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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2022 10:05:47 GMT
Interesting. I'd not place 20/20 so high, nor Today !, All Summer Long, Holland and especially Love You that low. But that's me, and this is you. Life would be terribly tedious if we all agreed about everything. Much more peaceful, but still... Which does, of course, make one wonder what your own ranking would be...
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 10:16:42 GMT
I tried seven times to post it. Nothing worked so I said "**** it" and gave up.
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Post by jk on Aug 21, 2022 11:10:05 GMT
I tried seven times to post it. Nothing worked so I said "**** it" and gave up. Ha, yes. It took a while for me to organize mine but I got there in the end. I made a screenshot of the chart and uploaded it using postimage.org (message board size). Bit of a palaver though.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 21, 2022 12:02:04 GMT
Finally !! They're in release order.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Aug 21, 2022 13:11:06 GMT
RATED TOO HIGH: ... Surfin' Safari; you have that one ahead of Shut Down Volume 2.; what songs are you basing that on.
SJS, you had me cracking up at that dig! Seriously, though, I rank albums based on overall presentation and listening experience. It's not just about the top few songs. For one thing, I like everything on Surfin' Safari more than "Shut Down Part II", "Denny's Drums", and "Cassius vs Sonny". I recognize that I'm higher on Surfin' Safari than most. In short, I really just love the charm of it. But, again, it's something that I enjoy putting on and listening to in its entirety. It works well as an album. I think even fans that don't love the content can still appreciate that (and how Shut Down, Vol. 2 differs in that regard). Also, I appreciate its uniqueness within the Beach Boys catalog. There's only one debut, and it's the only album that even sounds remotely like it. In other words, it has a strong identity and there are no substitutes. I think some of the other early Beach Boys albums sort of blend together. Like, you could take a few tracks from a few different albums, throw them together, and the effect would be the same. Or if you're not as big a fan of the era you could just take one or two of the albums and leave a few others that are fairly similar sounding. That's true of other eras, too, to an extent, but because they were less prolific later on the sound of the albums tended to change more due to the greater passage of time between albums (and different contributors and so on). Your points are well-taken. I do get the concept of listening experience, and I do acknowledge the filler of Shut Volume 2 ("Denny's Drums", "Cassius vs. Sonny"; I actually like "Shut Down Part II" a lot). But, I can't help going back to actual songs. The top tier - "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Don't Worry Baby", "The Warmth Of The Sun" and the second tier - "In The Parking Lot", "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", "Pom Pom Play Girl", "Keep An Eye On Summer" of Shut Down Volume 2...being ranked lower by the overall presentation and listening experience of the Surfin' Safari album. That's a tough one to swallow, B.E.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 21, 2022 13:50:19 GMT
SJS, you had me cracking up at that dig! Seriously, though, I rank albums based on overall presentation and listening experience. It's not just about the top few songs. For one thing, I like everything on Surfin' Safari more than "Shut Down Part II", "Denny's Drums", and "Cassius vs Sonny". I recognize that I'm higher on Surfin' Safari than most. In short, I really just love the charm of it. But, again, it's something that I enjoy putting on and listening to in its entirety. It works well as an album. I think even fans that don't love the content can still appreciate that (and how Shut Down, Vol. 2 differs in that regard). Also, I appreciate its uniqueness within the Beach Boys catalog. There's only one debut, and it's the only album that even sounds remotely like it. In other words, it has a strong identity and there are no substitutes. I think some of the other early Beach Boys albums sort of blend together. Like, you could take a few tracks from a few different albums, throw them together, and the effect would be the same. Or if you're not as big a fan of the era you could just take one or two of the albums and leave a few others that are fairly similar sounding. That's true of other eras, too, to an extent, but because they were less prolific later on the sound of the albums tended to change