Best Ever Albums

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

MadhattanJack — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 18:05:25 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 03/05/2026 23:05

Yeah, but he said "within the last 5 years." If we're going back into the 90s, then we'd have to include this too, from my own all-time Top 100:

Splitsville
The Complete Pet Soul (2001)

This album is both homage and pastiche, written as if the Beatles and the Beach Boys had all gotten together in 1966 to make a collaborative LP on which they mostly made fun of themselves.

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 16:42:03 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 03/05/2026 21:42

Filipe wrote:

Repo wrote:

Thanks for the push, Filipe! I've been preoccupied with this thread - 2026 Release Day Eve.

Will get something posted on the Beach Boys & Ozzy threads soon-ish. Actually spent a bunch of time listening tho the Beach Boy's Christmas album over the Holidays. So will post my thoughts on that & then start delving into Sunflower with then perhaps a detour into that Van Dyke Parks from 1967.

R u keeping up with 2026 releases, Filipe? Would love to get your thoughts on what 2026 releases you've been geeking out on in 2026 Release Day Eve.

Hey Repo, I haven't heard any 2026 album's yet, actually I very rarely lsiten to current records, for better or worse I'm almost always trying to listen to discover "new" oldies from 60s and 70s ahah.

Perhaps, taking into account the focus of this topic, I'll take this chance to ask you what recommendations you have from the last 5 years, for someone who loves the Beach Boys?

Have you ever heard...

Gideon Gaye (1994) by The High Llamas

or

Music From The Unrealized Film Script&#...or Control

They are both absolutely FANTASTIC exampleS of Beach Boys worship while also putting their own twisted sensibilities into the mix. Both are Indie Rock Classics imo.

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

MadhattanJack — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 03:53:08 GMT

Author: MadhattanJack

Posted: 03/05/2026 08:53

Filipe wrote:

Perhaps, taking into account the focus of this topic, I'll take this chance to ask you what recommendations you have from the last 5 years, for someone who loves the Beach Boys?

Not to kibitz or anything, but Testbild! made a new album as recently as 2024 (actually that was more of an EP). They're from Sweden, so they're not to be confused with DIN A Testbild, who are German and more like an actual Test Build of some sort of computing device.

Some of the earlier stuff by The Loch Ness Mouse was heavily influenced by the Beach Boys too, if you can still find it. They're from Norway, of course... You can't really expect bands like that to come from places outside of Scandinavia.

That said, Owen Pallett is still making records — he's Canadian, but at least it's a similar latitude? Heartland is probably his most Wilsonesque album.

Owen Pallett
Heartland (2010)

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Thu, 5 Mar 2026 00:03:16 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 03/05/2026 05:03

Repo wrote:

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Wed, 18 Feb 2026 21:39:59 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 02/19/2026 02:39

P. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964)
aka Does It Snow in Southern California?

The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964) by The Beach Boys

"... was a real happy time for us, ... and I were real happy doing it. It took about a month to record. We recorded that album at Western Studios. I liked that studio because they had good-sounding bass and good-sounding highs. It doesn’t exist anymore – it was located at 6000 Sunset." – Brain Wilson on the Christmas Album

The Verdict: I guess it must because this is pretty much a perfect marriage of The Beach Boys' distinct sound and '60s Christmas music. Brian pens five original Christmas tunes on Side A in the Beach Boys inimitable style of which three should be Christmas Pop classics, one is a hysterical romp, and one is nice & wholesome for trimming the tree to. Not really a bad one in the bunch. My favorite is "Merry Christmas, Baby."

On Side B, Brian hands the reigns to the arranger of The Four Freshman - Dick Reynolds - so that he can fly the sleigh. Instead of reindeer, this sleigh is driven by a 41 piece orchestra and, of course, those classic Beach Boys' harmonies. Again, just a fantastic set if you like '60s Christmas albums that are heavy on the trimmings.

The real magic occurs when you hit shuffle and get a mixture of both the originals and the classic covers.

All in all another fantastic and worthy Beach Boys album. I'm not going to rank it, but if you know someone who loves The Beach Boys and Christmas Music in equal measure, you've just found your next stocking stuffer.

