the fade.

Nothing to add, big fan of Kona Coast right here. Even more so, I prefer it over Hawaii (though it's still a good song).

[Joel Goldenberg]

LA by far, for Baby Blue alone. And if the album had the short single version of Here Comes the Night and Shortenin' Bread (or Sumahama) replaced with the wonderful California Feelin' from '78 we've heard on the Made in California box, it would have been even better.

I don't dislike MIU as much as some others. The lyrics of Tomboy may be rancid, but the song is very easy to listen to musically. My Diane is great. I cringe at She's Got Rhythm, with the reference to disco dancing. Al's covers are good, and I like Wind of Change. Matchpoint is also easy to listen to, notwithstanding the lyrics, and is similar in mellow tone to Busy Doin' Nothing. Pitter Patter is slight, but good. The album would have been much improved if Belles of Paris was replaced with Our Team, and She's Got Rhythm and Wontcha Come Out Tonight replaced with It's Over Now and Still I Dream of It.

[RiC]

M.I.U. is Pet Sounds compared to L.A.

It flows and it's only bad song is in the end (Winds of Change). L.A. has songs that are miles ahead of any song from M.I.U., that's for sure. Those include Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. But L.A. has the worst song Beach Boys propably ever recorded: Sumahama. Plus a lot stuff that's just... not so good. (By the way, I love Here Comes the Night.) M.I.U. is a lot more cohesive. It's corny as hell, but so what. Actually that's the main reason why it is so great. Neither of them are bad. M.I.U. is just much more listenable as an album. L.A. beats in the song section, but it ain't a great listening experience. 

[Micha]

The album would have been much improved if Belles of Paris was replaced with Our Team,

I'm in for that.

She's Got Rhythm and Wontcha Come Out Tonight replaced with It's Over Now and Still I Dream of It.

Oooh, no!!! Those are the most cheerful tracks, I'd rather drop the cover versions.

[rogerlancelot]

M.I.U. is Pet Sounds compared to L.A.

It flows and it's only bad song is in the end (Winds of Change). L.A. has songs that are miles ahead of any song from M.I.U., that's for sure. Those include Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. But L.A. has the worst song Beach Boys propably ever recorded: Sumahama. Plus a lot stuff that's just... not so good. (By the way, I love Here Comes the Night.) M.I.U. is a lot more cohesive. It's corny as hell, but so what. Actually that's the main reason why it is so great. Neither of them are bad. M.I.U. is just much more listenable as an album. L.A. beats in the song section, but it ain't a great listening experience. 

I can think of worse songs than "Sumahama" without even thinking about it. How about "Belles Of Paris"? Hell, let's just be honest and admit that their greatest run was from 1963 - 1975 and there is an occasional diamond in the rough after that. Never try to turn somebody on to the BB by playing them the 1985 album for instance (or MIU, LA, KTSA, etc.).

[bluesno1fann]

M.I.U. is Pet Sounds compared to L.A.

It flows and it's only bad song is in the end (Winds of Change). L.A. has songs that are miles ahead of any song from M.I.U., that's for sure. Those include Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. But L.A. has the worst song Beach Boys propably ever recorded: Sumahama. Plus a lot stuff that's just... not so good. (By the way, I love Here Comes the Night.) M.I.U. is a lot more cohesive. It's corny as hell, but so what. Actually that's the main reason why it is so great. Neither of them are bad. M.I.U. is just much more listenable as an album. L.A. beats in the song section, but it ain't a great listening experience. 

I can think of worse songs than "Sumahama" without even thinking about it. How about "Belles Of Paris"? Hell, let's just be honest and admit that their greatest run was from 1963 - 1975 and there is an occasional diamond in the rough after that. Never try to turn somebody on to the BB by playing them the 1985 album for instance (or MIU, LA, KTSA, etc.).

I'm going to have to agree with RiC here. Had it not been for the SIP album, I'd consider Sumahama to be the absolute worst song the BB's ever made!

[RiC]

M.I.U. is Pet Sounds compared to L.A.

