Thanks to Townsman Matt, we’re headed for a Rock Town Hall-style confrontation with The Beach Boys’ Love You, the 1976 Brian Wilson “comeback” (Hrrundi wears the Pince NezMark IV) album that some hail as an unintended outsider masterpiece and others scoff at as the most-desparate of rock nerd faith-based initiatives. Chances are The Truth is at one of these poles or the other! Or at least that’s how we’ll likely begin this discussion.
But first…let’s take a few days to listen to the music! Your Moderator himself has only heard part of this album one time, and that was many moons ago in a land, well, not so far away. You may download a .zip file with the entire album here. If you’re having trouble with this file, send me a message offlist or post your difficulties in the Comments box for this post. We’ll see what we can do to help you.
Now gather your materials, and begin taking notes!
Looking forward to this one. Drumroll please…
Very glad to see World’s Number One Brian Wilson Apologist Christian Dawson in the house. Bring it, C-Daw!
On a separate note, I must say: first “Entwhistle,” now “Mach IV” — please, Mr. Mod, let the madness end! When folks speak of the various incarnations of, well, Deep Purple, they’re talking about *Mark* I, II, III and so forth. Not “mach,” “mark.” Please make a note of this.
Yours sincerely (and I do mean sincerely),
P. Nez
Townsman, I’m pretty sure my gold, 5-speed, chopper bike with banana seat and sissy bar was called the “Mach V.” Your Pince-Nez-ist behavior of late is deplorable, especially when directed at my own mistakes.
The video clip is a bit prejudicial, no? I would ask that it be stricken from the record, and the jurors should not make it part of their deliberations. They should use their ears.
I knew (sort of) why speeds are called ‘machs,’ but I had to look up why versions were called ‘marks.’ From the Wiktionary:
“Mark can be used to indicate series or model number of a production line. Because a mark is often made to measure height or progress, by metonymy the word mark is used to mean a level of development, and level designations like “Mark I”, “Mark II” etc. come to be used as proper names. Examples include the Lincoln Continental Marks Series[1], various Mark 1[2] and Mark I computers. Mk. sometimes abbreviates such nominal uses of Mark.
In other words, “Mark” (or Mk.) refers to the development of something, say, a prototype. The first product would be known as Mark 1. Then changes would be made, the second, revised product would be known as Mark 2. If more changes are added, the third product is called Mark 3, and so on.”
And btw that was just background. I do NOT want to debate which mark or version of Brian Wilson this album represents.
Other clips of The Beach Boys of this era will be included for fairness and a fuller perspective. I trust that our Townspeople will listen to the music with nothing but their ears. Load up, my friends. Take notes. Feel free to begin commenting when the spirit moves you.
See, here’s another video perspective I wanted to include, but I’m not permitted to embed it here. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xku8mAaGZgU&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Erocktownhall%2Ecom%2Fblogs%2Findex%2Ephp
fritz,
please explain the headline of the following link.
http://ce.seekingalpha.com/article/27861
BigSteve, I don’t think the videoclip is necessarily biased in one direction or the other. He’s more lucid than his detractors would ever admit, but he does say some ridiculous things. You must be predisposed in one direction or the other.
I never thought much of the “Love You” album.
I’ve given it several chances. I “get” the rhetoric that people put out there in favor of the album, but when the music’s playing, I just hear a flat, tired sounding, collection of songs that didn’t inspire any production aesthetic.
People who like “Love Songs” tend to say that the detractors are being unfair by comparing it to the material Wilson produced in his zenith years.
but If this was a brand new band batch of songs by a band i’d never heard, i don’t think i’d’ve given it the number of chances to grow on me that i have.
in fact, i’d go so far as to say that of all the albums i don’t really like, it’s the album with which i am most familiar…THAT’s how many chances I’ve given it.
i listened again last night….nothin’.
Art, I can only explain that headline by saying: aaaarrrgh!
