Mike Love - Unleash the Love - Due November 17 - w/ 2nd Disc of BB Remakes

[Pretty Funky]

Back to Mike's album, I'm curious why he put everything in the lap of Michael Lloyd instead of just using the Paul Fauerso stuff from 2004. And why have other guest vocalists, but scrub the Christian Love leads from circa 2004?
 

I wonder if Mike and Christian had a falling out? Being as he not only left his dad's band, but was wiped from recordings, it would seem a bit odd for that to speak of a great, happy relationship. Could be wrong of course.

Someone will remember the details but about the time he left someone apparently close to the parties wrote a scathing account here. Mentioned details like asking for a gig or two off for a personal reason and being stood down for weeks as a result. Not a happy situation.

[NateRuvin]

Mike crying while singing Brian's Back was one of the fakest and most uncomfortable things I've ever seen.

[HeyJude]

Back to Mike's album, I'm curious why he put everything in the lap of Michael Lloyd instead of just using the Paul Fauerso stuff from 2004. And why have other guest vocalists, but scrub the Christian Love leads from circa 2004?
 

I wonder if Mike and Christian had a falling out? Being as he not only left his dad's band, but was wiped from recordings, it would seem a bit odd for that to speak of a great, happy relationship. Could be wrong of course.

Someone will remember the details but about the time he left someone apparently close to the parties wrote a scathing account here. Mentioned details like asking for a gig or two off for a personal reason and being stood down for weeks as a result. Not a happy situation.

Here's the post with someone discussing that situation with Christian Love:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,19222.msg491223.html#msg491223

[guitarfool2002]

I'm listening as I do every morning to WXPN on my late 60's era Zenith AM/FM radio in my kitchen. They just spun two Beach Boys songs back to back, "It Takes Two" feature played each weekday morning. Don't Worry Baby and Do It Again were on tap today.

It was my own deep, cleansing breath of a realization, maybe a reaffirmation of sorts, of the bigger picture with all of this listening to those two songs on the ol' Zenith.

The current discussion topic is "Brian's Back" among others, and a forthcoming disc of remakes including Do It Again (2017) with special guests. That's about all I can say short of a face-plant reaction followed by head scratching and an appeal to the heavens with arms outstretched and a prolonged wail of "why? ".

Don't Worry Baby seems to keep inching up the list of what I think are the greatest popular songs of all time. The production and overall *sound* are enough, and Brian's soaring falsetto was among the best vocals he's ever recorded. Then back it up with the group blend, and Mike's deep, close-mic'ed bass vocals "don't you worry..." in the chorus.

But the songwriting too...it's brilliant lyrically and in its deceptive musical simplicity. Brian used the technique he heard on those Spector records like Be My Baby where he modulates up a key just before the chorus to give the chorus that added push that jumps out of the speakers...the chord progression remains constant to a degree but he's hitting higher notes due to the key change, and it's that sparkle that lights up the speakers for the hook.

He also uses the "Brian Wilson Chord" to borrow Carole King's term for his spin on the "V Chord" reharm, in this case the A chord with B in the bass, throughout the song and into the chorus with the key change. It's what stumped many a novice player like myself trying to figure out why it never sounded quite right playing a regular B along with the recording.  

The real genius that hit me too was how anyone listening to that song had absolutely *no clue* the song had anything to do with racing cars until a full verse, prechorus, and chorus/hook had gone by. It begins as a universal theme of a guy being more in love with his best girl because she was there to reassure him and be there for him with support and love...and how much he needs that. No mention of cars until verse 2. That to me is a great song, where the theme starts as something anyone can relate to, then develops even further to overtly state the drag racing theme and the guy's anxiety and his girl's calming words turned out to be centered around an upcoming drag race.

But...the drag race in the lyrics, thanks to that universal first verse/prechorus/chorus theme could be a metaphor for any challenge in life where sometimes that one thing you need is the support and love from someone you care about to get those nerves up to meet the challenge...whether it be a drag race or another life event. The drag race theme in verse 2 and 3 could be literal but it almost becomes metaphorical to anything in life.

THAT is songwriting of the highest caliber - simple in ways, yet compelling. The whole record is roughly two minutes showing the true craft of writing, performance, and production as done by a young guy with one good ear and beautiful falsetto voice, and a group who blended vocally as good as anyone ever could.

