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Post by Kapitan on May 17, 2021 12:09:58 GMT
By October 1966, it had been about five months since the Beach Boys released the modestly successful Pet Sounds, and three since their Top 10 hit "Wouldn't It Be Nice." While sessions for writing and recording the next album were underway, they were far from finished.
However, Wilson had been working on what was to become the band's next single since February 1966. That song, "Good Vibrations," was the first obvious example of what has come to be known as Wilson's modular recording technique, which is to say, finishing segments of music and editing them together rather than performing them straight through. The sessions spanned months and multiple studios, costing what was then an inordinate amount of money--estimated at $10,000-15,000 ($79,000-118,000 in today's dollars).
The song, backed with the Pet Sounds instrumental "Let's Go Away For Awhile," was the group's third #1 single.
Please discuss and rate "Good Vibrations" and its B-side, "Let's Go Away For Awhile."
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Post by kds on May 17, 2021 12:23:21 GMT
What can you say about Good Vibrations that hasn't already been said? I remember growing up just thinking it was just a regular BB pop song. I didn't appreciate how complex it was until much later.
Let's Go Away for Awhile seems like a very random choice for a B Side. I do love it, and it might be my favorite BB instrumental. Maybe I Just Wasn't Made for These Days might have made more sense to have both an A and a B side that uses the theremin.
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Post by Kapitan on May 17, 2021 12:43:48 GMT
It might sound ridiculous, but I may not be going with a 10.
Mostly because we're rating the single (both A- and B-sides), I have a hard time with that perfect rating. I really like "Let's Go Away For Awhile," but a 10? I don't quite like it that much. (But it is a strong, strong 8-9.)
More controversially, I'm not quite sure GV is a 10 for me. I've waffled on this one over the years, sometimes really not liking it much at all (probably at least in part due to the universal praise, as we were just discussing in the shoutbox), but other times--especially live--hearing it in all its glory as one of the greats.
So I might end up a 9. But very possibly a 10. I'll think about it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on May 17, 2021 12:46:29 GMT
Even though it went to No. 1 and is considered by many to be Brian's best...record...I never heard or appreciated "Good Vibrations" more than the group's other hit singles. Like kds said, it was only after I became a Beach Boys' fan that I understood its significance. "Good Vibrations" is still a big favorite, but I don't think it ever nudged its way into my personal Top 5 (or maybe Top 10 either). That's not to discredit it; it's essential Beach Boys' listening. Essential (duh). I've read/seen some Brian Wilson interviews where he praises it and some where he's not as fond of it. I'll bet there's never been a concert where The Beach Boys or the solo Brian Wilson did not perform it.
I guess taking a song from Pet Sounds for the B-side was the most logical thing to do at the time. The alternatives would've been for Brian to compose a B-side-only song like ""You're Welcome", or take a newly-recorded song from the Smile sessions, and obviously THAT wasn't gonna happen. I wonder who chose "Let's Go Away For Awhile" as the B-side. Was it Capitol Records or Brian...or both? Were they trying to make a statement? The official designation or proclamation of Brian Wilson as "artist", and not the fun-loving, rock & rolling Beach Boy?
This ranking is tough. Yes, "Good Vibrations" is an easy 10, but "Let's Go Away For Awhile" is a weak B-side (IMO of course). But, I wonder how many fans were excited to see "Let's Go Away For Awhile" pop up as the B-side? I wonder how many fans actually flipped the record over to listen to it? I'll go with a 9 based on the greatness of "Good Vibrations". And, with that, The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson peaked commercially (some would also say artistically), would begin a downward slide, and with a few exceptions, never recovered.
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Post by Kapitan on May 17, 2021 13:44:00 GMT
Maybe I Just Wasn't Made for These Days might have made more sense to have both an A and a B side that uses the theremin. I've literally never before today thought about GV as a single, and its B-side. Obviously I've been aware that it was a #1 single, and would have had a B-side, and had seen that it was "Let's Go Away For Awhile" ... but I never gave it more thought.
However, I can absolutely see "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" as a B-side. It's not quite a "single" kind of song, but it is a mature and emotional ballad (that yes, uses theremin). It's over 3 minutes, making it a decent fit on the flip side of the 3:35 or whatever "Good Vibrations." It would be something like an updated version of the rock and roll/ballad combination often used on previous singles.
