Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

LTT - just goes on a bit too long. 3/5

 

LTT along w the other Flame member tunes are faves of mine. They helped round the BB sound into a bit more contemporary sound at the time. Great stuff. My fave BB period. This fantastic updated sound is in full bloom on the In Concert live record.

5/5

 

"The Trader" is a classic, one of the very best of the early '70s Beach Boys era. It's also great value for your Beach Boys dollar, because you're essentially getting not one but TWO BB tracks for the price of one. That's right - if you order "The Trader - Rockin' First Part" today, we'll throw in "The Trader - Transcendent Mellow Second Part" at no additional cost. This is Carl at his best.

 

Holland has a lot of great songs, but "Leaving this Town" is my favorite one. Like "Trader", it has many parts that go together perfectly. The melody, the sad soulful lyrics/vocals, that extended synth solo in the middle, and finally the lovely harmonized part at the very end, with that down-turning bass run just before it fades out. This is by far the best of the 3 Blondie/Ricky numbers, and to me the album takes a bit of a dive after this. 5/5 all the way.

Anyone notice the similarity between the synth solo and the one in the "Breathe" reprise on Dark Side of the Moon? I wonder if they were listening to that album since it came out around the same time

 

It's amazing that Blondie and Ricky had only been with the group for 2 years, yet they somehow came up with lyrics that sound like they're singing about Brian, "Hold On, Dear Brother" and "Leaving This Town"

 

5/5

 

And then there was this delicious Blondie & Ricky inspired jam:



500/5

 

Dark Side came out in March '73. I would guess not.

 

I love Blondie’s vocals in general, but Leaving This Town is my favorite of his (most especially on the live album). I also agree that the solo is awesome.

4/5.

 

"Leaving This Town" - I love it. It's songs like this that sorta wish they didn't give Brian the keys to the kingdom for "15 Big Ones". 5/5

 

In my house, we call that one "Wonderbill."

 

Ah, OK didn't know that

 

"Leaving This Town"
I agree that the keyboard solo has a "Low Spark" flavor. Nothing wrong with that. The solo might feel a bit tedious, but the rest of the song is worth it. Great Blondie vocal and writing from Flame N' Carl. Passionate song with a naive "In My Room"/"Warmth of the Sun" type of feeling.

5/5

 

Your ratings for Leaving This Town:
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3-3 votes
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5-5 votes

 

Today's song is Only With You:

 

Only With You is my least favorite Dennis song released in his lifetime. it's commercial, maybe too conventionally commercial for me. Still, it has a good enough melody, but I really dislike Carl's mealy-mouthed vocal here. Heresy from a Beach Boys fan. Please dont crucify me.

3/5

 

3/5

I like Carl's lead vocal, but I think version with Dennis on lead resonates more deeply. This song also doesn't quite fit the tone of Holland. Maybe it's because of its relative straightforwardness or the fact that it's the sole love song. That said, I'm going with a "3" rating instead of "2" because it's still pretty good and I still find its hooks lodged in my head.

Going off topic a bit, I think it would have been a better album had the group dropped "Only With You" and included Dennis' "Carry Me Home" instead. "Carry Me Home" isn't perfect -- I think the lyrics need to be a tad bit more descriptive about its subject. But man is it powerful. When I first heard it as the closer on the California Feeling bootleg in the '80s it stopped me in my tracks. Should have closed Holland.

 

Only With You — Sweet, but a little slick and soporific. I prefer Dennis’s version with its tar and gravel lead and false ending. Dennis’s melodic skills were always impressive, but his best ballads had greater dynamics thanks to his flair for dramatic interludes and codas — e.g., Thoughts of You, Time, Cuddle Up, etc. This one plods a bit, and simply adding “oo” to the end of “you” and “do” at the song’s conclusion doesn’t really take things up a gear. Still, it’s perfectly pleasant and I like the piano outro quite a lot. So despite my nits, I’ll give it a 4/5.

 

As in Steamboat, Carl's vocal mannerisms - I like Lance's term "mealy-mouthed" - really mar what is a solid love ballad - and why oh why did Carl add those "you - oo -oo"'s ? Dennis's later remake is much better even with his ravaged voice. I'll go with 3/5 but with a better vocal it could have been a 4.

 

Only With You - One of Mike's best lyrics. Whenever someone tells me he could only write songs about cars and surfing I point to this song. I wanted it played at my wedding reception but the DJ failed me (thought he could make it up by playing "Kokomo" instead so I had the best man go give him a talking to. Eventually he played "God Only Knows". Still disappointed, though). Great chords, great words, solid vocal from Carl, cool time shift at the end. Love it. 5/5

 

Nice cover by Normal Blake here;

 

Yes, and Teenage Fanclub (Normal Norman’s band) had their own original Only With You— one that plows the same ground as Denny’s song. I guess he had a fascination with that tune.

Teenage Fanclub - Only With You

 

OWY - like the discussion on the two Big Sur's, I think both the Beach Boys and Dennis versions have something to offer.

Musically, the Dennis solo version is more interesting and I understand that some find Carl's vocal a bit mealy-mouthed; however, when those backing vocals kick in toward the end of the Holland version, that is pure Beach Boys.

4/5

 

3/5

Not a world-beater, but I like the outro.

 

3/5. A fair tune, but nothing memorable.