Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

5/5. It may not be their best (it is one of their best), but it must be one of their most artistic and expressive works in the catalog. It is a shame that for the most part only Beach Boy fans are familiar with this track as it transcends pop music.

 

5/5, speaks for itself.

Although I usually made a point to trumpet it when the subject came up around here, it seems that relatively few took the time to check out Mr Desper's study-pages online while they were active.

You'll find unremarkable stereo gear in my profile. The differences heard when Desper's process was implemented weren't just simply discernible, they were dramatic and startling in terms of clarity and soundstage. Even the most casual, disinterested listener would immediately note the difference.

All of Sunflower was presented there, along with several other key tracks. Cabinessence is jaw-dropping. All of Surf's Up was on the verge of being uploaded, when SD yanked the whole thing (due to online bickering).

Opportunity lost.

Why these superior productions – and their creator – have been removed from consideration while BB material has been re-re-re-re-released over the years, is a freakin' mystery.

Probably the edict of some Suit. No evidence, I just like to point fingers in that direction.

 

Til I Die - 5/5

 

Nothing to add really. "Less is more" was never more perfectly expressed in music.

5/5

 

Another 5/5 for "Till I Die", could more honest lyrics have been written? According to Brian's book ("Wouldn't It Be Nice"), he was very close to ending it all at that time, luckily for us he didn't - these words were his feelings at that time

I'm a cork on the ocean
Floating over the raging sea
How deep is the ocean?
How deep is the ocean?
I lost my way
Hey hey hey
I'm a rock in a landslide
Rolling over the mountainside
How deep is the valley?
How deep is the valley?
It kills my soul
Hey hey hey
I'm a leaf on a windy day
Pretty soon I'll be blown away
How long will the wind blow?
How long will the wind blow?
Ohhhh
Until I die
Until I die
These things I'll be until I die...


Another piece of the "sad song suite" that takes up most of side 2. Gorgeous, haunting melody and heartfelt lyrics that show that Brian still had it, even if he was not the "leader" anymore.

 

Another 5/5 or 10/10 on our way to the best one. I'm going to stop working, relax, and listen to this album tonight.

 

'Til I Die - 5/5. gorgeous

 

"Til I Die"
I prefer the I Just Wasn't Made For These Times soundtrack arrangement with the slower tempo. This version from Surfs Up feels stiff in comparison. Mike sounds stiff towards the end, particularly. Still, a good song that is worth a:

4/5

 

Giganto 5/5, I can still remember the first time this played, in my car, in 2007 on the brickwalled European Platinum Collection Sounds of Summer and being just fricking stunned by the sheer sound of it. And it just got deeper the more I heard it.

 

Your ratings for Til' I Die:
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4-1 vote
5-14 votes

 

Today's song is Surf's Up:

 

Surf's Up is the most beautiful song I've ever heard.

That is all.

(5/5.)

 

5/5

One of those "the next step in the artform" songs.
Van Dyke Parks' contributions - forgive my ignorance, does he get his due?
Musically. The SMiLE arrangements carried on in Parks' own arranging work through the years.
Maybe Brian was spurred on by Van Dyke's presence as it was being constructed, at the piano I presume.
Mike Love's statement's about the flowery word play fall to **** in the face of the perfectly balanced ironies and absurd/surrealism "Columnated ruins domino".

Manages to be one of the greatest things a human has created.

The cherry on top - the epiglottic gulps of Carl. The inward singing. Double tracked.
Is Brian dueting in the "Dove nested towers.." section?

I listened to the "Master" on Tidal and was surprised by the massive synth bass. That's a 1971 touch for sure.

 

Surfs Up - one of the greatest songs ever written in the history of mankind. 5/5

 

An extraordinary song, here in its most extraordinary version. Just when you think nothing can possibly top "'Til I Die"...

5/5

 

5000/5

Immortal

 

5/5. When I got the Surf's Up LP I didn't know what to expect. This was a great song, but I had no idea that it was from a failed project called Smile. I just thought Van Dyke Parks was a guy who hung around as I kept seeing credits to so many BB songs of the era. Anyway, a wonderful song, again, too bad so few people have had a chance to hear it.

 

Surf's Up. The pinnacle of the Brian-Van Dyke Parks collaboration. SMiLE purists may prefer the original Brian-only version but I always like Carl content.

5/5, naturally.

 

Surf's Up - 5/5

 

5 for Til I Die and Surf's Up.

 

Songwriting doesn't get any better than this. "Surf's Up" is one of the most magnificent songs ever written. And I do give Van Dyke Parks a lot of credit for how great it is. I'll say that again in a different way. Plain and simply: Van Dyke Parks was Brian's greatest co-writer. No other writer ever sat in a room with Brian and wrote the kind of quality songs that poured out in a relatively short time. Both of them, alone or together, were at the top of their game from 1965 thru 1968. Wish the partnership had lasted longer. It did here and there.

I believe Van Dyke brings a special spark out in Brian. While not on the level of the SMiLE era material, Van Dyke's work with Brian on Orange Crate Art brought a true healing to Brian in the early nineties that he needed at that time to move forward. And move forward they did. All the way to bringing SMiLE to as natural an end as possible. Van Dyke has been a good friend to Brian regardless of how some feel about Van Dyke on a personal level. None of that changes the fact that as a writing team they created some wonderful music together.

You have to give Carl some credit for putting together the best version of "Surf's Up". Nobody will convince me otherwise. Without Carl's pushing, we wouldn't have the recording. Carl and Brian worked well together. This is not the only time Carl took Brian's beginnings and turned them into something greater. I checked my white label promo copy of Surf's Up, and indeed it does say Thanks Marilyn in the dead wax on side one. While listening to the AP CD last night, I tried to pay close attention to places where her voice might stand out in the mix. I think she might be buried among the ahhs/background vocals on "Feel Flows" - there's a lot going on in that song. But she had more to do with putting this record out than that. Along with Carl, she was part of the team that got the track "Surf's Up" to wax. Brian always needed a little convincing to bring the old Wilson/Parks songs back to life.

All that's left to say is, 5/5, or 10/10. The only "right" song to close the album.

 

She’s also pretty prominent on “Long Promised Road”

 

Surf’s Up is one of the greatest songs ever.

5/5.

 

Let's put this to bed. "Surf's Up" is Brian's Pieta. I don't say that in a necessarily religious sense but it is comparable to that work of Michelangelo in that he and Van Dyke were entrenched in a cloud of sheer genius in constructing this masterpiece with the gentle touch of Carl Wilson bringing it to us. Will this amazing song be rediscovered in the future and receive the accolades it deserves after we're gone? I can only hope for that as it seems to me that it perhaps did not get the recognition it so richly deserved upon release. That may not be as pressing an issue as I make it out to be but the bottom line is that it did happen and the beauty of it transcends the importance of it's recognition now or later. 5/5

 

Just knowing Im going to listen to this song moves me deeply.
How could someone make something so beautiful? Sometimes I think the world doesn't deserve it.
Sometimes I know we do.

5/5