Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

"If your soul is hungry rock feeds your appetite" - yikes. Lyrics are awful, the chorus isn't bad - almost sounds like "arena rock" (like "We Built this City") - the verses are strange, reminded me of I Just got My Pay at first, definitely some weird melodic turns on the verses but totally doesn't go with the chorus, middle 8 is bad. Certainly no worse than most of Sweet Insanity. 2/5

 

This one fits in with most of the others from this sad era. That growling vocal part is terrible, but this isn't as bad as the worst of these songs so I'll lighten up and give it a 2/5.

 

Ridiculous lyrics and a somewhat choppy structure spoil this for me. But as incredible as it may sound, I hear a good song going on in there that needs a bit of TLC to bring it out. The drums are right there with, for once, a good rock 'n roll beat. No, the vocals aren't great either and what a crappy intro we have here. I'd like to hear Brian and his current band take this on and clean it up. 3/5

 

Lots of good musical ideas in "Concert Tonight." I think I read somewhere that Brian was really into hair metal at this time and this was his Brianized version of that. I mean, there's something weird and wrong about that, but you know, I think it's pretty good. The production bothers me less than I thought it would and I think it should have been included on Sweet Insanity...I mean, had it been released. It's better than some of the other songs, for sure. The final wooo-hooo is hilariously real to me.

There are some pretty crappy lines in it, but I don't know what people expect from Brian Wilson! I think it's so inventive that I give it a middling strong 3/5; the pieces are undeniably good (well, you can deny it obviously, but I can't!) but they just don't come together into a seamless song for me so I unable to give it a 4.

 

Yea there's two that are worth puttin down but the rest....

 

Concert Tonight: My version of SI has the 20 second version, which as an intro to the album almost acts like Gee does for SMiLE (apologies to oldsurferdude)

I do agree with oldsurferdude that there is a good rock beat and I actually like the long chorus fade.

As for the lyrics, I am not sure we can assume that because they are bad they were automatically written by Landy. Wouldn't surprise me if they came from a prisoner of home, heavy medicated Brian but others may have evidence to the contrary.

Still can't go above 2/5

 

Brian's voice sounds dreadful here and somebody really should have told him that attempting to "rock out" was a bad idea.

The lyrics are dire again and this didn't deserve to be released.

A high 1/5.

 

is that like a low 5/5? Kind of a contradiction?

 

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Today's song is Save the Day:

 

Well, as sixties nostalgia-fests go, I think its a whole helluva better than "Lookin' Back With Love". Well, at least the first verse. The second one gets a little too Mike Love for me.

I like half of the production: the big expansive echoey synth sound is one I've always liked (albeit from other artists), but as is typical from songs the too-splashy drum sound bothers me. It's a good melody. And it's way better than that crapfest on Gettin' over my head.

I notice that this version lacks backing vocals....it's a sad sad day when you say a Brian Wilson songs is actually better for not having backing vocals, but that happens to be today.

a strong 3/5

 

Well it means closer to 1.4 than 1.0.

 

This might be better than the later Fairytale, but that's not saying much. Brian's vocal is very weak and ragged, but his attempt on GIOMH is worse.

The lyrics are substandard and it drags on far too long.

A high 1/5.

David Foster's version is cheesy as anything, but still better than Brian's efforts simply due to being competently sung.

 

Not as bad as most of this era but still another mediocre song from an artist that once could do so much better. It actually could have used some backing vocals to mask his weak voice. 2/5

 

While the song is inoffensive - which can't be said of most of Sweet Insanity - it's a bland, uninteresting MOR ballad with peace and love Imagine type lyrics (but not nearly as good). And it is interminable, another mark against it. 2/5.

 

It is pretty long.

 

Yeah, this is what Brian's should have sounded like. The production is not that different actually (though those synth horns....yuck) but the backing vocals are really actually very well done. I'm not sure if these lyrics are much of a improvement and I don't like the change in the melody to the chorus, but overall this is probably the best version I've heard. Thank you!

 

The tune isn't bad but it's trapped in that horrible 80's synthy sound. Better overall than "Fairy Tale", at least. I'll give it a 2, as far as outtakes go.

 

This is a little off topic but just let me get this in: I despise David Foster - his keyboard sounds, his arrangements, his aesthetic, his music. He almost single-handedly destroyed George Harrison's Extra Texture. But I do admire him for marrying a woman 35 years his junior!

 

Musically speaking, there's a song in there somewhere - a song better than most of SI. Brian is pretty shrill and the rinky-dink tinny production doesn't help. 2

 

Was always drawn to this particular melody by Brian despite the poor execution of it. Yes, there are a few good musical ideas going on but it would have been better to focus on just one and make it good. I prefer the David Foster take over both of Brian's. Another song that would be interesting to hear Brian and the band interpret. A limp 3/5.

 

Save the Day: I like the less is more, electronic backing more than the Gettin' version and certainly more than that David Foster version The lyrics of this version sound like something Mike Love might have written, which may normally be a bad thing, but in this case, the lyrics are preferable to those excruciating ones on Fairy Tale. There is a decent melody there but Brian's vocal ability, circa the late 80's, cannot carry such a song.

I'm inclined to give Fairy Tale a 1/5. STD (!) is slightly better and to differentiate it from Fairy Tale it gets a 2/5.

 

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Today's song is Let's Stick Together:

 

Maybe a clean-sounding version would go over different, but I can't get through this. I'm no fan of that waltz on Gettin' In Over My Head, either, but it's better than this, I think, though the sound is always so bad whenever I hear this version that who knows?

I'm giving this a 1/5. Even a great sounding version probably would not rate higher than a 2/5. The melody is just kind of unexciting to me and makes the song seem longer than it is.