So on my blog I did an in-depth-analysis and review into this unfortunate item: the ignored Beach Boys single(s). The Beach Boys (like the lads from Liverpool) were as much a singles band as an albums band. And soo many singles went ignored through no fault of their own. As you all know.

Please feel free to comment here or on my blog (which features a few other items on TBBs). I'd love to know if anyone cares to comment and what they think/feel about my selections.

Thanks!

Here's the link:


http://talkaboutpoppopmusic.blogspot.com/2...overlooked.html

Enjoyed reading your synopses of each of the 'overlooked' songs. Your arguments are well-noted, but the overall feeling I have is that the most overlooked aspect of the Beach Boys career was not their relative lack of success in the singles market, but in their total lack of recognition in the classic rock genre (or AOR, or underground, or alternative, or whatever-you-call-it). Most of the songs you mention, particularly the ones from their 'middle' era (1967-1973) would fit right in with the fantastic, ambitious music made by The Who, The Moody Blues, The Velvet Underground, Yes, Traffic, The Band, and the others who peaked at that time. But for a variety of reasons they simply never gained acceptance from the progressive, or the counter-cultural element. Most of the recognition of their greatness has come in retrospect.

Didn`t most of these do well in Great Britain, but not in the States? Probably why I haven`t heard some of them yet. Guess I`ll have
to do some exploring on Youtube since I can`t find them on CD (not where I live anyway) and I`m trying to limit my online purchasing.

You are right.

The recognition fact has more to do with FM AOR Radio, late 60's press like Rolling Stone Magazine and other such bourgeois folks all deeming The Beach Boys unhip and teenage pop. Their opinions changed over time but too-late for radio (it still has yet to change - this is 30 plus years of radio unchanging!).

Singles are a big part of the picture (especially in the UK even still) and are an interesting facet to band's career.

I'm glad you enjoyed the piece.

Great blog post... thanks!!

My take on about half of the group's Reprise singles is that, for some reason, they picked the wrong songs as a-sides, while other songs stayed stuck on albums. "This Whole World," for instance, was a b-side, as was "Forever." Both coulda shoulda been hits. And "Honkin' Down the Highway"... whose idea was it to make THAT a single?? Especially given, on the same album, "Roller Skating Child" and "Good Time," both of which were great songs and "sounded like the Beach Boys."

this whole world dosent really sound like a single to me. it's not even two minutes long. though it is very catchy. i agree with you on forever. that had hit potential.

That's true in many cases. TBB fan base has (almost) never wavered in the UK.

I find that true with a lot of things. Movies, TV shows as well as musical artists. I read some of your other posts and you talk
about artists I`ve never even heard of and I think that in Europe lots of people have heard of them and if anyone in the
States has, they must have access to something I don`t. I`ve always liked things that were not so mainstream even if they
broke into it earlier or even later in their career. Mainstream is so boring and commercialized and it gets worse as the years
go by. That`s why I admire Brian and (most) of the other BB as well, they didn`t want to stay in that commercial zone of
mediocrity. Too much of American culture has degenerated into this. Oh what the corporate mind dictates to us. They
are subtle in this. People don`t realize they are having their tastes decided for them. That`s what is really scary to me.

I just focused on the US charts simply because they were an American band and their primary label was based in the US as well (Capitol, Reprise and Caribou with the Brother imprint). And also because they released much more singles in the US (for better or worse) than they did in the UK or anywhere else.

Some of these songs in fact were hits in the UK (I stated if they were the majority of the time) but only a just a small-handful. And popularity within a fanbase of a given country and chart-placings are not necessarily one and the same unfortunately.

Anyone agree or disagree with anything on the list?

I really enjoyed that blog post. Most of those singles from the 70's and 80's were quite big over here in Europe though so not as overlooked as you might think. Please add the UK or German charts positions to the singles as well, it'll make the chart positions on this blog look a bit more healthy then! lol.

Good stuff though!

Mark

I'll see if I can say something sensible about this topic, i.e. without getting myself tied in knots...

I'll start in the middle somewhere:

There are some singles that IMO should never have left the album, for an assortment of reasons, the two extremes being that they're dire and that they're an organic part of the album in question and simply don't belong out of context.

Singles in your list IMO justifiably culled from albums are "Surf's Up", "Caroline, No", "Wendy/Little Honda" (great EP!), "Wild Honey", "California Saga: California" and "Marcella".

There are some fabulous singles not included on albums that should certainly have done better. I think "Break Away" did reasonably well in the UK, "Cottonfields" certainly did but the brilliant "TLGIOK" lost out even though the illegal offshore stations in the UK played it all the time, dead air or not. And anyone buying "Bluebirds" would have been justifiably stunned (and delighted) when they flipped it...

It's utterly beyond me why so many singles were released from Sunflower - as a last-ditch attempt to promote it, perhaps?

Lastly (and then I'll shut up), it's interesting that none of the singles on your list were from a time when a single was produced for the singles market and only after it hit (or missed) was an LP including it released. Except the EP, that is...

I've no problem regarding the amount of singles from Sunflower - or what they were - but, how they did (or didn't) go about promoting them.

"Add Some Music..." was issued as a single six months or so before the album was released. As was "Slip On Through". And it's pretty obvious Reprise had not much of a plan as to how to promote these releases.

It actually looked like they were just guessing the entire time they had TBBs.

It's like my husband says, that they didn't know whether they should promote them as a singles band or an album band. Since basically the singles after SUNFLOWER were album tracks. They might of been the best songs on the albums but they weren't really commercial SINGLES. Not like "Rock and Roll Music" or "It's OK" or "Break Away." Although I think "Forever" would of been a huge hit.
I still have all those Brother 45s from the 70s. That was just when I started listening to them and I made sure I bought them as soon as they came out. Then if the singles were any good I would buy the album.