Do It Again...I've written so much about the merits of the original recording that it's not worth repeating. But that drum intro will forever stand as one of the coolest sounding things ever put on tape.

And we're supposed to be excited about or even talking positively with anticipation about stuff like "Brian's Back" and a remake of Do It Again with a guy randomly yelling "do it" throughout the recording?

Perspective this morning courtesy of WXPN and a vintage Zenith radio in my kitchen.  

[Pretty Funky]

Back to Mike's album, I'm curious why he put everything in the lap of Michael Lloyd instead of just using the Paul Fauerso stuff from 2004. And why have other guest vocalists, but scrub the Christian Love leads from circa 2004?
 

I wonder if Mike and Christian had a falling out? Being as he not only left his dad's band, but was wiped from recordings, it would seem a bit odd for that to speak of a great, happy relationship. Could be wrong of course.

Someone will remember the details but about the time he left someone apparently close to the parties wrote a scathing account here. Mentioned details like asking for a gig or two off for a personal reason and being stood down for weeks as a result. Not a happy situation.

Here's the post with someone discussing that situation with Christian Love:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,19222.msg491223.html#msg491223

That’s the one. Thanks HeyJude.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

GF, I thoroughly enjoyed your DWB post. Thank you for that and many others.

[Gabo]

Two more days. I'm finding it harder and harder to live without Love as we get closer and closer. 

[SMiLE Brian]

GF, I thoroughly enjoyed your DWB post. Thank you for that and many others.

Agreed, we all owe BW for some great music. Hell, youngsurferdude for keeping the faith in the 1960s.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

GF, I thoroughly enjoyed your DWB post. Thank you for that and many others.

Agreed, we all owe BW for some great music. Hell, youngsurferdude for keeping the faith in the 1960s.

BB fandom was incredible until Smiley Smile and then the cat calls and potshots came along and all too often. YSD had to really stand up for what was a big part of his soul. Being in the minority from then to about 1971 was no cakewalk, but I took it in stride with the wounds healed and enjoyed the ride for the next few years enjoying the live shows and the glowing reviews and went all out and bought Endless Summer. Of course meeting them all a few times was the icing on the cake. And, yes, myKe luHv was, from the beginning, an annoying presence and that feeling has blossomed over the last 55 years into how I now feel and to see him being called out for who and what he's really all about is heartwarming to say the least.

[Gabo]

The album is now available for purchase (on Itunes). What does everyone think, after hearing the album?

[Pretty Funky]

Spotify in NZ.

[jiggy22]

Spotify in NZ.

Also free to listen to on Youtube as well.

Just got to "Daybreak Over the Ocean", and I gotta say, I think it's actually better than the BB's version. It's based more off of the original First Love recording, which I always saw as the superior version of the song. Great job so far Mike! 

[wild neon sins]

Carl Wilson will be making a vocal appearance on the album… https://twitter.com/MikeLoveOFCL/status/929855756857430017

Is that photo of Mike and Brian shooting hoops published elsewhere? I don't remember seeing it before. It appears near the end of the preview.

screenshot


Straightened & cropped

Google's reverse image search helpfully thinks it's a picture of a tree.

[RiC]

Oh my god... It's not like the "new" songs are bad, but the vocals... What happened to that Mike who wants to give a new take in the KTSA sessions video when some one syllable wasn't good enough? These songs sound like Mike woke up in a huge hangover and did the whole album on one take. Then some random dude threw the autotune on everything and pumped it to 110.

This has propably been discussed already, but why the hell there isn't a Kokomo remake on the second disc!?

[Pretty Funky]

Just had a taste of a few tracks.

 ‘California Girls’ sung by Robo Mike.

Oh...My...God! 

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

I get around and fun fun fun vocals are very poor...funny as thought those would be easier ones for him.

That song Make Love not War is a honking piece of sh*t but if he had changed the title, called it Mike Love not War and made it an answer song to all his critics over the years......well, would have been incredible.

Overall there are 5 or 6 quite pleasant listenable songs over the 2 discs as well as some absolute stinkers.

