Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

I like the weird Brian voice/rap (his Pied Piper voice), love the instrumentation and track but the main "melody" is amazingly repetitive and simple. Yet it is catchy and I do like it overall. Compared to CTIHA this is a work of genius. A generous 3/5.

 

Child of Winter - repetitive and boring. 1/5

 

Yeah. I'm with Turk Threat (again). I heard about CoW like it was some great "lost" Beach Boys song, so when I first heard it, I was startled to hear Mike in full nasal glory and a song which is really nothing more than a nice bit of fluff.

CoW is like chocolates in the stocking. Good to have in small doses. 3/5...though on a bad day that spoken word bit is enough for me to reconsider my rating.

 

I didn't get around to rating Christmastime is Here yesterday.

I don't seem to have that song anywhere. Not sure why. Not even sure I'd ever heard it.

Went back to my rating of Peggy Sue and had this to say:

Peggy Sue. I prefer the less slick 15BO version but similar to Come and Go With Me, a pointless cover, especially in the context of MIU.
2/5

A Peggy Sue with Christmas lyrics may be even more pointless but, at least, it's different. Don't think I would have gone above a 2, though. I will say if I was to do a ranking of every Beach Boys song I'd likely rank Peggy Sue with Xmas lyrics higher than the "straight" cover.

 

We really agreed on this album! The top 5 tracks got the top 5 ratings. For me, all 5 are a near tie in one way or another. I should have rated "Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long" higher. No problem, there is always a next time with these polls.

 

I love Christmas music, but I don't care for many of these late seventies tunes. It wasn't 1964 any more. That's for sure.

I don't consider "Peggy Sue" a classic, so what Al did with it is uninteresting. "Child of Winter" gets a 2/5, 4/10. Not on any of my Christmas comps/playlists.

 

I play it every Christmas at least once or twice. I like the sleigh bells and Brian's wacky voice insert for some reason. I bought the single 45 when it was released. As most have said, it's highly repetitive throughout the course of the song. 3/5

 

Your ratings for Child of Winter:
1-1 vote
2-4 votes
3-7 votes
4-0 vote
5-0 vote

 

Today's song is Winter Symphony:

 

One of the better songs from these sessions and a very decent lead vocal. It's a shame that there are no harmonies at all and that probably says a lot about how half-hearted the recording was. 3/5.

Again, huge props to Al for singing this last year considering he probably barely remembered it from 40 years earlier:

 

Winter Symphony, yeah I like this. Nice smooth bit of Brian even if he doesn't seem emotionally invested in it. 3/5

 

I love it. Great melody and fine picturesque lyric, I guess by Al? 4/5

 

Was it Diane Rovell who was credited with the lyrics?

 

I think it's great, rough (ish - it had been worse) voice and all. Pity it wasn't used to elevate the quality of MIU. An unusual umber. One of (many) songs that don't fall into that cliched Beach Boys mode that has led some people to pigeonhole them. 5.

 

I always liked this song with an interesting Brian vocal that displays the real beginning of his voice change which is similar to Back of My Mind. The midsection instrumental is a bit long, but generally a nice song performed well. 4/5

 

Yeah, you would think that Al had a hand in this composition. It bears a similarity to the verses of Looking Down the Coast.

When it comes to Xmas albums I give extra credit for original compositions, especially an atypical one.

If we were using a 10 point scale, this would be a solid 7. Can't go as high as a 4, though, as it lacks anything truly memorable.

3/5

 

"Winter Symphony"

Lead vocal is somewhat weak, but good song nonetheless. Horns add color, but seem like intended backing for something else in parts.

3/5

 

Was’t Brian’s lead vocal a late 77 recording over a 75/76 track?
Anyway IMO this is one of the best post-73 songs, and very different from the rest of The Beach Boys canon . Add this song, Our Team and a finished Why/Egypt to M.I.U. and it gains one or two stars. To me a solid 5/5

 

Yeah, I think it's Brian's best sing between Love You and BW88.

 

I use this on my adjusted Adult Child because it's kind of an old fashioned torch song, with a solo lead vocal. 4/5

 

Yes. Many of the songs from this era are recorded over old backing tracks. In this case I think it was Diane who wrote the words, but I'm not sure whether she is credited anymore.

 

Never Learn Not To Love

A wonderful partnership between Beach Boys and Charles Manson.

 

Good choice for Adult/Child. This sounds like sixties Brian in structure and execution - like much of that album did. The horns, the arrangement is fantastic. When I heard this, I thought, "Good job, Brian." 5/5, 9/10.

 

"Winter Symphony" is the best of this Christmas crop by a country mile. Wonderful tune and a cool vocal from Brian. Always look forward to hearing this every December and it fits right in with stuff like Slade's "Merry Christmas Everybody", Wizzard's "I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day" and XTC's "Thanks For Christmas". Essential Beach Boys which is a rare adjective used during this period. 5/5

 

Seems like I've heard Diane mentioned, before. Brian gets the writing credit in the Cd notes. Also lists the basic track being recorded in '75/'76, vocals and sweetening in Iowa, 1977. Brian and Al produced.
There are not many solid details on this song.