Sorry, guys! Been crazy busy with a lot of Unfun stuff I won't bore u with. Gonna try to have the Wild Honey post up this Saturday night; Sunday at the latest.
Spoiler alert: It's a good 'un! <The album, not the post! 🤣 >
Since I'm in a little break between jobs, gonna post early on Wild Honey. I liked it more than I expected. I wasn't sure where Brian and the Boys would go after scrapping Smile, and the half-hearted Smiley Smile. I figured they were not returning to anything ambitious like Pet Sounds or Smile. Wild Honey is simpler and back-to-the-basics, churning out 10 short, catchy songs. Not the old school surf rock, but with a piano-driven R&B approach. It sounds pleasant, charming, and fully-realized despite how fast the albums whizzes by. However, Brian's poor health is apparent. He doesn't seem like the driving force of the band at this point, and I think that explains why Wild Honey lacks a true Beach Boys classic, a masterpiece of a song only a fully-healthy, fully-focused Brian Wilson can produce. But hey, it could have been worse. Brian in a lesser role, plus the other bandmates who had songwriting talent of their own, still make Wild Honey worthwhile, an enjoyable listen that clears Smiley Smile, and compares to some of the better pre-Pet Sounds albums, albeit with a completely different sound and approach.
Gonna be posting something on Sabbath Bloody Sabbath in the other thread in the next few days. _________________ on such a winter's day
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. …<So people> 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 <wait for it...> ... "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 ...
CA Dreamin wrote:
I liked <Wild Honey> more than I expected. I wasn't sure where Brian and the Boys would go after scrapping Smile, and the half-hearted Smiley Smile <ed. note: Keep listening, CA Dreamin! Keep listening! Smiley Smile rules!!! 😈 >. I figured they were not returning to anything ambitious like Pet Sounds or Smile. Wild Honey is simpler and back-to-the-basics, churning out 10 short, catchy songs. Not the old school surf rock, but with a piano-driven R&B approach. It sounds pleasant, charming, and fully-realized despite how fast the albums whizzes by. ... and compares to some of the better pre-Pet Sounds albums, albeit with a completely different sound and approach.
<ed. note: I think u should always go before me. Makes my job so much easier! 😇>
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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! 🤓
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. …<So people> 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 <wait for it...> ... "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 ...
<ed. note: I think u should always go before me. Makes my job so much easier! 😇>
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
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 Beatle eclipsed 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 and five star album, I like it’s style and sound even more than the Today! This Wild Honey is certified organic! 🤓
To me the album where they succeed to sound like any other generic band. The songs are not really good and some way or another their harmonies just don't sound as they used to. With one exception: Darlin' is one of their greatest tracks.
Still good for my charts but not very high. This is my current ranking of their albums:
1. Pet Sounds
2. The Beach Boys Today!
3. Summer Days (and Sumer Nights!!)
4. All Summer Long
5. Surfin' USA
6. Smiley Smile
7. Wild Honey
8. Surfer Girl
9. Little Deuce Coup
and the other ones not ranked.
Friends continued the post-Smile simplicity, somewhat low-fi breeze. And boy does this album breeze by, with nearly half the tracks under two minutes. Like Wild Honey before it, Friends is a pleasant, charming, if unspectacular batch of songs. What I find intriguing about these post-Smile albums is how they feel reactionary to both internal and external circumstances. Brian Wilson's shaky mental status and the failure to complete Smile prompted musical ventures in the other direction...simpler and less-produced, but not in a return-to-pre-Pet-Sounds fashion. At the same time, the world was going nuts with massive protests in Europe and the US, while the Vietnam War was at its peak. Rock music reacted by getting harder, louder, and more psychedelic. The Beach Boys, however, did not. Rather than going along with the musical trends of the period, Brian and the Boys chose to tone it down, try new things, and offer something tranquil and meditative, and that's a positive thing, right? Imagine living in the summer of 1968, when the TV was filled with violent images of war and civil unrest. An album like Friends would have the hit the spot, a 25-minute relief. Again, though, Friends isn't anything spectacular musically. The songs are short and sweet, but not very memorable. That doesn't matter as much to me as it may to other listeners. The bigger statements here were growing/branching out as musicians, and Brian's path to recovery. Friends felt like Brian was gradually getting better, as this album had more of his musical touch than Wild Honey. The result stood out from your typical sounds of '68. I like the direction here, and hope it led to better things. Although sales for the album were bad, which could also affect subsequent works.
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 Smilefor 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 <have gotten 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.
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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?!?!
Order matters. I never should have listened to The Smile Sessions right after binging on Smiley Smilefor 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 <have gotten 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.
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?
Repo wrote:
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Is it just me, or does Dennis even look a touch like Evan?
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Hmm, yeah I guess I see some resemblance. Maybe it's the B&W photos.
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...
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. …<So people> 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 <wait for it...> ... "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 ...
<ed. note: I think u should always go before me. Makes my job so much easier! 😇>
Thumbnail. Click to enlarge.
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! 🤓
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]
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 🥰]
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
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