Party Gets No Respect

[TMinthePM]

I'm starting this thread as a sort of apology to CenturyDeprived whose Smiley/Party thread has evolved into a meditation on psychelelia, Sgt. Pepper, et al.

Party was a monster hit in its day but gets very little attention here. And I suppose it probably doesn't merit all that much. Still, I find it a very pleasurable experience every listen. Particularly those tracks that have been released with the bogus party chatter removed - Devoted To You, There's No Other, Barbara Ann.

I have the Sea of Tunes outtakes at home. There were a lot of tunes that didn't make the album cut, many because they were just too haphazardly executed, I guess. I wonder if there is a listing anywhere of all the tunes that were demoed and if anyone can identify any that might have been included? One Kiss Led To Another comes to mind. Ruby Baby - if a take exists minus the oinks.

I'm far away from home and my library so I can't consult my collection. Can somebody provide a list of all the tunes attempted?

[Wrightfan]

I like it but as you've said, the tracks are better without the chatter.

[joshferrell]

this isn't true,,,, Rodney Dangerfield didn't get any respect,,,,,  

[SBonilla]

One of my very favorite albums of theirs, along with Today, Smiley Smile, Pet Sounds & Love You.

I consider the party chatter to be background vocals. They helped create the ambience of the album. Humor was a big part of that album and there are a lot of funny parts. There is corn in there, too. But, hey...

The songs without the overdubs just sound like work to me.

It's also one of the bands most consistent albums. I love it.

Also, it's an impressive feat for Brian and the band to have pulled of a two-sided skit.

[Lee Marshall]

Unfortunately when Mike appeared at the fund raiser I attended in November...the night HE was "with stupid"  ...he answered one question by referring to 'the Party' they held and all the beer they drank in order to record said album...thus perpetuating the party myth...rather than making it 1000 times more interesting for all in attendance by just telling the truth.  You know...Truth is stranger than fiction...or something like that.

I always liked...NOT LOVED...but most definitely liked the album.  I also got a kick out of them making 'fun' of their own songs...as they did back in the old Cassius/Sonny 'fight' to a different extent.  Perhaps ONE reason why the album takes a bit of a KICKIN' is due to Barbara Ann just getting way TOO much exposure and when you consider just HOW IRRITATING Dean's voice is on it...well...it just kind of hurts the album.  I find the entire version of the song...rather than the chopped single version...a most welcome break and far more entertaining.  One more time....

Perhaps because the 'boys' [Brian] had been involved in forward thinking and highly noticeable advancements musically speaking...some of us took Party to be a bit of a/a LOT of a set-back?  Not sure.  And to come at it from after the fact?  I haven't got a clue how THAT 'reads'.

I just thought that it was fun...and fortunately they gave us Pet Sounds fairly shortly thereafter...and all was right with the world THAT night.


And then came Good Vibrations... ... ...and then... ... ..Heroes and Villains... ... ... and then... ... ...

[CenturyDeprived]

I gotta admit, I rarely listen to the album. I should give it a new listen with fresh ears, especially after starting the Party!/ SS thread. I also need to listen to those SOT outtakes which may or may not be in my possession, which have the outtake cover of Satisfaction.

Do you guys think the party sound overdubs made the record sell better? If they hadn't done those overdubs, would sales have been affected whatsoever?

[Jason Penick]

I love the Party! album-- the vocals in particular... oh man. "There's No Other" and "Devoted to You" are the obvious highlights to me, but the whole thing is great. Just a fun and loose run-through of songs they cut their teeth on as they were discovering how to be a band. The accompanying Unsurpassed Masters is one of the best in the series with well-defined stereo sound and several interesting outtakes.

I remember Greil Marcus gushing over this album in the pages of "Mystery Train". I think he rightly recognized that this is an important and generally overlooked album for the group. Give the Beach Boys a couple of acoustic guitars and some bongos and watch them shine.

[halblaineisgood]

The songs without the overdubs just sound like work to me.

The opposite view is that *with* the overdubs it sounds like work. Which is quite a prevalent view , as far as I know . That it was just a stopgap to cover for Pet Sounds...

[ppk700]

I'm 25 years old, my friends are all approximately the same age, and none of them care much for The Beach Boys. Oh sure, a few think "Smile" is a great album, but beyond that I cannot convince them to give the Boys a fair chance. It drives me crazy.

