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Post by Kapitan on Aug 29, 2021 13:17:51 GMT
Last day to vote on LPR and Deirdre/Til I Die. Tomorrow we proceed.
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Post by carllove on Aug 29, 2021 13:35:43 GMT
Well, I love Long Promised Road - It’s my favorite song written by Carl. Carl’s vocals give me chills. I love the little bit of roughness in his voice on this song. I also think the lyrics are cool. I adore Al’s background vocals on this song as well. Overall - this is a 9.
I sort of hated Deirdre the first time I heard it, but I started to like it, the more I listened to it. This song has a tendency to become an ear worm for me. It makes the most of Bruce’s voice, which can either be lovely or cloying. This song doesn’t sound like a “rock” song. It almost has a musical theater vibe. I give it a 7.
‘Til I Die is a highlight on Surf’s Up, for me. I never get tired of listening to it. Funny though, the first time I ever heard it, I skipped over it alot. “I’m a cork in the ocean”? What the heck… Then I finally listened through it a couple of times and then, I thought Wow, great song! I give it a 9.5.
If the rating was based on LPR/TID, I’d give it a 9, but with the addition of Deirdre, I moved it back to an 8. I feel like LPR and Deirdre really don’t work together and it’s weird because they are from different albums. Just can’t quite get to 9. Solid 8.5, so I voted 8.
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Aug 29, 2021 17:18:11 GMT
I'm ignoring the combo with "Deidre" and giving the LPR/TID combo a 10. "Deidre" would pull my vote down a bit, but "Long Promised Road" (one of Carl's great ones) and "'Til I Die" (one of Brian's great ones) deserve 10s, imo.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 29, 2021 22:32:08 GMT
Regarding "Long Promised Road": It might be the first single that would make a listener (even one who was somewhat familiar with the Beach Boys) ask, "Cool song: who is that!?"
Not too long ago I was reminded that "Feel Flows" was not released as a single. Maybe the duration was an issue, but I think that one would have been a little more recognizable as "The Beach Boys" - and I don't think that's a post- Almost Famous take on my part. That said, earlier in the week I was listening to all these songs in order to rate the singles (I went with a high '8', by the way) and it occurred to me: "Student Demonstration Time" was the obvious Beach Boys-sounding, yet lyrically progressive, tune with ( possibly) the best chance at chart success. It sticks out like a sore thumb on Surf's Up and I think is unfairly maligned as a result. (Also, the mix is imperfect.) Still, on its own merit, it rocks!
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Post by carllove on Aug 29, 2021 23:48:37 GMT
Regarding "Long Promised Road": It might be the first single that would make a listener (even one who was somewhat familiar with the Beach Boys) ask, "Cool song: who is that!?"
Not too long ago I was reminded that "Feel Flows" was not released as a single. Maybe the duration was an issue, but I think that one would have been a little more recognizable as "The Beach Boys" - and I don't think that's a post- Almost Famous take on my part. That said, earlier in the week I was listening to all these songs in order to rate the singles (I went with a high '8', by the way) and it occurred to me: "Student Demonstration Time" was the obvious Beach Boys-sounding, yet lyrically progressive, tune with ( possibly) the best chance at chart success. It sticks out like a sore thumb on Surf's Up and I think is unfairly maligned as a result. (Also, the mix is imperfect.) Still, on its own merit, it rocks! Ugh - Just no! I hate Student Demonstration Time! It assaults my ears! Feel Flows would have been an awesome single, though. It also probably would have tanked.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 30, 2021 1:00:19 GMT
Ugh - Just no! I hate Student Demonstration Time! It assaults my ears! Be that as it may ( ), I do think it was more in line with what fans or the general public at large would have expected (and therefore wanted) from the Boys: A classic '50s rock 'n' roll song with a Mike lead vocal. Not all that different, musically, from "Rock and Roll Music" going top 5. That said, I think not going with it proves how hard they were trying to change their sound. Feel Flows would have been an awesome single, though. It also probably would have tanked. Oh, I don't really disagree about its chart fortunes. To put numbers to it: "Long Promised Road" hit #89....I could imagine "Feel Flows" peaking in the 60s and "Student Demonstration Time" flirting with top 40. (In the U.S.)
