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Post by Kapitan on Nov 26, 2020 12:57:36 GMT
In February 1983, Carl Wilson released his second solo album, Youngblood. The album was named after "Young Blood," a Leiber-Stoller-Pomus composition and one of four cover songs on the album; the others were all co-written by Wilson, Myrna Smith, and in some cases, third writers.
Its single, "What You Do To Me" (John Hall and Johanna Hall) charted at #72, and #20 on the adult contemporary charts. However, despite big-name contributors including Jeff Baxter, Timothy B. Schmidt, Nicky Hopkins, and Vinnie Colaiuta, the album did not chart.
Please discuss and rate Carl Wilson's Youngblood.
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Post by jk on Nov 27, 2020 13:04:51 GMT
In February 1983, Carl Wilson released his second solo album, Youngblood. The album was named after "Young Blood," a Leiber-Stoller-Pomus composition and one of four cover songs on the album; the others were all co-written by Wilson, Myrna Smith, and in some cases, third writers.
Its single, "What You Do To Me" (John Hall and Johanna Hall) charted at #72, and #20 on the adult contemporary charts. However, despite big-name contributors including Jeff Baxter, Timothy B. Schmidt, Nicky Hopkins, and Vinnie Colaiuta, the album did not chart.
Please discuss and rate Carl Wilson's Youngblood.
I've dissed it in the past (its predecessor is so much better) but out of fairness I'll give it another listen before discussing and rating it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 27, 2020 13:14:13 GMT
I always liked Youngblood, and for several years considered it to be the second best BB solo behind Pacific Ocean Blue (No Pier Pressure has recently taken over the No. 2 spot). Carl literally put his money where his mouth is/was when he said that he wanted to "step out" from the typical Beach Boys' sound. Again, other than Dennis with Pacific Ocean Blue, Carl was the only Beach Boy to do that with Youngblood. It is very guitar driven; it rocks more than any other Beach Boys' album. Carl didn't abandon his strength, the ballad, though there are not too many slow songs like Carl's first solo album. Lyrically, Youngblood has a more mature, adult feel, graduating from the boy/girl themes of many BB albums. And, vocally...I'll go out on a limb and say that Youngblood is Carl's best album vocally. He was singing like no other Beach Boy was capable of since Brian Wilson's prime.
Favorites? "She's Mine", "Givin' You Up", "If I Could Talk To Love", and "Of The Times". "One More Night Alone" has grown on me. "Youngblood" doesn't work; he should've stuck to one, "Rockin' All Over The World", which does. The only "current"/commercial song, "What You Do To Me", is nice though a little long. The variety of different song styles is definitely a positive on Youngblood. Carl did stretch out as promised.
Youngblood is a who's who of the then rock & roll scene. Jeff "Skunk" Baxter produced the album and provides guitar. Elliott Randall plays guitar. Nicky Hopkins plays piano. Billy Hinsche is all over the place. And, Timothy B. Schmit and Burton Cummings sing backing vocals. Carl found a lyricist in Myrna Smith who worked quite well with him.
I thought Youngblood deserved better. It definitely should've charted. "What You Do To Me" made a little noise; I remember hearing it on the radio and seeing Carl perform it on TV. Actually, "What You Do To Me" and "Rockin' All Over The World" were performed by Carl at some Beach Boys' concerts in 1983-84. Again, I like the album; there's not a bad song on it. Carl did this one right - 12 songs at 36:42. It had variety, great musicianship and incomparable Carl Wilson vocals. The only thing it lacks is a truly great timeless song like "Heaven" from Carl's first album, and I don't take that lightly. It's difficult to rank this album. Youngblood is not a great album. I put it somewhere in the good/very good area. How about a 7? Yeah, a 7.
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Post by B.E. on Nov 27, 2020 14:45:53 GMT
I think "What You Do To Me" is the standout. One of Carl's two signature solo songs (along w/"Heaven"). It would have been a hit for the Beach Boys, I think. I'm also a big fan of "Rockin' All Over The World" and "One More Night Alone". Toss in "Of The Times" and "Young Blood" and that's an EP I can get behind. Overall, while Carl's singing is fantastic, it's a bit too guitar-driven and dated for my taste.
7 - but somehow less than the sum of its parts. I don't listen to it very often.
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Post by B.E. on Nov 27, 2020 14:52:41 GMT
(its predecessor is so much better) I, too, prefer Carl's debut.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 27, 2020 15:01:12 GMT
(its predecessor is so much better) I, too, prefer Carl's debut. So, you would go higher than a 7 for Carl's debut? An 8 or higher for Carl's first solo album?
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Post by B.E. on Nov 27, 2020 15:09:02 GMT
No. Just a (slightly) higher 7.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 27, 2020 15:57:59 GMT
Same 4 I gave Carl's debut, though not for the same reasons. Generally the songs are tightened up, with fewer (and a lower percentage) on the wrong side of four minutes. Baxter's production has a more aggressive, harder rocking sound at times that helps minimize the easy listening adult contemporary of the first one.
But it's remarkable and unfortunate that this collection of talent ends up with this album, and it really speaks to the importance of great material. These songs just aren't very good. The players are great. The singer is great. The production, while often not to my taste, is at least good for the most part in terms of what it was doing: "Rockin' All Over the World" sounds good, energetic. But it's not a very good song. And it's one of the best songs on the album.
