The Beach Boys' Wild Honey

It must have shocked a lot of Beach Boys fans who heard it at the time, it's a lot rougher than anything they had released up to that time though after Smiley Smile I guess they must have been prepared for anything.

"Darlin'" sounds like it could easily be from 1972

Or 1964. Love this album too.

Exactly! And it's not meant to denigrate what went before. Chuck Eddy once said, bless 'im, that the folks obsessing over this period were somehow ignoring or putting down the earlier work, which he much prefers because it was more danceable. (And that's a fine reason to choose!) But I really think a part of it was familiarity breeding contempt -- those first years have been 'the Beach Boys' so long in my memory that I had heard them and heard them and heard them again. The fully scrubbed up and buffed up reissues of recent years of the period talked about above were just simply much more fresh to me and had their own joys.

I always thought "Darlin'" sounded like Chicago, circa "Saturday in the Park"!

This is perfectly normal - I rate it as the cream of the Beach Boys' periods (not discoutning earlier works). And I agree that Smiley Smile/Wild Honey is definitely the best two-fer. I won't be the first to say it but much as there is technical/musical audacity on Pet Sounds, it is a very serious album. There are very few crazy bits which is what I like best about the post-PS period.

I can't say I ever really got into 20/20 - it seemed like a real cut off point for them as if they were going to just quit after that, but no they bounced back with Sunflower and all was good.

What I always find hard to grasp is how quickly the Boys went from being an all-new innovative act during Pet Sounds in 1965, but by 1969 they were considered an oldies act with tracks like "Do It Again" preaching to the nostalgia of only about 5 years before.

When Jack Rieley managed the band he tried to change this with at least some success hence the more politically and environmentally aware lyrics of Surf's Up where he tried to reposition the band more towards whatever of the counter culture existed then. The Beach Boys had mostly blown this by this point, not playing Monterey being one factor and I'm not sure how aware people were about Carl refusing the draft.

Don't forget that "15 Big Ones" is a pile of steaming dog doo however.

xxxxx post
never thought of that, what a great kids LP. "Honkin' down the goshdarn highway...one little step at a time"

I should also say that I remember being really impressed by how "soulful" the Beach Boys could be when I first heard this album.

Wild Honey: Carl
Aren't You Glad: Mike/Carl
I Was Made To Love Her: Carl
Country Air: Group
A Thing Or Two: Hmm...Brian?/Carl
Darlin': Carl
I'd Love Just Once: Brian
Here Comes The Night: Carl/Brian
Let The Wind Blow: Mike (& Brian?)
How She Boogalooed It: Al (?)
Mama Says: Group

Very odd record. wasn't it released -like- eight weeks after Smiley Smile? I love the way they use contemporaneous catchphrases ("Sock it to me", "Doggone outtasight" etc). It's a Beach Boys record; of course it's great!

xxxxpost "Gosh darn highway"!!!!!! Oh *yes*!!!

But yes, my first impressions of BB albums have rarely been right. So I'm glad this thread has at least talked me into giving this a go. I'll just have to give it a few more.

Friends has Carl's greatest recorded vocal performance on "Trader" (up there with "Surf's Up" at any rate). Brian's bonus EP about the magic transistor radio also has to be believed to be heard.

But side two of So Tough must rank as the most sheerly transcendental stuff the Beach Boys ever did. Those two Dennis Wilson ballads in particular - "Make It Good" and especially "Cuddle Me" - are beyond moving. "I know a man who's so in love - mmm-mmm-mmm" and the way he wrings those simple words out of his devastated throat would make any listener crumble into awe.

(Your favorite album ever is Still Cruisin'.)

re: Smiley Smile. I listened to this last night too and after all the recent hubbub about Smile etc I'm ready to say that this is a masterpiece in it's own right. Smile makes me think of vast canyons and creeks - it still has that summery Beach Boys vibe, but there's something understated and twilight about Smiley Smile - a side of Wilson that hadn't ever been explored.
I think if Good Vibrations had been left off this album it would be so much better. Sadly the song eclipses everything else on the record and so it feels like a great single that has been surrounded by filler - not so. The Smiley Smile version of "Wonderful" is haunting - it sounds like Brian discovered a musical box in an attic somewhere. Wind Chimes as well - almost sinister at times. Even little tracks like "With Me Tonight" have a certain vibe about them.

