I'll put my top 1..... 'Smiley Smile!'.. for so many reasons. Brian directing from his home studio after he cracked, and the evidence is there.. pure genius insanity, glorious fun and wisecracks throughout. Warts and all, I think it's the Beach Boys at the top prime of their vocal abilities, and Brian milked every drop out of this opportunity before he went over the edge. I love the cover art (still uncredited - can you crack that case?), and more than any other album, it showcases Van Dyke Park's ethereal contributions. 'The smile that you send out returns to you' -- my favorite all time.. Any album with lead off tracks of 'Heroes & Villains' and 'Good Vibrations' has got my love. Thanks for your review.
So great that you did a ranking of your top 10 Beach Boys albums. I have loved the Beach Boys since I first became aware of them back in the mid-sixties. Their vision of California is the reason that I moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles back in the 70s. Their harmonies and arrangements are beyond compare. No other group, not even the Beatles, has a story as compelling as that of the Beach Boys. They are truly THE American band. I find that there are so many people these days who don't appreciate the genius of the Wilson brothers and the depth and splendor of their music. Thank you for highlighting those great Beach Boys albums and songs that every music fan should know!
The genius level of the stunningly beautiful erotica 'Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp' (1970), with jazz legends Alice Coltrane, Joe Farrell, Richard Davis (Out to Lunch, Astral Weeks). Nyro uses Phrygian, suspensions, Japanese motifs and exotic instruments like the koto. Super sophisticated gorgeousness.
" Bull Session " from the Today album , what were they thinking ? Absolutely terrible . The Beach Boys had a knack for sabotaging their albums . Can you imagine if they had replaced that track with " Guess I'm Dumb " the album would have been one of the best of the Sixties .
(1) Tom, I so-o-o-o appreciate this video; thank you very much for making it! (2) I was eleven when “Heroes and Villains” came out. Loved it immediately; it got good airplay on WLOF (95 AM) here in Orlando. It was one of my favorite singles of that year (along with two B-sides: “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Martha”)! (3) With all love and respect for “Pet Sounds”... for me “Surf’s Up” is their greatest, one of my top ten to twelve albums EVER (regardless of genre)
You seem to have hit pretty well most of my favorites here. Since the 1967-1973 era gets most of my revisits over the years, both the Feel Flows (Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions) and the Sail On Sailor 1972 with its Holland and So Tough session tracks are fantastic, with quite a few vocals-only tracks along with other little gems, like the early version of “Big Sur” etc.
At the time of "Wild Honey," not only the Beach Boys, but all the bands, The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), The Beatles (Get Back) , etc. were going back to the basics. I think they figured out what Don McLean explained in "American Pie," that they had destroyed Rock and Roll and replaced it with Art. I think they decided they liked Rock and Roll better than Art. They should have heeded Chuck Berry in "Rock and Roll Music."
Just had a thought...you should do a review of Wilson brother solo albums. There are some great ones, especially Brian's Imagination and Dennis's Pacific Ocean Blue.
Cool. Had most of those. One of their later albums that I enjoy is the 1985 Self-titled, especially the song "Right Where I Belong". I always turn it up to 11 during the chorus. Try it, you'll like it.
I grew up in the 60's with the Beach Boys, so I'm a HUGE fan. Totally agree with your critique of Pet Sounds & Surf's Up, but I would have to include the Boys in the Singles Band category.
Another in-depth review, cool vid. I agree 100% with you on the Surfs up album , it’s the BB after smoking a fat one, great work. No weather complaints, here in Vancouver we are getting rain….Again! Coldest wet summer yet.
I got into them when I was 13, so circa 1975 with Endless Summer bought with newspaper route money. But I was just a kid on the Westchester suburbs. Surfing! What did I know about surfing? That was hip, man. We didn't surf, but they did on LI and NJ etc I guess. Then, In Concert. Then Pet Sounds. And when the Clash came to town and the Talkin Heads I abandoned them. Now in my 60's I am deep into them. Please Let Me Wonder may be my all time favorite. It would be hard to choose.