Conversely, "What You Do To Me" isn't a bad song, but that's one where the production is just atrocious: the track honestly sounds like a joke, like a preset rhythm track on a $99 Casio keyboard in the aisle at Wal-Mart.
But that's the exception for me, the song that really suffered from the production (much less performance). Most of this album is actually well done mediocrity. It's a shame Carl didn't have the same taste in material that he did in talent.
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Post by jk on Nov 28, 2020 22:05:58 GMT
Just one track to go and I feel safe in revising my previous verdict. This is quite a gritty album at times. (What a pity about the syrupy sax splashed all over the final minute of "One More Night Alone"!) My favourite track? I rather like this rollicking duet between Carl and Myrna (RIP both): I think eight would be about right.
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Post by kds on Nov 29, 2020 1:21:10 GMT
I'm with Kap here with a four. Good singing. Good playing. Middling forgetable songs.
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Post by B.E. on Nov 29, 2020 14:10:25 GMT
(What a pity about the syrupy sax splashed all over the final minute of "One More Night Alone"!) Indeed. As an aside, I'm currenting on a massive George Harrison kick. As such, it's occurred to me that "You" has one of the very few sax performances of the era that I (thoroughly) enjoy. Killer! So propulsive.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 30, 2020 15:29:37 GMT
One thing I wonder: if the Beach Boys had bought into Carl's a/c "rock," might they have had some success? No, Carl wasn't actually rocking in any real sense of the word, but he was kind-of rocking for a certain set of grown-ups whose lives now included 9-to-5s, kids, and the like. He was quite simply adult contemporary.
The Beach Boys had touched on this but not landed there. Their attempts at "contemporary" tended to forget or omit the "adult" part of it. This led to songs about ice cream weather and the like, which I'd think kids and adults alike would sneer at. And it made their attempts at contemporary music seem fake. None of their albums from this time up through TWGMTR with the possible exception of Stars n Stripes struck the balance between adult and contemporary befitting a band of their...vintage (and even SnS, while at least not seeming to try to aim at that teenagers-at-the-beach market they seem to have usually sought, wasn't good; just embarrassing and stupid in new, different ways).
Carl's solo albums aren't very imaginative, but they aren't atrocious. And they're music you can accept from a grown man. The band's voices could have lifted them, even with everything else being equal, into respectability. Instead, a couple years after Youngblood, we got "California Calling" and "Getcha Back." A few more years and we got "Summer of Love" and the like, a pair of Mike Love Concept Albums (with exciting and innovative concepts such as "movie songs" and "summer songs").
A/C might have been the way to go. Carl might have been on to something, as flawed as his execution was.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 30, 2020 15:47:00 GMT
One thing I wonder: if the Beach Boys had bought into Carl's a/c "rock," might they have had some success? I think they did buy into it live, but not in the studio. I saw the Beach Boys a few times around 1979-81 and they rocked. Loud. Ed Carter was playing a lot of guitar live and on some songs, and he and Carl were doing a good Keith Richard/Ron Wood imitation. Well, not really, but it was the loudest I ever heard the band. It was a borderline rock concert. I do think it was an attempt to reach a certain audience, a certain harder rock element.
I also believe they intended Keepin' The Summer Alive to be more of a rock album but obviously didn't pull it off. Some of those songs (and "It's A Beautiful Day") had that potential, but the guitars are neutered. Carl DID continue in that rock vein with Youngblood, but the next thing you know it was the mid-80's and everything changed.
In the end, I don't know if a harder, edgier sound would've mattered. Carl was the only one (other than maybe Mike) who would've bought into it anyway, and ultimately, The Beach Boys were always going to live or die by the strength of the songs, no matter what the style.
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Post by kds on Nov 30, 2020 15:59:28 GMT
One thing I wonder: if the Beach Boys had bought into Carl's a/c "rock," might they have had some success? No, Carl wasn't actually rocking in any real sense of the word, but he was kind-of rocking for a certain set of grown-ups whose lives now included 9-to-5s, kids, and the like. He was quite simply adult contemporary.
The Beach Boys had touched on this but not landed there. Their attempts at "contemporary" tended to forget or omit the "adult" part of it. This led to songs about ice cream weather and the like, which I'd think kids and adults alike would sneer at. And it made their attempts at contemporary music seem fake. None of their albums from this time up through TWGMTR with the possible exception of Stars n Stripes struck the balance between adult and contemporary befitting a band of their...vintage (and even SnS, while at least not seeming to try to aim at that teenagers-at-the-beach market they seem to have usually sought, wasn't good; just embarrassing and stupid in new, different ways).
Carl's solo albums aren't very imaginative, but they aren't atrocious. And they're music you can accept from a grown man. The band's voices could have lifted them, even with everything else being equal, into respectability. Instead, a couple years after Youngblood, we got "California Calling" and "Getcha Back." A few more years and we got "Summer of Love" and the like, a pair of Mike Love Concept Albums (with exciting and innovative concepts such as "movie songs" and "summer songs").
A/C might have been the way to go. Carl might have been on to something, as flawed as his execution was.
I think that could've worked for The Beach Boys. Some of their contemporaries had some A/C success around that time (ie. Clapton). But, the band seemed to lack focus, and jumped from style to style with each album. I do wonder if they'd have picked something and stuck with it, maybe they'd have had a better run.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 30, 2020 16:01:12 GMT
That's almost exactly my thinking.
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