Albums you would change the titles to..

[lostbeachboy]

Surfer Girl to Catch A Wave

Shut Down Vol 2 to The Warmth of The Sun or Keep An Eye On Summer

20/20 to Do It Again or The Nearest Faraway Place

The Beach Boys to California Calling

The 2012 album to ANYTHING.. I Mean ANYTHING.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I'm sure of the ones I would change, but don't have many creative ideas as to what I would change them to, so I'll mostly use song titles:

Surf's Up to Long Promised Road, I also like Landlocked due to the theme of the album

Carl & The Passions - So Tough to Make It Good or Cuddle Up

15 Big Ones to It's OK! (gotta use the exclamation point!)

M.I.U. to Our Team (with an album cover featuring prominently the 5 Beach Boys surrounded by spouses, girlfriends, children, supporting musicians, parents, whoever - kind of a Sunflower album cover meets the infamous 1966(?) airport photo)

L.A. Light Album to anything, maybe Baby Blue or Angel Come Home, possibly Good Timin'

Keepin' The Summer Alive to Endless Harmony or Goin' On

Beach Boys 1985 to Getcha Back, California Callin', It's Getting Late, or It's Just A Matter Of Time  

That's Why God Made The Radio to Isn't It Time, maybe Summer's Gone but that might be too ominous

Pacific Ocean Blue to Dennis Wilson

Gettin' In Over My Head to Soul Searchin'

[NateRuvin]

SIP to

DO NOT BUY THIS!!!! PUT THIS DOWN!!!!


JK... I guess it's not THAT bad...

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

Pet Sounds to just about anything else. It's become an iconic name now, but when you really think about it...its kinda generic and unexciting. If it's gotta be a song title...God Only Knows would be fitting and more intriguing a title. Or Let's Go Away For Awhile... Possibly take the original title of YSBIM, In My Childhood? That would emphasize the theme of growing up and childish but relatable teen angst.

SMiLE should have just kept on being Dumb Angel. Very very cool title, and more meaningful.

Assuming the former didnt happen, Smiley Smile should have been given its own title to distinguish it from its predecessor. By calling it Smiley, they were setting them up to be compared and for this to inevitably come up way short. They did this album and themselves a great disservice here.

Friends to Busy Doing Nothing. Just a cooler title.

Sunflower to something else. Why Sunflower? I just dont get it. Maybe something like Sandcastles? Something intricately constructed and beautiful but also fragile? IDK.

Surfs Up, as the title for a single or at least just a song on a 1967 album wouldve been perfect. As an album title in 1971 it just feels wrong. If it were up to me, that song wouldnt even be on that album, and in any case, it sounds so out of place and IS out of place that making it the centerpiece and titular track comes off as lame and desperate to me. I much prefer the original title Landlocked.

[Bittersweet-Sanity]

The Beach Boys 1985 - Lonely Days (and Lonely Nights..) or Sunset Moods

Brian Wilson 1988 - After the Storm

and if they had put out an album w/ Don Was and Andy Paley in the mid 90s: Somewhere Out in Malibu

[Bill30022]

TWGMTR to 'From There To Back Again'

LA to 'Full Sail'

'Love You' to 'Arrested Development'

15BO to 'It's OK'

CATP to 'All This Is That'

BB85 to 'Where We Belong'

'Still Crusin' to 'At the Movies' or 'Kokomo and Assorted Cheese'

20/20 to 'Time To Get Alone' or 'Never Learn Not to Love'

MIU to "Winds of Change'

'Smiley Smile' to 'Flipped Her Lid' or 'Hash It Out'

SIP to 'It's A Love Thing'

[Generation42]

Well, assuming that TWGMTR actually ends up being the Beach Boys' swan song, I rather like the sound of Ocean Way for its title.


First, the name is obviously in keeping with the band's traditional use of the nautical theme.  There's something pleasing to the ear, I think, about "The Beach Boys Ocean Way."


But then there's the idea that it would have seen the band taking the name of their recording studio for the title of their final album.  I think that would have been a neat parallel with what the Beatles did with Abbey Road.


Who knows, maybe it can still happen if there's ever another "last" great Beach Boys album in our future?  

[Toursiveu]

I'd change Summer in Paradise to "Stamos and the Passions"...

[Douchepool]

Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin would become Wilson Sings Gershwin.
Gettin' In Over My Head would be allowed to self-destruct. Failing that, it would become Soul Searchin'.
Shut Down, Volume 2 would become Fun Fun Fun.
Keepin' the Summer Alive would become The Great West Coast Out of Oil Touring Debacle.
Brian Wilson Presents Smile would become K-Tel Presents Smile.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Shut Down, Volume 2 would become Fun Fun Fun.

This actually happened in the 80s when the Capitol albums were reissued (and truncated).



Also, The Beach Boys Today! was retitled Dance, Dance, Dance and Summer Days and Summer Nights was retitled California Girls.

[Phoenix]

As with my previous iterations of the catalog, I keep the whole thing in one folder and put a customized (low fat) version in my shared folder that goes to my iPod, etc.  I double up the first six albums into three separate albums, cutting songs and sometimes adding contemporary, originally unreleased tracks..

