I like all the dumb stuff on Surf's Up. Those songs make it what it is, rather than weigh it down. As someone said upthread: "It's just as well there are relative throwaways or else the album would be superhuman, and all too much."
Really -- I think it's a perfectly sequenced record. Sure, Student Demonstration is dreck, but I always listen to it -- and it's perfectly sequenced to be skipped if you turn the record over after Disney Girls. And "Surf's Up" might my favourite ever album closer -- the last 30 seconds are so wonderful I get goosebumps just running over the song in my head.
I do like Sunflower though. I've read a lot of critics dig "This Whole World" but I always found it kind of boring. "It's About Time" is great, though! BONGO FURY.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:24 (eight years ago) link
And that weird phased "ba ba ba" at the end of Lookin At Tomorrow - so good.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:26 (eight years ago) link
'Got To Know The Woman' and 'It's About Time' are two of my personal highlights of Sunflower - 'Take A Load...' is shite.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Friday, 7 August 2015 13:33 (eight years ago) link
"It's just as well there are relative throwaways or else the album would be superhuman, and all too much."
though if everything were as strong as the last three tracks we'd have something to rival pet sounds. i nearly love surf's up as it is, but...
@doglatin "slip on through" a capella is on a recent box set (past few years?) and youtube, i'd bet. same release as the full version of "meant for you" :' )
@chuck i think "lookin at tomorrow" is pretty good, and the weird phase is indeed neat, though that song's another example of why sunflower's a more cohesive album than surf's up. the shift in production values for that one song is really jarring...
― soyrev, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:33 (eight years ago) link
not one single mention of "All I Wanna Do" on this thread, you're all crazy
― geoffreyess, Thursday, August 6, 2015 3:54 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
No kidding! There are times when I think this might be my favorite BB song.
― Off Pudding (Old Lunch), Friday, 7 August 2015 13:35 (eight years ago) link
@turrican "take a load" is dumb as hell, and i love that about it...but it's a friends song they threw on surf's up for no good reason. the more i think about it the idea of this album being cohesive seems a bit nutty – esp in a discography that also includes such clear and focused sets as pet sounds, friends, wild honey, and i guess more controversially, sunflower.
― soyrev, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:37 (eight years ago) link
(x-post)
So good. Every one of Gerard Love's songs feels like a rewrite of it!
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:37 (eight years ago) link
Seems cohesive to me! I must have listened to it every day as a 16-17-year-old -- I can't imagine the songs any other place.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:40 (eight years ago) link
"all i wanna do" is indeed about as good as it gets, and mike's never sang better. it's been said many times elsewhere but it really is wild that the beach boys, of all people, predicted shoegaze, dream pop, even chillwave – all in one song
― soyrev, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:41 (eight years ago) link
The guitar riff in 'All I Wanna Do' could almost be a Robert Smith 6-string bass lick circa Faith.
― You’re being too simplistic and you’re insulting my poor heart (Turrican), Friday, 7 August 2015 13:47 (eight years ago) link
Wrong thread, I guess, but I think "It's About Time" still holds up as a great BB song.
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:54 (eight years ago) link
Whoops, I meant "Isn't it Time"
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, 7 August 2015 13:55 (eight years ago) link
And that weird phased "ba ba ba" at the end of Lookin At Tomorrow - so good.― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, August 7, 2015 2:26 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
― Chuck_Tatum, Friday, August 7, 2015 2:26 PM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yes! I love that bit!
― 9 days from now a.k.a next weekend. (dog latin), Friday, 7 August 2015 13:58 (eight years ago) link
Song does nothing for me tbh, belongs on an Al Jardine solo album, if you could imagine such an unlikely thing.
― The Tony Hart Land (Tom D.), Friday, 7 August 2015 14:07 (eight years ago) link
Slip on Through reminds me of Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' for some reason. Can't say why.
― 9 days from now a.k.a next weekend. (dog latin), Friday, 7 August 2015 14:08 (eight years ago) link
Lookin At Tomorrow is cool and haunting. it's the 'duck's eye' of that album. doomy, spooky country. i imagine it being sung by the native american on the cover.
― 9 days from now a.k.a next weekend. (dog latin), Friday, 7 August 2015 14:11 (eight years ago) link
This Whole World is amazing in that it's Brian's first lead vocal and full on production since being in bed, which makes it completely joyous and beautiful, not to mention the OOM BA DI DI breakdown.
Did you guys know Bauhaus totally ripped off Lookin At Tomorrow?
Listen:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nHBWfmMAIY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQ2xPTf8jEk
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Friday, 7 August 2015 16:04 (eight years ago) link
This shoulda been a poll
I prefer Surf's Up, and the argument for why has been made repeatedly and eloquently upthread
I love Sunflower too but as someone said upthread it's way more of a bundle of awesome tracks. Surf's Up is nearly perfect (and I know it's a terrible song but I don't really ever skip "Student Demonstration Time" - I think I like the vocal performance)
― Wimmels, Friday, 7 August 2015 16:11 (eight years ago) link
― Off Pudding (Old Lunch), Friday, August 7, 2015 8:35 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Mine too, easily.
― geoffreyess, Saturday, 8 August 2015 01:20 (eight years ago) link
― soyrev, Friday, August 7, 2015 8:41 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Yes.
― Naive Teen Idol, Saturday, 8 August 2015 02:33 (eight years ago) link
surf's up has higher peaks, but suffers badly from denny pulling his tunes from the record. surf's up with denny's tunes on it would definitely beat sunflower, where dennis's tunes are some of the highlights.
― rushomancy, Saturday, 8 August 2015 11:25 (eight years ago) link
agreed. real shame about that – dennis' songs should have definitely been on the record (replacing "student" and "feet" and reconfiguring the sequence would have solved all problems), though to an extent i also understand carl's conviction that "surf's up" should be the closer. i guess it could have worked well as an opener, too, though – "don't go near the water" is a bit confusing in that position.
― soyrev, Saturday, 8 August 2015 12:30 (eight years ago) link
holy crap:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfghY2KK3s
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Monday, 31 August 2015 21:33 (eight years ago) link
1983!
― Οὖτις, Monday, 31 August 2015 21:44 (eight years ago) link
Stephen Desper's "study videos" are p amazing. He's the recording genius that engineered/recorded and produced Sunflower/Surfs Up. There's a melody Brian sang during Cool Cool Water sessions that just gives me chills. Unfortunately Carl demanded that it was buried in the mix wtf.
https://vimeo.com/47129488PW: Original Intention
― chaki (kurt schwitterz), Thursday, 15 October 2015 19:47 (eight years ago) link
This is fucking amazing.
― Naive Teen Idol, Friday, 16 October 2015 02:48 (eight years ago) link