I'm fine with it as it is. I think "Let's Go Away For Awhile" is beautiful, relaxing, peaceful. It's a nice complement to the excitement of "Good Vibrations." But I could see WJWMFTT fitting very well, too, not to mention getting some of the other Boys involved.
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Post by lonelysummer on May 18, 2021 2:44:54 GMT
Good Vibrations is an exception in my eyes - you couldn't put a similarly strong track on the flip side. You don't want to take attention away from the main attraction. An easy 10 for me.
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Post by Kapitan on May 18, 2021 11:30:46 GMT
Good Vibrations is an exception in my eyes - you couldn't put a similarly strong track on the flip side. You don't want to take attention away from the main attraction. I was thinking about this a little. LGAFA is almost a concession, or at best a pleasant intermission. I wasn't around in 1966, but I'd imagine "Good Vibrations" was really startling with its sharp edits and wildly different styles: what would sound "right" next to that? Not that whatever else you'd put there would take attention from GV, but it would probably sound quaint or silly. I think this choice avoids that by not really putting itself up for the comparison at all (and yet musically it's wonderful--a song Brian really praised).
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Post by Kapitan on May 23, 2021 11:23:53 GMT
Today is the last day to vote on the single "Good Vibrations" b/w "Let's Go Away For Awhile." Please be sure to chime in with your thoughts and opinions, as well as your vote.
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Post by jk on May 23, 2021 12:53:25 GMT
The Kingsmen's "Louie Louie" is my all-time favourite single but "Good Vibrations" is quite simply the best single ever released.
Maybe the choice of "LGAFAW" as the flip prompted American pop fans to go out and buy Pet Sounds after that album's appalling treatment at the hands of US Capitol.
And while I'm thumping my tub, "GV" in my view does not belong on SMiLE! One mix that gets this right is my blogger friend's Aquarian SMiLE -- not a vibration in sight...
Ten.
Edit: I also remember my first hearing of "GV" in late '66, most likely on Radio London (thanks, AGD), one of the offshore "pirate" radio stations. The time of its first official UK broadcast had been announced beforehand. I think it must have been on a Friday (still frantically looking for the date in question). I'd got home from work, eaten, gone upstairs, turned on the radio and turned off the lights. The big build-up over the previous days/weeks still failed to match up to what I heard. In those mercifully video-free days, this wondrous song conjured up dark, glowing colours, like precious stones that hadn't quite solidified. This was something really special...
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Post by Kapitan on May 23, 2021 15:30:01 GMT
I ended up giving this a 10. It's not a personal favorite on the level of other 10s, but its importance, popularity, and innovations can't be ignored. It brings not just modular recording, but disparate styles in different sections, a big arrangement, a strange song structure, and of course, amazing singing.
And I am coming around on "LGAFA" as the B-side, a palate cleanser of sorts that's really wonderful in its own right.
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Post by Kapitan on May 24, 2021 11:23:07 GMT
The voters of the board rated "Good Vibrations" backed with "Let's Go Away For Awhile" a 9.7.
I'll update the ratings thread and launch our next single poll.
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Post by Deleted on May 25, 2021 23:27:24 GMT
Sorry I'm late to the game here; I'm just trying to catch up.
FWIW, I would have given this single an absolute 10. GV is pretty much my favorite song of all time and I think Let's Go Away is a very fitting B-side. It could be imagined as sharing a pleasant stroll on the beach or wherever, with the woman you got the "vibes" from.
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Post by jk on Nov 26, 2021 13:56:23 GMT
This looks as good a place as any to post this: The programme linked below is "available for the next 24 days" -- let's say the sooner you listen to it the better. I think I'm correct in describing it as an episode of Robert Elms' show on BBC Sounds. The all-important half-hour segment in which Elms discusses "Good Vibrations" with Russell Clarke starts just before the 30-minute mark: www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0b11mzr
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Post by Kapitan on Oct 10, 2023 12:56:30 GMT
Happy 57th birthday to "Good Vibrations," finally born this day in October 1966 after a gestation roughly as long as that of a human fetus, and adjusted for inflation, even more expensive!
Still, it's not a bad little tune...
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