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Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 19:30:05 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 01/27/2026 00:30

Filipe wrote:

Happy new year guys! Any chance we could resume this thread? :D

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Mon, 26 Jan 2026 14:04:10 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 01/26/2026 19:04

Happy new year guys! Any chance we could resume this thread? 😁

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 03:36:26 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 12/23/2025 08:36

Repo wrote:

O. 20/20 (1969)
aka Carousels of Cassettes at the Flying J

20/20 (1969) by The Beach Boys

“[20/20 was] a very un-Brian record, the first album where all the members of the band got to do whatever they wanted to do.” - Brian Johnston, THE 6th Beach Boy

The Setting: CDs don't travel well. You can't just fling 'em in the back seat and hope everything is gonna work out alright. Now, I really wish I could say I had a car with an 8-track. THAT would have been the coolest. But I didn’t. I trafficked (get it! 😉 ) in cassettes instead. And I LOVED 'em. I'd always have a veritable suitcase of them with me on any roadtrip. Or even just going out for a loaf of bread. In fact, cassettes rode shotgun with me back in the '80s & '90s more than pretty much anyone else! 🤣

Despite my trusty suitcase of cassettes, one of my favorite traditions on any road trip was pulling into one of those big ass truck stops and perusing their carousels of cassettes. The joy was picking something you'd never pick at any other time. Just a fairly reckless pick from the gut. And almost always a guilty pleasure. Stuff like Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special. Not something chosen after hours of research combing through my dog-eared Trouser Press or the latest issue of Spin Magazine, but just practically a random grab into those magical revolving carousels.

And THAT is what 20/20 feels like to me. A random grab bag of "American" music with a touch of nostalgia and a slice of apple pie just itching to hit the ol' blacktop.

The Listen: If there is any doubt about The Beach Boys ushering in that 70s sound with either Wild Honey or Friends, all doubts are completely erased with 20/20. I mean just listen to this ...

Link

I mean it sounds like the backing track to a Carpenters' song or something. So your tolerance for 20/20 in general will depend upon how much you like 70s soft rock /yacht rock. Overall, it feels like a bit of a love letter to American music; sort of like what the MC5 were going for with their 2nd release, the underrated Back In The USA. I would have hated this stuff in the 90s, but now I really dig it. All the songs are catchy and well-recorded. Nothing fancy here, but it goes down easy! Just as I'd always hoped any of those random cassettes from those magical carousels at those Flying J truck stops would sound like all those years ago.

The Ranking(s): It’s enjoyable. A fun, breezy release. AND, almost every track would be perfect for AM Radio on a road trip. BUT, if it felt out of the car if I took a turn a bit too strong,... well, let's just say I wouldn’t be heading back for it.

I also re-listened to All Summer Long and loved it FAR more than I did a few months back. I think that I was simply fatigued of that pre-Today! Beach Boys sound at that point. I certainly like it more than 20/20. It’s more distinctive.

Anyways, 14 albums in and I really can't help but thinking that The Beach Boys may be the best American band of all time. They are soooo American (whatever that means!�... )

The Rating: 🐝 🐝 🐝

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds (1966) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
2. The SMiLE Sessions (2011) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
3. Wild Honey (1967) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
4. The Beach Boys Today! (1965) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
5. Smiley Smile (1967) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2
6. Friends (1968) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2
7. Surfin' USA (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
8. Surfin’ Safari (1962) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
9. Surfer Girl (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
10. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
11. All Summer Long (1964) 🐝 🐝 🐝
12. 20/20 (1968) 🐝 🐝 🐝
13. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 🦟 🦟 1/2
14. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) 🦟 🦟

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Maybe because I had low expectations, having read your reviews here and elsewhere, I first gave it a spin to "20/20" while doing some house chores and I was pleasantly surprised, having stopped to read a track title here and there.

After multiple more careful listens however, my enjoyment didn't grow much more than my initial impression. I do agree with you guys that this is probably the least cohesive album amongst the ones we have recently reviewed. Regardless, I just liked this group of songs better than say, for example, "Wild Honey". The album starts well with "Do It Again" and "Bluebirds Over The Mountain", some of the songs I enjoyed the most. I also liked "I Went To Sleep" which has some serious SMILE vibes going on, I even had to search if this track was somehow a rework of some prior SMILE track (btw, some people say it was composed around the same time so, who knows). Wasn't particularly impressed with "The Nearest Faraway Place" but I'd just like to note that the Beach Boys are probably one of the only mainstream groups that included so many times an instrumental track in their albums, it's just an interesting little detail.

