Post-Smile Beach Boys albums?

uhh, Pet Sounds comes to mind, being that is one of the best pop records of all time. It has everything a record needs to be great, great songs, great arrangements, great production(see the Brian Wilson remastered version from the PS box set, much better than what was on the 1992 gold disc re-issue, or the plain jane version you can find in stores now,) and great performances.

Most people write off the Beach Boys over Kokomo, and they miss out on some moments of pure pop genius. Even the pre-Pet Sounds singles are brilliant.

It also has the distinction of being Paul McCartney's favorite record.

Re: Smile

If nothing else, it has Good Vibrations. I like it because it is an absolutely brilliant piece of cracked psychedelia. Bottom line, The Beach Boys won, the Beatles never came with anything this fucked.

I think Love You is worth investigating too with its burbling synths and songs about Johnny Carson. Its pretty much a Brian solo.

So, if you are coming from the Brian camp...You might just want to figure out the right compilation of post-'Smily Smile' tracks written by Brian. And 'Love You' - which was, basically, a strange Brian Wilson solo album in the late 70's.

However, if you're coming from (or just don't care either way) camp of the Beach Boys (the band)...everything that Gareth mentions is worthy of your time - well, I would say that most of those (other than 'Wild Honey' and '20/20' and maybe 'Holland') are worthy of your time, regardless.

Anyways, personally I went ahead and bought them all - for the Brian Wilson tracks. However, I do find that 'Friends/Sunflower/Surf's Up' are all very fine band albums. The most mellow being 'Friends'. The most consistent probably being 'Sunflower'. And the most interesting (and downright humorous, rather that was intentional or not, who knows) being 'Surf's Up'.

"Holland" is also a good album, although somewhat more patchy than those two classics.

Please. If we're going to be quoting lyrics from that song I think it has to be "Neptune is god of the sea-ea-ea/Pluto is too far to see-ee-ee"...

Actually, from "Carl and the Passions -- So Tough" and on, you could put together a single 80 minute (if even that) CDR of good Beach Boys songs collecting the best from that album and all the ones after. (Granted, you wouldn't have to go too far past it)

"L.A./Light Album" is much maligned, me thinks. "Here Comes The Night" disco is quite out of place, despite me liking it, half-ironically... but "Good Timin'", "Baby Blue", and even "Sumahama" are a good hit/miss ratio for a late 70s Beach Boys record.. you have to admit.

And I think "Surf's Up" is a much better album than "Sunflower", though both are alright.. though unfortunately, Mike Love's "Student Demonstration Time" skunks up "Surf's Up" so badly, that I can totally understand why people choose "Sunflower" over it just for that reason.

"Love You" is actually my favorite post-"Wild Honey" LP. One of the greatest records made in any genre anywhere. "Sunflower" is good; "Surf's Up" and "Holland" are pretty weak. "20/20" is also good. But "Love You" is their last truly essential work--it's fun to watch TV in California!

1. Let Us Go on This Way
The big rowdy funfair intro that harks back to "Amusement Parks USA" is juxtaposed with the sweet accappella chorus of "God, please let us go on this way". Brian really screams this one out, okay he sounds a bit like your drunken uncle trying to tell you how great the Stones sounded in 1973 but I find this rather more fun than boring ol Mick Jagger.

2. Roller Skating Child
I have to listen to this one again when I get home from work - I can only remember the opening lines.

3. Mona
"Hope your gonna love Phil Spector"! Class.

4. Johnny Carson
One of the best tracks on here. Lyrically harks back to Smiley Smile again. This is probably one of the first examples of someone singing about a minor celebrity for no reason at all and lyrically, this solidifies the "Love You" ethos. There is no other Beach Boys album that gives out this kind of fried vision. It's like Brian has gone full circle. The naivety of early works is amplified to the extreme and it's as though he's stopped being a teenager and started being a child again. Sad? Perhaps. But surely it takes a lot of courage to be this honest, especially after a hiatus such as this.

5. Good Time
This is classic simply for the lyrics "She's kinda skinny, and so she leaves her falsies on/She's always cooking and she's so good lookin" etc. It's madness but only Brian could make this work. Love the strutting oompah and the Smiley-Smile harmonies too.

