Unpopular Beach Boys opinions

[Ebb and Flow]

Has a vocal-only of Barbara Ann ever been released (officially or unofficially)?

Due to the way the Party! album was recorded, (live to two(?) tracks, plus an additional "party" overdub) It's not really possible.

[Moon Dawg]

I sort of like "When Girls Get Together." Evocative of a weird summer day in the park where everyone is moving in slow motion, with an ice cream truck in the vicinity.

  "Wouldn't It Be Nice" has worn on me just a bit these last few years.

  

[bluesno1fann]

  I sort of like "When Girls Get Together."

  "Wouldn't It Be Nice" has worn on me just a bit these last few years.

   

Agree with the bottom comment
Disagree with the top comment

[Jukka]

 I sort of like "When Girls Get Together." Evocative of a weird summer day in the park where everyone is stoned and moving in slow motion, with an ice cream truck in the vicinity. 

Exactly my thoughts! Very well put... It paints a scenery that is somehow bot inviting and disturbing at the same time. A very psychedelic song, I'd say.

[job]

1.  R & B were awesome.  I wish they had stayed.  They gave the band's sound a great new dynamic.

2.  I actually love the live version of SIP on MIC.  The drumming and guitar are so much fun.

[pixletwin]

I absolutely lovely When Girls Get Together. To me it's a got a touching sort of "circle of life" sentiment that I find very appealing.

[Summer_Days]

I love the early hits, but one thing I don't get is why everybody had to only hear the biggest hits and that's it. Seems like the Beach Boys went the way as in a lot of pre-1963 groups, even though they had a full career, releasing an album a year until 1973, then re-continuing again in 1976 until 1980. I know, Endless Summer, ignorant fans, marketing/record company pigeonholing them. I just think it's kinda sad really..

Even to this day they are pigeonholed. Just look at "Made In California". The cover and presentation is so stereotypical "fun in the sun at the beach" style, it's pretty tacky to be honest. The inside stuff is awesome, just talking about the cover and the main look of the whole thing from the outside.

I guess we should be grateful that the Beach Boys are well respected at all these days compared to the 70s, and that we get boxed sets like MIC.. I can't complain!

Here's a somewhat unpopular opinion of mine: I actually like the whole sun/beach/SoCal identity of the Beach Boys. There are times when it's played a little too much, like on the rather silly KTSA album cover or some of the uglier, dated Hawaiian shirts the boys have worn before, but by and large, as a graphic design student who loves to play around in Photoshop and such, designing my own BBs album covers and t-shirts just for fun, I've come to appreciate that aspect of the band. They're guys from the South Shore of L.A., the 1950s and '60s. It's a big part of who they are. I love the fun in the sun covers to Surfin' Safari, Surfer Girl and All Summer Long. I don't like the band has been pigeonholed (or has pigeonholed themselves) so often with this as old men, but that doesn't stop my love for the early "fun in the sun" days and all that comes with it.

[Sam_BFC]

I don't reckon that opinion would be too unpopular 

[Shady]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

[Sheriff John Stone]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

Performed, well, lip-synched, on American Bandstand!!!!

[bluesno1fann]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here 

[bluesno1fann]

A few pages back, I wrote that All I Want To Do is better than Lonely Sea, Surfer Girl, and In My Room.

I have seen the error of my ways.

Those three songs are much better than All I Want To Do in every way. They're Brian's first masterpieces!

But I'd still take All I Want To Do over a vast majority of the early songs

[Eric Aniversario]

I think that there definitely should have been a Still Cruisin / Summer in Paradise two-fer reissue.

[Shady]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

[pixletwin]

Sumahama is one of the songs I despised when I first heard it, but has slowly won me over.

[bluesno1fann]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

[pixletwin]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

[bluesno1fann]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

And I agree, it is pretty embarrassing, I don't know what he was thinking when he added that section.
That, as well as all the other points above, is why I consider Sumahama to be the worst non-SIP BB's song

[CenturyDeprived]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

And I agree, it is pretty embarrassing, I don't know what he was thinking when he added that section.
That, as well as all the other points above, is why I consider Sumahama to be the worst non-SIP BB's song

New idea from this thread: I must play my Asian friends Sumahama just to see their reactions. Not sure if they would feel offended? Or just neutral about it? Hard to say. I'm sure the song was conceived just as a pleasant ode to that part of the world, but it might come across a bit differently than its author's intention, methinks.

[bluesno1fann]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

And I agree, it is pretty embarrassing, I don't know what he was thinking when he added that section.
That, as well as all the other points above, is why I consider Sumahama to be the worst non-SIP BB's song

New idea from this thread: I must play my Asian friends Sumahama just to see their reactions. Not sure if they would feel offended? Or just neutral about it? Hard to say. I'm sure the song was conceived just as a pleasant ode to that part of the world, but it might come across a bit differently than its author's intention, methinks.

I doubt if your non-Japanese friends would care. If they are Japanese, and If they are offended, it would probably be because of how awful it is. But I doubt if they'd get offended

[The Heartical Don]

I like 'Kokomo' a lot.

It's often unfairly dismissed (the movie? It being from around SIP period? Mike's vocals? wouldn't know).

It is a classic BBs melody, with that seductive 'step up' in the chords, in its chorus. Very Brian-ish.

And Carl's vocals are so great.

The 'Kokomo' revival starts here, folks.

[Micha]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here 

I really like the orchestral intro though.

[Micha]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

The same goes for the German of "Ganz allein", by the way.

[Jukka]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

The same goes for the German of "Ganz allein", by the way.

Funny, I don't really speak German, but I understand it well enough (reading/listening), and I've always found "Ganz Allein" pretty easy to understand, maybe even easier than native speaker's German. How do you rate the translation, does it capture the mood and feeling of the original? I've always thought "ganz allein" works way better than for example "in meinem Raum".

[pixletwin]

Sumahama is a beautiful song

You're right about putting that opinion here  

I don't get it, the "Tell me tell me mama will you go with me back to Sumahama" part is irresistible.

It sucks how people hate it, their loss.

The music's unlistenable, Mike's at his most nasal and obnoxious, the production sucks, and don't get me started on the Japanese section!

Yes please. I would like to get you started on the Japanese section.

For one, I showed it to my mum, who is Japanese. She found his Japanese to be hard to understand, and found it laughable.

And I agree, it is pretty embarrassing, I don't know what he was thinking when he added that section.
That, as well as all the other points above, is why I consider Sumahama to be the worst non-SIP BB's song

I can't imagine anyone being offended (or surprised for that matter) that Mike Love speaks terrible Japanese.