Yet Another Beach Boys Thread - The Best of the Pre-"Pet Sounds" albums

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I just got the Surfer Girl/Shut Down Volume II twofer. A lot of this material I only know from the radio (ie, the singles - I may have heard "Warmth of the Sun" a grand total of once, for instance), and nowadays this material seems to largely have been eclipsed by the muso-cache of their later work. So who'll rep for "Denny's Drums"? "Be True to Your School"? "Fun, Fun, Fun"?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:28 (nineteen years ago)

"Fun, Fun, Fun" needs someone to rep for it?

― Sons Of The Redd Desert (Ken L), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

I like Shut Down Vol 2 a lot. May be one of my favorite Beach Boys records. Always felt like "Keep an Eye on Summer" was thisclose to being a classic. "Pom Pom Play Girl" is dirty.

― Billy Pilgrim (Billy Pilgrim), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:37 (nineteen years ago)

I'll have to give the new ones a listen before I pass judgment - the only other pre-Pet Sounds stuff I have is Today/Summer Days (and Summer Nights) - lots of great stuff on Summer Days, esp. "Let Him Run Wild", which blew me away as a kid, it was on some comp my dad had.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:42 (nineteen years ago)

Today is probably the most consistently good record. No filler except for the "bull session", great rockers and great ballads.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:44 (nineteen years ago)

the bull session thing is so weird and pointless (its not even an interesting interview! Its like them getting sandwiches and trying to remember the interviewer's name and shit.) I wonder how this "Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson" track compares...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:48 (nineteen years ago)

Summer Days! is the best pre-PS. I still got the old Capitol twofer of Today and that one. great stuff.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 16 June 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

i've got a copy of Today. Side B of Today can easily be on par with a ton of Pet Sounds stuff.

― Andrzej B. (Andrzej B.), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:12 (nineteen years ago)

"All Summer Long" is my favorite Beach Boys album, full stop.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:13 (nineteen years ago)

that's on a twofer with Little Deuce Coup - I can't decide if I should be uber-completist and get that too...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:17 (nineteen years ago)

It might be a weak early record, but it is loads better than the late 70s and 80s stuff that a real uber-completist would buy.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:42 (nineteen years ago)

I'll rep for the single of "Be True to Your School," but not the LP version.

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:49 (nineteen years ago)

"All Summer Long" *is* a great album -- "Don't Back Down"!

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

this "uber completist" can't bring himself to get anything past "Holland"...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 21:59 (nineteen years ago)

That's just common sense, of which I have little.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:07 (nineteen years ago)

does anyone actually by the 80s Beach Boys albums (aren't there only like two...?)

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:08 (nineteen years ago)

I think the pre-PS albums are underrated relative to PS. Right, simple narratives of cars and surfing w/ Chuck Berry just don't carry the same cachet as solipsistic chamber music from a mad genius. Today! has one of my favorites--'When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)'. I think that album is the consensus best but maybe because it most resembles PS. But I also like their simplest stuff like Surfin'. There's nothing to that song.

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

hmmm I see All Summer Long also has "I Get Around" on it, one of my favorites of their early hits...

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

I wish they actually had a song about surfing with Chuck Berry!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:15 (nineteen years ago)

this "uber completist" can't bring himself to get anything past "Holland"...

no way, all true beach boys fans have much love for Love You!

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:17 (nineteen years ago)

post 1980 beach boys albums (non comps):

Keeping the SUmmer Alive (80)
The Beach Boys (85) (this has Getcha Back on it, which is alright, and Brian Wilson)
Still Cruisin (89) (I can't tell if this is rerecorded versions of old songs or what)
Summer in Paradise (1992)
Stars and Stripes Vol. 1 (96) This is basically a bunch of country stars singing Beach Boys songs with Mike Love and who? doing bvox.

one thing is true: no-one has more fucking interchangeable album titles than the beach boys. not even Asia!

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:19 (nineteen years ago)

does anyone actually by the 80s Beach Boys albums (aren't there only like two...?)

I have every lp they ever released, including all of brian and dennis and van dyke's solo records.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

Still Keepin the Summer Cruisin Alive in Paradise at the Beach!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

I have the Murray Wilson LP.

― Dan Selzer (Dan Selzer), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:24 (nineteen years ago)

it appears that summer in paradise has John Stamos doing "forever" and for that it should be shot out of a canon

― kyle (akmonday), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

if you have a copy of Bamboo GIMME (also lookin for the original version of Dennis' "Carry Me Home").

pretty please?

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:25 (nineteen years ago)

When you join the BMG club, you get 7 discs. One could get the 4 main pre-Pet Sounds twofers, Pet Sounds (sort of a twofer itself with mono & stereo), and the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey & Sunflower/Surf's Up twofers. They used to have Friends/20 20 but no longer. No Love You either.

― Carlos Keith (Buck_Wilde), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:28 (nineteen years ago)

I've seen the Love You/15 Big Ones twofer used fairly often.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:29 (nineteen years ago)

"Shot out of a canon" hahahahaha. Yeah, Shakey, you gotta get "Love You."

― Rickey Wright (Rrrickey), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:31 (nineteen years ago)

i dont know about no albums, but

warmth of the sun
wendy
be true to your school

― duff (duff), Friday, 16 June 2006 22:51 (nineteen years ago)

Summer Days, easy.

