AAAH, well, hopefully you'll be able to bring it back eventually...
I love this album, it was a good comeback for them, their first album to hit the top 40 since (I believe) Wild Honey. It was originally to be titled "Landlocked"
This is the direction the band was going in before "Endless Summer" made them a nostalgia act in 1974. At the time, they were a top-notch live act (even performed onstage with the Grateful Dead!), and they sounded as contemporary as any of the top acts at the time. They were also desperately trying to shake off the clean-cut surfer boy image (even for a time considering changing the name of the group to "Beach"!)
It was around this time that radio personality Jack Riley became their manager, who pushed them in the direction of environmental issues. There was a strong ecological theme running throughout.
Brian was barely in the picture. He contributed "Til I Die" and "A Day In The Life Of A Tree", the later Jack Riley sang (or tried to sing) lead on..
Dennis wrote songs around this time, but his eerie "Carry Me Home", a song about a soldier dying in the war, was deemed "inapproprite" and to this day has not been properly released (though British group Primal Scream covered it!). I have the original on a bootleg.. Not one of Dennis' better songs, IMO (sorry, Denny)..
Of course, the song that sold the album was the title track. It was legendary, the centerpiece of the "Smile" album, and had been heard by the public only once before, in 1967 on the Leonard Bernstein program, performed solo by Brian. The group felt that the legacy of the track would sell more records. Brian, however, fought desperately to keep it from being included. He was superstitious about the Smile material, and he also wasn't crazy about the fact that they didn't support him when he was recording the material, yet they had no problem dipping into it when they needed songs..
Interesting to note is that around this time Warner Brothers had plans to release the Smile album. It was a part of their contract with The Beach Boys that they would either deliver the album by early '73, or pay a penalty (I think $500,000, but I'm not sure).. They never delivered the Smile album to Warners.....
OK, there's the background.. Now here's a track-by track:
Don't Go Near The Water-How can you have a Beach Boys album with the first song having a title like this? Especially since the last song on the previous album, Sunflower, was called "Cool Cool Water" (which sounds STRANGE on the two-fer, those two songs being side-by-side). Great opener, though, the environmental issues are right up front. Best line: "Toothpaste and soap will make our oceans a bubble-bath". Mostly an Al Jardine song.
Long Promised Road-I love this one, it was Carl's first composition, with a great melody and great lyrics. The only single released from this album, it scraped the bottom of the Hot 100.
Take A Load Off Your Feet-The only Beach Boys song to mention my name! Lighthearted and fun. Brian was somewhat involved in this song. He owned a health food store called the "Radient Radish" in 1970, and was on a health kick.. Neither the store or the health kick lasted...
Disney Girls-I tend to skip over this one. It's OK, but not IMO, one of the stronger cuts. Still, it remains an album cut favorite among fans. It was Bruce Johnston's song, and after this album he would leave the group and not return until 1979.
Student Demonstration Time-The first time I heard this song, it scared the crap out of me! I was listening to the album for the first time in the dark, and I literally thought that satan and the Beach Boys were jamming together in my stereo! This is, without a doubt, the hardest rocking track in their catalog, and the closest they came to heavy metal! Imagine a rocking blues riff, with sirens and a horn section, and Mike Love singing the lead vocal through a megaphone! I always imagined Carl was in his glory when they recorded this, he always wanted to rock harder..
Feel Flows-A nice come-down from the previous track. Very pretty melody and lyrics, with interesting synthesizer parts. Appeared on the soundtrack to "Almost Famous", showing that Cameron Crowe knows good music!
Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)-A short Al Jardine piece, very dark and contemporary sounding. No vocal harmonies, one of the few Beach Boys songs that only one of them sings on. No drums, either, only one QUICK drum fill at the fade, I always wondered "Why?"... This was the Beach Boys of 1971, with a sound that few people outside their hardcore fan base know about.
A Day In The Life Of A Tree-Another Ecological song, mostly written by Brian with a very bad lead vocal by manager Jack Riley. Why they put this on the album is beyond me. But Brian, despite his demons, DID have a sense of humor.
'Til I Die-Mike Love HATED this song, he felt it was too much of a "downer" to be a "Beach Boys song". That's OK, because most Beach Boys fans hate Mike Love! My second fave on the album, and one of Brian's best!
Surf's Up-What can I say that I haven't already said? My favorite song of all time!
