Flex's Takes: The Beach Boys

[Flex]

I've been livetweeting the new Beach Boys album over at @FlexFantastic for anyone interested. On the last song now.

[Flex]

The results of my livetweeting:

I have a copy of the new Beach Boys album, and I will be liveblogging my first listen through in about 1 minute. #beachboys #fuckmikelove

Okay, here we go. "Think About the Days" leads off...

Holy shit, this is gorgeous

Lush harmonies, great instrumentation.

There's no way the rest of the album will be this good.

"That's Why God Made the Radio" sounds better when its not just a shitty compressed youtube vid

But still, those lyrics, yikes

"Isn't it Time" has some ukelele action. I like ukeleles.

Again, god, it's these lyrics that are bringing this down.

FLEX FACT: I have never been alive during a time when the Beach Boys lyric writing was a strength of the band.

The reports have not exxagerated [sic]: "Spring Vacation" is basically a war crime. Mike Love's fingers are all over this piece of shit.

He actually rhymes "good vibrations" with some other shit in the chorus. This is stone cold bullshit. #stonecold #fuckmikelove

Ooohhh... "Private Life of Bill and Sue" has some sorta nice little calypso thing going on for it.

Again, the lyrics are a weak point, but props to Brian Wilson for being the only member of band willing to write about the last 20 years.

And lyrically it's no sillier than the stuff off "Love You" which is a stone cold classic.

Okay, I'm calling it: "Private Life of Bill and Sue" is winner winner chicken dinner.

I was really hoping that "Shelter" was going to be Brian Wilson's tribute to the uber classic Hare Krishna hardcore punk band from the 90s.

I mean, I wasn't really, but wouldn't that have been awesome?

Brian Wilson could do interviews talking about his favorite Revelation Records releases.

Do a split single with Ray Cappo.

(and if you don't think that shit can happen, check this out: http://bit.ly/LmtkHV)

Anyways, "Daybreak Over the Ocean". It is a song.

Okay, nice guitar work on Daybreak.

"Beaches in my Mind" works... not so well for me.

Wow, "Strange World" sounds a weird combo of "It's a Small World After All" and "It's a Rockin' World" from, you know, South Park.

I might have to revisit this song before I form a solid opinion about it.

Okay, onto the final three songs. Already like "From There to Back Again" based on the title alone.

Holy shit

Holy shit #holyshit

This is so, so good

Oh my god. "Pacific Coast Highway" is soulachingly good.

"Summer's Gone" is also amazing. Beautiful, beautiful music. Smart lyrics.

This taps into that same kind of vein as Dylan's Time out of Mind. Grappling with mortality makes for good songwriting.

And the sound of the ocean closing it out. So perfect.

It's not perfect, but this is easily their best album since Love You and those last three songs really do belong in the pantheon of Brian Wilson greatness. The rest of the album is a mixed bag of decent songs, a few clunkers, and one genuine war crime against music. I agree with what others have said: all in all, it actually makes for a fitting capstone to the Beach Boys career.

[tepista]

hey Flexorcist, have you ever heard this bit of insanity?

[youtube][/youtube]

[Flex]

hey Flexorcist, have you ever heard this bit of insanity?

Haha, I had not. This is amazing.

[Flex]

Entry 10 in my "Listening" series, examining (rather briefly) the "Be True to Your School" single:

On the last entry in the “Listening” series I made my ambivalence about Be True to Your School well known. So, I won’t rehash it here. Instead, I’ll note that compared to the album version, the single version of “School” is much leaner and meaner. Something to do with Brian becoming a more deft arranger and producer, perhaps? The consideration that “more stuff” doesn’t always mean “more complex?” I don’t know, but the single version is pretty obviously superior to the album version which preceded it.

The flip side, In My Room, is another one I’ve already written about. I maintain the uncontroversial position that it’s one of the Beach Boys’ (and, specifically, Brian Wilson’s) shining moments. I understand why it would be considered B-side material, but I consider this song to be utterly timeless and universal in a way the A-side isn’t and couldn’t ever be.

