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Post by B.E. on Feb 12, 2023 0:24:10 GMT
I heard this on Underground Garage today. There's a very overt Beach Boys/Phil Spector riff throughout, but the chorus (as first heard at 0:56) is very Brian.
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sockit
The Surfer Moon
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Likes: 181
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Post by sockit on Feb 12, 2023 15:52:33 GMT
I heard this on Underground Garage today. There's a very overt Beach Boys/Phil Spector riff throughout, but the chorus (as first heard at 0:56) is very Brian. I hear it. But even more so, I hear "It's Only Love" by the Beatles.
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Post by B.E. on Feb 12, 2023 15:57:08 GMT
Oh, yeah, that too!
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Post by Kapitan on Feb 12, 2023 16:00:12 GMT
I'd agree with sockit, it's "It's Only Love" that I hear most of all in the tune itself. But obviously that Spector thing calls to mind Wilson. That sort of music is something I tend to really like, modern rock that is pretty explicitly derived from the classics I love. Power pop, I guess you'd say. It's often too twee, because the stuff I gravitate toward is the very melodic and often harmony-drenched, which almost inevitably goes that direction. (This isn't that, btw.) But then I feel conflicted for thinking I'm just being suckered by pastiche kinds of things rather than new "great" stuff. But then I also can't hear any new "great" stuff anywhere else anyway. So I have quite a weird relationship with this sort of music overall. And that was mostly off topic. Apologies, and thanks for letting me psychoanalyze myself!
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sockit
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 234
Likes: 181
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Post by sockit on Feb 12, 2023 16:12:44 GMT
Just for the record (yuk, yuk!) I think "It's Only Love" would have been a great song for the Beach Boys to cover. I can hear Dennis singing lead while the Boys do their magic harmonies behind it.
Ok, back on the rails with this thread!
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Post by B.E. on Feb 12, 2023 16:47:28 GMT
Beyond the "Then He Kissed Me"/"Then I Kissed Her"-sounding riff, I just want to try to explain what I think it was about the chorus that reminded me of Brian: I think it was mainly the musical pause in the transition, but also that we were transitioning from a quicker paced/lower register melody to a slower/higher part. Which, yes, is extremely common in music but called to mind transitions from Mike verses to Brian's sensitive/aching pre-choruses or choruses. Off the top of my head, though, I think "Shelter" is actually the best example I could come up with and might be, specifically, what I was reminded of. Recall the pause as it transitions to the chorus and the transition from a wordy verse to a soaring/sensitive lead (which is, of course, actually a transition from Brian to Jeff in this instance). Again, I realize it's not uniquely Brian, but it felt like a Brian move nonetheless. (And, admittedly, with sockit 's help I think I've realized that what I was probably really reminded of was a combination of "It's Only Love" and "Shelter"...along with the general feel/effect I've attempted to describe above.) All that said, the main reason I posted the link was the riff! That almost knocked me over when I heard it!
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sockit
The Surfer Moon
Posts: 234
Likes: 181
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Post by sockit on Feb 12, 2023 17:12:52 GMT
Beyond the "Then He Kissed Me"/"Then I Kissed Her"-sounding riff, I just want to try to explain what I think it was about the chorus that reminded me of Brian: I think it was mainly the musical pause in the transition, but also that we were transitioning from a quicker paced/lower register melody to a slower/higher part. Which, yes, is extremely common in music but called to mind transitions from Mike verses to Brian's sensitive/aching pre-choruses or choruses. Off the top of my head, though, I think "Shelter" is actually the best example I could come up with and might be, specifically, what I was reminded of. Recall the pause as it transitions to the chorus and the transition from a wordy verse to a soaring/sensitive lead (which is, of course, actually a transition from Brian to Jeff in this instance). Again, I realize it's not uniquely Brian, but it felt like a Brian move nonetheless. (And, admittedly, with sockit 's help I think I've realized that what I was probably really reminded of was a combination of "It's Only Love" and "Shelter"...along with the general feel/effect I've attempted to describe above.) All that said, the main reason I posted the link was the riff! That almost knocked me over when I heard it! I've listened to that link numerous times now, and I'm hearing BW more and more. I completely agree with your points, @b.E. It's refreshing to hear newer music that uses classic elements that are obviously influenced by our heroes without being ripoffs. I've analyzed this tune enough to where it's really starting to grow on me! Thanks for posting that!
