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Post by kds on Mar 27, 2023 15:59:59 GMT
Sorry, a little late, but six voters chimed in for Youngblood
Best
Rockin All Over the World - 2 Of the Times - 2 Time - 1 What You Do Me
Worst
Young Blood - 3 What More Can I Say - 1 What You Do To Me - 1 If I Could Talk to Love - 1
I'm a little surprised Givin' You Up didn't get a vote for Best.
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Post by kds on Mar 27, 2023 16:06:40 GMT
The next Beach Boy to go solo was Mike Love, whose solo debut was released soon after Carl's. Mike's Looking Back With Love will be up until Thursday, March 30, at 11am EDT. Mike Love - Looking Back With Love (1981)
Best Worst Looking Back With Love 1 On And On And On Runnin' Around The World 1 Over And Over Rockin' The Man In The Boat 1 Calendar Girl Be My Baby One Good Reason 1 Teach Me Tonight Paradise Found 2
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Post by kds on Mar 27, 2023 16:08:42 GMT
Just a reminder, since we're on Mike's solo catalog.
Thursday, March 30, we'll do Unleash the Love
Monday, April 3, I'll re-post the results of Reason for the Season, Mike's Christmas Album, then move on to 12 Sides of Summer.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 27, 2023 19:43:18 GMT
Relistening to this turd of an album is unpleasant. I'd actually had it fade into a moderately pleasant memory that was shattered this afternoon. Nope: it's bad.
Best: Paradise Found I can see this being picked as the worst song, and I understand in a way. It isn't my dream come true by a long shot, going from a ballad to an oh-so-of-the-times lite-pop tune. But there are really nice harmonies, and it is the one tune Love cowrote. I said once I would have put this on a 1981 Beach Boys album (and I do think they could have done wonders with it).
Worst: Looking Back With Love So many options! This actually isn't musically my least favorite--not by a long shot. I think they desecrated a number of good songs here with their cover versions. But Jim Studer, Craig Thomas, and Dan Parker managed to write the most Mike Love song Mike Love never wrote. For that, they have my eternal disdain.
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 27, 2023 19:54:21 GMT
I find it really sad in hindsight that in the early '80s, Carl and Mike both wrote and/or recorded enough music to release multiple albums; Brian was writing and demoing some music. Presumably Al would always be available to do whatever needed doing. Dennis had slowed down as the '80s began, but of course there were all those unreleased Bambu tracks. And yet there's no Beach Boys album for 5 years in this period. That was by design. After the failure of The Beach Boys Love You, M.I.U. Album, LA (Light Album) and Keepin' the Summer Alive, it was time to take a break. When you've tried everything under the sun and still failed to get a hit, it's time to step away, and recharge the creative batteries. And it seemed to work. The 1985 album was their highest charting album since 15 Big Ones, and got them a top 40 single with Getcha Back. The mistake IMO was not following that up with another album of new material. Caribou dropped them at the end of 1985, but I'm sure they could have gotten another label deal. 1986 was the 25th anniversary, so okay, maybe a compilation album was the right way to go, but then in 1987 they should have had a new studio album. I am just guessing with Brian away from the group, working on a solo album, they didn't feel confident they had enough strong material to make a new album. They may have also been reluctant to make a full album without Brian. I don't know, I'm just guessing.
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 27, 2023 19:55:23 GMT
Sorry, a little late, but six voters chimed in for Youngblood Best Rockin All Over the World - 2 Of the Times - 2 Time - 1 What You Do Me Worst Young Blood - 3 What More Can I Say - 1 What You Do To Me - 1 If I Could Talk to Love - 1 I'm a little surprised Givin' You Up didn't get a vote for Best. It would have been my second or third choice.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 27, 2023 20:02:03 GMT
I find it really sad in hindsight that in the early '80s, Carl and Mike both wrote and/or recorded enough music to release multiple albums; Brian was writing and demoing some music. Presumably Al would always be available to do whatever needed doing. Dennis had slowed down as the '80s began, but of course there were all those unreleased Bambu tracks. And yet there's no Beach Boys album for 5 years in this period. That was by design. After the failure of The Beach Boys Love You, M.I.U. Album, LA (Light Album) and Keepin' the Summer Alive, it was time to take a break. When you've tried everything under the sun and still failed to get a hit, it's time to step away, and recharge the creative batteries. And it seemed to work. The 1985 album was their highest charting album since 15 Big Ones, and got them a top 40 single with Getcha Back. The mistake IMO was not following that up with another album of new material. Caribou dropped them at the end of 1985, but I'm sure they could have gotten another label deal. 1986 was the 25th anniversary, so okay, maybe a compilation album was the right way to go, but then in 1987 they should have had a new studio album. I am just guessing with Brian away from the group, working on a solo album, they didn't feel confident they had enough strong material to make a new album. They may have also been reluctant to make a full album without Brian. I don't know, I'm just guessing. I agree they were a bumbling and confused mess by 1980, and weren't exactly making money or scoring hits like the old days. My comment was more from the modern perspective, knowing that those years can never be relived, and knowing we could have had a treasure trove of additional music that we don't have. OK, "treasure trove" is probably excessive, and it almost certainly would have bombed anyway. But I'd love to hear what their music would have sounded like with the group rather than apart from it. No, they weren't quite in prime form in 1981-84, but they were a hell of a lot better than they'd be as the years went on. If I could either have a 1982 album or a 2022 album, I'd take the former (even knowing it would probably be pretty mediocre or worse by their standards). But as usual, they weren't seeing eye to eye.