A short entry today. I’ll make up for that by offering both sides of the wax for streaming:

Full article and streaming muzak:

[Flex]

Entry 11 of my Listening to the Beach Boys project, on the "Little Saint Nick" single:

Ahhh, the first Christmas single. Guys: it’s Real Talk time. I loves me some Christmas season. I ehn’t religious in any way, and I can easily see how much I’d hate the whole season if I worked retail (technically, I work at a record store but that’s just a super part time gig) or had a bunch of snotty kids I “had” to get presents for or whatever. But for me, it’s all just a great excuse to revel in Americana, enjoy time with the family and make a lot of excellent pronouncements beginning with “as tradition dictates…” And a nice piece of that is listening to some Beach Boys Christmas music.

The A-side, Little Saint Nick, is a seasonally appropriate retooling of Little Deuce Coupe (duh) that’s just as revved up and catchy as the original. The lyrics are playful, and while I have no idea if it’s actually true or not it really feels like the band is having a good time here. “Little Saint Nick” was always a mainstay of the Christmas music rotation growing up (as part of the Boys’ full-length holiday LP, which we’ll get to in a future entry) and LSN is clearly one of the highlight tracks. Goes great mixed in with your Rockin’ Around the Christmas Trees, your Must Be Santas, and your Feliz Navidadses for a nice, rockin’ Christmas evening after the eggnog is spiked and you’re in the midst of stuffing your face full of holiday food. Good stuff.

The flip side is the achingly gorgeous (that may well end up being the most used term in this whole series) a cappella rendition of The Lord’s Prayer. As I mentioned above, I ehn’t a religious sort of a person, so on its own I don’t really connect with the Lord’s Prayer, but the Beach Boys’ beautiful take on it is profoundly engaging. While it comes off a tad awkward at times (since it is not, in fact, a song lyric) the pure beauty of the performance makes it a wonderful addition to the Beach Boys catalog.

The Beach Boys would go on to record a handful of other Christmas singles, and release a full-length LP, but this is their first and still arguably finest outing in the field of holiday music. It’s also a sign that the band was maybe getting ready to start moving on from singing purely about surfing and cars (and girls, but one never really has to stop singing about them). Anyhow, enjoy both sides of the single:

Full post and music:

[Flex]

Here's entry 12, covering the "Fun, Fun, Fun" single (and the first Beach Boys release of 1964):

That out of the way, onto the Beach Boys’ first American release of 1964 (and 12th American release since their debut single at the end of 1961). Fun, Fun, Fun appears as the A-side here, and the song lives up to its title. It has a nice, rocked up feeling (likely due at least in part to the electric guitar intro that, er, borrowed generously from “Johnny B. Goode”) and the playful lyrics rank among the groups best in the “good times and fun in the sun” vein. Again, the Beach Boys upbeat material is at its best when it’s telling a story-myth which is full of particular characters but has a universal quality. It’s also a song which manages to be simultaneously naughty (according to The Wikipedias, Murry Wilson derided the song as “immoral”) but still sweet, ending on a note that fun will be had regardless.

The b-side, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, is a well rendered cover of the Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers’ hit from several years earlier. The recording features suitably excellent vocal work and a brisk, energetic pace.

Both of these songs are pretty heavily featured in Beach Boys Greatest Hits collection, and “Fun, Fun, Fun” remains one of the most popular Beach Boys songs in their catalog. Out of their early material, this single remains a well-deserved favorite. Here are both sides of the single:

Full post and music:

[Silent Majority]

'Fun Fun Fun' is one of those times where I know I'm being played by a formula, but I'm not going to stop playing it for the 50th time in a row. A great cheer-up song.

[Flex]

'Fun Fun Fun' is one of those times where I know I'm being played by a formula, but I'm not going to stop playing it for the 50th time in a row. A great cheer-up song.

