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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 1, 2023 21:44:29 GMT
Just to clarify, my comment "where was 'PT Cruiser'" was sarcasm. It was made in response to Al recording car songs like "Drivin'" and "Honkin' Down The Highway". I wish we had an emoticon with eyes rolling. I would use it. Often.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jun 2, 2023 5:13:16 GMT
Well, I like this album. Shoot me. I don't mind the self-covers at this stage. I just don't think Al is a Brian Wilson. He's not even a Carl Wilson. He's just a guy who comes up with a song idea once every ten years, and has a nice singing voice. The production on the album is excellent - no freaking autotune, drum machines, etc. Best song - Don't Fight the Sea. My second choice if it was in the poll would be Waves of Love. Just call me a sucker for anything Carl sang on. I'll have to listen again to pick a worst.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 2, 2023 11:44:40 GMT
Well, I like this album. Shoot me. I don't mind the self-covers at this stage. I just don't think Al is a Brian Wilson. He's not even a Carl Wilson. He's just a guy who comes up with a song idea once every ten years, and has a nice singing voice. The production on the album is excellent - no freaking autotune, drum machines, etc. I don't think we'll need to shoot anyone! I agree with everything you said from "I just don't think..." onward, too. The guy isn't a great writer, and he's not a prolific writer. But he's a great singer and a good enough musician otherwise. And in this case, he had the (in my opinion, and it seems yours) great sense to produce it without going for anything that might come across as a desperate attempt to fit in to the modern scene--a few sound effects aside, it is pretty much down the middle. And that's a good thing.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 2, 2023 11:51:45 GMT
I don't know about the production...I said above that I wasn't gonna pull this one off the shelf before posting, but I wanted to hear a specific song so I did give the album another listen. I was so bored that I could barely make it to the end. The production contributes to a boring album. Yes, Al sings well, and the sound, sonically speaking, is crystal clear. But that's about the only positives I can come up with. These covers are lifeless. Like most/all? of the solo Beach Boys' covers and re-recordings, they are inferior to the originals. It wasn't just a matter of Al doing so many. He failed to make them interesting to listen to. And, unfortunately, the guest artists didn't provide much-needed help. Neil Young's contribution to "California Saga" is more of "Wow, Al got him on his album!" than Neil shining or bringing something special to the song. Same with Glen Campbell. I love Glen but he really struggled with his vocals, especially on "California Dreamin'". It makes me wonder why Al even chose to feature Glen on that particular song. Notority maybe? When Al does try to go out of the box, say with "Help Me Rhonda", it falls flat. Yes, Steve Miller is very prominent, but the arrangement and production sucks the life out of a should-be rocking/rollicking classic. Al slowed it down to a crawl. WTF?
A Postcard From California is borderline lifeless. Al isn't a producer, and while he has come up with some (but few) quality songs in the past, these 4-5 new ones are weak. What...greatness, heck, goodness...am I supposed to take from this album? Al's singing? It's alright. Is it a "feel good" album? Meh. I'm reading some positive comments in this thread. Other than reviewing the album for this thread, do you actually listen to it? Consistently? At all?
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 2, 2023 18:48:45 GMT
You know, while I definitely am not a big fan of the song "California Feelin" itself, I do think Al's version here is the best one. I like some of the huge Beach Boys vocals on the MiC retrofitted version, but this one takes the cake for me. (Brian's '00s version isn't something I enjoyed, and the MiC demo and various boots never really appealed.)
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 2, 2023 19:15:53 GMT
I was just thinking about my votes and realized that my version is different from the one shown here or on Wikipedia. Mine, bought on iTunes in October 2011, does not have "California Dreamin." It is a 12-song album that goes from "Honkin Down the Highway" to "And I Always Will." I actually always thought it was one of the added-later bonus tracks, a la "Waves of Love."
