I finally "get" the Beach Boys.

[Arpangel]

Hard day in the garden, both of us completely exhausted last night, came in to the kitchen, the radio is stuck on BBC6 Music, what the hell is that! I’m thinking, what is this!
Sounds really weird, like it could be a bunch of kids messing about in the studio, it’s all over the place, it’s great! I really can’t pin it down, it could have been done at any time, in the past, or in the future!
The track is "Cabin Essence" by the Beach Boys, it’s amazing, they caught me off guard, my mind was blank and they took advantage of it, I’ve never liked the Beach Boys, but this has changed my mind completely, I’m going to have to listen closely now, it’s amazing how music can affect us when we don’t have any preconceptions about it, if only I could turn this feeling on and off at will.

[Eddy Deegan]

I've never been a massive Beach Boys fan but there are some tracks they've done that I like very much indeed and they were great at beautiful vocal harmonies; Our Prayer, for example.

[RichardT]

Hard day in the garden, both of us completely exhausted last night, came in to the kitchen, the radio is stuck on BBC6 Music, what the hell is that! I’m thinking, what is this!
Sounds really weird, like it could be a bunch of kids messing about in the studio, it’s all over the place, it’s great! I really can’t pin it down, it could have been done at any time, in the past, or in the future!
The track is "Cabin Essence" by the Beach Boys, it’s amazing, they caught me off guard, my mind was blank and they took advantage of it, I’ve never liked the Beach Boys, but this has changed my mind completely, I’m going to have to listen closely now, it’s amazing how music can affect us when we don’t have any preconceptions about it, if only I could turn this feeling on and off at will.

Have a fresh listen to Good Vibrations and God Only Knows, IMO two of the greatest pop songs ever written.

[Folderol]

for Good Vibrations. Especially considering when it was released, it really shook up the market. Oh, and well thought out vocal harmonies was always their trademark.

[Luke W]

I saw Brian Wilson a few years back and it was an incredible show. I knew it would be good but I was completely blown away, some amazing songs.

[Arpangel]

Oh yes, Brian Wilson, I’m looking at him in the studio
A truly inspired individual, and yes, those harmonies, and very strange arrangements.

[Albatross]

Delve deeper, Angel. He/they were real innovators and they have been touching my life for, well, ever.

I mean who could be bothered to put drawing pins into each hammer on a piano to get a bit more 'click' to the sound? Brian Wilson.

[Tim Gillett]

The Beach Boys were great for many of us growing up. Some top songs and arrangements.

Another lesser known but great song IMO was Brian Wilson's Guess I'm Dumb, sung here by Glen Campbell who could do the demanding vocal justice. Brian Wilson produced it.

https://youtu.be/_5sWIzjUEPo

[Stratman57]

If I'm not mistaken, "tack" pianos have been around since the late 1800s, hardly a Brian Wilson innovation. However, I like the theremin on Good Vibrations.

Regards, Simon.

[Albatross]

Thanks for putting that straight, I'll have to be a little more careful with the credits.

[Stratman57]

Maybe he'd been listening to Mrs Mills.

Regards, Simon.

[Arpangel]

Thanks for putting that straight, I'll have to be a little more careful with the credits.

Yes you will, I was doing it when I was ten, my parents went crazy when they went to,play the piano!

[MOF]

Have a fresh listen to Good Vibrations and God Only Knows, IMO two of the greatest pop songs ever written.

Agreed, there is a lovely stereo version of God only knows, the master for Good Vibrations has gone awol apparently so no stereo version.
The Beach Boys don’t do it for me all the time and those trademark backing vocals seem to mostly be the same style in every song.

[Howdy Doody Time]

Hard day in the garden, both of us completely exhausted last night, came in to the kitchen, the radio is stuck on BBC6 Music, what the hell is that! I’m thinking, what is this!
Sounds really weird, like it could be a bunch of kids messing about in the studio, it’s all over the place, it’s great! I really can’t pin it down, it could have been done at any time, in the past, or in the future!
The track is "Cabin Essence" by the Beach Boys, it’s amazing, they caught me off guard, my mind was blank and they took advantage of it, I’ve never liked the Beach Boys, but this has changed my mind completely, I’m going to have to listen closely now, it’s amazing how music can affect us when we don’t have any preconceptions about it, if only I could turn this feeling on and off at will.

Have a fresh listen to Good Vibrations and God Only Knows, IMO two of the greatest pop songs ever written.

Absolutely right IMHO ABBA's Chiquitita comes close.

[OneWorld]

The Beach Boys a were rum bunch, with Dennis Wilson hooking up with Charles Manson and almost got Manson a record deal. And apparently one of the Beach Boys couldn't stand surfing, the whole California beach set wasn't his thing. But apparently, to set the mood when he was writing he had a load of sand dumped in the room and wave noises playing.