Which seems to me the main reason so many Beach Boy Buffs go on about it. Not that it isn't good, just not great.

I love "Diamond Head" - total psychedelic bliss. It sounds like Black Dice!!

'Do It Again', 'I Can Hear Music', 'Cabinessence', 'The Nearest Faraway Place', 'I Went to Sleep' and especially 'Time To Get Alone'. Why doesn't this album get the love it deserves? Wild Honey can fuck off, actually.

Personally, I've been listening a lot to "The Night was so Young" off of 'BB Love You'. I never really listened to disc 4 of the Good Vibrations set, but put in in out of boredom and was blown a way by this track. The melody and harmony vocals on the chorus knocked me out. Totally classic. "Marcella" off of 'Carl and the Passion' is quite good as well.

Someone else must have thought so because my CD is a double CD featuring both albums. The Smiley Smile artwork is on the front and the Wild Honey artwork is on the back... so, I guess the record company thought Smiley Smile was better.

Hey, don't forget "Little Bird" on 'Friends'! Along with the title track I think it's the album's most realized song in terms of composition, production, etc.

yeah, "Little Bird" is so great. It's amazing what they could do with 2 minutes. The last 20 seconds after it changes key ... it feels like levitation.

I completely forgot "Be Here In The Morning" - that falsetto is fab!

I like the title track of Friends although it ends a bit apathetically.

You sure about that?

"...the genuinely spooky "Never Learn Not To Love," Dennis' slightly rewritten cover of "Cease To Exist" by his soon-to-be-infamous buddy Charles Manson, is the most notorious." — Release Notes

"A Thing or Two" is an underrated one- reminds me a lot of something from 'Ram.'

I may be the lone dissenter on "15 Big Ones." It's really grown on me since I bought the twofer with it and "Love You." I have this strange affection for "Susie Cincinnati" and "Tried to Phone Ya."

I heard a great cover of 'I was made to love her' on the radio before a show at the jazz club.. anyone know who did this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Was_Made_to_Love_Her_(song)
it's a stevie wonder song, I was way off

Let The Wind Blow haunts me daily

Not enough love for "Mama Says" on this thread. Total goosebump-inducing stuff, goofy lyric, love love love it. One of the all-time closing tracks. I should really pick up that Smiley Smile/Wild Honey twofer.

when I was a kid I thought "I was made to lover her" was about him being forced to love her, rather than him being specifically created in order to love her.

and I couldn't understand why he was so happy about it.

x-post

You should. There's an early version of "Good Vibrations" on there that's more of an ecstatic, blue-eyed soul thing. It's awesome.

haha, that gv was pre-mike love tweaks

"Mama Says" was the first official release of the "eat a lot, sleep a lot" motif from the Smile sessions.

yeah the twofer has a lot of great bonus stuff on it - since the GV version with the jews' harp has already been mentioned I will rep for the brilliant "let's see how many different ways we can do this one refrain" excercise that is "Can't Wait Too Long"

I like the title track of Friends although it ends a bit apathetically

This statement is applicable to much of the Beach Boys' output.

"This is the way i always dreamed it would be"

The beginning of I Can Hear Music seems - for today - to be the secret of the Beach Boys in one line.....

Revive!

Halfway through first-ever listen, THIS ALBUM IS SO FUCKING AMAZING.

And it doesn't sound anything like the Beach Boys. Very R&B.

Heh. "I'd love just once to see you... IN THE NUDE!?!?!?"

yay for this record and that song.

Quote from way upthread:

I hear a good bit of terror here too, in "Here Comes the Night" and "Let the Wind Blow," they sound like they know this is IT and they're already trying to distance themselves from all the horrible things that are getting ready to happen.

This is OTM, and to me there's something kind of scary about "Darlin'." It's a peppy song, but somehow it also feels like there's tragedy lurking underneath the horns.

"I'd Love Just Once To See You" is ultimate crushtape material. If they can take the joke, they're a keeper.

