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

[Sheriff John Stone]

Is LBWL as bad/good as 15BO?

It's not even close. 15 Big Ones has been hammered for 32 years now, but I predict it will someday be shown in a better light. I still believe there are 9-10 very listenable songs on that album. Brian showed that he could still produce tracks on 15 Big Ones; there's some great stuff on there. One overwhelming problem was the final track selection; it doomed the album. The other problem was the lead vocals, specifically Brian's and Dennis's. There was nothing they could do about that, other than not let 'em sing.

[the captain]

15BO is 15x better.

[SG7]

On and On and On is hilarious. I love the campy feel of it! Even better I found a promo copy of the album at an antique store for $5 mint!! 

A. Promo. Copy. Of. A. Mike. Love. Album.

I think I never will be able to top that. Perhaps I should leave this life. The hope for any big prize has been lost just now. Oh, what hast thou done to meek me, Surfer Woman? The trophy is thine, and woe is mine, and ne'er again shall I taste the full richness of this here life again...

Hey it doesn't beat drinking alcohol with Brian's band now 

Oh, sweet Surferwoman, thou hast awakened thy servant from those lethal musings... I thank thee for these uplifting words!

*...is quickly running out of Old English words...*

You need to take my Intro to Literature studies and I am sure you'll find some more 

[Smilin Ed H]

15 BO has a charm that's nowhere apparent on LBWL.

[The Heartical Don]

Is LBWL as bad/good as 15BO?

It's not even close. 15 Big Ones has been hammered for 32 years now, but I predict it will someday be shown in a better light. I still believe there are 9-10 very listenable songs on that album. Brian showed that he could still produce tracks on 15 Big Ones; there's some great stuff on there. One overwhelming problem was the final track selection; it doomed the album. The other problem was the lead vocals, specifically Brian's and Dennis's. There was nothing they could do about that, other than not let 'em sing.

I completely agree. To these ears it has a charm that seems to elude so many people... I would be the last to deny that there are corny things on it, mind. But I think these are compensated for by the highlights. "Just Once In My Life" is superb. "Rock 'n' Roll Music" in all its simplicity points forward to "Love You" (use of synths, overall minimality). "Blueberry Hill": another highlight, intro and the Spectorian grandeur of the rest. "Chapel Of Love" has another Brian fun trick: the synths always seem to chime in a tiny bit too late.
I love it, and it is better than "Holland" for me. The latter is a bit too 'heavy', sombre, pretentious. 15BO is, with all its shortcomings, a return to form. It is awful that Brian, soon after "Love You", fell back into his illness and its concomitant habits... so the band decamped to Fairfield, Iowa, after that.

And did I mention "It's OK"? No. Shame on me.

[phirnis]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

[The Heartical Don]

Nice call -

I still remember that jolt within me after hearing It's OK for the first time, 1976. And another specimen of proof: It's OK is present early in the sequence of 'The Warmth of the Sun', and hey: it's a real highlight amidst the '60s classics! You can't ask for more evidence that that.

[Dancing Bear]

'It's Ok' is GREAT. It's often paired with the likes of 'Some of Your Love' and 'California Calling', which is nonsense. Best summertime song Brian wrote since 'Do It Again'.

[Jon Stebbins]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

Dennis sang the bass vocal on Its OK  too. I agree this single was one of the last brilliant gasps of the BB's. It had the Mike Love retro-thing but it also had a very compelling rhythmic groove, and Dennis' bass vocal gives it a slightly darker texture. Should have been the lead single in '76. BTW, much of this song was already in the can in '74/75. To me 15 BO does not measure up to the potential that Its OK hints at, although time has improved the album's standing due to some of the weak crap that came afterwards like MIU, KTSA and SIP.

[c-man]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

I also think they coulda scored a great summertime hit with "Keepin' The Summer Alive", had it been released in '75 or so. 

[TdHabib]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

I also think they coulda scored a great summertime hit with "Keepin' The Summer Alive", had it been released in '75 or so. 

Yeah, it could've scored big. The version we have is crying out for better production--it's just incredibly dry and flat. The live version is better, but that's one song I wish BW would've produced...

[c-man]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

I also think they coulda scored a great summertime hit with "Keepin' The Summer Alive", had it been released in '75 or so. 

Yeah, it could've scored big. The version we have is crying out for better production--it's just incredibly dry and flat. The live version is better, but that's one song I wish BW would've produced...

