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| From | "David Bash" <bashpop@earthlink.net> |
| Subject | Re: Buried Pleasures? |
| Date | Wed, 27 Aug 2003 10:30:23 -0700 |
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> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2003 17:44:21 +0100
> From: "Andrew Hickey" <stealthmunchkin@lycos.co.uk>
> To: <audities@smoe.org>
> Subject: Re: Buried Pleasures?
> Message-ID: <043501c36cba$792aa2a0$0201010a@stealthfjxzhgf>
>
> Stewart Mason wrote:
> >> The Beach Boys Love You?
> >
> > I never thought of this as a punk-influenced album, and I've never
> > seen any indication that the creators did either, though I've also
> > never cared
> > enough about this album to delve too deeply into its genesis.
>
> I don't know that it was necessarily 'punk influenced', but it
*DEFINITELY*
> fits in with the music that was being made at that time to quite an
> extraordinary degree... the rawness and back to basics style, the whole
DIY
> aesthetic of the album seems to be something that while it may not have
been
> influenced by the other music of the time definitely fits in with people
> like Jonathan Richman or Devo or The Ramones - and a lot of punks loved
the
> album, notably Patti Smith.
> It also manages to be very innovative even while sounding 'retro' - the
use
> of synth bass on the album is quite extraordinary, and the album is
probably
> the necessary end point of the moog experiments on every album from
> Sunflower on...
>
> > And it's hard for me to use "intelligent" and "Mike Love" in the same
> sentence
> > anyway.
>
> Which is why the Beach Boys album with least Mike Love input out of their
> entire career can be called intelligent ;)
I've gotta chime in here with my praise of this album. Other than the "big
trifecta" of Sunflower, Surf's Up, and Holland, Love You is easily my
favorite Beach Boys album of the the '70s. I have never heard an album that
sounds like that; the guitar, the synth bass, everything sounds so
clean...even the purposeful distortion just shimmers! Jeff Glenn once
explained the process to me, something about several of the instruments
being recorded "direct" rather than through amps. I just wish more bands
would use this technique when recording!
Sure, many of the lyrics are trite and silly, but for me the childlike
themes really work and any cringe factor that might have existed is
superceded by the wonderful melodies. Plus, "I Wanna Pick You Up" is so
deliciously lascivious!
In line with Andrew's "rawness and back to basics" interpretation, I feel
similarly about the Wild Honey album. I mean, think about it: right after
the angelic, introspective Pet Sounds and the somewhat wacky, stoned Smiley
Smile comes completely out of left field an album of raw R&B which, while
not Otis Redding or Wilson Pickett, was pretty damn good for a bunch of blue
eyed boys from Hawthorne, CA.
I have voted The Hollies' Evolution as the most underrated album of all
time, but I might put Wild Honey second on my list. I mean, all through his
career Elvis Costello was constantly praised, and deservedly so, for
tackling a different style with each album, but the Beach Boys should have
received similar accolades for Wild Honey, which they never did.
--
Pop Rules!!!!!
Take Care
David (np: Never Mind The Originals, Here's The Heebeegeebies, which was
graciously sent to me by John Borack as a present for my upcoming birthday.
Thank you, John!)
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