Just wanted to be the first to post my opinions about this album, which are mixed, to say the least. To summarize —
ON THE ONE HAND:
I appreciate — even enjoy — the fact that this was one of the last albums where Brian really followed his creative muse and did whatever the hell he pleased. There are moments on this record where you can really sense the freedom he was enjoying behind his bank of cheesey synths. More power to him!
I also acknowledge that there are a few tunes on this record that I really enjoy, despite (and that’s a key word here) their ramshackle, bagman arrangements: “I Bet He’s Nice,” “Ding Dang,” even “Honkin’ Down the Highway.” However…
ON THE OTHER HAND
I just don’t like art sold on the basis of how “ka-ray-zeeeee” its creator was. And, folks, this record is knee-deep in the bat shit, for sure. And where Brian isn’t clearly non compus mentis, his siblings chip in with their own, uh, “issues.” (Check that frankly scary Dennis vocal on “I Wanna Pick You Up.” I have a book that features a picture of Dennis around this time, and his head looks like somebody took a baseball bat to it: swollen, pockmarked and purple. Hey — I got an idea — let’s have him sing a creepy love song to a two year-old!)
Look, it’s not that I don’t find this album fascinating, ’cause I do. But it’s like looking at pictures of naked ladies on the Internet, or eating bad fast food. It may fulfill a momentary craving for a cheap thrill, but it ain’t right. “The Beach Boys Love You” is like rock backstory porn, or Wilson fanboy crack for basement dwellers who don’t get a buzz from listening to “Smile” outtakes anymore.
IN CONCLUSION
I sincerely wish this album could have been produced properly, by a sane man in a healthy band. Yes, yes, if it had been, it wouldn’t have ended up sounding as unique and different as it does, but I consider my need for that drug to be a weakness — at least, I know it’s not healthy when I let my craving for the novel be satisfied by the creations of a man who should have been living in a psych ward.
Oh, and by the way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp9w-y-zWTw
I rest my case.
I’m going to get back to why I love Love You — it’s all in the way it’s produced — but Fritz’s clip proves my point in advance. Giving the song a full band arrangement, with an ersatz doo-wop vocal arrangement NOT performed by the Beach Boys, upsets the balance in the original. Innocence trips over itself and falls into bathos. Having to look at Brian doesn’t help.
I’ll elaborate later, but I find this album to be pretty sad.
Man, I had my first full listen to this album on the way home tonight. I need to spend more time with it, but it’s disturbing. Where’s my binky?
Saturnismine said:
Wanted to chime in that I felt this way about the clip as well. He answers the questions about drug use pretty candidly, but at the same time it sounds like he was heavily coached at this time by both Landy and Love.
As the person who put sent these files to Jim and as a big fan of this album, I’ve spent more than my share of time defending here in the hallowed halls of RTH. Thus, I’ll respond to individual points like the one above instead of defending the album as a whole.
I agree with most of what you wrote in your previous post, Fritz, but I have to take issue with one of your comments in the above paragraph. I don’t think it’s fair to blame (or praise, whatever the case may be) Dennis for “I Wanna Pick You Up”. Even though he sang it, he had absolutely nothing to do with its writing as far as I know. In fact, Love You is unique in the Beach Boys catalog since it’s the only post-Pet Sounds album in which Brian wrote, arranged and produced the entire record, not to mention singing lead on a few tracks as well. I’m not counting Smile here since it was never completed (the 2004 version is a completely different beast, but I’ll save that for another discussion).
Furthermore, he wrote all of its lyrics and even played on a lot of its instruments (well just the Moog mainly), which takes the early to mid ’60s idea of Brian doing almost everything save the performances of his compositions and extending it even further. Of course, much of that gets overlooked because of this album’s crude production and goofy lyrics.
