Holy shit, there's a lot of Beach Boys stuff floating around out there right now; probably because of the recent release of the previously unreleased (and now reconstructed) '66/'67 LP Smile. So here's a few I ran into.
First off, if you think my bagging on Mike Love is a little harsh, check out the post from Man vs Clown, appropriately titled, "Why I Hate Mike Love." It is awesome. Dead on. What surprises me is that, where I have a strong distaste for Mike Love, it was in general, but it had building for years. After reading the piece, it occurred to me that I'd heard just about every incident that's cited, but over a long period of time. So, it grew from general annoyance, to exaggerated hatred. I say "exaggerated" because, it's not evil hate. Truth be known, I just hate his actions. Every last one of them.
Now that that's out of the way, the music. If all you know about the Beach Boys are the early hits ("Surfin' USA," "Surfin' Safari," et al), I highly recommend checking out the Pop Dose Guide to the Beach Boys, a career spanning sampler, with about fifty songs, with some pretty good descriptions of what you're hearing, and the significance of the songs posted. Beware, there are a few stinkers, particularly post-Holland. I posted a few highlights below, along with their first hit, "Surfin' Safari.". It's really remarkable when you listen to that one, followed by "The Warmth of the Sun, " and consider that that huge leap in sound happened in two years.
There's a single song, found on No Genre; because it's the only post I've found with (what is presumably) a cut from the reconstructed Smile, the 2011 version of "Good Vibrations." (The version posted on Popdose is presumably the older single version, because it was posted a couple weeks before the new one was released.) And then there's Aquarium Drunkard, who posted some rehearsal tapes of songs in their working versions leading up to the final recording for Smile. Haven't heard it yet, but if you're interested, there it is.
Then there's the Beach Bastards. Beach Boys sound alikes, rip offs and other related things. It's a 23 song mix at Obscure Sound (with eight single song downloads). I just posted a couple below. One from Spring, which included Brian Wilson's wife Marilyn on vocals. The other is by the Modern Folk Quartet, posted because it's produced by Jack Nitzsche, who takes his experience from working with Phil Spector and does an able job of ripping off Wilson's Pet Sounds era sound.
We will return to the more square repellent stuff soon, promise. Just had to post these now, because the links may be short lived.
First off, if you think my bagging on Mike Love is a little harsh, check out the post from Man vs Clown, appropriately titled, "Why I Hate Mike Love." It is awesome. Dead on. What surprises me is that, where I have a strong distaste for Mike Love, it was in general, but it had building for years. After reading the piece, it occurred to me that I'd heard just about every incident that's cited, but over a long period of time. So, it grew from general annoyance, to exaggerated hatred. I say "exaggerated" because, it's not evil hate. Truth be known, I just hate his actions. Every last one of them.
Now that that's out of the way, the music. If all you know about the Beach Boys are the early hits ("Surfin' USA," "Surfin' Safari," et al), I highly recommend checking out the Pop Dose Guide to the Beach Boys, a career spanning sampler, with about fifty songs, with some pretty good descriptions of what you're hearing, and the significance of the songs posted. Beware, there are a few stinkers, particularly post-Holland. I posted a few highlights below, along with their first hit, "Surfin' Safari.". It's really remarkable when you listen to that one, followed by "The Warmth of the Sun, " and consider that that huge leap in sound happened in two years.
There's a single song, found on No Genre; because it's the only post I've found with (what is presumably) a cut from the reconstructed Smile, the 2011 version of "Good Vibrations." (The version posted on Popdose is presumably the older single version, because it was posted a couple weeks before the new one was released.) And then there's Aquarium Drunkard, who posted some rehearsal tapes of songs in their working versions leading up to the final recording for Smile. Haven't heard it yet, but if you're interested, there it is.
Then there's the Beach Bastards. Beach Boys sound alikes, rip offs and other related things. It's a 23 song mix at Obscure Sound (with eight single song downloads). I just posted a couple below. One from Spring, which included Brian Wilson's wife Marilyn on vocals. The other is by the Modern Folk Quartet, posted because it's produced by Jack Nitzsche, who takes his experience from working with Phil Spector and does an able job of ripping off Wilson's Pet Sounds era sound.
We will return to the more square repellent stuff soon, promise. Just had to post these now, because the links may be short lived.
~ NOTE: ALL MEDIA IS HOSTED BY THE BLOGS & SITES NAMED BELOW ~
Listen:The Beach Boys - Surfin' Safari mp3 at Pop Dose
The Beach Boys - The Warmth of the Sun mp3 at Pop Dose
The Beach Boys - Wouldn't It Be Nice mp3 at Pop Dose
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations mp3 at Pop Dose
The Beach Boys - Feel Flows mp3 at Pop Dose
MORE: The Pop Dose Guide to the Beach Boys 50 or so songs
Presumably from Smile (2011):
The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (from Smile) mp3 at No Genre
Multiple song download:
The Beach Boys - 1967 Rehearsal sessions at Aquarium Drunkard Eight songs
The Beach Bastards:
Spring - Down Home mp3 at Obscure Sound
The Modern Folk Quartet - This Could Be the Night mp3 at Obscure Sound
MORE: It's Not Me: The Best of the Beach Bastards, 23 songs at Obscure Sound
Visit:
Why I Hate Mike Love at Man vs Clown
1 comment:
My friend John related this on Facebook (neat trivia);
As I'm sure you well know the cover shot of this great album was taken at the famous San Diego Zoo! A printing company that I worked for some years back was helping this old cat with his memoirs about his time as a PR officer at the zoo! He told me that after photo shoot The Beach Boys were caught maliciously throwing apples and oranges at the lions and tigers! ~The band then had to be unceremoniously escorted off the premises! He also worked for Sea World and told of how Bowie and his band in the "Ziggy Stardust" era got busted smokin' in the undersea aquarium! ~Who do them rock stars think they are anyway?
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