This album benefits also from finishing with "Cabinessence", one of my favorite SMILE songs, and this time we finally get a complete version woohoo! However, the placement of "Our Prayer", which originally was meant to segue into "Heroes in Villains", just before it is a very weird choice for me. Actually I think that's something that could be said about this album as a whole, some very weird artistic choices here 😁

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds [1966] 90/100
2. The Smile Sessions [1967/2011] 85/100
3. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 80/100
4. Friends [1968] 75/100
5. Smiley Smile [1967] 75/100
6. 20/20 [1968] 70/100
7. Wild Honey [1967] 70/100
8. Party! [1965] 60/100

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Sun, 21 Dec 2025 05:25:30 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 12/21/2025 10:25

Very nice reviews guys!

I apologize for taking a very long time to review these last few algums, I already gave a couple of listens to "20/20" and will give it a few more and leave my review very soon!

Fortunately, it's all laid out for me regarding the next 2 albums, since I've listened to them a loooot during the last year!

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 16:26:20 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 12/16/2025 21:26

dihansse wrote:

While this album is viewed as a not very coherent bunch of singles, b sides, leftovers of the Smile sessions and covers, it is for me a great album as a whole. The two singles Do It Again and I Can Hear Music are two of my favorite songs and I prefer the latter much more than the original Ronettes song.
And of course there is also that legendary not yet released song from the Smile sessions Cabinessence which is also one of those songs that just are a big part of that great legacy of this band.
The rest of the album is just good but not great but all in all it gets a high place in my top 10 up to now.

1. Pet Sounds
2. The Beach Boys Today!
3. 20/20
4. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!)
5. All Summer Long
6. Surfin' USA
7. Smiley Smile
8. Wild Honey
9. Surfer Girl
10. Little Deuce Coup
and the other ones not ranked.

Nice synopsis & perspective! I love that all four (BayState, CA Dreamin, me & you) of our rankings are pretty different! Totally agree that 20/20 is another fine album from the Boys. Almost are all there albums (all but 2 for me) have been pretty enjoyable for me so far. I even really like that Beach Boys Party! album.

Will be curious to see what Filipe thinks next!

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

dihansse — Tue, 16 Dec 2025 15:46:38 GMT

Author: dihansse

Posted: 12/16/2025 20:46

Repo wrote:

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Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

baystateoftheart — Sat, 13 Dec 2025 22:02:21 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 12/14/2025 03:02

Repo wrote:

baystateoftheart wrote:

Sorry for dropping off the discussion. I didn't want to get too far ahead of the thread or delay my listening, so I'm just finishing the first pass at my rankings now. Here are all the ones I've heard so far:

4. Song Cycle [Van Dyke Parks] - 85/100
5. Wild Honey - 83/100

Records that Repo recommended for further listening:

Carl Wilson by Carl Wilson
Surfin' Round The World by Bruce Johnston
The Ultimate Collector's Edition 1963-65 by David Marks & The Marksmen

Is there anything else good that I'm missing?

Glad there's another fan of Wild Honey out there! 🙌

What's the story and connection between Van Dyke Parks and the Beach Boys again? What year did Song Cycle come out? Did Brian have any involvement? Like perhaps with production or use of his studio? Maybe there's a compelling case for us to circle back to Song Cycle after reviewing & ranking 20/20 (which I just started listening to)?

Would love to hear your thoughts, BayState! Also it would be GREAT to get your thoughts (in addition to your rankings) on the albums we've discussed so far. Like, why do you Wild Honey placed so high? Not that I disagree (I actually wholeheartedly AGREE), but it would be fun to get your opinions and perspectives thrown in here as well. We want your 2 cents! 🤓🫢 >

Van Dyke Parks was a longtime collaborator of The Beach Boys, and Brian Wilson in particular. He co-wrote much of Smile with Brian and then made contributions to Surf's Up and Holland albums (plus playing accordion on Kokomo). Then he and Brian made the album Orange Crate Art together in 1995, which is beautiful and strikes me as underrated, probably because people set their expectations too high for the reunion.

I don't think the boys had any direct involvement with his solo work, but Song Cycle is a gorgeous, musically ambitious, expensive to record concept album from 1967. It's his magnum opus and I definitely recommend checking it out, whether as part of this project or not.