6. Honkin' Down the Highway
"Gosh darn!" It really sounds like Brian could be recovering here. There's a real feeling of peace, expectation and freedom in the lyrics - "Got a little date with an angel".

7. Ding Dang
This is a lot of fun - written with someone from the Byrds - non?

8. Solar System
I like to imagine Brian being swooshed round a badly superimposed universe on this song. Again, hilarious lyrics.

9. Night Was So Young
A reminder that Brian will always be capable of writing something truly beautiful.

10. I'll Bet He's Nice
I love the synth work on this track - the first one that stood out for me.

11. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
I love this one too! The female singer (I forget her name - it's not Marilyn Wilson is it?) is really nice along Brian's now hoarse bawl. I like the harmonies of synth and voice on the "Take your time don't worry 'bout a thing" line.

12. I Wanna Pick You Up
This is so disturbing depending on how you view it.

13. Airplane
Another favourite - highly underrated. Truly lovely.

14. Love Is a Woman
Some more words of wisdom to end.

ADULT CHILD

Pretty much my opinion too.

"Surf's Up" does also have most of its best tracks towards the end btw.

Wasn't sure which of the many Beach Boys threads to put this on, but I figured this wasn't a bad choice. I went to bed last night feeling really sick and feverish and ended up having the wildest fever dreams for most of the night. The only one I vividly remember was when I bumped into this dude at a record store that was telling me about two "lesser known" Beach Boys albums, apparently part of some alternate timeline.

The first was a 1978 album called Runnin' Low which was more in the country/folksy vein, with several of the songs heavily indebted to the "outlaw country" of the era. The second was even weirder, apparently in this universe Dennis didn't drown that fateful night but ended up needing a long time to recuperate and got super into fucked-up synth sounds in the meantime. Somehow he roped the guys into cutting an album that he drove, and the result was 1984's Night Races. The vivid part was the cover art which was sort of like the Trans artwork but more Tron with highly stylized and neon versions of 50s cars. So weird.

another time i found some box set which was like all of these outside productions sly stone did ca. 1971-73, like five whole LPs by other artists (soul singers, mostly, but a full album by little sister too) plus a bunch of singles. and it was all as dope as there's a riot goin on.

LOL, just remembered this:

Had a dream which had a Beach Boys album in it last night. I woke up and wrote some of it down, then went back to sleep. It was an eighties album. It had ten tracks on it. The first track was one of their old songs, the second was called something like "Really Back" (referring I take it to the fact that Brian Wilson was back in the band) - it was 0:00 long. What else? Oh they do version of The Who's "Tommy Can You Hear Me?" on there, this is 0:30 long (for some reason the lengths of the songs have stuck in my brain). Fourth track on Side One is an epic, an eight minute track called "The Grand". But there's another 8 minute track which closes the album, this one's called "Coconut Buffin'". Highlight of the album has to be Side two, track one, a collaboration with 70s funk legend Johnny 'Guitar' Watson (and 'his Crew'), a song called "Rain and Shine or 1 of a Git".

― Vicious Cop Kills Gentle Fool (Dada), Tuesday, 24 January 2006 11:02 (6 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Great minds dream alike eh?

Oh man, I want these to exist. Tom D - You know Brian Wilson has an epic solo song called Rio Grande, right?

Listening to some of his compositions just now, I was compelled to google 'bruce johnston conservative' and, well, the results are unsurprising.

Wake the World: The Friends Sessions and I Can Hear Music: The 20/20 Sessions out today and on Spotify

Very grateful for the combination of time and copyright law essentially forcing these rarities onto the market

oh man... wow. do i need to listen to these?? i've barely scraped the surface of the Wild Honey one

listening to the Friends one now — sounds great! I love this period.

oh man I had no idea these were coming out

Is It True What They Say About Dixie (Audree Wilson) [recorded 1968] [Produced by Brian Wilson]

wtf is this

old al jolson number?

lol at the transcendental meditation backing track

lol at that track in general

I kinda want these right now but am so far behind the bootleg box set release schedule that I only just now finally copped a copy of the Dylan Cutting Edge box

i'm really curious to hear about that attempted remake of the "friends" album with tandyn almer but i guess that'll be coming along later...

eight minutes of sessions for "been way too long", i'm down with that!

