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Post by jk on Mar 15, 2019 12:13:07 GMT
As some of you must know, Surf's Up is my favourite Beach Boys album. I wouldn't change a thing about it and the cover art is perfection. "Feel Flows" is my favourite track, not least because of the extended instrumental workout, one of only two in Beach Boys music (the other being in "Leaving This Town"): I suppose after that, the only way is down. Be as ruthless as you want.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 15, 2019 13:02:34 GMT
I like it a lot, including--and even largely because of--a couple of the most-often ignored and dismissed songs, the first two on the album ("Don't Go Near the Water" and "Feet"). I'm still not a fan of "SDT," though I dislike it less than I used to.
For me, this is a better album than Sunflower. Put together along with the best of that era's outtakes, though, and you've REALLY got something great.
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Post by kds on Mar 24, 2019 4:08:15 GMT
Van Dyke Parks suggested releasing Surf's Up and making it the title track. Although, I'm sure he pitched the idea in a way that made no goddamn sense.
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Post by sebevedomy on Mar 24, 2019 8:04:12 GMT
Misses the Dennis songs, which would have put it over the top as THE Great Beach Boys Democratic Album.
Instead, that falls to Sunflower, which does not have songs nearly as strong as the strongest ones on this, but somehow manages to sound "greater". Goddamn it Dennis. Good going.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 25, 2019 12:23:58 GMT
The elimination poll on Surfs Up begins today. I’m going in assuming that Feet will lose early. This makes me sad.
it would last about halfway through in my perfect world. Or at least a third.
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Post by B.E. on May 23, 2020 15:09:00 GMT
Interesting. The instrumental break starts at 1:40 and I think I hear him from the start but he clearly peeks through at 1:51 and you can hear him the rest of the way. In regard to the lyrics, I couldn't agree more. "Unusual" is a perfect descriptor. Clearly not really Brian's bag.
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Post by B.E. on May 23, 2020 15:10:16 GMT
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 7, 2021 16:31:32 GMT
Surf's Up [Brother/Reprise, 1971] Their worst since Friends, which just goes to show that making like a great group is as bad for your music as making like a buncha mystics. Except for the sophomoric "Student Demonstration Time," the songs on the first side are all right--"Take a Load Off Your Feet" is worthy of Wild Honey and "Disney Girls (1957)" is worthy of Jack Jones's Greatest Hits--but the pop impressionism of side two drags hither and yon. The dying words of a tree are delivered in an apt, gentle croak, but the legendary title opus is an utter failure even on its own woozy terms and there are several disasters from the guest lyricists--Van Dyke Parks's wacked-out meandering is no better than Jack Rieley's. I'll trade you my copy for Surfin' Safari even up, and you'll be sorry. B-
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Post by B.E. on Jun 7, 2021 23:16:33 GMT
the legendary title opus is an utter failure even on its own woozy terms I'll trade you my copy for Surfin' Safari even up, and you'll be sorry. Funnily enough, I'm with him!
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Post by jk on Jun 8, 2021 9:12:22 GMT
Surf's Up [Brother/Reprise, 1971] Their worst since Friends, which just goes to show that making like a great group is as bad for your music as making like a buncha mystics. Except for the sophomoric "Student Demonstration Time," the songs on the first side are all right--"Take a Load Off Your Feet" is worthy of Wild Honey and "Disney Girls (1957)" is worthy of Jack Jones's Greatest Hits--but the pop impressionism of side two drags hither and yon. The dying words of a tree are delivered in an apt, gentle croak, but the legendary title opus is an utter failure even on its own woozy terms and there are several disasters from the guest lyricists--Van Dyke Parks's wacked-out meandering is no better than Jack Rieley's. I'll trade you my copy for Surfin' Safari even up, and you'll be sorry. B-
Ye gods, what a difficult man!
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Post by Deleted on Jun 8, 2021 21:51:37 GMT
As I've said on the EH forum, Surf's Up is half a great album. "Long Promised Road" (which should have been the first track, IMO), "Feel Flows", "Till I Die", and "Surf's Up" are all superior tunes. I can live without "Don't Go Near the Water", "Feet", "Dis-a-ney Girls", and "Tree". I can live with "SDT" and "Lookin' At Tomorrow".
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 8, 2021 22:41:15 GMT
I'm maybe the biggest Surf's Up apologist you'll come across, at least in my own observation. So for me, it's more than half a great album. Not top notch, but a high notch!
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Post by kds on Jun 9, 2021 12:08:55 GMT
I'm maybe the biggest Surf's Up apologist you'll come across, at least in my own observation. So for me, it's more than half a great album. Not top notch, but a high notch! I think the thing with Surf's Up is that when it's great, it's REALLY great. And that can even out some of the flaws on the album.
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Post by jk on Jun 10, 2021 17:57:52 GMT
I'm maybe the biggest Surf's Up apologist you'll come across, at least in my own observation. So for me, it's more than half a great album. Not top notch, but a high notch! No you're not -- that's me. It's top notch, okay?
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 10, 2021 18:21:58 GMT
I'm maybe the biggest Surf's Up apologist you'll come across, at least in my own observation. So for me, it's more than half a great album. Not top notch, but a high notch! No you're not -- that's me. It's top notch, okay? I stand corrected, then. Second-biggest Surf's Up apologist!
What about this, though: am I still the only one who finds it superior to Sunflower? Because I grow more convinced of that opinion every year.
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