The whole KTSA album sounds over-compressed and less dynamic than its predecessor, LA Light.  When LA Light was mixed, they used the Aphex Aural Exciter...maybe they should have also used that on KTSA.

[phirnis]

It's OK, the last great summertime song by The Beach Boys. Can't beat that bass line. Dennis just incredible on the tag, love his strained vocals here.
I've said it before: Imagine this coming out as a BW-produced single when Endless Summer still was at the top of the charts. Should have been a huge hit.

I also think they coulda scored a great summertime hit with "Keepin' The Summer Alive", had it been released in '75 or so. 

Yeah, it could've scored big. The version we have is crying out for better production--it's just incredibly dry and flat. The live version is better, but that's one song I wish BW would've produced...

Brian obviously having a blast on that song is actually one of my favorite moments of the whole Knebworth show. That said, I never found Carl to be all that convincing in this type of rock mode.

[adamghost]

15BO is 15x better.

Which begs the question about a Mike Love album called "One Big One."

Comments...

[Jon Stebbins]

15BO is 15x better.

Which begs the question about a Mike Love album called "One Big One."

Comments...

Or the unreleased Dennis Wilson dance album...Bamboogie.

[tpesky]

I think KTSA could have been a hit in 80 had a single version reflected the live version and had it been the first single off that album, instead Goin On.

[adamghost]

I heard it on FM radio in '80, shockingly enough.  It sounded great.

If they had REALLY wanted a hit in '80, they should have released Carl's take on the Mann/Weil tune "I Will Always Love You" (heard at the CWF Foundation event).  You want to talk about a commercial ballad totally in tune with radio at the time?  That song could have gotten tons of play.  I guess it was too unlike the other stuff on the album...that is, it was a hit.

[Sheriff John Stone]

While I liked "Keepin' The Summer Alive" and "Goin' On", what I thought was a stronger song was "Livin' With A Heartache". It had a great hook, a strong and emotional Carl lead vocal, and it sounded the most contemporary of all the songs on the album; it wasn't retro Beach Boys. It was released as a single, with a single mix, but it stiffed. I still enjoy the song when I listen to it. The album isn't the greatest, but Keepin' The Summer Alive might be in Carl's all-time Top 3 albums; he really shines, saves the album actually....

[MBE]

It's not Carl's best material wise, but he was seldom in better voice then on KTSA.

[The Heartical Don]

15BO is 15x better.

Which begs the question about a Mike Love album called "One Big One."

Comments...

Eh? Mike doing a whole album about his manhood? Suggested titles:


I Go To Great Lengths For You

Standing Up For Love

The Finest American Flagpole

and so on...

Suggestions?

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

I actually like the KTSA album a lot, and I suppose it's because of how Carl shines on that one. I kind of felt like that KTSA was their last progressive album. It's not as out there as some of the early 70's stuff, but it just feels like a pretty solid album with more contemporary arrangements. "Oh Darlin" "Living With A Heartache" "Santa Anna Winds" "Goin' On"- I can't argue with those.

[SG7]

15BO is 15x better.

Which begs the question about a Mike Love album called "One Big One."

Comments...

Or the unreleased Dennis Wilson dance album...Bamboogie.

Such a disturbing thought. Disco version of School Girl anyone?? 

[Fall Breaks]

Eh? Mike doing a whole album about his manhood? Suggested titles:


I Go To Great Lengths For You

Standing Up For Love

The Finest American Flagpole

and so on...

Suggestions?

A cover of AC/DC's "Let Me Put My Love Into You"?

[Autotune]

I actually like the KTSA album a lot, and I suppose it's because of how Carl shines on that one. I kind of felt like that KTSA was their last progressive album. It's not as out there as some of the early 70's stuff, but it just feels like a pretty solid album with more contemporary arrangements. "Oh Darlin" "Living With A Heartache" "Santa Anna Winds" "Goin' On"- I can't argue with those.

Interesting. KTSA was probably the best they could do at the time. What I find most annoying es that, with Dennis and Brian's voices shot, everybody is singing a wrong part in the harmony stack. Up until some years earlier, the BB vocal sound was about each member singin in a particular range where their voice rang the best. Now, they were all over the place: Alan singing falsetto, horrible nails-on-chalkboard group singing ...

[roll plymouth rock]

Anyone know if this, or any of the Mike Love solo tour shows, were recorded?
http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/11-6-81.html

And who was in his group at the time??