My vote for the "best" BB albums. Brian was still functional and they had Blondie Chaplin singing on Sail on Sailor. Incredible recording accomplishment - in a barn in Holland.
Posted on 08/01/2010 6:40:24 AM PDT by curth
The on-again/off-again news of a possible 50th anniversary reunion tour has been a bit taxing for fans just hoping to hear those sweet harmonies one last time.
But Al Jardine, the band’s original guitarist, has already brought about a reunion for his new solo album A Postcard From California. Jardine’s track, “Don't Fight the Sea,” began as a track on a proposed solo album back in 1978 and Jardine brought Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston to sing background. The track never surfaced and 10 years later, Brian Wilson popped in to sing a high harmony.
In 2009, Jardine coaxed Mike Love into the studio to record the baritone part. Jardine told Rolling Stone, “All the negativity between us is gone. He would have been very disappointed had I not asked him to be on it.”
As befits Jardine’s place in pop history, the album features a plethora of superstar guests from David Crosby, Neil Young and Stephen Stills to Alec Baldwin and Steve Miller.
A Postcard From California is currently available digitally through iTunes and Amazon.com.
Wasn’t ‘Smile’ the album Brian Wilson (basically) threw in the trash before it was done after he listened to ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band?
The dead ones could probably still carry a tune better than some in the fare you hear lately...
Thanks - enjoyed reading your post!
LOVE LOVE LOVE Brian Wilson & The Beach Boys —actually got to see them live at Madison Sq Garden a long time ago. SO thrilling. Such complex and beautiful music.
I think Pet SOunds was one of the best.
There’s a whole lot of later work that’s quite different. But I happen to think “Surfer Girl” — which I saw performed recently in the old T.A.M.I. show movie — is one of htemost brilliant rock and roll songs of all time.
Poor man was a mess, but a great genius. I have a friend who worked with him. got to meet him once. Even as a shell or shadow of his former self, he’s still a genius.
But p.s. — after all the abuse from his father, a ton of psychotropic drugs didn’t help anything. I think that’s what really hurt him.
Yes, the Ventures & DIck Dale were creators of the surf genre — the BB entered the genre and then moved their music into another dimension — similar to how Stevie Wonder started out as a Motown artist doing that genre (soul/pop) and then developed a sui generis sound of his own for his later music.
that is intsting. Glenn Campell was one of the GREAT session guitarists.
Of course you’re excused for thinking that “Surfin’ USA” reminds you of Chuck Berry...as for the others, you have to look pretty hard to find a tune similar to “Surfer Girl” in the genre IMO.
That’s why he has always looked weird when he’s talking. His hearing was damaged (not totally gone) in that one ear so early in life that he unconsciously talked more toward that side so that his own sounded more balanced.
Knowing that little bit of medical “trivia” has served me very well once or twice when I met people who would have otherwise seemed to me a little kooky.
My vote for the "best" BB albums. Brian was still functional and they had Blondie Chaplin singing on Sail on Sailor. Incredible recording accomplishment - in a barn in Holland.
Gotta agree with that.
Surf's Up blew my mind when I first heard it in 1971. I grew up with the Beach Boys, and was probably as pleasantly surprised as any of their fans, by that masterful recording. It went so far beyond anything they'd ever done before.
I absolutely love that album. Out of the 1,000 or so tunes burned to my hard drive, Feel Flows and Surf's Up are in my top ten favorites.
Try listening to any of the cuts off of their albums Pet Sounds, and Surf's Up, and you'll quickly see what people are raving about.
Heck, go all the way back to Good Vibrations, if you want. That was the point where they leaped past the old Chuck Berry mold, and blazed a new trail into groundbreaking sounds and arrangements.
For anyone who only thinks they made surfing and car songs that all sound the same, may I suggest you give a listen to side two of Beach Boys Today, all of Pet Sounds, 20/20 Sunflower,Surf’s Up and Holland. Also check out the B side of California Girls , a song called Let Him Run Wild.
bttt
Thanks - Youtube is great for that sort of thing.
Mike , Al , Dennis and Carl all fought Brian from attempting to mess with the “ surf / striped shirt “ sound and image which is why he wuit touring and concentrated on the studio . The first result was the classic “ Pet Sounds “ album . Yes , the res of the Beach Boys could sing , but they were mediocre musicians at best which is why The Wrecking Crew ( Hal Blaine , Glen Campbell , etc...) played on all their albums up to and inc. Pet Sounds . Brian was The Beach Boys for all intent and purpose .
And I hasten to add, not just Brian. Because of his psychological problems, the other BBs had to step into his huaraches; they carried much of the weight on Sunflower, Surf's Up, and Holland.
It allowed us to better understand what Carl, Dennis, Al, Bruce, and even Mike could do when they took the lead.
I am especially moved by Carl's work on the track Surf's Up. He made a production with Brian's 4-year old demo track as the seed. To do this, he took his older brother's incomplete vocal and finished the solo--seamlessly--in his own voice, and then the complex coda with all the other BBs.
None of the aforementioned albums were perfect, of course. But they were, for me, unprecedentedly interesting, and incomparably moving in places.
Holland might be the quirkiest of them all, especially if you consider the bonus disc that featured producer Jack Rielly narrating that goofy story of the kid and the transistor radio fairy. But when you're in the right mood, listen to Carl's Sail On Sailor or Trader; or, for that matter, Mike Love's California Saga, with his understated readings of Robinson Jeffers.
But, as I mentioned at the beginning, this music had gone places the masses could evidently not follow.
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