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Post by lonelysummer on Jul 22, 2022 1:03:35 GMT
If I was voting for my favorite song on Surfin' U.S.A. it would probably be "Lonely Sea" which has really resonated with me through the years. Such a great Brian lead vocal. But, if I'm voting for the best song on the album, it would have to be "Surfin' U.S.A.". It really is a perfect production. Formula-wise it isn't much different than "Surfin' Safari", but Brian added a few touches/flourishes which made it a hit record and an all-timer. I'm guessing it's the most played surf song of the bunch over the decades, including Brian's solo performances.
For the worst song on the album, it was between "Let's Go Trippin'" and "Honky Tonk". "Let's Go Trippin'" has more life and is actually a surf song for a surf album (duh), where "Honky Tonk" doesn't do anything for me. So, I'll go with "Honky Tonk" as the worst song on Surfin' U.S.A.
My thoughts exactly. Let's Go Trippin' is a pretty good instrumental; Honky Tonk is just there. But I'll go ahead and cast my vote for Lonely Sea as my favorite/best.
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Post by kds on Jul 22, 2022 12:23:50 GMT
Before I add your votes, I just wanted to repeat that "best" and "worst" in this case is not necessarily definitive. So, you don't need to take it literally, as I'm going with my favorite / least favorite, and JK is going with the criteria of most / least "memorable." So, I just wanted to make sure that you're sticking with "best" before I add your vote. For me personally, I have to separate the two - favorite and best. I wouldn't say it happens on several albums, but on some albums, my favorite track isn't necessarily what I think is the best track. I can and will be objective and try to...realize...which particular track is perceived by most (whatever most is, probably a percentage, the largest percentage of people) as the best track and go with that. Also, when using favorite track, that is more subject to change. Usually, my perception of what is the best track will probably stay unchanged for a longer period of time. However, my favorite tracks do change more often. Hope that makes sense. I guess I'm going with a more unbiased voting system (much like my Top 100 BB Songs). Fair enough.
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Post by kds on Jul 22, 2022 12:25:26 GMT
That's how I feel about them, too. It's not that I really HATE that style or anything. But it gets really boring, really fast, at least for me. It's like bar-band blues-rock guitar: a little goes a long way. If you're sticking to the format, which is very often really simple chord changes, there just isn't a lot going on. The guitar tone, the attitude, the specific lick or melody makes a difference here or there. Of course the band's proficiency matters. But even if it's all perfectly executed, it's just not going to be something I want to spend even 10 minutes on, much less a whole album or concert.
I say that knowing that there is plenty of "classical" or jazz or even instrumental rock or fusion that I can listen to for hours at a time, but others would say gets tedious in short order. It's just a matter of taste.
When I was a BB newbie, I didn't like the instrumentals. I kind of liked the sound of the guitars, but I viewed the instrumentals almost as filler, and the other vocal songs were the real keepers, the ones that mattered. Over the years, I changed my view on that somewhat. I'm not really sure why. I still like the sound of the dual (surf/Fender) guitars, but I also appreciate the energy, the YOUNG energy, maybe even the attitude that the songs represent. It is pure rock & roll to a large extent. I still prefer the vocal songs, and I don't necessarily pull out a CD to listen to a particular instrumental, but I've learned to like and appreciate them more and not skip over them. Yeah, I don't mind them when listening to the album, but I never listen to them on their own.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 23, 2022 0:41:59 GMT
I gave Surfin' U.S.A one last look and, after "Surfin' U.S.A." and "Lonely Sea", other than "Shut Down", there's quite a drop off in quality songs. I suppose "Farmer's Daughter" is next/a decent song, but I don't think it approaches the aforementioned songs.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 23, 2022 20:56:53 GMT
Best - "Surfin' USA" - No contest.
Worst - "Honky Tonk" - You know what? No contest here either. The instrumentals, overall, continue to grow on me. These days I'm a pretty big fan of "Surf Jam", "Misirlou", and "Let's Go Trippin'", whether within the context of the album or not. "Stoked" has a bit more of a "filler" vibe, but it's enjoyable and sort of has a "cool" factor to it. That leaves "Honky Tonk". I don't dislike it, but the performance is a bit too messy and it doesn't give off the "surf" feel that the other instrumentals do. All that said, don't think I didn't consider any of the vocal tracks. There's one that I'm not too keen on...the misfit "Farmer's Daughter". But in listening just now it only took me a few seconds to realize I enjoy the sound of the human voice, particularly young Brian's, too much to rank it below "Honky Tonk".
Boy, I really do enjoy this album. I've listened to it a lot over the last few years. And not really for any particular reason. I think it helps that it's not so ambitious. I don't always want to be challenged...at all...when listening to music. And I dig this early, surf guitar driven sound they had. Combine that with my growing appreciation of the instrumentals, and the fact that I've always dug the deep cuts here ("Lana", "Noble Surfer", "Finders Keepers"), and I might just need to revisit my Beach Boys album rankings!
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 23, 2022 23:43:10 GMT
It's sometimes forgotten and rarely mentioned, but "Let's Go Trippin'" somehow ended up on Beach Boys Concert. Now, when you think of all the other possible songs that could've been recorded/chosen for that album...
