15 Big Ones: The Original Concept of a double LP

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I think the originals on Big Ones could have been more effective in  an album of all originals. I like the oldies idea, I think a 15 Big Ones of all covers would have been okay, like Party II, you know? But it's history. I like the album, although I don't play it that much. Its OK is a great great song. I like Mike's song. I like Back Home and That Same Song. If it wasn't on the same CD as "Love YOu" I'd probably never play it, but it's not entirely worthless.

[Reggie Dunbar]

I remember buying 15 Big Ones the day it was released at Eucalyptus Records, I got a free Frisbee with it (!). Needless to say the Frisbee was far more entertaining than the album. Once it disappeared I was forced to pay attention to the music. If it was released as a double I may have disowned the boys then and there, sometimes
less is more, and in this case that's a very good thing. I have grown to accept it for what it is, a
weak effort with a couple of moments.

[TonyW]

The early 70s was my great Beach Boys/Brian Wilson awakening, I absorbed In Concert and loved Holland, by 76 I was 20 and the media was full of the Brian Is Back storyline ... so much promise ... and I remember oh so clearly the Friday night, cruising in the car with friends, when I first heard Rock and Roll Music on the radio .... WTF?

And 15 Big ones remains one of the great WTF? experinces in my life.

I've come to embrace much of Brian Wilson's excentricities over the years ... Love You has its moments, even Adult Child has its moments ... but 15 Big Ones ... aaarrrggghhhh! Wrong music, wrong sound, wrong time, wrong place ... one of the great marketing screw ups of all time. About the only moment on 15BO's for me to embrace is the unbridled joy in That Same Song. It's OK is to me the begining of the very slow end to the Beach Boys as a valid band.

[Mr. Cohen]

When you hear the instrumentals you can hear some of the hidden beauty in 15 Big Ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyQur6j2-8

[Shady]

Worst BB album, still good though, says something right 

[TdHabib]

When you hear the instrumentals you can hear some of the hidden beauty in 15 Big Ones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyQur6j2-8

The production of the album, especially on "Had to Phone Ya," "It's OK," and "Just Once in My Life was great. Brian really delivered on that front. But it really doesn't deliver in terms of originals, some are very good and some aren't as good; vocals are all over the place (although I like what Brian does by and large, he croaks every now and then) and there is simply too much Mike Love for my tastes

But "Just Once in My Life" is fantastic. Completely and utterly.

[Wirestone]

I think Brian's moves in this period were somewhat intentional -- even if they weren't consistent or followed through.

For 15BO, he was clearly interested in cutting oldies. So the album ended up being a retrospective of music that influenced him and the group. Some of the quality was a little iffy, though.

He then moved, in Love You, toward his cracked idea of what a modern-day BB could sound like. Songs like Roller Skating Child, Let Us Go On This Way and Honkin' Down the Highway are all attempts to recapture a young person's viewpoint, albeit through the lens of a 30-something, erratic musician. That's what the Beach Boys do, right? Reflect the lives of the kids!

Now, this theme didn't stick for the whole album -- just at the oldies didn't stick for all of 15BO. In the latter case, the group wanted to keep some notion of artistic credibility (i.e., the band can still write songs). In the case of Love You, Brian's interests wandered over to more mature adult themes and novelty songs.

The same can be said for Adult Child -- the Big Band sessions were for a handful of tunes, Brian seemed to find a new direction -- and then he reverted to the one-man band tunes.

[donald]

The music on 15 Big Ones...heard seperately does show a lot of creativity and quality.

What happened in the final mix and song selection remains a mystery.  It's as if it could have used a few more months work, adding a couple songs, deleting a few,  and better post production or whtever that final polishing process  is called.  It should have, could have been more of a group effort.


As someone else said, I too fast forward through most of 15BO (cept for JOIML) to get to Love you on the twofer.

