Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

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

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  1. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    County Fair:
    Decent guitar, but otherwise disposable. 2/5

    Ten Little Indians:
    Dennis kicks the track and we get some honestly fairly obnoxious vocals. Musically this sounds like every other early Beach Boys Song, very By-the-numbers.
    Very weak. 2/5
     
  2. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    "County Fair": Mike's nasal telling of the tragic comedy gets me every time. Great voice acting to help, as well. The organ playing is pretty unique for an early BB track. "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "I Get Around" also have prominent organ parts. Love, love, love it. 4/5
     
  3. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Your ratings for Ten Little Indians:
    1-2 votes
    2-3 votes
    3-1 vote
    4-0 vote
    5-0 vote
     
  4. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Today's song is Chug-A-Lug:
     
  5. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Chug-A-Lug - 2/5
    Slightly better lead vocal from Mike compared to County Fair, but that's not saying much.
     
  6. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    2/5-I’ve always skipped this one. There are far too many better songs on the album. That said, the fact I can still remember the melody when it must’ve been 20 years since I’ve heard it must say something about Mr Wilson’s nascent composition skills.
     
  7. PretzelLogic

    PretzelLogic Feeling duped by MoFi? You probably deserve it.

    Location:
    London, England
    3/5

    There are worse songs on the album. The lyrics are pretty fun.
     
  8. Mi-Ke agrees with you.


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  9. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    Ten Little Indians

    3/5

    People tend to treat this like they do The Beatles Mr. Moonlight, but in this case I think it's a bit unfair. I like the tune. Sure, it seems goofy by today's standards, or even the standards of just couple years after it was released, but you have to put in context.

    For one thing, there were lots of "indian" themed songs in that era, both C&W and poprock. Just about a year and a half earlier Running Bear was a big hit, and just a little bit after Ten Little Indians was released the Hamm's beer commercial tune got turned into a instro surf tune recorded by a number of L.A. groups (Hiawatha).

    The thing I really like about the song is the brief little guitar break. If you're a deep surf fan, you hear the genesis of surf music in this -- you hear lead/rhythm guitar interplay nearly identical to The Belairs 1961 hit Mr. Moto, which The Beach Boys played live during 1962.

    So it's not a great tune, but I like it and if I had to choose between two despised tunes -- Mr. Moonlight or Ten Little Indians -- I pick the latter.
     
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  10. Lance LaSalle

    Lance LaSalle Prince of Swollen Sinus

    Chug-a-lug

    3/5

    "Chug-a-lug" gets points for being the most innocent song about substance abuse ever penned. And one can't help but think about the dark road the Beach Boys would walk down: all based on very typically American appetites: fries, soft drinks, sex, rock and roll, fast cars -- the things a typical teen thirsts and hungers for. Give that teen a million bucks and see what happens. Had they simply flopped in life, would they simply have ended up as beige-colored, drab, overweight businessmen tapping out their opinions on websites like this one?

    But they didn't and the substances and experiences they craved grew unhealthier as their ability to pay for them grew, though Mike and Al had TM to take the place of the various addictions of the Wilson brothers and Marks.

    Anyway, I like the song: the fact that it's aimed at 13 year olds is part of the reason why I like it. I can't for the life of me understand why the life of the teenager in the mid-twentieth century should not be documented in song: and that's what I like about the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson: he writes about the culture he is in. He sets his culture -- in all hits humor and banality -- down on tape and communicates it to eternity.

    No cynical you-me boy-girl songs aimed at a teenage market segment, no self-conscious poetry that sounds good to college students but makes the middle-aged man wince: No, he (and Usher) write about going somewhere in a car and chowing down on junk food as if that is all that matters in life. And trust me, when you are 15, it is all that matters in life.

    That's just awesome, if you ask me. Far more plausible and specific than a million other pop songs released in 62.

    I think of "Chug-a-Lug" everytime summer hits. They really were that innocent. Again, Carl Wilson shines on guitar.
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2018
  11. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Chug-a-Lug
    The thing that makes this one more memorable for me is the fact that the members of the band are inserted into the lyrics and we get little glimpses of their personalities at this time.

    Carl says hurry up and order it quick
    Dave gets out to chase that chick
    Dennis wonders what's under the hood
    ...
    Brian's still glued to the radio

    Dennis the gear-head, chubby Carl, David the flirt, Brian the music-lover... Cute stuff. It's a fun little song and so innocent.

    3/5
     
  12. Daniel Plainview

    Daniel Plainview God's Lonely Man

    Chug-a-lug

    Charming in it's young innocence. I can't fault it. Good guitar work. I'm leaning towards a three but again, in the big picture, I'm not sure that's accurate. Aww, hell, fine, give it a three. Why not?
     
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  13. S. P. Honeybunch

    S. P. Honeybunch Presidente de Kokomo, Endless Mikelovemoney

    Chug A Lug

    I like root beer, root beer floats, and regular beer, so this song is right up my alley. 5/5
     
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  14. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    Anyone ever notice that the opening notes to Chug-A-Lug are identical or nearly identical to the guitar notes that preface the lead guitar break in The Who's Our Love Was, Is? I think of that any time I hear either two tunes and remember that pic that's floating around the 'Net of Townsend in his apartment in 1965 holding a copy of Surfin' Safari...
     
