Looking Back With Love - The 1st solo album of a Beach Boys' member

[smile-holland]

My copy doesn't say "First solo album of a Beach Boys member" on it. That must be a sticker put on by someone way down the line.

The picture shows the French pressing, hence the same words in 2 languages: "le 1er album solo d'un membre des Beach Boys" / the 1st solo album of a Beach Boys' member"

[c-man]

I don't remember the U.S. pressing I bought at the time of release having that sticker, so perhaps someone in France made an honest mistake...perhaps...

[roll plymouth rock]

Or it could be a Canadian pressing since we're bilingual up here...

Curt Becher (Boettcher) produced this album, which is definitely ok but nothing special

[A Million Units In Jan!]

Isn't it weird how people don't talk about how Brian ruined LBWL the way Mike ruined SMiLE?

 Little does anyone know, the original vision of LBWL was a movement of 3 parts:

1. When I Had Hair (Californ-I-A ,Baby!)
2. When I Grew A Beard And Lost Most Of My Hair (Acid Illiteration-Real Bummer of a Trip, Man)
3. Bowel Movement

It was one clear cut vision, and Mike was steady laying down these beautiful pieces of music in the studio. He had reached the point where he was levitating on a daily basis, and had reached that inner place hardly any of us go: 50 Million Dollars in his bank account.

'Stray Dog' Tom McCoy was the drummer on those LBWL sessions, and says Mike was in another world, musically: 'He was just coming up with stuff all the time. He'd pick up a guitar and basically write a pop symphony to Buddha right there on the spot. He'd do these drum parts that were mind blowing, like a thousand Keith Moons on one drum set. He didn't need us there to do music, because he could do it all. He basically allowed us to just bask in his glory. I guess that was part of his 'Mission' that Marahishi gave him. To let others worship Mike and realize real genius'.

Mike had a lot of the tracks laid down when Brian unexpectedly stopped by the studio for a visit. Mike, proud of what he had done so far, played Brian some of these mind blowing tracks. Brian sat stone faced for quite awhile before giving Mike advice that was a blow to Mike's ego: 'It sucks'.

Mike immediately wiped the tracks after Brian left, and went home to his house in the hills and didn't return to the stuido for a month. When he did, it was with 4 ten year olds he hired at the local elementary school and 4 synthysizers. Together, they laid down what became LBWL.

Stray Dog again: I just think it was a crime that Brian trashed the music like that. Clearly, everyone knew that when it came to writing music, Mike wasn't very sure about his skills as a writer. And Brian knew this, and threw it in his face by trashing the music. What I heard when the final product came out was a real bastardization of the music.  It was like someone took those beautiful tracks and stripped them down to nothing.'

Why don't people talk about this?

[smile-holland]

Or it could be a Canadian pressing since we're bilingual up here...

Curt Becher (Boettcher) produced this album, which is definitely ok but nothing special

well... the pressing I'm holding in my hands says: "grave et presse en France", so that solves your question.

Isn't it weird how people don't talk about how Brian ruined LBWL the way Mike ruined SMiLE?

 Little does anyone know, the original vision of LBWL was a movement of 3 parts:

1. When I Had Hair (Californ-I-A ,Baby!)
2. When I Grew A Beard And Lost Most Of My Hair (Acid Illiteration-Real Bummer of a Trip, Man)
3. Bowel Movement

...

Why don't people talk about this?

'cause we're all affraid that might lead to a re-recorded release in 2018, 37 years after the project was shelved... 


with raving reviews... 

[punkinhead]

Honestly, out of the Love-ster solo cannon, I can only take his newer stuff (though re-using Brian's Back and slowing it down way too much, let alone his and Brian's relationship in the 2000's) and the Mike and Dean stuff, but they're pretty bad 80s oldies covers...somehow, I still have an ear for it.