Regarding Wild Honey, I'm a big fan of soul, and this is easily The Beach Boys' most soulful album. I think the genre suits them and their harmonies really well, and I wish they made more soul music. It's filled with excellent songs (the singles are highlights of course, but Aren't You Glad also doesn't get enough credit), and it's a breezy, compact little album that leaves you wanting more, which is a great quality for an LP to have.

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 18:28:20 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 12/11/2025 23:28

O. 20/20 (1969)
aka Carousels of Cassettes at the Flying J

20/20 (1969) by The Beach Boys

“[20/20 was] a very un-Brian record, the first album where all the members of the band got to do whatever they wanted to do.” - Brian Johnston, THE 6th Beach Boy

The Setting: CDs don't travel well. You can't just fling 'em in the back seat and hope everything is gonna work out alright. Now, I really wish I could say I had a car with an 8-track. THAT would have been the coolest. But I didn’t. I trafficked (get it! 😉 ) in cassettes instead. And I LOVED 'em. I'd always have a veritable suitcase of them with me on any roadtrip. Or even just going out for a loaf of bread. In fact, cassettes rode shotgun with me back in the '80s & '90s more than pretty much anyone else! 🤣

Despite my trusty suitcase of cassettes, one of my favorite traditions on any road trip was pulling into one of those big ass truck stops and perusing their carousels of cassettes. The joy was picking something you'd never pick at any other time. Just a fairly reckless pick from the gut. And almost always a guilty pleasure. Stuff like Lynyrd Skynyrd and 38 Special. Not something chosen after hours of research combing through my dog-eared Trouser Press or the latest issue of Spin Magazine, but just practically a random grab into those magical revolving carousels.

And THAT is what 20/20 feels like to me. A random grab bag of "American" music with a touch of nostalgia and a slice of apple pie just itching to hit the ol' blacktop.

The Listen: If there is any doubt about The Beach Boys ushering in that 70s sound with either Wild Honey or Friends, all doubts are completely erased with 20/20. I mean just listen to this ...

Link

I mean it sounds like the backing track to a Carpenters' song or something. So your tolerance for 20/20 in general will depend upon how much you like 70s soft rock /yacht rock. Overall, it feels like a bit of a love letter to American music; sort of like what the MC5 were going for with their 2nd release, the underrated Back In The USA. I would have hated this stuff in the 90s, but now I really dig it. All the songs are catchy and well-recorded. Nothing fancy here, but it goes down easy! Just as I'd always hoped any of those random cassettes from those magical carousels at those Flying J truck stops would sound like all those years ago.

The Ranking(s): It’s enjoyable. A fun, breezy release. AND, almost every track would be perfect for AM Radio on a road trip. BUT, if it felt out of the car if I took a turn a bit too strong,... well, let's just say I wouldn’t be heading back for it.

I also re-listened to All Summer Long and loved it FAR more than I did a few months back. I think that I was simply fatigued of that pre-Today! Beach Boys sound at that point. I certainly like it more than 20/20. It’s more distinctive.

Anyways, 14 albums in and I really can't help but thinking that The Beach Boys may be the best American band of all time. They are soooo American (whatever that means!�... )

The Rating: 🐝 🐝 🐝

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 11:09:06 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 12/08/2025 16:09

Filipe wrote:

So, about Friends...

On first listen, after the first few songs I started thiking "sounds like just another Wild Honey" *an album I did not enjoy that much. But from "When A Man Needs A Woman" onwards, which although the lyrics are pretty cringe IMO it's actually a nice song, little by little I started enjoyed this album. I gave it a few more listens throughout the following weeks and I do think that side two is much better than side one.

The fact that it's slightly longer than "Wild Honey" and that this is the only Beach Boy, album in a string of 5, in which the last track is not a scrapped Smile-project one (see "Wild Honey", "20/20", "Sunflower", "Surf's Up", and you could even say "Smiley Smile...), makes me feel that the band was particularly more inspired during the recording of "Friends" and had more things to say. Some of my favorite ones are "Little Bird", "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Transcendental Meditation". Regarding this last track, it's curious to notice how around this time, their incursions into Rishikesh ashram influenced both the Beatles and the Beach Boys (the former's "White Album" would be released just a few months after "Friends"), although "Transcendental Meditation" sounds more like a parody by Mike Love, which is funny considering he would later claim to have levitated at some point.

