New album info (as it rolls out...)

[Shady]

If there was ever a time to use the "Love You" synths on a new Beach Boys album it was "Stange World"

[Autotune]

yet at the same time, i want to see more videos of the band from this period

 All the negative stuff and hate about the Mike & Bruce show comes from this era.

Not really. There was plenty of hate in the late 90s already. I remember it well. It could be thrown at you any time. It took like 10 for Mike and Bruce to earn a reputation. They had to work their asses off.

Back to the new album... No Blondie or Ricky. Meh.
 

[Zach95]

I feel so strange to be enjoying this while surrounded by Beach Boys hate.

Obviously we hate The Beach Boys, we post here!

Of course we do.  Because fandom is about obsession rather than love.  Love keeps no record of wrongs; fandom keeps an umpteen-page autotune thread.

Seriously.  Found out a funny thing over in Doctor Who fandom, when comparing fan polls with the general-audience appreciation surveys:  when asked to score episodes on a 1-to-10 scale, fans consistently scored them lower than the general audience.  Fans are more nitpicky, more intensely critical.  Just because we care more deeply doesn't mean we're actually more positive about the things we care about.

So yeah, you're more likely to find hate for the Beach Boys on a Beach Boys board than anywhere else in the world!

Which is a damn shame, because I'd love to have a place where I could be enthusiastic without someone declaring vociferously how much what I like sucks.  (This doesn't mean I'd want to ban any sign of unhappiness; I just prefer the critical stuff to be more measured rather than full-on wailing and gnashing...)

Cheers,
Jon Blum

What is important and extraordinarily difficult is to identify your own opinion as separate and uninfluenced by that of others.  It's very hard to do this, and no matter what anyone says, it can be very easy to be swayed one way or another about the quality of a work of art based on other people's opinions.  The trick is avoiding this, and holding true to one's own initial personal convictions

[Autotune]

100% agreed. At this point, I could give two sh*ts about who started it, just that it gets finished and doesn't end up on the board anymore.

That's good with me, man. I just hope Iron Horse-Apples isn't dissuaded from giving his opinion. I, for one, welcome his insights.

I think the new album will be part of IHA records shelf in the future. He just has to grow with it. And eventually, even for completist reasons, he'll end up owning it. My 2 cents.

[Shady]

Question, are Mike's vocals on "daybreak" newly recorderd are they from the solo album

[SMiLE Brian]

yet at the same time, i want to see more videos of the band from this period

 All the negative stuff and hate about the Mike & Bruce show comes from this era.

Not really. There was plenty of hate in the late 90s already. I remember it well. It could be thrown at you any time. It took like 10 for Mike and Bruce to earn a reputation. They had to work their asses off.

Back to the new album... No Blondie or Ricky. Meh.
 

Weren't the early Mike and Bruce shows in 1998 really bad?

[I. Spaceman]

100% agreed. At this point, I could give two sh*ts about who started it, just that it gets finished and doesn't end up on the board anymore.

That's good with me, man. I just hope Iron Horse-Apples isn't dissuaded from giving his opinion. I, for one, welcome his insights.

I think the new album will be part of IHA records shelf in the future. He just has to grow with it. And eventually, even for completist reasons, he'll end up owning it. My 2 cents.

Yeah, most likely.

[Autotune]

yet at the same time, i want to see more videos of the band from this period

 All the negative stuff and hate about the Mike & Bruce show comes from this era.

Not really. There was plenty of hate in the late 90s already. I remember it well. It could be thrown at you any time. It took like 10 for Mike and Bruce to earn a reputation. They had to work their asses off.

Back to the new album... No Blondie or Ricky. Meh.
 

Weren't the early Mike and Bruce shows in 1998 really bad?

It didn't really matter. People hated them period.

Back on topic, I'd like to submit that Mike sounds phenomenal in all these new songs. Myself I expected a brand new rocker a la Morning Beat sung by Mike. Oh well... perhaps on the next album!