"Party," however... is a different story. One night I was in my room ( ), listening to "Party," and one of my buddies popped in and was wondering who/what I was listening to. When I told him it was The Beach Boys, he reacted in surprise, and said "This is actually pretty good."

Bottom line, I don't think "Party" gets the respect it deserves (or The Beach Boys in general, for that matter, but that's a different story). It is an album that may appeal to many musical sensibilities. I go to a few festivals each summer, packed with hippies and Dead Heads. Lots of people bring stereos and what-not to play their music on when there are no bands performing. If there is one Beach Boys album I'd play for them, it'd be "Party," and this summer I likely will bust it out. They'll never know it's The Beach Boys until "Barbara Ann" plays, and by then it will be too late to stop it!

Definitely an underrated album.

[CenturyDeprived]

I'm 25 years old, my friends are all approximately the same age, and none of them care much for The Beach Boys. Oh sure, a few think "Smile" is a great album, but beyond that I cannot convince them to give the Boys a fair chance. It drives me crazy.

"Party," however... is a different story. One night I was in my room ( ), listening to "Party," and one of my buddies popped in and was wondering who/what I was listening to. When I told him it was The Beach Boys, he reacted in surprise, and said "This is actually pretty good."

Bottom line, I don't think "Party" gets the respect it deserves (or The Beach Boys in general, for that matter, but that's a different story). It is an album that may appeal to many musical sensibilities. I go to a few festivals each summer, packed with hippies and Dead Heads. Lots of people bring stereos and what-not to play their music on when there are no bands performing. If there is one Beach Boys album I'd play for them, it'd be "Party," and this summer I likely will bust it out. They'll never know it's The Beach Boys until "Barbara Ann" plays, and by then it will be too late to stop it!

Definitely an underrated album.

If the Beatles released the exact same type of album, complete with lots of covers (let's say swap out the Beatles cover for a Beach Boy cover), party sound overdubs, and a handful of goofy renditions of Beatles songs, it would be heralded as much more of a classic than the BB album. Just because that's the way it always is with the BBs.

[Micha]

I think it is widely overlooked because it's a sidestep in Brian's musical evolution that somehow does not fit between SD/SN and PS. However, it is the most fun album the boys did and spreads good cheer. It really stands alone. Personally I love it. It features the Brian lead vocal that I love the most, in Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow, figure this!

[CenturyDeprived]

I think it is widely overlooked because it's a sidestep in Brian's musical evolution that somehow does not fit between SD/SN and PS. However, it is the most fun album the boys did and spreads good cheer. It really stands alone. Personally I love it. It features the Brian lead vocal that I love the most, in Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow, figure this!

That is a KILLER Brian vocal. Also the version from Concert.

[ppk700]

I'm 25 years old, my friends are all approximately the same age, and none of them care much for The Beach Boys. Oh sure, a few think "Smile" is a great album, but beyond that I cannot convince them to give the Boys a fair chance. It drives me crazy.

"Party," however... is a different story. One night I was in my room ( ), listening to "Party," and one of my buddies popped in and was wondering who/what I was listening to. When I told him it was The Beach Boys, he reacted in surprise, and said "This is actually pretty good."

Bottom line, I don't think "Party" gets the respect it deserves (or The Beach Boys in general, for that matter, but that's a different story). It is an album that may appeal to many musical sensibilities. I go to a few festivals each summer, packed with hippies and Dead Heads. Lots of people bring stereos and what-not to play their music on when there are no bands performing. If there is one Beach Boys album I'd play for them, it'd be "Party," and this summer I likely will bust it out. They'll never know it's The Beach Boys until "Barbara Ann" plays, and by then it will be too late to stop it!

Definitely an underrated album.

If the Beatles released the exact same type of album, complete with lots of covers (let's say swap out the Beatles cover for a Beach Boy cover), party sound overdubs, and a handful of goofy renditions of Beatles songs, it would be heralded as much more of a classic than the BB album. Just because that's the way it always is with the BBs.

I'd wager you're 100% correct, sir.

[CenturyDeprived]

I'm 25 years old, my friends are all approximately the same age, and none of them care much for The Beach Boys. Oh sure, a few think "Smile" is a great album, but beyond that I cannot convince them to give the Boys a fair chance. It drives me crazy.

