10/10 albums that are ruined by a single track

10/10 albums that are ruined by a single track
>pic related, Student Demonstration Time ruins it all

[spoiler]Take A Load Off Your Feet is pretty hokey, but helps with the pacing of the album[/spoiler]

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Student Demonstration Time is probably the worst Beach Boys song I can think of.

Take A Load Off Your Feet is so dorky and cheerful and then feels very dark after "You'd better take care of your life, 'cause nobody else willllll"

Am I a pleb for thinking Kokomo is an okay song?

It's a great song. Only virgins disagree.

>you will never lay shirtless on the beaches of Kokomo with Uncle Jesse while listening to Kokomo
why live

Nah, the worst one is Disney Girls (1957).

>it's so unfair that we can't be carefree teenagers forever why do we have to be cynical adults

Kind of the baby boomer equivalent of autists who post Facebook memes about 90s cartoon shows.

what a fucking hack

It's a cute song
Kind of the baby boomer equivalent of autists who post Facebook memes about 90s cartoon shows.
this comparison is autistic

Take a Load Off Your Feet is just too fucking cutesy and twee for my taste.

He is right about SDT though.

whoops forgot the meme arrow on the quote

Imagine the smell...

yeah he probably smells like macaroni and stale pit sweat

Agree about STD. Also I just now noticed it shortens into STD, quite a fitting title.

And pic related. FUCK Noisy Eater.

In Peter Doggett's book 'There's A Riot Going On' he writes about Student Demonstration Time..."it offered a concise, if rather crass, summary of what had happened at Kent. Four martyrs earned a new degree: the 'Bachelor of Bullets'. Love's lyrics also name-checked other confrontations, from Berkeley Free Speech and People's Park to Jackson State. But his conclusions were anything but militant: 'I know we're all fed up with useless wars and racial strife, but next time's there's a riot, well, you best stay out of sight'. The song ended with the whole band chanting, 'Stay away when there's a riot going on', like crew cut student advisers on the CIA payroll."

I love the rest of the album -I just skip over that one. The closing trio Tree, Til I Die and Surfs Up is a cracking way to end an album.

If only Dennis's songs made the album - I think, for instance, "Fourth of July" replacing "Looking at Tomorrow" would have elevated the entire record, certainly side two.

It was 1971, they played with the Dead, that silly war was still happening, earth shoes were cool and Rolling Stone gave them a two-part story. Of course "Surfs Up" is GOAT.

youtube.com/watch?v=tyOYQ8qfFng

The lyrics in this alone make up for STD.

A wildly inconsistent album, but when it's great, it's really great. I still think 'Surf's Up' (the song) is one of the most remarkable pieces of music I have ever heard - what a remarkable salvage job. In contrary to many others in this thread though, I don't like Disney Girls - too twee for my taste and I don't really like the melody either. 'Long Promised Road' is much better--any other fans of this song?

Yeah...I kind of agree. The politics of that era seem to have completely flown over the Beach Boys' heads which is why Blowin' In The Wind still works while Student Demonstration time has been reduced to an embarrassing footnote.

Till I Die however is one of the best songs Brian ever wrote; especially the melody is gorgeous and it's too bad he didn't write more lyrics.

youtube.com/watch?v=cjsiSUyJUhw Enjoy

Surf's Up does seem to me to be the last Beach Boys LP I can enjoy all the way through without wincing or being bored to death. Can't say that of their later albums.

man, its Student Demostration Time
and noisy eater is one of the best songs on the album

Long Promised Road is my favorite Beach Boys song actually. Its up there in the top 10 for my most listened to song.

It wouldn't be a Beach Boys thread without at least one post trashing Mike Love. Anyway, I always just thought SDT was intended to be tongue-in-cheek satire and not necessarily a serious song. The guitars are killer and I love the bullhorn effect on Mike's voice. I give him credit for having a sense of humor about the politics of that era and not trying to be all serious about it. Go put on a CSNY album if you want that shit.

Surf's Up really has some of the best tunes the Beach Boys ever released after the Smile debacle, as its hard to find fault with outstanding tracks like Surf's Up and Til I Die. Disney Girls is an absolutely timeless song, and the sheer amount of covers of that song is evidence of how well-crafted a song it is. All of the covers pale in comparison to Bruce Johnson's honest and forthcoming performance, which is where that song gets its soul from.

Still, like a lot of the other BB albums of the area, the bad songs on the album as much as the good ones. There are simply too many songs that I really don't care for whatsoever that prevent me from enjoying this album as that, an album. I've seen this comment several times throughout this thread, but I really find Surf's Up predecessor Sunflower to be the superior BB album of this era. The individual songs don't outdo those on Surf's Up, but there's a lot of really good ones and I can listen to it from start to finish.

