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Post by Kapitan on Jan 23, 2024 22:45:01 GMT
I'm surprising myself and voting against a song I'd actually had on my list for one I didn't, and don't especially like: "Somewhere Near Japan" is my pick.
"Heaven" is the better song, in my opinion, and it's my preferred song. But the more I think about it, the Beach Boys in 1990 had a few semi-recent hits in "Wipeout" and "Kokomo." (Yes, those were a 18 months to a couple of years prior, but it wasn't yet ancient history.) Other legacy acts were having or had recently had some kind of comeback success, though it wasn't quite at the level things reached in the mid-90s. As I said in my previous post, Cher, Rod Stewart, Linda Ronstadt and Phil Collins were having big chart success in early 1990. And the song really seems like it could've hit ... even though it didn't. At all.
Conversely, what were people thinking about the Beach Boys in 1981, after about five years of very little chart success. (Ten years, really, with the exception of some action around 15BO. I'm not counting their reissue chart success.) And Carl Wilson, great as he was, wasn't exactly known as a celebrity, as a teen idol, as a sex symbol. I don't know that he was known much at all outside of real music fans. (I could be wrong, I was five years old...) And the sound of that first album, including "Heaven," is pretty generic. So I can see more easily why it wasn't a hit, or might have had more of an uphill climb.
So, yeah. I'm picking "Somewhere Near Japan," not as the better song, but as the song that seems more likely to have been a hit when released.
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Post by B.E. on Jan 24, 2024 1:32:44 GMT
"Heaven" was on my list, "Somewhere Near Japan" wasn't, and I'm sticking with my pick. As I relistened to both tracks, my main issue with both is the length. Thanks to this thread, I realize that both had shorter single edits. I can't find the single version of "Heaven" on YouTube, but lonelysummer 's description bodes well. "Somewhere Near Japan" still manages to feel too long. I like that they get into the verse much quicker, but the "Kokomo"-esque drum intro is a little tacky/desperate. I also think some of the vocal production is a bit off-putting and Al's entire vocal section sounds a little...wonky (on both versions). I don't know. Overall, I do think it's a good song with hit potential, but there are just some mismatched elements. As for "Heaven", I imagine it having more success in the soft/yacht rock orbit, as Awesoman alluded to. Maybe it would have fared better if it was the lead single and tastefully marketed as from the same artist who sung "God Only Knows". As much as I might like "Hold Me", "Heaven" is far more memorable. It might be his best song. It's truly great, IMO. Of course, as Kapitan indicated, both of these songs were released as singles and didn't crack the Hot 100. So, on one hand, we have our answer. But I can imagine a universe where those songs performed better, and I especially think "Heaven" was deserving.
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Jan 24, 2024 5:03:13 GMT
"Somewhere Near Japan" never got any airplay that I was aware of. I never saw the physical single, either. I have the promo CD single for "Somewhere Near Japan." It didn't have any artwork, so I made my own, featuring a manga-style toon of the BBs on the front and Godzilla asking two kids for directions to Tokoyo Disneyland on the back.
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Post by kds on Jan 24, 2024 13:20:47 GMT
I'm going with Heaven here. I think it's Carl's finest moment as a solo artist, and seems like the time of ballad from that era that could have been a hit.
Meanwhile, while I like Somewhere Near Japan, I don't hear it as a single. Its nice, but there's not enough to really entice the single buyer IMO.
