British Beach Boys-like band you should hear!!

[mikeyj]

I'll check it out. Also, where can I find those comments on the Beach Boys facial hair, sounds funny. 

http://www.artrocker.com/features/interviews/gruff-rhys

[thomasogg]

Another one worth a listen, especially if u wanna hear that undeniable-BB influence in all its glory, is:
'Recepticle For The Respectable'.
Wasn't a single, so wont be on U Tube, need to download this 'un methinks. Was on the awesome 'Rings Around The World' album. It's VERY Beach Boys-esqe indeed (well, until the goth metal bit at the end kicks in.. What a band!) Also, listen out for Sir Paul McCartney eating vegetables in the background, an obvious BB tribute.

[brother john]

The Super Furries are a GREAT band, but they're nothing like the Beach Boys. They like the Beach Boys but they don't sound anything like them, unless you could say that any band doing three or more-part harmonies sound like the Beach Boys (Beatles, anyone? Bee Gees? McFly?) The SFAs are far more eccentric than the BBs ever were, though I guess it was bands like the Boys that allowed bands like the Furries to follow through on a particular forrow.

I can't remember who it was earlier in the thread who that said the SFA were clearly crap, well that says more about you, sir, than it does about the Furries. Don't be such a narrow-minded old goat.

While I'm at it, if we're citing bands that love the Beach Boys and make music that is influenced and inspired by them but that doesn't really sound the same, check out Paul Steel, who used to post on this board, (I think he still pops by occasionally to see what we're up to). His April & I is Superb, as is the new album Moon Rock, which seems to be available from Amazon UK in a promo version. Anyone who loves the Boys would identify much of with this music. I'm a fan. And the SFAs are one his fave bands too!

[thomasogg]

Glad to hear you dig 'em too, they are as you say a top band, though I disagree re your comments relating to them/Beach Boys.

Firstly, the Beach Boys WEREN'T eccentric..?! I can't think of a more genuinely eccentric, f***ed-up band in music history! 'Smiley Smile'? Brian's 'Landlocked' material? 'Mount Vernon and Fairway'? 'Love You' is beyond eccentric and into the realms of utterly insane!! The SFA's MUSIC is eccentric but the band themselves are not, whereas the Beach Boys, in particular the Wilsons, and certainly Brian, were both.

Also how can you say SFA don't sound Beach Boys-esqe is baffling. Just off the top of my head, I'd nominate 'Rescepticle..', 'Demons', 'It's Not The End Of The World', 'Rings Around The World', 'Gift That Keeps Giving', 'Show Your Hand', to name but six.

(Oh, and fellow Furry fans: If you not aware, their hidden tracks at the START of 'Out Spaced' and 'Guerilla' - play track one on both and hit that rewind button. Good eh?)

[thomasogg]

In fact, play 'Atomic Lust' (from Love Kraft) at the same time as 'Feel Flows'.... Or for even more of a blatant steal, play the aforementioned 'It's Not The End Of The World' and hum the tune to Forever as you listen to it. Pretty good fit, no?

[No. Fourteen]

(Oh, and fellow Furry fans: If you not aware, their hidden tracks at the START of 'Out Spaced' and 'Guerilla' - play track one on both and hit that rewind button. Good eh?)

No way!  I gotta check that out!!!

As for not "getting" them, I'm sure that there are probably hundreds of bands I've dismissed after hearing one song
(even a portion of).  And i'd probably dig many (well....at least a few) of them if I gave them more of a chance.  But,
there's waaaayy too much music out there to research every band recommended to you.

Sorry, these guys can go join the Magic Numbers and every other band CLAIMING to be Beach Boys influenced BUT I CAN NEVER HEAR IT. It's sounds like wannabe jangly 60's pop but the melodies that made those pop tunes from the 60's so great are not there and the harmonies and vocal chops are not there. And of course the production doesn't measure up either.

Amen to that.  I'd suspect just about everyone around here has been hooked by reviews mentioning the Beach Boys influence, and underwhelmed with the results.

That said, I managed to take to the super furry animals, and that first review I read must've mentioned the BB's.  Or, I don't know....maybe it was one of those rare times when I just liked the cover art!

I haven't picked up their albums since Phantom Planet, which didn't hit me right.  Probably due for another try. 

[thomasogg]

'Phantom' a great album, but a real grower - give it a few more listens. After that, 'Love Kraft' is an album I absolutely love but which does seem to split opinion amongst fans, some find it just too much (but I say is worth buying, even just for 'Zoom!', possibly the best SFA track of all time!). Also latest album 'Hey Venus!' I promise you will love, particuarly if you like their earlier stuff.....

