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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Jan 1, 2019 13:21:12 GMT -5
The Beach Boys' first album of new material in 20 years, it received generally favorable reviews upon its release in 2012. Attachments:
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Post by Vale on Jan 3, 2019 7:47:29 GMT -5
7.
The album of the reunion... I gave it a full 7, there were a lot of expectations on this considering the previous studio album was from 1992 (not considering "Stars and Stripes"), at least for me. It's very catchy, it doesn't seem at all to be played by seventy-year-olds Boys. During all these years, I find that Al's voice had almost never changed, he almost sounds like in the 70s, that's why I like "From There To Back Again" (followed by "Pacific Coast Highway") more than other tracks. "Daybreak Over The Ocean" is also good (one of Mike's best), as well as "Think About The Days". TWGMTR track is fine. I liked it a lot when it came out, but now it doesn't permanently reside on my turntable... as well as other records does, instead.
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Post by ian on Jan 3, 2019 10:16:04 GMT -5
The last three songs knock me out and are in my opinion the best songs released by the BBs as a collective band since 1977. I also like the title track and isn’t it time-I mainly skip the rest
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Post by E on Jan 3, 2019 11:15:40 GMT -5
I'll go for the last four songs, the first one and title track - and, thanks to editing, I'll agree with AGD below: this was far better than I could have hoped for.
While I wish it could have been produced without autotune, I realise this is a thing now and it's part of the arsenal available to producers.
To be honest, it's the quality of the music that counts. Nothing sounds too overproduced; most of the songs are decent and some are outstanding (at the level of whod'a thunk it possible, to be honest). I feared the whole thing would be some ghastly concoction that aimed for nothing better than 'Fun in the Sun' stuff or Kona Coast or an album of 'South American' and look what we got instead!
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Post by kds on Jan 3, 2019 13:01:27 GMT -5
I've giving TWGMTR a solid nine. Easily the best Beach Boys album since Holland. The album is bookended by great moments. The album opens in spectacular fashion with Think About the Days. The title track is good, and I like Isn't It Time a little more each time I hear it.
The momentum is slowed a bit by tracks 4-6. Spring Vacation is OK, but still the album's weak link. And why is Jeff Baxter playing lead when they brought David Marks back? Bill and Sue and Shelter have good choruses, but not much else.
The album picks up with Mike's Daybreak, and the maligned but enjoyable Beaches in Mind.
Then, the album soars to another level with the final four - in particular From There to Back Again (IMO the best BB song since Til I Die). I might've rated the album a ten (yep) if there were more vocal moments like the beginning of Pacific Coast Highway. Summer's Gone provides a perfect coda for The Beach Boys recording career (at least that was Brian's intention, and it appears more likely with each passing day).
This album also has a personal connection as 2012 was a great year for me personally, and the year that I saw the BB in concert and really got into them. My only regret is that I didn't buy the album immediately instead of mid August. When I did buy it, I listened to it every night for a week straight. Seven years later, it's still one of my most listened to BB albums.
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Post by thelovester on Jan 3, 2019 13:09:07 GMT -5
It’s an 8 for me. The first 3 and last 4 songs are great, and I don’t hate the stuff in the middle at all. The only truly weak song in my opinion is Beaches in Mind, though I don’t even think that song is that bad.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 16:45:33 GMT -5
These are my initial impressions, song by song, as I listened for the first time.
Loved the first track. It's new, it's serene, it's beautiful. Almost sounds like a modern answer to Our Prayer (with a piano). Perfect opening.
The title track does not please my ears at all. It sounds like a lot of Brian's solo stuff--someone trying to write a Beach Boys song but without the inventiveness and earnest feelings that made the old stuff click. It sounds like a forgotten doo-wop track on a jukebox in a cheesy 50s diner. In a lot of ways I'm sure that aesthetic was intentional, but I don't like it. It also completely kills the momentum established by the first track. Some of the worst sequencing I've ever seen.
The third track isn't bad, but I think it could have benefited from some lusher production/arrangement. I don't think the instrumentation fits at all, much less does it justice.
Spring Vacation isn't any worse or better than Mike's typical "recapturing the glory days of the hits" fare. He even managed to "sneak" a Good Vibrations reference in the lyrics. Oh Mike... You...were actually missed.
Bill and Sue is one of the better tracks thus far. I gotta admit though, and maybe this is bad form to criticize a song for, but I was expecting something different. The title made me think there might be just one track not about fun in the sun or happy past glory. I thought maybe they'd sneak in a track about more mature (or just DIFFERENT) themes...but nope. California and Mexico trips fun sunny days. That doesn't make it bad though.
Shelter is alright. Gotta say I wish this whole album didn't have to be fun in the sun fare tho. I know it's beach boys but even in the old days it wasn't always this one-note. That gripe aside, at least this is an interesting twist on the idea, where our narrator is looking to avoid the sun.
Daybreak is a pretty good latter era Mike track. I actually like it okay. It's really just the production holding it back from being better. This album suffers from non-BWPS/TLOS solo Brian era production. Just that generic, uninspired, almost stock backing tracks. Joe Thomas is a great gray fog muddying up what might be good songs...blocking out the sun, if you will
Beaches in Mind is crap from the first second. C'mon guys, I think you've sung every conceivable beach song in the universe. I mean...I know it's your name but...c'mon. Can't you sing about a car or woman or something? That's part of the old 60s persona too It wouldn't be too bad if this didn't sound so damn uninspired. It literally does sound like some guy tasked to write about the beach...after writing 50 other tracks about the beach.
Strange World is a breath of fresh air in terms of subject matter, but I feel like I can't fully appreciate it due to the meh production (and the fact that it's not particularly strong or memorable as a track.) The Bicycle sound is a cute callback to Pet Sounds without being too forced.
From There to Back Again almost sounds like it came from a different album. The production and vocals sound totally different--or is that just me? It's wonderfully meta and reflective, and the only one up to this point I can actually picture myself listening to ever again. By far the most inspired piece of music yet along with the opening.
Pacific Coast Highway is a nice continuation of FTTBA though not quite as good. It also sounds NEW and FRESH and INSPIRED though, not just an empty, shallow retread of past hits. It could and should have been longer.
Summer's Gone comes in like a dream. I LOVE it. This is one rare moment where the production/arrangement actually sounds purposeful rather than going through the motions. Overall, it's a great capstone to this last album. Nowhere near the heights of God Only Knows, Surf's Up or Til I Die...but as a final ballad from the big guy himself it works perfectly. This is as good of a coda to the Beach Boys music as they realistically could have hoped for. It's also one of the few truly great songs Brian has made since '88.
Overall, it's an alright album. Nothing particularly special or great, but I didn't expect that. Nothing I'd recommend to my friends, but you'd have to be a fan to appreciate it anyway. As good of a final curtain call as could be expected in the 2000s. A lot of it suffers from the same problems as Brian's solo work...just that awful, soulless, digital sound and bland arrangement. I now totally understand why everyone hates Joe Thomas.
I also think we could have done with at least one or two less beach songs. Like, I get it guys I do. It's the name of the band...this is their last album...they want to remind you of why you're a fan...but still. Besides being one too many, it's also just kinda sad in a way. These guys are 70+ years old, they've experienced all life has to offer...and you really don't have even one new original concept you'd like to explore now while you have this final chance?
Listening to Brian's solo stuff made me miss Mike--even post-Endless Summer Mike. And I'm glad he's back here even if his contributions are the weaker songs on the album. I agree with the consensus that the very beginning and very end of the album is the best. And it does surprisingly flow and mesh together well...with the exception of that disastrous transition between track one and track two. Furthermore, the titular track is the worst thing about the album. It's also the worst name they could have went with for the album. If Mike wouldn't agree to Summer's Gone, then they could've called it From There to Back Again, or Daybreak over the Ocean...something else. I usually dislike it when albums are self-titled after the band, but this is actually a case where I think that might have been a great idea.
The cover art is...awful...but it could have been a hell of a lot worse. I like the faded rainbow ocean waves, what ruins it is that tacky Beach Boys font, the way it's so big, and the way the album title's font doesn't really go with it.
I was thinking a 5...and then the last three tracks came on. Those, and just the sheer awesomeness that they all put aside their BS, came together and made this happen, convinced me to go with a (generous) 6.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 4, 2019 17:19:21 GMT -5
TWGMTR is so far removed from anything else they've done that you simply can't compare it. (At least I can't.) For what it's worth, this is my verdict of June 2012, lifted from "my" other forum, and it hasn't changed:
Bowing out gracefully. This is how I would describe That's Why God Made The Radio by the surviving Beach Boys. In response to comments made in earlier posts in this thread [of that other forum], I do feel that up-tempo tunes would have been inappropriate to what is clearly their swansong as a band. (The idea of a follow-up is patently absurd.) There are plenty of joyous songs on board but the undercurrent is one of sadness and finality: "Summer's gone / It's finally sinking in." The Beach Boys are saying goodbye. This is a CD I feel I could play at any time, in any company. There are tracks on the original albums that would throw the casual listener and I feel the compilations of hits sell the Boys short, musically. Which is why I've never played Beach Boys records when we've had visitors--until now. Recorded if not written more than forty years since the original Beach Boys peaked, it's fascinating to hear the nods to musical styles that have emerged since then. I'm reminded too of recent things by Peter Lacey, himself heavily influenced by Brian's Boys. (It's hard to say who is being paid the bigger compliment.) That's Why God Made The Radio has far surpassed my expectations. This is a band whose members had long gone their separate, often acrimonious ways. There can't be many who could pull off something as contrived as an anniversary album in such fine style.
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Post by Beach Boys Fan on Jan 4, 2019 19:13:24 GMT -5
I've giving TWGMTR a solid nine. Easily the best Beach Boys album since Holland. The album is bookended by great moments. The album opens in spectacular fashion with Think About the Days. The title track is good, and I like Isn't It Time a little more each time I hear it. The momentum is slowed a bit by tracks 4-6. Spring Vacation is OK, but still the album's weak link. And why is Jeff Baxter playing lead when they brought David Marks back? Bill and Sue and Shelter have good choruses, but not much else. The album picks up with Mike's Daybreak, and the maligned but enjoyable Beaches in Mind. Then, the album soars to another level with the final four - in particular From There to Back Again (IMO the best BB song since Til I Die). I might've rated the album a ten (yep) if there were more vocal moments like the beginning of Pacific Coast Highway. Summer's Gone provides a perfect coda for The Beach Boys recording career (at least that was Brian's intention, and it appears more likely with each passing day). This album also has a personal connection as 2012 was a great year for me personally, and the year that I saw the BB in concert and really got into them. My only regret is that I didn't buy the album immediately instead of mid August. When I did buy it, I listened to it every night for a week straight. Seven years later, it's still one of my most listened to BB albums. "Beaches In Mind" is fun.
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Post by Beach Boys Fan on Jan 4, 2019 19:18:18 GMT -5
@iluvleniloud, cool review. I didn't agree with each point but 100% agree about that famous Beach Boys font being tacky.
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Post by AGD on Jan 5, 2019 8:42:00 GMT -5
7.5-8
An album that is easily seven orders of magnitude better than it has any right to be and the near perfect coda to their recording career. The closing three song sweep is beyond criticism.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Jan 5, 2019 11:41:15 GMT -5
I'm giving TWGMTR a 9/10. That might be generous because it's certainly not perfect, but it's damn good, a pleasure to listen to all the way through. I realize it was long-awaited for many, if not most fans here, but for me, it was just the next album to listen to after I finished digesting Summer in Paradise (talk about heartburn). What a difference 20 years made, LOL. But for me, TWGMTR hits all the key Beach Boys targets. Great songs. Excellent harmonies. Strong production. And everything from fun in the sun and silliness to deep and tender emotion, and a nice dose of nostalgia, too. It's very easy for me to put aside the flaws because it does all of those things so well.
Highlights: Think About the Days, That's Why God Made the Radio, Isn't It Time, Shelter, Strange World, From There to Back Again, Pacific Coast Highway, Summer's Gone
Lowlights: Nah, forget it. I'll keep it all.
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 12, 2019 18:37:00 GMT -5
I've said a ton about this album all over and I can't imagine the world needs me to say it again. But I do want to say something about "Beaches in Mind."
I don't like it.
But in different circumstances, me not liking it would affect me less.
The song itself is fine: by Beach Boys standards, it's not even good, much less great. But more objectively, it's fine. There's a talk box... For some people (ahem, cough cough *LUTHER* cough cough) the "HEY GUYS WE'RE SINGING ABOUT BEACHES, GET IT!?" is tedious, it's heavy handed, it's ... almost unseemly. It is a lightweight, to be sure. But it is not bad.
All of this would be more forgivable except for this: That's Why God Made the Radio turned out to be--against all odds--a really solid album. A good album. That changed the context entirely. It is one thing to say "that pleasant song on that shit album is quite nice! See, they haven't entirely lost it!" It is quite another to say "that pleasant song on that otherwise interesting and really good album is ... well, it's filler."
The more I've thought about it over the years, that's my issue with "Beaches in Mind." Maybe in another seven years, I'll have a new take on it. Stay tuned.
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Post by aquarius on Mar 18, 2019 10:34:00 GMT -5
I give it a 7/10, maybe 8.
I pretty much like all of it, but there are a few weaker tracks for me (Bill and Sue, Beaches In Mind) and I wish "Daybreak" had been reserved for a Mike Love solo album. Since I think this is in some ways of a piece with No Pier Pressure, I have experimented with trying to make a "serious" album with the serious songs on both albums but I ended up thinking that Mike Love was right: it was a downer. In the end, like many Beach Boys albums it's a flawed affair but I like it a lot.
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Post by filledeplage on Mar 18, 2019 10:39:35 GMT -5
Love the first three tracks. Big LOVE. Gave it a 7.
Vocals on Think About the Days stopped my heart, BB's through-and-through.
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Mar 19, 2019 19:18:40 GMT -5
Gold medal: Think About The Days From There To Back Again Summer's Gone
Silver medal: That's Why God Made The Radio
Bronze medal: Pacific Coast Highway
Everything else ranges from listenable to pretty good.
Incredible for a post 70's BB album. Agree that the vocals are very BBs, and very 60s. I choke back tears on a few of these tracks. "Back where we belong, our favorite song...won't you listen?" The tears are often loose by the end of summer's gone.
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Post by Jason (The Real Beach Boy) on Mar 28, 2019 11:08:50 GMT -5
7.5. Miraculous that it even happened. Starts strong and ends strong despite a lull in the middle. A fine way to go out.
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philip
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Post by philip on May 30, 2020 8:42:17 GMT -5
Really like this album, very pleasant from start to finish. If the final 3 tracks are the last we'll hear of the collective Beach Boys then I'll be happy. 3 stunners and an 8 overall.
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Hydra
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Post by Hydra on Jun 13, 2020 0:17:38 GMT -5
A fantastic album by the guys, some absolute gems here. From There To Back Again is honestly one of the best Beach Boys songs to ever appear on an album, and the first time I heard That's Why God Made The Radio I cried. Beaches In Mind is the only weak track on the album. Track Ratings
1. Think About The Days 7/10 2. That's Why God Made The Radio 9/10 3. Isint It Time 7/10 4. Spring Vacation 7/10 5. The Private Life Of Bill And Sue 6/10 6. Shelter 6/10 7. Daybreak Over The Ocean 6/10 8. Beaches In Mind 4/10 9. Strange World 6/10 10. From There To Back Again 10/10 11. Pacific Coast Highway 8/10 12. Summers Gone 9/10
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Post by Awesoman on Feb 10, 2021 9:29:02 GMT -5
I went into this album with zero expectations and came out pleasantly surprised. Easily the best album they've done since the 70's and perhaps one of the best albums they've ever made overall. Even the weaker tracks aren't terrible. Yeah there's lots of fair griping to be had over Joe Thomas' usual slippery and glossy production, but it doesn't detract my enjoyment too much. Very glad they were able to "get it together" just enough to make this album happen. A much better note to end things on than either SIP or S&S.
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Post by jk on Dec 29, 2021 9:49:43 GMT -5
This review was first published in Dutch in NRC Handelsblad on Tuesday, 5 June 2012. I include all factual errors without comment.
