gfxgfx
 
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
logo
 
gfx gfx
gfx
680597 Posts in 27600 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 28, 2024, 02:13:50 PM
*
gfx*HomeHelpSearchCalendarLoginRegistergfx
gfxgfx
0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.       « previous next »
Pages: 1 [2] Go Down Print
Author Topic: Favourite, least favourite, overrated, and underrated Beach Boys album  (Read 7941 times)
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #25 on: April 16, 2020, 12:36:02 PM »

His words absolutely nail the deeper appeal of The Beach Boys. What listening to albums such as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends and Love You is like. This is not normal music by not normal people (as if there’s such thing as normal). These albums are unique and outsider and I thank the stars above for that. This band is like no other and Bangs nailed just why. Thanks Lester.
I wouldn't put Love You in the same category as Smiley, Honey or Fiends. Those three albums feature some of the most beautiful vocals ever recorded.
I knew the first time I listened to Smiley that it wasn't going to be Smile, that a lot of people hated it. It's almost an accapella album. I love it, and I don't even imbibe.
Logged
Summer_Days
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 734


...and your dream comes true.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #26 on: April 16, 2020, 02:44:06 PM »

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.
Logged

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together, in the kind of world where we belong?
http://wildsmiley.weebly.com
Doobidoo
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 62



View Profile
« Reply #27 on: April 16, 2020, 04:13:57 PM »

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.

Beautifully spoken Summer_Days
« Last Edit: April 16, 2020, 04:14:25 PM by Doobidoo » Logged

The mysterious 'uplifting version' of 'Til I Die: Finally revealed by Custom Machine!! www.smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,26114.msg640828.html#msg640828

www.lastfm.se/user/fehyv
www.lastfm.se/user/fehyv
Bicyclerider
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 2132


View Profile
« Reply #28 on: April 16, 2020, 05:34:19 PM »

Favorite: Sunflower
Least favorite: Summer in Paradise (I don’t consider Stars and Stripes a Beach Boys album).
Most overrated:  Surfs Up
Underrated: MIU Album
Logged
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #29 on: April 16, 2020, 11:30:10 PM »

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.
I have to disagree on Love You being uniquely brilliant.
Logged
Summer_Days
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 734


...and your dream comes true.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #30 on: April 17, 2020, 08:14:59 AM »

Figured somebody would’ve. It’s very divisive and I totally understand those who have difficulty with Love You. It’s not as grand as Sunflower, it’s not in the same ballpark, no scratch that, it’s not in the same hemisphere as Pet Sounds. It’s not that kind of brilliant. Nothing is as brilliant as Brian’s untouchable masterpiece. I wouldn’t call Love You a masterpiece at all actually. It’s just a peculiar, memorable, endearing, enduring, sweeter than candy peek into Brian Wilson’s heart and soul. That’s what makes Love You it’s own kind of brilliant in a delightful, offbeat way. Your mileage may vary.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 08:16:26 AM by Summer_Days » Logged

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together, in the kind of world where we belong?
http://wildsmiley.weebly.com
All Summer Long
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Online Online

Gender: Male
Posts: 537



View Profile
« Reply #31 on: April 17, 2020, 01:13:37 PM »

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.
I have to disagree on Love You being uniquely brilliant.

I'll probably agree on Love You but disagree on Smiley Smile. Obviously GV is good.  Same with H&V and Vegetables.  There are some songs/parts of songs I don't understand and never will and others I flip-flop on.  I think I've only heard the entire album fully a handful of times. Love Wild Honey, and haven't had a chance to buy a copy of Friends yet but I like what I've heard so far.
Logged
Lonely Summer
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 3932


View Profile
« Reply #32 on: April 17, 2020, 01:26:01 PM »

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.
I have to disagree on Love You being uniquely brilliant.

I'll probably agree on Love You but disagree on Smiley Smile. Obviously GV is good.  Same with H&V and Vegetables.  There are some songs/parts of songs I don't understand and never will and others I flip-flop on.  I think I've only heard the entire album fully a handful of times. Love Wild Honey, and haven't had a chance to buy a copy of Friends yet but I like what I've heard so far.
I'm sure that Smiley sounds better on marijuana or LSD, but I don't know, having never tried either. I just think the vocals are so amazing - strip away all the production the Boys had been using for the previous 2 or 3 years, put the focus solely on thos beautiful voices.
And Love You probably sounds better on Prozac.
Logged
Summer_Days
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 734


...and your dream comes true.


