Discuss & Rate Beach Boys Songs Day by Day

I play it every now and again. It it’s a very different experience than smile. Much lighter.

 

Performed flawlessly. Strangely, even Brian's voice -- obviously sounding much older -- works. Doesn't it? It doesn't bother me, that I know. The strangest thing about this whole album for me, is how I buy right into it. I would like to be critical, but I really can't. There's something pretty weird going on here for that to happen -- for this whole thing to be working.

It was discussed among fans if recreating/re-recording this music was even an option as a means of "finishing" it. I seem to remember that idea being largely dismissed as a possibility. A) They couldn't. And/or B) It just wouldn't work. I remember thinking it was the only way they could do it... but I thought, no way would it work.

You couldn't ask for a better test than "Heroes And Villains." Exhuming this particular SMiLE creature had to work. It had to be convincing for this whole idea to have any merit. I know this is a 37 years later recreation/performance... but they nail it folks. The production, the mix. The energy, the passion. Every note recapturing every note. I even love the crisp, clean and refreshing sound. As a 2004 Brian Wilson solo song, "Heroes And Villains" is really good. 5/5. On its own, I don't think we could have asked for more... and that's how I rate it. I don't know how they did it.

 

No, it's not the Beach Boys, but putting that aside for this, the lead singer (BW) is the one that wrote it and he does an admirable job of singing it. This is a very enjoyable version and deserves a 5/5 for just more than the performance.

 

I think Brian’s voice is generally pretty great from here on out. It’s got a lot of character.

 

There have been so many variations of H & V, especially taking into account the various fan mixes. This version, similarly, has a little bit of the single, a little bit of the Cantina version and a little bit unique to pass muster. And, yes, Brian does a solid vocal.

4/5

 

They’ve shoehorned cantina into the single version and I think it works - adding more Smile pieces to Heroes almost always works. They recreate the “spooky strings” mix that was the original “Heroes bridge” before it became the chorus of the single and the organ was added and the cellos bass and percussion were dropped down in the mix. But here they added a bass harmonica not in the original to the chorus - not sure why they felt that was necessary.

singing is as good as can be expected considering it’s not The Beach Boys and not 1967 Brian. Nothing surprising here but a solid well performed track. 4/5

 

Picked a few at random. All say that Brian is singing really well. Something I wanted to post last week: I'm still trying to get a grip on how so many can say these studio/live vocals by Brian are great, when it's only a year after his Gettin' In Over My Head music/vocals. Now, it's not just our gang. I've been hearing the "I hate GIOMH, but I love BWPS" comments for about seven years, music and vocals. How can that be? I've never thought Brian sounded uninterested/lazy on the GIOMH tracks, myself.

 

Each to their own, but I think it is pretty clear that a lot more time was taken over the vocals for BWPS and that his band were much more involved in quality control.

The GIOMH vocals pretty much all sound like they were recorded in one take and that he couldn't get out of the studio fast enough.

 

I think it’s remarkable and obviously telling that Brian’s vocals were so good on Imagination (when they were spotty or downright bad on most of the Paley sessions and on Sweet Insanity), then were sloppy on GIOMH, and then improved dramatically on BWPS and on Lucky Old Sun.

 

This is true. Even on the "That Lucky Old Sun" demo he's singing so soulfully and with such confidence. They try to sell us forgeries like the Disney thing and that album with the techno crap but it's always very obvious when Brian is sincerely inspired and willing to try and those times when he is not. You can't force "the magic".

 

That's a fair observation. Personally, I'm quite fond of the Gettin' In Over My Head album, which is why I gave the album a lofty "4" overall. I enjoy the feel, the tunes, and the fact that Brian sounds relaxed and in a good place. After decades of sounding either paranoid, forced at gun-point to sing, or just plain bizarre, I'm glad to have another album with a centered Brian Wilson.

In art, where ever your heart and mind are at the time, it will always manifest in the final product. And throughout the entire Gettin' In Over My Head album, despite being in a good place, many feel there's an air of being haphazardly rushed -- especially the vocals. I wasn't there, but I feel like they walked away after a satisfactory run-through and moved on. Conversely, it seems like Brian is totally invested on Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE. Perhaps if he had taken more time, done a few more takes, or added a touch of auto-tune, many would be praising the album more.

 

Thanks for going over it one more time, guys. One of these days I will stop fussin' about it.

As for this "Heroes and Villains" -fantastic! 4/5, 8/10. We can all agree there is magic paint
used in this arrangement.

 

The Wall o' Brians is the main thing that bother me about Gettin In Over My Head. Most of the time it sounds like ass. Flat, badly timed....Gettin' In Over My Head would be MUCH improved if he had simply had the band sing the backing vocals...or if Joe Thomas had produced the vocals.

