BEACH BOYS Smile cd box on sale for one hour only

[axel]

Since a musician friend said he could write 5 songs like those on Pet Sounds every day, I thought I'm numb against that kind of ignorance that's pissing on Brian Wilson's work. (I'm not even sure if that guy ever wrote something himself that could be called a proper song.)
But it's actually giving me physical pain.
Ignorance like that drives me insane and I would love to scream out loud, I really have to control myself. I won't say anything, except that people like that just haven't got a clue about songwriting.
The melody of the verse of "Cabinessence" is as pristine as it can get. And to contrast it with a chorus as muddy as that, is maybe not genius, but the absolutely disarming humour of Mr. Brian Wilson. God bless him.
Why don't you piss on something else?

 

[EXPO67]

I wouldn't call myself a big Beach boys fan but I can listen to them and get REAL enjoyment. Here's 'Wonderful'.....

http://expo67-cavestones.blogspot.com/search/label/Beach Boys

 

[Lee de Parade]

Since a musician friend said he could write 5 songs like those on Pet Sounds every day, I thought I'm numb against that kind of ignorance that's pissing on Brian Wilson's work. (I'm not even sure if that guy ever wrote something himself that could be called a proper song.)
But it's actually giving me physical pain.
Ignorance like that drives me insane and I would love to scream out loud, I really have to control myself. I won't say anything, except that people like that just haven't got a clue about songwriting.
The melody of the verse of "Cabinessence" is as pristine as it can get. And to contrast it with a chorus as muddy as that, is maybe not genius, but the absolutely disarming humour of Mr. Brian Wilson. God bless him.
Why don't you piss on something else?

Hahaha! Chill out dude! We're just talkin here, eh?

 

[mansson66]

Axel: no one is "pissing" on Brian Wilson. It's just different personal opinions. I love the Beach Boys up til Surf's Up (and that weird little EP you got with Holland is incredibly funny) but I also agree with captainsalty. Thinking about the time, money and musicians Brian had access to it's actually a pretty lame outcome. But it's the same with Spector. I don't think "sensitive" creative people can handle the whole music business thing as well as for example Gene Simmons. No real musical talent, but a great entrepenure (or how the hell you spell that)
I've NEVER been impressed with the bits and pieces I've heard from Smile. The whole concept of doing an album based on 'comedy' and 'happy thoughts' are scary to me. But I might give it a try again... I love Pet Sounds (except Sloop John B, which is almost as vile as anything Paul McCartney ever wrote) Yes. I piss on "Sir Macca".

 

[mansson66]

I can't stand River Deep... I prefer Tandori Chicken over it

 

[mansson66]

PS I think Tina is totally overrated, but that's IMO. I don't like when people sound like someone revving up a motor when they sing. I cringe. I like Etta James.

 

[MopTopMike]

Regarding Spector, I still proclaim his overbearing, self-indulgent "masterpiece" of "River Deep Mountain High" to be one of the worst '60s efforts. Tina T. couldn't even save this 3 plus minute cacaphonic journey to dullsville. It amazes me that these Philles label cognoscenti actually believed it would be a #1 record.

I absolutely love "Pet Sounds", would enjoy hearing the construction and out-takes, if there is something readily available? As for "Smile", a good friend is a BB / Wilson disciple of the highest order (he has an extensive webpage up just for the discussion and analysis of the "Smile" legacy.
http://www.smileriddle.com/
I've listened to stuff he recorded for me over the course of many years, and I have to say, it leaves me a bit bewildered - not that I don't like it, but after "Pet Sounds", this stuff is almost like sloppy "thirds".

And I love to punch Van Dyke Parks' lights out, just for writing "columnated ruins domino"- the three words responsible for more wordsmithian lyrical garbage than any Beatles / related lyric - except for, maybe "Imagine" which sounds like the communist manifesto set to music anyway...

 

[Don Julio]

"Surf's Up" wins the prize for the most pretentious/annoying song lyric of the sixties, which is saying a hell of a lot. I don't think it was intended as a parody, but that's what it sounds like.

 

[mansson66]

I like that LP. But the title song has always been the big bummer of the set for me. There's a lot of stupid lyrics on it, actually.

 

[beccabear67]

There's a new album coming by Brian, Mike Love, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine and David Marks! And I know how I sometimes pull dumb stunts like saying Lee Hazlewood, she's a good songwriter, but this time truth is stranger. I never thought it would happen and plan on buying whatever they do. My favorite BB era is the Carl and David on guitars era.

 

[Frantic]

Regarding Spector, I still proclaim his overbearing, self-indulgent "masterpiece" of "River Deep Mountain High" to be one of the worst '60s efforts. Tina T. couldn't even save this 3 plus minute cacaphonic journey to dullsville. It amazes me that these Philles label cognoscenti actually believed it would be a #1 record.

I totally love IKE & TINA TURNER but I couldn't agree more with Mike concerning River Deep......it sucks...If you guys don't own the Dance LP by IKE & TINA TURNER, run out and find a copy. Great cover with I & T dancing, only problem...it's a instrumental album with Tina nowhere to be found...Killer LP!!!

 

[tymespan]

The problem with the Smile CD is you're hearing a reconstruction of what someone else thinks it would have been.
If you've ever listened to the hours of Good Vibrations sessions and the final release you realize the genius of Brian in pulling all these separate elements into a cohesive song. Who's to say he couldn't have done the same thing with Smile.

