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Post by Kapitan on Jan 7, 2024 20:26:23 GMT
I'm going with 1970.
To some extent, it's a matter of quantity--not exactly over quality, but certainly heavily considered alongside quality. "Disney Girls" is probably my favorite Bruce song, but I don't rate it that much higher than his Sunflower tunes, "Deirdre" and "Tears in the Morning" (both of which I like). Plus he has prominent vocals in "Add Some Music" and "At My Window."
I did give some strong consideration not just to 1971, but 1965 (because joining the Beach Boys and then contributing a prominent vocal on "California Girls" ain't chopped liver) and 1979 (for being brought back in and producing).
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 8, 2024 12:53:37 GMT
Bruce Johnston's best year (according to the board) was 1970, with four votes. Close behind, 1971 had three votes. One vote apiece for 1979 and 1976.
We move on to our final Beach Boy.
What was Brian Wilson's best year?
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Post by jk on Jan 8, 2024 14:13:44 GMT
Bruce Johnston's best year (according to the board) was 1970, with four votes. Close behind, 1971 had three votes. One vote apiece for 1979 and 1976. We move on to our final Beach Boy. What was Brian Wilson's best year?1966, when Brian and The Beach Boys peaked!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 8, 2024 14:26:12 GMT
For 99.99999% of artists, 1964 or 1965 would be the answer. Those kind of years are hard to beat. However, for Brian Wilson, I'm going with 1966 - Pet Sounds, "Good Vibrations", and the SMiLE songs (most of which did appear on subsequent Beach Boys' albums). Incomparable.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 8, 2024 14:38:38 GMT
This one is my first in a while that doesn't require a lot of internal debate: 1966, for the same reasons listed above. Pet Sounds might be the best album of all time, and the Smile songs might've made the best album of all time had they been completed, assembled, and released before Brian ran out of steam. He had a lot of other great years. You could easily argue 1964 or '65 for his productivity AND quality. Maybe on a personal level you could argue something like '98 for him overcoming his fears/illness and getting back on the road to promote his new album, or even '04 for his completed version and touring of Smile (and here I duck to avoid the rotten tomatoes Sheriff John Stone is throwing at me). But really ... Pet Sounds. Smile songs. Sometimes you don't need to overthink it, you just go with the obvious.
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
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Post by Emdeeh on Jan 8, 2024 14:55:13 GMT
I'm going to be the contrarian and go with 1967, for Wild Honey and the Smile tracks recorded then. Sure, it was a tough time for Brian, but the music is exquisite.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jan 8, 2024 20:25:14 GMT
I could say 1988, for finally completing and releasing the long talked about solo album....
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 8, 2024 20:33:07 GMT
I could say 1988, for finally completing and releasing the long talked about solo album.... You could indeed. Are you saying that, though? Or just tossing it out as an option?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 8, 2024 20:45:13 GMT
I could say 1988, for finally completing and releasing the long talked about solo album.... I don't know that Brian even liked that album. Happy to finally get it done, get it out there? Yeah, but was he happy with the final result?
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Post by lonelysummer on Jan 9, 2024 3:08:30 GMT
I could say 1988, for finally completing and releasing the long talked about solo album.... I don't know that Brian even liked that album. Happy to finally get it done, get it out there? Yeah, but was he happy with the final result?
It depends on who you believe. I have the "Words and Music" CD that came out to promote the album and Brian sure sounds enthusiastic about it there. As a fan, 1988 sure was a high point for me. I had been hearing talk since the beginning of my fandom in 1980 that "Brian should do a solo album, the Beach Boys are holding him back". So here it was, finally, and I liked it. I still like it. In fact, I love it. So in the context of Brian's life/career since the mid 70's, yeah, this was huge. The false thing we were being taught back then was that Brian dropped out after abandoning Smile. We know now that was not the case; Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends were very much Brian's babies. And he still had major contributions on 20/20, Sunflower, and Surf's Up. But it is hard to top 1966. The one Beach Boys album that makes all the Desert Island lists; and the beginnings of the album that was supposed to top it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 9, 2024 12:42:41 GMT
I don't know that Brian even liked that album. Happy to finally get it done, get it out there? Yeah, but was he happy with the final result?
It depends on who you believe. I have the "Words and Music" CD that came out to promote the album and Brian sure sounds enthusiastic about it there. As a fan, 1988 sure was a high point for me. I had been hearing talk since the beginning of my fandom in 1980 that "Brian should do a solo album, the Beach Boys are holding him back". So here it was, finally, and I liked it. I still like it. In fact, I love it. So in the context of Brian's life/career since the mid 70's, yeah, this was huge. The false thing we were being taught back then was that Brian dropped out after abandoning Smile. We know now that was not the case; Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends were very much Brian's babies. And he still had major contributions on 20/20, Sunflower, and Surf's Up. But it is hard to top 1966. The one Beach Boys album that makes all the Desert Island lists; and the beginnings of the album that was supposed to top it. I bought that Words And Music CD at a record collectors' show; paid $40.00 for it. Anybody wanna buy it?