The lead vocals are mostly OK, a few of them are perfunctory but I don't mind them -- a lot those songs are not exactly easy to sing, but it doesn't sound like he's trying on a couple of them. From BWPS on out he almost always sounds like he's trying. Especially on Gershwin and maybe the Joe Thomas stuff.

 

Your ratings for Heroes and Villains:
1-0 vote
2- 0 vote
3-0 vote
4-9 votes
5-3 votes

 

Today's song is Roll Plymouth Rock:

 

I'm gonna give this one a high 2. It doesn't really do anything for me. Honestly I find it kind of boring.

 

It's nice to hear the song with verse vocals finally but this track lacks the punch and spook of the original and the synthetic tack piano is el cheapo sounding. The renaming of the song shows lack of testicular fortitude. Only giving it a 2 because I am disgruntled this morning.

 

Am I the only one in the world that prefers no vocals on the verses? As soon as I had heard them in Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE I didn't think they were necessary. Also, I'm Waiting For The Day has no vocals on the first verse and is just an instrumental intro. Can't this song be treated the same? Whatever. 3/5. As Daniel said above, this version lacks the magic of the original recording. The instrumental backing sounds cheap and the vocals are lacking any effort. I also hate the title change. Do You Like Worms? is a much better title and weird title that fits the vibe of SMiLE perfectly. Brian for some reason said the original title was inappropriate and thus decided to change it. How was the original inappropriate?

 

4

 

This is one of the most “out there” bizarre Smile songs, and I love that we finally get to hear it complete, with the verse lyrics and verse backing vocals (although they should have been louder in the mix). This would certainly have baffled listeners back in 1967 - the weird music, fake Hawaiian chanting, and lyrics that are among Van Dykes most obtuse. “Ribbon of concrete” indeed! Would have like the West or East Indies line to show up as well (some speculate it would have gone over the last tack piano BR theme, the “false fade”). And of course the verse melody may not be correct, based on Brian singing some of the verse in the studio session on TSS.

Nevertheless the song is brilliant - it is missing some of the “spook” of the original, as Daniel pointed out, but that’s true of BWPS as a whole - Mrs O’Learys Cow is not nearly as disturbing as the original, Heroes, Wind Chimes, Barnyard, etc the same. That was intentional on Brian’s part, he wanted to lighten up the musics mood to make it more of humorous, light hearted , “music to make you smile.” I don’t hold that against BWPS and respect his choice not to go back to the same dark space that he was working in for the original sessions.

4/5

 

BWPS works best, for me, when it realizes or fulfills the incomplete work of the original; therefore, I am with lou's assessment on Roll Plymouth Rock.

And I have no issue with the title change.

4/5

 

Same as Lou and Mr. D. 4/5.

 

I get a great pleasure out of the completed songs on BWPS like this one. Yes, its'not what it would have been; and the tone on this song is quite a bit brighter and lighhter than the Do you Dig Worms, which is scary and that spooky piano riff almost defines SMiLE for me. This is something completely different, but I give it a 4/5.

 

Roll Plymouth Rock (aka: Do You Like Worms) is one of the most compelling SMiLE pieces to me. Big, momentous and mysterious -- and strangely similar in structure to Heroes And Villains. Obviously, Roll Plymouth Rock is essentially identical to Do You Like Worms -- so why the title change?

Well... I suspect that Do You Like Worms wasn't fully realized. As mentioned, much of it structurally became Heroes & Villains. Those abrupt shifts to the piano/bicycle section became the signature "yin-and-yang" nature of Heroes & Villains. I assumed Brian realized this motif made more sense for Heroes & Villains, excised it -- and was going to circle back and do something else to complete Worms. The title change here is an admission that Worms hadn't fully materialized by '67. He was missing a few big sections. Rather than come up with those ideas in 2004, Brian decided to polish what he had and perform it.

I don't know if I'm right about that or not. Probably not. But I was a wee-bit disappointed that Roll Plymouth Rock was not that new, fully realized Do You Like Worms idea. And if Brian needed to come up with something that didn't already exist in 67, I'm not sure I would have wanted that either. While it's nice to have the lyrics added in there, Roll Plymouth Rock is still not the answer to the mystery I was hoping for. If this is all it was ever going to be... well, then... it's a strange song.

But in the end, however, we do get another fantastic recreation of a SMiLE track -- with some much needed additions (lyrics). It's a 5 in that regard, but I'm going to say it 4. It didn't become as "finished" as I was imagining and it remains a strange SMiLE song in this form.

4/5.

 

I've had the Look! Listen! Vibrate! Smile! book since at least 1990 so hearing 'Do You Like Worms (Roll Plymouth Rock)' with lyrics on the verses was something of a Holy Grail for me. Again, I forgive the lack of 'spook' as it was a minor miracle that we got anything at all. And of course in 7 short years we'd have everything we could ever possibly ask for, 5/5