A Day in the Life of a Tree is pretty sad but it's as if Brian is singing about himself. How he was once strong then the loss of energy which is kinda what happened to him in the 70s with mental health and addictions etc. My #1 fave Beach Boys record is Holland. Period! Friends is a close second.😊
I was never a big Beach Boys fan. Acknowledged their great vocal harmonies but much of their music sounded the same to me. And as you noted they became an oldies band and they really lost me then. Good Vibration is great song. Thanks for the discussion of Carl and the Passions album. Never heard it before. Some really good songs there. I will revisit some of their later stuff.
My top 10 1. Smile sessions 2. Pet Sounds 3. Surfs Up 4. Today 5. Sunflower. 6. Friends 7.20/20 8. Wild Honey 9. Holland 10. Carl and the passion Nice video.. Love Beach Boys
My BBs top 10 is the same is yours, except I would trade in All Summer Long for So Tough. I heard your shout out to Canoga Park - I also grew up in the Valley (N Hollywood. . .my wife is from Reseda). Surf City has been our home for over 40 years, but still have fond memories of the Valley in the 60s and 70s.
"'Til I Die" played at a funeral? I don't know if that's such a good idea. A funeral involves a real death, one of the most powerful, unsettling, moving, and profound events we encounter. But if you combine that with the powerful, unsettling, moving, and profound song "'Til I Die," you might destroy the universe!
I have a different relationship with the Beach Boys -- for me, they were producers of good sounding singles on the (Los Angeles top 40) radio in the '60s. I had no relationship at all with the albums, so when I stopped listening to AM radio in 1970, the Beach Boys ceased to exist. I did pick up Endless Summer in '76, to get access to those great singles -- since replaced by the two volumes of Greatest Hits (20 Good Vibrations & 20 More) from Capitol Records, which could have easily been listed in my comment on the Ear Candy post. It's amusing to consider the fact that the musicians actually playing on those classic Beach Boys singles are the same people who played on the Monkees hits -- the differences are Brian's ear, the songwriters, and the voices of the Boys.
Tom: you'll think I'm crazy, but wild honey has always reminded me of abbey road with its snippets of songs but, thankfully,w/o Maxwell's silver hammer.
I only have Pet Sounds - guess I'm a Beach Boys normee. After your assessment of Holland I may have to look for it. I've known Sail On Sailor since my youth. Great video. I'm always eager to learn more about what I'm not familiar with
Funny you mentioned Summer Days & Summer Nights needed editing. This album was re-released in 1980 as California Girls. Same photo on the Album Cover. They removed tracks: "I'm Bugged at my Old Man" & "Amusement Parks USA" with no additions. The only reason I know this is I had bought a used cassette deck front my local thrift store and the California Girls cassette was still inside! So I went on Discogs and sure enough there is a vinyl release 1980 from Capitol Records Value Series. So you were spot on my friend.
I think I want to stand up for “I’m Bugged at My Old Man.” It is certainly as “of its time” as “Amusement Parks USA” but, knowing what we know know about Brian Wilson’s difficult relationship with his father Murry, it seems to my ears both poignant and brave. I’ve even thought it may be as intentionally satirical as Chuck Berry’s “School Boys” is in using rhythm & blues motifs to poke fun at the travails of white suburban youth in the pre-Civil Rights Act/Viet Nam War era. “Amusement Parks” seems exactly like the kind of song Murry would encourage the band to put out as a potentially lucrative single that would appeal to “all the (record-buying) kids” while “I’m Bugged” is the perfect antidote to that. Maybe I just like it because it is weird and out of place, to paraphrase, because it “just wasn’t made for these times.”
