'Surfs Up' side 2

[MBE]

I dislike much of Mike's later stuff, SDT rocks. Dennis' drumming is terrific and the production is very life like. It even ran my dad off the road once, he thought there were cops behind us.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I know I'm pretty much an all-around Mike apologist, but I have to admit to always skipping past Student Demo. It's just how loud his freakin voice is mixed that gets me. You have Disney Girls, just a perfect song/recording/just GORGEOUS, then suddenly you have this wailing guitar (pretty good actually, whoever is playing) and then this guy just spitting into your ear about "Berkeley free speech"!!!! I have no problem at all with the lyrics/sentiment and think the song kinda rocks, but it's just those first few seconds which send me hurtling across the room to tear the needle from the record eveytime

I agree with you. Whoever mastered the Sunflower/Surf's Up 2-fer CD goofed up big time. The song it too lllloooouuuudddd.

I also agree with Smilin Ed H's post. Why take anything off? Just add Dennis's songs. If he would've let them....

[Aegir]

It even ran my dad off the road once, he thought there were cops behind us.

EVERY SINGLE TIME I listen to SDT in the car I think I'm being pulled over. It puts me in a state of anxiety and unease which I guess is what the song wants you to feel.

[Dancing Bear]

TaLoyF is AWFUL. If they needed some filler after Dennis pulled off his tracks, they could have taken HELP, Games People Play or I Just Got My Pay. They're little homemade ditties as well, but at least something happens in them.

I really liked Looking at Tomorrow, til I listened to that Kingston Trio track. Oh Al, Mike rewrote Room Cell #9 but at least gave credits to Leiber and Stoller. 

SDT is a nice change of pace in the album, like "Got to Know the Woman" in Sunflower. I like it.

[Mahalo]

You guys are drinking the Kool- Aid.


Take a Load off Your Feet is great, way better than SDT. (which isn't saying much, but still...)

[Aegir]

I just had a vision (maybe this belongs in the Monterey hypotheticals thread)...

Smile is released on time and becomes the Beach Boys' most famous album. Brian still has a terrible nervous breakdown and loses control of the band. The rest of their career is spent trying to capture the glory days of Smile with Smile-esque compositions. Instead of releasing things like "Some of Your Love" and "Kona Coast", they release things like "Take a Load Off Your Feet".

"Take a Load..." is so Al-does-Smile I can't see how you guys don't like it.

[Smilin Ed H]

It's Al does HELP

[KokoMoses]

I just had a vision (maybe this belongs in the Monterey hypotheticals thread)...

Smile is released on time and becomes the Beach Boys' most famous album. Brian still has a terrible nervous breakdown and loses control of the band. The rest of their career is spent trying to capture the glory days of Smile with Smile-esque compositions. Instead of releasing things like "Some of Your Love" and "Kona Coast", they release things like "Take a Load Off Your Feet".

"Take a Load..." is so Al-does-Smile I can't see how you guys don't like it.

Perfect analogy! "Take A Load" woulda fit perfectly on Smile and people would be gushing over it if it had.

[John]

I wouldn't, I assure you.

We'd be all here posting about "Smile Side Two" and omitting it from that instead.

[KokoMoses]

Probably so, but it's still a wonderful song and no more goofy than lots of other BBs stuff.... I  give that award to Brian and Mike for Matchpoint!

[Glenn Greenberg]

I think of "Take A Load Off Your Feet" as being in the same category as "Vegetables"--a goofy, funny, catchy little ditty not meant to change the world or the face of music.  Certainly not the best thing in the Beach Boys' catalog, but far from the worst.

My feeling is that if you like "Vegetables," there's no reason why should despise "Take A Load Off Your Feet."

[John]

Hmm. I don't despise it, I'm just bleh on it. I like Vegetables though.

[Jonas]

Take a Load (huhuh) is a fun song and its kinda catchy...but I mean its not -AS- catchy as Vegetables...and it definitely doesnt have that 'sing a long' feel to it...I think the reason is because they invested way too much into its production, maybe if they kept it simpler...

[Magic Transistor Radio]

I like both SDT and TALOYF. My only problem is they don't fit with the rest of the songs well. SDT is too loud for the album (I would have perferred it on CATP over He Come Down), and TALOYF is too cheesy (would've fit well on Smile or Friends).

[KokoMoses]

But hey, as far as "message" songs are concerned, I've been told to eat my vegetables all my life, but how many times have I been told to really take care of my feet?

Al has a good point.

[Mahalo]

Indeed, that's part of the charm...what other band has sang about the subject? I was talking with a fellow BB fan and we concurred that the BB's sang songs about almost everything imaginable in their career. I really love this tune.


What do you think Al's feet smell like, anyway?.... Onions? Corn chips?

[KokoMoses]

probably horse manure considering he lives on a ranch