I do really like Had to Phone ya,,,until it comes to the end...cmon, cmon, cmon,

[roll plymouth rock]

I'm happy to see all the response this generated! And considering I mostly only own BB music on vinyl, I have to put 15BO on via my own volition.

The reason I was inspired to post this is that I noticed Willie Nelson's Stardust album (all covers of oldies and standards) was released the same year as 15BO - maybe Brian was onto something, you know (in an ideal world) looking back before moving forward into a more mature approach to the BB sound (something the Its over now-type songs exemplify). This being said, its quite obvious that BB corporate interests did not afford the room to explore these artistic inclinations as he became less a source of artistic purity and inspiration, and more a source of bankability for the live band and record company.

And finally, I agree that the album did need a bit more polish (or maybe it didn't and that's why it remains enduring today - see: smiley smile, wild honey, friends, love you, surfin safari!) well at least more polish to become a viable double LP. who knows? still, when you let 15BO engage you on a purely musical level without too much of the politics or the groups past work in mind it is a surprisingly engaging album, one which radiates a real positive fun time feeling - something the beach boys had been lacking (for better or worse, most would probably think worse) since the psychedelic road had been trod and consequently abandoned one decade earlier (save for break away and other one-offs)

[Wirestone]

1973 -- Moondog Matinee by The Band
1973 -- Pin-Ups by David Bowie
1973, 1974 -- First two Bryan Ferry solo albums (all covers)
1975 -- Rock and Roll by John Lennon

The concept of 15BO was very of the time. Brian was doing something that a lot of other artists, for whatever reason, were also doing in the mid-1970s.

[Nicko]

I get the feeling that Brian's reasons may have been different from those other guys though. In interviews that he's given from that period through to the present day it's pretty clear that Brian is and was very concerned about how the public respond to his music and whether it will sell and so he was hesitant about releasing any new originals. I guess it's a pretty common psychological thing in those circumstances that somebody puts very little effort in so that if their work is rejected, they can tell themselves that they hadn't tried their best anyway. Brian has basically followed that path through to the present day and left to his own devices in the studio is happy to get it over with as quickly as possible even if the results are substandard.

[Wirestone]

I disagree -- sort of.

I mean, some of what you say hits home -- take the abandonment of something like the Paley sessions, which if properly presented would have re-established Brian a good eight-nine years before BWPS did -- but the music was maybe too personal, maybe too arty. It was okay to have fun in the studio with a friend, but actually releasing it? Naah. Better to go off to Chicago, have Joe Thomas oversee tracking sessions and sing harmonies. Brian can play that game.

But there are oldies on 15BO on which Brian is clearly inspired. The wrecking crew resurrection of Palisades Park. The sloppy gorgeousness of Just Once In My Life. There are also some tossed-off trifles. But that goes for the originals, too. Something about those songs fired up something in Brian -- and they still do. Have you seen him perform Johnny B. Goode in concert? He loves his oldies.

I think Brian can be a pretty simple guy sometimes, and a very complicated one at others. So all of what I'm saying can be true sometimes, and all of what you're saying can be true at others. Sometimes he's a ball of nerves and self-examining, sometimes he doesn't care at all, and sometimes he knows precisely what he wants to do.

He's also -- and this is a much more reductionist view -- mentally ill. His moments of focus can be fleeting. So lately if he's rushing to get something out, it may be because he knows that's the only way it can get out at all.

[chris.metcalfe]

I actually listened to 15BO last week on my mint US vinyl copy for the first time for years, and though the sound is very smooth, revealing and meaty (perhaps because of this), the whole affair is absolutely wretched.  Brian's vocals are just horrid and the cover is the worst ever. End.

