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Author Topic: Most Polarizing Beach Boys album  (Read 16003 times)
Smile4ever
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« on: June 22, 2017, 06:40:45 PM »

I'm going to say the most polarizing album is Love You, which I personally love.  What do you say?
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KDS
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« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2017, 06:44:32 PM »

Id have to agree.  Many love Love You.  I think its a bottom tier BB album.

Id add Smiley Smile, MIU, and LA to the list of polarizing albums too.
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« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2017, 07:20:06 PM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise
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« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2017, 07:21:32 PM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise

Is Summer in Paradise a joke? I thought it was universally panned even by the most ardent BB supporters.

Smiley Smile is definitely polarizing and always inevitably compared to Smile.
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bluesno1fann
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« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2017, 07:37:10 PM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise

Is Summer in Paradise a joke? I thought it was universally panned even by the most ardent BB supporters.

Smiley Smile is definitely polarizing and always inevitably compared to Smile.

Exactly what I was thinking, on both counts.

Love You has its detractors, but overall I think it's got too many fans (particularly dedicated ones) to put it as one of the most polarising. For me, it's gotta be Smiley Smile, MIU, LA and the 85 album. Out of these only MIU I generally dislike..... the 85 album if you ask me is the most polarising given that it has its fair share of staunch defenders (including myself) and those that consider it among the Boys' worst efforts.
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« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2017, 09:32:18 PM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise

Is Summer in Paradise a joke? I thought it was universally panned even by the most ardent BB supporters.

Smiley Smile is definitely polarizing and always inevitably compared to Smile.

No joke. Far too many think the SIPster has some kind of redeeming value which gets staunchly defended when brought into the conversation on this and other boards.
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« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2017, 11:23:23 PM »

Only in your world, which seems to be dominated by a neverending stream of perceived Mike Love trigger moments
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The Lovester
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« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2017, 11:25:03 PM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise

Is Summer in Paradise a joke? I thought it was universally panned even by the most ardent BB supporters.

Smiley Smile is definitely polarizing and always inevitably compared to Smile.

Exactly what I was thinking, on both counts.

Love You has its detractors, but overall I think it's got too many fans (particularly dedicated ones) to put it as one of the most polarising. For me, it's gotta be Smiley Smile, MIU, LA and the 85 album. Out of these only MIU I generally dislike..... the 85 album if you ask me is the most polarising given that it has its fair share of staunch defenders (including myself) and those that consider it among the Boys' worst efforts.
I agree on MIU, LA, and BB85. I don't think Smiley Smile counts because most people i have seen enjoy it. I also haven't heard of too many people that necessarily hate it. Those three albums each have their fair shares of supporters and detractors, but i do not know which one would be the most polarising. And in regards to SIP i do not think it has too many supporters but there are debates as to whether or not it has any redeeming qualities - which in my opinion it does Grin
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« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2017, 11:25:38 PM »

Only in your world, which seems to be dominated by a neverending stream of perceived Mike Love trigger moments
LOL LOL LOL
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« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2017, 11:26:30 PM »

In addition to what has been mentioned, in my opinion CATP is a polarizing album.  But maybe that's just because I seem to like it more than most people.  I think it's my favorite album of the "Carl Era" but if you read its reviews online, it hovers in the "C+" or 2.5 star range.  
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« Reply #10 on: June 23, 2017, 03:47:05 AM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise

Is Summer in Paradise a joke? I thought it was universally panned even by the most ardent BB supporters.

Smiley Smile is definitely polarizing and always inevitably compared to Smile.

Exactly what I was thinking, on both counts.

Love You has its detractors, but overall I think it's got too many fans (particularly dedicated ones) to put it as one of the most polarising. For me, it's gotta be Smiley Smile, MIU, LA and the 85 album. Out of these only MIU I generally dislike..... the 85 album if you ask me is the most polarising given that it has its fair share of staunch defenders (including myself) and those that consider it among the Boys' worst efforts.
I agree on MIU, LA, and BB85. I don't think Smiley Smile counts because most people i have seen enjoy it. I also haven't heard of too many people that necessarily hate it. Those three albums each have their fair shares of supporters and detractors, but i do not know which one would be the most polarising. And in regards to SIP i do not think it has too many supporters but there are debates as to whether or not it has any redeeming qualities - which in my opinion it does Grin

In regards to SIP, I think maybe half the album is decent.  So, its not the total trainwreck its often billed as.

