Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Wata, Jun 18, 2018.

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  1. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Times They Are A Changing

    I like Dylan a lot, but this song is pretty flat and static on it's own. The party stuff livens it up and makes it more interesting. It's like what Dylan later did on "Rainy Day Women". Beach Boys influence on Dylan? I think so.
     
  2. Rock66

    Rock66 Forum Resident

    I give The Times a 3/5. I agree that the "party" noise on this track just doesn't fit.
     
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  3. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Times They Are A Changing

    4/5
     
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  4. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    The chatter surely ruins this song, but hey, this actually turned me onto Dylan two years ago! Al sings well too. 3/5
     
  5. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Your ratings for The Times They Are A-Changin':
    1-0 vote
    2-2 votes
    3-3 votes
    4-3 votes
    5-0 vote
     
  6. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Today's song is Barbara Ann:
     
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  7. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    I give "Barbara Ann" a 5/5. I know that some people don't like it, but I think it's an iconic classic. I understand why Carl Wilson hated singing it every night and I understand why in many ways it was an uncool record at the tail end of 1965, and I understand that it incorrectly defines the Beach Boys as a cheesy band in the eyes of the despicable, much-hated casuals, but it was a huge hit and it's fun. It perfectly captures the off-the-cuff, goofy fun that Brian was going for on the Party! album. I do prefer the single mix with the fade out to the "finished" ending, but as a capper to the Party! album the album mix is also essential.
     
  8. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    I’ve always liked Barbara Ann quite a lot — from The Regents original, to the 1962 Jan & Dean cover that inspired The Beach Boys version (via Dean Torrence who sat in on the session), though I admit the song hasn’t aged all that well for me.

    But when the mood strikes me, I love it:

    4/5

    Still, it’s clear the band liked it — evident by all the exuberance and energy they put in the vocals on the record and in this live TV performance from the day:



    Still, it seemed Brian Wilson was kind of taken aback by the fact it became a hit, as he seems to express in this early 1966 interview.

    Melody Maker, March 19, 1966

    If you think “Barbara Ann” is indicative of the real Beach Boys scene today, you can forget it. It’s not. “It wasn’t even a produced record,” Brian Wilson, Beach Boys leader told me on the phone from his elaborate Beverly Hills home. “We were just goofing around for a party type album and that was just an old rock ’n roll hit. Somebody in Boston started playing the track in the LP and this just started it all off so they they had to put out a single. That kind of rock ’n roll is just timeless I guess. But that’s not The Beach Boys. It’s not where we’re at, at all. Personally, I think the group has evolved another 800 percent in the last year. We have a more conscious, arty production now that’s more polished. It’s all been like an explosion for us.

    For myself, I don’t go out on the tours at all now. I just work on production. I’ve spent five months working on this new album and the batch of new singles I’ve been working on, well, it’s like I’m right in the golden era of what it’s all about. It’s all just coming out like breathing now. I give a lot of credit, a lot of it, for everybody’s success, to The Beatles. They’ve had a tremendous, universal influence. That Rubber Soul album was a great new contribution. It helped them reach a new plateau. The Byrds, well, they represent a certain projected attitude. They’ve got a place, too, no doubt about that. I still give Phil Spector credit for being the single most influential producer. He’s timeless. He makes a milestone whenever he goes into a studio.

    The folk thing has been important. I think it has opened up a whole new intellectual bag for the kids. They’re making ‘thinking’ records now. That’s really what it is. Everybody is saying something. We got into a romantic rut. It was all boy-girl, crying records with everybody kind of screwed up.

    Suddenly Dylan comes along with a cold, intellectual, philosophical thing. He’s a protestor and his message pertains to society in general.

    I predict this protesting will become highly personal and pertaining to a person’s own hang-ups and his ego. They lyrics will be more introspective. There’ll always be love records, of course. There’s no stronger single theme. But you’ll find plenty of thinking records, too.
     