more due to the greater passage of time between albums (and different contributors and so on). Your points are well-taken. I do get the concept of listening experience, and I do acknowledge the filler of Shut Volume 2 ("Denny's Drums", "Cassius vs. Sonny"; I actually like "Shut Down Part II" a lot). But, I can't help going back to actual songs. The top tier - "Fun, Fun, Fun", "Don't Worry Baby", "The Warmth Of The Sun" and the second tier - "In The Parking Lot", "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", "Pom Pom Play Girl", "Keep An Eye On Summer" of Shut Down Volume 2...being ranked lower by the overall presentation and listening experience of the Surfin' Safari album. That's a tough one to swallow, B.E. Hey, someone's got to champion Surfin Safari! But I also noticed recently that you're highly critical of some of the Gary Usher collaborations, particularly lyrically. I disagree. And I believe I posted about it at the time*. I wouldn't have wanted Wilson-Usher to become a permanent songwriting team for the group but I think it was right for the time and I would have liked a few more Wilson-Usher songs on subsequent albums. As for the highlights of Shut Down Vol. 2, I'm actually not quite as high as you'd expect on the great "Warmth of the Sun" and there's even something about "Fun, Fun, Fun" (perhaps the guitar intro?) that keeps me from loving it as much as an "I Get Around". Now, I realize you probably don't think it matters if I rate those songs a 10 or a 9.75 or whatever, that they're still far better than the Surfin' Safari tracks, but I think it contributes to my view of the album as being imperfect. (And, for the record, I like "Surfin' Safari" just as much as those tracks.) Then there's "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", which I'm not really a fan of at all. I used to be kinder to it, but I'm starting to lose my patience and skip it. Along with the 3 other tracks I mentioned. And, "Louie Louie", which I'd always felt the need to defend, is starting to drop in my estimation as well. I like so much about it, but it's a flawed track. So, again, I enjoy listening to the album Surfin Safari from start to finish with virtually no reservations whatsoever (while fully recognizing that the material isn't S or even A tier). That's not the case with Shut Down Vol. 2. I suppose it's important to note that I am the type of music fan who likes to listen to albums in their entirety. I don't like skipping around or shuffling tracks. And, I very rarely skip Beach Boys tracks. But, Shut Down Vol. 2 is one of the exceptions. It's really a terribly uneven and disjointed album with no flow. The end. *Found it: Looking at some of the subject matter of the songs on Surfin' Safari...what a weird album : - little Indians - chugging root beer - flipping a coin - a cuckoo clock - girls' clothing
It's actually occurred to me, perhaps for the first time, how elaborate the Usher co-writes were, lyrically (which is most of the album). I think of them now more as "story songs", which is something the Beach Boys moved away from with his absence. I think that contributes greatly to the charm, and uniqueness, of the album. I find it pretty interesting.
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Post by carllove on Aug 21, 2022 15:34:06 GMT
Ok - Here is mine. Evidently there are a lot of albums I’m not really fond of. They are in order of preference. Interesting. I'd not place 20/20 so high, nor Today !, All Summer Long, Holland and especially Love You that low. But that's me, and this is you. Life would be terribly tedious if we all agreed about everything. Much more peaceful, but still... I have 5 songs from 20/20 in my top 100, so I do love that album. If you count “Cabinessence”, (even though I chose “Cabin Essence”), I have three songs in my top 20 from that album. I only have three from Today in my whole top 100, and the highest is “Please Let Me Wonder” at #39. I chose nothing from Love You, but was a bit more charmed by it after listening to it three times in a row last week. Still - nothing stands out there for me - it’s a “mood” album. I gotta be in the mood to listen to it. Holland was really close to making my A tier, but I felt there was a big enough difference between loving an album like Summer Days and really really liking an album like Holland and that was my cut off. All Summer Long is a really good album - I had the title track at #23, but it has a few duds that just bring it down to the B tier for me. Not a bad tier - just not the best according to my taste. Thanks for asking! I appreciate it! I will get to yours when it’s your turn for the slings and arrows (though of course your list does look pretty good!)