View Profile WWW
« Reply #33 on: April 17, 2020, 06:03:47 PM »

@All Summer Long if you have a smart phone and have either Google Play, Apple Music or Spotify (I haven’t used Spotify in a few years but I’d be surprised if the album isn’t on their anymore), you can listen to Friends or the whole album on YouTube. Friends is one of the true great Beach Boys albums, warm, sweet, laid back and harmonically gorgeous.
Logged

Wouldn't it be nice if we were older, then we wouldn't have to wait so long
And wouldn't it be nice to live together, in the kind of world where we belong?
http://wildsmiley.weebly.com
ForHerCryingSoul
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Gender: Male
Posts: 344



View Profile WWW
« Reply #34 on: April 17, 2020, 06:35:22 PM »

Fav: Tied between Smile Sessions and Love You (Pet Sounds is in a close third, with MIU/Adult Child a distant 4th). Each of these albums are very off the wall in different ways. I love Brian's control on the production studio/vocals. There isn't anything else like it, and nothing since imo. Songs are instantly hummable imo, heck I'm doing a sheet music project on Love You, if that confirms my biases.

Least Fav: KTSA - the way the vocals are processed is so irritating to my ears. I just can't get past it... Songs are below average imo and better mixed on other sources (see When Girls Get Together), there are better scraps too (Brian's Phil Spector stuff, Dennis' Bambu stuff, even Mike's stuff left in the can are better material than what came out, besides Goin' On imo, unlike LA, I am not a fan of Bruce's soft production touches).

Underrated: Beach Boys (1985), I think it deserved a better chart placement/promotion. Imo, good songs, good balance of Bw input + band. Good singing, the band finally sounds youthful-ish again after the disaster that was KTSA... Can't stand the Culture Club production now, but there are good songs in there, especially Getcha Back (even tho it's a Springsteen rip off), Where I Belong, and Male Ego (which should have appeared on the main LP instead of hidden in the CD release... The band shouldn't have been kicked to the curb like they were after this album came out and dried up.

Overrated: Sunflower (I love schmaltzy songs, but Add Some Music just comes across as dentist waiting room music. It needed more of a hard edge like Surf's Up. Maybe it should have been a double album of Sunflower/Surf's Up, and put the whole package together as a double LP, especially since Sunflower completely bombed).

These are my thoughts as of today, things ebb and flow, much like the fortunes, legacies, and turbulence of this band.
 
« Last Edit: April 17, 2020, 06:36:47 PM by ForHerCryingSoul » Logged
Debbie KL
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 817


View Profile
« Reply #35 on: April 18, 2020, 03:38:34 PM »

Best in a nutshell:

It was charming and funny when Brian asked me, in 1969, what my favorite BBs album was, followed by a quick (before I could answer), "I mean, except for 'Pet Sounds'." I said "Friends" and he was so happy. He really loved that album. That would be my most underrated - although "Love You," in all it's oddities, was brilliant.

I have no idea how to pick between "Pet Sounds" and "Smile" as a favorite (okay, "Smile" was a BW band recording, not BBs, but it should count, I think).

Worst: The first time I heard SIP (decades later, thank heavens) and through a link on this MB, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Then I realized that they were apparently serious. I've never made my way through "Stars and Stripes," and probably won't. Life is too short. I also really hated that disco monstrosity on "LA Light."

Overrated: I really don't have a good answer, other than the last paragraph. There was something brilliant on nearly all the other albums.

Logged
The Nearest Faraway Place
Smiley Smile Associate
*
Offline Offline

Posts: 213


View Profile
« Reply #36 on: April 18, 2020, 05:43:12 PM »

Best in a nutshell:

It was charming and funny when Brian asked me, in 1969, what my favorite BBs album was, followed by a quick (before I could answer), "I mean, except for 'Pet Sounds'." I said "Friends" and he was so happy. He really loved that album. That would be my most underrated - although "Love You," in all it's oddities, was brilliant.

I have no idea how to pick between "Pet Sounds" and "Smile" as a favorite (okay, "Smile" was a BW band recording, not BBs, but it should count, I think).

Worst: The first time I heard SIP (decades later, thank heavens) and through a link on this MB, I was laughing so hard I was crying. Then I realized that they were apparently serious. I've never made my way through "Stars and Stripes," and probably won't. Life is too short. I also really hated that disco monstrosity on "LA Light."

Overrated: I really don't have a good answer, other than the last paragraph. There was something brilliant on nearly all the other albums.


I actually like HCTN. The BB vocals on a disco track just work for me
Logged
gfx
Pages: 1 [2] Go Up Print 
gfx
Jump to:  
gfx
Powered by SMF 1.1.21 | SMF © 2015, Simple Machines Page created in 1.061 seconds with 22 queries.
Helios Multi design by Bloc
gfx
Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!