|
Post by B.E. on Nov 30, 2020 16:01:27 GMT
Their attempts at "contemporary" tended to forget or omit the "adult" part of it.
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.
Interesting point, Kapitan. And the few successes they had were mostly Carl songs. Unfortunately, Mike seemed to mostly leave those adult themes behind in Holland. And Al was kind of on the fence himself. (As for Brian, his lyrical writing was never very "adult" and musically he seemed to gravitate most to the influences of his youth.)
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Nov 30, 2020 16:08:11 GMT
Their attempts at "contemporary" tended to forget or omit the "adult" part of it.
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.
Interesting point, Kapitan. And the few successes they had were mostly Carl songs. Unfortunately, Mike seemed to mostly leave those (adult) themes behind in Holland. And Al was kind of on the fence himself. (As for Brian, his lyrical writing was never very "adult" and musically he seemed to gravitate most to the influences of his youth.) It's actually the identical situation to what they had a decade earlier with Holland, in my opinion. You can still easily argue the merits (or lack of same) for those other directions. Was an earnest, rootsy, jam-bandish Beach Boys the answer? Was a slick, adult contemporary rock sound the answer? I don't know. But if they weren't THE answers, they might have been answers, something else to try that doesn't require increasingly embarrassing projections of ever-aging men performing in the characters of teenagers.
|
|
|
Post by lonelysummer on Dec 2, 2020 6:38:58 GMT
Been distracted with job and family issues lately, but I wanted to jump into the discussion here and say that I absolutely love Youngblood. I'm always puzzled when I see February 1983 as the release date, because I was a die hard Carl/Beach Boys fan by this time, and the first time I saw the album in a store was the first week of May 1983- it was on a display rack at Budget Tapes and Records in my hometown. I already had the single "What You Do to Me"; IIRC, I picked that up in early April. Anyway, it doesn't seem that either record got much promotion from CBS. I did hear the second single, "Givin' You Up", on our local AC station for several weeks. When I would play this album for friends, it always got a positive reaction; a positive SUPRISED reaction. When those guitars would come roaring out at the beginning of "What More Can I Say", they would say "this is a Beach Boy"? Music has changed a lot in the nearly 40 years since Youngblood, so the sound of that album may not seem very hard or rocking to 2020 ears, but for a generation of Journey, REO Speedwagon and Foreigner fans, this stuff rocked pretty good. I don't think anyone expected Carl do do AC/DC covers, lol. Every song on this album is special to me; it changes through the years. Lately, my favorite is "If I Could Talk to Love". One of the thrills of my life was seeing Carl live a couple months after this album had come out. One of the best shows I've ever been to. And then years later, meeting Jeff Baxter; his words to me, looking at my copy of this album: "this man was the best singer who ever walked". I agree.
|
|
|
Post by Sheriff John Stone on Dec 2, 2020 12:31:18 GMT
Every song on this album is special to me; it changes through the years. Lately, my favorite is "If I Could Talk to Love". One of the thrills of my life was seeing Carl live a couple months after this album had come out. One of the best shows I've ever been to. And then years later, meeting Jeff Baxter; his words to me, looking at my copy of this album: "this man was the best singer who ever walked". I agree. Anything more on this meeting?
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Dec 2, 2020 12:41:29 GMT
Cool recollections. Hope things are going ok for you on the job and family front, always love when you're posting.
Skunk Baxter may well have been correct.
|
|
|
Post by kds on Dec 2, 2020 14:34:36 GMT
I've decided to give this album another listen to see if perhaps my rating of four was too low. It's not.
I've heard a lot of versions of the title track by various artists. This one is probably the worst.
|
|
|
Post by Kapitan on Dec 3, 2020 14:10:56 GMT
Seven voters rated Youngblood an average of 6.3 (with votes ranging from a low of 4--the most common score, actually, with three 4s--to a high of 10). I'll update the master ratings list and launch a new thread/poll shortly.
Thanks for participating.
|
|
|
Post by lonelysummer on Dec 4, 2020 1:07:17 GMT
Every song on this album is special to me; it changes through the years. Lately, my favorite is "If I Could Talk to Love". One of the thrills of my life was seeing Carl live a couple months after this album had come out. One of the best shows I've ever been to. And then years later, meeting Jeff Baxter; his words to me, looking at my copy of this album: "this man was the best singer who ever walked". I agree. Anything more on this meeting? Baxter was doing a Q&A thing at Experience Music Project in Seattle, circa 2006. What was really cool was that he had a guitar with him, so when he was talking about the various sessions he'd played on, he would illustrate it with some playing. Cool guy.
|
|
|
Post by lonelysummer on Dec 4, 2020 1:08:16 GMT
Cool recollections. Hope things are going ok for you on the job and family front, always love when you're posting.
Skunk Baxter may well have been correct.
Thank you for asking. 2020 has been a rough year for most of us; hoping 2021 brings positive changes.
|
|