Good Songs with end sections you dislike

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

Airplane

[Sheriff John Stone]

I like the ending to "Airplane", but the counting part sounds forced. It's like they have to show or prove that Brian is producing, but there's no big deal in counting down a song.

[runnersdialzero]

Count-offs kick ass. I wish more songs kept them.

[Quzi]

The "our!!!!! you can hear preceding the piano in "Johnny Carson" rox my sox.

[Jaco]

Nice songs with not so great tags: the studio versions of Funky Pretty and Marcella

My tag theory: if it sounds good with only one repeat, it is also good with more repeats.

The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!
The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!
The last 3 songs of the Surf's Up album (ADITLOAT,TID,SU) are great!

[Smilin Ed H]

California Girls.  Stunning opening that the rest can't live up to.

[William Bowe]

I seem to remember Al saying he didn't like the end of Break Away because they were singing at too low a pitch, which "made us sound like old men". So my guess is that his concern was commercial. Remember that the context here was that they were experiencing financial difficulties, fishing for a new contract and desperate for a hit, and here was a full-blooded Brian Wilson production specifically tailored to that end - but in the view of Al, they blew it by failing to sound sufficiently "youthful", which he continued (rightly or wrongly) to perceive as synonymous with "commercial". From my perspective though, the end section of Break Away is awesome. The descending "ahh-ahh-ahh" bit is breathtaking - like a ray of sunlight flooding into a dark room.

Back on topic - I've never liked the fadeout on the otherwise lovely You Still Believe In Me.

[Tony S]

The accapella ending to the extended long version of God Only Knows. Probably the most amazing harmony vocalization I have ever heard.

[Tony S]

Sorry gang.....read this wrong......I thought it said LIKED.

I'd go for Breakaway for the Dmost disliked......big letdown after such a great tune.

[gfac22]

I could live without the fade out / in tricks in Help Me, Ronda.

Good call, that's the first one that came to me, too.  What the hell is the point?

[hypehat]

I could live without the fade out / in tricks in Help Me, Ronda.

Good call, that's the first one that came to me, too.  What the hell is the point?

+1

[EgoHanger1966]

Back on topic - I've never liked the fadeout on the otherwise lovely You Still Believe In Me.

I think the fadeout is the absolute best thing about You Still Believe In Me. It carries on the majestic-ness after you think it might have been a bit of a fluke on "Wouldn't It Be Nice". That fadeout and it's placement within the song and the album is one of the reasons why Pet Sounds is such a masterpiece.

[rab2591]

I could live without the fade out / in tricks in Help Me, Ronda.

Good call, that's the first one that came to me, too.  What the hell is the point?

+1

For the longest time I thought that fading was just a screwup on my downloaded version of the album...

I never would've thought that was the actual mix!

[AM Radio]

Marcella.  I like this song - especially the live version - and recall hearing it quite a bit back in '72 (mostly on juke box) but as a hit,  it didn't even crack the top 100. 

It could have been a really big hit but I think the reason it wasn't is that, despite starting off really strong and catchy, it starts to run out of gas after 2:22 when the decision is made to keep repeating the "one arm over my shoulder" coda for the remaining 1:30 instead of somehow returning to the main chorus. 

It seems like Brian either got a little lost on this one or he was going for a Beach Boys kind of feel that also appealed to a AOR audience.  I think it was the latter but this alteration of formula put it where it belongs, somewhere in the middle between Pop & Rock.