Great subject. Pet Sounds was definitely their best with not one filler. Smile could have been a great follow-up, apart from an odd track that may have been dropped from the official release if there was one. But unfortunately, on the Smile CD releases, amost of those tracks sounded a bit unfinished. But despite that, the versions of the few songs they re-recorded for what was to be their next album Smiley Smile were not as good, as they lacked the great productions of their original Smile versions. It was as though all the filling had been knocked out and replaced with virtually nothing. But as for Pet Sounds, more exciting still was the box set The Pet Sounds Sessions, sadly now deleted, as there, you got instrumental backing tracks to all the songs, plus alternate vocal overdubs to some of the backings, plus earlier takes of Good Vibrations, which they started on during the album sessions, plus the original recording speed of Caroline No, without it being slightly speeded, and lacking the Pet Sounds noises at the end, and the instrumental Let's Go Away For A While without the added strings. Hopefully, in two years time, there will be a 60th anniversary box set of it. But I don't like this new UA-cam layout. But I feel as though I am just having to try to get used to it, but with great difficulty.
@@tomrobinson5776 Instead of the comments below and a strip of suggested videos on the right hand side, they have swapped it in such a way that I cannot find what I want so easily. But if you sign out, then it reverts to it's original layout for some reason.
Brian Wilson did a version of Let Him Run Wild on, I think, his solo album Your Imagination. I'm curious to know what you thought of Dennis Wilson's solo album Pacific Ocean Blue.,
I bought it years ago and I tried to get into it, but could not. I admire the creativity and production, but couldn’t connect with the tunes. Too many torch songs for my liking. I do love many Dennis tracks with The Beach Boys though…
@@tomrobinson5776 I personally loved the album. I agree with Al Jardine who said that Dennis couldl've had a fine solo career if he could;ve only conquered his demons
Great stuff, Capo! I wish I could remember where I read this, but a reviewer referred to Pet Sounds as “sad songs about being happy.” I love the album, but it always felt like a Brian Wilson solo album to me.
I am so tired of all you guys on UA-cam completely missing that BRIAN DID sequence it and release it as"Brian Wilson Presents "Smile" in 2004...adding insult to your cognitive dissonance, that release went number 1...the 2011 Mike Love money grab...not even close...And before you give that "I wanted the Beach Boys voices on it" Dennis Wilson said it best:" Brian Wilson IS the Beach Boys! We're just his fu..ING messengers"...And he did not say it ironically or with a trace of bitterness....But guys you not only second guess Dennis, you second guess and disrespect Brian...Again, why are you a Beach Boys fan?"Smile" is a complete piece of music...Much like "Rhapsody in Blue"....And if you can't hear the musical parallels...and I direct lift as a nod to say: "Yes, I'm trying to do my own" then ...The debut of "Rhapsody in Blue" was 1924 and George Gershwin wasn't even ON the the record. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra...I can hear you youtubers: "Well, I don't consider it an official release, because who knows what it sounded like before Whiteman got a hold of it..." ; NOBODY said that back then...Well, music afficionados were simply more musically educated and simply allowed the artist to do what he wanted with his own work...What a strange concept /s....?
I love their Wild Honey/Darlin’/Friends period, such luscious harmonies. Also I Can Hear Music and their more obscure 1979 Good Timin.’
As usual, I find myself nodding in agreement and saying "yep"... several times.
I'll put my top 1..... 'Smiley Smile!'.. for so many reasons. Brian directing from his home studio after he cracked, and the evidence is there.. pure genius insanity, glorious fun and wisecracks throughout. Warts and all, I think it's the Beach Boys at the top prime of their vocal abilities, and Brian milked every drop out of this opportunity before he went over the edge. I love the cover art (still uncredited - can you crack that case?), and more than any other album, it showcases Van Dyke Park's ethereal contributions. 'The smile that you send out returns to you' -- my favorite all time.. Any album with lead off tracks of 'Heroes & Villains' and 'Good Vibrations' has got my love. Thanks for your review.