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jan 24, 2024 14:10:13 GMT
Some of the comments nearly swayed me towards Heaven, but ultimately went with my own choice of Somewhere Near Japan. I think it moves too slow to have made an impact on the Hot 100. Maybe the single edit negates that somewhat, but I'd have to listen to it to change my mind.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jan 25, 2024 5:39:17 GMT
"Heaven" was on my list, "Somewhere Near Japan" wasn't, and I'm sticking with my pick. As I relistened to both tracks, my main issue with both is the length. Thanks to this thread, I realize that both had shorter single edits. I can't find the single version of "Heaven" on YouTube, but lonelysummer 's description bodes well. "Somewhere Near Japan" still manages to feel too long. I like that they get into the verse much quicker, but the "Kokomo"-esque drum intro is a little tacky/desperate. I also think some of the vocal production is a bit off-putting and Al's entire vocal section sounds a little...wonky (on both versions). I don't know. Overall, I do think it's a good song with hit potential, but there are just some mismatched elements. As for "Heaven", I imagine it having more success in the soft/yacht rock orbit, as Awesoman alluded to. Maybe it would have fared better if it was the lead single and tastefully marketed as from the same artist who sung "God Only Knows". As much as I might like "Hold Me", "Heaven" is far more memorable. It might be his best song. It's truly great, IMO. Of course, as Kapitan indicated, both of these songs were released as singles and didn't crack the Hot 100. So, on one hand, we have our answer. But I can imagine a universe where those songs performed better, and I especially think "Heaven" was deserving. 'Hold Me" is a nice little funky tune, but it's very basic, not a song or recording that's gonna blow anyone away. I agree, "Heaven" should have been the first single. As I mentioned earlier, a local station was playing "Heaven" even before the single came out. The other song from the album they played was "What You Gonna Do About Me"; never touched "Hold Me". "Still Cruisin' got a fair amount of play on A/C stations; again, the label chose the wrong song to lead off the album with.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 25, 2024 12:28:49 GMT
Heaven, having won by a two-to-one margin (6 votes to 3), will move on to the primary voting bracket. We'll send off "Somewhere Near Japan" with a nice parting gift...
I'll post the next round of voting (for the "play-in match" for the #15 seed) a little later this morning.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 25, 2024 13:29:49 GMT
Play-In Matchup #2: All Summer Long v California
Play-in round, for the 15th seed in the tournament bracket proper, we have two songs that have become at least standards, if (arguably) not quite classics, to Beach Boys fans—but it’s only the lesser known of the two that was actually released as a single.
15) “All Summer Long,” written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, was released as an album track on the July 1964 album of the same name. That album included just one single, the #1 hit “I Get Around” backed with “Don’t Worry Baby.” The title track did gain prominence a decade later, when it was featured in the nostalgic 1973 film American Graffiti. (The inclusion was actually anachronistic, the movie being set in 1962—before the song existed.)
18) Coincidentally, it was also in 1973 that our other song was released. The Al Jardine-penned “California Saga: California” was released first as a part of the album Holland in January 1973; in May of that year, the song was released as a single, with “Funky Pretty” as the B-Side. The single edit was slightly different, with some new harmonies overdubbed. As was the case with that year’s American Graffiti, this song was considered a nostalgic one for the group to release: its tempo, feel, and bass line recalled “California Girls,” while the harmonies were classic, if simple, Beach Boys. The single did not perform especially well, peaking at #84. It was a part of the group’s live set lists at the time, and was occasionally brought back, including for their 2012 reunion. It also became a part of Brian Wilson’s set lists when he was joined by Jardine.
This poll runs a little longer than will be typical, through Monday, Jan. 29, as I will be out of town for a long weekend beginning tomorrow.
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Post by B.E. on Jan 25, 2024 14:28:17 GMT
I think this will be a pretty easy choice for me as I think one unquestionably checks both the “could” and “should” boxes (and was included in my list) while the other doesn’t (and wasn’t included in my list).
I’ll hold off on voting, and revealing my pick, but you can probably guess where I stand. Who knows, though, maybe I’ll be swayed.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 25, 2024 15:07:20 GMT
I'll just come out and say mine. Usually I hold off on voting, as I've very much an "on the other hand..." kind of guy. But while I like both songs, this one was easy for me: "All Summer Long."
Why do I think it could have been a hit? One, we have no counterfactual to demonstrate otherwise, whereas "California" was indeed released during a relative upswing for the group, capitalized on the growing nostalgia of the era, and still failed to gain traction.
