it’s just uninteresting trashy pop. Give me the Beatles any day (of the week).

I think you may have the Beatles and the Beach Boys mixed up. It’s understandable though as they both start Bea.

I used to love them in my younger day’s but so many of their lyrics are cringe worthy. I suppose it just reflects the period.

Dennis Wilson produced one of the best Beach Boy’s spin off albums “Pacific Ocean Blue’

On a positive note, this post has made me get copy of ‘Surf’s Up’ 🙂

DezB I’m impressed at how well you’ve managed to hold onto that petulant inner teenager considering your age!

Or maybe it’s inner toddler?

“Don’t like it.”

“Have you tried it?”

“Don’t like it, don’t like green things.”

“But this green thing is completely different.”

“Only like red things.”

Cos that’s exactly what I said in each of my stupid posts… 😆

Fact is, I listen to lots of music. Lots of NEW music. Lots of music I haven’t heard before and I like discovering new and interesting sounds. Not old stuff that I don’t find interesting. If that’s stupid and petulant, so be it.

I don’t know much Beach Boys to be fair, but for fluffy pop that’s actually profoundly good I do rate ABBA.

Pacific Ocean Blue is immense!

I dont get why the beach boys are so revered. It just all sounds like overly happy fluff to me. Why are they held in such high esteem?

Because they produced some ground breaking and hugely influential albums, pinnacle of which was Pet Sounds. Widely regarded as one of the best albums ever.

i can’t be bothered to listen to that. It’s old music. I’ve got loads of other stuff I want to listen to.

Ok 🙂

Tell us what you do like at the moment.
There’s no law saying you must like the Beach Boys.
I really don’t get Nevermind. Bleach was better but it’s the one that always tops the polls.

Beatles wrote Revolver
Brian Wilson thought it was unlike anything he’d heard before so he wrote Pet Sounds in competition
Beatles heard Pet Sounds, thought it was amazing – especially all the multi-tracking and production quality which was years ahead of anything else at that time – and came up with Sgt Pepper…

That’s where Pet Sounds sits in the pop music pantheon – right at the top.

Problem with judging Pet Sounds now is we’re judging it 50 years after it was written, which is 50 years of other artists being inspired by it and copying a lot of the ideas and techniques that Brian Wilson pioneered – so it doesn’t sound quite so amazing as it did back in the 60’s when nothing like it had ever been heard before…

Oh and listen properly to Brian Wilson and you’ll hear one of the most eloquent writers on depression and finding life hard there’s ever been in pop music – for that alone he should be revered…

As much as like the early surf stuff, it’s deeply misrepresentative of his wider talent, so if all you get is a Beach Boys Best Of and then slagging them off for being sugary pop, you’re massively missing the point…

Fact is, I listen to lots of music. Lots of NEW music. Lots of music I haven’t heard

Isn’t all music new to the ears if you’ve not heard it?

I’m surprised that anyone could call BB lyrics simplistic or naive. Granted, the following was written by Van Dyke Parks, but: man. Its perfect, rich in imagery, dazzling little bits of wordplay too.

A lyric about the end of the Beach Boys, written and performed by…the Beach Boys? Bold.

Anyway:

A diamond necklace played the pawn
Hand in hand some drummed along, oh
To a handsome mannered baton
A blind class aristocracy
Back through the opera glass you see
The pit and the pendulum drawn
Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping?

Hung velvet overtaken me
Dim chandelier awaken me
To a song dissolved in the dawn
The music hall a costly bow
The music all is lost for now
To a muted trumpeter swan
Columnated ruins domino

Canvass the town and brush the backdrop
Are you sleeping, Brother John?

Dove nested towers the hour was
Strike the street quicksilver moon
Carriage across the fog
Two-Step to lamp lights cellar tune
The laughs come hard in Auld Lang Syne

The glass was raised, the fired-roast
The fullness of the wine, the dim last toasting
While at port adieu or die

A choke of grief heart hardened I
Beyond belief a broken man too tough to cry

Surf’s Up
Aboard a tidal wave
Come about hard and join
The young and often spring you gave
I heard the word
Wonderful thing
A children’s song

See?

