Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

Today's song is The Girl from New York City:

 

The Girl from New York City
A blazing, stomping opener for a great album. It works really well as a response to "The Boy from New York City" but you don't need to even know about that song to appreciate this one. Great energy, great vocals and a really fun way to open up an album that is like instant sunshine in a can for me.

5/5

 

You said it all!!! One of my favorites.

Oh, I give it 5/5.

 

GFNYC - A farting, yakkety sax leads the charge. Here come The Beach Boys 1965, ready to throw down the gauntlet and show their contemporaries how it is done. Now here comes the hammering rhythm section. Mike spits out the lyrics with vicious intensity, as if the music that supports him is on the verge of smothering him with a pillow. It doesn't take long for the infectious chorus to erupt, with Brian and Carl in the forefront, and a second doppelganger Brian off in the far distance wailing insane like a police siren at the scene of some horrible beach side automobile accident. Carl plays repetitive barbed wire twang. To complete the picture we have Bruce innocently tickling the ivories somewhere in the midst of all this chaos, and Al 'rhythm-guitar' Jardine hacking away at the air with those dirty, grungy chords like a prison shank molded out of rusty guitar strings. Never played live (that I know of), never talked about, never appreciated for it's kick-down-the-door effectiveness as an opening number on what's to be one of the greatest albums ever recorded ever by anybody ever ever ever. Okay, girls, let's clap during the fade out. All that under two minute. 5/5

 

Beautiful post. I think that high voice in the background is Bruce, not Brian. And yeah, this song is one of the rockingest the Beach Boys ever did, the three boys punk-like instrumental attack blending with the Wrecking' Crew's refined pop. The track burns and blazes, it is hot as the summer sun on the asphalt and sand. Great little opening riff and I like that Carl Wilson acoustic guitar figure that surfaces up througout the song -- such a laid back and sexy little riff. And the singing on the track is awesome. I think I'd give it 4.5/5 ( overall(because if California Girls is an obvious 5, I have to rate this one a bit lower) but I'll round that up to a 5.

 

Excellent song!

 

"Girl From NYC"

Mike's bass vocal and lead on the verses are great. Repeating guitar solo figure thing is pretty lame, though. Sucks the energy out of the track a bit.

4/5

 

TGFNYC – 6/5

How this was overlooked as a single defies logic.

Solid gold. Solid platinum. Solid unobtanium.

 

Wow. I am surprised by the overwhelming love for TGFNYC.

I consider it a good, toe-tappin ditty, if you will, that hasn’t suffered over exposure like some of their tunes from that era.

I’d give it a 7 out of 10 but can’t give it as high as a 4 out of 5.
Therefore, forgive me folks 3/5.

 

Getting back to "Today" for a second, Great album, but you're right that the cover picture is pretty cheesy. Though in fairness it was 1964. Just look at Al's expression with his face all scrunched up, like he's saying "do we really have to wear these dorky sweaters?"

 

I love those sweaters and the photo session for the cover. Fuzzy mohair was cool. Believe that was the idea behind the Pet Sounds fuzzy green Cd cover.

 

After the Zodiac's enthusiastic rodeo roundup not much else to say - except, great post! A Mike vocal doesn't get any better than this. A 5/5.

 

NYC - this has been typically overlooked but was listening to it the other day and it is a pretty great track. I think the subject matter causes it to be overlooked in general. Beatles -Dylan - all these new lyrics with a little more meaning - even The Beach Boys had better lyrics on his album.
3/5

 

Love it, but I love all their songs! LOL...

 

yes, but I never had a problem with anything Mike did with the BB Brian years...he had the best bass vocal of that time...even Brian said so and I always agreed...

 

The Girl From New York City -- have to give it a 5/5. I know -- kind of a slight lyric, but as the others who gave it high marks have already have already described, it flat rocks and sounds great.

 

The Girl From New York City - 4/5. Great track, always been one of my favorites.

 

Your ratings for The Girl from New York City:
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4-2 votes
5-7 votes

 

Today's song is Amusement Parks USA:

 

Great harmonies, but clearly a throwback, retro kind of tune after the cool and modern sounding The Girl From New York City. I have mixed feelings about it. It does have a classic Beach Boys sound, love BW's falsetto lines, I like the bit of naughtiness in the carnival barker's bit about "she's got the biggest asp" and the organ at the end playing the riff from Pallisades Park, but it just isn't nearly as moving to me as the tune that precedes and the one that comes after. If I'm remembering right it was a big hit in Japan, so there's that. But for me it's just

3/5

 

Amusement Parks USA - we're back at the COunty Fair, except this time someone has spiked the lemonade with LSD.
I used to roll my eyes at the lyrics at this one as it isn't very serious or sophisticated, but now I appreciate it more.

The music is so maniacal you can't help but fall for it. Fairground organ that's ever so slightly menacing, some of the most restrained drumming ever attempted, and Brian's cackling laughter turn this into more of a haunted house than a Ferris wheel.

Carnival barker Hal Blaine invites us to see a woman with a giant ass, while split-personality Brian both wants to see it and also deems that the spectacle "COST TOO MUCH!". Palisades Park has been overtaken by the freaks. Enter at your own risk.

While I would never present this song to a newcomer and expect them to be in awe of it's genius, I certainly appreciate it's complexity and innovation. But it did take me a little while to come around. I'll give it a 4, just because it's not "California Girls".

 

The Girl From New York City. 4/5. Being in NJ/NY all my life (so far, heh), I was amused by this song from the get go. And it's got great vocals. But the song itself after the leaps forward in Today! is rather pedestrian.

Amusement Parks. 3/5. Even more retrograde than NYC, this album begins like it was made before Today! Ftr I have to stretch to give it a 3. On a ten scale it would only get a 5.

 

Amusement Parks:
I didn't like it when I first heard it, but it's grown on me a lot. I love the organ and the way it captures the vibes of the amusement parks. Like John Lennon said about Mr. Kite...you can smell the sawdust. Nice melody and singing. It's lightweight but sort of unusual at the same time, as Zodiac points out.

4/5

 

Though the subject matter is kids' stuff, (and we can't have any of that in our serious rock and roll!!) the track is truly psychedelic, with a genius arrangement and perfect production that makes you literally feel like you are on a roller coaster about to throw up from the hot dogs and cotton candy, dizzy from being spun around.

Hal Blaine and Brian and (I assume) Bruce or Al skits are pretty funny. This is where all those annoying tracks were leading, this kind of interjection. She got the biggest asp indeed...

I feel like this is the real Brian Wilson, just as much as "Don't Talk" or "Surf's Up"or (heck) "It's Tryin' To Say". Dude was complex and he still loves Disneyland, from all reports.

4/5

 

One of the first Beach Boy's albums I had access to was the All Summer Long/California Girls double LP (California Girls is actually Summer Days...And Summer Nights). It was a Capitol Budget LP and they removed some songs from the LPs in the series. Amusement Parks USA was one of them. That said, it's not a bad tune, but it doesn't move me either. 3/5