Terror

Apparently the Mike Love Travellin Beach Boys Show still occasionally does Darlin in their sets. kinda weird. Great song. Brian re-used the changes/lyrics/melodies to that one several times.

Where? I feel like I remember this but I just checked all the songs on Pet Projects and it's none of those.

Dan, it was one of the Three Dog Night songs Brian wrote for Danny Hutton.

oh yeah. I still don't know why I know that but don't seem to have it on my computer!

Though the story of that was that the whole thing was done w/ Hutton and the other bb's were like "no way, we're using that" and wiped his vocals, right? There's a song that uses the same melody but with different lyrics, right? Maybe I'm just thinking of American Spring's "Fallin' In Love" and Dennis Wilson's "Lady".

This is the one 60s Beach Boys album I don't like much at all. I mean, I prefer even the debut ahead of this one, I believe.

It's not their worst, that would be some of their 80s shit, but it comes very close, and at least is the worst thing that Brian Wilson has ever been associated with. Horrible.

"Darlin'" sounds like it could easily be from 1972
Well, apart from it being mono!!!!!!!!!!

"Seasons In The Sun" is from 1974 and mono only. :)

Geir in horribly-misguided shockah.

Seriously, you can say that this thing is "underproduced" (whatever that means), but you can't deny tunes like "Country Air," "I'd Love Just Once To See You," "Here Comes the Night," or really just about any other, Geir. You just can't. Put down your grumpy ideas about how a record is "supposed" to sound for two seconds and listen to the tunes, dude.

Hey, what R&B acts in particular does Wild Honey remind you of? I like it, but I've always felt like I missed this R&B connection everyone talks about.

The Spencer Davis Group, The Lovin' Spoonful, The Young Rascals, early pre-"Satisfaction" Stones

...Ya know, white guys.

One thing Re:"Darlin'" that I never noticed until I heard the backing track by itself (on Stack-O-Tracks) is how much it sounds like an instumental from Booker T & The MGS or Young-Holt Unlimited.

instrumental that is

Seriously, you can say that this thing is "underproduced" (whatever that means), but you can't deny tunes like "Country Air," "I'd Love Just Once To See You," "Here Comes the Night," or really just about any other, Geir.

I might have revalued somewhat if they had bothered to remix it in stereo, as that would add some more detail to the sound. But generally there's way too little of those beautiful vocal harmonies that they were so good at. This album is and remains horrible, and it doesn't sound like The Beach Boys at all. There was only one musical genius in The Beach Boys, and he is hardly present on this album at all.

Sure sounds like the Beach Boys to me, but then again I guess I don't know what exactly they're supposed to "sound" like.
No one will ever convince you that mono mixes are often preferable and — gasp — that they can even reveal details not present in the stereo version. So for you, a stereo mix of Wild Honey/Smiley Smile:
http://bootlegz.blogspot.com/2008/08/smiley-smile-wild-honey-stereo.html
Psst: It sounds like shit.

>>Apparently the Mike Love Travellin Beach Boys Show still occasionally does Darlin in their sets. kinda weird. Great song. Brian re-used the changes/lyrics/melodies to that one several times.

>>Where? I feel like I remember this but I just checked all the songs on Pet Projects and it's none of those.

It's "Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby", relesed in 1964 by Sharon Marie, then re-recorded by American Spring in 1971.
The Beach Boys version is actually based on a backing track recorded for Redwood (pre-Three Dog Night), but their version has yet to emerge from the vaults. If it's as good as Redwood's take of "Time To Get Alone" it would take some beating.

As for Wild Honey...aww come on. While acknowleding its greatness, you can't deny that record sounds woolly. Think how much better it would sound with a bright shimmering (motown-esque) production & more group harmonies.

"released", obv...

It's "Thinkin' 'Bout You Baby", relesed in 1964 by Sharon Marie, then re-recorded by American Spring in 1971.

Yep - that's what I was thinking of

Wild Honey is great, but it is what it is, a quick crank-it-out cool-out bandaid to the whole Smile and Smiley Smile PR trainwreck. The album is only 24 minutes long.

That is nuts that it is only 24 minutes -- how did they get away with that? Did they charge the same amount as other albums when it came out? I guess Friends is under a half hour too.