So great that you did a ranking of your top 10 Beach Boys albums. I have loved the Beach Boys since I first became aware of them back in the mid-sixties. Their vision of California is the reason that I moved from New Jersey to Los Angeles back in the 70s. Their harmonies and arrangements are beyond compare. No other group, not even the Beatles, has a story as compelling as that of the Beach Boys. They are truly THE American band. I find that there are so many people these days who don't appreciate the genius of the Wilson brothers and the depth and splendor of their music. Thank you for highlighting those great Beach Boys albums and songs that every music fan should know!
The genius level of the stunningly beautiful erotica 'Upstairs by a Chinese Lamp' (1970), with jazz legends Alice Coltrane, Joe Farrell, Richard Davis (Out to Lunch, Astral Weeks). Nyro uses Phrygian, suspensions, Japanese motifs and exotic instruments like the koto. Super sophisticated gorgeousness.
" Bull Session " from the Today album , what were they thinking ? Absolutely terrible . The Beach Boys had a knack for sabotaging their albums .
Can you imagine if they had replaced that track with " Guess I'm Dumb " the album would have been one of the best of the Sixties .
@@peterlaffey6328 You’re right. They did sabotage a lot of great albums. Surf’s Up being one example.
Great list! I would have ranked Friends higher than you did. That one really grew on me. It's a quirky little gem that always cheers me up.
@@mikekivinen It’s grown on me overtime as well.
(1) Tom, I so-o-o-o appreciate this video; thank you very much for making it!
(2) I was eleven when “Heroes and Villains” came out. Loved it immediately; it got good airplay on WLOF (95 AM) here in Orlando. It was one of my favorite singles of that year (along with two B-sides: “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “Martha”)!
(3) With all love and respect for “Pet Sounds”... for me “Surf’s Up” is their greatest, one of my top ten to twelve albums EVER (regardless of genre)
It’s an amazing album for sure. Some top tier Beach Boys songs scattered throughout the record. Just brilliant.
You seem to have hit pretty well most of my favorites here. Since the 1967-1973 era gets most of my revisits over the years, both the Feel Flows (Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions) and the Sail On Sailor 1972 with its Holland and So Tough session tracks are fantastic, with quite a few vocals-only tracks along with other little gems, like the early version of “Big Sur” etc.
At the time of "Wild Honey," not only the Beach Boys, but all the bands, The Rolling Stones (Exile on Main Street), The Beatles (Get Back) , etc. were going back to the basics. I think they figured out what Don McLean explained in "American Pie," that they had destroyed Rock and Roll and replaced it with Art. I think they decided they liked Rock and Roll better than Art. They should have heeded Chuck Berry in "Rock and Roll Music."
Just had a thought...you should do a review of Wilson brother solo albums. There are some great ones, especially Brian's Imagination and Dennis's Pacific Ocean Blue.
Cool. Had most of those. One of their later albums that I enjoy is the 1985 Self-titled, especially the song "Right Where I Belong". I always turn it up to 11 during the chorus. Try it, you'll like it.
I grew up in the 60's with the Beach Boys, so I'm a HUGE fan. Totally agree with your critique of Pet Sounds & Surf's Up, but I would have to include the Boys in the Singles Band category.
Another in-depth review, cool vid. I agree 100% with you on the Surfs up album , it’s the BB after smoking a fat one, great work. No weather complaints, here in Vancouver we are getting rain….Again! Coldest wet summer yet.
I got into them when I was 13, so circa 1975 with Endless Summer bought with newspaper route money. But I was just a kid on the Westchester suburbs. Surfing! What did I know about surfing? That was hip, man. We didn't surf, but they did on LI and NJ etc I guess. Then, In Concert. Then Pet Sounds. And when the Clash came to town and the Talkin Heads I abandoned them. Now in my 60's I am deep into them. Please Let Me Wonder may be my all time favorite. It would be hard to choose.
A Day in the Life of a Tree is pretty sad but it's as if Brian is singing about himself. How he was once strong then the loss of energy which is kinda what happened to him in the 70s with mental health and addictions etc. My #1 fave Beach Boys record is Holland. Period! Friends is a close second.😊
I was never a big Beach Boys fan. Acknowledged their great vocal harmonies but much of their music sounded the same to me. And as you noted they became an oldies band and they really lost me then. Good Vibration is great song. Thanks for the discussion of Carl and the Passions album. Never heard it before. Some really good songs there. I will revisit some of their later stuff.
