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Post by jk on Apr 16, 2020 9:50:31 GMT
Every day there was a new beach boys show or The Beach Boys on late night TV and the excitement of the album being number 3 on the Billboard charts. What a fantastic time that was. As for the smartest thing they ever did in order to survive I have only 3 words: Endless summer And word number three, prof?
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 16, 2020 11:39:47 GMT
It's all in the spacing.
End. Less. Summer. Three words!
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Post by jk on Apr 16, 2020 12:07:13 GMT
It's all in the spacing.
End. Less. Summer. Three words!
Oh.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2020 2:13:08 GMT
I really just wanted to make you fellows laugh
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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Apr 17, 2020 2:29:14 GMT
Every day there was a new beach boys show or The Beach Boys on late night TV and the excitement of the album being number 3 on the Billboard charts. What a fantastic time that was. As for the smartest thing they ever did in order to survive I have only 3 words: Endless summer That reminds me of a really cool moment at the concert I attended. I can't remember exactly what point in the show it was, but Mike said he just got off the phone and found out the album debuted at #3 on the hot 100. The crowd erupted into cheers after that.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 17, 2020 3:33:34 GMT
Yeah at the Hollywood bowl The Beach Boys were trying to get us to buy the album during the show so it could be higher than Adele's new album but it didn't quite make it. Harmony boys is what we believe in
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 17, 2020 6:14:22 GMT
The 2012 reunion went by so fast, if you blinked, you would miss it.
I remember they were playing at a winery up here that summer; that place is not any bigger than the state fair Mike's group usually plays when they are in the NW. The difference was the ticket price. Cheap seats for the reunion were something like $70. I saw the current band last year at the fair for $35.
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Post by lonelysummer on Apr 17, 2020 6:17:06 GMT
Every day there was a new beach boys show or The Beach Boys on late night TV and the excitement of the album being number 3 on the Billboard charts. What a fantastic time that was. As for the smartest thing they ever did in order to survive I have only 3 words: Endless summer That reminds me of a really cool moment at the concert I attended. I can't remember exactly what point in the show it was, but Mike said he just got off the phone and found out the album debuted at #3 on the hot 100. The crowd erupted into cheers after that. So whatever happened to the songs from that album? i'm not aware of Mike's band or Brian's band doing any of those songs in their shows. People keep telling me what a commercial success it was, so I would think there would be a lot of demand for the guys to play those songs. Can't remember the last time I heard TWGMTR or Isn't it Time on the radio.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 17, 2020 11:36:06 GMT
Can't remember the last time I heard TWGMTR or Isn't it Time on the radio. The last time? I can't remember the first time.
Chart success just doesn't mean much the past couple decades. Something can be in the top 5 and still have very little in the way of sales or airplay. It's really misleading.
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Post by kds on Apr 17, 2020 12:26:06 GMT
Can't remember the last time I heard TWGMTR or Isn't it Time on the radio. The last time? I can't remember the first time.
Chart success just doesn't mean much the past couple decades. Something can be in the top 5 and still have very little in the way of sales or airplay. It's really misleading.
Plus, let's not forget that they were selling bundles of ten copies of TWGMTR at merch stands to get an autographed copy. Not to shit in the sandbox, but that had to have played a huge part in the album going to #3. And for some reason that Adele album just kept selling and selling and selling.
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 17, 2020 12:29:14 GMT
Singable, relatable songs well sung, I could find a lot more to complain about than Adele in contemporary music (though I'm not a fan of Adele).
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Post by kds on Apr 17, 2020 12:45:58 GMT
Singable, relatable songs well sung, I could find a lot more to complain about than Adele in contemporary music (though I'm not a fan of Adele). I get that to a certain degree, and it really sets her apart from the other pop tarts out there. But, I remember she kept Van Halen from the #1 spot in February 2012, and kept The Beach Boys out of the top spot in June 2012. In the day of age of streaming, I doubt we'll see anything like that again any time soon.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 17, 2020 15:22:17 GMT
There was always...something...wrong with That's Why God Made The Radio, at least to me. It turned out the way I thought it would. Competent. Somewhat satisfying. Maybe even as good as could be expected. But, you could almost feel the flaws, flaws that would eventually be brought to light.
TWGMTR is not a "fun" album; it's non-Mike Love. What are there, two fun, old-Beach Boys-like songs - "Spring Vacation" and "Beaches In Mind", maybe "Daybreak Over The Ocean". I certainly would've appreciated another one or two songs in that vein. I think many Beach Boys' fans would've appreciated it, too. Mike has subsequently expressed his dissatisfaction with his lack of involvement in the album's writing process.