[The Heartical Don]

I was just looking at the 'Holy Mackerel' photo, which I already knew. What puzzles me:

I read a review of POB, where the author described the album as recognizably one of the classic 'cocaine' albums. He named 'Hotel California' and 'No Other' (Gene Clark) as two other examples. Although I never used the Bolivian Marching Powder myself, I saw his point. You can discern a special quality in all three sets. Not necessarily negative, mind. A bit 'zonked out' ('Friday Night' is an example), slurred slowish singing... whilst the Eagles do a polished form of self-irony, self-critique, IMHO. It's all a bit 'nice', comforting, the pain is there but sedated.

That leads me to the connection between the Wilson/Medley photo and 15BO. I can't imagine Brian having done a 'coke'-album. Even at his very worst he tried to do something naive, childlike. In that respect, the 'cocaine sessions' (which I never heard, of course) are not about cocaine.

Am I right?

[Wilsonista]

I would also add Tusk to that list of coke albums.

Although I can understand why a good portion of the original fanbase were turned off by 15BO, especially coming off of Holland, I have to admit, there are tracks from that album and that period that I quite enjoy. I think all of the Brian originals are fun (the track of Had To Phone  Ya is as good as anything he did in the mid-60's). Everyone's In Love With You is the one Mike song that I actually like.  Some of the oldies cook lke Palisades Park and Just Once In My Life. But the problem I think is that it was poorly sequenced and some tracks that weren't that good were included that shouldn't have been included. 

I would have to think this over, but I think an enoyable and non-embarassing  album could have been culled from what was completed that  is superior to the album that was released.  And best of yet, it could have still met the criteria of it being a Brian-produced album (after the sucess of Endless Summer and Spirit of America, the band could not have gotten away with a non-Brian produced album). As it was, it was this album, basically that killed the mid-70's comeback. 

[donald]

MIU was the biggest overall disapointment of the era.  When Brian didn't screw up,  someone else did, it seems.

[Andrew G. Doe]

(the track of Had To Phone  Ya is as good as anything he did in the mid-60's).

Anything ?  

This is just my opinion, and not (as above) stated as fact, but to these ears, the track for "Good Vibrations" shades "Had To Phone Ya". Just.  Likewise the tracks for "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Kiss Me, Baby", "The Little Girl I Once Knew", "Let Him Run Wild", "Salt Lake City", "Let's Go Away For A While" and a few other songs from 1964-66 might be considered just a tad better. IMO. 

[Wilsonista]

I was referring to the music bed, not the completed version.

And I stand by what I said, Mr Looking Back With Love Is A Good Record.

[smile-holland]

I was referring to the music bed, not the completed version.

And I stand by what I said, Mr Looking Back With Love Is A Good Record.

... for playing frisbee... 


Just kidding. I get your point, even like a few tracks (paradise Found is not bad at all).

And- hey- I became a fan when I heard Kokomo... have to give that song some credit...

[Andrew G. Doe]

I was referring to the music bed, not the completed version.

So was I, hence my use of the word "tracks" and not "songs". You seem to be laboring under the impression I can't read or comprehend basic English very well. I assure you this is not the case.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

In all fairness, in some circles "songs" and "tracks" mean the same thing! Never quite got that one, even though it seems to mainly be limited to the the US...you'd think I'd be less confused an/or annoyed by that

[Andrew G. Doe]

In all fairness, in some circles "songs" and "tracks" mean the same thing! Never quite got that one, even though it seems to mainly be limited to the the US...you'd think I'd be less confused an/or annoyed by that

From very early on in my immersion in the world of Wilson, it was evident to me that a "track" was the instrumental backing. I clearly recall Carl saying in an interview "we cut a track for that song".

[Wilsonista]

Am I forgiven if I say it's a great track of an OK song? 

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

That was my understanding too...just seems like more and more reviewers (again, mainly here in the US) referring to individual songs as "tracks". Of course, it seems like spelling and grammar have fallen by the wayside, so I guess society is just about f***ed!

Am I forgiven if I say it's a great track of an OK song? 

Actually, that describes a lot of 15 BO, imho.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Am I forgiven if I say it's a great track of an OK song? 

The track is great. The finished version... passable.