Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day By Day Vol. 2

Great call out, Mark - remember over at Smiley one of a poster’s wife Tapestry-ed up an LY cushion for him!  Lucky dog!

Ok, the bonus track for rating/discussion today is "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling".

I'll offer a 7, 6 for the track arrangement and 1 for Brian's wall of Brian vocals on the chorus.  His vocals here are a precursor to the stylings and voicings he adopted in the '80s and into his first solo LP.  I often can't reconcile the Brian of the 60s/70s to the Bionic Brian who emerged in the 80s, but there's a direct line of sight here.

There was mucho head shaking and finger waggling over the heavily reverbed inclusion/misstep on the MIC comp, and I know the original mix of the track means a lot to a lot of people - thus here's the MIC version for your listening displeasure:


 

I'm not familiar with either version so I'm not in the slightest bit displeased.

This is lovely. I can't give it ten after one listen so I'll give it nine.

10. Brian's vocal is heartfelt and, in places, his original voice shines through the gravel. Loved the description of him recording it (White's book?), singing duet with himself during the middle eight by facing the microphone from opposite directions.

Here you go, Will:

Very convincing in that court scene.  Maybe he missed his calling. 

Love this version. When I was much younger and read David Leaf's book California Myth, I somehow came away with the impression that Brian sang both harmony parts simultaneously. Which is just daft. But, hey, it didn't half build the anticipation for one day hearing this track, and I wasn't too disappointed!

Whoa - Belay that order, chums!  We'll be working our way through the unreleased Adult/Child tracks before M.I.U. Album bursts our eardrums.

First cab off the rank is the jaunty Life Is For The Living, penned by Brian and sung ably by Carl with Brian.

Look, humourous enough lyrics and a lingering embrace of the undistilled childlikeness of Love You (the album sessions were kicked off a mere 5 days after Love You was assembled, although Team Beach Boys once again plundered gear in the can from previous outings) are well displayed on one's spiritual tuxedo lapel but the music isn't really my bag and I think the upcoming slower tracks are more successful.

However, I do acknowledge that most gringos were likely reared on a troubling diet of this style of TV show music, and perhaps this is merely an extension/reflection of how the great man was spending the bulk of his time.  There is also possibly a connection to Be Here In The Morning, Darling - that song also being a stylistic wander through House Band tropes de jour.

6.

A very strong start to this, as yet, unreleased album. Maybe one day it will get an official release. I’ll give it a 10 because I quite like it.

I think I'm going to take a brief sabbatical until we get to MIU.   I'd have to listen to the tracks from Adult Child to rate them, and I really don't won't to do that again.