Yeah that track is amazing

okay the Friends one is great. Some of these compositions are easily on a level with Pet Sounds once you listen to the arrangements.

LOL at the a capella Transcendental Meditation. Sounds like he's singing 'It's Cuuuunt, It's Cuuuunt'

gotta say charles manson's input is definitely an improvement on dennis wilson's "peaches" demo

it's great to hear the "passing by" demo with the original lyrics. great harmonies on the alt take too.

overall i think there's definitely more cool stuff on this than there was on "sunshine tomorrow", and i liked "sunshine tomorrow"

Xmas pressie sorted.

man, they've really dumped a lot of new recordings on Spotify. I've been enjoying show 2 of the Michigan University Live album. The way they pulled off Good Vibrations and God Only Knows is pretty impressive (although Love's stage banter is just as embarrassing as you think it's going to be).

Sadly I think most of the Friends remake stuff is lost. Why did it take place anyway?

this stuff is amazing

Never listened to the proper album apart from “I Can Hear Music”, which is a favorite, but this 20/20 Sessions thing is great

Of course I have also heard “Do It Again” several times, but it wasn’t always voluntary.

on no why is there no Busy Doin Nothing tracks on this friends one :(

uh, there is... track 14 on Wake The World

OH SWEET

THIS IS AWESOME

Yeah i gotta get these

hearing 'passing by' with lyrics is breaking my brain

some of these compositions are easily on a level with Pet Sounds once you listen to the arrangements.

damn this is amazing. incredible how deep the Boy's vaults go. Agree w the above, def hear some of these as a real (ignored and underrated) return to form for Brian in terms of the arrangements and melodies.

The next decade of copyright extension releases is going to be incredible, I hope the laws remain the same

Yes, I hadn't even thought of the road to 2024. So much new material possible.

man, I still really have no idea what Mike Love was thinking with this blasting atonal track about meditation. just... what

Think someone recently posted a video compilation of him holding a long nasal “note,” presumably related to his TM practice somehow.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xfilXmU4ReM

hey mike
hold that long nasal note
and let it float

The question really shouldn't be "Is there anything worth digging up after Smiley Smile?", more "Is there anything worth digging up after Holland?"

I mean, that run of albums from Wild Honey to Holland feature some very good to great stuff. I even prefer Sunflower to Pet Sounds on most days.

I think they were mostly done after Holland, the occasional great track aside. No, I'm not a fan of Love You.

"Love You" was a Brian album anyway. They were good for the occasional track after "Holland" but not much more.

as a whole unit, yeah I think that's generally true

Turrican OTM

Love You is a masterpiece

Love You is ridiculous but fun

15 Big Ones is absolutely dreadful. I don't mind 'Had To Phone Ya' and 'To Song' is silly in a similar way to the stuff on 'Love You' but apart from that it's practically unlistenable. funny that it was touted as a return to form at the time

Love You is moogifried free association craziness, like a totally burnt out Smiley Smile

MIU and LA both have their moments, quite sweet hotch potch albums really.

Keeping The Summer Alive is no masterpiece but it's got enough decent tunes on it to make me put it on occasionally. I like 'Goin' On', 'When Girls Get Together' and 'Endless Harmony'

looks like there's a ton of 1968 live stuff that came out today too ... which is less exciting but hey.

I'm on a Beach Boys Discord server (shut up) and they had a Q&A with Mark Linnett and Alan Boyd they other day. Mark revealed this super cool thing about the new "Great Shape" fragment that can be heard at the end of CITFOTM on the Wake The World set:

"its from the Drurrie Parks acetates which ended up with a record dealer who sold them for $10k and wouldn't allow us to have a copy. He played it for me once and I managed to get a part on my cellphone and added to the end of the CIFOTM acetate"

CITFOTM

ok lol this one took even me a second to figure out

That CITFOTM story is infuriating.