[HeyJude]

One of the only tracks out of the 25 that isn't drenched in autotune is "Cool Head, Warm Heart", which makes total sense as it sounds like it's one of the only tracks that was lifted more or less untouched from the circa 2004 recordings. It's the same "take" released on the 2006 Hallmark CD. I can't say for sure if it's literally the same mix, as I haven't A/B'ed the two.

But it's the same version, with the same lead vocal, etc. I can't even say with 100% certainty that "Cool Head" is absolutely free of autotune, but it's the only song that doesn't sound like "robo Mike."

I'm loathe to make a sweeping statement one day in to the release of an album, but "Unleash the Love" may just have the worst-sounding lead vocals ever released on any Beach Boys-related product. The autotune really is *that* bad.

It also sounds like there has been some speed adjustment to some of the songs. He sounds a bit like an autotune chipmunk on "Too Cruel."

A lot of the actual performances, while hard to discern too deeply under all that autotune, sound rather tired and breath-ey as well. Some are better than others. Again, not surprisingly, "Cool Head" being at least 13 years old sounds better than most of the others.

[HeyJude]

Oh my god... It's not like the "new" songs are bad, but the vocals... What happened to that Mike who wants to give a new take in the KTSA sessions video when some one syllable wasn't good enough? These songs sound like Mike woke up in a huge hangover and did the whole album on one take. Then some random dude threw the autotune on everything and pumped it to 110.

This has propably been discussed already, but why the hell there isn't a Kokomo remake on the second disc!?

I weirdly hadn't thought of that! It is a bit odd that "Kokomo" wasn't among the remakes. Who knows, he may have recorded it and not put it on the album.

Though not as glaring of an omission, I'm surprised he didn't include the 2004 remake of "Everyone's In Love With You"; I recall Mike back circa 2004 even performing that new "arrangement" of the song in concert. Assuming one can get past the kind of dippy lyrics and sing-song nature of the song, that remake was surprisingly one of the palatable moments on those 2004 recordings.

[SinisterSmile]

Far out, Help Me Rhonda is offensively bad. C'mon Mike, you can do better than this.

[marcusb]

The vocals on I Get Around.. is it a joke? Is this real life?

[bonnevillemariner]

-"Daybreak" is interesting. Varied instrumentation and new presentation. I like it, but I really miss the harmonies on the TWGMTR version.
-Digging "Too Cruel." It's probably the ukulele.
-"Cool Head" seems to be the same vocal, different mix. I like the Hallmark mix better.
-New mix on Pisces Brothers. I like the old better.
-The rest of the originals are garbage.
-The remakes are total garbage

Glad I Spotified this. I'll purchase "Too Cruel" and call it good.

[rab2591]

Today is the big day! Have the morning off so it’s as good a time as any to listen and write some first impressions.

1. All The Love In Paris. Knowing what robo-Mike sounds like later on in this album I gotta say, comparatively Mike sounds really good on this track. Jeff’s falsetto also sounds good.

2. Getcha Back. Ugh. I guess I’m so used to Brian’s falsetto here, but this is way too Foskett-y for me. This is a case where I really dislike covers - like why try to make it sound exactly the same as the original? Mike sounds like he’s singing underwater.

3. Daybreak Over The Ocean. That autotune just destroys whatever potential these songs have. I really like the version on TWGMTR but this seems like a very degraded remake. The string section is the only highlight of this track, well until the end where it sounds like they ripped it from the HCTN disco track.

4. I Don’t Want To Know. This reminds me of Bob Dylan from 10 years back (before I get flayed alive for that comment, I just mean the whole aura of the song, the rhythm, the raw sound of it, really reminds me of that NOLA kind of sound that Dylan used years back). I really dig it, nothing I’d really listen to again but it’s good compared to what I’ve hear thus far. It’s nice that not everything Mike does has to sound like a stereotypical beach boys track.

5. Too Cruel. I like the backing track. I could definitely hear this as something Mike would bring to the table for a beach boys album. It could really use some better vocal production, and I don’t dig the lyrics too much. But surprisingly good.

6. Crescent Moon. This is the Mike I miss...these lyrics actually paint a cool picture. Not much autotune (I mean I can hear it all over the track but someone had the decency to not put it on max like every other song on this album) which is great.