With all that said, yes “I Wanna Pick You Up” is goofy and frankly a bit creepy, but it’s mostly harmless and childlike (much like some of the rest of this album) since it’s obviously about his kid. I find songs from this period like “Johnny Carson,” “Lines,” “Solar System,” “Hey Little Tomboy” (the full-length version) and “Love is a Woman” to be way more disturbing and more relevant to Brian’s mental state. However, I also find these songs quite funny, especially the “tell her she smells good tonight” line in “Love as a Woman”.
Is this laughing at an unstable person’s mental state much like the appeal of, I don’t know, Wesley Willis or someone like that? Well sure, but like I’ve said before, it doesn’t mean that they can’t make compelling music.
As a side note, I’m pretty sure that Eugene Landy claimed that he wrote the lyrics to Love You in Brian’s “autobiography” (which Landy actually wrote), but I don’t believe that for a second. They just don’t jive with the ones he wrote with Brian in the late ’80s on his s/t solo album as they’re way less mature.
Furthermore, Dennis looked way better in the late ’70s than he did during the last few years of his life (i.e. the early ’80s). He was in really bad shape then. Are sure the photo you’re referring to isn’t from that period?
So the first thing that struck me about this Love You album is its complete lack of kick drum until the 5th song, I believe. Added to that, the bass almost never plays on the downbeat (1 and 3), further adding to the completely UNgrounded nature of this album.
The production is terrible, but at least it’s often terrible in an interesting way. It sounds like one of my 4-track demos as done on Magic Alex’s aborted mixing board that was intended for use on the recording of Let it Be.
The best sound running through most of the songs is the fuzzy synth bass. I figure that’s Brian pounding away in his typically juvenile way, a characteristic of Beach Boys music that I’ve always felt was key to their appeal for me. I think I love the juvenile, pounding approach to rhythm as much as Brian.
The best songs feature a combination of the juvenile, pounding rhythm coupled with Brian’s typically stunted look back as imaginary “better days”: the elements that make up what’s probably my favorite post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys song, “Do It Again”. I think I love stunted look backs at imaginary “better days” almost as much as Brian.
Who sings that opening track, Brian? Man, that’s bad. Mike Love, as always, delivers. His singing is delivered in the same rudimentary, tinny, high school Chuck Berry student style as Carl Wilson’s guitar playing on the band’s early hits. The importance of a singer being tied to his or her rhythm guitarist cannot be overstated!
One of the other guys can still sing, probably Carl. I’ll have to go back and identify the one or two songs that have very good lead vocal performances.
Dennis is painful for me to hear sing. Is it Dennis who’s banging the snare now and then? The drumming on most of the songs soundslike what I might be able to pull off if I pulled an all-nighter and overdubbed rhythmic sketches. There’s one track – track #5? – where it sounds like they saved their pennies and convinced a studio drummer to pop in. To tell the truth, the “better-produced” (yes, that’s a relative term) songs frequently work less well for me than the ones that sound like Brian had to get down on tape to save his life.
Of course the album has a serious train wreck/cry for help vibe that probably motivated the likes of Andy Partridge to collect comic books, play war games, and immerse himself in porn in hopes of honing his own psychoses. Very weird.
All in all, this is a much more interesting album than I gave it credit for when I first heard some songs from it, probably in Aldo Jones’ apartment. I can’t say it’s a “good” album, because I can and have done better – and so have a lot of you whose music I’ve heard. However, it’s a very human document, and taken together with the backstory of the band and the band members’ problems, I can see its emotional appeal for people who’ve “rooted” for the band over the years.
Thanks again, Matt, and I hope more Townspeople take a chance on this album and report back. Too much collecting/watching without comment might lead you down a psychotically unstable path!
It’s Carl singing lead on “Let Us Go On This Way” (the opening track), though Mike sings the awesome bridge (“seems we have extra-sensory perception…”).
