The People's Choice: Your favourite Beach Boys album

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Here, we vote for the best Beach Boys album and once the thread slips to the nether reaches of the page, I count the votes and give you a comprehensive breakdown.

I was going to do the Beatles but it'll be done to death, and besides I'm more familiar with the Beach Boys.

I'm only going to include the main official album releases, sans rarities and compilations.

So maybe we can find out once and for all which is actually best?
Or maybe it'll just be interesting...

Here are the choices, cast your vote now - one per person - no cheating!

Surfin Safari
Surfin USA
Beach Boys Concert
Surfer Girl
Shut Down Vol 2
Beach Boys Christmas Album
Little Deuce Coup
All Summer Long
Today!
Summer Days (And Summer Nights!)
Beach Boys Party!
Pet Sounds
Smiley Smile
Wild Honey
Friends
20/20
Stack-O-Tracks
Beach Boys Live In London
Sunflower
Surf's Up
Carl & the Passions
Holland
Beach Boys In Concert
15 Big Ones
Love You
MIU Album
LA (Light Album)
Keepin ' the Summer Alive
Beach Boys Live At Knebworth 1980
Beach Boys
Summer In Paradise

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Smile

― gygax! (gygax!), Thursday, 4 December 2003 02:59 (twenty-one years ago)

revolver.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:00 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry, doglatin.

; )

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:01 (twenty-one years ago)

I did say! I deliberately didn't put Smile because there is no official version out so people would be talking about different albums.

Any way, I'm going to go for:

Smiley Smile

(christ that was tougher than i thought)

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:06 (twenty-one years ago)

Wild Honey

― M Matos (M Matos), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:13 (twenty-one years ago)

Well, I guess I'll be the boring one and say Pet Sounds! Now, then, we've got that out of the way. Feel free to start nominating Pacific Ocean Blue by Dennis Wilson.

― Matt Helgeson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:18 (twenty-one years ago)

You're worse than Pavement fans! ;-)

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:24 (twenty-one years ago)

sunflower.. grossly underrated!!

― tim misir, Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:28 (twenty-one years ago)

Friends

― Paul (scifisoul), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:35 (twenty-one years ago)

surf's up or pet sounds.

i've always wanted to hear pacific ocean blue

― the surface noise (electricsound), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:36 (twenty-one years ago)

Surf's Up

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Sounds

― otto, Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:42 (twenty-one years ago)

It's definitely Pet Sounds. But these days I'm more likely to just pull out Friends and 20/20... (also I've never heard anything after Holland.)

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:48 (twenty-one years ago)

It's really Smile, but per the rules, I'll pick Pet Sounds.

― Chris F. (servoret), Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:49 (twenty-one years ago)

20/20 edges out smiley smile & friends but only just

― duane, Thursday, 4 December 2003 03:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Holland

― bahtology, Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:12 (twenty-one years ago)

surf's up

― jt. r, Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Smiley Smile.

― hstencil, Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:40 (twenty-one years ago)

friends

― JaXoN (JasonD), Thursday, 4 December 2003 04:51 (twenty-one years ago)

pet sounds

― fact checking cuz, Thursday, 4 December 2003 05:09 (twenty-one years ago)

How 'bout the anthology now? Really...

― Francis Watlington (Francis Watlington), Thursday, 4 December 2003 05:12 (twenty-one years ago)

Surf's Up

― brent_D, Thursday, 4 December 2003 05:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Well do you want the best one or my favourite one?
Either way, it's probably sunflower.

― harveyw (harveyw), Thursday, 4 December 2003 10:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Sunflower for me too.

― slb, Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Another vote for "Sunflower" from me.

― Rob M (Rob M), Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:17 (twenty-one years ago)

friends

― dave q, Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Well do you want the best one or my favourite one?

favourite, cos that's what counts innit!

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Summer Days (and Summer Nights)

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:55 (twenty-one years ago)

Friends for me too.

― Tim (Tim), Thursday, 4 December 2003 11:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Holland.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Thursday, 4 December 2003 12:31 (twenty-one years ago)

Current stats:

summer days (and summer nights!): 1
pet sounds: 5
smiley smile: 2
wild honey: 1
friends: 4
20/20: 1
sunflower: 4
surf's up: 3
holland: 2

Okay, early results show that the famous Pet Sounds is winning. Not a surprise, all things considered, but it is closely followed by Friends and Sunflower. Surprising to see few votes for earlier albums at this stage - is no-one going to vote for Today!?
Anyway, best not to start biasing the data with too much feedback at this stage. Keep casting those votes!

