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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 29, 2019 19:57:39 GMT
How about 15 Big Ones? I'm not sure how much it succeeded, but by bringing Brian back they were trying to get back to that classic sound.
Heck, The Beach Boys are full of 'em. M.I.U. after Love You. Keepin' The Summer Alive after L.A. (Light Album). Still Cruisin' after Beach Boys 1985. And Summer In Paradise! Geez, I can't help but notice how much further away that "return" got to their classic sound. Yeah, right. And even though I was joking about Summer In Paradise, it really wasn't an attempt at the classic sound. It was an attempt at another "Kokomo" sound.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2019 20:01:10 GMT
I do agree that the BBs has several attempts at it. I’ll bet if you dig into contemporaneous interviews you would find plenty of examples of Mike saying—as he did in every TWGMTR interview I recall—something akin to “it sounds like 1965-66 again,” too.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 29, 2019 20:02:24 GMT
I think 15 Big Ones qualifies, because it was so heavily marketed as the return of Brian. That it failed, or that Brian wasn't even particularly trying to replicate their earlier sound, doesn't disqualify it, IMO. It's not just the marketing, it featured many covers that harkened back to their early musical influences.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 29, 2019 20:05:15 GMT
How about 15 Big Ones? I'm not sure how much it succeeded, but by bringing Brian back they were trying to get back to that classic sound.
Heck, The Beach Boys are full of 'em. M.I.U. after Love You. Keepin' The Summer Alive after L.A. (Light Album). Still Cruisin' after Beach Boys 1985. And Summer In Paradise! Considering Brian and Dennis's vocals were shot, and 15 Big Ones sounded more like a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys, I'm not certain that qualifies. I think they WERE TRYING for the classic sound, but were too optimistic or too much wishful thinking - or too much ignorance. It probably wasn't long into the sessions that they realized Brian's voice was shot. They had to know Dennis's was gone, too. But it was too late. They were already locked in. Brian was just gonna have to use his and Dennis's voice and let the chips fall where they may. But if you look at Brian's production of 15 Big Ones - one of my favorite albums of Brian's production - he/they were going for their classic sound. And Phil Spector's.
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Post by kds on Jul 29, 2019 20:08:23 GMT
Considering Brian and Dennis's vocals were shot, and 15 Big Ones sounded more like a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys, I'm not certain that qualifies. I think they WERE TRYING for the classic sound, but were too optimistic or too much wishful thinking - or too much ignorance. It probably wasn't long into the sessions that they realized Brian's voice was shot. They had to know Dennis's was gone, too. But it was too late. They were already locked in. Brian was just gonna have to use his and Dennis's voice and let the chips fall where they may. But if you look at Brian's production of 15 Big Ones - one of my favorite albums of Brian's production - he/they were going for their classic sound. And Phil Spector's. I'm sure they were trying for it, but I wouldn't consider that effort worthy of including the album as a true "return to form" album. Another one in the trend I mentioned of hard rock / metal bands losing the plot in the 1990s and returning to form in the 2000s is Scorpions - Unbreakable in 2004. After tinkering with their sound in the late 90s, Unbreakable was their best album in over a decade.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2019 20:11:33 GMT
I think most purported return to form albums are failures when you look back at them, so I don’t personally mind counting 15BO. Seems to me the phenomenon is more about intent, or style, than quality.
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Post by kds on Jul 29, 2019 20:13:36 GMT
I think most purported return to form albums are failures when you look back at them, so I don’t personally mind counting 15BO. Seems to me the phenomenon is more about intent, or style, than quality. If that's the case, then I think I've misunderstood the nature of this thread.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 29, 2019 20:15:01 GMT
I think they WERE TRYING for the classic sound, but were too optimistic or too much wishful thinking - or too much ignorance. It probably wasn't long into the sessions that they realized Brian's voice was shot. They had to know Dennis's was gone, too. But it was too late. They were already locked in. Brian was just gonna have to use his and Dennis's voice and let the chips fall where they may. But if you look at Brian's production of 15 Big Ones - one of my favorite albums of Brian's production - he/they were going for their classic sound. And Phil Spector's. I'm sure they were trying for it, but I wouldn't consider that effort worthy of including the album as a true "return to form" album. Another one in the trend I mentioned of hard rock / metal bands losing the plot in the 1990s and returning to form in the 2000s is Scorpions - Unbreakable in 2004. After tinkering with their sound in the late 90s, Unbreakable was their best album in over a decade. I have to respectfully disagree, kds. 'Rock And Roll Music", "It's OK", "Palisades Park", "A Casual Look", "Blueberry Hill", yes, "Everyone's In Love With You", and even the backing track of "Had To Phone Ya" could be considered The Beach Boys' classic sound. They could've recorded any of those songs between 1963-1966. I think you're putting too much emphasis on the quality of the final product not being up to the previous standards, but it was a RETURN to that classic sound nevertheless.