Related to that, I certainly expected more of a David Marks' presence. The lead guitarist is barely audible on the album. Was David merely brought back to fill a slot? To make the reunion more legitimate? To undo some kind of wrong decades ago? Why was there not one fast, rock and roll song on the album? Mike & Bruce perform several of them every night. Brian had/has talked endlessly about doing a rock and roll album. Even Al's solo album rocks in places. Isn't that - rock and roll - how David cut his teeth, made his reputation. Again, they couldn't come up with one song featuring his playing, allowing him to cut loose?
Eight or nine years ago when TWGMTR was recorded, Brian Wilson was still singing at a fairly respectable level. His vocals were actually improving as the 2000's were progressing. That Lucky Old Sun, Gershwin, Disney, and No Pier Pressure all feature excellent vocals in places from Brian. Yet, TWGMTR is so Jeff Foskett-heavy. Why? Why didn't Brian go for it? There are so many places on TWGMTR that feature high parts, and Jeff sticks out so prominently. I still feel disappointed when I hear them. I'll always believe with Joe Thomas producing, technology, and effort from Brian would've resulted in much more satisfying high vocals which would've, in turn, taken the album to another level.
Finally, I don't agree with the direction of TWGMTR, which to me was making it an almost totally Brian Wilson-composed album with just vocal input from a few Beach Boys. I think the album lost some personality because of that. It's not just that Al, Bruce, and maybe David deserved to contribute one of their songs, but I think that would've made the album more interesting and ultimately better. I'm not saying you had to delete any Brian songs, though I wouldn't have minded omitting "The Private Life Of Bill And Sue", just make it more of a team album, a group album, a 2012 Beach Boys' album. What we got was another Brian Wilson solo album with guest vocalists. Sound familiar?
The success of TWGMTR was similar to 15 Big Ones - it benefited from timing. The 50th Anniversary of the group. Another "Brian Is Back" episode. A new album after a long absence. A lot of publicity including TV several appearances. I don't think you can emphasize enough how successful the marketing campaign of TWGMTR was, especially the QVC performance. That moved a lot of units in a short period of time and really propelled the album up the charts. Yes, TWGMTR should be considered a success, but as has been mentioned, the album didn't seem to have legs.
Was TWGMTR a quickie? After having how many years to plan for it, it did come about fairly quickly. You had the Mike Love songwriting debacle. Skunk Baxter being brought in instead of using David. Which songs were taken from the Brian Wilson-Joe Thomas tapes and which ones would be left in the can? Ignore Al and Bruce or include them? And, of course we know what ultimately happened with the tour. Or do we? Same old, same old...
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Post by Kapitan on Apr 17, 2020 16:01:17 GMT
My opinions on your major topics. But I think it's better than you do, it seems. I think it rates far, far better than I expected it to. It's more than competent, in my opinion. It isn't a "real" Beach Boys album, but it's the best Beach Boys album in a few decades--and by a mile.
I disagree that it's not a fun album. It's not an exclusively fun album, but I think it's plenty fun. The title song, Isn't It Time, Bill & Sue are just as fun as the two and a half you named. I think Strange World is fun, for that matter. Even Shelter. Not Beach Boys cliches, necessarily, but fun nonetheless for this or that reason.
David Marks is indeed mostly missing, but I think that's true of everyone on the album not named Brian or Jeff.
As you know, I disagree entirely about Brian's ability to do high parts on the album. Not that I love Jeff's parts, but Brian would have sounded terrible on them, even though he had been singing reasonably well in lower registers. I think we'd have been left with either an unmitigated embarrassment or such dramatic pitch correction as to have brought out the hounds.
Lastly, yeah, it was a quickie. I think it's obvious both from the results and from what we've heard about it. It's a Brian Wilson album with some Beach Boys vocals flown in in prominent spots to make it sound like they're more present than they are, plus a little input from Mike. It's a facade.
They were trying to capitalize on the opportunity ahead of them, and they did just that.
But it's not a reunion album. It's an album released to support a reunion tour.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 17, 2020 16:13:04 GMT
As you know, I disagree entirely about Brian's ability to do high parts on the album. Not that I love Jeff's parts, but Brian would have sounded terrible on them, even though he had been singing reasonably well in lower registers. I think we'd have been left with either an unmitigated embarrassment or such dramatic pitch correction as to have brought out the hounds.
Joe Thomas made it work on every BW he ever worked starting with Imagination. And we're not talking about "You Still Believe In Me"-type stuff here. Just a few prominent high vocal parts that stick out. I hear them and say to myself - "Yeah, that's obviously Jeff. Damn, why didn't Brian sing that? He probably didn't even try. Was he too lazy?" And I like Jeff's voice, but basically live. It still bothers me.
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