BB Studio Albums that were worse than their immediate predecessor?

[harrisonjon]

I assume there's a consensus about these?: Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!), Party, Smiley Smile, 20/20, 15 Big Ones, M.I.U. Album.

More contentious maybe?: Surf's Up, Carl and the Passions

This thread is partially inspired by the fact that Andrew Hickey seems to like Surf's Up & Carl and the Passions more than Sunflower and Holland, which surprised me given the views normally expressed on these boards.

I've omitted everything before Today and after M.I.U. because the former are from the era before albums were considered separate artistic works and the latter are IMHO too mediocre to be meaningfully ranked until we get to the 2012 anniversary project.

[phirnis]

How is Summer Days "worse" than Today? M.I.U. and KTSA come to mind.

[Mike's Beard]

Summer Days (and Summer Nights!)
Smiley Smile
Carl & The Passions
15 Big Ones
LA Light Album
Beach Boys '85
Summer In Paradise

[harrisonjon]

Summer Days is fine but it does not have any songs as good as Kiss Me Baby, Please Let Me Wonder or She Knows Me Too Well on it, in my opinion.

[phirnis]

In my opinion, Summer Days is easily one of their best ever. It has California Girls, Rhonda, Girl Don't Tell, You're So Good to Me, Let Him Rund Wild (!!), Summer Means New Love plus a couple of innocent fun songs with outstanding production and great singing.

[harrisonjon]

All true but it was preceded by an even greater album

[phirnis]

For me they're about equal. A song like She Knows Me Too Well is very hard to beat, though.

[harrisonjon]

The two-fer is immense value and definitely the CD I play most after Pet Sounds.

[CenturyDeprived]

All true but it was preceded by an even greater album

+1

[sockittome]

The albums that I would consider a step down from the last:

Party

Smiley Smile

Surf's Up

CatP



And I would agree that Today and Summer Days are on an equal level.  In fact, I've always listened to the two-fer as if it were one great album.

[Bill30022]

Party
Smiley Smile
20/20
Surf's Up
CATP
15 BO
MIU

[Smilin Ed H]

Um....

Summer Days
Party
CATP
15 Big Ones
MIU
KTSA
SIP

[TimeToGetAlone]

Little Deuce Coupe
The Beach Boys' Christmas Album
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Beach Boys' Party
Smiley Smile
20/20
Carl and the Passions "So Tough"
15 Big Ones
M.I.U. Album
Keepin' the Summer Alive
Summer in Paradise

Smiley Smile/Wild Honey, Sunflower/Surf's Up, and The Beach Boys/Still Cruisin' were close calls, while I think the rest are improvements on their predecessors.

[shelter]

Not all necessarily "worse", but IMO at least not as good:

Little Deuce Coupe
Christmas Album
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)
Party!
Smiley Smile
20/20
Surf's Up
Carl And The Passions "So Tough"
15 Big Ones
MIU Album
Keepin' The Summer Alive
The Beach Boys
Summer In Paradise

[runnersdialzero]

I assume there's a consensus about these?: Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!), Smiley Smile, 15 Big Ones

Disagree.

[bluesno1fann]

Little Deuce Coupe
All Summer Long
Party!
Smiley Smile
15 Big Ones
M.I.U. Album
Keepin' The Summer Alive
Still Cruisin'
Summer In Paradise

[KDS]

I think the biggest offenders are:

Smiley Smile - Hard to believe this came out the year after Pet Sounds. 

15 Big Ones - Signaled the death of The Beach Boys as a creative force. 

Keeping the Summer Alive - I thought MIU and LA were decent, but this album is a big step back. 

Summer in Paradise - The newer tracks that made up Still Crusin were good, and a step up from 1985.  Then, this happened.   

[Matt H]

The two-fer is immense value and definitely the CD I play most after Pet Sounds.

That two-fer was the first CD I ever purchased, when I was 12.  It is fantastic!

[Moon Dawg]

I don't hear SURF'S UP as a step down from SUNFLOWER. Less cohesive maybe, but does the 1970 LP contain a single tune as good as "Surf's Up", "Til I Die" or "Feel Flows"? Or an outtake as good as "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again"?

