Brian Wilson just released an album of Disney cover songs. It's about as good as you could hope a musical genius nearing his 70's covering Disney could be. (That is... it's OK.)

But the real thing is that they are finally putting out the Beach Boys' Smile album, after about... you know, 45 or so years. Well, they're putting it out as "The Smile Sessions", which means that I'm not sure if you can really count it as the true thing... but it's the closest we're ever going to get.

The plan is that the version coming out is going to feature Brian Wilson's 2004 version as its basis... which makes sense, because it's the only official finished version. But I've got a bootleg of the album that also uses the 2004 version as a basis, and I'm curious as to see where it differentiates from what's about to come out.



Might sound something like this... (this video also includes Gee at the beginning, for whatever reason...)

So yeah. I'm excited about that.

One thing I've been thinking about a lot is that I am starting to suspect that my favorite 60's group are no longer the Beatles.

The main problem is overexposure, most likely. Right now, I'm on a rather major Beach Boys kick... one that I never really experienced. I had heard of their supposed genius as a younger version of myself, but it was harder for me to correlate the progression from Surfin' Safari to Good Vibrations than it was for me from I Want To Hold Your Hand to A Day In The Life. But now, all of a sudden, Pet Sounds sounds brilliant, Smile is probably one of the greatest albums of all time (assuming it's as great as the hype...), and Brian Wilson suddenly equals the genius of Lennon and McCartney.

Whereas The Beatles... I heard them throughout my entire life. My parents always listened to them on the radio, and then when I was about 13 they pretty much singlehandedly made me realize that music was worth obsessing over, after a brief period in which I tried to understand my peers' inclination towards Top 40. (I heard "Hey Jude" on the radio one day... and was flabbergasted, because the coda to the song was something that I thought I came up with on my own. Then I liked them.)

But... I mean, I've heard all the songs before millions of times, and thus I don't ever really feel the need to revisit Rubber Soul or whatever. I mean, I still recognize their greatness and everything. They're still the best band to have ever existed and all. But I've heard them millions of times.

Another thing, too. There's no hesitation in claiming that the Beatles are the best band of all time... but I don't think they came close to making the greatest album of all time.

I like cohesion in my albums. If the Ramones play 15 songs that sound exactly alike for one album, that's OK with me... as long as that song is good. The problem with the Beatles is that they're trying to pretty much tackle every single genre of music... which is great, but it means that I'm not going to turn to them when I'm in a certain mood. Also, the fact that songwriting duties are pretty much split up between Lennon & McCartney (with a couple from Harrison... and one dopey Ringo song per album) means that there are going to be some jarring transitions. Lennon's Tomorrow Never Knows is preceded by McCartney's Got To Get You Into My Life. I Am The Walrus and Strawberry Fields Forever (two of the greatest ever penned by Lennon) is split up by Hello Goodbye... which might just be one of the worst songs of all time (and technically, I AM The Walrus is the end of the Magical Mystery Tour EP, with Hello Goodbye starting a string of tacked on singles... but everyone treats it as a single entity).

And it's not just the fact that Lennon & McCartney morphed into two very different songwriters. The Zombies' Odessey & Oracle has long been my favorite 60's record... and that album had two separate songwriters. But it still sounded cohesive... whereas The Beatles just had a bunch of albums with a lot of f***ing great songs.

(Also, their two albums that seem to be a cohesive unit... Sgt. Pepper and Abbey Road, both have their faults. Sgt. Pepper really only has three or four good songs, while Abbey Road has this professional sheen that I can't shake, mostly because I know they were done as a band at that point and were just showing up to work...)

Anyway... here's a ranking of my favorite 60's albums, for the hell of it.

1. Zombies--Odessey & Oracle
2. Beach Boys--Smile (bootleg version)
3. Beatles--Rubber Soul
4. The Band--s/t
5. Beach Boys--Pet Sounds
6. Beatles--Revolver
7. Bob Dylan--Highway 61 Revisited
8. Love--Forever Changes
9. King Crimson--In The Court Of The Crimson King
10. Rolling Stones--Let It Bleed

Bit of a boring list, but... I couldn't think of any other way to finish this.