The track you must be referring to is “Good Time”. It’s actually an outtake from the aborted Landlocked album, which they recorded in 1970 but was never released. Sunflower eventually replaced it. I don’t know if that’ll make you like the album more or less or if it’ll make a difference at all, but it should be noted. The Beach Boys did this a lot actually. For example, Sunflower uses “Cool Cool Water” (which derives from the Smile sessions) and albums like 20/20 and Surf’s Up also feature songs that were re-recordings of Smile-era material.
I love it. I feel that it is perfect.
cheeseburgers and blow?
anyone?
Matt wrote:
Actually when I loaded the CD into Itunes it listed several co-writes, including Phil Spector for Mona. That may be because the song is borrowed from some Spector song…? I don’t see Brian and Phil sitting down and writing together.
These credits also list Al as writer of God Time, which he sings, and Mike Love as writer of Let’s Go On This Way.
The biggest mystery is that Ding Dang, the weird nonsense fragment that ends side 1, is credited to Roger McGuinn/The Byrds. What’s up with that? It’s not even really a song.
Matt wrote:
See this is why I felt that interview footage was prejudicial. A composer/performer’s ‘mental state’ is not relevant, and focusing on it keeps us from hearing the album for what it is.
There’s no irony in this album. The innocence portrayed in the lyrics should be taken at face value. Love is portrayed sometimes as literally between the very young or as in the very beginning stage between adults (Let’s Put Our Hearts Together). The love for an infant in I Want To Pick You Up is exactly what it appears to be. What exactly is wrong with this? It’s not creepy. Some of you guys have kids, so you should have access to these feelings on some level. Any normal human should be able to feel affection and protectiveness towards an infant without attributing it to mental illness.
Similarly, there nothing wrong with focusing on the sweetness and innocence of romance. It’s not the whole picture, but songs do not have to portray the whole picture all the time. To the argument that it’s inappropriate for a grown man to be writing or singing on this level, I would argue that a songwriter has to have license to write about mental or emotional states that may or may not be his own. Whether Brian Wilson the human being is suffering from arrested development is not my call. I can accept these songs as a representation of innocence. That same viewpoint extend to the songs that are not about romance. Why shouldn’t there be songs that are about the solar system, flying on an airplane, a talkshow host? Does everything have to be filtered through layers of irony? Irony can be an effective songwriting tool, but it can get wearisome, and I think the guilelessness here is refreshing.
And the simplicity in the lyrical approach is reflected in the radical production style. Almost everything but keyboards are stripped away on this album. As Mr. Mod noticed, there’s almost no kick drum, and many songs get by with a single snare beat. The snare is very rattly and it mixes well with the bass synth, which is very sawtoothy. Sometimes there’s a tambourine, some sleighbells, or some handclaps, but almost never a whole drumkit. And the keyboards are even limited – some piano, that bass synth, a roller-rink style organ, a few other analog synth sounds. The narrow spectrum of sounds reflects the narrow focus of the lyrics, and the lack of ‘rock’ percussion reflects the lack of rock attitude. There’s almost no guitar, and a just a few horns here and there. As I said, it’s a very radical approach. It may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s certainly unique.
I just love the way the album sounds, the texture of it. I have since the day I bought it, and I still enjoy it. It’s not the greatest album ever, or even the greatest Beach Boys album, but it’s very special to me.
I haven’t kept up with this whole thread, but was just perusing Steve’s last post. I don’t have any problem with the lyrics, or the naïve sentimentality per se, though its syrupy quality is part of what always turned me off of the Beach Boys. I thought this sounded like they were covering the long lost Shagg’s album or something. You don’t have to watch that excruciating video to know that there is some mental damage on this record. I appreciate the pared-down aspect, having always been turned off by the lush mush over the Beach Boys. But it’s so fragmented! The words, feel, melodies, production… you need to have some kind of Garanimals system to match these elements a little less jarringly. Maybe that’s it: each element is trying to be pleasant and anything but jarring, but yikes! The result! I just never got it in the first place. All the Pet Sounds worship and all, it was never my cup of tea. This one surely has a train-wreck fascination their other stuff doesn’t, but I find it highly uncomfortable to hear. And not because he wants to pick up an infant or what have you. Did anybody else pick up the heavy influence of “Love Will Keep Us Together” in several bass lines? Both the lines, with their half-tone slide up thingy, and the use of Moog and piano together down low? Funny. And Steve, thanks for the Dave Edmunds ear wash! I needed that.
