From lwtcdi Sent Sat, Jan 24th 1998, 22:39
From lwtcdi Sent Sat, Jan 24th 1998, 22:39
>>>The world, as far as I >>>can tell, like the Beach Boys so much because they wrote beautiful, >>>melodic, pop music and you, me, idm should take note of some of the truly >>>innovative production ideas they used. >> >>1) I couldn't 'take note' just by listening to them. Somebody had to >>point out to me that they used a Theremin, because I'd be damned if I >>could tell. It was in the background on the chorus or something, and if >>that's innovative and daring, well...it aint, is it?! >If you were listening for a theremin on "Surfin' USA," as you told me in >private mail, Oh yeah, just blab my private life out all over the list why don't you :-) > it's no wonder you couldn't hear it. Wilson used theremin > on two (released) tracks: "I Just Wasn't Made for These Times" and "Good > Vibrations." The theremin is used fairly subtly on the former track. If you > can't spot it in "Good Vibrations," you're deaf. Guess I'm deaf then (hmmm, where did all these records come from?) ...Or maybe I was just blocking it all out. >>Of course, the above techniques could have been pioneering in those >>bygone days, in which case, wow, do we have it good now! I take it all >>back - less originality in music, please! >When Wilson was doing what he did, the first eight-track recorders were >just coming on the market. Stereo was a novelty, ...and still is! >since pop records were >recorded for AM radio. Synthesizers were only used by academics. MIDI? >SMPTE? Digital effects? Wilson took the possibilities of the recording >studio of his day as far as they could go. I know what the 'feel' is like, but to me, in this kind of pop music, 'feel' doesn't mean that much anyway. Feel needs to be given room to breathe. In the traditional pop song, for me, it often isn't. In the case of The Beach Boys, the production techniques are almost irrelevant, and are just a way to justify liking their music (which I'm not suggesting that you need to do). IMO, any production subtleties are bludgeoned to death by the nature of the songs. Likewise for The Who... I don't deny that these bands may have influenced other people through the sound of their records, but >If you can't hear any evolution >in his production and arranging style from, for instance, "Surfin' USA" and >"Little Deuce Coupe" to "The Little Girl I Once Knew" and "Sloop John B" >(let alone stuff from 'Smile' like "Heroes and Villains" and >"Cabinessence"), then you're not listening. No, you're right, I'm not. As I said in my *private* mail, I have only heard the popular singles on the radio (many, many, many, many times) and therefore cannot appeciate the evolution you talk of. I'm sure it's there. The purpose of the post wasn't to slag them off, it was just to ask why people thought they were that good, as a side point to questions about Air. I know is probably not cool to like them, but that's not why I don't like them. I just never understood the appeal... >And, anyway, the Beach Boys' records don't stand or fall on whether or not >they're "innovative and daring." I'd agree. Especially right now. So who the hell brought it up in the first place? >They work. They provoke very specific >emotional and aesthetic responses, at least in me, and IMHO that's one of >the things good music does. Well great! The Beach Boys records that I've heard produce "very specific emotional" responses in me, although I'm sure we're at opposite ends of the emotional spectrum on this one... >This is particularly true of 'Pet Sounds,' IMHO >one of the best albums ever, which you really should listen to if all >you're basing your dismissal on is that you can't hear the theremin in >"Surfin' USA." I'd love to, really I would, but (...searching for convenient excuse) ...sorry, you've got me on this one! I don't *want* to listen to it. Please feel free to call me an closed minded ignorant git at this juncture. My guess is that people who liked the Beach Boys got into them either around the time or at some point in their life when they were digging through the annals of pop history and didn't dig IDM & related music. I realise the Beach Boys mean a lot to some people, but I'd say that most of the people who are on this list now, who haven't heard them, wouldn't exactly be chomping at the bit to hear them. If I'm wrong, please feel free to correct me. >(And if you still don't get it on hearing 'Pet Sounds,' >there's a new boxed set out that pulls back the curtain and shows just how >much went into the production on that album. Probably only for completists, >but most of the people on this list seem to be completists.) I dunno. I don't think the boxed set would help. I reckon Pet Sounds is destined to be misunderstood by me, 'cos I wasn't born at the time, and my view has been tainted by radioplay and the musical tastes of my parents. >If I ever need to know whether a record is "innovative and daring" before I >can enjoy it, I'll know I've forgotten why I listen to music in the first >place. Don't go directing that statement at me! I didn't even know The Beach Boys were "innovative and daring" for the first 10 years I heard them. I just knew I didn't like it. Now if that's not gut feeling, I don't know what is! gb. >PS Poll results will in all likelihood be posted today or tomorrow. Thanks! See, one little line didn't hurt now did it? gb. -- /TheW i http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/lwtcdi/all/ f o L D o dlr WTC "Let's decompose and enjoy assembling!"