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Post by kds on Mar 27, 2023 20:24:34 GMT
Relistening to this turd of an album is unpleasant. I'd actually had it fade into a moderately pleasant memory that was shattered this afternoon. Nope: it's bad. Best: Paradise Found I can see this being picked as the worst song, and I understand in a way. It isn't my dream come true by a long shot, going from a ballad to an oh-so-of-the-times lite-pop tune. But there are really nice harmonies, and it is the one tune Love cowrote. I said once I would have put this on a 1981 Beach Boys album (and I do think they could have done wonders with it). Worst: Looking Back With Love So many options! This actually isn't musically my least favorite--not by a long shot. I think they desecrated a number of good songs here with their cover versions. But Jim Studer, Craig Thomas, and Dan Parker managed to write the most Mike Love song Mike Love never wrote. For that, they have my eternal disdain. I had a feeling the title track, with all those references, might be your choice. It really sets the stage pretty well for the mediocrity that followed. It's pretty amazing though, the lack of Mike Love credits on a Mike Love album. When you consider how much he fights for his lyrical contributions to The Beach Boys (even three decades after he really no longer had to), that fact that Mike's solo debut has one co-write is amazing.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 27, 2023 20:28:05 GMT
You do sometimes see artists saying they just want to be the performer: I think of John Lennon's stated approach for his Rock & Roll covers album, where he said he just wanted to sing and not worry about anything else. You want to give Mike the benefit of the doubt. But your solo debut is a strange time to take a step back...
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Post by kds on Mar 27, 2023 21:03:32 GMT
You do sometimes see artists saying they just want to be the performer: I think of John Lennon's stated approach for his Rock & Roll covers album, where he said he just wanted to sing and not worry about anything else. You want to give Mike the benefit of the doubt. But your solo debut is a strange time to take a step back... That pretty much sums up Mike's solo career when you take into account how few Mike Love penned, non BB cover, originals are on his four solo albums. Sidenote, I did not realize (or forgot) that LBWL was on Spotify. It's still a little strange to me that this is the only major BB related album that has never gotten a CD release. You'd think it would've at least gotten one of those bargain CD releases that were pretty common in the 80s and 90s.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 27, 2023 23:51:37 GMT
Back in 1980, Beach Boys' fans were spoiled. We expected to get a new album every year. Then when that stopped, we started to get solo albums. No new Beach Boys' album in 1981? That's OK, Mike Love (and I guess Carl Wilson) will fill that void. Oh, boy. Be careful what you ask for.
I really wanted to like Looking Back With Love. I played it on my turntable. I made a cassette tape for my Ford Maverick. I even incorporated a few of the songs on a solo BB mix tape. I thought I liked it. There were a couple keepers to save the album. I mean, I do remember liking a few songs. Then I stopped playing it. Years later, and I mean many years later, I heard it on some website. I thought it sounded pretty bad, even some of the songs I thought were worthwhile. I can see why I might've liked it better back in 1981, but I don't think it has aged well. That being said, I do like it better than Mike's more recent solo albums. At least on Looking Back With Love, Mike still sounded like Mike.
It makes me wonder what Mike was thinking. Why did he release this album? Couldn't he just sit still? He couldn't have been jumping on The Beach Boys' bandwagon. There wasn't any in 1980-81, unless you count those massive outdoor concerts they were playing. He obviously wasn't trying to impress with his songwriting prowess (which he might've wanted to do sans Brian Wilson). He didn't want to channel The Beach Boys. Surprisingly, it wasn't exactly a BB soundalike album. I got the feeling Mike thought he was more well-known than he really was. Maybe he thought the name "Mike Love" would guarantee success, if not "the lead singer of The Beach Boys". Obviously, neither meant much. The album bombed.
BEST SONG: My favorites were/are "Paradise Found", "Be My Baby", and "Runnin' Around The World". Maybe you can throw "Calendar Girl" in there, too. You know, I'm gonna go with "Runnin' Around The World". It's an original (whoever James Haymer and Blair Aaronson are), it's the most Beach Boys-sounding song (complete oohs, ahhs, bop-bops, and aum-bop-diddits), the bass and drums are pretty good, and Mike sings it well. It even has a falsetto tag!
WORST SONG: "One Good Reason" was a clunker. Poor choice by Mike.
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Post by kds on Mar 28, 2023 16:13:53 GMT
Best - Paradise Found - I don't think this would've been out of place on MIU, LA, or KTSA.
Worst - Rockin the Man in the Boat - I almost went with the title track, but at least that one reminds me of better songs.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 28, 2023 19:06:59 GMT
I have no problem with "Paradise Found" as the BEST SONG. I like the song. I chose "Runnin' Around The World" but they're very close. I wanted to mention that Mike's duet partner on "Paradise Found" is Joanie Sommers (an appropriate name ). Joanie had a nice, long singing career including several TV appearances - and had a Top Ten single (#7 in 1962) with "Johnny Get Angry". Hey, where else would you find this kind of info/trivia but on The Beach Boys Today Forum!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 29, 2023 12:41:51 GMT
Looking Back With Love...we all made it together!
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 30, 2023 2:03:45 GMT
Looking Back With Love...we all made it together!
I found the 45 of this song in an antique store last summer. The song sounds okay if you can ignore the lyrics.
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