General Slocum wrote:
Methinks the General does not like the syrup. I’ll keep this in mind when finding an inappropriate mix CD for him…
Nice Garanimals reference. You’ve reminded me of our old friend, The Accuser. He was a big fan of Garanimals references.
I wonder if the “Love Will Keep Us Together” influence is not that coincidental. Didn’t The Captain play with The Beach Boys a little before this time?
BigSteve said:
I think the guilelessness here is refreshing.
I say:
I once went to a museum of “Outsider” art in Baltimore with a friend who raved about a particular series of paintings on display, because they were incredibly vivid and creative, not to mention “fucked UP,” which was something of an artistic badge of honor for this dude. (It may be worth mentioning that this friend of mine was a somewhat accomplished fine artist himself, for what that’s worth.)
The paintings — I believe there were three of them — all focused on a central theme: little girls running and playing at a picnic. They were all done in a sort of hyper-idealized, innocent fashion; not naive or crude, but — well, kind of like one might expect illustrations in a children’s reading primer to look.
Anyhow, the first of them showed these very cute little girls running and playing in a brightly sunlit field. The second was virtually identical, except the little girls were now saying things (in cartoon dialog balloons) that were references to sex, the devil, the possibility that inanimate objects in the painting might sping to life and kill them, and so forth. And, in the third, the little girls’ play dresses were removed to reveal that they all had penises — and they all now were stabbing each other, rather vividly, to death. Or something — it was a while ago.
Seeing this series of paintings significantly strengthened my visceral dislike of art that is appreciated mainly because it’s “different” or “refreshing.” It also further confirmed that I have *major* issues with folks who enjoy art because it’s made by crazy people. (This second point is not what I’m ranting about here, but I thought it bore mentioning.)
Note that there’s nothing at all wrong with art that’s different and/or refreshing. But if that’s the *main* reason folks claim to enjoy it, watch your wallet.
For the record, I’m not saying that BigSteve is “guilty” of either of the things I have problems with as stated above. But, Steve-o, you do seem to be drifting in the direction of some dangerous waters. Be careful!
Satanic knife-wielding hermaphrodites are “dangerous waters,” but I don’t see how kids on roller skates (who really are just kids on roller skates) could be. Brian’s life may have been “fucked up,” but the songs aren’t. Maybe we are.
This has to be wrong. To the best of my knowledge, Brian tried to collaborate with Phil Spector once in the mid ’60s, but it never got off the ground. I think Phil rejected Brian’s contributions to one of his songs or something like that. Sorry, I don’t remember the exact details now. Of course, Brian was crushed as he idolized Spector. Anyway I think that “credit” is only in there because the song explicitly references Phil Spector in its lyrics, not because it sounds like one of his songs.
Well even on the ’60s albums where Brian essentially wrote all the music, someone else (whether it was Mike, Gary Usher, Tony Asher or Van Dyke Parks) usually wrote the lyrics. I knew that Al sang “Good Time”, but forgot that he’d written it as well. Then again, like I mentioned before, this isn’t really representative of this time period.
I’d totally forgotten about the Roger McGuinn “co-write” on “Ding Dang”. As Peter Buck’s liner notes say, Brian wrote the “Ding” and Roger wrote the “Dang”. 🙂
I think he was a touring member throughout the ’70s. He also collaborated as a lyricist with Dennis (who wrote the music) on a couple of songs that ended up on the Beach Boys album So Tough. They also collaborated on a one-off project called Rumbo (?) in the early ’70s. I think this is where Dennis’ much-bootlegged first solo single “Lady” b/w “Sound of Free” comes from.