"Party," however... is a different story. One night I was in my room ( ), listening to "Party," and one of my buddies popped in and was wondering who/what I was listening to. When I told him it was The Beach Boys, he reacted in surprise, and said "This is actually pretty good."

Bottom line, I don't think "Party" gets the respect it deserves (or The Beach Boys in general, for that matter, but that's a different story). It is an album that may appeal to many musical sensibilities. I go to a few festivals each summer, packed with hippies and Dead Heads. Lots of people bring stereos and what-not to play their music on when there are no bands performing. If there is one Beach Boys album I'd play for them, it'd be "Party," and this summer I likely will bust it out. They'll never know it's The Beach Boys until "Barbara Ann" plays, and by then it will be too late to stop it!

Definitely an underrated album.

If the Beatles released the exact same type of album, complete with lots of covers (let's say swap out the Beatles cover for a Beach Boy cover), party sound overdubs, and a handful of goofy renditions of Beatles songs, it would be heralded as much more of a classic than the BB album. Just because that's the way it always is with the BBs.

I'd wager you're 100% correct, sir.

The BBs = the Rodney Dangerfield of rock. For many reasons, of course. I hope at some point along the way, the BBs and Dangerfield performed on the same bill/casino.

[stack-o-tracks]

The only stuff I dig off Party was the car medley (we always take my car although it's a heap) and when Dennis sings that Beatles song. It's fun and timeless, but it definitely lacks what Summer Days and Pet Sounds have a lot of.... If that makes any sense. Which it doesn't.

[Please delete my account]

One of the first things I ever read on this forum, in its proper sub-forum:

The first perfect Beach Boys' album. 5.
...
I wrote a 25-page essay on the album once. It's pure genius, in every way. Sums up the BB's far more than pet Sounds.
...
Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow is far more poetic than anything Van Dyke Parks ever wrote.
And rock and roll DID go downhill when Buddy Holly died.
There's No Other is the most emotional moment in the BB catalog, for me.

Sounds like respect to me.

[guitarfool2002]

I think it's a terrific album, as mentioned it was a hit with fans and spun off an unlikely top-5 single that became a perennial classic. I'm repeating myself from the other Party/Smiley discussion, but it is both a pure concept album (in that they went into it with a specific goal and idea of depicting an informal party singalong affair) and an album with absolutely no pretensions or hang-ups. It's the guys singing their asses off and sounding like they're having fun doing it.

But what's funny too is when you hear the sessions, they're arguing in between takes at some points.

A few things I like about the album, both in sound and in general:

It's very difficult to make a studio recording sound both informal and yet sound so good, fidelity-wise. The acoustic guitars sound absolutely terrific - crisp, clear, and exactly what you'd want an acoustic guitar in this setting to sound like. It was supposed to be an audio verite recording of a party singalong but the way the sounds were recorded are as good and as clear as the better acoustic recordings of the era. Some of my favorite acoustic guitar recordings are the Party album, Al and Carl's guitars sound terrific throughout, even better on the basic tracks before the "crowd" noises were overdubbed.

The concept itself seemed to be a big hit with the fans, to the point where the band added an "unplugged" Party segment to their 1966 shows. And those, too, from what we have of them sounded terrific, especially Dennis singing the Beatles. What I'd like to know is whether doing this was some kind of a precedent. Here was a band which was always "electric", known specifically for their live stage setup with those great Fender guitars and amps. Then after the Party album hit with the general public, they unplugged during their live show to play the acoustic songs. I'm guessing there may have been other electric rock bands who may have done this unplugged routine live in 1965-67 in the middle of a regular electric show, but I cannot think of any offhand. That says a lot about how much the "concept" actually worked.

There is a moment in the session talk where Carl (if I remember) is talking to Brian about the album being "controversial", I think in reference to Capitol. I've wondered what he meant by this, thinking maybe he assumed Capitol would want another "Summer Days" type of sound and they'd be getting a loose, acoustic jam session? Or at this point in the project was there some notion that they would be hoodwinking people by recording in Western #2 with high-quality mics and equipment but passing it off as an actual party gathering at one of their houses? Probably not the latter, but worth considering too since the album was in fact a put-on from the beginning as the fans would be led to believe it was something it was not.

