Youngblood (Carl Wilson)

[Charles LePage @ ComicList]

Discuss, review and rate Youngblood, released February 1983.

[Jason]

A raw, rockin' album from Carl. Very fun to listen to. Dig the outtake "Where We Are".

[donald]

I'm a hard core Carl Wilson fan.  But I can't imagine that any major fan of later day BeachBoys would not enjoy this album.  A nice mix of Carl the Rocker as well as Carl the soft crooner.  The 2 CW albums should be released as a twofer.

[Smilin Ed H]

Horrible AOR stuff with sound that's just too busy.  Not as good as most of the first album, which in itself is no masterpiece...  Title track is about the best one on the album

[donald]

Horrible AOR stuff with a busy sound?  OK.  some parts are.  Especially the single release that made the top 80 in someplaces.

But my comment was that fans of CW and LATER BeachBoys music featuring Carl, will find much to enjoy.  There is truly enough good music on the two CW solo albums to make one very nice album, at the very least.

If you like the CW material on KTSA and 85, you'll warm right up to the CW solo stuff.

Don't forget...we're talking about two complete albums from the man who could sing the telephone directory and make it sound good.

[Emdeeh]

A raw, rockin' album from Carl. Very fun to listen to. Dig the outtake "Where We Are".

Outtakes??!! Oh, wow! I'd love to hear those.

Carl's solo albums are no POBs (or "Feel Flows" for that matter), but I still enjoy listening to them. It's his amazing voice, it gets under my skin in a way none other does. I love his version of "Rockin' All Over the World"!

Also, best album cover photo on any BB-related product!  I've got a poster of it, personally signed by Carl, hanging up proudly at home.

[Jason]

Outtakes??!! Oh, wow! I'd love to hear those.

It's nothing earth-shattering or anything, it's just a very nice outtake that would've fit nicely on the first side of Youngblood. I don't know about others, there might be a few. Hell, there might be dozens. I don't know.

[Rocker]

This is better than his first one, but still, I think Carl could have done much better things(and I expected him to do so)

[Aegir]

This album makes "Surf Jam" seem like a wonderful Carl Wilson composition in comparison.

[I. Spaceman]

This album makes "Surf Jam" seem like a wonderful Carl Wilson composition in comparison.

Surf Jam IS a wonderful Carl Wilson composition, dude.

[Aegir]

Meh, it's okay, I don't know, it's just a little boring.

[I. Spaceman]

If you don't like surf music, I guess.

[Aegir]

I do like surf music, I just don't happen to like Surf Jam.

[I. Spaceman]

Well, at least we agree on how horrible Youngblood is.

[MBE]

Too Early To Tell is pretty good. What you do to me could have been good with better lyrics (like poetry yow!). The title track has a horrible production, hmm Rockin is ok if not worth playing over and over. Better then Beach Boys 85

[donald]

Carl's cover of Billy's One More Night Alone is, IMO, among the best CW vocal performances and anyone disagreeing is itching for a fight.

[Howdy Doody]

OK album, not that great.

[donald]

I'd like to have the CW material on CD along with all of the Dennis material (I already have the BW material on CD)

I'd like to make a nice compilation of favorites.  I could do it with records but I've yet to buy the necessary software and patchup hardware to connect turntable to computer.

I would think someone would make this available in a legitimate release.

[Aegir]

If it were someone else singing this, I'd never give it a second listen.

But I gave it a second listen, and I still don't like it. What You Do to Me is the only song I'd listen to often.

My least favorite is "Time". It's all over the place, and comes right after a soft ballad. The sequencing on this album is terrible.

I give it a 2 for Carl's voice and Carl's voice alone.

But it's crap. Crap crap crap.

[lance]

About the same as the first album. I can listen to it, theres a song or two, maybe even three that are ok...

Actually, it is the lyrics that do me in more than anything. Not that bad...just spectacularly dull. Sort of a Survivor feel to the album.

[Aegir]

I regularly listen to Carl's solo albums now. I guess I've gotten used to them.

[Alex]

A mediocre album by a guy who could do much better and knew he could do much better.

[phirnis]

'Til very recently, Youngblood had gathered dust for years without me ever giving it a serious try. Have to say it reminds me of BB85 in places. In fact, Of The Times could have been among the highlights of that much-maligned album, which I never thought was THAT bad after all.

That said, as an album Youngblood is still pretty much of a bore. Also, Carl's trying a bit too hard to come across as a rock singer here. But maybe that's just me as I have always preferred his more gentle singing over his eighties rock voice. Our Sweet Love, that's the way I love him best. - 2/5

[drbeachboy]

Just a reminder that the reissue of Youngblood is still set for release tomorrow, October 26th, per Amazon.com.

[Dunderhead]

just a reminder this album is good. honestly, it's not as original as the stuff dennis or brian did, but it's worlds ahead of Looking Back With Love. The second track, She's Mine, i've liked from the first time I've heard this album. And honestly, Carl never really got to shred on many Beach Boys songs, so it's nice for once to hear him go all out.

3/5