[Alf64]

I have in front of me the US release LP.  Boardwalk NB1 33242, UPC 7912-33242-1 I actually like the LP. I ordered it and Carl Wilson's first solo LP from The Beach Boy's fan club newsletter's classifieds. I spent 40 dollars for the 2 of them back in 1983. I always liked the catchy style/ sound Mike brought to The Beach Boys sound, so it is no wander i liked his LP. I love everything on side one. And on side 2, the only I I like is Calendar Girl. I never got into all the politics or disputes among the group, so I was/ am in it just for how it sounds to me. Hence, why I bought the LP. MY copy doesn't have the sticker you show in this thread. I learned much later on that Mike released HIS LP in light of knowing about the popularity of Dennis'. It didn't/doesn't really matter though to me. I just enjoy any music they put out. Solo or as a group.

[MBE]

It is a pretty bad album. Even the Mike and Dean records were more fun due to the cheese factor. First Love and Unleash The Love were both good albums on the whole, and I am surprised that they never came out. The stuff he cut with Adrian Baker is even worse then this album. Much worse.

[punkinhead]

What's Brian's involvement, I feel like he had something to do with Be my Baby. And what's with Mike choosing that song? "oh, I don't even know what my favorite song of all time is, how about Brian's fav, I'll dedicate and ruin it!"

[Aegir]

Brian plays piano on Be My Baby, actually.

[Jason]

This is a fun little album. Not great, not bad, doesn't strive to be anything more. And for the umpteenth time - MIKE ONLY HAD A HAND IN ONE OF THE LYRICS!

Mike couldn't write something as bad as "Good Vibrations, assassinations." He wrote the words to The Warmth of the Sun for f***'s sake.

[punkinhead]

Right, I know he didn't write it, but if any BB would sing that lyric, it'd be the Lovester

[dogear]

Calendar Girl: The arrangement is pretty much the same as on the BB outtake (from 15 Big Ones ?).
For collectors who wanna have them all:
France: Running Around the World/One Good Reason (w. PS)
Germany: Looking Back.../One Good Reason (w. PS)
Germany: Be My Baby/Teach me Tonight (w. PS)

[Beach Boy]

Just listening to the album and my mum made fun of me when she was singing "Runnin' Around The World".    However, I like this song, it has a catchy refrain. The bass line in "Over and Over" is cool, "On and On and On" and "Rockin The Man In The Boat" are nice rockers, I don't mind "Be My Baby", though I like the alternate version much more. The title track is nice enough and I love "Calendar Girl". The last 3 tracks are boring but overall I like this album.    It is a lot of fun. It's unusual that Mike would play almost the whole album live (besides 2 tracks, I think).

[Smilin Ed H]

The singing, production and, in some cases, the choice of songs make this unlistenable.  The worst BB-related album by a country mile.  Now if only he managed to release First Love instead...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Brian plays piano on Be My Baby, actually.

Also sings bvs and produced the basic track back in summer 1980.

[c-man]

Brian plays piano on Be My Baby, actually.

Also sings bvs and produced the basic track back in summer 1980.

Strange he wasn't credited...you think that'd be a major selling point...maybe they couldn't work it out with Caribou.

[The Heartical Don]

Isn't it weird how people don't talk about how Brian ruined LBWL the way Mike ruined SMiLE?

 Little does anyone know, the original vision of LBWL was a movement of 3 parts:

1. When I Had Hair (Californ-I-A ,Baby!)
2. When I Grew A Beard And Lost Most Of My Hair (Acid Illiteration-Real Bummer of a Trip, Man)
3. Bowel Movement

It was one clear cut vision, and Mike was steady laying down these beautiful pieces of music in the studio. He had reached the point where he was levitating on a daily basis, and had reached that inner place hardly any of us go: 50 Million Dollars in his bank account.

'Stray Dog' Tom McCoy was the drummer on those LBWL sessions, and says Mike was in another world, musically: 'He was just coming up with stuff all the time. He'd pick up a guitar and basically write a pop symphony to Buddha right there on the spot. He'd do these drum parts that were mind blowing, like a thousand Keith Moons on one drum set. He didn't need us there to do music, because he could do it all. He basically allowed us to just bask in his glory. I guess that was part of his 'Mission' that Marahishi gave him. To let others worship Mike and realize real genius'.

Mike had a lot of the tracks laid down when Brian unexpectedly stopped by the studio for a visit. Mike, proud of what he had done so far, played Brian some of these mind blowing tracks. Brian sat stone faced for quite awhile before giving Mike advice that was a blow to Mike's ego: 'It sucks'.