 Moreover SURF'S UP never ODs on sugary pap the way a few SUNFLOWER cuts do.

 Another commercial bomb like SUNFLOWER may have ended The Beach Boys. SURF'S UP saved them. It is the better album.

[Lee Marshall]

   Man!!!  Little Deuce Coupe is taking a drubbing.  It's an OUTSTANDING album.  I totally disagree with it's inclusion in this thread.  And YES I agree that Summer Days is every bit as great as Today.  [maybe even marginally better]  Oh...and 20/20 is a king sized great album.  Surf's Up?  Can't put that down as a 2nd rate or "worse" album.  Worse?  That suggests that the previous album was only a 1/2 a ton of turds. 

And, that said then, the only thing saving Love You's backside is 15 Bigguns...although I'm sure that about 50% [or so] think it's a top of the line album.  But that's not me.

S'matter of fact...this, then,  is kind of a peculiar 'topic'.

[phirnis]

I don't hear SURF'S UP as a step down from SUNFLOWER. Less cohesive maybe, but does the 1970 LP contain a single tune as good as "Surf's Up", "Til I Die" or "Feel Flows"? Or an outtake as good as "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again"?

 Moreover SURF'S UP never ODs on sugary pap the way a few SUNFLOWER cuts do.

 Another commercial bomb like SUNFLOWER may have ended The Beach Boys. SURF'S UP saved them. It is the better album.

I think This Whole World is every bit as good as 'Til I Die. That said, I do hear the "sugary pap" thing on Sunflower to a certain extent. Sometimes I love it and sometimes it's a bit much after a couple of songs. With the exception of maybe two songs I think the album as a whole is absolutely brilliant, though.

[shelter]

I don't hear SURF'S UP as a step down from SUNFLOWER. Less cohesive maybe, but does the 1970 LP contain a single tune as good as "Surf's Up", "Til I Die" or "Feel Flows"? Or an outtake as good as "Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again"?

I love every song on Sunflower. I think that all twelve songs are suberb in their own way. Surf's Up on the other has just ten songs, four of which I could live without (Don't Go Near the Water, Take a Load Off Your Feet, Student Demonstration Time, A Day in the Life of a Tree). And going from twelve great songs to just six is a pretty big step down, if you ask me.

And indeed, nothing on Sunflower is as good as the song Surf's Up. But on the other hand, no other song on Surf's Up is as good as This Whole World, Forever or All I Wanna Do, IMO.

[SenorPotatoHead]

I don't think of Smiley Smile as a step down.  I appreciate that some have that opinion and at the time of its release I can understand that this was the perception as well, but IMO it ain't.   It certainly was a step, not down, but perhaps sideways or in some direction askew from the previous album.  

Carl & The Passions also IMO was in no way a step down, and in fact, in some ways, was a step up from previous albums.   It was the first album since Brian's slow down and retreat that didn't have a piece of Smile on it.   For all it's "lack of flow", it contains all good stuff (even the Ricky/Blondie stuff is okay).   It has kind of a stupid title and the initial (in America) packaging with PS was unwise, but that's about all I can find wrong with it.  

[sockittome]

Of course Smiley Smile isn't a step down.  It's a trip, stumble, crash, and burn!     Seriously though, Smiley is an odd duck, but it has its place in history.  Love it or hate it, I don't think the Boys ever believed it was going to sell a million units...in September.  Some of the not-so-stellar vocals and goofing off, presented in that lo-fi atmosphere....well, there's no way anyone could put that near the same level as Pet Sounds.

Surf's Up is half an excellent album.  Carl and the Passions IS half an album.....or 3/4.  It needed a few more tracks.  Why didn't they throw in some of the accumulating outtakes to spice things up?  I just don't hear anything on CatP that is really strong and memorable.

[SenorPotatoHead]

Somebody thought enough of Smiley Smile to name this site after it.     
Whoever did that, I love you.

I feel for the Smiley dissenters and the Passionless ones....it must be so tough on them