Anyway, yes, Brian was very enthusiastic about his first solo album back in 1988. I assume his enthusiasm was legitimate, though somewhat scripted by Landy. I guess I'm basing my opinion on how things played out over the years, or maybe Brian's lack of praise/recognition/discussion as the years passed (though Brian rarely said much about any of his solo albums). We did get more information and it was mostly on the negative side. The production sounds more like Russ Titelman than Brian. There were collaborators (Jeff Lynne, Andy Paley, Lindsey Buckingham, etc.) whose contributions to key songs were greater than Brian's. It was Lenny Waronker's idea, not Brian's, to do a suite ("Rio Grande"). Landy's lyrics, or maybe more specifically his significant other's lyrics, made their way onto the album. Other than "Love And Mercy", Brian rarely, if ever, performed songs from the album in the ensuing 45 years (yes, I know he rarely performed ANY of his solo material). The album was a commercial disappointment and we know Brian was disappointed by that. And, from all reports, there was turmoil basically from start to finish with the recording of the album. Actual credits for the album were changed/altered years later; that speaks a lot about the album and how things were intentionally...revised.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 9, 2024 12:53:53 GMT
Other than "Love And Mercy", Brian rarely, if ever, performed songs from the album in the ensuing 45 years (and, yes, I know he rarely performed ANY of his solo material). I still contend this is overblown. It's true that after the NPP tour, he barely did any. But prior to that, he tended to do at least a few solo songs, and did two new solo albums in their entirety ( TLOS and Gershwin), as well as Smile.It's true that 88 didn't get as much attention, with just Love & Mercy being a mainstay and I believe a couple others very occasionally being played. But he did up to four songs off GIOMH throughout that (Smile) tour, they did Walking Down the Path of Life for a while, all of TLOS, then kept Midnight's Another Day for years, and then did a few NPP songs for the BAD tour. Obviously solo songs didn't make up the majority of sets, but that's a given with the Beach Boys' catalogue (which he wrote). In the "active" (e.g. not full-on nostalgia tours) touring years, he probably did as much new material as, if not much more than, many legacy acts.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 9, 2024 13:25:42 GMT
Other than "Love And Mercy", Brian rarely, if ever, performed songs from the album in the ensuing 45 years (and, yes, I know he rarely performed ANY of his solo material). I still contend this is overblown. It's true that after the NPP tour, he barely did any. But prior to that, he tended to do at least a few solo songs, and did two new solo albums in their entirety ( TLOS and Gershwin), as well as Smile.It's true that 88 didn't get as much attention, with just Love & Mercy being a mainstay and I believe a couple others very occasionally being played. But he did up to four songs off GIOMH throughout that (Smile) tour, they did Walking Down the Path of Life for a while, all of TLOS, then kept Midnight's Another Day for years, and then did a few NPP songs for the BAD tour. Obviously solo songs didn't make up the majority of sets, but that's a given with the Beach Boys' catalogue (which he wrote). In the "active" (e.g. not full-on nostalgia tours) touring years, he probably did as much new material as, if not much more than, many legacy acts. Unquestionably, Brian promoted his new albums by performing some songs from those albums. And, yes, he went the extra step by occasionally performing the entire album. I will say that I wondered whose idea that was - Brian, the record company, his wifeandmanagers, the band? Anyway, when I posted that Brian rarely performed any of his solo material, I was referring more to his non-new songs/basic setlists. By that I mean, you never heard Brian say things like, "Now I'd like to play a song from my first solo album. It's a good rocker called "Walkin' The Line." Or, "In 1998 I did an album called Imagination and I wrote a song with Jimmy Buffett. I thought it should've been a Top Ten hit. South American." Or, "On my Gettin' In Over My Head album, I did a really nice ballad called "Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel" and we'd like to play it for you now." And on and on. You know what I mean. Once Brian's new solo albums became old solo albums, he rarely revisited them. If he did I think his audience would've been very receptive. Why didn't he? His setlists were long enough that he could've easily worked in some solo songs. Brian's audience was similar but different than Mike & Bruce's. They would've gladly sacrificed "Surfin' U.S.A." for "Melt Away".
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 9, 2024 13:35:12 GMT
I agree with you on the spirit of the point, I really do. But some of those solo songs did hang around or pop up again. Obviously Love & Mercy was far and away the biggest, but I saw Your Imagination and Going Home in 2013, for example. In fact, according to setlist.fm, Your Imagination is Brian's 48th most played song on tour! (Love & Mercy, 13th. Desert Drive, 56th. One Kind of Love, 75; Sail Away, 76, Soul Searchin, 70; Going Home, 79; Lay Down Burden, 82; Southern California, 86; MAD, 92; The Right Time, 96.)
I'd have liked a little more, too. But I do think it was more common than we sometimes make it out to be--and not just, although, yes, mostly--on those new albums' tours. It seems like to make a point, we exaggerate, whether it's "Brian's setlists are the deep cuts, the artistic stuff!" or "Brian's setlists are just like Mike's," or "Brian never plays anything but old Beach Boys songs."
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Post by kds on Jan 9, 2024 19:08:13 GMT
I actually gave this some thought. I had to consider 1964 and 1965. In each of those years, Brian wrote and produced more classics than many artists could dream of in a lifetime.
But, 1966 is my final choice for the release of Pet Sounds, and the creation of Good Vibrations as well as Surf's Up (which, wouldn't be fully completed for five years).
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