I disagree. I think the vocals are top quality. If I had been told this was the Beach Boys, I would have believed it.Originally Posted by trurl
I disagree. I think the vocals are top quality. If I had been told this was the Beach Boys, I would have believed it.
Played Pet Sounds again last night. I'm really liking it now. Just noticed that Don't Talk has no harmonies, it's all sung in unison. Amazing.
It's the blend. Great vocals in Brian's band; everyone has a terrific individual voice (well, besides Brian himself and what 'er ya gonna do) but the BBs had a blend that was just other-worldly. Chicago had it as well. It was just the dumb luck of having voices with timbers that really complimented each other. (Interestingly Chicago and the Beach Boys also sounded good together, a evidenced by Wishing You Were Here...)
Wooden it be nice?
timbres
I remember the Chicago/BB thing from VII. I liked the song but it ushered in the beginning of my disinterest in Chicago. VII was a fine album but disk 2 pointed in the direction Chicago would go throughout the rest of their career.
Yep... great album but it was the end.
I liked this album. The title track is especially great-good chord changes!! 'Shelter' was another that sounded like a classic BB hit. My favorite was 'There and Back Again', possibly my favorite Brian-penned song since the Smile era. And the harmonies throughout this album are sublime.
Yeah, too bad about Chicago.
^It's no masterpiece, but it's still the best Beach Boys album in forty years (since 'Holland' in my view, bearing in mind I didn't bother with the 90s ones) because it does hang together fairly well and they sound focussed. I wish the vocals hadn't been so 'enhanced', for want of a better word and some of the songs are undeniably corny ('Beaches In Mind') but those last three are stunning and very moving. 'Summer's Gone' felt like a good 'full stop' to me.
Yep. 'Summer's Gone' is a poignant end to it all. Agree 'Beaches In Mind' is the clunker, with 'Bill and Sue' a bit clunky as well.
^'Bill And Sue' is a very hamfisted attempt at some sort of social comment, apparently aimed at the obvious target of 'reality TV' and the like. As if 'Student Demonstration Time' wasn't enough to show this was not their forte!
Some didn't like 'Spring Vacation' but I found it quite sweet at the time, rather tempered now by the way the line-up fizzled out, alas.
^^ I agree, the two clunkers are "Bill and Sue" and "Beaches In Mind". The other songs range from quite nice to very good."Shelter" is vintage Beach Boys - in a good way.
Caught a couple of BB documentaries on youtube a few days ago. One is about Dennis Wilson, The Real Beach Boy, and the other was Cease To Exist (the story about the whole Manson/Family/Dennis Wilson thing). Both were eye-opening, and disturbing.
I knew Dennis had substance abuse issues (who didn't in this industry?), I knew he drowned, but the way Ed Roach described his death it really just seemed like such a waste. I thought he was out in the ocean and decided to go for a swim while intoxicated and just swallowed too much water, or something. He was diving in the water at the marina, in 13 feet of water. He was retrieving items he'd thrown overboard while in a fit of rage. So on one of his trips back up to the surface he must have hit his head under the pier really bad and was knocked unconscious. He was found at the bottom in a fetal position. What a tragedy, and such a waste.
The Manson video was pretty creepy. I've never been all that interested in the story of Manson, and the Tate murders. Who isn't familiar with that story? I knew that Dennis had some connection with Charles Manson but I didn't know the details. The creepy thing is that Charles Manson had talent.He was a freaked out, psychopathic weirdo, but he could carry a tune. I didn't know that Manson originally wanted to kill Dennis and Terry Melcher, but Tate and the others were in the wrong place at the wrong time apparently.
Well, not trying to derail my own thread, just thought I'd bring these documentaries up since I seem to be on this BBs obsession.
There's footage of Dennis Wilson on stage towards the end of his life. To call it 'vocally rough' would be the understatement of the century- truly shocking. And physically he also had changed dramatically- initially he was the one in the band who had that rock star charisma and look.
In the early 70s Dennis was collaborating with others on a lot of good material for the band. I think they had a nice run of form there for a few years. But there were wilderness years from the quite successful 'Holland' and 'In Concert' releases, then a gap of three years with little released. Dennis' input got less and less after that. His songs on 'LA Light Album' are among its few highlights (alongside the nice single 'Good Timin').
I've seen that footage of Dennis in one of the documentaries. Yeah, he was rough. I just don't get why these people throw their lives away like that. Well, what do I know? I guess if I was in a world famous rock band for 25 years and all I've ever known is wealth, drugs, booze, women, etc. I'd probably be dead by 35 too. By the way, have any of you heard Pacific Ocean Blue? All I ever hear or read about it is that it's great.
^^ I've heard Pacific Ocean Blue. I think it's OK, not "great"; I was not tempted to buy it. It's definitely not like the Beach Boys, not any incarnation of the band.
Forgot to mention that I didn't know Dennis wrote "You Are So Beautiful?" Really? I thought Dianne Warren or someone like that wrote it for Joe Cocker.
That song was one of the 80s live clips I remember. Shocking stuff!
The guy was a burned out, stoned out, alcaholic.
It's LA, haven of temptation. That's why Neal Morse left there and moved to Nashville.
I agree. I have that release along with all the outtakes and alternative cuts. It's one of those records I waited years to get, listened to it all the way through once, and I doubt I can even find it now.
Lou
Looking forward to my day in court.
Ok thanks. So POB is not this holy grail album I need to have. That's how I felt about Pet. Didn't get it 10 or 12 years ago, I get it now. I love Pet Sounds. It's a great 60s, vocal progressive pop album.
^^ In my opinion the best solo Beach Boy release, if you discount SMiLE, is Brian Wilson's "Imagination".
Been watching this Bruce Johnston interview on youtube. Fascinating. Nothing but positive talk and praise of Brian. Very interesting.
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