What "sound" would you consider 15 Big Ones? And that's a loaded question I know!
EDIT: See The Kapitan's post a few posts up.
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Post by kds on Jul 29, 2019 20:17:31 GMT
I'm sure they were trying for it, but I wouldn't consider that effort worthy of including the album as a true "return to form" album. Another one in the trend I mentioned of hard rock / metal bands losing the plot in the 1990s and returning to form in the 2000s is Scorpions - Unbreakable in 2004. After tinkering with their sound in the late 90s, Unbreakable was their best album in over a decade. I have to respectfully disagree, kds. 'Rock And Roll Music", "It's OK", "Palisades Park", "A Casual Look", "Blueberry Hill", yes, "Everyone's In Love With You", and even the backing track of "Had To Phone Ya" could be considered The Beach Boys' classic sound. They could've recorded any of those songs between 1963-1966. I think you're putting too much emphasis on the quality of the final product not being up to the previous standards, but it was a RETURN to that classic sound nevertheless.
What "sound" would you consider 15 Big Ones? And that's a loaded question I know! Like I said in an earlier post, 15 Big Ones sounds like a band trying to sound like The Beach Boys. To my ears, the end result bares little resemblance to their classic sound.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2019 20:18:01 GMT
KDS, Well I’ve enjoyed your commentary anyway.
What I meant was that after an artist changes styles, band members, chases trends or whatever, they put out an album that either they or critics tout as a return to form, meaning that allegedly it sounds like their previous (popular) music.
It might truly sound similar, or with a critical ear, it might not. It might be good, it might not. But the idea is basically, “you liked X, right? We’re [or theyre] back to that good old X sound!”
Sorry if I wasn’t clear.
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Post by kds on Jul 29, 2019 20:20:57 GMT
KDS, Well I’ve enjoyed your commentary anyway. What I meant was that after an artist changes styles, band members, chases trends or whatever, they put out an album that either they or critics tout as a return to form, meaning that allegedly it sounds like their previous (popular) music. It might truly sound similar, or with a critical ear, it might not. It might be good, it might not. But the idea is basically, “you liked X, right? We’re [or theyre] back to that good old X sound!” Sorry if I wasn’t clear. Fair enough. I do think the albums I cited are successful return to form albums, which is why I left off stuff like the U2 album mentioned previously, or pretty much every Paul McCartney album released in the last 35 years. I think the list of albums that are touted as return to form albums would be far longer.
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Post by Kapitan on Jul 29, 2019 20:22:22 GMT
One band that never needed a return to form album: AC/DC. To channel Mike’s maybe apocryphal sentiment, they never fucked with the formula in the first place!
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Post by kds on Jul 29, 2019 20:24:27 GMT
One band that never needed a return to form album: AC/DC. To channel Mike’s maybe apocryphal sentiment, they never fucked with the formula in the first place! That's true, although I remember reading a review of 1995's Ballbreaker, calling it a return to form. But, I honestly think it was only because it was their first full length in five years, and it marked the return of Phil Rudd on drums.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 29, 2019 20:30:01 GMT
Sheriff John Stone, production-wise I'd say Brian only had one foot in the past. Whenever he used that moog, he obviously wasn't trying to recreate 1963! You can hear quite a bit of Love You in 15 Big Ones.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 29, 2019 23:21:41 GMT
Sheriff John Stone , production-wise I'd say Brian only had one foot in the past. Whenever he used that moog, he obviously wasn't trying to recreate 1963! You can hear quite a bit of Love You in 15 Big Ones. That's true. 15 Big Ones wasn't totally retro. In conjunction with using the Moog/synthesizers, there is also a lack of electric guitar. I mean, Brian didn't exactly rock out on 15 Big Ones like the 1963-1966 period.
Before I posted, I checked the credits for 15 Big Ones and there are several Wrecking Crew musicians listed. I have posted this several times in the past on other message boards, but I always thought that Brian was channeling Spector on 15 Big Ones. He wasn't really blatant about it and he didn't mention it much, but it's there. I wonder if Brian was in a little bit of a survivor mode and reverted to what he knew best? I know some (a lot?) of Brian Wilson fans aren't enamored with the prospect of the infamous, three-decade talked about rock & roll album, but I always hoped he would've done one - and Spectorized it!
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