But just about any subpar album has redeeming qualities.
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JK
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« Reply #11 on: June 23, 2017, 04:11:53 AM »

Maybe SUSA is polarizing, in that either you love its "sea of instrumentals" or you don't. (I do.)

Outside of Beach Boy Land (and stretching the definition slightly), I'd say Pet Sounds is polarizing in the battle for best pop album ever. (Some people insist on choosing Pepper instead.)
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« Reply #12 on: June 23, 2017, 06:36:11 AM »

When it comes to what was or is "polarizing", you often have to separate out "original" (or long-time) fans and fandom from more recent/younger fans.

That is, I think "Love You" was probably polarizing to the fanbase (and critics) back in 1977, whereas now I'd say the vast majority of "hardcore" fans have some amount of affection for it.

Conversely, "Summer in Paradise" was universally panned by critics, consumers, and hardcore fans, and it's in more recent years where you'd be more likely to find some outliers who might like the album. Often, this comes from newer fans who kind of took an unavoidable "shortcut" to becoming a "hardcore" fan and consumed the entire BB catalog for the first time over the span of several weeks or months or maybe a year as opposed to decades.

Not to veer to far off topic, but I think this ability for new fans to shortcut to "hardcore" fan status and have access to a ton of info and music and consume it all at once has led to some minor disconnects between groups of fans. For instance, I do see some very new fans, or folks who have been fans for maybe five or ten years, who sometimes seem much more incredulous regarding criticism of Mike Love. I think this comes in part from having the impact of having to spend *decades and decades* being exposed to things he's done and said be blunted by learning about all of it over weeks or months. Reading in a book that some people take issue with Mike and reading some of the things he's done or said is very different from spreading all of that out over decades and continually being exposed to it as a fan. The same thing may hold true for some of their music. When you digest their entire catalog relatively quickly, it's maybe not as big of a disappointment when a huge hunk of an album sucks. No big deal, there are dozens of albums, right? But fans in the 80s and 90s were waiting years and years only to be met with a somewhat weird, divisive album (BB '85), a *literally* half-assed album ("Still Cruisin'"), and one de facto Mike Love solo album with guest spots from some BBs ("Summer in Paradise").
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« Reply #13 on: June 23, 2017, 06:43:52 AM »



Smiley Smile

Love You

Summer In Paradise
OSD, maybe you're right, but seeing SS and LY alone in SIP's company makes me want to throw the monitor away. Cry
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« Reply #14 on: June 23, 2017, 06:53:47 AM »

To polarize a fan base, something has to be liked and not liked. In that regard Smiley Smile and Love You started building fanbases with an underground cult status similar to the film "Head" (which polarized Monkees fans when it was released) but through the years built up a loyal following and eventually reached a status of extending to wider audiences and gaining more fans outside the core BB audience.

Repeating myself here, and echoing what other fans have said: When Summer In Paradise came out, it was one of the bigger "what the f***?" moments among fans of a band with the stature of The Beach Boys. Polarizing? I don't know anyone who thought it was good when it came out, or now. It was a turkey. Therefore, not quite polarizing because there were no "likes". Even among the ten thousand or so people who actually bought it when it was released. No idea how many people got it when Mike included it as a freebie giveaway with the GV box set on QVC.

Most polarizing? Tough call. Smiley Smile did have Heroes and Good Vibrations, the singles to date, when it was released. But at that time, which I wasn't around to experience firsthand, I can imagine a lot of polarization among the band's fans expecting a certain sound especially with those singles. But look at where it is now: A new BB collection is coming out focused a lot on the album with outtakes and fresh mixes and mastering. If it were that polarizing, I doubt there would be a demand enough to justify a release like this upcoming '67 set. people are excited for it and I think ready to hear it with fresh ears.
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« Reply #15 on: June 23, 2017, 06:58:54 AM »

Only in your world, which seems to be dominated by a neverending stream of perceived Mike Love trigger moments

You'd be better off if you got used to it instead of getting your panties in a bunch because there's more coming your way, bub.
Question for you, who's putting the gun to your head making you read my posts? Huh?  Roll Eyes
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« Reply #16 on: June 23, 2017, 06:59:45 AM »

I think to a certain degree TWGMTR is a bit polarizing.  

Some were happy to have a quality studio album with The Beach Boys banner on it again.  Some, myself included, say its the best BB album since Holland.

