The Beach Boys Album Ranking #24 - 15 Big Ones

Back again with another album review, this time with the album that marked the return of Brian Wilson!

(It's OK was NOT the B-Side to Rock and Roll Music, sorry for the misinformation)

[BriggsHolland-xnyv]

I love almost every song on the album. They are just so so fun

[Chicago_Podcast_Authority]

Dude this album is so slept including by me until very recently. If you actually give it a chance with no expectations you’ll be pleasantly surprised and enthralled ❤

[CarmenateYT]

Yesss was waiting for the next review to come out! Loving this so far

[coloresajenos]

"Al is keeping it so clean..." lol i got that reference

[outlawfett]

Damn… ! This is actually in my top 5 Beach Boys! Brian is back, I love the synths and the album did commercially well. Brian described this and “Love You” as his two “life” albums.

[SeahorsesJay]

Subscribed! Looking forward to checking out your other reviews man! 😃

I found myself agreeing with much of what you said - and I have to say 15 Big Ones is a guilty pleasure of mine, though admittedly it just does not function as an album - AT ALL. 'It's OK' is one of my favourite Brian compositions (I own the Japanese and Dutch pressings respectively), a 'Do It Again' Pt. 2 - followed by Had To Phone Ya which is just gorgeous (though too short, which is why I have my own edit that cuts back into the verse a second time haha) - then suddenly the wheels start coming off as you get into the covers. That said, some of the covers are great. People seem to hate Chapel of Love but I really dig the production, and again on Blueberry Hill especially the drum fills before the middle 8. The crown jewel of the "moldy oldies" is undoubtedly Just Once In My Life - it's stunning, and I actually really like how you basically have a wrecking crew wall of sound backing track - absolutely perfect in itself, but then Brian being Brian decided to overdub a farting synth. Everyone's In Love With You is a great track though IMO, great vocals, catchy progression and melody and the flutes are great - it's just that literally anybody other than Mike should have sung it - he just sounds so saccharine and syrupy and ugh.

I agree Mike's voice kinda dropped off of a cliff somewhere between Big Sur and Everyone's In Love With You, it just got so light and nasal sounding - and as for Brian, it was more of a conscious decision to approach the vocals like that as opposed to the accepted theory that cigarettes and drugs fucked his voice. Personally, I always really liked his gruff voice - and I love the idea of a casual listening suddenly making the connection between Brian of Don't Worry Baby being the same guy that sings 'Back Home' and being mind-blown 😄

"Al's keeping it so clean he doesn't it even have to look at the camera" - love it 😆 👏

[predeterminedmeat]

Those last few tracks are brilliant, worth bying the viynl for alone. Love You was a big improvement but its clear that theres something great there (like the synth bass on Once In My Life, god it's good!) Usually i don't prefer covers over the original but gosh darn!

[bkkersey]

This is actually a top favorite of mine from them. For me, everything Pet Sound and post can do no wrong.

[JustinEdwords]

i dont understand people who love "love you" and hate on this. . they are cut from the same cloth sonically imo. Rock n Roll Music is pretty atrocious but i like pretty much everything else

[TheElectricfishmusic]

Just tells you how good their output was. This album being in the lesser category and it's still interesting and worthwhile.

[TheElectricfishmusic]

Good observation on Brian's outros that don't resolve. He was definitely the master of that.

[sheatiller]

I really do like this album in a lot of ways, and I wholeheartedly agree that Had To Phone Ya is just sublime, in composition and arrangement. Something I feel strongly about this album is that it was a bit under-arranged. That Same Song could have really built up, but instead it just sort of falls asleep/apart at the end, with the cascades of strings being the only really dramatic arrangement point in it. I never was really sure what to make of that amateurish production on it. A change in the chord voicings alone on Blueberry Hill could have elevated that song significantly for me, especially if one of the Wilsons sang it. But overall I like Carl's takes on the oldies a lot. Maybe it felt like a regression to go from Holland and Good Timin' to oldies covers, but he kills it on those covers, especially Palisades Park. Susie Cincinnati is a great song, but it feels out of place on this album to me because it isn't really in the vain of retro pop. I would probably have preferred if their version of Mony Mony with Billy Hinsche on lead vocals had been track 2 on side one and taken the place of Susie Cincinnati or Blueberry Hill.

[magictransistorradio]

This is probably my least favorite Beach Boys album. Although, Just Once In My Life is fantastic.