There should be more albums that are 24 minutes long, IMO.

there's always thrash

"Friends" was around the same length and much better.

funny this thread was started in mid-february, that was the month i first heard it years ago. now it's february and again i am thinking of this album. it's got a real february vibe. the production is organic but very claustrophobic, like carl & the boys have been in the basement studio all winter, recording this cozy li'l album and now they're done and get a breath of that country air! the first stirrings of spring...

anyway, this is a great album. right up there with "Smiley Smile" in my list of favorites. am i remembering correctly that these albums were recorded in the studio in brian's basement? i always thought these albums were so good-natured and humorous because they were trying to entice brian to come downstairs and join him. he'd never come down if he heard some heavy emotional stuff being laid down, so it was all laughter and feel-good soul. inside jokes and crazy doo-wop harmonies.

"join THEM", rather

I still see these as, well, not the worst Beach Boys albums, but certainly the worst before the mid 70s. Or, OK. "Smiley Smiles" has a couple of brilliant singles that alone secure it being not among the worst (and other tracks would be glorious on the 2004 "Smile" when properly produced), but the rest still sounds like the bunch of unfinished demos it, after all, was, and that is just not sufficient.

One of the most charming aspects of Wild Honey is that it's not trying to be a masterpiece: it's just a collection of sweet love songs, with simple arrangements (although Brian's piano voicings are actually quite complex) and some surprisingly strident lead vocals from Carl. Also love their cute concession to hippy free love: "I'd love just once to see you in the nude!"

phenomenal album

The band sound liberated, as if they're making a fresh start but not worrying too much about where it'll take them. Carl's version of I Was Made To Love Her is almost as good as Stevie's. That, along with the title track, are the sound of a great singer having fun with his voice. He's not trying to be the pure angelic boy who sung God Only Knows, he's a young guy cutting loose, getting a little raunchy even. The joy in his voice is palpable.
And Let The Wind Blow is one of Brian's greatest songs. The modulation up to "But don't let her out of my life" is just devastating. Gets me every time.

How the heck could people not like "Transcendental Meditation"?? Probably my 4th or 5th fave track on the alb. Christ what a bunch of squares ILM proves itself to be, time and time again. Smoke one joint. for crying out loud.
― Stormy Davis (diamond), Friday, 25 February 2005 10:35 (6 years ago)

New post at Then Play Long: http://nobilliards.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/the-beach-boys-very-best-of-vols-1-2.html Includes some songs from Wild Honey, one of the two albums of theirs I grew up knowing by heart!

It is that time of a year to dig this one out.

I like the vibe of this album, but there's no way this is better than "Pet Sounds."

http://youtu.be/BxmUsk5IAGE?t=3m5s

Crazy live version of "Wild Honey".

Blondie Chapman looks possessed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhlQ27fbQ30

love Wild Honey, though since I initially bought/heard it as part of the twofer with Smiley Smile, it's hard for me to think of it as a separate record. 1967 Beach Boys always made tons of sense to me.

nice find Adam! love that period, such a weird band - Blondie, Daryl Dragon, Ricky doin most of the work, Brian and Dennis awol etc

xp me too, and they're not even similar sounding records, but they represent a good weird/not weird dichotomy

Wild Honey and Friends belong together in a two-fer more than Smiley Smile and Wild Honey. Are Wild Honey and Friends mostly devoid of wrecking crew/session players? Had to be interesting for the band since they were almost completely phased out in the studio prior to this.

completely spaced out too if Smiley Smile is anything to go by

XP Friends has a fair amount of session players. Iirc, Brian is the only BB on "Busy Doin' Nothin'".

^^^

nice find on that youtube!

love both "friends" and "wild honey" so much

i know this is old news, but does mike love ever /not/ seem like a creepy molester uncle trying hard to look hip?

Nope:

http://i.imgur.com/Wm1LFgA.jpg

creepy molester uncle was actually Dennis but yeah he always looks like that

is resting molester face the male equivalent of resting bitch face? b/c mike love has it.

lol

resting lechface

i almost feel bad for mike love. but i think mike love has a handle on that.