  9. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

  10. daveidmarx

    daveidmarx Forem Residunt

    Location:
    Astoria, NY USA
    What a fantastic, prescient quote from Brian. He knew that right at the moment pop music was at a peak ("right in the golden era"), and was so on point with his observations. Too bad he is seemingly unable to articulate in this manner anymore.
     
  11. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    I love this version of Barbara Ann, but the rehearsal for Lei'd In Hawaii "live" album, which first appeared on Sunshine Tomorrow 2 from last year, is a genuine dark horse. It's got that Love You vibe. Had it been completed, it blows this party version out of water.

    Still, Barbara Ann is a fun song as it is, and it's a shame that among younger generation it's widely recognized as Minions song, not Beach Boys' song. 4/5.

    And the single ver. is definitely better. The album version is way too (literally) repetitive.
     
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  12. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Yeah some of those rehearsals really rock.
     
  13. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    "Barbara Ann"

    The single version is great. The band does this song well in concert: it's really hard to mess up a driving rocker like this. I like it a lot better with loud drums and backbeat rather than the ashtray accompaniment.

    4/5
     
  14. gd0

    gd0 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies

    Location:
    Golden Gate
    0/5

    So of course it's a Big Hit Single.

    :doh:
     
  15. Rock66

    Rock66 Forum Resident

    This is a great classic Beach Boys single. 5/5. The Beach Boys were great with covers of classic R&B and rock singles during their classic period, and this is one of the best.

    As to the dispute over the single vs. album version I like both. Which I want to play depends on my mood, but I guess I probably like the single version just a little bit better.
     
  16. Mr. D

    Mr. D Forum Resident

    Barbara Ann is an iconic Beach Boys' song, like it or not.

    I wouldn't put it in my ultimate favourites but I consider it essential listening and, arguably, their best cover.

    4/5
     
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  17. Will Harris

    Will Harris Forum Resident

    This is how I feel about "Barbara Ann" too. Not an ultimate favorite I put on comps, but one I always enjoy when I hear it. Liked they kept it in the concert set-lists year after year. They did that because it is iconic. And fun!
    Not in agreement with your "best cover" tag, I like some others more.

    The party atmosphere really works here. I like the single version a bit better, but this Lp version is good enough for a strong 4/5.
     
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  18. Mr. D

    Mr. D Forum Resident

    I threw out the "best cover" title without necessarily doing the mental exercise associated with it ;)

    My thought was that it was the one cover in their repertoire that is more associated with them than the original artist.
     
  19. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Barbara Ann - not my personal fave but iconic and loved by many. 5/5
     
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  20. Rock66

    Rock66 Forum Resident

    Your point about the track being more associated with the BB than the original artist is right on point. When I was much younger starting to hear "real old" five or six year BB hits I heard this "odd" Barbara Ann, by the Regents. I said "who are they?" Thus began my descent into understanding the concept of a cover hit. The other track that fits this description is Do You Wanna Dance by Bobby Freeman. I appreciate and enjoy the original hits for being pioneers but I still like the BB versions better.
     
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  21. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    Do You Wanna Dance is one where I think the original can't be beat -- though I love The Beach Boys' version, which is my #2 favourite.

    DYWD has been covered by so many...off the top of my head:

    Bobby Vee
    Del Shannon
    The Four Seasons
    Cliff Richard
    The Mamas and The Papas

    The Beach Boys' arrangement sounds to me like it was possibly based on Del Shannon's version, which tanked earlier in 1964.
     
  22. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Your ratings for Barbara Ann:
    1-1 vote
    2-0 vote
    3-0 vote
    4-5 votes
    5-2 votes
     
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  23. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Today we'll discuss the album Beach Boys' Party as a whole.
     
  24. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    I give it a good solid 4/5. It's not ambitious, but it does exactly what it intends to do and it sounds fun, energetic and alive.
     
  25. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    Always loved the way the vocals sounded, the party stuff not so much:

    3/5
     
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