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  15. Zoot Marimba

    Zoot Marimba And I’m The Critic Of The Group

    Location:
    Savannah, Georgia
    Chug-a-lug:
    Filler, but fairly charming filler, I dig it. Nice harmonies as you’d expect, good bass from Mike in particular, and the little organ is cool.

    3.5/5
     
  16. MaccaBeatles

    MaccaBeatles Forum Resident

    Location:
    Greater London
    Somehow I completely missed this thread! I'll catch up quickly:

    SURFIN' SAFARI (Pop Charts: US No.14 / Sweden No.1)
    Brian Wilson/Mike Love

    My immediate thought was to give this a rating of 4, but that's a low 4 compared to some of the brilliant productions we would get over the next couple of years. However this first track is a huge jump in quality from their first single, 'Surfin'. If you didn't know any better, 'Surfin' Safari' would have been just a nice single from yet another early 60s pop group, rather than the first in an extremely long line of excellent pop tunes spearheaded by Brian Douglas Wilson. The harmonies aren't all the way there yet by a long shot, but it's endearing to hear just how youthful they were. *I used to think Mike's lead vocal was Al, just because he sounds so different to his iconic voice.*

    If the songs appearance in 1973's American Graffiti hadn't cemented it as an all time classic, than it's placement as the first track on the following years 3x Platinum 'Endless Summer' compilation surely would have.
    4/5

    COUNTY FAIR
    Brian Wilson/Gary Usher

    Now this is a really corny track. I secretly find it kind of fun, but it's not exactly the kind of thing you want to get caught listening to. The harmonies are pretty lame too, Mike's juvenile sounding vocal is better than the song even warrants. However it has a fairly decent melody that was implemented much better in 'I Do'. (which inexplicably didn't get released until the early 90s despite being better than 70% of the material on their first handful of albums!)
    2/5

    TEN LITTLE INDIANS
    Brian Wilson/Gary Usher

    This one isn't exactly great either, but that guitar riff in between 0:53 and 1:04 is pretty cute. The lyrics aren't worth the time of day, and once again you are given the impression Brian and Gary Usher knocked it off in about 5 minutes. They almost get a pass since they didn't know any better, but overall there just isn't much of a song here. It's extremely startling to think this same band created the likes of 'Pet Sounds' and 'Good Vibrations' four years later!
    2/5

    CHUG-A-LUG
    Brian Wilson/Gary Usher/Mike Love

    On any of their other albums this would be a filler cut, but here it's actually one of the better tracks. Maybe it's because it's such an innocuous song, or because it mentions the band members personally, ("Brian's still glued to the radio") But I have a soft spot for this tune. There are zero pretensions about it, which makes it at the very least refreshing from a postmodern viewpoint.
    3/5
     
    Last edited: Jun 21, 2018
  17. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Your ratings for Chug-A-Lug:
    1-0 vote
    2-2 votes
    3-6 votes
    4-0 vote
    5-1 vote
     
  18. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Today's song is Little Girl (You're My Miss America):
     
  19. Wata

    Wata Poller Thread Starter

    Location:
    Japan
    Little Girl (You're My Miss America) - 3/5
    A youthful, nice lead vocal from Dennis, which sounds surprisingly young compared to his later recordings. And I appreciate the choice of this cover.
     
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  20. G B Kuipers

    G B Kuipers Forum Resident

    Location:
    Netherlands
    You hit the nail right on the head here, for me at least. The early BB music strikes such a fundamental chord with teenagers (and adults who remember their childhood) for the reasons you explained here.
     
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  21. "Little Girl (You're My Miss America)" is one of my favorite songs from Surfin' Safari.
     
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  22. Parachute Woman

    Parachute Woman Forum Resident

    Location:
    USA
    Little Girl (You're My Miss America)
    This one may be my favorite on the first album. It has a soft, dreamy quality to it that I love and I'm a sucker for Dennis on lead vocal. I've always loved his voice, no matter what state it was in. Really nice song for the period.

    4/5
     
  23. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    I've always really liked this one as well. 4/5
    Reminds me sometimes of The Echoes' Baby Blue from 1961.
     
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  24. Etienne Hanratty

    Etienne Hanratty Forum Resident

    Location:
    uk
    5/5-My favourite Dennis vocal that he didn’t write (if we overlook Never Learn Not To Love)
     
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  25. PretzelLogic

    PretzelLogic Feeling duped by MoFi? You probably deserve it.

    Location:
    London, England
    4/5 Nice song, seemed to the standout the first time I heard the album. Never heard the original, and don't care to.

    Sidenote: curious that Dennis got a lead vocal when he was seemingly the least committed member at the time, and the least conventionally 'good' singer in the band (aside from David Marks). Be interested to know how he got to sing lead on this decent song, while Carl and David got lumped with a pretty perfunctory joint lead vocal.
     
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