I like Wild Honey a lot, just not as much as I like Pet Sounds, Sunflower and Surf's Up.

here's a soundboard of that blondie/wild honey performance. so crazy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgUySYOh7G4

Holy cow. That's awesome. If they'd sounded like that on this album (or...any album? or am I missing out on a major wrinkle in their discography?) their whole career/critical arc might be different.

i don't dig blondie's singing -- he sounds a little like kermit the frog with a mouth full of gravel

I agree. His delivery is impressive but his voice isn't.

@chamillionaire the closest we get is carl & the passions/so tough, though speaking of career arc, this new approach to their live sound helped effect the major career renaissance they enjoyed c. '73/'74. catering to all that early '60s nostalgia and delivering their hits with a more muscular, modern band dynamic made them a hotter ticket than ever, despite not having any major hits in years.

but even for its time, this take is insane. don't remember ever hearing the beach boys cook like that. does anyone have the rest of the soundboard? hehe

So pumped for this:

http://ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2017/05/BeachBoys.jpg?w=630&h=420&zc=1&s=0&a=t&q=89

The Beach Boys, ‘1967 — Sunshine Tomorrow’ Track Listing
Disc One
Wild Honey (stereo mix)
“Wild Honey”
“Aren’t You Glad”
“I Was Made to Love Her”
“Country Air”
“A Thing or Two”
“Darlin'”
“I’d Love Just Once to See You”
“Here Comes the Night”
“Let the Wind Blow”
“How She Boogalooed It”
“Mama Says” (original mono mix)
Wild Honey Sessions: September – November 1967 (previously unreleased)
“Lonely Days (Alternate Version)”
“Cool Cool Water” (Alternate Early Version)
“Time to Get Alone” (Alternate Early Version)
“Can’t Wait Too Long” (Alternate Early Version)
“I’d Love Just Once to See You” (Alternate Version)
“I Was Made to Love Her (Vocal Insert Session) (1:35)
“I Was Made To Love Her” (Long Version)
“Hide Go Seek”
“Honey Get Home”
“Wild Honey” (Session Highlights)
“Aren’t You Glad” (Session Highlights)
“A Thing or Two” (Track And Backing Vocals)
“Darlin'” (Session Highlights)
“Let the Wind Blow” (Session Highlights)
Wild Honey Live: 1967 – 1970 (Previously Unreleased)
“Wild Honey”- recorded in Detroit, November 17, 1967
“Country Air” – recorded in Detroit, November 17, 1967
“28. Darlin'” – recorded in Pittsburgh, November 22, 1967
“How She Boogalooed It” – recorded in Detroit, November 17, 1967
“Aren’t You Glad” – recorded in 1970, location unknown
“Mama Says” (Session Highlights)
Disc Two
Smiley Smile Sessions: June – July 1967 (Previously Unreleased)
“Heroes and Villains” (Single Version Backing Track)
“Vegetables” (Long Version)
“Fall Breaks and Back to Winter” (Alternate Mix)
“Wind Chimes” (Alternate Tag Section)
“Wonderful” (Backing Track)
“With Me Tonight” (Alternate Version With Session Intro)
“Little Pad” (Backing Track)
“All Day All Night (Whistle In)” (Alternate Version 1)
“All Day All Night (Whistle In)” (Alternate Version 2)
“Untitled (Redwood)”
Lei’d In Hawaii “Live” Album: September 1967
Fred Vail Intro
“The Letter”
“You’re So Good to Me”
“Help Me, Rhonda”
“California Girls”
“Surfer Girl”
“Sloop John B”
“With a Little Help from My Friends (recorded at Brian Wilson’s house)
“Their Hearts Were Full of Spring” (rehearsal recording)
“God Only Knows”
“Good Vibrations”
“Game Of Love”
“The Letter” (Alternate Take)
“With a Little Help from My Friends” (Stereo Mix)
Live In Hawaii: August 1967 (Previously Unreleased)
“Hawthorne Boulevard”
“Surfin'”
“Gettin’ Hungry”
“Hawaii” (Rehearsal Take)
“Heroes and Villains” (Rehearsal)\
Thanksgiving Tour 1967: Live In Washington, D.C. & Boston (Previously Unreleased)
“California Girls” – recorded in Washington, DC, November 19, 1967
“Graduation Day” – recorded in Washington, DC, November 19, 1967
“I Get Around” – recorded in Boston, November 23, 1967
Additional 1967 Studio Recordings (Previously Unreleased)
“Surf’s Up” (1967 Version)
“Surfer Girl” (1967 A Capella Mix)

Read More: Beach Boys Revisit 'Wild Honey' Era With 'Sunshine Tomorrow' Set | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/beach-boys-sunshine-tomorrow/?trackback=tsmclip

That's a lot of tracks!