I mentioned in the other thread the "deconstruction" of a number one hit single by the band, and how that might have given an impression of humility or even humanizing the band, where pop stars could joke about themselves and their biggest hit record with a sense of humor.

But at the same time, there was a song like "Ruby Baby" which was left off the album, and which I think could have been a much better choice then the silly/goofy "I Get Around" joke version. Musically, at least, it kicks more ass. The backing vocals are terrific, and Brian gets in a little R&B grit which we don't hear much, especially in the last verses. And he blows the words, but that's part of the fun. It's not forced like I Get Around, which on Party I just don't think it works...they're trying too hard to blow the take.

Highlights are all over the album. "Mountain Of Love", "You've Got To Hide", "There's No Other", Mike sounds amazing on "Papa" (his voice was captured perfectly on this one), Al is great doing Dylan even though the crowd destroys it, the Beatles covers are strong, etc.

I don't know if the album doesn't get respect, but when you have an album of covers set among one of the greatest catalogs of popular music ever - original music and songs - it will naturally get less attention and discussion. There's nothing to analyze, no lyrics to pontificate and attach meaning to, and no new chord progressions and textures to dive into. It's just an enjoyable experience to hear them covering these tunes, again no pretenses going in or coming out of the experience.

[clinikillz]

I haven't heard all of the album, but I will say the recent stereo remix of There's No Other (Like My Baby) is one I listen to often. The Boys sound really good in an unplugged setting.

[guitarfool2002]

I haven't heard all of the album, but I will say the recent stereo remix of There's No Other (Like My Baby) is one I listen to often. The Boys sound really good in an unplugged setting.

Go to YouTube to preview, then pick up the album...very, very much worth it! 

[guitarfool2002]

And of course the biggest mystery of Party! remains the promo giveaway potato chip bags and store displays which I don't believe have ever been "found" by collectors since they were in the stores. Some fan had to have saved something, right? 



Original discussion/thread:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,16859.msg419515.html#msg419515

[JK]

Looks like it gets plenty of respect round here. :=)

I bought "Barbara Ann" as a 45 back in the day and only heard Party! some 40 years later. Maybe you like best what you're used to, but I much prefer the joyous single to the album. I play Stack-O-Tracks on the 2fer from time to time but Party! got no further than a couple of listens. One man's meat, I suppose... 

[guitarfool2002]

Uncropped version of the photo above:

[Micha]

And of course the biggest mystery of Party! remains the promo giveaway potato chip bags and store displays which I don't believe have ever been "found" by collectors since they were in the stores. Some fan had to have saved something, right? 

Have the potato chips bags been imprinted with the LP cover? Or were they just regular bags bought from some potato chip bag company and delivered by Capitol?

[Chocolate Shake Man]

I'm 25 years old, my friends are all approximately the same age, and none of them care much for The Beach Boys. Oh sure, a few think "Smile" is a great album, but beyond that I cannot convince them to give the Boys a fair chance. It drives me crazy.

"Party," however... is a different story. One night I was in my room ( ), listening to "Party," and one of my buddies popped in and was wondering who/what I was listening to. When I told him it was The Beach Boys, he reacted in surprise, and said "This is actually pretty good."

Bottom line, I don't think "Party" gets the respect it deserves (or The Beach Boys in general, for that matter, but that's a different story). It is an album that may appeal to many musical sensibilities. I go to a few festivals each summer, packed with hippies and Dead Heads. Lots of people bring stereos and what-not to play their music on when there are no bands performing. If there is one Beach Boys album I'd play for them, it'd be "Party," and this summer I likely will bust it out. They'll never know it's The Beach Boys until "Barbara Ann" plays, and by then it will be too late to stop it!

Definitely an underrated album.

If the Beatles released the exact same type of album, complete with lots of covers (let's say swap out the Beatles cover for a Beach Boy cover), party sound overdubs, and a handful of goofy renditions of Beatles songs, it would be heralded as much more of a classic than the BB album. Just because that's the way it always is with the BBs.

I'd wager you're 100% correct, sir.

I disagree completely. In your world, was the Magical Mystery Tour movie heralded as a cinematic  masterpiece? Did critics in general fall over themselves to praise tracks like Revolution #9 and You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)?

[Micha]

Thing is, nobody but The Beach Boys could have pulled this one off.