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Post by carllove on Mar 13, 2022 18:54:50 GMT
I'm enjoying your list, carllove! Thank you for posting it. Obviously, you put a lot of weight on favorites. I thought I would highlight some of the choices that got my attention:
- Before and All Of My Love/Ecology - #5 and #6 - Good Vibrations - #29 - The Nearest Faraway Place - #37 Yes!
- Awake - #48 - Lady - #60 (solo song?) - Chug A Lug, Moon Dawg, Miserlou - #67, #85, #87 - California Girls - #92 - Help Me, Rhonda - #96 - Fun, Fun, Fun - #97 - not a fan of Holland?
When I first heard Before, I was blown away. I keep the CD with it in my car and crank it and All Of My Love/Ecology with my windows down and the moon roof open. I enjoy the heck out of those two tracks. Good Vibrations is a genius song, but I actually don’t listen to it that much. I have found myself listening to the alternate version on Rarities on occasion. Yeah - The Nearest Faraway Place is just beautiful and if you can tell from my list, I have a bit of a soft spot for Bruce’s compositions. Awake - another song I just enjoy and had never heard before Feel Flows. A lovely song with a beautiful melody and just makes me feel peaceful. Lady - Yeah technically a Dennis song, but it’s on Feel Flows, so I consider it fair game. I own the 45 and dang that intro is so lush and warm on vinyl. Chug A Lug - makes me laugh. It’s about root beer! “Here a mug, there a mug, everybody chug-a-lug”. How can you not enjoy that? Moon Dawg - Love that beat and the surf guitars and the howling dog. Makes me want to dance on the beach. Misirlou - Another surf instrumental that is full of energy and delight. As you noticed, my list contains a few instrumentals. Love em. California Girls, Help Me Rhonda and Fun, Fun, Fun - As I have said previously - just not a big fan of the early popular songs. I mean they are good and I love Al’s voice on Rhonda - but I never listen to those songs. Well there are technically three songs from Holland on my list of you count Big Sur, but not a huge fan. I just went with what I listen to and enjoy the most. I Marie Kondo’d the list - “Does this song spark joy?”. Didn’t matter how great,or popular the song was. Makes my list a bit different for sure. Some songs grab me - some don’t.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 13, 2022 19:23:57 GMT
carllove , I think my favorite selection of yours is "Chug A Lug"! Sometimes it's just about having fun. I nearly included that one myself, but instead I went for a few other favorites that I think are really fun and enjoyable (and coincidentally--or not--aren't very highly regarded). Also, along with the title track, "409", and "Moon Dawg", it was nice to see a little more from Surfin Safari cracking the lists - I'm a big fan of that album (although, I only included one track in my ranking ). Along similar lines, "Misirlou" was a nice selection. I considered "Surf Jam" for a long while.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 13, 2022 19:44:55 GMT
Okay, I'm very pleased with how my top 100 came out. It's pretty darn accurate, I think. Now, to be clear, this is a ranking of my favorites. Ultimately, I didn't really consider "greatness" much, but you might think I did because I like the hits most! By the way, if my ranking appears to be in quasi-chronological order, that's not a mistake or laziness, I really do prefer the earlier stuff, generally-speaking.