[runnersdialzero]

With the Adrian Baker talk, this might be a good opportunity to remember how far we've come: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MNV-eve42M0&feature=

Saw this and "Good Vibrations" last night, and I'd seen "Don't Worry Baby" some time ago. Does he normally sing like this? Was he drunk?

[Jim V.]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

[Shady]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

Oh, yes!

[runnersdialzero]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

Probably different clips? They generally are. Can anyone confirm?

[Zach95]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

Probably different clips? They generally are. Can anyone confirm?

Yeah, thirty second clip for TAD but the rest are 1:30. They are different.

[Catbirdman]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

"Isn't It Time" is still a favorite for me...

Mike gets some nice moments.

Exaggerated use of autotuning in the "isn't it time" refrain... I'm sure will come under a lot of fire... but sounds great to me

Right at the very end of the clip the track is starting to do some very interesting things with the vocals and the clangs

[Catbirdman]

at 0:24 in "From There To Back Again" - the riff there - reminds me strongly of The Night Was So Young

[Shady]

I can't listen, those clips are too long

[Zach95]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

"Isn't It Time" is still a favorite for me...

Mike gets some nice moments.

Exaggerated use of autotuning in the "isn't it time" refrain... I'm sure will come under a lot of fire... but sounds great to me

Right at the very end of the clip the track is starting to do some very interesting things with the vocals and the clangs

Who is singing that?

[runnersdialzero]

Clips are up on iTunes now too!

Probably different clips? They generally are. Can anyone confirm?

Yeah, thirty second clip for TAD but the rest are 1:30. They are different.

1:30! Damn, don't know if I want to hear THAT much of these songs quite yet.

[Zach95]

I would say Beaches in Mind is the weakest track, Spring Vacation behind it. Really impressed with Daybreak and Isn't it Time.

[Catbirdman]

"Summer's Gone"

just caught a snippet of a lyric -

"...for those who still have more to say."

what an amazing line, painful

then an oboe

wow

[Zach95]

Okay, the iTunes samples sound ENTIRELY different than the Amazon samples, as I predicted the auto-tuning is NO WHERE NEAR as bad as it sounded on those Amazon samples.  Iron Horse, please give this a chance.  This sounds so much different...I swear by it.

[Jim V.]

"Isn't it Time" sounds like a new classic up-tempo Beach Boys song. I like the vocal interplay.

"The Private Life and Bill and Sue" and "Shelter" to me, sound like Brian solo tunes. Maybe they are better on the album, but meh, I don't know yet. I like the "Darlin'" like melody on "Shelter".

"Daybreak Over the Ocean" I think is quite lovely actually. I think Mike is way under utilized on the album.

"Strange World" sounds kinda disappointing. I was hoping for more. Very TLOS. But I don't care for that album. But maybe after hearing the album I'll like it more.

"From There to Back Again" sounds very pretty. I'm really excited. Al sounds great. Brian sounds good.

"Pacific Coast Highway", Brian sounds really nice on. Kinda like "Southern California" but with better vocals by Brian.

"Summer's Gone" sounds absolutely beautiful. Brian sounds absolutely awesome. "Caroline No" type vibe. Probably going to the be the best song on the album.

[Justin]

......mustn't...be...swayed....by.....the.....longer.....clips.....must...stick.....to.....my....guns....and....hold...out....for...the.....actual.....CD...................

[drbeachboy]

I would say Beaches in Mind is the weakest track, Spring Vacation behind it. Really impressed with Daybreak and Isn't it Time.

Out of the twelve, Spring Vacation is catchiest. My favorite, so far in the early going.

[Wirestone]

The lengthy clips are deeply impressive.

For those who want the TLOS sound, it's on more tracks than you might have thought.

The tuning is nowhere near as bad as you might have thought.

Brian sings astonishingly well on the closing suite of songs.

I may be enjoying this more than Love You. True thing. Right now, I'm thinking best since Sunflower. Really.