I gave it a 9. I'm only 26, and I just can't groove on the music of my generation. When I first put on Love You, I hated it. Then it happened.......it might've been MONA, or SOLAR SYSTEM, or I WANT TO PICK YOU UP....who knows. I found myself groovin' to the synth bass, Brians' voice and quirky lyrics, Dennis' and Carls" voices, the lack of MIKE LOVE(!), the sheer force of ED MCMAHON COMES ON AND SAYS HERES JOHNNY!!!!!!I LOVE THAT!!!! I can just really dig the
charge in the guys voices while they sing such an irrelevant lyric. BRILLIANT!!! This album rules, and I am very proud to say I own it, listen to it, and feel sorry for the hipsters of my generation who never gave the square Beach Boys a chance, espcially an album as cool as Love You. Besides, the cover almost looks it was from an old Nintendo game!
Yes! My thoughts exactly. We think alike. It must be because we're about the same age (I'm 27) or something. And I had almost the same thought about what that cover looked like (it would be fun to recreate it on good ol' Mario Paint, as a stamp, pixel by pixel). Must be a growing up in the '80s thing.
Okay, it's finally time I talk about this album, this crazy little record that so divides us Beach Boys fans. You either hate it or you love it. Personally, I love it. The BBs always bring me more joy than any other band I know, and this album is a good example of that (although if I ever try to convert anybody into the BBs, I'm gonna keep this album away from 'em for a long while! Ya gotta work up to it).
'Let Us Go On This Way' makes me grin all big and goofy like Brian in that picture from the inside liner notes (the one with Marilyn whispering in his ear). Carl rocks the house on this, and I must embarrassingly admit I love that stupid ESP lyric that Mike sings about in the bridge. That's just pure, loony Brian!
'Roller Skating Child' is wonderfully childish. I can listen to the groove on the chorus forever! I adore the line "it's so cold I go 'brr'". Cracks me up every time. Music rarely gets more goofy or more fun! "Well, oh my, oh gosh, oh gee!"
'Mona' just rocks in all its simplistic, ravaged-voiced glory. I dig those chimes so much! The Spector references are really delightful.
'
Johnny Carson' really weirded me out the first time I heard it, and it's still the oddest song in the whole BBs catalog. I don't care; it's fun! How on earth Brian ever convinced Carl to sing this one, and with such conviction, is beyond me. This whole album, Brian looks at the world with child-like wonder and ridiculously nutty innocence, and I find it strangely refreshing. I guess it's because I get so sick of bitter, dazed albums that were really a dime a dozen in the '70s. This baby's way out of time.
'Good Time' is an odd fitting foot into the garish bowling shoes that is this crazy album. Man oh man is it lovely, though. The chorus is so much fun to sing along with. Dig those horns!
'Honkin' Down The Highway' is another oddity, but man, what a groove. I love the way Al sings "I guess I got a way with girrrllls". The so-called 'farting synthesizers' that pervade this album sound pretty gosh darn cool on this song, if ya ask me.
'Ding Dang' is so frickin' cool, I might use it as my ring tone if I ever get a cell phone (I usually hate cell phones, though). It would annoy the hell outta
everybody, which would be great! You can really hear Carl's voice up front in the 'ding dang' backgrounds. He sings it with such gusto!
'Solar System' I find oddly moving, in a way. Can't quite describe it. It's more of Brian's weirded-out naivete, I guess. This song feels more complex than one would think on the rather oddball surface of it. "If Mars had life on it, I might find my wife on it"=LEGENDARY.
'The Night Was So Young' is far and away the greatest song on Love You. In fact, the best song of Brian's in since 'Till I Die.' So beautiful and sad and oh so aching, I can sink into it, just as much as I can with an acknowledged classic like 'Kiss Me Baby'. Every time it comes on, I crank the volume wayyy up. It's because of songs (and feelings) like this that I love Brian Wilson. 'The Night Was So Young' is part of those series of songs that are really about Brian, the way he feels, the way he relates to the world (the others are 'In My Room', 'I Just Wasn't Made For These Times', 'Till I Die' and 'Love And Mercy'.)
'I'll Bet He's Nice' is my second favorite song on Love You. Sweet, desperate, and purely Brian. I love the fact that the song is sung by the Wilson brothers. They may sound much rougher (except Carl, mostly), but it goes right back to when big bro Bri was teaching Denny and Carl harmonies in their bedroom at night, in their youth. I adore that Carl bridge vocal so much, it's the cherry on top of the song, for me.
'Let's Put Our Hearts Together' I've never been too hot on, but it fits here quite fine. Nice melody. People trash Marilyn's vocal too much; I personally don't mind it much (maybe because she's being contrasted with her husband's gruff cocaine voice, but whatever).
'I Wanna Pick You Up' creeps me out, but that's all right. I do love Dennis' lead vocal, though, despite the freaky feel of what he's actually singing. That accordion on the chorus is pretty cool, too. The "pat her on her butt" part is the really "um....okayyy" part, but it's saved by the great lullaby harmonies on the tag. Especially Dennis' "pretty baby go to sleeeeep". Very nice.
'Airplane' is good, but it's the second part (the "can't wait to see her face" part onwards) that I really like. Brian's parts are really cool, too.
'Love Is A Woman' is probably the worst track on the album, but I don't hate it. Mike's parts are the best bits of it.
Jeez, the only review that I wrote that's longer than this one is my rant about Pet Sounds. Talk about odd, since Love You is as far away from PS as we can get, whilst still being a mostly-Brian album! Maybe my review of Love You is more in-depth than usual because I'm listening to the album right now, on headphones. It's almost over, and it's put me in a great mood (especially since I was just reading a few chapters from Peter Ames Carlin's book and they were the really depressing parts from about '75 through '82)!
Thanks Brian. I can put this or Wild Honey or Friends on and almost instantly, I'm in a better mood. No wonder you've called Love You your favorite Beach Boys album.
I'd give it an 8 & 1/2, but since I can't, it's a
9. Only Pet Sounds, Today!, Summer Days, Wild Honey, Sunflower and Holland are better, and considering the rather vast Beach Boys discography, that's saying something.
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