Re: “Mona” — it’s partly credited to Spector because it’s a blatant ripoff of some mediocre Spector number. Can’t remember which, not that it matters. That song is a bona-fide turd!
Re: “Ding Dang” — the story I read is that the “song” resulted from a typical blow-fueled crazy evening of the period, when Brian and McGuinn ended up in Brian’s basement studio making weird “music” together. Though the song was never finished, the snippet sounded good enough to Brian to include on the record. I kinda like it.
I can’t comment on the artistic quality of work I haven’t seen, but the description here makes these art works sound extremely interesting.
I was excited by that “Ding Dang” song and then disappointed that it ended so soon.
My least-favorite song might be “Johnny Carson”. It’s just too stupid – or “retarded,” if I might use the 3rd grade vernacular. Plus the tune blows.
Thanks berlyant, for the article – and I’ve been digging all of the really interesting comments so far. I had absolutely no idea about Surf’s Up being part of the re-recordings of Smile material. Surf’s Up is my favorite BB album as a whole. I actually got Love You bundled with it when I ordered the SU vinyl off of eBay years ago and was surprised at the material, but I’ve never loved it too much. Listening to it again in computer format gives me the chance to hear it again because I still need to work on getting a new record player, or fixing my old one before I can listen to my vinyl again. (tragedy!)
It may not be fair to compare one mentally ill person’s music to another one’s but then again maybe it is completely fair. I didn’t like this album. I didn’t really even find it funny at all. I found it sad and it provided too much insight into the mind of a sick individual. I’ve now seen him far too close and its sowing seeds of discontent. In this respect I suppose it is a strong document of something ill and unfortunate but…
It brought to mind the Syd Barret solo albums which to me are incredibly original and beautiful, regardless of his mental state.
It’s not just that its being sold that way, as the Syd albums often are, its that the “ka-ray-zee” is the core of the appeal.
Gonna have to shower to get rid of this albatross.
Chiming in late, but it took me a while to get to this album. Syd Barrett was as kee-raa-zzzzy as any artist, and he produced music that was much easier to love – for me – with no reservations, explanation, and whatnot. Interesting album, though. Thanks.
Do you mean to tell me that you’ve NEVER heard Brian’s solo piano version of “Surf’s Up” from the 1966 Smile versions? If not, I’ll be happy to send you an mp3 of it. It’s one of the best solo vocal performances I’ve ever heard and infinitely better than the version on the Surf’s Up album (though I love that version as well). It was unclear from what you wrote above or did you just mean that you didn’t know that they re-recorded it for the 2004 version of Smile (which they did incidentally)?
I find that album to be a real mixed bag personally. It contains unbelievably great tracks like “Surf’s Up” and “Til I Die” (one of my favorite songs ever) along with other top-notch stuff like Carl’s gems “Long Promised Road” and especially “Feel Flows”. However, it also contains the worst Beach Boys song of all-time (“Student Demonstration Time”) as well as other songs like “Take a Load Off Your Feet” that I regard as filler. I’m also not really all that fond of the opening track “Don’t Go Near the Water”.
To tell you the truth, save for “The Trader”, I’m not all that fond of their Jack Rieley-inspired “message” songs from this time period.
Yes, that is precisely what I mean. Send it on;) Thanks Matt! I think I love The Surf’s Up album so much because for me it personally speaks of sitting on my best friend’s back porch in the summer and listening to it on a portable record player… I don’t dislike any songs on it, and love it as a whole. Some tracks maybe moreso than others, but I enjoy that album quite a lot and really dig the cover art as well. It’s just a moody summer album to me…
there’s a ton of Smile and Surf’s Up related stuff on youtube.
check out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBDqRLkA8ew
it’s a sad, wistful performance by Brian, at home in Bel Air.
Did we ever hear from Townsman Christian on this? I know he may be the deepest of Beach Boys fans among us.