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Post by Kapitan on Oct 1, 2019 1:11:12 GMT
"Life Is For The Living" might have my favorite bass part of the Beach Boys recorded output. So much so that I just created a thread for an unreleased album to say so.
While we're here: I love the big band tracks, the unreleased Sunflower-era tracks ... basically everything except "Tomboy," "On Broadway," and "Shortenin' Bread." I get why many would disagree. But I'll always have a soft spot for this stuff.
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Post by B.E. on Oct 3, 2019 0:12:58 GMT
This album is a mess. If it's true that it was submitted as a finished product, well, that's an embarrassment. The Dick Reynolds collaborations, the Sunflower-era tracks, and the contemporary Brian productions don't mesh at all! The vocal performances are mostly poor and the lyrics are subpar. Now, being the diehard fan that I am, I still find much to enjoy. I actually like most of the underlying songs (and some of the performances). It's "just" the overall execution that I find severely lacking.
The highlights for me are the studio versions of "Still I Dream Of It" and "It's Over Now" (execution aside), the incredibly fun and infectious "It's Trying To Say" (especially compared to the depressing mood set by some of Brian's other writing and Reynolds' arranging), "Everybody Wants To Live", and "On Broadway" (mostly for Al's lead vocal - I'm not really a fan of the song itself). The sunflower-era tracks are good, but not great.
"Life Is For The Living" is by far my least favorite track. Though, there's one thing I love about it: the ending! Seriously...LIIIIIIIFE!!!
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