Worst Beach Boys Song on Pet Sounds - Part 13 in an Ongoing Series

The Mike Love one.

Hmm, so what does Geir make of Betty Boo's "Let Me Take You There" ?

(which contains a sample of "Pet Sounds" the track...)

xxpost well, that's sorta true -- isn't Love the guy who made Brian change "Hang On To Your Ego" to "I Know There's An Answer"? I like the chorus "Hang On To Your Ego!" better than "I know ..." so, that is probably the worst track here.

Actually, I like that he did.

You have the "I know" which is like a "part one", and "Hang on" which is the 'reprise' for the album end.

Not at the time, granted.

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, for being kinda whiny.

:O

"Here Today". It's totally forgettable musically, and the lyric is dumber than average on a not very lyrically deep album. If you skip it, the album flows just fine without it. There's nothing malign about the song, it's just dull.

I have a four track "Pet Sounds" e.p., with "God only knows", "Sloop John B", "Here Today" and "Wouldn't it be nice".

Back then, "Here Today" was the lessest track of the four, so that one.

so easy, Sloop John B

^^^ this

That was the 'added hit' that didn't "fit in", but it's great though, and we just happened to be learning it in Folk Club at school at the time, so not that one.

the a cappella break in Sloop John B is too awesome for it to qualify as "worst"

maybe the resentment comes from years of pressing 'skip' but I honestly do just find it kinda annoying.

I'm inclined to go for one of the instrumentals, I think

You Still Believe In Me

^ I wanna cry

Funny, I loved Sloop John when i first heard it. I was 11. Didnt hear the album til later.
Clearly the worst track.

yeah I wasn't really counting the instrumentals, though I prefer "Let's Go Away For A While" to "Here Today" even so. Listening to the latter again, the bass and organ parts are fantastic, carrying a little of the dread of "Caroline, No". But the horns aren't very effective, too glib. The bridge is terrific, though.

I love "Sloop John B", but I think I love the Beach Boys most when they boom out a stack of vocals, and "Sloop John B" does that very well.

yeah the ascending bridge ("she made me feel so bad/she made my heart feel sad" etc) and rolling bassline in "Here Today" are great (also lolz camera conversation in bkgd)

I'm voting for Pet Sounds. The lesser of the two instrumentals, nothing particularly interesting about it.

Let's go away for awhile. Though it's still pretty awesome.

Sloop John B is one of my favourite tracks on this.

xp. Yeah I think it has to be one of the instrumentals, just depends which one you think is more essential.

actually Caroline No is pretty wet too.

Aside from the fact that PS is a great production and pretty good tune, it's crucial to the concept of the suite. I imagine it as the soundtrack to the protagonists' date at the zoo, a chilled summer day of love. SJB has nothing to do with anything else.

oh man i love those instrumentals.

xp, I voted for Caroline as best track.

"Caroline, No" is awesome in many many ways but the sax that comes in at :59 is awful and horrible.

Sloop John B is least awesome track. The instrumentals are treasures 4EVA.

xp is so wrong

yes, that is wrong. one of my fave things on the pet sounds sessions box set is the speed-corrected instrumental of "Caroline, No". So slooooooow.

yeah I just listened to like six versions of "Caroline, No" on the box set, so awesome (despite the sax)

^^^jealous

Went for "Pet Sounds" just ahead of "Sloop John B", but they are both great - like everything else on this glorious album.

to be super challopsy - if Sloop John B didn't exist, I woulda voted for God Only Knows.

we have a winner - the ultimate challop

"Pet Sounds" sounds 100x more awesome after you find out that it was originally titled "Run James Run"

This album is so deep under my skin now that it's hard to get any objective distance. Can't imagine cutting "Here Today" for example - the "ah AHHHs" during the chorus are just so buoyant, brings back so many flashes of long sunny introspective walks in city parks on study abroad, trying to figure out how the hell the relationship I was in had gone so wrong.