Mike immediately wiped the tracks after Brian left, and went home to his house in the hills and didn't return to the stuido for a month. When he did, it was with 4 ten year olds he hired at the local elementary school and 4 synthysizers. Together, they laid down what became LBWL.

Stray Dog again: I just think it was a crime that Brian trashed the music like that. Clearly, everyone knew that when it came to writing music, Mike wasn't very sure about his skills as a writer. And Brian knew this, and threw it in his face by trashing the music. What I heard when the final product came out was a real bastardization of the music.  It was like someone took those beautiful tracks and stripped them down to nothing.'

Why don't people talk about this?

  sorry, I just had to quote this, because it's so funny... and we should stop seeing the Lovester as the bad banana in the Beach Boys basket. He ranks up there with Bach, Shostakovich, Mozart, and Debussy, to put it mildly. And 'Caroline, No' sinks into oblivion when compared with Mike's genius 'Hair' suite... it's a little known fact that Van Dyke Parks had composed the transitional music for Mike's magnum opus. They already had secured a deal with the prestigious RCA Red Seal record label too...

And damn, all we have got left is that Unsurpassed Farts compact cassette with the 34 seconds that some neighborhood kids taped outside of Mike's studio... tantalizing and utterly frustrating. What might have been if Brian 'Brain' Wilson had just taken a tab of acid that day instead of visiting Mike? We will never know. Perhaps, someday, a writer will write a novel about it: Glimpse: Eavesdropping With Love, or something.

[Shady]

It's a fantastic thing that moments in the BB history like this, have been quietly swept under the rug.

Now as long as Mike doesn't release another Solo LP The BB will remain cool, 

Also I agree with The Real Beach Boy, Mike Wrote lyrics to WOTS and All I Wanna Do etc, he could of done better than this, amazing how he has written some of the best and worst lyrics in history haha

[adamghost]

I remember buying it back in '81 when my music tastes tended to the cheesier (I was a lad, after all) and liking side one, hating side two.  I can remember that I enjoyed "Rockin' The Man In The Boat" and "On and On and On" particularly, and I have a feeling I'd still enjoy the latter song...I remember Mike's leering delivery actually suiting the song, and the modern arrangement of an ABBA cover being an unusually canny move.

[Sheriff John Stone]

I can remember that I enjoyed "Rockin' The Man In The Boat" and "On and On and On" particularly, and I have a feeling I'd still enjoy the latter song...I remember Mike's leering delivery actually suiting the song, and the modern arrangement of an ABBA cover being an unusually canny move.

And, actually, "On And On And On" was barely a year old when Mike covered it, and it wasn't really a hit for ABBA in the U.S.

[phirnis]

I can remember that I enjoyed "Rockin' The Man In The Boat" and "On and On and On" particularly, and I have a feeling I'd still enjoy the latter song...I remember Mike's leering delivery actually suiting the song, and the modern arrangement of an ABBA cover being an unusually canny move.

And, actually, "On And On And On" was barely a year old when Mike covered it, and it wasn't really a hit for ABBA in the U.S.

As far as I remember Abba have cited Do It Again as a direct influence on writing On And On And On, so this might be the reason Mike chose to do that cover version.

[adamghost]

Yeah, and there's that little "hey now" tag in it, so that's probably right.

[Ganz Allein]

And damn, all we have got left is that Unsurpassed Farts compact cassette with the 34 seconds that some neighborhood kids taped outside of Mike's studio... tantalizing and utterly frustrating. What might have been if Brian 'Brain' Wilson had just taken a tab of acid that day instead of visiting Mike? We will never know. Perhaps, someday, a writer will write a novel about it: Glimpse: Eavesdropping With Love, or something.

Unsurpassed Farts...doesn't that have the rare experimental track "George Fell into his Ass Horn" ?

[Dancing Bear]

It has those beautiful 80/81 production values - think Tootsie soundtrack. Not bad, but barely ok. I'm sure two or three tracks from it van find their way to our Mike Love fan made anthologies. :-)