Lai'd in Hawaii finally getting some official shine

yeah will be nice to hear cleaned up versions of a lot of this stuff, a bunch of which I already have but there are some things in here (as usual) I was previously unaware of. their vaults are so deep

Sweet sweet honey bee
Eat up eat up eat up honey

This record has always been underrated, IMO.

Carl Wilson on top fucking form throughout, totally rocking it.

it's a beautiful little record, and unique in their catalog in terms of the material and arrangements, so stripped back and rough. but the ingenuity and humor are all still there - I learned how to play Country Air on the piano awhile ago and the chord changes and melodic turnarounds in that are v clever.

I think the only songs I've never heard at all here are:
“Hide Go Seek”
“Honey Get Home”
“Untitled (Redwood)”
“Hawthorne Boulevard”

Although given how mutable their various takes and versions could be I wouldn't be surprised if some of those alternate takes are gems.

(and before some musicologist steps in re: Country Air when I say "v clever" I mean "something I would never think of")

THe singing on Wild HOney is inexcusable

you're inexcusable

^^^^^

That bassline spiraling upwards on "Let the Wind Blow" is definitely clever.

THe singing on Wild HOney is inexcusable

wth

'Let the Wind Blow' is a gorgeous piece of music, also the version of 'Here Comes The Night' on here is far preferable to the later one they did and that final line on 'I'd Love Just Once To See You' still makes me chuckle, even though I'm obviously not surprised by it as I was when I heard it for the first time.

Oh yeah, and 'Aren't You Glad' is just perfect. Couldn't/wouldn't change a thing about that one.

DO IT RIGHT BABY
OUTTASITE BABY

one of my favorite records ever, even if mentally/emotionally hard to separate from Smiley Smile (as I first had it as a 2fer). Hope this set does well, would totally buy similar sets from the Friends & 20/20 era

it sounds like he is being electrocuted

that's called soul, my man.

Could totally imagine a Friends/20/20 box set...

'All I Want To Do - Outro (Take 1) - 0:45'

lol

idk if its possible to make a deeper Beach Boys nerd joke than that

Turrican OTM

haha just got it

Sunshine Tomorrow, tomorrow!

Oh man the stereo mix of Wild Honey is outta sight! I know you're going to dig it. It's so clear, people. Like they're here in my living room. Far out!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ahahaha the Mama Says "poof" session is amaaaaaazing

this reissue is heaven

It's better than expected. Wild Honey has always been my favorite BB record. The stereo mix makes a big difference, and I usually don't notice those type of things.

sure as hell hope we are going to get similar sets from the subsequent years, can hardly wait if so

Likely. Keep in mind that, as Stephen Thomas Erlewine and I were talking about on FB, this is almost certainly a more formalized version of the copyright extension issue playing out:

The copyright extension release thread (w/r/t EU copyright law)

We're seeing a shift from the digital-only packages the band had already released to this kind of approach as the 50-year deadline grinds on, and we move (retrospectively) into the album era in particular. Consider the expanded Party!, the Pet Sounds box, the previously released Smile box and now this as a stand-in for the yearly sets. So that being said, new sets covering the subsequent years are almost a certainty.

this mix is indeed incredible

listening now. tbh this album feels a little underwhelming. i owned a beat up vinyl copy for years and that is the main way i am acquainted w this record. the roughness of the sound made sense maybe made it feel cooler than it was.

im really looking forward to hearing the sessions and live materiel though. Beach Boys really shot themselves in the foot by releasing their most conventional stuff. well for an album w a title track that has a noise rock theremin lead during the chorus. which IS weird and cool mind you but they did just do Good Vibrations which also had a theremin so maybe even that was a safe pick...

feels a little underwhelming

i meant song wise here. the arrangements are cool and the soul thing is good but its a littly jukeboxy.