It flows and it's only bad song is in the end (Winds of Change). L.A. has songs that are miles ahead of any song from M.I.U., that's for sure. Those include Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. But L.A. has the worst song Beach Boys propably ever recorded: Sumahama. Plus a lot stuff that's just... not so good. (By the way, I love Here Comes the Night.) M.I.U. is a lot more cohesive. It's corny as hell, but so what. Actually that's the main reason why it is so great. Neither of them are bad. M.I.U. is just much more listenable as an album. L.A. beats in the song section, but it ain't a great listening experience. 

I can think of worse songs than "Sumahama" without even thinking about it. How about "Belles Of Paris"? Hell, let's just be honest and admit that their greatest run was from 1963 - 1975 and there is an occasional diamond in the rough after that. Never try to turn somebody on to the BB by playing them the 1985 album for instance (or MIU, LA, KTSA, etc.).

I'm going to have to agree with RiC here. Had it not been for the SIP album, I'd consider Sumahama to be the absolute worst song the BB's ever made!

For me Summer In Paradise lives in a whole other univers. There's definetely songs worse than Sumahama on it, but I think everyone knows that. I don't find Belles of Paris that bad. It's definetely one of the worst songs on M.I.U. with Hey Little Tomboy. But the latter is a classic in it's own weird way...

Throw out Sumahama and replace the long diso HCTN with the short single version and add 2-3 songs buy Dennis/Carl/Brian and we'd have one of the best BB 70's albums, not one of the worst. And that would definetely beat M.I.U.

[bluesno1fann]

M.I.U. is Pet Sounds compared to L.A.

It flows and it's only bad song is in the end (Winds of Change). L.A. has songs that are miles ahead of any song from M.I.U., that's for sure. Those include Baby Blue, Love Surrounds Me and Angel Come Home. But L.A. has the worst song Beach Boys propably ever recorded: Sumahama. Plus a lot stuff that's just... not so good. (By the way, I love Here Comes the Night.) M.I.U. is a lot more cohesive. It's corny as hell, but so what. Actually that's the main reason why it is so great. Neither of them are bad. M.I.U. is just much more listenable as an album. L.A. beats in the song section, but it ain't a great listening experience. 

I can think of worse songs than "Sumahama" without even thinking about it. How about "Belles Of Paris"? Hell, let's just be honest and admit that their greatest run was from 1963 - 1975 and there is an occasional diamond in the rough after that. Never try to turn somebody on to the BB by playing them the 1985 album for instance (or MIU, LA, KTSA, etc.).

I'm going to have to agree with RiC here. Had it not been for the SIP album, I'd consider Sumahama to be the absolute worst song the BB's ever made!

For me Summer In Paradise lives in a whole other univers. There's definetely songs worse than Sumahama on it, but I think everyone knows that. I don't find Belles of Paris that bad. It's definetely one of the worst songs on M.I.U. with Hey Little Tomboy. But the latter is a classic in it's own weird way...

Throw out Sumahama and replace the long diso HCTN with the short single version and add 2-3 songs buy Dennis/Carl/Brian and we'd have one of the best BB 70's albums, not one of the worst. And that would definetely beat M.I.U.

Yeah, throw out Sumahama, replace the long Disco version of HCTN with the single version, and edit Shortenin' Bread to make it similar to Ding Dang.
Then, add the underrated It's A Beautiful Day and at least one more Dennis song (either My Love Lives On or a Bambu song), and one more Carl song, and you've got yourself a possible classic!

[job]

LA by a long shot.

[TimeToGetAlone]

I find these albums very interesting to analyze.  It was one of the early CDs I got from the Beach Boys because I was just getting into them and happened to stumble into the twofer.  It's given me plenty of listens and much time to really work through how I feel about that.  In both cases, I think the enjoyment soured a bit.  M.I.U. sounds like a poor Beach Boys album with some worthwhile highlights, while L.A. sounds like a late 70's band with a mixture of good and bad tracks.

M.I.U. is far more listenable as an album, while L.A. has more songs that work completely and are artistically interesting.  The production is a little cheesy and pedestrian in the former and can be dull or glossy in the latter. 

I like M.I.U.'s vocals quite a bit better because it sounds like the band members actually singing naturally in a studio.  I find the vocals on the two Bruce Johnston produced albums to have a habit of sounding processed or at the very least not tapping into that clean group harmony sound that pervades most of their previous work.

These two would have been better with one album I suppose, although they don't necessarily gel stylistically.

[Gabo]

sh*t vs vomit