7. Cool Head, Warm Heart. Nice a cappella intro. Lyrics are kinda 🤢. No autotune, which is great.

8. Pisces’s Brothers. Mike’s vocals sound damn good and clear on this track - is this the same version he released a couple years ago? I think I remember pointing out the autotune on that version in the past, but compared to the awful autotune on the rest of this album this sounds great. The lyrics are just laughably bad. Calling yourself a brother to a man you hardly knew? Eck, that’s just kinda bad taste.

9. Unleash The Love. Only good thing I can say about this song is that it doesn’t sound like a stereotypical beach boys songs. I said before, it sounds like the terrible Vacation Bible School songs on cassette tapes I got when I was 5. Not a fan.

10. Ram Raj. I really dig this one. I think they should’ve kept it an instrumental with the chorus chant still there. Reminds me of Do You Like Worms. I hope Mike branches more in this direction if he does any future albums.

11. 10,000 Years Ago. Why is Stamos listed as a guest artist on some of these tracks? It’s not like the drumming is something overly special here. Not a fan.

12. Only One Earth. Not bad. The female leads, even with autotune, are a nice addition to the palette, nice that he’s not relying solely on Foskett for high vocals.

13. Make Love Not War. Wondering throughout this whole song if he ever pondered these lyrics while he was pointlessly suing his cousin, and appealing it for years. Like really, it’s comical that someone who wants to “unleash the love” and “make love not war” was/is so hellbent on creating turmoil in the courts, newspapers, etc with his own blood. That aside, the song itself is probably nothing I’d ever listen to again.

Overall, if you’re a fan of Mike Love then I’m sure you’re going to like this album. It does have its moments but the whole package just lacks anything that would make me come back for a listen. There is no standout hit. The autotune just flat-out kills a few songs. 2/5.

The covers album. Oh man.

1. Cali Girls. Mike’s vocals are terrible. It’s like he actually took pointers from Joe Thomas’ C50 Live album.

2. Do It Again. Enough has already been said about this drivel.

3. Help Me Rhonda. MIKE WHAT THE HELL IS WITH THE AUTOTUNE. Did no one have the balls to tell him how bad this sounds?

4. I Get Around. I Get Autotune. Listen to it for the laugh.

5. Warmth Of The Sun. Ok I actually really like this, Ambha has a really good voice. The first song in this set I will probably listen to again.

6. Brian’s Back. The first mike lead on this album that didn’t make me chuckle. So it is possible for Mike to sound good without (much) autotune. Besides TWOTS this is the best sounding song thus far in the covers section.

7. Kiss Me Baby. It’s aight. Sounds a lot better than the first few songs on the covers section. But the original is just too damn good. And the autotune on the female leads is just distracting as hell...and so unnecessary.

8. Darlin. I like this one. The lead vocal is friggin great, and the backing track is great too.

9. Wild Honey. The production is great, as is the lead vocal. These two cuts from WH are friggin great. Love that guitar solo. Can’t stress the production enough on this one, sounds like a great live track. Will be adding this to a playlist for later listening.

10. Wouldn’t It Be Nice. It aight, nothing that would make me listen to it again.

11. Good Vibrations. Same as WIBN, it’s like HeyJude said earlier, this is like Mike’s band doing a studio album of their stage performance. Nothing in this makes me want to hear it again.

12. Fun Fun Fun. Mike please stop with the autotune. It’s not attracting young hip listeners, it’s not doing your voice any favors. I just can’t believe no one in your band even subtly let you know this doesn’t sound good.

There are some standout songs on here that i’ll listen to again. But otherwise this album perfectly showcases the absurdity of autotune. Kiss Me Baby has some really great vocal moments ruined by the effect. Darlin, Wild Honey, and warmth of the sun all sound fantastic, and I’ll be listening to them again. 1.5/5.

Like Bonevillemariner, glad I had a streaming service to listen to this on (Apple Music). Though I won’t be purchasing any of these tunes.

[SMiLE Brian]

Rab needs a beer.....

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

  Maybe two. 

[rab2591]

Oh man, a beer or two is right. This version of Help Me Rhonda is the worst thing I’ve ever heard a Beach Boy release...hell, that includes the unofficial stuff like Rollin Up To Heaven. I think I understated just how bad the first four songs are on the cover album. It’s not even funny, really. It’s just sad that 5 years ago Mike was helping make an album that hit number 3 on the charts, and now he is happy making this. My thoughts on this autotune nightmare: