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Post by Rick Bartlett on Oct 14, 2021 1:04:35 GMT -5
This album finally made it's way to the digital medium this year in 2021 on streaming platforms, which was good to finally see. The album, while not mind blowing, is quite listenable and has some likeable tracks on it.
I've just been informed however, it how now been 'removed' from all streaming!! It does make one wonder, why? That was a short lived stay for 'LBWL'.
Does Mike have 'plans' to do more with his original album or did he not want it made available all of a sudden? Funny stuff this streaming media, 'they giveth, and they taketh' at any time with zero warning. I'm glad I'm a hard copy kind of guy, but I regret not nabbing the digital version of the album now it's gone..... It may have even been remastered, it sounded pretty good, but I wont lose any sleep over it.
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Post by E on Oct 14, 2021 10:59:34 GMT -5
Glad I got it when I did.
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Post by lonesurf on Jan 19, 2022 10:41:28 GMT -5
I have to admit that my thoughts on Looking Back With Love have always colored by when it was released. Coming on the heels of what I saw to be a very lackluster band effort, Keepin’ The Summer Alive, as well as Carl’s (extremely) humdrum first solo album, LBWL was devastating to this teenage Beach Boys fan.
Where Carl’s album was pretty much anonymous & forgettable west coast dreck, Mike seemed to be going out of his way to present an annoying caricature of himself, replete with the worst first single I could imagine: the turgid title track. I will always remember hearing this trite take on recent history for the first time: nasal Mike, backed with poor backing vocals, singing a vapid (and occasionally, offensive) lyric: “Good Vibrations, assassinations”. Wow. And Mike (a guy who prides himself on lyrics) didn’t even write it! It was heartbreaking. In fact, Mike only ended up with one writing credit on the whole album! Why???
Much of the rest of the album was no better. Just karaoke retreads of predictable oldies, all with those blah backing vocals. And it turned out that Looking Back With Love wasn’t the worst lyric on the disc. At least Rocking The Man In The Boat was so horrendously off-color & tone-deaf that it made me laugh. It is truly the aural equivalent of Wiseau’s The Room.
But, for a hopeless fan, it wasn’t all unlistenable: I did like Mike’s (relatively) inspired take on ABBA’s On & On & On. And the closing track, Paradise Found (which Mike did co-write), is a decent Doobie Brothers nod for the time.
Still, wow. What a stinker. Especially for a young Beach Boys fan desperately trying to defend his band.
At least Ten Years Of Harmony, released six weeks later, reminded me of just how good this band could be. But, for a guy who was used to getting annual Beach Boy releases, it would be a long wait before I would get something truly listenable from the band again.
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Post by boogieboarder on Jan 20, 2022 0:14:42 GMT -5
It’s possible that Mike Love’s solo albums could be used as evidence that Mike’s actual songwriting contributions to The Beach Boys songs he claimed were co-written by himself and Brian Wilson have been exaggerated.
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Post by E on Jan 20, 2022 7:39:21 GMT -5
Not an album I care for and I think a lot of that has to do with the whiny vocal he adopted sometime in the mid 70s. Still, I'd love to get a clean copy of his first solo album. There are some good songs on that.
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barnsy
Kahuna
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Post by barnsy on Jan 20, 2022 17:53:13 GMT -5
I'll keep On and On and On, Teach Me Tonight and Paradise Found but the rest can be deposited at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.
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Post by AGD on Jan 21, 2022 2:48:08 GMT -5
No love for "Be My Baby", which features Brian on keyboards and bvs (he also produced the basic track back in 1980) ?
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Post by lonesurf on Jan 21, 2022 14:27:15 GMT -5
No love for "Be My Baby", which features Brian on keyboards and bvs (he also produced the basic track back in 1980) ? I think Be My Baby suffers for a couple of reasons. First, I agree with Ed’s statement regarding the album’s plethora of whiny Mike vocals. Mike is a great singer, when properly produced. For much of this album, he is allowed to be at his nasal whiniest. This was (very unfortunately) his default mode when trying to sound “young”. Sure, the basis of the track includes support from Brian, but that is pretty much buried by the unpleasant lead vocal. And the overall glossy album production does nothing to help present this version of Be My Baby in a good light. This leads to another problem, listener fatigue. Quite frankly, my dismissal of this version of Be My Baby is very probably tied to the similar tinny Mike vocals on the dreadful tracks that come before it, including the ridiculous Rocking The Man & Calendar Girl (an unimaginative choice of oldie & a song that I’ve always loathed). All in all, it makes Be My Baby seem like just another lightweight track on an album by an out-of-touch singer, who is definitely not being presented in the best light by his production team. Maybe I should try to listen to the track in a different context. It might make me appreciate it more. Thanks. |
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barnsy
Kahuna
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Likes: 299
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Post by barnsy on Jan 22, 2022 9:59:44 GMT -5
No love for "Be My Baby", which features Brian on keyboards and bvs (he also produced the basic track back in 1980) ? What lonesurf said above, and the drum track is really annoying. |
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Post by Awesoman on Jan 24, 2022 8:41:16 GMT -5
Years ago I found this in a record shop still sealed for $1. I've never opened it. Thus concludes my review of said album.
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Post by Will/P.P. on Jan 27, 2022 18:26:09 GMT -5
Well, I'll say I liked it when it came out more, enjoying over half the tracks - including the title track.
Played it often all through the '80s. I still like about half the tracks; some have even grown on me
more over the years. I thought it a bit strange Mike decided to do covers but they are good covers.
His voice still sounded great to me, mostly. Glad he didn't put "Imagine" on the record. Hearing it
live was not a good experience, but that was after this record had been out for a while. He was so
much better at doing the Stones live. Should have convinced his team that was the better direction
to go in.
"On and On and On" is a great and heartfelt tribute to ABBA. And I, for one, love "Rockin' the Man
In the Boat"! "Looking Back With Love" is a song, despite the lyrics, effective in its mood. A very
musically catchy track. It grooves.
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