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 2, 2023 20:00:10 GMT
Best: San Simeon This isn't the best song, but all things considered--it's not a remake or cover, etc.--I'm picking it. An album full of things like "Postcard," "San Simeon," "Drivin" and "And I Always Will" (and, sure, "Waves of Love" or "Don't Fight the Sea" or other things that at least hadn't been released before) would have been my wish for this album. And on this song, I actually wish Al did the entire lead vocal. It's a nice tune, if lightweight, and frankly with harmonies that can't help but call to mind "Don't Worry Baby." But that's Al: his compositions tend to evoke other ones (see: "Postcard" and "Rhinestone Cowboy"). It's just the way it is. "San Simeon" may not be great, but it's nice. I also thought about "Looking Down the Coast," which (like "California Feelin") I think sees its best version here.
Worst: Tidepool Interlude Spoken word track. No thanks. If I were to exclude the two non-song tracks, I'd probably go with "California Dreamin'," which I have mentioned elsewhere not loving as a song, and I don't especially like this version. Of those on my version of the album, I'd say "Help Me Rhonda." I just don't particularly like this version.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jun 3, 2023 6:24:32 GMT
I don't know about the production...I said above that I wasn't gonna pull this one off the shelf before posting, but I wanted to hear a specific song so I did give the album another listen. I was so bored that I could barely make it to the end. The production contributes to a boring album. Yes, Al sings well, and the sound, sonically speaking, is crystal clear. But that's about the only positives I can come up with. These covers are lifeless. Like most/all? of the solo Beach Boys' covers and re-recordings, they are inferior to the originals. It wasn't just a matter of Al doing so many. He failed to make them interesting to listen to. And, unfortunately, the guest artists didn't provide much-needed help. Neil Young's contribution to "California Saga" is more of "Wow, Al got him on his album!" than Neil shining or bringing something special to the song. Same with Glen Campbell. I love Glen but he really struggled with his vocals, especially on "California Dreamin'". It makes me wonder why Al even chose to feature Glen on that particular song. Notority maybe? When Al does try to go out of the box, say with "Help Me Rhonda", it falls flat. Yes, Steve Miller is very prominent, but the arrangement and production sucks the life out of a should-be rocking/rollicking classic. Al slowed it down to a crawl. WTF?
A Postcard From California is borderline lifeless. Al isn't a producer, and while he has come up with some (but few) quality songs in the past, these 4-5 new ones are weak. What...greatness, heck, goodness...am I supposed to take from this album? Al's singing? It's alright. Is it a "feel good" album? Meh. I'm reading some positive comments in this thread. Other than reviewing the album for this thread, do you actually listen to it? Consistently? At all?
I don't listen to ANY albums consistently! I have too many! Occasionally, a CD makes it to my car, and i play it regularly for a few weeks just because I'm too lazy to grab something different. That's what I wonder about some of my music junkie fans - how do they know each album in their collection so well? When I only owned a couple hundred albums, it was easy. Now I have a couple thousand to choose from.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 3, 2023 11:22:04 GMT
I don't know about the production...I said above that I wasn't gonna pull this one off the shelf before posting, but I wanted to hear a specific song so I did give the album another listen. I was so bored that I could barely make it to the end. The production contributes to a boring album. Yes, Al sings well, and the sound, sonically speaking, is crystal clear. But that's about the only positives I can come up with. These covers are lifeless. Like most/all? of the solo Beach Boys' covers and re-recordings, they are inferior to the originals. It wasn't just a matter of Al doing so many. He failed to make them interesting to listen to. And, unfortunately, the guest artists didn't provide much-needed help. Neil Young's contribution to "California Saga" is more of "Wow, Al got him on his album!" than Neil shining or bringing something special to the song. Same with Glen Campbell. I love Glen but he really struggled with his vocals, especially on "California Dreamin'". It makes me wonder why Al even chose to feature Glen on that particular song. Notority maybe? When Al does try to go out of the box, say with "Help Me Rhonda", it falls flat. Yes, Steve Miller is very prominent, but the arrangement and production sucks the life out of a should-be rocking/rollicking classic. Al slowed it down to a crawl. WTF?