01. Wouldn't It Be Nice 02. Surfer Girl 03. I Get Around 04. Please Let Me Wonder 05. Little Deuce Coupe 06. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times 07. Heroes and Villains 08. California Girls 09. God Only Knows 10. In My Room
11. Help Me Rhonda 12. Don't Worry Baby 13. You Still Believe In Me 14. Forever 15. Girls On The Beach 16. This Whole World 17. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder) 18. Kiss Me Baby 19. Surf's Up 20. She Knows Me Too Well
21. We'll Run Away 22. Til I Die 23. Our Prayer 24. Sloop John B 25. Fun Fun Fun 26. Keep An Eye On Summer 27. That's Not Me 28. Marcella 29. Wild Honey 30. Surfin' Safari
31. You're So Good To Me 32. I'm So Young 33. Surfin' USA 34. There's No Other (Like My Baby) 35. Hawaii 36. Catch A Wave 37. Good Vibrations 38. I Know There's An Answer 39. California Saga 40. Let The Wind Blow
41. I'm Waiting For The Day 42. Good To My Baby 43. Little Saint Nick 44. Be True To Your School 45. Custom Machine 46. The Ballad of Ole' Betsy 47. The Warmth Of The Sun 48. Do It Again 49. Cuddle Up 50. Hushabye
51. Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow 52. All Summer Long 53. Wendy 54. Darlin' 55. We Three Kings Of Orient Are 56. Disney Girls (1957) 57. Here Today 58. Sail On, Sailor 59. In The Back Of My Mind 60. Slip On Through
61. Good Timin' 62. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) 63. Blue Christmas 64. Anna Lee, The Healer 65. Barbara Ann 66. Aren't You Glad 67. All I Want To Do 68. I'll Bet He's Nice 69. Angel Come Home 70. Here Comes The Night
71. Little Bird 72. The Lord's Prayer 73. Tears In The Morning 74. Little Pad 75. Don't Back Down 76. The Night Was So Young 77. All I Wanna Do 78. Let Him Run Wild 79. Cotton Fields - 20/20 80. Goin' On
81. Caroline, No 82. Time To Get Alone 83. Love Surrounds Me 84. Car Crazy Cutie 85. Hold On Dear Brother 86. My Diane 87. Baby Blue 88. I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man 89. Come Go With Me 90. Where I Belong
91. Kokomo 92. I Can Hear Music 93. Summer's Gone 94. You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone 95. Pom Pom Playgirl 96. All This Is That 97. Alley Oop 98. Do You Wanna Dance? 99. And Your Dream Comes True 100. Only With You
1962-1966: 56 songs 1967-1973: 32 songs 1976-2012: 12 songs
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Post by carllove on Mar 13, 2022 19:54:10 GMT
B.E. - Anna Lee, The Healer, just missed my list. I like seeing the love for Hawaii. All Summer Long - so low though? Please Let Me Wonder at #4? I get it. Great song. Nice list.
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Post by carllove on Mar 13, 2022 20:05:08 GMT
Kapitan - seeing Surf’s Up at #2 makes me wonder if I placed it too low. Those GV Smile versions of Wonderful and Wind Chimes are just so much better than the Smiley Smile versions aren’t they? Yay for Break Away at #13. I’m also not the only one to put Good Vibrations below the top 20. Also, no Marcella. I thought I’d be the only one. Just never could get into that song.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 13, 2022 20:05:20 GMT
B.E. - Anna Lee, The Healer, just missed my list. I like seeing the love for Hawaii. All Summer Long - so low though? Please Let Me Wonder at #4? I get it. Great song. Nice list. 1) I LOVE Anna Lee! And I love Friends but it sort of doesn't have any super standout tracks. At least, not in the way their previous albums had. That's OK, though, it's of very consistent quality and mood throughout and it's all just greater than the sum of its parts, I think. The title track was a tough cut for me. As was "Diamond Head". Those were among the last to go. 2) Yes it is. That's a great one. 3) Uh, yeah, looks about right for me. It's awesome, but there's always been something about it, something I can't quite place, that keeps it from being truly top-tier for me. That said, it's hard for me to even consider it "low". My top 80 were automatic...HAD to be on the list. Then I had 60 songs fighting for 20 spots! 4) I actually used to consider it my #1 favorite.
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Post by B.E. on Mar 13, 2022 20:09:41 GMT
I’m also not the only one to put Good Vibrations below the top 20.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 13, 2022 20:11:52 GMT
Kapitan - seeing Surf’s Up at #2 makes me wonder if I placed it too low. Those GV Smile versions of Wonderful and Wind Chimes are just so much better than the Smiley Smile versions aren’t they? Yay for Break Away at #13. I’m also not the only one to put Good Vibrations below the top 20. I really think "Surf's Up" is a brilliant piece of pop music history. It's right up there with one of my top few Beatles songs, "A Day in the Life." Absolutely epic.