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds [1966] 90/100
2. The Smile Sessions [1967/2011] 85/100
3. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 80/100
4. Friends [1968] 75/100
4. Smiley Smile [1967] 75/100
5. Wild Honey [1967] 70/100
6. Party! [1965] 60/100

Friends is Brian's favorite Beach Boy's album! Even though he acknowledges that Pet Sounds is the superior record, Friends is still his fave as it captured what he was feeling at the time.

Probably why Brian felt free to completely check out on 20/20!!! 🤣 As CA Dreamin' points out, 20/20 was the first Beach Boys album without Brian's heavy-handed direction. Dennis goes further and says until this point, the Beach Boys were solely Brian's band and he, his brother Carl, Mike & Al were pretty much just Brian's puppets. Or did he say slaves! I forget. But you get the idea.

I'll get a 20/20 review up this week! Thanks for the push, guys!!! 🥰

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Mon, 8 Dec 2025 03:05:09 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 12/08/2025 08:05

Repo wrote:

N. Friends (1968)
aka The SMiLE SEquEL: Here Comes The Sun

Friends (1968) by The Beach Boys

Wake the world with a brand new morning
Say hello to another fine morning
Got my face in the running water
Making my life so much brighter - "Wake The World"

It was a mistake. Order matters. I never should have listened to The Smile Sessions right after binging on Smiley Smile for weeks. My brain just wasn't in the right headspace, especially since I LOVED Smiley Smile so much. No. It took listening to Friends, the freaking SEQUEL to SMiLE, a connection/comparison that for some reason NO ONE seems to talk about, for me to truly get it. "Thank you Friends. I wouldn't SMiLE> if it wasn't for you". 😉

Friends itself has a mellow "day in the life" quality to it and feels, in part, a low key, chill answer to The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper’s. To paraphrase CA Dreamin, it's a "charming, lo-fi breeze, and if Evan Dando, of Lemonheads fame, was into The Beach Boys, I could easily see this being his fave of the gang's albums thus far. Brian and the Boys sound relaxed and mellifluous. Brian himself seems totally in control, not trying too hard & comfortable just being who he is. In fact, Brian considered this his second solo album (with Pet Sounds being his first). It's like Brian had just read The Art of War and realized that while everyone else was running (trying to be political & edgy as CA Dreamin points out upstream), the appropriate response was to just take a leisurely stroll. I don't know much of its inception and influences, BUT if you told me that The Beach Boys pretty much invented Sunshine Pop, I certainly wouldn't bat an eye.

Despite this having Brian's fingerprints all over it, it’s also Dennis’ big breakout album. His two contributions - "Little Bird" and "Be Still" - are both highlights here. If you ask me, “Be Still” could pass as a Robert Wyatt song! Which leads me to another thought, one I wish I could take credit for it, but it actually comes courtesy of Spotify’s uncannily clever algorithm which immediately started playing Brian Eno's Another Green World at the conclusion of this very short album clearly recognizing the throughline which I hadn't up to that point. Brian's "Busy Doin’ Nothing" underlines the Beach Boys as leading lights of this '70s Soft Rock sound which would soon be taking over the airwaves.

Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.

Is it just me, or does Dennis even look a touch like Evan? 🫠

The Ranking: 13 albums. 1-3. And still as vital & pivotal as ever. Just absolutely incredible. Name another rock/pop band still vital after 13 albums?!?!

The Rating: 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds (1966) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
[🔺] 2. The SMiLE Sessions (2011) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
3. Wild Honey (1967)[/color][/b][/size] 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
4. The Beach Boys Today! (1965) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
5. Smiley Smile (1967) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2
6. Friends (1968) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2
7. Surfin' USA (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
8. Surfin’ Safari (1962) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
9. Surfer Girl (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
10. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
11. All Summer Long (1964) 🐝 🐝 🐝
12. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 🦟 🦟 1/2
13. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) 🦟 🦟

Link

So, about Friends...

On first listen, after the first few songs I started thinking "sounds like just another Wild Honey" *an album I did not enjoy that much. But from "When A Man Needs A Woman" onwards, which although the lyrics are pretty cringe IMO it's actually a nice song, little by little I started enjoyed this album. I gave it a few more listens throughout the following weeks and I do think that side two is much better than side one.

