I've been going through a Beach Boys kick somewhat recently and figured I'd share this. I may have posted this before...if so, apologies for the repeat.
"Beach Boys - Love You" is the group's 1977 album. A couple of links are below.
It's really unbelievable that the same Brian Wilson that was responsible for Today, Pet Sounds, Good Vibrations and Smile wrote these strange, childlike lyrics and signed off on these offkey vocals as final. Nonetheless, it's actually an absurdly catchy album one you see the beauty in the warts.
Backstory: Wilson was basically getting out of bed for the first time in three to four years with the aid of Eugene Landy, noted shrink and hollywood manipulator. His voice on this recording is an utterly shredded, off-key, pale imitation of what it use to be, made thin by copious cocaine use since 1969 and nearly unrecognizable here. The front half of the album is mostly sung by the rest of the 'boys (with one Wilson/Jardine outtake from 69 while Brian's voice was still intact). No idea why they let him write his own lyrics, because he was always bad at that....but the back half is where this album gets really interesting. Rumor has it that some of these songs were literally written in five minutes. One of the only instruments on the album is a Moog keyboard that Wilson was in love with at the time.
Like Barrett's "The Madcap Laughs," it's an utterly compelling, honest glimpse into a broken man's soul.
Here's one track, Solar System:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHftJM8C50E
and here's the whole album:
Code:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/ru39fd