Favorite Beach Boys Moments

[thorgil]

The entirety of Brian's 'Still I Dream of It' demo. I've probably never heard a more honest song in my life (both vocally and lyrically).

This is one song I wish to god that Brian would re-record for his upcoming rock and roll album (even just as an exclusive bonus track). Put some crazy beautiful strings in there, harpsichord, wall of Brian harmonies, etc. Could be won-won-wonderful.

edit: for anyone who hasn't heard it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKEsehvPOvM

"Still I dream of it,
of that happy day when I can say I've fallen in love
And it haunts me so,
like a dream that's somehow linked to all the stars above"

Some of the best lyrics in the entire Beach Boys catalog.

The first time I heard "It's Over Now" and "Still I Dream of It" I was horrified. How wrong I was! Now they are among my favourites, particularly "Still I Dream of It".

[guitarfool2002]

The great thing about Til I Die is not only did we have the original track, but seemingly out of nowhere we got the Stephen Desper remix of the track that was simply stunning. Put them both together as bookends and it's pure sonic bliss. Both the vocals and the instrumental background (with that haunting vibraphone) heard in a new way in the remix made them even more poignant.

My favorite individual part on the track(s): Right before the song shifts to the outro/round section, that falsetto voice comes in "until I die" like a voice from the past, and it just destroys you when you hear it. I've seen people brought to tears after hearing that song for the first time. Just incredible.

Nothing like it, nothing touches it. The closest I can think of came not long after with Shuggie Otis' "Strawberry Letter 23", with his psychedelic guitar fadeout round that is a psychedelic and emotional release captured in music. Shuggie's instrument of choice was the guitar and tape flanging...but still, another genius musician in the studio putting his soul into music and sound.

[the captain]

My favorite individual part on the track(s): Right before the song shifts to the outro/round section, that falsetto voice comes in "until I die" like a voice from the past, and it just destroys you when you hear it.

That is also my favorite part of the song. I don't remember anyone else ever saying so. It doesn't strike me as a voice from the past, but it does strike me.

[thorgil]

Hell, the BW suite of songs at the end of surf's up is epic!

Yes, there is nothing in the world like the "A Day in the Life of a Tree - 'Til I Die - Surf's up" tryptic. Though Brian managed to come near it many years later with "From There to Back Again - Pacific Coast Highway - Summer's Gone".

Well, I think it's my turn to contribute something else than cheerleading now. I'll mention three things from my favourite Brian, the "lunar" one:
Wind Chimes (Smiley version)
The Fairy Tale Music (condensed "Mount Vernon and Fairway") in the GV box
Night Bloomin' Jasmine section in Rio Grande

There is not enough of this kind of stuff around.

[guitarfool2002]

My favorite individual part on the track(s): Right before the song shifts to the outro/round section, that falsetto voice comes in "until I die" like a voice from the past, and it just destroys you when you hear it.

That is also my favorite part of the song. I don't remember anyone else ever saying so. It doesn't strike me as a voice from the past, but it does strike me.

It's one falsetto vocal line dropped in, it comes and goes that fast...but that line slays me every time. I hear it as that same classic Brian falsetto tone that closed out "Caroline No" and was such a devastating sonic and emotional element of so many BB's classics, and here it was reappearing for one lone vocal phrase on Til I Die. It sounds to me like a nod to the past, especially how the vocal quality and sound of that one line stands out so much amidst the music that surrounds it. That one, lone falsetto vocal line is what transitions the track itself from the A section to the B section (the fadeout/outro).

Absolutely brilliant and crushing moment. Nothing like it.

[thorgil]

To be honest... for me there are few moments among what the Beach Boys recorded, in their best years, which are NOT favourite moments.

[guitarfool2002]

To be honest... for me there are few moments among what the Beach Boys recorded, in their best years, which are NOT favourite moments.

I agree with that! I'm a fan of the littlest musical moments that jump out of the speakers when you're listening, and often it's just one phrase or one sound or one surprising moment. And it's ironically the fastball Brian had and used on so many of his productions, and BB's records in general.

[the captain]

I have always found it hard to name favorites because moment to moment, different things strike me differently. And with some bands--ahem, this one--there are of course many such worthy moments. Album, song, moment, it's very hard to just stay in the same mental and emotional place for the same moment to be "my favorite." I've actually been amused when sometimes people resurrect old threads and I see a current favorite listed by me five or 10 years earlier as a least favorite, or vice versa.

[Scaroline No]

Hell, the BW suite of songs at the end of surf's up is epic!

Yes, there is nothing in the world like the "A Day in the Life of a Tree - 'Til I Die - Surf's up" tryptic. Though Brian managed to come near it many years later with "From There to Back Again - Pacific Coast Highway - Summer's Gone".

The final 3-track suite off Surf's Up made me sob on the bus the first time I listened to it. My favourite moment of Till I Die is all of it.

Not a favourite or a least-favourite moment, but extremely effective in terms of eliciting an emotional response: The first time I heard Happy Days off Imagination, it literally stopped me in my tracks and I felt like I was going to throw up. The feeling eased up by the time the song entered it's happy phase, but my reaction was so visceral that I'll never forget it. I should add that I was just sort of walking down the street with my earbuds in, and I was not expecting... that.