My grandfather was the king of the mix tape. There were stacks of reel-to-reel tapes, with handwritten song titles on the inside cover. There wasn't any rhyme or reason. He would just grab a stack of 45s and whatever side was facing up would get thrown on the turntable and recorded. This is why I knew many b-sides before I knew a-sides, like in this case of The Beach Boys.
"There's No Other" was the b-side of "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and was taken off of the "Beach Boys Party" album. For me, it was as huge as "Good Vibrations," and to this day, I can't help but harmonize along with the brothers, always having trouble deciding which part to sing, as they are all so much fun.
19 comments:
So I thought the Beach Boys Party "Uncovered and Unplugged" was a pretty revelatory release when all the "party" stuff was removed. I don't think it got a lot of mention here (maybe it did -- I'm getting old and can't remember). Some of the songs drag a bit on their 3rd run through, but I found this a whole lot more fun than I would have expected to.
Nice call for the day!
Fun!
Thanks Sal
When I was a kid, my brother would play the album 'Endless Sunmer' on endless repeat every morning for what seemed like most of my youth. The result: I couldn't enjoy the Beach Boys. Sal, it was your website that changed that for me. Thank you for that and for this - today's joy starter.
Nice choice Sal...
Always appreciated that Brian Wilson stuck to the music.
Michael
Slightly related Beach Boys content: a couple of days ago I heard Catch a Wave on SiriusXM. One of my favorite of their surf songs. My roommate sophomore year in college pointed out the hidden "suck my dick" in the backup vocals about halfway through the song. It still cracks me up to this day.
No Jeff,
Whatever I say will be parsed and dissected...
What's your beef?
Michael
sorry, michael, I deleted my comment, which makes your comment non-sensical. for anyone reading this, I asked Michael to explain what he meant by stuck to the music.
Reading yesterday's comments, I get the context now. But when you throw shit against the wall like that, you don't expect people to react? I'm assuming that was your purpose, no? People shouldn't parse and dissect it? Then why say what you did yesterday and today about Wilson?
I think Michael G. did and can respond better than I can, but Brian Wilson has spoken out many times against child abuse. He lent his name to a film just because it speaks directly to that issue.
As for Bruce, taking himself too seriously, this the guy who was just dancing with his mother at the Garden, whose concerts are always hilarious fun? Who still plays rock and roll with the joy of a teenager? And what is wrong with his speaking out? There isn't a more genuine artist than Bruce. He's approachable off stage, always direct and patient and open in his interviews. He gives both time and money to causes. He speaks up for food banks at every show, and the money he raises for them makes the difference in whether hundreds of people will actually eat that month. I know, because I worked at one in New York. That speech takes all of ten seconds during a show.
(have to split this up for some reason)
What's your objection? That he cares about something more than the music? That he reads the newspaper and reacts to what he sees and realizes that he has a responsibility to do so, as we all do, but he more so since he has an audience? This is a guy who after reading the profiles of the people who died in 9/11 and reading about those who were fans of his, called the families to express his sorrow to them directly? There's something wrong about that? He then wrote what I still think is the greatest song about loss to come out of 9/11, "You’re Missing," the perfect expression about mass grief because it's viewed from such a small perspective of a single grieving widow and mother. Who can’t understand that, and aren’t we better off for Bruce having written that song?
You also seem to object when artists write or sing songs that address the issues that plague so many people and then talk about these things. They're not supposed to care? Do you have any sense of the impact that music has had on this country? Change comes about so slowly, and it often starts with a handful of people getting their heads handed to them, but time and time again it was the music that gave them the strength and courage to carry on in the face of even their possible deaths. I'm thinking of the Freedom Riders in their burning buses, getting off at bus stations in Alabama, and the songs giving them the strength to take it, because that's what they did, they linked arms and sang.
Their ability to take it and their willingness to do so was what the rest of the country saw and what moved them to support civil rights.
Country Joe's "I"m Fixing to Die Right Rag" brought thousands of once isolated kids who opposed the Vietnam War together and showed them that they also weren't alone. Pete Seeger during the McCarthy era and the '60s. He took himself too seriously? Actually, he had a great ability to laugh at himself but he also knew that with his popularity came responsibility, as Bruce does. Yup, I've heard Jackson Browne and Graham Nash be overly sanctimonious, but they also galvanized thousands of people to fight for clean energy, but no one would pay attention to them if they also didn't play some great music. Bruce was never funnier than he was at the No-Nukes show. You can watch it on youtube.
Fogerty's "Fortunate Son" had an awful lot to say about Vietnam and he and Bruce did their vote for change concerts, going directly where they were needed and encouraging people to vote against Bush. It was opposition to the wars in Vietnam and Iraq that ended them or limited them. And it was music and musicians who played a huge role in bringing that about. Had they not done so, I might have been killed in a rice paddy in 1972.
On the other hand, I'm thinking now that maybe I'm taking your comments too seriously, because anyone who says that Fogerty hasn't done anything good since CCR simply doesn't know what he is talking about.
Child Abuse is most important...yes, Jeff. Funny, I haven't heard The Boss speak on this issue quite yet.
It must be important that my comment looks silly now, huh?
I'm out folks..go have fun.
Thanks Sal for the blog...I'm done.
Good luck to you all,
Michael
Oy vey.
Hey Sal, thanks for the clip, how's that "Joy" thing going??
... too busy listening to Whipped Cream and Other Delights on Pluto to comment ...
Like it caught me in bed with its wife.
Bruce speaks about many issues that arise from poverty and economic inequality, and abuse is one of them. I'm guessing, Michael you haven't heard him much in concert over the years, where he talks about his relationship with his father, and the frequent beatings he suffered as a child.
did I say, by the way, that today was another great choice?
Bill...
Hahaha -- I'm juvenile sometimes and I admit it. It's there at about 1:37 in the song if you have never heard it before...
How did I not know about this before today?
Shriner--
My friend had the 45 and we would play it over and over, lifting up the needle and plopping it down again just to hear that phrase, laughing all the time. We couldn't believe it was true.
Good times...
Party! album is the very first long-player I ever bought myself. Yes, 'There's No Other' is one of my favorite tracks. I sing harmony all the time to this day.
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