Beach Boys: M.I.U. Album

Beach Boys: M.I.U. Album

1978

Brother/Reprise records

Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track listing: 1. She's Got Rhythm  2. Come Go With Me  3. Hey Little Tomboy  4. Kona Coast  5. Peggy Sue  6. Wontcha Come Out Tonight  7. Sweet Sunday Kinda Love  8. Belles of Paris  9. Pitter Patter  10. My Diane  11. Match Point of Our Love  12. Winds of Change

Sometimes records are just doomed...The Beach Boys had originally recorded the album "Adult/Child" which was rejected by their label, so they went back and recorded a Christmas album, which was also rejected by the label, in favor of King Diamond's "No Presents for Christmas" picture disc...

  The band set up sessions to record a new album at the  Maharishi International University (at Mike Love's urging), but only Mike, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson showed up. The band ended up re-using some of the music from the abandoned christmas album and put new lyrics over it...

So it's no surprise that this record isn't quite on the same level as "Pet Sounds" or "Sunflower."  But I do think it's a little better than its circumstances would indicate...but not by a whole lot. . The band seems intent on revisiting their early 60's golden oldies heyday...But they don't seem to quite remember how to do it...None these songs approach the levels of "I Get Around" or "California Girls."

 See, their old songs had some verve and excitement...These kind of sound like soft rock versions of Beach Boys oldies...What's odd is that the Beach Boys were one of the bands that taught me that soft rock could be awesome (Again, see "Pet Sounds" for proof) but M.I.U. tracks like "Winds of Change" are precisely why I hated soft rock in the first place...syrupy, forced emotion...tedious tempos..Making it through side two of this is always kind of a chore for me...Oddly enough though I usually find myself perfectly happy for most of side one...Maybe it should have been an e.p...

The album starts off kind of scary at first...Brian sings in a Bee Gee's falsetto:

"Last night I went out disco dancing,
 Saw a foxy girl out on the floor..."

Uh oh...But then that catchy "She's got Rhythm, she's got what I need..." hook happens and all is forgiven...Turns out it's pretty listenable..."Kona Coast" is a pleasant island vacation of a song, nothing groundbreaking, but Mike sounds great...Most of the rest of side one is made up of oldies covers...It seems a little weird  that they chose these particular songs as their nostalgia vehicles...Since the Beach Boys never before showed much of a  Buddy Holly influence...I kinda wished they would've busted out a Four Freshmen obscurity or something, but really  "Come Go With Me" suits them fine...


I also  like side two opener "Sweet Sunday Kinda Love." Carl Wilson is incapable of singing a less-than-beautiful song.Unfortunately this is the only time on the album you get to hear Carl...Dennis also only does one lead vocal ("My Diane"), but he sounds like he's maybe half-there...There's some interesting backing vocals on "Pitter Patter" but that's about it...

Man, it kills me to write that this album isn't great...The Beach Boys really are one of my all time favorite bands, but the best I can say about "M.I.U"Album" it is that it's pleasant...I'd heard quite a bit of talk about how awful this album was, and when I finally found a $1.99 copy of it, I put it on expecting the worst and I found it nowhere near as bad as it's often made out to be, but I wouldn't recommend this to anyone but the most die-hard of the die-hards...There's some nice vocals and a good hook here and there but that's about it...You can pick up 20 other Beach boys albums that have those same attributes and a whole lot of spirit...

Let's listen to "She's Got Rhythm" by the Beach Boys. Enjoy...