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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 23, 2021 11:46:49 GMT
"Do It Again" was one of those Beach Boys' songs that flew under the radar with me when I was growing up. I don't recall hearing it on the radio. I didn't see them perform it on The Ed Sullivan Show. The first time I...acquired it...was when I bought Beach Boys '69 (Live In London reissued in 1976). I got the studio version on the Wild Honey-20/20 vinyl 2fer. I should've purchased the 1975 Good Vibrations - Best Of The Beach Boys.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 23, 2021 12:04:16 GMT
It was a hit I didn't know about, too. I have no recollection of hearing it until getting into the group as an adult, presumably not hearing it until I got the Friends-20/20 twofer. While I knew the band's earlier hits despite not being a fan, "Do It Again" was in the group with "Heroes and Villains" and "Darlin" for me, songs I didn't recognize at all despite them having been moderate hits.
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Post by kds on Jun 23, 2021 12:13:21 GMT
The first time I remember remember hearing Do It Again wasn't on the greatest hits comps my folks used to play, or on oldies radio.
No, it was playing on a radio in a scene from the 1986 comedy One Crazy Summer, which starred John Cusack.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 24, 2021 17:44:55 GMT
I agree with most of what you said, @robesimo. As for being a lone opinion, as long as a person isn't trolling and being contrarian just to cause a kerfuffle, I say stand up for your opinion. (No fighting required, after all.) Besides, you weren't harsh in your opinion. "Not great" is hardly fightin' words.
Regarding that snare sound, that's exactly how I feel.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 24, 2021 21:25:21 GMT
My main issue with the song is the lyrical content. I know it had been only 3 years since they'd stopped singing about surfing, beach and... uh.. beach-girls(?), but this is the first time I get a "old man forcing nostalgia" vibe from a The Beach Boys song. Of course, it's not nearly as bad and uncomfortable as when they do it later on (I'm looking at you, Summer In Paradise!) but it does feel a little forced. I like some things about DIA though, the vocals on the whole song are great, especially the wordless background ones. To me, this is the key point or takeaway from "Do It Again" as it related to 1968. I alluded to it an above post. I know Brian was into the Friends' music; he has repeatedly said so. I know Dennis was basically done with the cars and fun music; look at his contributions around that time. And, even old Al was getting into the songwriting bag - with Brian of all people. Mike was seriously into TM and Bruce was mellow as usual. And then there was "Do It Again"...
The Beach Boys were hurtin' in 1968. Their last three albums, especially Friends, could be considered disappointments. They certainly didn't perform like their predecessors. Same thing with the singles; the days of Top Tens and Number Ones were over. And then, in probably a couple of minutes, Brian and Mike come up with "Do It Again", and it goes Top 20 in the U.S. and No. 1 in the U.K. They must've thought, as the record company probably did, that Brian could sit down and write this stuff at the drop of a hat. So, what do you do?
Robe Simo, you mentioned that "it had been only 3 years since they stopped singing about surfing..." Back then, in 1968, three years might've seemed like an eternity. Look at the changes within the band, both personally and professionally. I'll say it again, but I wonder what was going through the guys' minds - especially Brian's - when "Do It Again"...succeeded. Oh, I know what was going through Mike's. And Capitol's and soon-to-be Reprise's. What if Brian would've succumbed to the pressure (if there was any; I guess there always was some) to continue in the "rock & roll vein" and crank out more good old Beach Boys' music like "Do It Again". Not necessarily surf & turf subject matter but rock music. There was some that surfaced and mostly some that didn't, but Brian continued to mellow out until Carl & The Passions.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2021 22:48:03 GMT
"it had been only 3 years since they stopped singing about surfing..." Back then, in 1968, three years might've seemed like an eternity. Look at the changes within the band, both personally and professionally. I agree 100% but allow me to add this. Look at the changes outside the band in those three years. The music biz, society, the whole world. While the Beach Boys were struggling to find a consistent groove to get them back on top (or at least near the top), we had a total shift due to Viet Nam, civil rights, hippies, and other situations effecting society. We had the Summer of Love, music fests, and things were changing all over the place. Things weren't so innocent anymore...except for perhaps bubblegum pop, which the Boys were probably too old to dabble in anyway. Besides, bubblegum was more of a commercial thing involving session players and business folks. "Do It Again" is a great song, but I'm not sure the timing was the best. Had it been written and released a few years earlier, could it have been a smash hit? Of course we can only speculate.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jun 25, 2021 4:01:57 GMT