My top 10
1. Smile sessions
2. Pet Sounds
3. Surfs Up
4. Today
5. Sunflower.
6. Friends
7.20/20
8. Wild Honey
9. Holland
10. Carl and the passion
Nice video.. Love Beach Boys
Nice list. 😉
My BBs top 10 is the same is yours, except I would trade in All Summer Long for So Tough. I heard your shout out to Canoga Park - I also grew up in the Valley (N Hollywood. . .my wife is from Reseda). Surf City has been our home for over 40 years, but still have fond memories of the Valley in the 60s and 70s.
Very cool 😉
Great video, I think L.A. Light is very underrated (despite some obvious filler)
They are all great albums ! I would include in my top 10 : Smiley Smile and 20/20.
My wife’s name is Marcella
So what can i say !
But Pet Sounds is in a class of its own
Beach Boys Party! is missing: Trash Heaven, especially on Barbara Ann (Greil Marcus).
Just discovered Surfs Up for myself ... brilliant lp , with the exception of Student Demonstration Time ... that track kills the whole vibe.
I agree. Doesn’t fit the mood of the rest of the album.
"'Til I Die" played at a funeral? I don't know if that's such a good idea. A funeral involves a real death, one of the most powerful, unsettling, moving, and profound events we encounter. But if you combine that with the powerful, unsettling, moving, and profound song "'Til I Die," you might destroy the universe!
Ha!
I have a different relationship with the Beach Boys -- for me, they were producers of good sounding singles on the (Los Angeles top 40) radio in the '60s. I had no relationship at all with the albums, so when I stopped listening to AM radio in 1970, the Beach Boys ceased to exist. I did pick up Endless Summer in '76, to get access to those great singles -- since replaced by the two volumes of Greatest Hits (20 Good Vibrations & 20 More) from Capitol Records, which could have easily been listed in my comment on the Ear Candy post.
It's amusing to consider the fact that the musicians actually playing on those classic Beach Boys singles are the same people who played on the Monkees hits -- the differences are Brian's ear, the songwriters, and the voices of the Boys.
Totally 😉
Tom: you'll think I'm crazy, but wild honey has always reminded me of abbey road with its snippets of songs but, thankfully,w/o Maxwell's silver hammer.
Yes, thankfully. 😉
I only have Pet Sounds - guess I'm a Beach Boys normee. After your assessment of Holland I may have to look for it. I've known Sail On Sailor since my youth. Great video. I'm always eager to learn more about what I'm not familiar with
Holland will not disappoint. It is my favorite.
The guitar solo in Jimi's Axis:Bold as Love coda is my favourite ever - its only flaw is that its fades out way too soon.
I agree. 😉
Funny you mentioned Summer Days & Summer Nights needed editing. This album was re-released in 1980 as California Girls. Same photo on the Album Cover. They removed tracks: "I'm Bugged at my Old Man" & "Amusement Parks USA" with no additions. The only reason I know this is I had bought a used cassette deck front my local thrift store and the California Girls cassette was still inside! So I went on Discogs and sure enough there is a vinyl release 1980 from Capitol Records Value Series. So you were spot on my friend.
I think I want to stand up for “I’m Bugged at My Old Man.” It is certainly as “of its time” as “Amusement Parks USA” but, knowing what we know know about Brian Wilson’s difficult relationship with his father Murry, it seems to my ears both poignant and brave. I’ve even thought it may be as intentionally satirical as Chuck Berry’s “School Boys” is in using rhythm & blues motifs to poke fun at the travails of white suburban youth in the pre-Civil Rights Act/Viet Nam War era. “Amusement Parks” seems exactly like the kind of song Murry would encourage the band to put out as a potentially lucrative single that would appeal to “all the (record-buying) kids” while “I’m Bugged” is the perfect antidote to that. Maybe I just like it because it is weird and out of place, to paraphrase, because it “just wasn’t made for these times.”
