Guilty listening pleasures

[Eric Aniversario]

To me, there are no guilty pleasures in the Beach Boys canon...I enjoy what I enjoy with no shameful feelings whatsoever!  I'd say I enjoy about 98% of their released catalog, together and solo.

[tomstuart]

"Kona Coast"! Top that one for guilty listening pleasure! 

Kona Coast is actually quite awesome. In fact, I've really started to dig MIU, except for the covers and "Winds of Change". If only they had put "Our Team" on there instead...

 I love love LOVE Our Team. There's a few songs on MIU that i know are awful, but i like 'em. I really like that fade at the end of Hey Little Tomboy (or am i just relieved it's ending - i'm not sure?) and i like Pitter Patter, even if it's odd to hear grown men singing about the rain in the style of mentally-challenged infants. I really like that little guitar sound that kicks in at the end.
 

[markcharles75]

Jay

The booted backing track to When Girls  Get Together is awesome.  So I agree with you.  I was just thinking about and listening to this track a couple of weeks ago and was going to post about it.  Just pretend no one ever heard the final version with lyrics or that it had a nonense or plain song title, say "song1Italianafternoon" lol or something like that and it was found in the vaults.  Now, there is no bias.  Then we heard the track.  We all would be like "what is this? It should be finished! Holy sh*t this is awesome! How come they didn't finish it! etc...etc..I think it is a fine track, very well produced.  Have you ever CRANKED it? It sounds awesome! It has a great melody line, the kettle drums and of course that ascending line just before the track stops and starts up again.  So, even the boys lesser known tracks or songs people don't like...well, they could shXt a better melody than I could ever write!  lol I always found something of merit in the majority of the boys work. So I agree also with Eric about liking just about everything. Just some food for thought.  By the way, I guess the track with lyrics is MY guilty listening pleasure.

Mark

[The Heartical Don]

Winds Of Change

[Sheriff John Stone]

There's a few songs on MIU that i know are awful, but i like 'em.

Do you think so? I think they're ALL pretty listenable. And that's what I like the most about MIU. It's an easy listen; pretty consistent, nothing cringe-worthy.

Now, I will agree that MIU does lack that great, classic BB/BW song, which, of course, keeps the album from being ranked higher.

[TdHabib]

There's a few songs on MIU that i know are awful, but i like 'em.

Do you think so? I think they're ALL pretty listenable. And that's what I like the most about MIU. It's an easy listen; pretty consistent, nothing cringe-worthy.

Now, I will agree that MIU does lack that great, classic BB/BW song, which, of course, keeps the album from being ranked higher.

I find "Bells of Paris" and "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" cringe-worthy (more the opening of the latter). Frankly, when I listen to M.I.U I get bored really easily.

[TdHabib]

I'm unique in that the Beach Boys aren't my favorite band (they're probably second and only on a bad day third) so I can sometimes adequately judge that there's a good deal of crap in their catalouge (barely any, I may add, was written by Brian (they don't call him a genius for nothing), Dennis or Alan). I'd say a guilty pleasure would be "California Calling," which I will admit I will sing every now and then despite the cheese factor being high. Cringe-worthy lyrics are found easily, but I think "Hey Little Tomboy," "I Want to Pick You Up" and "Anna Lee the Healer" are strong enoguh to qualify as guilty pleasures. "Match Point" has a horrible set of lyrics, just terrible, but the cool vocal and melody bring it up to that place as well.

I always really enjoyed both "Sumahama" and "He Come Down," wouldn't call either of those a guilty pleasure for a day.

[Sheriff John Stone]

There's a few songs on MIU that i know are awful, but i like 'em.

Do you think so? I think they're ALL pretty listenable. And that's what I like the most about MIU. It's an easy listen; pretty consistent, nothing cringe-worthy.

Now, I will agree that MIU does lack that great, classic BB/BW song, which, of course, keeps the album from being ranked higher.

I find "Bells of Paris" and "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" cringe-worthy (more the opening of the latter). Frankly, when I listen to M.I.U I get bored really easily.

I'm sorry, I really don't want to appear anal, but it is "BELLES Of Paris". Not "BELLS".

[TdHabib]

Ha! "Belles of Paris" then

[TheLazenby]

I'll repeat the list I said in one of the other threads...

* "Battle Hymn Of The Republic" - not bad, actually.  Mike fluffs a line or two, but it's catchy.
* "She's Goin' Bald" - ever try to sing the 'Get A Job' middle portion, imitating the rising pitch?  Fun!
* "Hey Little Tomboy" - just 'cause it's so WRONG.  Especially the rough mixes with the snorting and the pervy chatter.
* "Rollin' Up To Heaven" (aka Dirty Ding Dang) - I blasted this one day when my mom was around.  She wasn't amused...
* "HELP Is On The Way" - just incredibly catchy!  Love it!

[adamghost]

I like watching the video for PROBLEM CHILD.  Bruce looks like he's going to take a poke at the little kid all the way through it. 

[metal flake paint]

"Transcendental Meditation"- I get the feeling Brian's taking the piss out of Mike and Al!

[hypehat]

Rolling Up to Heaven isn't a guilty pleasure because it is AWESOME   

I don't get the love for Hey Little Tomboy at all. It scares the hell out of me, but I Wanna Pick You Up/Roller Skating Child don't for some reason. It is a huge trainwreck, which is probably the only level i can appreciate it on.

I have to say i really love Come Go With Me, cheap, synthetic and washed out though it is.

