Rod Stewart - Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod the Mod finds his solo footing, headed for stardom, with the Faces in his wake.
6:00 AM GMT 22/06/2011
Features Disc of the day
The Beach Boys
Surf’s Up
(Reprise, 1971)
Hallucinatory masterpiece salvaged from the wreckage of Smile...
In just a few short years, The Beach Boys popularised, then transcended, a whole new genre (surf pop) and recorded one of the decade's undisputed masterpieces (Pet Sounds), but they exited the 1960s in a tangled mess. Sunflower, their first offering of the new decade, had tanked and their chief songwriter - already fried by acid and plagued by the voices in his head - was still haunted by the aborted recording of the Smile album. Step forward Carl Wilson, younger brother of the troubled Brian and the band's de facto lead singer since 1965's Good Vibrations. Despite borrowing the title of Brian and Van Dyke Parks' epic hymn, this album belongs to Carl. Not only does he contribute two of the best tracks - the soulful, politically-pumped Long Promised Road and the hallucinatory Feel Flows - he also helps realise one of his brother's most sublime triumphs.
The bare bones of Surf's Up had been delivered to camera by Brian in late 1966. Filmed for documentary Inside Pop, Wilson performed the new track - then only at demo stage - alone at the piano. Host Leonard Bernstein was spellbound, calling it a song "too complex to get all of first time around" and "a symbol of the change many of these young musicians see in our future". After the Smile sessions left it half-recorded and cast aside by its creators, Surf's Up looked set to remain lost until its composer returned to earth. For this writer, the 1971 recording remains the definitive version, with those crystalline vocals imbuing Parks' cryptic verses with a grace and simplicity missing from the 2004 reboot. With Brian re-joining his brother in the vocal booth for the second-half of the song, this remains a fraternal creation from start to finish.
After a turbulent few years, the sun was setting on the Beach Boys' second stage. And it wasn't just Brian who was grappling with seismic shifts. Bruce Johnston's beautiful Disney Girls with its talk of "country shade and lemonade" is about as far from Little Deuce Coupe and I Get Around as you can get, while 'Til I Die is awash with the threat of an uncertain future ("I'm a cork on the ocean / floating over the raging sea... I lost my way"). The tide had turned, but with Surf's Up, the Beach Boys had pre-empted the changes now sweeping the coastline they had so often eulogised in their songs. As the Californian hills were flooded with the sound of singer-songwriters all wielding acoustic guitars and mammoth record deals, it was time to look inside and ask, "where next?"
Ross Bennett
Posted by Ross_Bennett at 11:07 AM GMT 30/09/2009
Further Listening
John Phillips – John The Wolfking Of L.A. (Dunhill, 1970)
Brian Wilson – Smile (Nonesuch, 2004)
Previous Disc of the day
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Earl Brutus - Larky
Last salvo of Ginsters Pasty-Warholism from Britpop ramraiders.
12:04 PM GMT 08/06/2011
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Loudon Wainwright - T-Shirt
An overlooked small wonder from an unpredictable career.
6:00 AM GMT 03/06/2011
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Landscape - From The Tea-rooms Of Mars… To The Hell-holes Of Uranus
Dry computer club Futurists, upon hitting implausible chart paydirt.
6:00 AM GMT 17/05/2011
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-
Causa Sui - Summer Sessions Vol 1-3
Epic Danish jams, for when the neighbours get you down.
6:00 AM GMT 12/05/2011
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Surf´s Up is even better than Pet Sounds, isn´t it?
Posted by werner balzert at 12:00 AM GMT 06/10/2009 Report Abuse
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RE: werner balzert
Side two is definitely up there with "God Only Knows" and "Don't Talk" (best songs out of "Pet Sounds" in my opinion). As a whole, I think that "Pet Sounds" is still top.
Posted by Paolo at 9:47 PM GMT 10/10/2009 Report Abuse
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"Long Promised Road" with that synthesizer solo by the guy who was The Captain in The Captain & Tenille was great.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica, California at 6:02 AM GMT 24/09/2010 Report Abuse
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RE: Bob In Pacifica, California
That synth solo sounds sort of like a psychedelic marching band being strangled. Weird but really good.
Posted by Bob In Pacifica, California at 4:23 PM GMT 24/09/2010 Report Abuse
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not even close I'm afraid
Posted by camps at 11:52 AM GMT 09/04/2013 Report Abuse
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PlayStation Phone No internal meormy? That seems kind of weird since I doubt this thing will use UMD. Also, isn't the PSP2 coming out next year? Will they make a PSP Phone 2? I'm kind of skeptical on this one. well, i can't edit but i wanted to add this. i wont be surprised if sony adds some type of adapter add on to the PS3 (something to support the IR blasters, and maybe a small unit within that add on that has more RAM) so it can support google tv. It would make so much sense for sony to be even more of a presence in the living room, other than what the ps3 can already do. If google tv ends up working out all the kinks, and getting better i wouldn't be surprised. On top of that being a selling point (a huge one) over the Wii and similar to the Xbox integration w/ att uverse, you'd be able to get the PSP phone and the ps3 to work all buddy buddy together. the possibilities are endless if you ask me. This would be called product synergy sony listen to me
Posted by Lakshmilakshmi at 3:50 PM GMT 25/04/2013 Report Abuse
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PlayStation Phone No internal meormy? That seems kind of weird since I doubt this thing will use UMD. Also, isn't the PSP2 coming out next year? Will they make a PSP Phone 2? I'm kind of skeptical on this one. well, i can't edit but i wanted to add this. i wont be surprised if sony adds some type of adapter add on to the PS3 (something to support the IR blasters, and maybe a small unit within that add on that has more RAM) so it can support google tv. It would make so much sense for sony to be even more of a presence in the living room, other than what the ps3 can already do. If google tv ends up working out all the kinks, and getting better i wouldn't be surprised. On top of that being a selling point (a huge one) over the Wii and similar to the Xbox integration w/ att uverse, you'd be able to get the PSP phone and the ps3 to work all buddy buddy together. the possibilities are endless if you ask me. This would be called product synergy sony listen to me
Posted by Lakshmilakshmi at 3:51 PM GMT 25/04/2013 Report Abuse
Reply to this post
PlayStation Phone No internal meormy? That seems kind of weird since I doubt this thing will use UMD. Also, isn't the PSP2 coming out next year? Will they make a PSP Phone 2? I'm kind of skeptical on this one. well, i can't edit but i wanted to add this. i wont be surprised if sony adds some type of adapter add on to the PS3 (something to support the IR blasters, and maybe a small unit within that add on that has more RAM) so it can support google tv. It would make so much sense for sony to be even more of a presence in the living room, other than what the ps3 can already do. If google tv ends up working out all the kinks, and getting better i wouldn't be surprised. On top of that being a selling point (a huge one) over the Wii and similar to the Xbox integration w/ att uverse, you'd be able to get the PSP phone and the ps3 to work all buddy buddy together. the possibilities are endless if you ask me. This would be called product synergy sony listen to me
Posted by Lakshmilakshmi at 3:52 PM GMT 25/04/2013 Report Abuse
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