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 21, 2022 20:01:38 GMT
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the main reason Still Cruisin' gets ranked so low is because of the three oldies tacked on to the end of it - and maybe "Wipe Out". I find the new material on SC very enjoyable. Did Capitol really think putting three oldies on the end of the album was gonna boost sales? Carl said Capitol asked for 3 new songs, and the group gave them 5. I understand Kokomo being included; even sort of understand Wipe Out being included (big hit in 1987); but if they couldn't get 3 more new songs from the group, why not round it out with some recent semi-hits (Getcha Back, Good Timin', California Dreamin', Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue). I'm not as high on the new material. The production is a hurdle. Song-wise, I've always thought "Somewhere Near Japan" was overrated. Don't get me wrong, it's not bad, but I had read so much hype about it. The title track underwhelms as well. Then, in addition to "Wipe Out", I flat-out dislike "Make It Big". "Kokomo" is the only real winner, IMO. "Island Girl" and (to a lesser extent) "In My Car" are cool deep tracks to discover, but they're far from great. As far as rating/ranking the album goes, the oldies are a wash. Great tracks, but an awkward inclusion. Capitol was clearly interested in releasing a quasi-greatest hits compilation, but you are right that they could have done it better. While an actual, all-new studio album would have been preferable, short of that, they might as well have followed through with a proper soundtrack compilation. It would have been a bit of an oddity, but at least it would have been thematically coherent and served a purpose. But I imagine rounding up and licensing some of those soundtrack songs just seemed to be too much of a hassle for Capitol. Edit: Also, that's a terrible album cover! I walked right by it on the display wall; it took the owner pointing it out for me to notice it. BB85 was a nothing album cover, too.
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 21, 2022 20:40:13 GMT
I think 85, SIP, Still Cruisin, Stars & Stripes, and KTSA are the worst Beach Boys covers of all time. It's somewhat interesting to me that I happen to generally rate all those albums lowly. But I hope I'm not just projecting.
I'm trying to think of the biggest disconnect between album and cover for me. Probably Friends, whose cover I don't like but album I do.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 21, 2022 20:48:28 GMT
I think KTSA is best of that bunch (and passable overall). But, yeah, not a good run! MIU was weak, too. I don’t think you’re projecting. They were simply struggling artistically. And had been post-Holland.
Stars & Stripes is probably the absolute worst.
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Post by B.E. on Aug 21, 2022 20:53:38 GMT
I'm trying to think of the biggest disconnect between album and cover for me. Probably Friends, whose cover I don't like but album I do. Didn’t you create a thread about that? Hold up, here we are: Cover:Music Disparity
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 21, 2022 21:28:12 GMT
I'm trying to think of the biggest disconnect between album and cover for me. Probably Friends, whose cover I don't like but album I do. Didn’t you create a thread about that? Hold up, here we are: Cover:Music Disparity I'm glad somebody here listens to me, since I obviously don't! (Totally forgot. Wonder how wrong I now will consider myself.)
EDIT - I'm delighted to learn that I'd said Friends first! But also that was disparity between quality of music and cover. In this thread, the initial spur was the awful covers and awful music together.
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 22, 2022 19:42:48 GMT
I like the cover of Friends, and think it fits the music inside. I think the idea behind LA (Light Album) is nice, but the result doesn't make much of an impression. I guess I liked it at the time, though - I remember getting the album from our library and studying the individual postcards and how they related to the songs. Good Timin' was my favorite. I know there's this trend to not show the faces of older bands on their album covers, but I think BB85 needed something to mark it as a Beach Boys album. First studio album in 5 years, it needed something colorful, something saying "hey, we're back!" And honestly, the guys were looking very healthy and vital in 1985; put them on the cover. The people who see it and say "man, those guys look old" probably have their own grey hairs, wrinkles, and battles of the bulge. Still Cruisin? How about showing our "old" guys with some hot rods, ala Shut Down, Volume 2. Summer in Paradise actually has wonderful cover art. Too bad the music inside wasn't up to that standard.
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Post by lonelysummer on Aug 22, 2022 19:45:09 GMT
Finally !! They're in release order.
Thank ranking actually isn't much different than mine. Attachments:
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Post by Kapitan on Aug 22, 2022 19:58:02 GMT
Summer in Paradise actually has wonderful cover art. Too bad the music inside wasn't up to that standard. I really disagree on that one.
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