Sorry for the typo, “School Days” not “School Boys”
Great subject. Pet Sounds was definitely their best with not one filler. Smile could have been a great follow-up, apart from an odd track that may have been dropped from the official release if there was one. But unfortunately, on the Smile CD releases, amost of those tracks sounded a bit unfinished. But despite that, the versions of the few songs they re-recorded for what was to be their next album Smiley Smile were not as good, as they lacked the great productions of their original Smile versions. It was as though all the filling had been knocked out and replaced with virtually nothing.
But as for Pet Sounds, more exciting still was the box set The Pet Sounds Sessions, sadly now deleted, as there, you got instrumental backing tracks to all the songs, plus alternate vocal overdubs to some of the backings, plus earlier takes of Good Vibrations, which they started on during the album sessions, plus the original recording speed of Caroline No, without it being slightly speeded, and lacking the Pet Sounds noises at the end, and the instrumental Let's Go Away For A While without the added strings. Hopefully, in two years time, there will be a 60th anniversary box set of it.
But I don't like this new UA-cam layout. But I feel as though I am just having to try to get used to it, but with great difficulty.
What’s the new You Tube layout? Looks the same on my end..
@@tomrobinson5776 Instead of the comments below and a strip of suggested videos on the right hand side, they have swapped it in such a way that I cannot find what I want so easily. But if you sign out, then it reverts to it's original layout for some reason.
Student Demonstration Time could be a take on Riot In Cell Block #9.
Absolutely 😉
Brian Wilson did a version of Let Him Run Wild on, I think, his solo album Your Imagination. I'm curious to know what you thought of Dennis Wilson's solo album Pacific Ocean Blue.,
I bought it years ago and I tried to get into it, but could not. I admire the creativity and production, but couldn’t connect with the tunes. Too many torch songs for my liking. I do love many Dennis tracks with The Beach Boys though…
@@tomrobinson5776 I personally loved the album. I agree with Al Jardine who said that Dennis couldl've had a fine solo career if he could;ve only conquered his demons
@@TheGamecock366 I agree.
Pretty well agree with all choices , Friends & Wild Honey never really did much for me though, will have to re listen. Holland is so underrated.
The Friends album didn't do much to me either.
Agree that Holland is generally underrated (though not by Tom!)
Great stuff, Capo! I wish I could remember where I read this, but a reviewer referred to Pet Sounds as “sad songs about being happy.” I love the album, but it always felt like a Brian Wilson solo album to me.
Absolutely fantastic have a wonderful day ❤❤❤❤❤❤😊😊😊😊😊😊
You as well. 😊
First! ;-)
I am so tired of all you guys on UA-cam completely missing that BRIAN DID sequence it and release it as"Brian Wilson Presents "Smile" in 2004...adding insult to your cognitive dissonance, that release went number 1...the 2011 Mike Love money grab...not even close...And before you give that "I wanted the Beach Boys voices on it" Dennis Wilson said it best:" Brian Wilson IS the Beach Boys! We're just his fu..ING messengers"...And he did not say it ironically or with a trace of bitterness....But guys you not only second guess Dennis, you second guess and disrespect Brian...Again, why are you a Beach Boys fan?"Smile" is a complete piece of music...Much like "Rhapsody in Blue"....And if you can't hear the musical parallels...and I direct lift as a nod to say: "Yes, I'm trying to do my own" then ...The debut of "Rhapsody in Blue" was 1924 and George Gershwin wasn't even ON the the record. The Paul Whiteman Orchestra...I can hear you youtubers: "Well, I don't consider it an official release, because who knows what it sounded like before Whiteman got a hold of it..." ; NOBODY said that back then...Well, music afficionados were simply more musically educated and simply allowed the artist to do what he wanted with his own work...What a strange concept /s....?
oh
Use the teddy bear to show where the internet hurt you.