---------------

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 13:00 (twenty-one years ago)

Summer Days (and Summer Nights)

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:03 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Sounds

― Chris B. Sure (Chris V), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes don't bias the data!

Does anyone else who came to the later Beach Boys via the 2-on-1 CD reissues not listen to them separately? I just hear those things as a 'whole' mostly. So I'm going to say Pet Sounds cos it's the one I know best as a discrete album.

― Tico Tico (Tico Tico), Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Wild Honey. By a mile really. (Unless you counted greatest hits. Then it would be Wild Honey by a nose. Followed by Greatest Hits Volume 2.) Oh, and I hope somebody votes for Love You. It's a wonderful record.

― Not That Chuck, Thursday, 4 December 2003 14:56 (twenty-one years ago)

i object to the "no comps" rule and place a protest vote for Endless Summer.

― chris herrington (chris herrington), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Best of the Beach Boys Vol 2

― Burr (Burr), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:24 (twenty-one years ago)

objection overruled. stick wid da program mister!

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Surf's Up

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 4 December 2003 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

nah Tico, I listen to them as seperate albums quite often, especially Beach Boys Concert/Live in London, and 15 Big Ones/Love You (only listening to the latter in both cases)

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:49 (twenty-one years ago)

yeh, i can make the distinction too. normally there is a large jump from album to album. I must say that the two-fer series must count as one of the greatest musical packaging deals of all time. Two albums on one cd, extensive sleevenotes and commentary and also nice and cheap - fucking great!

― dog latin (dog latin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 17:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Sounds, followed closely by 15 Big Ones.

― may pang (maypang), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:26 (twenty-one years ago)

Two albums on one cd, extensive sleevenotes and commentary and also nice and cheap - fucking great!

Yeah, and you forgot: bonus tracks!!

I am like Tico though, I usually just slap those two-fers on and let them play through (which is why I mentioned Friends and 20/20 together as my current listening option if not my favorite). Despite my own rockist leanings, I'm basically too lazy to memorize where each album starts and ends (and it's not clearly delineated without looking in the liners).

― Broheems (diamond), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:40 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, ditto re: the friends & 20/20 run-together.

i'll pick pet sounds, though, since i haven't spent nearly as much time with the other seven or eight i own. and i haven't really heard any of the other albums listed, so my opinion is pretty worthless as usual!

― brian badword (badwords), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:50 (twenty-one years ago)

'Pet Sounds' unquestionably... with 'Sunflower', 'Today' and others a little behind.

― Tom May (Tom May), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:51 (twenty-one years ago)

Pet Sounds, but if there wasn't a Pet Sounds...Today.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 4 December 2003 18:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Smile should be on this list.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:26 (twenty-one years ago)

But absent that, I go with Wild Honey...

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Surf's Up

― Dave Vinson (Gaughin), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:39 (twenty-one years ago)

Today, totally underated. One book I read, I think Heroes and Villians, makes quick mention of Today as another collection of Car and Surf songs. Huh? She Knows Me Too Well? Please Let Me Wonder? When I Grow Up to Be a Man? I'm So Young? Kiss Me Baby? In the Back of My Mind? etc

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Today is the blueprint for Pet Sounds!

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:48 (twenty-one years ago)

(but it doesn't have Let Him Run Wild, Girl Don't Tell Me or the single version of Help Me Rhonda, which is why I choose SD(aSN)

― jel -- (jel), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:49 (twenty-one years ago)

I just never felt like Summer Days and Summer Nights gells as well as a complete record, but for the record, Girl Don't Tell Me is my all time favorite Beach Boys song. Hell, it's close to my all time favorite song.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Thursday, 4 December 2003 19:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Selzer is OTM - "Girl Don't Tell Me" is their best song. Pet Sounds best album, but yes, "Today" should be No. 2. Although that bit at the end where they're eating cheeseburgers in the studio is always a tad annoying.