Don’t know much about the Beach Boys, but I know enough to say that I don’t like. I have other music that I’d rather listen to, but believe that they had an influence in the manufactured band pop world.
Don’t know that much about the Beatles either except that I don’t like. Followed a taxi today that sported a Beatles tour sticker. I started wondering when the last time the (surviving)Beatles visited the place. I do believe that they had an influence on the modern day manufactured pop culture.
I don’t like tomatoes either.

Old lyrics are old.

Check this:

[Justin Bieber & MØ:]
You won’t let go (I won’t let go, no, no, no, no, no, no)
I’ll be your lifeline tonight
You won’t let go
I’ll be your lifeline tonight

[Justin Bieber:]
I won’t let go
I won’t let go

Someone said I should ‘listen to Nina Simone’. I said ‘How old?? There’s too much new stuff first, why would I?’ They rolled their eyes at me, just like an old person would!

You’ve convinced me.

Surprised there’s no mention of the “Love & Mercy” film in this thread. I was far from a fan of theirs, but it opened my eyes a bit to the fact they weren’t just the pop I thought they were.

Keep taking the pills Malvern Rider. They keep you talking shit just like an old person would!

Beatles wrote Revolver
Brian Wilson thought it was unlike anything he’d heard before so he wrote Pet Sounds in competition
Beatles heard Pet Sounds, thought it was amazing – especially all the multi-tracking and production quality which was years ahead of anything else at that time – and came up with Sgt Pepper…

That’s where Pet Sounds sits in the pop music pantheon – right at the top.
The version of this that I’ve read does start with the Beatles massive respect for what Brian Wilson did on Pet Sounds, but finishes along the lines that Beatles released Sgt Pepper in the same year… Brian Wilson feel deeper into depression realising Sgt Pepper completely eclipsed Pet Sounds in every way. From album cover design (first time this style had ever been used), open out sleeve with lyrics printed therein (first time this had ever been done), poster included (first time this had ever been done) to music, lyrics, production methods etc etc.
Much like on that daft thread naughty-girl-at-the-track I’m prepared to accept the judgement of people who know better than me re Pet Sounds, but I just can’t get past the early 60’s Surf music, much like I can’t get past Depeche Mode in the early 80’s even tho they went onto more challenging music. Like Dez I’ve always been aware of Pet Sounds reputation, but never felt compelled to listen and still won’t be despite this thread and I’ve always been a big 60’s west coast music fan. There’s so much more interesting and unusual stuff out there from that period IMO.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AbMSUQE36us[/video]

Fact is, I listen to lots of music. Lots of NEW music. Lots of music I haven’t heard before and I like discovering new and interesting sounds. Not old stuff that I don’t find interesting. If that’s stupid and petulant, so be it.

Fact is, I listen to lots of music. Lots of NEW music. Lots of music I haven’t heard
Isn’t all music new to the ears if you’ve not heard it?

I’m not 100% sure, but I think it was Rick Wakeman, talking about when he played a concert in Eastern Europe and was approached by this very young lad with a copy of one of his early albums, and when he asked why this lad was listening to this old stuff, the lad looked him straight in the eye, and said, “well, it’s new music to me!”
Said artist felt well and truly put in his place!
I’m constantly checking out new artists, 6Music and Uncut Magazine being my main source, along with festivals like Green Man, but I’d have to be remarkably stupid to discount anything earlier than five years ago as having no merit, because, despite whatever age that music may have come from, it’s still new bloody music to my ears!
Uncut have a feature on Van Der Graaf Generator, a band from my youth, that I am totally unfamiliar with, so my interest has now been driven to check out their music. I’ve just downloaded two albums by Greenslade, a prog band from the early-mid 70’s, who I haven’t heard for over thirty years; it’s not ‘old’ music, it’ll be fresh and new, because I have no recollection of what their music sounded like.
I’m listening to modern bands like The Drink and Moulettes, and I’m hearing strong hints of another prog band, Gentle Giant, in the complex rhythms they use, so should GG be written off just because it’s ‘old’ music?
Only if you’re really daft.