The fact that it's slightly longer than "Wild Honey" and that this is the only Beach Boy album in a string of 5 in which the last track is not a scrapped Smile-project one (see "Wild Honey", "20/20", "Sunflower", "Surf's Up", and you could even say "Smiley Smile...), makes me feel that the band was particularly more inspired during the recording of "Friends" and had more things to say. Some of my favorite ones are "Little Bird", "Busy Doin' Nothin'" and "Transcendental Meditation". Regarding this last track, it's curious to notice how around this time, their respective incursions into Rishikesh ashram influenced both the Beatles and the Beach Boys (the former's "White Album" would be released just a few months after "Friends"), although "Transcendental Meditation" sounds more like a parody by Mike Love, which is funny considering he would later claim to have levitated at some point.

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds [1966] 90/100
2. The Smile Sessions [1967/2011] 85/100
3. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 80/100
4. Friends [1968] 75/100
4. Smiley Smile [1967] 75/100
5. Wild Honey [1967] 70/100
6. Party! [1965] 60/100

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

CA Dreamin — Sun, 7 Dec 2025 11:32:49 GMT

Author: CA Dreamin

Posted: 12/07/2025 16:32

I was not about to let this thread fall into page 2 obscurity. Beach Boys Thread forever! Let's talk about 20/20.

This album is all over the place. A couple leftovers from the Smile sessions (Our Prayer, Cabin Essence). A cover of a '40s folk song (Cotton Fields) sung by Al. A hard-rocking jam written by Dennis and sung by Mike (All I Want To Do). A cover of a pop song written by Phil Spector and first recorded by The Ronettes (I Can Hear Music). Needless to say, this album is anything but 20/20 (sorry, the pun was easy and had to be shoehorned somewhere). It isn't clear what The Beach Boys were aiming for here. It isn't clear who was the driving force of the band. Writing credits, production credits, instruments used, song structures/arrangements, and lead singers were seemingly different from one track to the next. Cover songs were abundant. Is the music good, though? Sometimes, sometimes not. I can live without their cover of Cotton Fields, though I am a fan of their cover of I Can Hear Music. Smile leftover, Cabin Essence is good, even though it's placement as the closing track feels incredibly off. I can't think of any blatantly terrible songs, but a few are underwhelming and/or forgettable. Overall, it may be their weakest set of songs post-Pet Sounds thus far. Given how jumbled together it is on top of that, 20/20 is not a good album in my opinion. At best, it's an interesting hodgepodge with some decent songs. At worst, it's a sub-par listen for die-hard fans, while casual fans would listen start-to-finish a couple times, then add a few favorites to their playlist and move on.

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Tue, 18 Nov 2025 09:15:14 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 11/18/2025 14:15

baystateoftheart wrote:

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

baystateoftheart — Sun, 16 Nov 2025 16:45:12 GMT

Author: baystateoftheart

Posted: 11/16/2025 21:45

Sorry for dropping off the discussion. I didn't want to get too far ahead of the thread or delay my listening, so I'm just finishing the first pass at my rankings now. Here are all the ones I've heard so far:

1. Pet Sounds - 99/100 [The best album of all time :love:]
2. The Smile Sessions - 92/100
2a. Endless Summer - 90/100 [Not part of the main ranking due to overlap, but the essential Beach Boys comp.]
3. Brian Wilson Presents Smile [Brian Wilson] - 85/100
4. Song Cycle [Van Dyke Parks] - 85/100
5. Wild Honey - 83/100
6. Sunflower - 83/100
7. Smiley Smile - 80/100
8. The Beach Boys Today! - 78/100
9. Friends - 77/100
10. Pet Projects: The Brian Wilson Productions [Brian Wilson] - 75/100
11. Surf's Up - 74/100
12. Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) - 72/100
13. Holland - 70/100
14. Surfer Girl - 70/100
15. Discover America [Van Dyke Parks] - 70/100
16. 20/20 - 70/100
17. Pacific Ocean Blue [Dennis Wilson] - 70/100
18. Songs Cycled [Van Dyke Parks] - 70/100
19. All Summer Long - 70/100
20. Brian Wilson [Brian Wilson] - 70/100
21. The Beach Boys In Concert - 70/100
22. Bambu (The Caribou Sessions) [Dennis Wilson] - 70/100
23. Spring [Spring] - 70/100
24. Surfin' U.S.A. - 65/100
25. Orange Crate Art [Brian Wilson & Van Dyke Parks] - 65/100
26. That's Why God Made The Radio - 65/100
27. A Postcard From California [Al Jardine] - 65/100
28. The Flame [The Flame] - 65/100
29. Love You - 65/100
30. That Lucky Old Sun [Brian Wilson] - 60/100
32. Carl And The Passions "So Tough" - 60/100
33. The Beach Boys' Christmas Album - 60/100
34. Shut Down Volume 2 - 60/100
35. L.A. (Light Album) - 55/100
36. Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin [Brian Wilson] - 55/100
37. Beach Boys' Party! - 55/100
38. Surfin' Safari - 50/100
39. Little Deuce Coupe - 50/100