Crazy talk.

there are a lot of piano-bass-drums tracks. kick and snare, no cymbals, no hats. it's all a bit muddy. the Beatles did the boogie woogie piano thing on one song, "Lady Madonna", and moved on. this is like a dozen of those.

Nice try.

the fake live stuff is so weak. it really sounds like they went into a studio, got high, and then ran through some numbers. the drummer is barely hitting his drums. every song is too slow. again it sounds like they are high and doing this half assed thing.

Took it too far that time.

Yeah that's nuts the super mellow rehearsal vibez are great

This album rules

Country Air slays me

Holy shit, Adam totally not OTM.

have only listened to the extras so far, hitting Wild Honey itself when I can do a proper listening party at my (little) pad next weekend. however, first thing that strikes me is the tracks sound BIG. obviously a lot of work done remixing and beefing up the sound.

fwiw, Wild Honey is one of my absolutely favorite records by the beach boys (or anyone really) -- the trick is, you have to respond to its imperfections, and idiosyncrasies of the band in general. on those grounds, it's a lot more interesting than more polished affairs like Sunflower or even Surf's Up. Heck, it's a lot more fun too

Dominique OTM

As soon as Wild Honey starts I know smiles are a-coming! This record is fun

those backing vocals on "i'd love just once to see you", they're so... velvet underground!

don't like "how she boogalooed it", though. who put this shitty daniel johnston song in the middle of the record? all it has going for it is the organ solo.

Wild Honey > Sgt. Pepper

Ok now this ^^^ is trolling lol

It's an excellent BB album but come on dude

yeah those bg vox are right out of "Who Loves The Sun". Almost exact same use of reverb, same feel to the voices. Wild.

Joking... kind of ;)

It's miles better than Sgt Pepper, wtf.

Nah

"Live at West Runton Pavilion" by Robert Rental & the Normal is better than Sgt. Pepper, it's not that outrageous a statement.

no way is this 'miles better' than Pepper, it's not even the best beach boys album of the era. it's fine but cmon.

Utterly bored with Sgt Pepper, thoroughly not-bored with Wild Honey.

I probably shouldn't have made that trollish post but Sgt. Pepper came to mind because of the stereo remix. In both cases the new versions were great listens.

for sure I thought this revive was for the clip of super fucked up Jimmy Page playing with Mike Love and the Assholes (Carl and Al are on hand) in DC in 84 that's going around…

See the mike love + weirdos thread

wild honey - overrated??

another classic challop brought to you by ILX

Hmm. While I don't think that Wild Honey is a better album than Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, I definitely think that Wild Honey is a very underrated record and... well, I feel the same way about the whole thing as Ned does in that I'm bored of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band but I'm a long way from being bored of Wild Honey.

can we talk more about "live at west runton pavilion" by robert rental and the normal? it really is a fine record. short, yes, but only barely shorter than "wild honey".

how does the 10 song compilation of tracks by h.e.x., assembled from the b-sides of zx spectrum games by "power house tapes", stack up to sgt. pepper?

can we say that the h.e.x. compilation is to sgt. pepper what "live at west runton pavilion" is to "wild honey"?

I think it's longer than "Wild Honey", always hoped studio recordings of that material might emerge at some point, doesn't look like it though.

DO IT RIGHT BABY
OUTTASITE BABY

can we talk more about "live at west runton pavilion" by robert rental and the normal? it really is a fine record. short, yes, but only barely shorter than "wild honey".

how does the 10 song compilation of tracks by h.e.x., assembled from the b-sides of zx spectrum games by "power house tapes", stack up to sgt. pepper?

can we say that the h.e.x. compilation is to sgt. pepper what "live at west runton pavilion" is to "wild honey"?

― The Saga of Rodney Stooksbury (rushomancy), Tuesday, July 4, 2017 3:13 AM (eighteen hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This post had been on my mind all fucking day. It lead me to playing Runton Pavil again (totally awesome, obviously), searching out zx spectrum which turns out to be utter shite, and I love the hell out of Wild Honey, but this is one of the best posts ever on ILM and it needs to be acknowledged as such <3

awww, i'm blushing :) yeah, the h.e.x. tracks are indeed quite shit - and tom d, you're right, live at west runton pavilion is indeed longer than "wild honey" - didn't realize "wild honey" was _that_ short a record!