In a more general sense there is a really good book about the the California Surfing Sound or more to the point the Swinging 60's Stateside.

The book is called "Everybody had an Ocean"

One story tells of 2 aspiring musicians who needed money to pay for a demo and so they kidnapped one of the Gettys, one of the sons. They wanted a $100,000 dollars, when they made contact he offered $1million, buy the kidnappers said "No, that's ok, we only want $100,000" They arranged to meet at a Texaco gas station but in the area, there were several, one not too far away. The kidnappers went to the Texaco station and waited, and waited. So they found the phone number of the other gas stations and asked.....

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "No, now F*** off"

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "Who's Paul Getty?"

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "Yeah sure, he just rolled into the garage, he comes every night" (The garage owner was joking) anyway believing him, the kidnappers said "Great, ask him to wait there, we'll be along in 10 minutes"

They left that garage and went to the other, in the meantime Paul Getty turned up at the first garage while the kidnappers were at the other garage, he stayed a short while gave up and went home!

[ajay_m]

Sail on, sailor is a really beautiful song of theirs, too.

[Sam Spoons]

They did some really good stuff, one of those bands who were different from the herd. 'Surf's Up' was probably my favourite album, though 'Pet Sounds' is often considered the masterwork.

[N i g e l]

I like the theremin on Good Vibrations.

Contraversial ! it might not have been a theremin but somthing that was easier to play !
Great music.

The Beach Boys became quite experimental in the later years and Brian Wilson was always looking over his shoulder to see what the Beatles were upto incase they got overtaken

I watched a really good Beach Boys docu-drama covering both halves of their career.
It was late night TV shown in two films back to back, so quite long.
Possibly "The Beach Boys: An American Family "

[GilesAnt]

They did some really good stuff, one of those bands who were different from the herd. 'Surf's Up' was probably my favourite album

People who think they know the Beach Boys really should listen to Surf's Up. A mixture of classic sounds and some more experimental stuff. A pretty good album in my opinion that stands up to comparison with late Beatles music if not quite alongside.

[Arpangel]

The Beach Boys a were rum bunch, with Dennis Wilson hooking up with Charles Manson and almost got Manson a record deal. And apparently one of the Beach Boys couldn't stand surfing, the whole California beach set wasn't his thing. But apparently, to set the mood when he was writing he had a load of sand dumped in the room and wave noises playing.

In a more general sense there is a really good book about the the California Surfing Sound or more to the point the Swinging 60's Stateside.

The book is called "Everybody had an Ocean"

One story tells of 2 aspiring musicians who needed money to pay for a demo and so they kidnapped one of the Gettys, one of the sons. They wanted a $100,000 dollars, when they made contact he offered $1million, buy the kidnappers said "No, that's ok, we only want $100,000" They arranged to meet at a Texaco gas station but in the area, there were several, one not too far away. The kidnappers went to the Texaco station and waited, and waited. So they found the phone number of the other gas stations and asked.....

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "No, now F*** off"

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "Who's Paul Getty?"

"Is Paul Getty there?" - "Yeah sure, he just rolled into the garage, he comes every night" (The garage owner was joking) anyway believing him, the kidnappers said "Great, ask him to wait there, we'll be along in 10 minutes"

They left that garage and went to the other, in the meantime Paul Getty turned up at the first garage while the kidnappers were at the other garage, he stayed a short while gave up and went home!

Just another day in the life of the "music business" generally run by gangsters, Mafia, etc etc, but as Frank Zappa said, we wouldn’t get signed today, at least those cigar chomping guys took risks on people like us, the Beach Boys too.

[MOF]

Zappa said, we wouldn’t get signed today, at least those cigar chomping guys took risks on people like us, the Beach Boys too.

I wouldn’t sign Zappa either, same with Hendrix, sorry.
The Beach Boys were a different matter, Brian Wilson’s dad was a jingle composer and was able to talk with industry insiders, plus that early sound was pure pop, nothing experimental or hippyish (long hair, drugs) about it.

[Hugh Robjohns]

I like the theremin on Good Vibrations.

Contraversial ! it might not have been a theremin but somthing that was easier to play !

Quite right! It was a Tannerin! (Also known as an electro-theremin.)

http://www.electrotheremin.com/ET.html
http://www.tompolk.com/Tannerin/Tannerin.html

Basically, it was a single sine-wave oscillator, the tuning or pitch being controlled by a mechanical linear slide action with a contact moved against a keyboard-like scale -- much like a trombone slide, which isn't surprising given that Tannerin was a trombonist. This made it much easier to play in tune than a real Theremin, and to control the vibrato.

[Stratman57]

Well, you learn something new everyday.

Regards, Simon.

[Albatross]

Not sure if they have been already but in a thread about the Beach Boys we should mention Jan and Dean.