 

[howlin' hoosier]

Regarding Spector, I still proclaim his overbearing, self-indulgent "masterpiece" of "River Deep Mountain High" to be one of the worst '60s efforts. Tina T. couldn't even save this 3 plus minute cacaphonic journey to dullsville. It amazes me that these Philles label cognoscenti actually believed it would be a #1 record.

I absolutely love "Pet Sounds", would enjoy hearing the construction and out-takes, if there is something readily available? As for "Smile", a good friend is a BB / Wilson disciple of the highest order (he has an extensive webpage up just for the discussion and analysis of the "Smile" legacy.
http://www.smileriddle.com/
I've listened to stuff he recorded for me over the course of many years, and I have to say, it leaves me a bit bewildered - not that I don't like it, but after "Pet Sounds", this stuff is almost like sloppy "thirds".

And I love to punch Van Dyke Parks' lights out, just for writing "columnated ruins domino"- the three words responsible for more wordsmithian lyrical garbage than any Beatles / related lyric - except for, maybe "Imagine" which sounds like the communist manifesto set to music anyway...

Another card carrying member of the Van Dyke Parks Fan Club!

 

[captainsalty]

Since a musician friend said he could write 5 songs like those on Pet Sounds every day, I thought I'm numb against that kind of ignorance that's pissing on Brian Wilson's work. (I'm not even sure if that guy ever wrote something himself that could be called a proper song.)
But it's actually giving me physical pain.
Ignorance like that drives me insane and I would love to scream out loud, I really have to control myself. I won't say anything, except that people like that just haven't got a clue about songwriting.
The melody of the verse of "Cabinessence" is as pristine as it can get. And to contrast it with a chorus as muddy as that, is maybe not genius, but the absolutely disarming humour of Mr. Brian Wilson. God bless him.
Why don't you piss on something else?

calm down...
no intention to rain on your smile parade. feel glad that you can enjoy it.
as i stated before, it's way too much hype for me, starting with derek taylor's hip propaganda. and i also believe this pretty much killed wilson artistically. he's no genius. he hasn't written a good song since about 1969. i think he knows this. you talked about physical pain. did you check out his latest "disney songs" album? now THAT'S physical pain.
i can't hear anything on smile that might be the work of a genius. on the other side, a band like the rising storm recorded something like frozen laughter in perhaps one or two hours. if i had a "genius badge" to give, a band like them would deserve it.
just yesterday i blasted "beach boys today" in my car. what a great great album. i really cannot understand how one can not see that stuff like "she knows me too well" or "kiss me baby" or "girls on the beach" is SO much better than anything on smile.

 

[Frantic]

just yesterday i blasted "beach boys today" in my car. what a great great album. i really cannot understand how one can not see that stuff like "she knows me too well" or "kiss me baby" or "girls on the beach" is SO much better than anything on smile.

Couldn't agree more.

 

[MopTopMike]

Seconded!

 

[axel]

calm down...
just yesterday i blasted "beach boys today" in my car. what a great great album. i really cannot understand how one can not see that stuff like "she knows me too well" or "kiss me baby" or "girls on the beach" is SO much better than anything on smile.

Never mind. There are many things I cannot understand either. Sorry for the outburst. :rolleyes:

I wouldn't put Smile above Today, or even Calm Before for that matter. It's not so much a question of quality, but rather of quantity of ideas. Thus the "wasted" studio time.
If the Rising Storm would have had more of their own ideas, they would have probably used more studio time to work on their own material. Instead of playing mainly covers. The selection of course shows great taste.

Brian Wilson has lost it in 1969? Well then, who hasn't? My god, Ray Davies! What happened to him? Burt Bacharach? Arthur Lee? Name anyone of the great songwriters of the Sixties.
They ALL lost it. Why?
I think there was something mysterious about the Sixties that made them do things that would otherwise have been beyond their capacities.
And something else, more specific, a crucial point: the newly achieved freedom of form. And don't tell me "She Knows Me Too Well" and "Frozen Laughter" are not falling into this category. Songs like that would have been impossible in 1962 or even 1964. It was a constant move towards freedom of form. I'm talking about songwriting, not free jazz.
And THAT is what Smile is all about. There's no essential difference between "She Knows Me Too Well" and "Surf's Up". It's the same movement. And in 1967 Brian Wilson was still a fountain of creativity and by 1969 (or whenever) it had dried out. As so many others had, too.
One of the things I can't understand is how somebody cannot see that (even beyond the boundaries of taste). How somebody can just make a cut in 1966. 1966- that is the year for me, and I love all that lead to it and I love all that resulted from it (directly, I mean). And songs like "Talk Talk", "Monkey Island" or "Last Time Around" are right there in the thick of it.
Sorry, punks.

 

[Lee de Parade]

Ya, I think there's some serious dogma-issues here. Or a matter of taste. And comparing stuff when they where writing more immediate pop-songs...is it so hard for some of you to see something change it's form? It is just a continuation.
Anywhoo, I almost like Wild Honey more.

 

[bosshoss]

I think there was something mysterious about the Sixties that made them do things that would otherwise have been beyond their capacities.

The pressure to compete with, or even just keep up with with the Beatles in the '60s explains a lot of it. I remember thinking as much at the time, around 1966. Thinking to myself, "what will happen when/if The Beatles aren't around". It was obvious to me even then, that the standard would drastically slip.
Then the Beatles themselves began to signal that it was ok to put out indulgent crap, and the avalanche began, and continues.

 

[axel]

I disagree. "Psychedelic Sounds", the first Velvet Underground and a heap of other stuff had nothing to do with the Beatles. Especially the weirder stuff. As John Lennon once pointed out: they were not the captains, they were just sitting in the crow's nest.