"Adult Child" - the worst BB album ever?

[TheLazenby]

I'm about halfway through my journey to collect every recorded Beach Boys album, and I downloaded "Adult Child"...

GOOD... LORD.

They actually considered releasing this piece of crap?!  We get a song about how we shouldn't "sit on our ass smoking grass"; we get the Beach Boys apparently planning gang-rape on a 'little tomboy' and insisting she shave her legs; we get a song that discusses stomach pumps and enemas; and we are informed that a cigarette butt, upon hitting water, goes "psssht".

I understand that Brian was deeply into his mental illness by this point, but he's not the only one to blame - the other Beach Boys are on there too.  Kind of shocking that they would happily sing about a naked fat guy, yet they had severe reservations about "Smile."

The ultimate low-point in the Beach Boys catalog, in my opinion.  Hell with "Summer In Paradise" - this is the bottom of the barrel!

[Aegir]

You're crazy.

[Andrew G. Doe]

What he said.

[buddhahat]

Funnily enough I listened to this too today. I'll agree it's patchy but there are some sublime moments on there - for me, Lines and Still I dream of it are among BW's finest songs! Deep Purple (edit, meant It's Over Now - I always get the names mixed up) is great, Hey Little Tomboy would be a great catchy tune, but the horrendous lyrics definitely ruin it. That bit in the middle where they're all letching is ill-judged beyond reason. I love H.E.L.P. too. The rest I can take or leave. If I compare it to other BB output in the 70s and beyond  I'd say it's worse than Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland and Love You but better than all the others.

I meant to say, are there any good sounding boots of Adult Child as my copy sounds terrible?

I always thought it'd be a good move if the BBs release some of these 'un-released' albums such as Landlocked and Adult Child. I know Landlocked maybe wasn't strictly an album, but can you imagine how great a twofer that would be?

[Aegir]

Funny you edited that last line, buddhahat. I was just going to call you out on how unnecessarily confusing that was.

[buddhahat]

Funny you edited that last line, buddhahat. I was just going to call you out on how unnecessarily confusing that was.

  Yes I read it back and had no idea where exactly I did rank Adult Child after all.

[Amanda Hart]

I also recently downloaded this and I cannot feel anymore differently.  I really really enjoy this.  It's probably something I would be embarrassed if someone overheard it coming from my car, but I really enjoy it.  There are some tracks where it's like "yea, I can see way this never came out" but for the most part it is a really enjoyable listen for me.

Some time ago there was a thread about your "guilty pleasure song" and I've decided mine is It's Trying To Say (Baseball).  I probably will never listen to it with anyone but my husband but it is so catchy and I love singing along.  My Diane and Still I Dream of It are so heart breaking and emotionally raw, two of the "real-ist" songs in the catalog.

[Wrightfan]

I'm torn on the Adult/Child recordings. When I first heard it, I was like "wow! this is on level with Love You in being a cult album." Now, some of them are still good but not as much. I'll break them down:

Life is for the Living: Great upbeat parody of a lounge number. Carl gives a good vocal and the chord changes in the middle eight are brilliant.

Hey Little Tomboy: Creepy but a decent song. If you combined some elements of this version (Brian and Mike remaking the tomboy to be specific) and the M.I.U. version (The quicker intro before the vocals come in for one thing), you'd have a good ditty.

Deep Purple: Great cover of the 4 Seasons hit. I really like Brian's vocal here for the most part.

H.E.L.P. is on the way: A shorter version of the Sunflower outtake found on the GV set. Basically omits the Radiant Radish references (since the store was gone by 1976.)

It's Over Now: Excellent! Carl's slowed down vocal is perfect for this Sinatra like number. A highlight of these sessions.

Everybody Wants To Live: My sleeper. Filled with lyrics only Brian could get away with. The chord changes in the break are some of my favorite chord changes in ANY song.

Shortenin' Bread: Yuck. Do not like the synth version from this era or the L.A. version. Maybe I'd put My Diane or take a Love You song that was recorded in late 1976 (I Wanna Pick you Up?) in its place.

Lines: Not bad. Tag is very repetitive however.

On Broadway: Probably one of the worst songs on the "album." Terrible cover. I may even keep Shortenin' over this.

Games Two Can Play: Nice Sunflower era outtake. Simple and sweet.

It's Trying to Say aka Baseball: Nice Denny tune. Being a huge baseball fan, I may be biased  

Still I Dream of It: I can't describe this amazing song with words. Go buy the song separately for .99 cents on Itunes!

[TonyW]

Keep working through the catalogue - when you get through MIU and Summer In Paradise then give us a review of Adult Child again - there is more creativtity and beauty in just a shard of Still I Dream Of It than in both of MIU and SIP combined.

[phirnis]

We get a song about how we shouldn't "sit on our ass smoking grass"; we get the Beach Boys apparently planning gang-rape on a 'little tomboy' and insisting she shave her legs; we get a song that discusses stomach pumps and enemas; and we are informed that a cigarette butt, upon hitting water, goes "psssht".

What's not to like?

[the captain]

It's a lot closer to the best than to the worst BBs album, in my estimation. There's only one song I don't like: "On Broadway." And "Lines," "It's Trying to Say (Baseball)," "Still I Dream of It," "It's Over Now" and a couple others are among my favorites.

[Shady]

Pure Craziness.

This is in my top 10 BB albums, it suits my personality perfect.

Crazy as a clowns c*ck 

[Pretty Funky]

At the risk of being shouted down. Is it fair to rate and critique a unreleased work?