[brother john]

In fact, play 'Atomic Lust' (from Love Kraft) at the same time as 'Feel Flows'.... Or for even more of a blatant steal, play the aforementioned 'It's Not The End Of The World' and hum the tune to Forever as you listen to it. Pretty good fit, no?

Yeah, but that intro is a quote, no? Its a Postmodern appropriation rather than in influence.

Re your comments about the BBs not being eccentric - they weren't! They were strictly white bread. Brian became eccentric through being drug-damaged, and he would never have made Solar System of Johnny Carson if his critical powers had still been intact. When I say eccentric I mean the stuff like Wherever I Lay My Phone (That's My Home) and most of the stuff on Guerrilla and Love Kraft.

I've listened to the songs you mention (the ones that I have, anyway) and I still don't see it. They don't sound like the BBs, they just borrow things and use them. Admittedly if I had heard 'Rescepticle..', 'Demons', 'It's Not The End Of The World' I might change my mind, though I'm not sure...!

I know what you mean, but the Boys sounded like they did because that's how they were, whereas everything the SFAs do is calculated in some way.

[Loaf]

I am/was a big fan of the Furries, but Love Kraft was very disappointing. Very bland. The lyrics were a bit rubbish too. And the 3 or 4 tracks i've heard from Hey Venus have done nothing to convince me that they are past their best.

Guerilla/Rings Around the World/Phantom Power are tough to beat though. Phantom Power is just incredible, lucid modern psychedelia, which makes their recent stuff so disappointing.


Do any of you like The Aliens? (formed from the ashes of the Beta Band). These guys are making music that the BBs would make if they started today.

[the captain]

I know what you mean, but the Boys sounded like they did because that's how they were, whereas everything the SFAs do is calculated in some way.

The BBs were plenty calculated, especially post-Sunflower.

[thomasogg]

Agreed. And Brian was ALWAYS a weird, eccentric character, even prior to the drugs. Read any BB book for proof of this...

[brother john]

I know what you mean, but the Boys sounded like they did because that's how they were, whereas everything the SFAs do is calculated in some way.

The BBs were plenty calculated, especially post-Sunflower.

You misunderstand what I mean by calculated. What I mean is that SFA have an intellectual element to their music, that is thought about, whereas the BBs didn't. After Brian stopped being a Beach Boy it was just a job for the rest of them. There's little or no art to the Beach Boys, they're just about nice songs.

[brother john]

Agreed. And Brian was ALWAYS a weird, eccentric character, even prior to the drugs. Read any BB book for proof of this...

I've read all the books (or at least all the ones that count). Brian wasn't 'a weird, eccentric character' as you say. You just want him to be. If he hadn't been a Beach Boy he would never have stood out.

[PMcC]

If he hadn't been a Beach Boy he would never have stood out. ...................................


                          Now THERE'S an interesting little comment you don't hear every day about Brian.

[thomasogg]

Agreed. And Brian was ALWAYS a weird, eccentric character, even prior to the drugs. Read any BB book for proof of this...

I've read all the books (or at least all the ones that count). Brian wasn't 'a weird, eccentric character' as you say. You just want him to be. If he hadn't been a Beach Boy he would never have stood out.

Well having read all the books myself, full of quotes from people saying that he was always quite a strange type, I'd have to disagree. I don't particuarly want him to have been (or be) weird at all, rather a strange suggestion...

[injasonbow]

yikes,
had to step in here and show some super furry love. for those who want to hear the BBs influence check these tracks (sometimes it's pretty subtle)


She's Got Spies
Turning Tide
Chewing Chewing Gum
Keep The Cosmic Trigger Happy
Sidewalk Surfer Girl
(Drawing) Rings Around The World
It's Not The End Of The World (pretty much 'Forever')
Receptacle For The Respectable (macca chewing carrots on this)
Piccolo Snare
Father Father #1 and #2
Atomik Lust
Run-Away
Helium Hearts

it's not always neccesarily in the arrangements but it's in the kinds of melodies they sing. I've read in lots of interviews that they used to get together as teenagers and listen to Surf's Up LP on acid which in a lazy journalistic way kind of describes lots of their music. particularly the albums from guerilla through to phantom power. High Llama's Sean O'Hagan often arranges their strings and horns.

it does bug me a little bit when people quickly check them out and dismiss them only because i did this a few years ago only to gradually get into them again and now they're probably my favourite band after the BB's. they certainly wear their influences on their sleeves but they take it all in a direction i dont think any other band have or will. plus they're definitely an albums band

argh! just give them a more of a chance!
p
x

[the captain]

Well now I've been reminded of thomasogg. Damnit.

[injasonbow]

who was he? was he naughty?