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Post by carllove on Aug 30, 2021 1:42:12 GMT
Ugh - Just no! I hate Student Demonstration Time! It assaults my ears! Be that as it may ( ), I do think it was more in line with what fans or the general public at large would have expected (and therefore wanted) from the Boys: A classic '50s rock 'n' roll song with a Mike lead vocal. Not all that different, musically, from "Rock and Roll Music" going top 5. That said, I think not going with it proves how hard they were trying to change their sound. Feel Flows would have been an awesome single, though. It also probably would have tanked. Oh, I don't really disagree about its chart fortunes. To put numbers to it: "Long Promised Road" hit #89....I could imagine "Feel Flows" peaking in the 60s and "Student Demonstration Time" flirting with top 40. (In the U.S.) “Student Demonstration Time” may be derived from “Riot in Cell Block Number 9”, but sonically it does not sound like a classic 50’s rock song to me. It doesn’t have the charm of “Rock and Roll Music” and it sounds harsh with the megaphone vocals and screeching instrumentals. Then again, you are probably correct, given the time and the relevance of the lyrics, that it might have charted higher than “Long Promised Road”. No one expected The Beach Boys to sound like The Eagles (or maybe I should say Buffalo Springfield, since the Eagles debut album was the following year?) What I don’t understand, is how Beatles fans were able to go along for the ride from “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, through Sgt. Pepper’s and then Let it Be, without most of them dropping off. It seems like Pet Sounds was the first dropping off point for Beach Boys fans and it just went downhill from there. Other than Smiley Smile, I feel like the music was there through Surf’s Up anyway.
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 30, 2021 6:34:26 GMT
Student Demonstration Time is the one Surf's Up song I've heard on the radio. Used to get played on the local AOR station during Electric Lunch - their time machine show. They also played the long - and dirty - version of Reelin' and Rockin' by Chuck Berry.
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 30, 2021 6:42:30 GMT
Be that as it may ( ), I do think it was more in line with what fans or the general public at large would have expected (and therefore wanted) from the Boys: A classic '50s rock 'n' roll song with a Mike lead vocal. Not all that different, musically, from "Rock and Roll Music" going top 5. That said, I think not going with it proves how hard they were trying to change their sound. Oh, I don't really disagree about its chart fortunes. To put numbers to it: "Long Promised Road" hit #89....I could imagine "Feel Flows" peaking in the 60s and "Student Demonstration Time" flirting with top 40. (In the U.S.) “Student Demonstration Time” may be derived from “Riot in Cell Block Number 9”, but sonically it does not sound like a classic 50’s rock song to me. It doesn’t have the charm of “Rock and Roll Music” and it sounds harsh with the megaphone vocals and screeching instrumentals. Then again, you are probably correct, given the time and the relevance of the lyrics, that it might have charted higher than “Long Promised Road”. No one expected The Beach Boys to sound like The Eagles (or maybe I should say Buffalo Springfield, since the Eagles debut album was the following year?) What I don’t understand, is how Beatles fans were able to go along for the ride from “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, through Sgt. Pepper’s and then Let it Be, without most of them dropping off. It seems like Pet Sounds was the first dropping off point for Beach Boys fans and it just went downhill from there. Other than Smiley Smile, I feel like the music was there through Surf’s Up anyway. The Beatles are always the exception to the rule. Anyone perceived as being a pop band (versus heavy rock) struggled in the late 60's. Paul Revere and the Raiders continued to have hits through 68-69, but their album sales were down. Of course they had their biggest hit in 1971- Indian Reservation, but they were never taken seriously by Rolling Stone magazine. The Dave Clark Five were dead by 67; the Lovin' Spoonful were done by 68; the Kinks still had hits in the UK, but all of their US records flopped, in part because of their ban from performing over here. The Byrds retained a bit of hip credibility, but albums like Sweetheart of the Rodeo were commercial flops. It's a very tricky balancing act - trying to be hip enough for the rock press, but not scare away the fans that just want some catchy pop music. The Beach Boys would eventually win over some of the Rolling Stone/FM hip crowd; it would have been interesting to see where the band might have gone had Endless Summer not revived their sun, surf and sand hits.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 30, 2021 11:10:05 GMT
Twelve voters rated "Long Promised Road" backed with "Deirdre" and then "Til I Die" an average rating of 7.8.
I'll update the ratings thread shortly, and then we will proceed with our next single. Thanks for participating.
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Emdeeh
Pacific Coast Highway
Posts: 520
Likes: 532
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Post by Emdeeh on Aug 30, 2021 13:41:52 GMT
Kapitan wrote: That actually happened to me when I was listening to the local free-form FM station which was featuring the Surf’s Up album right before its release. Instead of playing the whole album at once, they played tracks interspersed througout the show, mixed in with everything else. It wasn’t until Carl started singing “Hit hard…” that I realized who it was. One of those moments that made me a big C. Wilson fan.
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