And yes, "Wonderful" and "Wind Chimes," no question. Not close AT ALL. In fact, I often found fault with the Smile Sessions versions, too. Off the top of my head I can't list the grievances, but I believe for the latter, it's aux. percussion that I find really intrusive and unnecessary.
"Wonderful," I think it really feels like a piece of "art music." It's complex, challenging, beautiful.
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Post by carllove on Mar 13, 2022 20:20:39 GMT
I’m also not the only one to put Good Vibrations below the top 20. By golly you did too B.E.! I missed that!
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Post by B.E. on Mar 14, 2022 0:17:05 GMT
29 It's OK
52 Roller Skating Child 89 Match Point Of Our Love 96 Spring Vacation 97 Here Comes The Night (1979 Single Version) These are probably the ones most out-of-step with my own thinking/tastes. #29 being too high, #52 lacking production-wise, and the others just not really even being in consideration. That said, our lists are very similar, and I recognize that 3 of the 5 I pointed out were ranked near the very bottom of your list. What actually surprises me most isn't the selections you made, but the ones I assumed I'd also make but eventually had to drop. For example, "Dance Dance Dance" (#17). ( Your rankings in parenthesis.) As great as it is, I think it's too much of a "surface" enjoyment for me. It sounds great. The arrangement, the performance, but I don't think I really connect with it enough. I think I feel similarly about "Lady Lynda" (#58). That one also stands out for the era as being something of a return to form, vocally, but that doesn't help when pitted against the classic era. Another later period hit I thought I'd have room for was "Getcha Back" (#54). And I ended up only having room for "Summer's Gone" from TWGMTR. I think I only mustered 4 songs from 1980-onward. Stiff competition! Geez, then there was "Lonely Sea" (#51). I can't believe I had to drop that. That's a magical track! There's a few others...but there's one big one. I'm hesitant to point it out because I may have to turn in my Beach Boys badge...."Cabin Essence" (#10). Hey, what can I say? I had to make room for "Alley Oop".
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Post by B.E. on Mar 14, 2022 0:24:58 GMT
Okay, the results are in. I counted how many songs each of you had in common with me. Who won and who lost is open to interpretation, I suppose : Sheriff John Stone : 67 carllove : 58 Kapitan : 53 jk :46
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Post by B.E. on Mar 14, 2022 0:32:38 GMT
Kapitan, I'm sorry, but this knocks me out... 71 I Just Wasn’t Made For These Times
72 It’s Trying to Say (Baseball)
...of the park!
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Post by carllove on Mar 14, 2022 1:07:01 GMT
Okay, the results are in. I counted how many songs each of you had in common with me. Who won and who lost is open to interpretation, I suppose : Sheriff John Stone : 67 carllove : 58 Kapitan : 53 I think it just shows that: 1. The Beach Boys have an amazing number of great songs. (I can think of at least 30 more that pained me to leave out.) 2. Not all Beach Boys fans have the same taste, and yet 3. Beach Boys fans do have a pretty good level of agreement on over half of the songs. Kind of surprised I had more matching songs with you than Kapitan though. My methodology was very feeling based. Also - I had all of those Dennis songs. I guess Kapitan did have the Adult Child stuff, so maybe that evened it out a bit. I also have to give props to Sheriff for starting this thread because it was a very brave and time consuming endeavor. It’s easy to do a top 20, but stretching it out to 100 really shows our musical preference personalities. I learned so much more about each one of you by looking at your lists.