If I had to pick one of the non-instrumentals it'd be "Don't Talk..." which kind of drags down the momentum. But "Let's Go Away For A While," while it suits the atmosphere and isn't bad background music at all, is the odd man out here, moreso than "Sloop John B." I like imagining that SJB is being reinterpreted by the BB's as an extremely extended metaphor for a love gone wrong. "This is the worst trip I've ever been on" indeed.

xp heh that's pretty cool, although the title doesnt work. Not really running music, it's more like, 'hey james why dont you have a swinging holiday and drink some martinis with some sexy ladies by the pool'. yes i have seen flight of the conchords what's your point.

this is one sacred cow that I don't sacrifice.

Let's Go Away for Awhile is my favorite song on the album. voting "here today"

i was kinda stumped on this one so i listened to the album start to finish... and while it's a cop out, the only possible answer is that there is no worst song on pet sounds, they'all 100% keepers. sloop john b is gorgeous and the instrumentals are both fantastic and crucial to the flow of the album. i would literally cry if one of these songs stopped exisiting

sloop john b, because it's an also-ran in the rank of treasures

this poll is totally making me bother with the beach boys

Actually, I like that he did.

You have the "I know" which is like a "part one", and "Hang on" which is the 'reprise' for the album end.

Not at the time, granted.

otm.

"I'm Waiting for the Day" -- clearly the winner here

When you say that "I'm Waiting For The Day" is the winner here, I take it you mean the greatest song and not the worst? If I had to pick only one BB song it just might be the one.

I mean the "worst" -- but I actually really like the song, particularly the coda. If it were the song I cared the least about, it would probably be the title track. But "I'm Waiting..."--while a great song--doesn't really feel on par w the rest (say, "It's Not Me") in terms of emotional heft.

I would agree w the post upthread re. "Here Today" but as the instrumental version on the PS box shows, the arrangement--particularly the brass--is just peerless.

Having a really hard time with this one- guess I'll just go with the title track and leave it at that even though sometimes I imagine it as a song with vocals and sing nonsense along with it.

Btw I think Sloop John B is one of Brian's greatest productions.

I love "Here Today" and have enjoyed listening more closely to it over the last day or so---it's times like this where the box set is really glorious---but still think it's the least essential here (aside from the instrumentals, c'mon, it's the Beach Boys). It's still a great song.

"I'm Waiting For The Day" is so explosive: the tympani is tremendous.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i went for Pet Sounds but now i feel mean. i love it too, really. i don't think there's a moment on this album i don't love so i shouldn't really have voted.

voted for "i know there's an answer" but could have voted for "sloop john b," not because either are anywhere close to bad songs, but because they're they're the only ones that sound like they could've been on an earlier beach boys album.

Easy. "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)." I'm not much for really slow ballads.

Did you know that Brian actively dislikes "I'm Waiting for the Day"?? I'm not joking!! Go read the liner notes! And "Let's Go Away for Awhile" was only the backing track of an unfinished song. Brian didn't add vocals because he ran out of studio time. I wonder how vocals would've sounded on it.

Can't make up my mind here

Me neither. I went for PEt Sounds, but I love it. It's actually perhaps one of the only albums I can think of where allt he tracks are equally good.

to put it in perpective how superfluously excellent this album is:

sgt peppers: easy, she's leaving home
revolver: i'm only sleeping or dr. robert, both decent enough songs but not nearly in the same class as the others
etc etc

actually revolver seems pretty hard to edit down further as well now that i'm listening to it.

it's like this is such a tough choice you're presenting, i'm almost offended you've dared to ask it

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

i guess this means "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)" is the best? also, messiah, "I'm Only Sleeping" is in like, my top ten of Beatles songs.

you know, I have always wondered why the hell Brian adopted the affectation of wearing horn rimmed glasses during this album. He never wore glasses before or since.

From Melody Maker October 8, 1966: "I would recommend that everyone who gets eye strain when they read go to an optometrist and get reading glasses so that they can read more and longer. This is what I did, and I really do think everyone should do it."

http://www.surfermoon.com/interviews/brian1066.html

But you're right, never seen Brian wearing them outside of those Pet Sounds pics.