[Winston Wrong]

I love Pitter Patter, Matchpoint.. Let's put out hearts together, Our Team - the list is endless!

[Sheriff John Stone]

"Transcendental Meditation"- I get the feeling Brian's taking the piss out of Mike and Al!

Why do you get that feeling? Brian was into TM himself, and I didn't think that Brian was vindictive in 1968. That would come later. Not all TM songs have to be mellow do they?

[Mike's Beard]

I love that song! When I first bought Friends and saw that title I was expecting a George Harrison sitar cliche fest sorta song. Instead we get a deranged sax jazz workout! Who here honestly thought they were going to get that?

[lance]

I think Brian is definitely taking the piss on Transcendental Meditation;  maybe it's not directly aimed at Mike per se, thought I think it is--also 'taking the piss' doesn't have to be vicious or vindictive, sometimes it's just a...joke.

 But that song is definitely a joke from the jarring off-key horns, to the swami-salami chanting. It's a pretty fucking good joke if you ask me.

[runnersdialzero]

MIU. It's an easy listen; pretty consistent, nothing cringe-worthy.

I think that's debatable in several spots, much of them lyrical. Just me.

[slothrop]

I think Brian is definitely taking the piss on Transcendental Meditation;  maybe it's not directly aimed at Mike per se, thought I think it is--also 'taking the piss' doesn't have to be vicious or vindictive, sometimes it's just a...joke.

 But that song is definitely a joke from the jarring off-key horns, to the swami-salami chanting. It's a pretty friggin' good joke if you ask me.

I'm with Sheriff John Stone on this one; although the song's title and "sound" don't necessarily seem to go together, I doubt Brian was being "vindictive," but rather inventive. "Don't Worry, Baby" is about a car race, albeit one filled with doubt, but definitely avoids a typical "car song" sound; or "Wind Chimes" (Smile version) which, far from being peaceful, has a drum section that sounds more like a hurricane.

Not to mention Brian's own interest in TM. For instance: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2ijen_brian-wilson-talks-drugs-meditation

[Meade]

"Love You" and "ADULT CHILD"... for some reason, I find both of these very pleasuring listening experiences despite their numerous flaws (particularly with the second, the first is actually not a bad album). This includes songs like "Johnny Carson"  "Solar System" (which I often get stuck in my head), and the original versions of "Hey Little Tomboy" and "Shortenin' Bread" (if they were ever going to release a version of Shortenin' Bread, this would be the one... it's just cool. All these are cringeworthy, but simply irresistible.

I like a few of the songs on "Keeping the Summer Alive"... maybe it's because I went into it with such low expectations and was pleasantly surprised with maybe three or four of them. "Goin' On"  "Oh Darlin'" even "Santa Ana Winds" are all good songs despite some of the cheesiness. "Endless Harmony" even with it's stupid little "god bless america" coda is a great song if just for Carl's absolutely breathtaking falsetto at the very end.

I guess my guilty pleasure index goes a little further for Brian Wilson's solo stuff than for the Beach Boys material, because I just expect that since Brian's got nobody tethering some of his more puzzling ideas to the ground that's he's just going to be more quirky:

Half of the material for "Sweet Insanity" isn't all that bad. I love the songs  "Thank You" "I Do" ...even "Make a Wish" is fine to listen to.  The same with "Let's Go to Heaven in My Car"  and "Living Doll" ...and "Metal Beach" I've even begun warming up to despite the cheese factor and the lame production. The funny thing is, I certainly find these pieces a lot more tolerable than some of his released material... most of "Imagination" I find unlistenable, and only like a couple tracks from "GIOMH." I also like most of the material for "Landylocked" ...  even songs like "I'm Broke" and "Saturday Morning in the City"

[Alex]

Skatetown USA
Almost Summer
The Shift
County Fair
Make It Big

[Music Machine]

Cuckoo Clock

She's Going Bald (I love the gradually speeding up 'Oh what a blow' bit and the whole thing could've been on the Mothers' We're Only in it for the Money and it wouldn't have been that out of place)

When Girls Get Together (I even don't mind some of the lyrics, I like it better than Disney Girls)

Fairy Tale Music (I wish something more was done with some of the feels/ fragments)

Johnny Carson (It reminds me a bit of the Smile sessions version of Vegetables)

Pitter Patter

Livin' with a Heartache

Goin' On

Chasin' the Sky (I wish they'd done a whole album of similar stuff instead of BB '85)

Make it Big

Lahaina Aloha (The only SIP song I can get into)

[punkinhead]

I love that song! When I first bought Friends and saw that title I was expecting a George Harrison sitar cliche fest sorta song. Instead we get a deranged sax jazz workout! Who here honestly thought they were going to get that?

yeah, i thought it was gonna be that too...which actually, i wouldnt mind a sitar in a BB song...the only one I know of that has one is Cabinessence

[Mike's Beard]

After a few listens I have really come to like Mike's "Cool Head, Warm Heart". Seriously everytime I go on the ESQ site I have to listen to that song and after every listen I find myself digging it even more. Who are his backing singers on this, 'cos they sound much more "Beach Boy" like than Brian's band who at times sound like bad N*Sync (oxymoron I know!!) when they harmonise. To anybody who has visited the site and skipped the home page when they saw the dreaded M.L. initials I urge you to give it a try - you may be pleasantly surprised.

P.S. Any rumors that I have taken a bribe, payoff or backhander from Mr.Love for the above comments will be met with by my lawyer!    

[runnersdialzero]

Brian's backing band not sounding like completely different people is a good reason to fault them and their abilities.