Yeah, exactly. It's just deliriously, er, fun. And I think the formula only really starts to get problematic when they start consciously returning to it as a way of trying to recapture past glories like, well, "Fun, Fun, Fun"

[Flex]

I like that Mike Love couldn't even wait until the end of the reunion to burn away whatever goodwill the recent tour and album managed to accrue:

Just three months into the Beach Boys' reunion tour, Mike Love has already begun booking concerts for his own version of the band – without Brian Wilson or most of the other founding members. Love has reportedly started scheduling gigs in South America with his touring version of the Beach Boys, which includes only one other member of the band's classic lineup.

"[That's] news to me," Wilson told Rolling Stone on Tuesday. "I wasn't aware that Mike had some shows in South America." Wilson, Love, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine and David Marks are halfway through their 50th-anniversary tour, supporting their first original album in two decades. But Love is already planning how he will spend this autumn, according to Peru's El Comercio, organising dates for his touring version of the Beach Boys, which features himself and Johnston. Love has licensed the Beach Boys name since 1998, and prevented other members using it.

Love's Beach Boys were also booked to play in Winnie, Texas, on 6 October. That is until the venue, Nutty Jerry's, discovered the band it had booked was not the band currently on tour. Nutty Jerry's cancelled the gig this week, apologising for the "misunderstanding" and "inconvenience".

Full article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/ju ... ian-wilson

[Wolter]

What a fucking cumstain.

[Rat Patrol]

Love's Beach Boys were also booked to play in Winnie, Texas, on 6 October. That is until the venue, Nutty Jerry's, discovered the band it had booked was not the band currently on tour. Nutty Jerry's cancelled the gig this week, apologising for the "misunderstanding" and "inconvenience".

I paid good money to watch Uncle Jesse perform Kokomo! I demand satisfaction!

[Flex]

I paid good money to watch Uncle Jesse perform Kokomo! I demand satisfaction!

You know, John Stamos claimed he was going to be part of the reunion tour, but I haven't actually heard any reports of him playing with the Beach Boys.

I hope he shows up at Red Rocks!

[Flex]

NEW LISTENING TO THE BEACH BOYS ENTRY. It's my 13th and it's about Shut Down, Volume 2. I think I may be starting to go slowly insane. Read and decide for yourself:

Hey guys! Remember how great Shut Down, Volume 1 was and how much we all hoped they’d release a second volume? You don’t? Maybe because this is a Beach Boys follow up album to a non-Beach Boys compilation! Yeah, that’s it!

For the literally several of you who may be reading this that may or may not know the scoop, Capitol released some weak-sauce comp under the title Shut Down all about cars and whatnot. It had a couple Beach Boys songs on it (including the title track) but was otherwise populated with forgettable artists doing songs no one cares about anymore. So, in retaliation (I guess?) Brian and crew of lovable misanthropes decided to make a sequel album. And this is it. IT’S THE TOPIC THAT I’M GOING TO WRITE AT YOU NOW.

So, the album starts off with the superb Fun, Fun, Fun, and instantly becomes one of the best lead off tracks for a Beach Boys album yet. I already talked about the song here, so let’s not rehash too much. In any case, it appears here in an “album version” which seems pretty similar to the single version to me and what am I anyways? Some guy who has instant access to the internets and Wikipedias? OH RIGHT I AM. So, I’m literally looking up the song differences as I’m doing this entry and I think maybe the “album version” actually refers to the “stereo version” which has a different outro than the mono version, which is what was used on the single. Learning is fun!

The second song, Don’t Worry, Baby, is like balls deep in awesomeness. It’s a car song, but you wouldn’t even believe that it was it’s so heartfelt and gorgeous and shit. It really starts digging into the emotional vulnerability of a relationship, but then the love interest says the thing in the title and the narrator is all reassured! I nice balance of melancholy and reassurance. Also, maybe an indication that Brian has some ideas about love that may or may not be totally healthy! I guess Brian wrote this for Phil Spector and the Spec Man was all “I think instead of recording this song with one of my bands I’m a-gonna go and maybe commit some murders.” So he did, and Brian kept the song for Beach Boys use. And we’re all glad the second part of that little story happened, because what a damned fine piece of song.