Two, "All Summer Long" would theoretically slot into what might be considered the band's peak. "I Get Around" was released in May 1964, and hit #1, and had followed five consecutive Top 25 hits; "When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)" was released in August 1964, hit #9, and was followed by 10 consecutive Top 25 hits, excluding the Christmas single "The Man With All The Toys" in Nov. 1964.
"All Summer Long" fits nicely among those great songs of that era. It doesn't seem in any way inferior. It is a fun, uptempo song, but not a cliched, paint-by-numbers affair in the least (with its inventive instrumentation and group-harmony lead vocals, "answered" by Mike Love's lines). Why wasn't this released as a single? I suppose timing: there was an embarrassment of riches in 1964-65. Most of the songs on the album All Summer Long seem like they could have been singles when listened to on their own, to say nothing of the consistent excellence of the songs on the next non-Christmas studio album, Today!, about eight or nine months later.
"California" was a blatant (and somewhat successful, but inferior) attempt to recapture some of the glory of mid-60s Beach Boys; "All Summer Long" was the glory of mid-60s Beach Boys.
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Post by kds on Jan 25, 2024 19:02:53 GMT
I'm kicking myself for leaving All Summer Long off the list I submitted. .
That gets my vote. Its probably the most "summery" song in the catalog of the band often called the Kings of Summer.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 25, 2024 19:58:27 GMT
I'm kicking myself for leaving All Summer Long off the list I submitted. . That gets my vote. Its probably the most "summery" song in the catalog of the band often called the Kings of Summer. Same here! I didn't have it on my list either. But first, "California Saga: California".
I had "California Saga: California" ranked fairly high. You have the neat Brian Wilson intro, the familiar Mike Love vocal/voice, and the catchy chorus with the good ol' Beach Boys' harmonies. That's a pretty good collection of assets. I also thought the music world was primed and ready for that type of Beach Boys' single. The band was sprinkling more and more oldies into their live set - you know, give the people what they want - so what not try for that type of single. Nope! I can kinda see why "Sail On Sailor" didn't hit big (Blondie's lead, the lyrics, the lack of the old BB sound), but not "California Saga: California". Oh, well. It wasn't the first time and it wouldn't be the last.
I had forgotten that "Wendy" wasn't a stand-alone single, and I kept getting mental pictures of the guys singing it on The Ed Sullivan Show, so I thought, hey, that's two singles from All Summer Long. That was enough. But, no, incorrect. Anyway, I guess "All Summer Long" slipped through the cracks of my list. First, it's a superior song to "Wendy", and second, it would've been a superior single. I don't have to write about its merits; it has everything, and it would've been a great follow-up single to "I Get Around". The last few years I've actually been hearing "All Summer Long" played on some oldies stations. Maybe they figured it out, too.
"All Summer Long" gets the vote.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jan 25, 2024 20:45:52 GMT
This one is easy: "All Summer Long". In fact, if I hadn't become a Beach Boys Geek, I would have assumed it had been a hit single circa 1964. The perfect closing song for Endless Summer. California Saga: California doesn't work for me apart from the California Saga suite. It's nice, it's okay, but it's place in the suite has the effect of elevating it, after two fairly somber sections of the suite.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 25, 2024 20:59:47 GMT
This one is easy: "All Summer Long". In fact, if I hadn't become a Beach Boys Geek, I would have assumed it had been a hit single circa 1964. The perfect closing song for Endless Summer.
Yes, "All Summer Long" is the perfect closing song for Endless Summer, and it woulda/coulda/shoulda been the perfect closing song for the All Summer Long album. A no-brainer, but not to them!
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Jan 25, 2024 21:52:46 GMT
I love both "Saga" and "All Summer Long." I actually heard "Saga" playing on one of the Atlanta FM stations several times, back in the day. Don't know if that constitutes a "hit" in any sense, but it did get some attention. My vote goes to "ASL" tho, because it's just perfection in how it captures the BBs' earlier sound, imo.
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