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 24, 2023 18:35:42 GMT
This doesn't quite fit the "specific" part of the thread title, but I don't know if there's a corresponding "Songs that remind you generally of Beach Boys songs" thread. So here is where it goes. I was reminded today of Mike Keneally--a guitarist who worked with Frank Zappa on his last tour(s?), among others--and his hidden gem of an album Wooden Smoke. It was released in 2001, right when I was beginning to see the appeal of the early '70s Beach Boys, even if Brian Wilson weren't necessarily heavily involved. And, being a Zappa guy myself, it naturally caught my eye when I read something like this, although this specific blurb was from later: AllMusic ran with a similar theme: Anyway, here is "2001," which I like in a general early '70s Carl Wilson kind of way.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 3, 2023 22:30:43 GMT
I'm stretching the thread concept again, but I don't think there's an "Artists name-checking Beach Boys songs in relation to their own compositions" thread.
Robert Harrison (Cotton Mather, Future Clouds & Radar, and solo artist) has a video study up through his Patreon that focuses on one of his songs, "The End of Dewitt Finley," below. Harrison mentions some unusual-for-him chords in it, a guitarist who plays some keyboards but isn't really a pianist and by his own admission doesn't read or write music.
"Now here's the part that I find interesting: where was I getting these chords? I figured that out. I was working on this song."
He turns around and begins playing "God Only Knows" on a keyboard. I won't say fumbling by any means--in fact he plays it with a few different and prettier flourshes than Brian typically does--but in an untrained pianist's style. And then he speaks again on its influence.
"And of course, that's 'God Only Knows,' which immediately starts in the key of E and then shifts to D, and so, like 'Dewitt Finley,' it's kind of ambiguous sometimes where you are." He goes on briefly to discuss some specifics in each of the two songs, landing particularly on the diminished chord. Eventually, he does clarify he's talking approach and ambiguity more than details. "Obviously it doesn't sound like 'God Only Knows,' although I only wish that it did. It is an extraordinary compositon."
Anyway, you know "God Only Knows," but here's "The End of Dewitt Finley."
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Post by B.E. on Sept 17, 2023 14:51:29 GMT
I was listening to the 60s Gold Sirius channel yesterday and this section of the Four Seasons' "Working My Way Back To You" jumped out to me as the possible origin of "Walkin'". What do you think?
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nater414
Denny's Drums
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Post by nater414 on Sept 20, 2023 22:17:11 GMT
The chord progression chorus of Miley Cyrus "Flowers" ... Am Dm I can buy myself flowers G C C/B Write my name in the sand Reminds me of this part of "When I Grow Up" and this part of Good To My Baby (transposed to be in the same key) .................Am7.D7...........................Bm7..Em7 Will I joke around and still dig those sounds Am7..............................D7 She's my girl and I'm good to my baby G...................................Em She's my girl and I'm good to my baby Bm7 could be Gmaj9 with a G on bottom and Em7 could be Cmaj9 with a C on the bottom, like the latter part of that "Flowers" hook, and either way, those chords (Bm7 and G /Em7 and C) have a similar harmonic function because they share notes, and that's why I hear the similarity to WIGU. And that D7 in GTMB is similar to the Dm in "Flowers", you just have to flat the three. Once again, the Em in the final chord of that GTMB section serves a very similar function the C/B in the Miley song. And it would not be hard to reharmonize "Flowers" with the chords from either sections of those two BW compositions.
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Post by Kapitan on Sept 21, 2023 14:38:19 GMT
I like how you're thinking, but I think you're finding similarities that are coincidental more than functional.
Both Beach Boys examples are starting with a ii-V7, which is one of the most common changes in popular music (and classical, jazz, and all other western music for that matter), probably second only to the resolution of V7-I. They diverge slightly, with WIGU going to a iii7-vi7 and GTMB the more typical I-vi7, but you're right that the minor three and major tonic (Bmin7 and G, if we're in G major) are easily substituted.
But in the Cyrus song, the chorus (actually the verses, too) is behaving like it's in A minor (as the E7 that precedes it indicates). So it's a i-iv-VII-III progression. The root movement of ascending fourths is pretty typical, and is the same interval as the ii-Vs of the other songs. But I think the functionality of the progressions are different.
The reharmonization flexibility is certainly true, though. However, because of the nature of triads, that's always true. Depending on the melody and any important harmonies or parts, several chords within the key--things change once you start including accidentals--are going to more or less work if they're built on every other note, as long as you're cool with extensions and inversions. A I, a vi, and a iii can all more or less flip flop, just as a ii, a IV, and a vi often can.
Anyway, point being: I think it's just the ascending 4th in the bass lines (which are common because of ii-Vs in major keys) is what you're hearing as a similarity.
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