ts: Sunflower or Surf's Up

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.

@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.

(x-post)

So good. Every one of Gerard Love's songs feels like a rewrite of it!

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.

"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

The guitar riff in 'All I Wanna Do' could almost be a Robert Smith 6-string bass lick circa Faith.

Wrong thread, I guess, but I think "It's About Time" still holds up as a great BB song.

Whoops, I meant "Isn't it Time"

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

Yes! I love that bit!

Song does nothing for me tbh, belongs on an Al Jardine solo album, if you could imagine such an unlikely thing.

Slip on Through reminds me of Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' for some reason. Can't say why.

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.

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

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)

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, August 7, 2015 8:35 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Mine too, easily.

"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, August 7, 2015 8:41 AM (11 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Yes.

Slip on Through reminds me of Peter Gabriel's 'Sledgehammer' for some reason. Can't say why.

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.

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.

holy crap:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upfghY2KK3s

1983!

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/47129488
PW: Original Intention

This is fucking amazing.