Then, theres the fans who dismiss it as "Joe Thomas / Jeff Foskett Reimagine The Beach Boys."
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« Reply #17 on: June 23, 2017, 07:03:42 AM »

TWGMTR certainly polarized Mike from the band and a lot of the fan base who bought and enjoyed it, and he's still grinding his axe about it as of recent interviews. It was a top-5 album that got mostly positive reviews, was it polarizing? I think people were happy to have it come out when it did and the music (save for a few missteps) actually holds up pretty well 5 years later.
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« Reply #18 on: June 23, 2017, 07:03:56 AM »

Shut down vol. 2- It's either all time classics or horrible filler.
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« Reply #19 on: June 23, 2017, 07:06:31 AM »

Regarding SIP, I can see why it would be considered polarizing because I too have seen far too many people defend that album, going far enough to say that they like it. However, you can't really believe they truly mean it....like goth kids in middle school who would say they worshiped Satan; it's something to say to get attention, piss people off, and nothing more. That album is the sonic equivalent of getting a root canal whilst simultaneously getting beaten with a stick.

Love You is probably the most polarizing...so many fans ardently love it and so many hate it. In fact I'd say that Love You has the most consistent conversations on this forum about that very topic.
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« Reply #20 on: June 23, 2017, 07:11:37 AM »

Regarding SIP, I can see why it would be considered polarizing because I too have seen far too many people defend that album, going far enough to say that they like it. However, you can't really believe they truly mean it....like goth kids in middle school who would say they worshiped Satan; it's something to say to get attention, piss people off, and nothing more. That album is the sonic equivalent of getting a root canal whilst simultaneously getting beaten with a stick.

Love You is probably the most polarizing...so many fans ardently love it and so many hate it. In fact I'd say that Love You has the most consistent conversations on this forum about that very topic.

Agreed. Maybe there is an element in the forum fanbases of defending SIP (or trying to find something to defend) solely because it's a Mike Love-led album and slagging off on Love You because it's a Brian-driven album, even though Carl did a lot of work on it too. Who knows.
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« Reply #21 on: June 23, 2017, 07:19:15 AM »

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....
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« Reply #22 on: June 23, 2017, 07:28:35 AM »

Regarding SIP, I can see why it would be considered polarizing because I too have seen far too many people defend that album, going far enough to say that they like it. However, you can't really believe they truly mean it....like goth kids in middle school who would say they worshiped Satan; it's something to say to get attention, piss people off, and nothing more. That album is the sonic equivalent of getting a root canal whilst simultaneously getting beaten with a stick.

Love You is probably the most polarizing...so many fans ardently love it and so many hate it. In fact I'd say that Love You has the most consistent conversations on this forum about that very topic.

Agreed. Maybe there is an element in the forum fanbases of defending SIP (or trying to find something to defend) solely because it's a Mike Love-led album and slagging off on Love You because it's a Brian-driven album, even though Carl did a lot of work on it too. Who knows.

I'm sure there's some of that too. However I can totally see why people hate Love You regardless of who made it. It's one album I would never put on when guests are over, but it's one I crank up to high heaven when no one is around. It's beautiful, powerful, but sometimes embarrassing if you don't know the context.

That album is interesting that way: shouldn't one base their love of an album solely on the music itself? I think the story of Brian's life helps make his music that much more memorable and immersive. And Love You is a perfect example of this. Without any context 'Roller Skating Child' is a creepy af song about some 30-40 year old dude enamored with a girl who loves roller blading young enough to still be living with her parents...Jesus. But in context it's child-like Brian Wilson dreaming of the old days wishing he were a young guy wooing his crush.

Back on topic, with that (and the synths, sometimes haggard vocals) I can see why anyone would think this album sucks. That being said I love it to death.
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"ragegasm" - /rāj • ga-zəm/ : a logical mental response produced when your favorite band becomes remotely associated with the bro-country genre.

Ever want to hear some Beach Boys songs mashed up together like The Beatles' 'LOVE' album? Check out my mix!
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« Reply #23 on: June 23, 2017, 07:30:01 AM »

I think the small SIP fanbase is the natural reaction to horrible reputation of SIP. They think "It can't be that bad" even taking in account songs like "summer of love"....

Peter Carlin had such a great commentary on this album. I really need to read Catch A Wave again soon.
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God must’ve smiled the day Brian Wilson was born!

"ragegasm" - /rāj • ga-zəm/ : a logical mental response produced when your favorite band becomes remotely associated with the bro-country genre.

Ever want to hear some Beach Boys songs mashed up together like The Beatles' 'LOVE' album? Check out my mix!
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« Reply #24 on: June 23, 2017, 07:32:00 AM »

Oh my god yeah, it makes me laugh just thinking of it!
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