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texile wrote:
any beach boys fans here?

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charlotte wrote:
oh yeah...remembering playing the old 45 Help me Rhonda help help me Rhonda...many times!!!

also, the hard rock version of the BB-The Dave Clark Five

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charlotte wrote:
oh yeah...remembering playing the old 45 Help me Rhonda help help me Rhonda...many times!!!

also, the hard rock version of the BB-The Dave Clark Five

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texile wrote:
any beach boys fans here?
i've been rediscovering this band and have concluded that they may be one of the greatest AMERICAN bands of all time.
sure, we have great rock and roll bands from the 60s on through the present - blues, rock, punk.. whatever,
but the beach boys were strictly mainstream and yet -
from their early innocent and chuck berry/duane eddy-influenced surfing songs to the sublime and almost ethereal pet sounds period -
what other american band has impacted everyone from the beatles/stones, bowie to john cale to sonic youth, john frusciante etc...?
and i love the fact that they looked like complete nerds.
any thoughts? grenades?

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stonedinaustralia wrote:
hi tex

for me and american artists i love the everlys - their influence and their greatness now seems almost entirely forgotten - the debt owed by keith to don everly is criminally over-looked (or worse, entirely unrecognized) even among so called hard core fans

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Ten Thousand Motels wrote:




The Everley Bros are great. No doubt about it. Don't worry, when the future historians finally anyalize things correctly, The Everley's will get their due. The Beach Boys were Great but The Everley Brothers are Gods. Mark it down....you read it here on Rocks Off...June 2007.

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texile wrote:
definately, and they were from texas so obviously they were the real shit

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texile wrote:
i thought you were from texas, ten thousand....

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texile wrote:
why the fuck did i think you were texas?
i have no idea......
who else here is from texas?
yes, maine is spooky and ghostly, but here -
the creeps are in full view.
and yes, i sometimes pity those of you from the musically anemic states.

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Nasty Habits wrote:
"Ferry Across the Mercy" is Gerry and the Pacemakers.

Dave Clark Five were pretty hard rock. "Any Way You Want It", "Glad All Over" and "Bits and Pieces" STOMP.

[Edited by Nasty Habits]

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Prodigal Son wrote:
The Beach Boys were not up to the level of the Stones and Beatles obviously and that's cause their music was often too trendy and/or their albums were too packed with filler. But when your main songwriter is leaned on so much and he's not quite right in the head, what can you do? They were a top notch singles band started crafting great LPs too by 1965. And then of course there's the masterful Pet Sounds, which is almost a modern day pop version of a symphonic suite. Just superb! Then Brian lost it after Smile (which I'd say also would've been great based on outtakes and Brian's own Smile LP he put out in '04).

Their career was a bit patchy up through the early 70s and thanks to their resurgence through the smash hit success of the Endless Summer compilation, they became an oldies act. That insane prick Mike Love geared them away from new, bold material into the oldies circuit which they have thrived on since in spite of brief flurries from Brian, Carl's artistic muse and several lineup changes. Even the new tunes were made to sound like hollow takes on their classic surf sound. Since splitting with Al Jardine and relegating it to a 2 person act (Love and Bruce Johnston), the Beach Boys as a functioning band have ceased to be. This can also be attributed to the commercial dwindling of their sales that ended their recording career by 1992 after a string of terrible mainstream albums since the late 70s.

They were a band to watch even when they stumbled in their unpopular days from 1967-73. Some of their greatest stuff comes from this period, even if their only great LP in my view was Sunflower. Dennis was a total wildman who obviously couldn't keep living in his drug-induced and severely alcoholic haze but he had some of the Wilson Bros. ability of songwriting and singing. His solo album I hear is a good one and often his songs would be a highlight of a Beach Boys album. Sunflower is a good example as "Slip on Through," "It's About Time" and "Forever" are 3 of my top 5 fave tracks from it. Here's how I look at their 1965-77 days as a band focused on albums.

Today: A-
Summer Days (And Summer Nights): A-
Beach Boys Party: B+
Pet Sounds: A+
Smiley Smile: C (without "Good Vibrations" this is an awful album, sorry but these stripped down versions of Smile songs are nothing but tranquil boring psychedelic claptrap).
Wild Honey: A (Not the best production but a very likeable work. Excellent R&B-flavoured album with some real catchy songs for AM radio like "Darlin" and "Aren't You Glad" as well as a few glimpses of Smile/Pet Sounds glory like "Let the Wind Blow" and "Country Air").
Friends: C+ (great title track, not much else)
20/20: B- (Too inconsistent even with a repackaging including the wonderful "Our Prayer," "Cabinessence" and "Break Away.")
Sunflower: A (What a gorgeous LP that is rewarding on every tune, well except Bruce Johnston's schlocky "Tears in the Morning." Brian still had some good work left in him but Dennis and Carl shine just as brightly. "Forever" is Dennis' crowning acheivement but he brings a rock edge to his other tunes and "Our Sweet Love" has one of those weirdly-unique-yet-beautiful melodies only Brian Wilson could conjured up).
Surf's up: B (A lot of hippy dippy shit thanks to new eco-conscious manager Jack Reilly. Basically the four tracks of quality-"Long Promised Road," "Feel Flows," "Til I Die" and "Surf's up"- are the only good ones while the rest are average or mediocre).
Carl and the Passions-So Tough: C+
Holland: C+ ("Sail on Sailor" is the only moment of excellence for me)

When you review the band you get this evaluation from me:
Brian Wilson-What can you say? He was a pop genius but drugs and mental illness and then Eugene Landy's vice-like control took all the musical vision and flushed it away. What we're left with is his current shell of his former self... but the most important thing is that he is alive and healthy). His singing is not so special any more too thanks to his brain damage, anxieties and his chain-smoking throughout the 70s and early 80s.

Carl-A fine writer in his own right but perhaps the best singer of all. He could hit Brian's range if he tried but delivered more warmth and soul behind it. A truly classic voice.

Dennis-Good singer as well, but not much of a drummer. He had the potential but his hard living ruined it and he died before his 40th birthday as a result.

Al Jardine-A pretty marginal figure in the long run but he did have a distinctive voice that was still hard to tell apart from the Wilsons. He mostly enjoyed folk stuff and never really wrote any classic BB tune.

Bruce Johnston-I don't like much of his stuff because the guy just reminded me of some cornball songwriter and performer ala Mac Davis or Barry Manilow. Fitting that his biggest hit, "I Write the Songs," was not for the Beach Boys but for Manilow and it came during his 7-year abscense from the group.

Mike Love-He had some memorable lines as a lyricist but he's pretty much an inept songwriter. Not a great singer, didn't play an instrument (rudimentary sax doesn't count) and then steered them into the sad direction throughout the 70s and 80s. Plus he's a human piece of trash from various accounts. Least talented Beach Boy? Yes, if you don't include Bruce Johnston.

p.s. David Marks, John Stamos, Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Faatar don't really count I would say.


[Edited by Prodigal Son]

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