― Troy, Thursday, 4 December 2003 21:14 (twenty-one years ago)

Wild Honey

― cinniblount (James Blount), Thursday, 4 December 2003 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

pet sounds if I can't vote for smile. sunflower would run next but only because of surf's up, I really don't listen to much else on the record but that song trumps pretty much the entire rest of the catalog except for Pet Sounds.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:15 (twenty-one years ago)

obviously I meant "surf's up" and now "sunflower". duh.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:16 (twenty-one years ago)

pet sounds

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:19 (twenty-one years ago)

as for favorite song... it's between "forever", "soulful old man sunshine", and "in my room"

― donut bitch (donut), Thursday, 4 December 2003 22:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, looks like this threads about to fall off the ILM edge of the world, so here are the results (as best as I could count them, apologies if I miscounted)

1. Pet Sounds (13 Votes)
2. Surf's Up (5)
3. Friends (4)
3. Sunflower (4)
3. Wild Honey (4)
6. Holland (2)
6. Smiley Smile (2)
6. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!) (2)
9. Today (1)
10. 20/20 (1)

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:45 (twenty-one years ago)

my favorite ALBUM is wild honey

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

i mean the one im least liable to skip any tracks on

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:48 (twenty-one years ago)

much of sunflower is really naff

today is great except for that shit last track of them talking in the studio

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 8 December 2003 11:49 (twenty-one years ago)

So inevitably Pet Sounds wins by a country mile, perhaps a sign that the much bemoaned rock canon can be right some of the time.
As mentioned before, hardly any early surf'n'car albums were even mentioned throughout the thread. Perhaps this is the "no-comps" rule affecting statistics, albums as statements being more relevant after 1965. Therefore early hits are best heard on a "Greatest Hits" package rather than as part of a proper album. That said, I have a soft spot for the Surfer Girl album, despite it being largely filler.
Lots of love for Surf's Up and Sunflower on this thread, two of my very favourites. Nice to see that people are not ready to believe that the Beach Boys were a downward spiral after Pet Sounds. Surf's Up would have been my choice if not for the wonderful Smiley Smile (here only getting two votes, sadly). It also proves that the Beach Boys weren't just Brian Wilson and Co, Surf's Up being probably the most inter-band collaboration rather than a single auteuristic vision.
Still a shame about Today, probably the first giant step in the Beach Boys chronicle. "I'm So Young" is worth the album alone.

So what does everyone else think about this - and can someone post up some slinky graphical representation of the results?

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:17 (twenty-one years ago)

http://www.holton.k12.ks.us/hhs/60/password/beach%20boys/boys4.jpg

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:53 (twenty-one years ago)

sorry maybe that was too graphic

― amateur!st (amateurist), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Sunflower here!

― Steve.n. (sjkirk), Monday, 8 December 2003 12:57 (twenty-one years ago)

Sunflower

― Andrew L (Andrew L), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:04 (twenty-one years ago)

fuck, everyone's bollocksing up the data. I don't see why we can't just carry on voting, except the current results may bias the final outcome.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:06 (twenty-one years ago)

I listened to Holland yesterday and I say more firmly than ever... HOLLAND!

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 8 December 2003 13:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I am boring and I vote for "Pet Sounds".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 8 December 2003 22:22 (twenty-one years ago)

So inevitably Pet Sounds wins by a country mile, perhaps a sign that the much bemoaned rock canon can be right some of the time.

though i voted for Pet Sounds myself, i couldn't disagree with this conclusion more. i'd argue quite the opposite: that the more people you poll, the more likely your results will gravitate away from individual taste and move toward an already accepted canon.

big groups tend to vote for the obvious. and canons tend not to be "right" or "wrong," but rather just plain obvious.

― fact checking cuz (fcc), Monday, 8 December 2003 22:30 (twenty-one years ago)

votes for Smile should count, don't be such a rockist.

― gygax! (gygax!), Monday, 8 December 2003 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

There is no definite version of Smile. I have a version and I love it to bits more than anything ever but we'd only end up bickering about which tracks are on the album and which versions etc.

― dog latin (dog latin), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 00:46 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah let's do that

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 00:49 (twenty-one years ago)

Sunflower

I also have the 2 for 1 problem. Sunflower is the first half and Surf's Up is the second half, right?

― Debito (Debito), Tuesday, 9 December 2003 01:50 (twenty-one years ago)

Has to be one of the greatest hits compilations, when there was still some rock'n'roll in the mix. I find most of the later music too other-wordly to like very much, beautiful and sophisticated though it was. There are some exceptions but most of them would be on a well-chosen greatest hits anyway.

― ArfArf, Tuesday, 9 December 2003 17:36 (twenty-one years ago)

four months pass...

The first album I bought after Pet Sounds was a double reissue of Friends and Smiley Smile from the 70s. I kind of hated that when I bought them on CD they had different partners.

Pet Sounds, followed by Today, followed by Surf's Up.

― N. (nickdastoor), Wednesday, 21 April 2004 23:55 (twenty-one years ago)

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