Your favorite BEACH BOYS LP besides PET SOUNDS

I compared my Pet Sounds Stereo reissue from 99 against the New Kevin Grey QRP Stereo. The former is not the Cap Vaults, but the reissue prior to that. Again, 1999 I believe. In listening to my 99 LP, it was hard to fault overall. It did nothing wrong, but it was certainly nothing special. Well, the QRP clearly rendered the 99 obsolete. The QRP simply allowed me to be truly connected. It's more detailed, but not in an overblown, Hi-Fi sort of way. It's more of that unhindered, open the flood gates, wide open, organic sort of way. ANALOG! 

The Beach Boys Christmas record is pretty dang cool. I was looking for something to put on over the holidays, forgot I picked it up from a long ago thrift store binge. Surprised me it did, but then again I didn't have high expectations either. 

After only Chuck Berry, Brian Wilson is my second choice for "Most Influential Artist (Rock n Roll Division)".  At the end of the day, "Smile" seems (to me) to offer the greatest insight into Brian Wilson's creative process.   On that basis, it's my favorite Beach Boys/Brian Wilson record, including Pet Sounds.  The music on Smile may be a bit uneven, but that's part of the charm, IMO.  It's also the BB/BW record that I revisit most frequently.

I somehow missed your 01-30-2016 post Marty, with which I concur 100%. There are others I listen to for different reasons: All Summer Long for it’s "before sex and drugs" innocence, Sunflower for The Beach Boys finally putting out a good album on a sympathetic label (Reprise/Warner Bros.), Wild Honey for it’s soul (yeah, The BB had it---at least Carl and Dennis did), Surf's Up, Holland and Carl & The Passions for a few great songs ("Marcella" and "Til I Die" are fantastic), Love You for it’s goofiness (Honkin’ down that gosh darn hiway :-). After that it got real bleak real fast, and Brian’s solo albums are a pretty sad spectacle. Dennis’ solo album is pretty dramatic, and his decline from drinking (I sat with him at a table in a bar in Venice in ’82; he was drinking alone, his face very puffy) and then death a real loss.