Comment and discuss by all means but to score against official product...I'm not sure.

[the captain]

It's fair to discuss, comment on and critique the material that we know. And if that material was intended to be an album, then it's fair to critique it as an album. Plus--and I KNOW someone will correct me if I'm wrong, here--this isn't just a collection of session tapes, for example. Unless I'm mistaken, this was assembled and turned in to the label, and unreleased because it was rejected. There is a world of difference between this and, say, "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" (until its eventual assembly and release long after the fact) or other such tunes.

[grillo]

Not anywhere near the worst. I'd rank this album along with the entire '76-'78 era as my second favorite BB period. BW was writing some of his best and most adventurous songs (chord wise, anyway). Not sure what it is about the Beach Boys you enjoy, but if it has anything to do with interesting melodies, quirky subject matter, or unusual instrumentation, I would imagine you might enjoy this 'record'. Try harder.

[elnombre]

I'm about halfway through my journey to collect every recorded Beach Boys album, and I downloaded "Adult Child"...

GOOD... LORD.

They actually considered releasing this piece of crap?!  We get a song about how we shouldn't "sit on our ass smoking grass"; we get the Beach Boys apparently planning gang-rape on a 'little tomboy' and insisting she shave her legs; we get a song that discusses stomach pumps and enemas; and we are informed that a cigarette butt, upon hitting water, goes "psssht".

I understand that Brian was deeply into his mental illness by this point, but he's not the only one to blame - the other Beach Boys are on there too.  Kind of shocking that they would happily sing about a naked fat guy, yet they had severe reservations about "Smile."

The ultimate low-point in the Beach Boys catalog, in my opinion.  Hell with "Summer In Paradise" - this is the bottom of the barrel!

Only a real fucking idiot would casually toss around a phrase like 'gang-rape' in a song review. Go check yourself.

[Pretty Funky]

It's fair to discuss, comment on and critique the material that we know. And if that material was intended to be an album, then it's fair to critique it as an album. Plus--and I KNOW someone will correct me if I'm wrong, here--this isn't just a collection of session tapes, for example. Unless I'm mistaken, this was assembled and turned in to the label, and unreleased because it was rejected. There is a world of difference between this and, say, "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" (until its eventual assembly and release long after the fact) or other such tunes.

I know what you are saying but I would guess any album contract would state the work has to meet not just the standard required of the artist (high you would hope) but be judged by a label to be of a good enough quality to release. After all, they are paying the artist and any expenses related to the album release.

When a 'album' becomes a 'album'? I'll leave that to the lawyers.

[the captain]

Oh, I'm not disputing why it was rejected or the label's right to do so. Just saying that it was complete enough to be submitted, so it's complete enough to be considered now.

[Pretty Funky]

Agree to disagree.

...and worst 'album'. SIP.

[the captain]

...and worst 'album'. SIP.

I agree to agree. (btw, what are you disagreeing with me on?)

[mtaber]

It's Tryin to Say and Shortenin' Bread are great, Deep Purple is bad (a hit by the Four Seasons?  Really?) and most of the rest is pretty good.  Some of the all-time great/bizarre lyrics are on that set of songs... PFTTTTTT?

[Pretty Funky]

...and worst 'album'. SIP.

I agree to agree. (btw, what are you disagreeing with me on?)

It was not a official label release so not in my definition of BB album. A album to me is something I could buy today at a store or obtain legally if out of print.

I remember a similar subject was discussed a few years back when Brian released SMiLE. Ego Board I think.

[Jonathan Blum]

I figure the original poster might like some backup of sorts.  :-)

The Adult Child set has a few *brilliant* songs -- "It's Over Now", "Still I Dream Of It", "Games Two Can Play", and (yes) "HELP", which is genuinely tongue-in-cheek.  (I really think it suffers because of the context -- I heard it first on the box set as an outtake circa 1969, at which point it feels more like a bit of a goof than a postcard from the depths of Brian's disintegration.)  I've even got a soft spot for the likes of "Deep Purple".

But as an album... it's the Beach Boys equivalent of one of those late Elvis sets, where they got him to record about half an album's worth of stuff before he got bored or flaked out, and then they shoved in whatever they could dig out of the vaults to fill out the record.  And it shows.

If you're going to have an album where Brian isn't fully involved, I much prefer the potluck everybody-bring-a-dish approach of Carl & the Passions or LA.  "Sumahama" may not be a brilliant song, but you can tell it's the best damn thing Mike Love has to offer, he really wants to make this work.  "Here She Comes" may be odd by Beach Boys standards, but you can tell they're really committed to it.  Even "Here Comes The Night" succeeds on its own terms, even if the very fact that it's setting out to do that rubs fans up the wrong way.  But "On Broadway", or "Hey Little Tomboy"?  It's hard to convince me anyone believed in them.  And "Shortenin' Bread"?  I'm sure Brian believed in it, but that belief fails to reach outside of the back of his own head...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[the captain]

It was not a official label release so not in my definition of BB album. A album to me is something I could buy today at a store or obtain legally if out of print.

I remember a similar subject was discussed a few years back when Brian released SMiLE. Ego Board I think.

Gotcha. (I'd have taken your side of the argument with pre-BWPS Smile, btw. And still do. On that one, I'd say it's sessions, not an album, and not relevant for apples-to-apples comparison to BWPS.)

[mtaber]

If Sumahama is the best ANYONE ON THIS EARTH has to offer, we're all in trouble...