^ funny you should mention GG – I’d not actually heard them until recent months but they too were namechecked on some youtube comment. I love the music family tree that youtube’s suggested videos feature opens up – it’s switched me on to loads of stuff past, near and present. May it never stop.

Gentle Giant’s rhythm section live was jaw-dropping by any standards. Vocals are marmite and I’m not a fan – but have watched ‘Free Hand’ loads, just gobsmacked by the performance:
[video]https://youtu.be/vMrYSTzqFI8[/video]

Took a quick pic for, was it zippykona who asked? This is a stack of recently played Cds, waiting to be tidied up on top of my stereo. Obviously doesn’t reflect most of the new stuff I’m absorbing on digital, but a good representation of my narrow minded tastes. Wot, no Beach Boys? So why aren’t you listening to any, or all, of that? I think you should!

The Beach Boys lyrics can best be appreciated by being young and sitting on a surf beach in a hot climate with skimpily clad young lovelies tripping around.

I like the Beach Boys but prefer Jan and Dean.

At this remove it’s probably worth pointing out that their music still had to sound good when played over low fidelity speakers as well as hifi. That takes skill.

Just read through CountZero’s post – just so irrelevant mate! I’ve heard the BBs and don’t like them much. I already said in a previous post that I’d check out other “old” new music before listening to their stuff again.

This is a stack of recently played Cds, waiting to be tidied up on top of my stereo

Haha I thought it was only me who still has an AuPairs LP

🙂 That was an eBay purchase – wondered why I didn’t have it as they were amazing live and “Playing With a Different Sex” is one of the best albums ever!
Sense and Sensibility not so great 😆

i’m still reeling at discovering someone hasnt heard of Quicksilver Messenger Service. Happy Trails is essential listening.

There’s so much more interesting and unusual stuff out there from that period IMO.

There is a lot of interesting other stuff from that period and location, whether it’s “more interesting” is surely hard to judge until you would have experienced Pet Sounds too…? I like a lot of garage bands from that time – but are they more interesting than the garage bands I haven’t heard? I couldn’t tell you.

Happy Trails is essential listening.

I tried to like it (20 years ago), read critical acclaim of Happy Trails, liked Who do you Love from a ‘Best Of’ Psychedelia box set, a musician friend raved about it, bought the album, didn’t do much for me, unfortunately.

That was an eBay purchase – wondered why I didn’t have it as they were amazing live and “Playing With a Different Sex” is one of the best albums ever!
Sense and Sensibility not so great

Interesting, I’ll give that a listen. I’ve got Sense and Sensibility, but only cos a friend played Sex without Stress constantly at a party in the early 80’s, so I bought it many years later for nostalgia reasons.
I love The Birthday Party singles and EP’s, but didn’t get Prayers on Fire, their only album I bought at the time, it was just too obscure for me, didn’t buy any other albums. I don’t know if this is the case, but I decided he released more commercial goth orientated stuff only on singles/EP’s and then did the music he actually wanted to do on albums. I don’t think any singles stuff appeared on albums at the time (they’ve been released on compilation albums since), could be wrong about this tho.

I’m still reeling from someone using the phrase “essential listening” in 2016. 🙂

Well on the strength of this thread I downloaded “Pet Sounds” yesterday afternoon, played it in the garden whilst fiddling with my surf boards and the Mrs did the garden.

To be honest I used to listen to this stuff whilst back in the States, always played on FM radio, these days it does nothing for me. The Mrs asked I turn it off, I persevered but eventually caved in and changed it for some 90’s HipHop/Rap.

I don’t envisage listening to it again either.

Enjoy it though, for some it’s a classic, for me it’s just naval gazing pop.

Let’s face it, we’re all too old to enjoy the Beach Boys music now. “Two girls for every boy” doesn’t have the same resonance now. 🙂

One of the first ever albums I bought from Woollies was a surf compilation.

Still love it now.
And be honest, The Who are basically a surf band.
🙂

I like Pet Sounds, but I love the cheesy stuff.

[video]https://youtu.be/4GKAWCicRBU[/video]