Surfin' Safari/Surfin USA = Surfin'
Surfer Girl/Little Deuce Coupe = Catch A Wave
Shut Down Volume 2/All Summer Long = All Summer Long (because it's such a great title)

Beyond that, my "alternate collection" includes my version of Smile, which necessitates reworking several tracklists (and the occasional title) of the albums that followed.

Smiley Smile/Wild Honey = (new) Wild Honey
Surf's Up = Landlocked

I also combine Friends and 20/20 and previously just used the latter's title but thanks to this thread, I may create a new one for it.  Also Mujan brings up a good point:  WHY Sunflower?  I agree with him (on a lot of things, including the fact that) it and Pet Sounds, among others, deserve better names but many of their album titles have become TOO iconic for me to think of them (or the reconfigured sets of tunes they represent) to be thought of as anything else, but Sunflower really is out of left field.  It's not named after a song and the album cover has nothing to do with it.  Therefore, I'll be naming this new version Add Some Music.

If I think of any others I want changed, I'll add them to the list. 

[KDS]

TWGMTR to 'From There To Back Again'

LA to 'Full Sail'

'Love You' to 'Arrested Development'

15BO to 'It's OK'

CATP to 'All This Is That'

BB85 to 'Where We Belong'

'Still Crusin' to 'At the Movies' or 'Kokomo and Assorted Cheese'

20/20 to 'Time To Get Alone' or 'Never Learn Not to Love'

MIU to "Winds of Change'

'Smiley Smile' to 'Flipped Her Lid' or 'Hash It Out'

SIP to 'It's A Love Thing'

It's OK instead of 15 Big Ones would be the most appropriate title. 

[Joel Goldenberg]

Surfin' Safari to Meet the Beach Boys!
Surfin' USA to The Beach Boys Second Album
Little Deuce Coupe to Something Partially New
Shut Down Vol. 2 to Beach Boys V
Lost and Found to The Early Beach Boys
The Beach Boys Today! to Today, Not Yesterday
All Summer Long to Beach Boys '65
Pet Sounds to California Soul
Smiley Smile to The Green Album
Wild Honey to Let It Cool Out
20/20 to Capitol Tower
Smile to Wilson
Sunflower to Meet the Beach!
Love You to Wilson II

[Generation42]

Surfin' Safari to Meet the Beach Boys!
Surfin' USA to The Beach Boys Second Album
Little Deuce Coupe to Something Partially New
Shut Down Vol. 2 to Beach Boys V
Lost and Found to The Early Beach Boys
The Beach Boys Today! to Today, Not Yesterday
All Summer Long to Beach Boys '65
Pet Sounds to California Soul
Smiley Smile to The Green Album
Wild Honey to Let It Cool Out
20/20 to Capitol Tower
Smile to Wilson
Sunflower to Meet the Beach!
Love You to Wilson II

[phirnis]

So glad that none of you are in charge of actually renaming the group's records.

That said, I think TWGMTR was a bad choice for an album title and Summer's Gone would've been much better.

[J.G. Dev]

I never did like TWGMTR as an album title. As many have said Summer's Gone would have been the best choice, but I recall reading that Brian purposely didn't call it that because he felt that wasn't going to be the last BB's album. Oh well. I think they should have named that album "Gold", as in their golden anniversary.

[filledeplage]

Rename Sunflower to "Our Sweet Love" and release it as a single. 

Great catchy song. And "the voice" on lead.

Trilogy theme (like Til I Die)

1 - I thought about a summer day

2 -I thought about a winter's night

3 - Lord knows I love her so...

And leave the great cover/gatefold the same...

[JK]

Rename Sunflower to "Our Sweet Love" and release it as a single. 

That got me thinking...

Scrap 15 Big Ones entirely and release "It's O.K." b/w "Just Once In My Life" as a single.  

[phirnis]

I never did like TWGMTR as an album title. As many have said Summer's Gone would have been the best choice, but I recall reading that Brian purposely didn't call it that because he felt that wasn't going to be the last BB's album. Oh well. I think they should have named that album "Gold", as in their golden anniversary.

I think Summer's Gone would've been just perfect. First, the album has enough upbeat songs to "compensate" for the title's melancholy feel. Second, and most importantly, the title triggers nostalgia but not in a way that's cheap. The song itself was also really classy and would've deserved the extra attention.

[SenorPotatoHead]

Surfer Girl - Catch A Wave (as mentioned by others)
Little Deuce Coupe - Spirit of America
Shut Down Vol II - Keep An Eye On Summer (as mentioned by others)
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) -  Where's Al?!, or One More Summer
C&P, So Tough - All This Is That
Surf's Up - Long Promised Road (as mentioned by others)

[Juice Brohnston]

I'd change Summer in Paradise to "Stamos and the Passions"...

haha

Stamos and The Pasions...So Rough!

[KDS]

TWGMTR - Isn't It Time to Take a Spring Vacation To There and Back Again Down the Pacific Coast Highway Before Summer's Gone in This Strange World. 

[southbay]

TWGMTR to Pacific Coast Highway

[Magic Transistor Radio]

15 Big Ones to 15 Crappy Ones
Surfs Up to Sound of Free (would be included in the album in this alternate universe)
Smiley Smile to Good Vibrations
MIU to CPA (Creepy Pedophile Album)
BB85 to Male Ego
Summer in Paradise to Summer in Hell

[Summertime Blooz]

'M.I.U. Album' to 'W.T.F. Album'