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Post by B.E. on Jul 24, 2022 0:00:08 GMT
It's sometimes forgotten and rarely mentioned, but "Let's Go Trippin'" somehow ended up on Beach Boys Concert. Now, when you think of all the other possible songs that could've been recorded/chosen for that album... I don't know...I've always thought positively of "Let's Go Trippin'" on Concert. It ROCKS!!! If anything, I think one of the reasons I overlooked the studio version was because I thought the live version overshadowed it.
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Post by kds on Jul 24, 2022 0:01:54 GMT
It's sometimes forgotten and rarely mentioned, but "Let's Go Trippin'" somehow ended up on Beach Boys Concert. Now, when you think of all the other possible songs that could've been recorded/chosen for that album... That's one of several questionable selections on that live album, all of which are a reason I revisit it very infrequently.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 24, 2022 0:08:47 GMT
It's sometimes forgotten and rarely mentioned, but "Let's Go Trippin'" somehow ended up on Beach Boys Concert. Now, when you think of all the other possible songs that could've been recorded/chosen for that album... That's one of several questionable selections on that live album, all of which are a reason I revisit it very infrequently. Granted, groups might add certain songs to their setlist when they are recording with an album in mind...but their setlist was hardly robust back then and "Let's Go Trippin'" was a staple of it. Back then, I think a live album meant recording their live set whatever it happened to be and picking the better performances. I don't think they were laboring over the selections ahead of time.
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Post by kds on Jul 24, 2022 0:27:25 GMT
That's one of several questionable selections on that live album, all of which are a reason I revisit it very infrequently. Granted, groups might add certain songs to their setlist when they are recording with an album in mind...but their setlist was hardly robust back then and "Let's Go Trippin'" was a staple of it. Back then, I think a live album meant recording their live set whatever it happened to be and picking the better performances. I don't think they were laboring over the selections ahead of time. I don't disagree, but by the time that live show was recorded, they had more than enough material to fill up a 30 min set without resorting to stuff like Long Tall Texan, Monster Mash, or Let's Go Trippin', even if they did have a studio cover of the latter. I get that it's a product of the time, but it makes for a very uneven listening experience IMO, especially compared with other live releases.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 24, 2022 0:34:57 GMT
This obviously doesn't apply to "Let's Go Trippin'", but I kinda like the inclusion of the non-album tracks. Even stuff like "Monster Mash" and "Long Tall Texan". I'd rather it be there than on a studio album.
But, yeah, especially by the August '64 shows they were performing better material. (Remember, the album also consists of performances from December '63.)
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Post by kds on Jul 24, 2022 0:52:41 GMT
This obviously doesn't apply to "Let's Go Trippin'", but I kinda like the inclusion of the non-album tracks. Even stuff like "Monster Mash" and "Long Tall Texan". I'd rather it be there than on a studio album. But, yeah, especially by the August '64 shows they were performing better material. (Remember, the album also consists of performances from December '63.) I don't mind having those tracks as documents of what they were doing at the time, as a bit of a curio. But, it still leads me to listening to BB Concert far less. I will say the BBC version of Let's Go Trippin is much better than the SUSA studio cut.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jul 24, 2022 5:16:44 GMT
My impression is that live albums in the early/mid 60's were expected to feature unique song selections, not just a reprise of the artists' greatest hits.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jul 24, 2022 12:52:00 GMT
My impression is that live albums in the early/mid 60's were expected to feature unique song selections, not just a reprise of the artists' greatest hits. I would've gotten another impression, that the groups WOULD'VE featured their hits - at the insistence of the record companies - especially in those days. I think the "live album as an artistic statement" only came into vogue later (though I could be wrong about that). I do agree that most (all?) groups had certain songs in their repertoire that just seemed to go over well, or better, live than the studio recordings. Many times those songs WEREN'T the hits or singles, and it gave bands the opportunity to stretch out, have a little fun, and even surprise the audience. "Let's Go Trippin'" would've surprised me.
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Post by B.E. on Jul 24, 2022 13:18:26 GMT
My impression is that live albums in the early/mid 60's were expected to feature unique song selections, not just a reprise of the artists' greatest hits. I would've gotten another impression, that the groups WOULD'VE featured their hits - at the insistence of the record companies - especially in those days. I think the "live album as an artistic statement" only came into vogue later (though I could be wrong about that). I do agree that most (all?) groups had certain songs in their repertoire that just seemed to go over well, or better, live than the studio recordings. Many times those songs WEREN'T the hits or singles, and it gave bands the opportunity to stretch out, have a little fun, and even surprise the audience. "Let's Go Trippin'" would've surprised me. I think my impression is more in line with SJS, but I don't even feel the need to bring the record companies into it (at least not upfront). Most groups didn't have a lot of hits (including the Beach Boys in the early '60s), but the hits they had they'd perform all on their own. They also might perform other groups' hits and whatever they had learned through trial and error happened to hit it off with their crowd. So, when the record companies (or the group) suggested they release a live album, they recorded a few shows. I imagine that's all there really was to it. I think song selections that we might think of as unique in hindsight, were more a result of how each group just happened to fill out their setlist after they've run out of hits. (Although, I do think that if a song was released on a live album, they might purposely not release it again on a studio album.) On the record company end, I think they just wanted as many popular songs on an album as possible. Their hits...others' hits...didn't matter.
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