In the Parkin’ Lot is nice, but I’m still focused on what an asshole murderer Phil Spector is, so whatever! “Cassius” Love vs. “Sonny” Wilson is… not a song. Never listen to it.

The next song, tho, you should definitely listen to. It’s The Warmth of the Sun and a lot of people say it’s the song where the Beach Boys really got their shit together and went from being a pretty rad band to being one of the most total genius rock bands of all time. And by “the Beach Boys” I of course mean “Brian Wilson” (screw you, Mike Love). Anyways! It’s fantastic, and sad, and maybe sort of about JFK getting shot (which happened the day before the song was written) but also probably also a lot about the demise of Brian’s romantic entanglement of the time. Anyways, its uterrly gorgeous and definitely flips the “fun in the sun” lyrical themes to become a meditation on loss, but also maybe renewal. It expands the boundaries of what the World of the Beach Boys could be all about in a way last seen in “Surfer Girl.” Rightly hailed as an all time classic from the band.

Following on the uber classic is This Car of Mine. I don’t find the arrangement or lyrics to be particularly inspiring, but as I think I’ve mentioned before I basically live for Dennis lead vocals (he’s so dreamy!) so this is a welcome treat. It also ends side one.

Side two opens with the strong B-side from the “Fun, Fun, Fun” single, Why Do Fools Fall in Love. I like this song more every time I hear it. And in my head, I’m always responding “BECAUSE YOU’RE DAMNED FOOLS” in like a crazy mountain man voice which I think makes the song even more awesome. Try it at home! Pom, Pom Play Girl follow, and I’m pretty sure I can’t be the only one who finds the song a little creepy at this point. Once you’re out of high school, you should really never ever sing songs about cheerleaders because it gets you on some kind of FBI watch list. Do you think Mike Love sings this song (even tho Carl did the original vocals) to underage groupies backstage? Probably!

Actually, who am I kidding. He’s an all Kokomo all the time kind of guy.

So, next up is Keep an Eye on Summer. It’s a Brian-sung ballad which means I love it. Also, I don’t see it show up on best ofs a whole bunch which means I get to give it the “underrated” label. It’s not the lyrical powerhouse of The Warmth of the Sun but it’s got a nice little guitar thing going on. It actually feels a little understated compared to some of the lush songs Brian is putting out at this point, but it works.

Shut Down, Part II is a fun instrumental, blaring horns and a driving groove which make it a worthy sequel to the original. After that is a… competent… cover of Louie Louie. As someone wrote (liner notes, maybe?) it’s probably the only version of the song with decipherable lyrics. I still like the Black Flag version best, myself.

The album closes with Denny’s Drums a.k.a. the Greatest Beach Boys Song of All Time. I hope Mike Love and Bruce Johnston think about having some hired gun play it at their “Beach Boys” concerts.

So, that’s it. I would say the album kinda has some more filler compared to previous Beach Boys efforts (although, it doesn’t pilfer songs from previous albums like a certain earlier release), but (at this stage) Beach Boys filler is still pretty nice so no complaints. Tracks like “Fun, Fun, Fun”, “Don’t Worry Baby” and “The Warmth of the Sun” are also the strongest cuts of their career so far. They just need, like, whole albums that are that good. But will they ever make them? Who knows! We do! Because all these albums were recorded decades ago!

Anyways, let’s pick a song. As usual, I’ll try to stay away from tracks that were or will be featured on singles, so let’s go with a hidden gem this time.

Full article and such:

[Rat Patrol]

http://pub9.bravenet.com/forum/static/s ... ecent&cp=0

The Mike Love Fan Club message board is much more active than I imagined it would be. And until I found it 5 minutes ago I probably would've considered it a figment of the imagination.

He seems like such a great guy... everyone hates just because he wears a Beach Boys baseball cap all the time and and looks like a rapist and because he's always a dick to Brian and Al... I don't get it????????? Why does everyone want his anus to be sealed shut??

Goddamnit, Hoy.