Relatedly ...

Listening to Wake the World: The Friends Sessions – only about hallways through but pretty interesting. Of the post-Smile records on Capitol, Friends is probably the one I’ve rated the least over the years. 20/20 has some dire stuff its predecessor never sunk to but its high points (Never Learn Not to Love, all the lonely waltzes, etc.) were higher to me. Meanwhile Friends always felt comparatively pleasant tho infused by a nervous thou-doth-protesteth-too-much “I’m peaceful seriously!” energy that’s more interesting than engaging.

That said, Wake the World makes a case for these sessions and material. The longer versions (Meant for You has a whole separate tune after the fade), and alternate mixes (both the a capella and tracks only version of the title track are more interesting to me than the finished version) are revelatory. The vocal arrangements (Ana Lee) stand well on their own – and the instrumentals are far more adventurous than the final mixes had suggested. For instance, while I’ve always admired the “nyah nyah nyah” vocal arrangement on Little Bird, it almost entirely obscures the instrumental’s fusion of Blood Sweat & Tears horns with Cabinessence’s banjo. Wild.

yeah I listened to this the other day. surprised how much I love earlier versions of Transcendental Meditation.
Friends is one of my favourite albums by them. Short and sweet

Oh wow indeed ! Same here regarding Friends which I have never particularly liked (and still don't).
These Sessions are great !
Wake the World : The Friends Sessions is probably my favorite "record" post Smile now.
I wonder why they tacked "Child Is Father Of The Man" at the end though since it's a 66 session and not on the album.
Also on the other thread about this, I totally agree with this :

some of these compositions are easily on a level with Pet Sounds once you listen to the arrangements.

damn this is amazing. incredible how deep the Boy's vaults go. Agree w the above, def hear some of these as a real (ignored and underrated) return to form for Brian in terms of the arrangements and melodies.

― Οὖτις, mardi 11 décembre 2018 20:31 (one year ago) bookmarkflaglink

Re. CITFOTM, I’m not sure about the 1966 recording – but apparently the tag was a cellphone recording(!!) Mark Linett made from some acetate that a dealer was trying to sell for $10K.

I love Wild Honey. I was pretty resistant to most of their records following the original SMiLE sessions, but Wild Honey is great stuff, possibly their third or fourth best album depending on whether you count the not-quite-finished SMiLE.

Greil Marcus wrote one of the most wonderful descriptions of their music: "Unlike so many L.A. groups that come from somewhere else, the Beach Boys were not fakes. Empty, tired, desperate, stupid, and even insane as they were through the next decades, singly or as a group, for a time they nevertheless performed life as some people actually lived it. The Beach Boys celebrated California hedonism, looked for its limits, and found them. Their pleasures, as opposed to those offered by such latter-day inheritors as the Eagles, always radiated affection - perhaps because those pleasures were rooted in friendship, or its memory, or its fantasy." I've never actually seen Marcus's assessment on Wild Honey, but it seems to me that those pleasures described in that final sentence is best heard on Wild Honey, moreso than even Pet Sounds. It's possible knowing the context reinforces that appearance - this was a band that was trying to pull itself together and maintain itself following Brian and SMiLE's disintegration - but it sounds redemptive, not desperate. And the others, especially Carl, really do step up and show a side of the band that was never really explored before.

FWIW, I think they made one more great LP, Sunflower, but otherwise remained a singles band, always good for a few pleasant, occasionally brilliant tracks, before tapping the well dry with their last great record, "Sail On, Sailor."

just realized that i definitely had a dream sometime in the next week where i was talking to someone about the SMiLE sessions, versus Smiley Smile, versus the 2004 version. all great obviously. probably prompted by the Brian Wilson sendup sequence in Walk Hard, which i watched last week and for which they wrote pretty convincing fake-SMiLE music.

I wonder if that Marcus quote is not indeed talking about the early, pre-Pet Sounds group as much as it is later iterations?

THIS ALBUM