I wasn't aware "Do It Again" was a much loved song until I saw these ratings this week. I don't like being the only one with a unpopular opinion at all, but I'm just trying to be honest. This time I'll have to disagree with most people. I like the song enough but I just can't see this "great song" status it receives. The snare sound is interesting at first, but as I listen it just sounds so off with the other elements in it. The instrumentation and arrangement aren't that interesting. My main issue with the song is the lyrical content. I know it had been only 3 years since they'd stopped singing about surfing, beach and... uh.. beach-girls(?), but this is the first time I get a "old man forcing nostalgia" vibe from a The Beach Boys song. Of course, it's not nearly as bad and uncomfortable as when they do it later on (I'm looking at you, Summer In Paradise!) but it does feel a little forced. I like some things about DIA though, the vocals on the whole song are great, especially the wordless background ones. I really like "Wake The World" on the Friends album. I don't have any complaints about the song itself, but as Kapitan said, it's just not single material. Didn't expect many right commercial decisions coming from them at this time anyway... I gave it a 7. "Do It Again" is in the 6.5~ 6.9 to me and "Wake The World" 7.5 ~ 8.0 so that's my rating. It's perfectly alright to be the Lone Dissenter. I usually find myself alone in praising Smiley Smile; I enjoy Pacific Ocean Blue, but I don't think it's the second coming of Pet Sounds (or even Sunflower). The Beach Boys Love You is an album that I like parts of, but hearing that production style across an entire album gets old very quick, and the vocals on that and 15BO sound awful to me. Now I'm looking at the cover of that Beach Boys '69 album and wonder if it is one of Dennis' jokes? Did Mike ever talk about this album in their shows? "Hey, ya'll groovy guys and gals, Capitol just dug up an old recording of ours and titled it Beach Boys 69".
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jun 25, 2021 10:47:31 GMT
Robe Simo, you mentioned that "it had been only 3 years since they stopped singing about surfing..." Back then, in 1968, three years might've seemed like an eternity. Look at the changes within the band, both personally and professionally. I'll say it again, but I wonder what was going through the guys' minds - especially Brian's - when "Do It Again"...succeeded. Oh, I know what was going through Mike's. And Capitol's and soon-to-be Reprise's. What if Brian would've succumbed to the pressure (if there was any; I guess there always was some) to continue in the "rock & roll vein" and crank out more good old Beach Boys' music like "Do It Again". Not necessarily surf & turf subject matter but rock music. There was some that surfaced and mostly some that didn't, but Brian continued to mellow out until Carl & The Passions.
Definitely, I aknowledge that. Just taking a look at how three years changed the music of The Beatles and The Beach Boys for example; From With The Beatles to Sgt Pepper, from Little Deuce Coupe to Pet Sounds. What I'm trying to say (and did poorly on my first comment reading it back now ) isn't much about how their music changed as it is about the "old man" comment; I just get this feeling about DIA, even though the boy's age changed very little since they stopped playing the surf stuff. I mean, when this single was released the oldest member of the band was just 28 years old, so they weren't old men at all, and I guess it shouldn't be weird to listen these guys sing about surf and girls, but I still get this vibe A LOT when listening to "Do It Again". I'm not sure why though. I guess it's because I've seen how the group's music progressed from the fun surf & turf songs to PS and Smile like material. I'm not saying one is better than the other, they're just different, but after seeing the group go through such a evolution and knowing where they've been before musically, "Do It Again" sounds like a forced going-back-to-our-roots move. Oh, yes, I hear the same thing; I get the same feeling. Whenever I hear "Do It Again", I hear the band in their second phase, the white suits phase, and definitely as older Beach Boys, no longer the young band.
I don't necessarily think "Do It Again" sounds forced, though, despite the lyrics and the changes in the group's sound over the previous three years. The band - and Brian - would always return to that Beach Boys' sound. I'm thinking "I Can Hear Music", "Slip On Through", "Susie Cincinnati", "Marcella", "California Saga", "It's OK", "Getcha Back", and on and on. I was just wondering if Brian would've rocked out more, incorporating the classic Beach Boys' sound, instead of writing more arty and esoteric songs for the next 3-4 years, would've we gotten more "Do It Again"-type rockers which a lot of people liked, and would've the group gotten more hit singles.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 27, 2021 12:38:06 GMT
Today is the final day to vote on "Do It Again" and "Wake the World." If you haven't yet done so, now is the time.
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Post by Kapitan on Jun 28, 2021 11:47:23 GMT
Eight voters rated "Do it Again" b/w "Wake the World" an average of 9.4. I'll update the ratings thread and we'll move on to our next single shortly.
Thanks for participating.
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