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Post by carllove on Mar 14, 2022 1:41:26 GMT
I keep seeing those "Greatest" or "Best Of" lists posted on the internet for different artists and different types of music - and disagreeing with most of them - so I thought I would attempt one of my own. I started this Beach Boys' one a while ago, however, I kept tinkering with it...excessively. So, I figured I better just finally post it. That would be me. If I attempted a Top 100, it would be like Brian putting GV together. Kds - You are not let off the hook. Now get on it. I’m still a bit traumatized by the whole experience, but feel like I came up with the best representation of my tastes as I could without too much second guessing other than maybe “Surf’s Up”.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 14, 2022 2:11:23 GMT
29 It's OK
52 Roller Skating Child 89 Match Point Of Our Love 96 Spring Vacation 97 Here Comes The Night (1979 Single Version) These are probably the ones most out-of-step with my own thinking/tastes. #29 being too high, #52 lacking production-wise, and the others just not really even being in consideration. That said, our lists are very similar, and I recognize that 3 of the 5 I pointed out were ranked near the very bottom of your list. What actually surprises me most isn't the selections you made, but the ones I assumed I'd also make but eventually had to drop. For example, "Dance Dance Dance" (#17). ( Your rankings in parenthesis.) As great as it is, I think it's too much of a "surface" enjoyment for me. It sounds great. The arrangement, the performance, but I don't think I really connect with it enough. I think I feel similarly about "Lady Lynda" (#58). That one also stands out for the era as being something of a return to form, vocally, but that doesn't help when pitted against the classic era. Another later period hit I thought I'd have room for was "Getcha Back" (#54). And I ended up only having room for "Summer's Gone" from TWGMTR. I think I only mustered 4 songs from 1980-onward. Stiff competition! Geez, then there was "Lonely Sea" (#51). I can't believe I had to drop that. That's a magical track! There's a few others...but there's one big one. I'm hesitant to point it out because I may have to turn in my Beach Boys badge...."Cabin Essence" (#10). Hey, what can I say? I had to make room for "Alley Oop". I suppose some favoritism played a part in the rankings (or inclusion) of those five tracks you highlighted above. But, I can also say that I analyzed every song that I ranked or included. I literally broke each song down intentionally as to not be influenced by my emotions. I looked at each song as unbiased as I could, and only used my bias in some rankings. However, as a diehard fan of the group for 48 years, I felt that my bias had some merit. I got around. You know, in some cases, I also thought about how Brian Wilson would rank some of the songs based on what I've read. I value his opinions a little.
It's OK - I think it's simply a great song, not just because of any particular melody, arrangement, tag, or lyric, but because the song emotes a certain feeling, a positive feeling that only a B. Wilson/M. Love song can accomplish. It simply makes me (the listener?) happy and want to hear it over and over.
Roller Skating Child - Other than Brian's hoarse and off-key vocal tag, I always thought that Roller Skating Child stood "right there" with all of Brian's other fast, rockin', fun songs. On Love You, Brian still had it. He was still composing and arranging at a very high level. Roller Skating Child is an example of this.
Match Point Of Our Love - Again, I think this song has it all - melody, arrangement, and especially Brian's lead vocal. And, I didn't/don't care what others say about the lyrics. I think they are perfectly fine, clever even. Very cool song. I wish it would've gotten more exposure.
Spring Vacation - Many fans dismissed it and I never knew why. It has a great intro, a good - and familiar - Mike Love lead vocal, harmonies are full, catchy lyrics, and a fine melody. It's also emotional (sentimental). And, even Brian in particular sounds enthusiastic and into it. Really, this is an excellent, classic Beach Boys' song. I think it would've worked in any Beach Boys' period.
Here Comes The Night - Never mind that I always liked it. Here Comes The Night (both versions) is an excellent song. Period. The 1979 version elevates the original, which was kind of basic, IMO. The 1979 version has a nice intro, crystal clear harmonies (they were back!), another great latter-day Carl Wilson lead vocal, and lyrics that work perfectly for a disco dance song. I think they pulled it off well. Here Comes The Night has this stigma of being a failure, but it wasn't. It hit #44 in the U.S. and #37 in the U.K.
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