Records that Repo recommended for further listening:

Carl Wilson by Carl Wilson
Surfin' Round The World by Bruce Johnston
The Ultimate Collector's Edition 1963-65 by David Marks & The Marksmen

Is there anything else good that I'm missing?

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Filipe — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 22:19:38 GMT

Author: Filipe

Posted: 11/15/2025 03:19

Repo wrote:

M. Wild Honey (1967)
aka Hip to be Square

Wild Honey (1967) by The Beach Boys

When everything got very much “hipper than thou,” people to a certain extent found The Beach Boys embarrassing. Because the Beach Boys definitely were not hip. … just view them as the disabled member of the family that you lock away in the attic and don’t tell people about. - Ben Edmonds, Rolling Stone scribe & Creem magazine editor

I just remember we wanted to be a band again. <SMiLE> had wiped everyone out, and we just wanted to play together again. - Bruce Johnston on the Wild Honey sessions

Get a breath of that country air
Breathe beauty of it everywhere- "Country Air"

The Setting: The hippies did not care for the Beach Boys. Rolling Stone magazine, the hippies arbiter of cool & the fresh upstart rag of the music underground, literally wrote them off. As noted Beach Boys biographer David Leaf perfectly punned it in his great book God Only Knows, in 1967 the Beach Boys were ... "beached!"

So... if a ground-breaking album falls in a forest and no one hears it, does it still make a sound? Turns out the answer is a massive YES, but, in a trick of space & time, it just takes a few more decades for that sound to reach us. 54 years to be precise. Because, in 2021, that very same magazine placed Wild Honey at #410 on its list of "The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time". Better late late than never, I suppose. BUT, that time warp, cost our Beach Boys dearly. And Wild Honey sank to their lowest album sales yet.

Which brings up a great point. Music and especially music criticism is fashion. Just think of the evolution of Pitchfork over the years and what type/style of music they choose to highlight. And we are all guilty of it. Yes; even me. I loved Megadeth in the 80s, but totally bought into the bilk that they had lost their way post-Countdown For Extinction. I, and more importantly that critical consensus, couldn't have been more wrong as Youthanasia and Cryptic Warning are some of the finest slabs of Heavy Metal of the 90s. Megadeth is just no longer playing Thrash is all.

The Listen: In a way, this backlash (and Brian's letting go of his monomaniacal levels of control) is exactly why Wild Honey is so great. The Boys circled the wagons and became a real band again. Desperation is the mother of inspiration, as it were. The Wild Honey sessions were that "breath of country air" they so desperately needed. It's the first time they sound like an actual full fledged band since Surfin' USA. Oftentimes, albums sound fresher and more organic when they’re just banged out and instead of labored over. That’s what makes Wild Honey so refreshing & breezy and one of my faves in their entire catalog.

As far as the listen goes, CA Dreamin totally nails it ...

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Brian & Carl bonding in 1967. THIS is what I'm talking about. Can't you just feel it. They got back to the basics, back to being a band and making music just for the fun of it. Just like how it all started out in that bedroom in Hawthorne, CA a long, long time ago.

The Ranking: Despite their declining popularity, the Beach Boys owned 1967. BOTH Smiley Smile and Wild Honey could easily make my top 50 of a very stacked year. The fact that Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are pretty much opposite poles of the pop-rock musical spectrum just underscores how underrated (even today!) the Beach Boys are. Many people use 1967 as the point that The Beatles eclipsed the Beach Boys. I would use 1967 as the prime example that the Beatles did NOT and never did!

