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Post by Kapitan on Mar 22, 2023 11:27:57 GMT
Thanks for posting those reviews, lonelysummer. I love contemporaneous reviews: those written after the fact are interesting, but have to be understood differently. It's like the daily news compared to the history books. They appear to be scanned in: are these clips you kept?
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 22, 2023 12:06:23 GMT
Yeah, how in the heck did you find those? Did you cut them out and save them from back in the day? If yes, good for you! Now that's a great fan. And thanks for posting them. I disagree with them, but, hey...
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 22, 2023 18:54:07 GMT
There is a website with old issues of Billboard, Cashbox and Record World. It's free. Easy to spend hours there. I've saved quite a few Beach Boys related clips from that site.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 22, 2023 19:03:08 GMT
There is a website with old issues of Billboard, Cashbox and Record World. It's free. Easy to spend hours there. I've saved quite a few Beach Boys related clips from that site. What is the website?
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Post by B.E. on Mar 23, 2023 1:12:54 GMT
Best - "Heaven" - I like most of the tracks, but "Heaven" is head and shoulders above the rest.
Worst - "The Grammy" - Not bad, but the combination of the lyrics, backing vocals, and Carl's subpar lead vocal lands this one last. I also considered "Seems So Long Ago" due to that torturous 2-minute sax solo, but it's also got one of Carl's best leads on the album and is otherwise just a very pleasant track.
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 23, 2023 2:22:12 GMT
There is a website with old issues of Billboard, Cashbox and Record World. It's free. Easy to spend hours there. I've saved quite a few Beach Boys related clips from that site. What is the website? I believe it is called World Radio History. Or try searching with the phrase "Billboard Magazine Archives".
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Post by kds on Mar 23, 2023 15:04:43 GMT
The votes are in for Carl Wilson's self titled album.
Best
Heaven - 5 What You Gonna Do About Me - 1
Worst
The Grammy - 3 Seems So Long - 1 Hurry Love - 1 The Right Lane - 1
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Post by kds on Mar 23, 2023 15:09:28 GMT
Next up, Carl Wilson's second and final solo album - Youngblood. Youngblood will be up for discussion until Monday, March 27 at 11am EDT.
Carl Wilson - Youngblood (1983)
Best Worst What More Can I Say 1 She's Mine Givin' You Up One More Night Alone Rockin' All Over The World 2 What You Do To Me 1 1 Young Blood 3 Of The Times 2 Too Early To Tell If I Could Talk To Love 1 Time 1
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 23, 2023 17:58:53 GMT
Youngblood is a good album. I consistently rank it third, behind just Pacific Ocean Blue and No Pier Pressure as the best BB solo albums. I think the songs are strong and varied, and Carl's vocals are among the best of his career. Youngblood deserved a better fate commercially and critically.
BEST SONG: It's between three songs - "Of The Times", "Givin' You Up", and "If I Could Talk To Love". Oh, and "She's Mine" is no slouch either. This is tough, but I guess I'll go with "Of The Times". I like the lyrics and I like how the song really gets going. Carl really gets going, too.
WORST SONG: I never liked this cover of "Young Blood". I think it's a misfire. Of all the oldies Carl could've dug out...I never understood this choice. Oh, and why is the title song "Young Blood" but the album is titled "Youngblood"? Yep, even though it's a solo album, Carl was still being a Beach Boy.
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Post by kds on Mar 23, 2023 20:25:01 GMT
Best - Time - I think Youngblood is a better overall album than Carl's s/t album, but unlike that album, there's no obvious standout track to me. But, I'll go with the album closer, Time. Not really sure exactly why, but I listened to Youngblood twice this morning, and enjoyed it the most.
Worst - Young Blood - I get the choice, but it's the execution. This cover is right up there with Rock and Roll Music for me if that it's just kind of limp, and there are far better versions out there. Bad Company comes to mind. The Beatles also.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 23, 2023 20:31:52 GMT
I need to give this a fresh listen: I haven't given it a spin since we rated it whenever that was. (Probably a couple years by now?)
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 24, 2023 13:47:21 GMT
What is it with me this spring? This is yet another album that I'm REALLY liking more than I ever have before. Granted, I've only listened a half dozen times in my entire life, so it's not like I had some studied position on it. But this morning, I'm feeling all of the energy that I would have thought his debut might have delivered based on his comments.
Honestly, this is the stylistic template I think the Beach Boys should have used in the early to mid '80s. This makes so much more sense than a Steve Levine, synth-based production. This respects their roots but brings a more contemporary sound: it just strikes me as more befitting their history, their age, and frankly their skills.
The songs themselves aren't consistently strong, but they're mostly pretty solid-to-good. The production isn't always my favorite here, either. (The clean toned electric guitars sound every bit as limp as I thought they did on his debut, and electric pianos in general don't do it for me. Some of the piano sounds are also that piano-synth sound of the era that I don't care for.) But the playing and singing are great, and, as I said--thank heavens!--the energy is there.
Not ready to pick my best/worst quite yet, but I wanted to chime in overall before I get on with things today.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 24, 2023 15:06:35 GMT
Best: Rockin All Over the World I am actually not a HUGE fan of this song in general, but I think this version is really pretty good. I also had Time and What More Can I Say right up there in contention. But I like almost all of the songs on the album at least as a pleasant or fun listen, and I agree with KDS that there isn't a huge disparity between them.
Worst: What You Do To Me This just edges out everybody else's pick, Young Blood. I don't especially like either song, but I am picking WYDTM just because it reminds me of some preset rhythm on a $70 Casio keyboard circa 1990. But the almost-title track is in contention, somehow both having been performed well and sounding great--it was well engineered and produced in that respect, I love the sound of the instrumental track and singing--while also seeming rigid, lifeless in a way, almost like an exercise. The yips and hollers seem to lack any actual enthusiasm. I know Carl had cleaned up his lifestyle by this time, but maybe a few drinks in everyone would have brought a little life to this one. However, these are the only two tracks on the album I think I can say I flat-out don't like. And even they aren't awful.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 24, 2023 15:36:02 GMT
I think “Rockin’ All Over The World” is a good (rare?) example of a later period retro-sounding rocker, befitting of the Beach Boys, that was done in a way that still felt (relatively) current and natural. As I listened the other day, I was comparing it to “California Calling” which feels much more forced. Obviously, it helps that it was a solo track, and so there wouldn’t have been as much pressure to have uber Beach Boys-style vocal arrangements or specific lyrical themes and references.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 24, 2023 15:37:25 GMT
Best: Rockin All Over the World I am actually not a HUGE fan of this song in general, but I think this version is really pretty good. I also had Time and What More Can I Say right up there in contention. But I like almost all of the songs on the album at least as a pleasant or fun listen, and I agree with KDS that there isn't a huge disparity between them. Worst: What You Do To Me This just edges out everybody else's pick, Young Blood. I don't especially like either song, but I am picking WYDTM just because it reminds me of some preset rhythm on a $70 Casio keyboard circa 1990. But the almost-title track is in contention, somehow both having been performed well and sounding great--it was well engineered and produced in that respect, I love the sound of the instrumental track and singing--while also seeming rigid, lifeless in a way, almost like an exercise. The yips and hollers seem to lack any actual enthusiasm. I know Carl had cleaned up his lifestyle by this time, but maybe a few drinks in everyone would have brought a little life to this one. However, these are the only two tracks on the album I think I can say I flat-out don't like. And even they aren't awful. And, "Rockin' All Over The World" was one of the few solo songs that Carl performed with the Beach Boys in concert. Actually, so was your Worst Song pick, too.
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