― Naive Teen Idol (Naive Teen Idol), Saturday, 17 June 2006 01:43 (nineteen years ago)

Pre-Pet Sounds:
Today; On some days my favorite Beach Boys record full stop. Gorgeous production (the chorus swell on "Do You Wanna Dance," just about everything about "When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)"), and a great mix of rockers and weepies, as noted upthread

Summer Days, Summer Nights; Although sometimes maligned for it's unevenness (and it is somewhat uneven), its many peaks ('Let Him Run Wild," "Girl Don't Tell Me," "California Girls," and the list goes on) are some of the best stuff the Beach Boys ever did.

All Summer Long; With the exception of two absolute cringe fests, "Do You Remember" and "Drive In," a pretty consistent set. Lots of good, well known stuff here ("I Get Around," "Little Honda", "All Summer Long," "Wendy"), and it also includes one of my favorite, lesser known ballads, "We'll Run Away," which could sit perfectly on the second side of Today.

― David Bachyrycz (David Bachyrycz), Saturday, 17 June 2006 02:42 (nineteen years ago)

"Today" without a shadow of a doubt. That second side is marvellous.

"Summer Days (And Summer Nights)" is also great.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 17 June 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

Btw. Nobody has mentioned "Surfer Girl", which is actually a great album with lots of great harmony singing on it - particularly the ballads.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 17 June 2006 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

Summer Days and All Summer Long are my two. I think Today is a tad bit overrated, but great none-the-less. I think Let Him Run Wild is like in the top 5 BBoys songs ever.

"uber completist", meet Wipe Out by The Fat Boys featuring Mike Love and his John Stamos Kakamo' Band.

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Monday, 19 June 2006 02:19 (nineteen years ago)

No love for Party!....

This was the quick toss-off recorded in one day and released while Brian was working on Pet Sounds...

I wouldn't say it's as good as Today or Summer Days and Summer Nights!!, but I enjoy it for being the slight foreshadowing to Smiley Smile... It's essentially that, but before the drugs were taken.

― aDOring NUTbians (donut), Monday, 19 June 2006 07:05 (nineteen years ago)

Party, Summer Days, Today and Surfer Girl are awesome. All Summer Long is okay. The others are meh. I never really liked their car songs for some reason. I especially hate Cherry Cherry Coupe.

― dog latin (dog latin), Monday, 19 June 2006 11:26 (nineteen years ago)

new ch-ch-ch-cherry coupe, it's outrageous.

― PappaWheelie 2 (PappaWheelie 2), Monday, 19 June 2006 18:16 (nineteen years ago)

"Party" was the worst Beach Boys album until "L.A" and "Keeping The Summer Alive" dragged things further down almost 15 years later.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Monday, 19 June 2006 18:27 (nineteen years ago)

eighteen years pass...

A very off the wall interview with David Marks has just been released…

https://discograffiti.com/podcast/189-the-beach-boys-david-marks-the-discograffiti-interview-part-1/

― PaulTMA, Saturday, 11 January 2025 13:16 (one year ago)

Please Let Me Wonder

― LightUserSyndrome, Saturday, 11 January 2025 16:40 (one year ago)

That was an entertaining David Marks interview. I was thinking the whole time, “he’s such a Boomer,” and then at one point he basically apologizes for being a Boomer. It’s such an interesting paradox to be known forever for making music that you consider trite, that even objectively is kind of simple, and which you made before the age of 16.

― Josefa, Sunday, 12 January 2025 00:05 (one year ago)

Hard to pick a favourite part, but "'Love & Mercy', and all that poo poo" was one

― PaulTMA, Wednesday, 15 January 2025 16:53 (one year ago)

nine months pass...

I was listening to Summer Days (And Summer Nights) and Let Him Run Wild sounds a lot like a Pet Sounds track. This led me to contemplate the pre-Pet Sounds track that most sounds like it could have been on Pet Sounds. I think it's either Let Him Run Wild or In My Room. Is there another contender?

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Thursday, 16 October 2025 22:36 (four months ago)

"She Knows Me Too Well" for the lyrics and "The Little Girl I Once Knew" which was a direct precursor to the whole Pet Sounds thing.

― Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 October 2025 22:39 (four months ago)

...and also Glen Campbell: "Guess I'm Dumb"

― Lithium Just Madison (C. Grisso/McCain), Thursday, 16 October 2025 22:49 (four months ago)

"Kiss Me, Baby" would have fit on Pet Sounds. So would've "Please Let Me Wonder"

― Lee626, Friday, 17 October 2025 13:41 (four months ago)

(more specifically, "Kiss Me, Baby" is cut from the same cloth as "You Still Believe in Me")

― Lee626, Friday, 17 October 2025 13:48 (four months ago)

I totally forgot about "The Little Girl I Once Knew". Good call. I only have it on the 1993 Box, which has been in storage with all my other CDs for probably five years.

― il lavoro mi rovina la giornata (PBKR), Friday, 17 October 2025 13:54 (four months ago)

Even though I often hear it described as a bridge or intermediary between Summer Days and Pet Sounds, it sounds too primitive for that to my ears; it's more like an outtake from All Summer Long. The rich production is quite <i>Pet Sounds</i>-y though which may account for it's rep

― Lee626, Friday, 17 October 2025 14:18 (four months ago)

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