>I always just thought SDT was intended to be tongue-in-cheek satire and not necessarily a serious song
the lyrics are too specific and seem pretty serious to me for it to be satire

Painfully, I have to say I don't think Surf's Up is a particularly great record. The last two songs are fantastic, and so is "Feel Flows" and I'll even allow "Disney Girls." Even "A Day in the Life of a Tree" has its surreal merit. But overall I think it's aged pretty horribly.

Looking at Tomorrow isn't anything noteworthy, but I find it's the perfect mood segue into the emotional climax of the last three Brian songs. I view it as a moody, succinct transition from into the "serious" part of the album.

I mean, yeah, I can agree that it's probably satire and that CSNY are better if you want serious commentary on 60s-70s politics but still doesn't mean the song isn't forced and cringy. The Beach Boys did a lot of things well, those things didn't include hard rock or political satire.

I unironically LIKE Student Demonstration Time.

Seriously, I don't know why it gets so much hate.

It's in my blood imo

Wrong. it is serious. Look it up

IDK man, I empathize.

What else can you say? Surf's Up ranges from some of the best BBs songs ever (Feel Flows, Till I Die, Surf's Up) to some of the worst (SDT, Disney Girls). I think Carl and the Passions is the better album overall but both can't touch "Love You".

damn, it's such a bad song that people think it's ironic lmao

This was Brian's own assessment of SDT:

"I didn't like that, didn't like the lyrical content. I thought it wasn't Beach Boys enough. It was a little bit too intense. It didn't hit the spot for me. It wasn't too vocally intense but lyrically it was a little too far-out for me."

How the hell do people like "Life of a Tree"?

I'd agree that the main point of this song really just seemed to be Mike Love showing off his music nerd credentials by remaking a relatively obscure R&B song from the 50s.

I get that the lyrics can sound like a hamfisted environmentalist jerkoff, but it's just really sad and I think the performances are great

Does anyone know what songs the Beach Boys played live in the early 70s? Because it would have been hilarious if they performed SDS and "Be True To Your School" in the same concert.

I've always been particularly interested by the Beach Boys' late 60s-early 70s period. All of the band members brought excellent material to the studio, the songs were showing a good deal of maturity and moving past teenybopper songs about surfing and girls, and the production was also fantastic.

This was also the period when the "reclusive" Brian was running a health food store and taking Mike's place on some gigs.

It's unbelievable now that the album tanked, but the tide had not turned yet for the group. Within a year, they would be on the cover of Rolling Stone and be group of the year.

I guess that the disappointing sales led to a halt of the momentum that was propelling the group forward. Surf's Up got more critical praise but it wasn't as good as Sunflower.

There's never been a BBs album that was perfect from start to finish though Holland seems to be the most consistent from this period, the songwriting shows a lot of maturity and the album rarely disappoints from beginning to end.

>I guess that the disappointing sales led to a halt of the momentum that was propelling the group forward
Agreed. After they kind of withered a bit in the late 60s, they seemed to be re-energized as the 70s began. Even when it was clear that Brian wasn't in the drivers' seat, as a group they were still nothing if determined. They played some fantastic live shows and I think that helped get them back in the saddle. Of course nothing lasts forever.

Sunflower, Surf's Up and Holland made for a nice hat trick in the early 70s. (C&TP – meh) But even with these gems, it's evident there is no such thing as a perfect Beach Boy album.

Except of course for Smile.

Me too.

Worst song of the album but still a fun little track.
I just think people are mad because it's a somewhat pro-government song from the 60's

70's sorry

It's too bad because Sunflower turned out to be a beautiful sunset for the band that people mistook for a dawn.

Till I Die, Surf's Up, and God Only Knows are the best songs Brian ever wrote bar none.

>I've always been particularly interested by the Beach Boys' late 60s-early 70s period. All of the band members brought excellent material to the studio, the songs were showing a good deal of maturity and moving past teenybopper songs about surfing and girls, and the production was also fantastic.
I agree. I can listen to those albums over and over without getting bored which I can't say of a lot of artists from that time.

I think it was MiKKKe Love who wrote that song

>But even with these gems, it's evident there is no such thing as a perfect Beach Boy album.
I personally always just think of the Beach Boys as a singles rather than an album band. I mean, there's a reason why their greatest hits collections always feature the same stuff.

It's a total dad rock song but I love "Long Promised Road"

wtf terrible taste

Beach Boys became a boring yacht rock band after Smile. So fucking hokey and lame, you might as well be listening to Barry Manilow. I don't know how you can all pile on the hate for your parents' music, then turn around and listen to this shit with a straight face. Sunflower is geriatric.

please tell me every track on Sunflower that's "yacht rock".

>yacht rock
you clearly don't know what yacht rock is