Wild Honey may be just the album of theirs that I listen to the most. It never ceases to brighten my mood and day, especially in the car when I can sing-along. Just another classic, five star album. I like it’s style and sound even more than the Today! This Wild Honey is certified organic! 🤓

The Rating: 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds (1966) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
2. Wild Honey (1967) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
3. The Beach Boys Today! (1965) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
4. Smiley Smile (1967) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝 1/2
5. Surfin' USA (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
6. Surfin’ Safari (1962) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
7. Surfer Girl (1963) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
8. The SMiLE Sessions (2011) 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
9. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965] 🐝 🐝 🐝 🐝
10. All Summer Long (1964) 🐝 🐝 🐝
11. Little Deuce Coup (1963) 🦟 🦟 1/2
12. Shut Down, Vol. 2 (1964) 🦟 🦟

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Hey guys, so sorry about the delay but I'm been kinda backpacking around and a bit disconnected from reality.

I will still review "Wild Honey" since I gave it a few good listens before leaving.

I want to start by saying that I really like the production of these late 60s/early 70s Beach Boys albums, it's cleaner than earlier albums (which is unsurprising consider technology was evolving) while still not being as busy as a Phil Spector production (somebody Brian idolized).

That being said, this album is easy on the ears but it didn't move me much. The themes of the songs and the exceedingly short duration (only 24 minutes!) make me suspect the gang wasn't feeling particularly inspired during these years. Most of the record reminds me of what I call yacht rock, so perhaps like somebody else suggested here BB were the original inventors of the 70s soft rock??

For me the highlights are "Darlin'", "Let The Wind Blow" and "Mama Says" although I'm really bothered why they thought it was a good idea to butcher one of the best songs from "Smile" and release only the verses in one album ("Vegetables" in "Smiley Smile") and the chorus in another ("Mama Says" here).

Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys
1. Pet Sounds [1966]
2. The Smile Sessions [1967/2011]
3. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!) [1965]
4. Smiley Smile [1967]
5. Wild Honey [1967]
6. Party! [1965]

Re: Rank 'Em: The Beach Boys

Repo — Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:56:05 GMT

Author: Repo

Posted: 11/13/2025 21:56

CA Dreamin wrote:

Good write-up but I have a question. Friends as a sequel to Smile? For one, Smile was never completed so contemporary listeners would have lacked the perspective of 2011's The Smile Sessions. Though I see a connection between the two in tone, but not in style. Could you expand?

OMG! I just had a flashback to high school English! �... After doing a quick google search on the difference between tone & style, I'd argue that Friends is 80% similar in Tone and actually 50% similar in style. It is very similar in both, except that it's obviously a lo-fi, less produced/layered version of what he was trying to do back in 1967 before becoming over-whelmed. Both have a very stream-of-consciousness, slice-of-life, AND day-in-the-life feel to them. I'm pretty sure that's why Brian felt Friends was his second solo album. The Smile Sessions would have had this honor had they been released. And yes, contemporary listeners back in 1968 would not have been privy to this, but we have the benefit of hindsight. It's not surprising that Brian would have continued to craft in a similar style and tone the work he was doing in 1967. I think that is partially why Brian would often say he was very satisfied with how Friends turned out and was proud to call it his "second solo album", because he finally got to complete, in part, what he was trying to accomplish with The Smile Sessions. He was like, "Ok. That's close enough for now." �...

Anyways, it's just the vibe I got. AND, once I was able to wrap my head around Friends and what I felt Brian was trying to achieve, I totally got what he was trying to accomplish with The Smile Sessions. And when I went back to listen to SMiLE, it finally really clicked for me. I was awestruck actually. Smiley Smile and SMiLE are very different in tone. I really like both, but I don't think they're all that similar DESPITE coming from the same recording sessions.

Repo wrote:

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Is it just me, or does Dennis even look a touch like Evan?

CA Dreamin wrote:

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Hmm, yeah I guess I see some resemblance. Maybe it's the B&W photos.

Coincidentally, a new Lemonheads album recently dropped just last month...

Love Chant (2025) by The Lemonheads

.. is pretty good! 😎