A Postcard From California is borderline lifeless. Al isn't a producer, and while he has come up with some (but few) quality songs in the past, these 4-5 new ones are weak. What...greatness, heck, goodness...am I supposed to take from this album? Al's singing? It's alright. Is it a "feel good" album? Meh. I'm reading some positive comments in this thread. Other than reviewing the album for this thread, do you actually listen to it? Consistently? At all?
I don't listen to ANY albums consistently! I have too many! Occasionally, a CD makes it to my car, and i play it regularly for a few weeks just because I'm too lazy to grab something different. That's what I wonder about some of my music junkie fans - how do they know each album in their collection so well? When I only owned a couple hundred albums, it was easy. Now I have a couple thousand to choose from. My listening habits are similar to yours, listening to a "pulled" CD (or comp) for a couple days/a week, then moving on. And that includes Beach Boys' albums, too. However, there are some Beach Boys' albums, probably the solo ones, that very, very rarely get revisited unless it's a project like this. That's one of the reasons I'm so into my custom-made comps or alternate albums. I need to change things up...and improve them.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 3, 2023 12:17:38 GMT
I don't listen to ANY albums consistently! I have too many! Occasionally, a CD makes it to my car, and i play it regularly for a few weeks just because I'm too lazy to grab something different. That's what I wonder about some of my music junkie fans - how do they know each album in their collection so well? When I only owned a couple hundred albums, it was easy. Now I have a couple thousand to choose from. My listening habits are similar to yours, listening to a "pulled" CD (or comp) for a couple days/a week, then moving on. And that includes Beach Boys' albums, too. However, there are some Beach Boys' albums, probably the solo ones, that very, very rarely get revisited unless it's a project like this. That's one of the reasons I'm so into my custom-made comps or alternate albums. I need to change things up...and improve them. Me, three! Way, way too many albums to listen to them consistently. I'm usually listening to whatever we're talking about here, whatever new music I've gotten, maybe something in the car (yes, I still have a CD player in my car), but otherwise it's a lot of comps or things on shuffle. I have albums that I like that I probably haven't listened to in over 10 years, to say nothing of some of the more average ones...
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Post by kds on Jun 3, 2023 15:34:26 GMT
Its tough to make time to listen to everything I own. Of course, I make time for my favorites. But, I cannot can't help wondering what my tangible collection would look like had I really gotten into music in the Spotify age.
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Post by kds on Jun 5, 2023 12:56:41 GMT
Well, I like this album. Shoot me. I don't mind the self-covers at this stage. I just don't think Al is a Brian Wilson. He's not even a Carl Wilson. He's just a guy who comes up with a song idea once every ten years, and has a nice singing voice. The production on the album is excellent - no freaking autotune, drum machines, etc. Best song - Don't Fight the Sea. My second choice if it was in the poll would be Waves of Love. Just call me a sucker for anything Carl sang on. I'll have to listen again to pick a worst. Last call for a worst song.
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Post by B.E. on Jun 5, 2023 13:37:28 GMT
Best - “Don’t Fight the Sea”
Worst - “Tidepool Interlude” - “Help Me, Rhonda” would probably be my pick among proper songs.
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Post by kds on Jun 5, 2023 15:06:41 GMT
We had six voters for Postcard From California
Best
Don't Fight the Sea - 5 Sam Simeon - 1
Worst (one voter abstained)
Tidepool Interlude - 3 Help Me Rhonda - 1 Honkin Down the Highway - 1
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Post by kds on Jun 5, 2023 15:12:00 GMT
And, that's a wrap. We've covered all of the solo studio albums from the five original Beach Boys.
Thanks to everyone who voted and participated in the discussions. Maybe one day, we'll have a new album to add to this list, but at this point, I'd actually be quite surprised to see anything new from Mike, Brian, or Al.
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