Buoyant Beach Boys still feel nineteen
A contradiction resides at the heart of The Beach Boys' music. On the one hand, the songs can be regarded as mini-symphonies to the greater honour and glory of life and love in America. On the other, many people discern in the wondrous, bizarre and unusually orchestrated songs an inkling of unease. And they take this to their hearts, for life has more to offer than just splashing about in the waves off California.
The bitter pill was scrupulously sugared by front man Brian Wilson, but there was always a hint of discomfort to be heard between the lines, even in classics such as Good Vibrations and Wouldn't It Be Nice.
Now that The Beach Boys have made a new album some twenty years after they last worked together, there is the question of which side of Wilson and his friends - sweet or bitter - this album presents. First off there is the title, which straightaway reflects Wilson's view of things; this is, after all, the man who enriched pop music with such lines as "I guess I just wasn't made for these times" and "God only knows what I'd be without you". The new CD is called That's Why God Made The Radio, a tribute as much to the transistor radio as to the band itself. And rightly so.
The wonderfully airy title song with its languid organ and lazy drums shows why The Beach Boys, armed with Wilson's orchestrations and the vocal harmonies, are still unbeatable fifty years on. Once again, Wilson has combined many instruments into sumptuous symphonies without degenerating into bombast, and the five vocalists may be older but are scarcely less flexible technically. Their voices by turns take the lead, sing backing, melt, warble and dance like sunbeams.
The mood is buoyant: Isn't It Time is measured but lilting, Beaches In Mind upbeat and in Spring Vacation the band members clearly still feel nineteen: 'Spring vacation / good vibration / some say it wouldn't last / all we can say / still having a blast'.
But the other side - snakes in the grass, disaster around the corner - is there in equal measure. Why else would the singer offer the one he loves a safe haven from the storm in Shelter? And there is no misunderstanding the triptych that closes the album, concluding with the exquisite Summer's Gone, where the voices, supported by mysterious harp, trumpet and lonesome percussion, convey a feeling of emptiness. They sing it with majesty and sadness, and with resignation.
That's Why God Made The Radio was recorded in Los Angeles, with the same strategy as that used by The Beach Boys in the past, where Wilson is the composer and director who works out all the parts. His brothers are dead (playboy/drummer Dennis Wilson in 1983, guitarist Carl Wilson in 1998), but the current members - cousin Mike Love, guitarist Bruce Johnson, Al Jardine and David Marks - have all been Beach Boys.
Soon they will embark on an American tour. Jovial Mike Love is taking on the role of front man, much to Wilson's relief, no doubt. Wilson, who has risen above a long history of psychological problems, can withdraw behind his instruments and devote himself to crafting the distinctive Beach Boy sound: peaceful, but at a price.
HESTER CARVALHO
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Post by mistercarter2u on Oct 14, 2022 12:21:49 GMT -5
The other post says "Beach in Mind" is crapp... I totally disagree. When the album first came out, I immediatly zeroed in on that track as possibly the most commercial of the bunch. Had "Beaches In Mind" been released as the first single with an eye-catching video, it could have charted and become a hit. It is definitely more radio-friendly and commercial than either of the two singles pulled from the record.
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Post by Awesoman on Oct 14, 2022 16:22:45 GMT -5
The other post says "Beach in Mind" is crapp... I totally disagree. When the album first came out, I immediatly zeroed in on that track as possibly the most commercial of the bunch. Had "Beaches In Mind" been released as the first single with an eye-catching video, it could have charted and become a hit. It is definitely more radio-friendly and commercial than either of the two singles pulled from the record. Nah. It had potential but seemed to be half-baked in its writing. They should have worked on it a little more.
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Post by boogieboarder on Oct 14, 2022 21:54:12 GMT -5
Of all their albums, this is The Beach Boys album I’ve listened to the least. Not because I don’t like it, but because it’s the newest. It’s still too new to me to even judge how good it is. Give me another decade.
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Post by Awesoman on Oct 21, 2022 8:30:34 GMT -5
Of all their albums, this is The Beach Boys album I’ve listened to the least. Not because I don’t like it, but because it’s the newest. It’s still too new to me to even judge how good it is. Give me another decade. Yeah keep on listening to it. It's a completely solid affair as long as you don't scrutinize over the various nitpicks the fans have had over it. So glad the band ended on a high note with this one.
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