The Beach Boys - M.I.U. Album/L.A. (Light Album)

Want a party game sure to clear the room in record time? Try playing Name the Beach Boys Worst Album; two-plus decades on, 1978's M.I.U. remains a dogged contender. Vocalist Mike Love, perhaps stunned by the massively weird, if eminently lovable, originality of the Love You album, somehow cajoled the band to sojourn from Southern California to cut their next effort in that somewhat lesser-known recording Mecca--the Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Cascading effortlessly from one sentimental, ill-conceived aural greeting card to the next, the forms and harmonies are familiar, if virtually substance-free, in service of a pop sensibility--Love's--that makes Barry Manilow sound like Rimbaud. Bruce Johnston returned to the fold after a long absence just in time for 1979's L.A. (Light Album)--and a shot at another round of everyone's least favorite party game. The band was right about one thing: this is one light album, a virtually fat-free concoction that shamelessly borrows Bach one moment ("Lady Lynda"), then apes Japanese modalities (Al Jardine's clumsy "Sumahama"), and pimps waning disco fever (a cliché-ridden redux/remix of "Wild Honey's "Here Comes the Night") the next. All it desperately needed was a soul, a commodity the devil had apparently collected in a previous deal. Though the infectious "Good Timin'" was both a highlight and moderate hit, Brian Wilson's creative guidance is sorely missed throughout; judging from these two albums, he may indeed have been crazy ... like a fox. Both albums are newly remastered on a single disc. --Jerry McCulley Amazon.com

Swap the album titles! ;))

When I was going to buy this CD, I was a bit afraid, because everyone was saying and writing how "MIU Album" was bad, and after the dreadful "Beach Boys Love You", I was expecting to survive another disappointment. To my surprise, "MIU" proved to be extremely good to my taste! I have no idea why people hate this one or, f.ex., "Summer In Paradise" (which is great on its own). "MIU Album" contains very beautiful and catchy songs, simple and unpretentious, i.e. exactly what can be said about the band's "surfing" classics from the early 60's. My personal faves are "Kona Coast", "Peggy Sue", "Belles Of Paris", the great "Pitter Patter" and "Winds Of Change", while the other half of the album is almost as good. I think you could swap the album titles and name this release "Light Album", leaving "MIU" to its more meditative successor. Yes, "LA Album" is more serious and darker record, hence very Dennis-styled. It features such gems as "Good Timing" (archetypal BB), "Lady Linda", "Sumahama" and "Going South". Sometimes this album shows too much variety, I mean the disco version of "Here Comes The Night", which I always skip.

I highly recommend this release, because this is undoubtedly the best pair of Beach Boys 70's albums after Sunflower/Surf's Up and a huge improvement after the band's downhill inbetween. July 23, 2008

Beach Boys M.I.U. album

The Beach Boys M.I.U.album suprised me in a good way.Some of the cuts are done well.Winds of Change is my favorite with good harmonies.I would rate this album based against other Beach Boys albums,so I would give it 3 out of 5 stars.Maybe if they would have spent more time on these songs,they could have been better.Overall ,I love the Beach Boys and collect all they have done. The other album on this CD is The Light Album. I give it four stars for great harmonies on Good Timin,Lady Lynda,Full Sail,and Baby Blue.I gets me a singing along.P Campbell Colorado April 21, 2008

MIU/LA LIGHT

I am VERY pleased of how good a shape my cd came and how fast April 6, 2008

BABY BLUE!!!!!

I give this album 4 stars. If nothing else for Baby Blue alone. Arguably the most heartwrenching song the Beach Boys ever did. I never cry at anything but one night while listening to this song the tears just flowed at the pure beauty of this song. Carl sounds like an angel from heaven and Dennis like a broken soul crying for help. This might also be Dennis' best vocal effort. Personally I think Dennis was a great vocalist, just different from Brian and Carl. Love Surrounds Me and Full Sail are also great. Try not to listen to Here Comes the Night or anything Mike Love sings. Beach Boys Forever!!!!! Peace!!! September 21, 2007

The Beach Boys Close Out The 1970s In Fine Style

This is the last in a series of CDs reissuing albums recorded for the group's own Brother Records at the start of the 1970s. At that time the band had signed a collaboration agreement with Warner Brothers/Reprise to take advantage of their vast distribution capabilities, and the first products produced in 1970/71 were the albums Sunflower and Surf's Up, followed in 1972/73 by Carl & The Passions "So Tough" and Holland. All were done without the input of Brian Wilson.

Three years later, and under considerable pressure to fulfill the conditions of the original contract, Brian returned to produce 15 Big Ones which, in addition to becoming a hit album, also delivered their first Top 10 single since Good Vibrations in 1966 - a cover of Chuck Berry's Rock And Roll Music which hit the # 5 Billboard Hot 100 spot b/w The T.M. Song. That was followed in 1977 by the LP The Beach Boys Love You.

Each of the other three CDs in this series pull together two of the foregoing albums, while this one combines their last in the collaboration with Warner/Reprise - 1977's The M.I.U. Album - and their first for CBS/Caribou, the L.A. (Light Album) released in 1979.

Both also produced hit singles, with a cover of Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue hitting # 46 Adult Contemporary (AC)/# 59 Hot 100 in the fall of 1978 b/w Hey Little Tomboy from the M.I.U. Album, while from the other one sprung three hit singles. The first was a disco re-working of Here Comes The Night, initially done for their 1967 LP Wild Honey, and this new version reached # 44 Hot 100 in April 1979 b/w Baby Blue. However, if you're planning on recapturing some of that old disco magic by dancing to this album cut, you better have retained some considerable stamina over the past quarter of a century because it runs in excess of 10 minutes.

Another 1979 hit single from that album was Good Timin' which peaked at # 12 AC/# 40 Hot 100 in June b/w Love Surrounds Me, while the third, not released as a single until 1981 by Caribou, was a cover of the old Del Vikings hit Come Go With Me. With a non-album cut, Don't Go Near The Water as the flip, it went all the way to # 11 AC/# 18 Hot 100 in late December.

Six pages of liner notes covering both albums, and providing track-by-track details, were written by Jeff Tamarkin who says, of the M.I.U. Album, that, "in spite of the climate in which it was made [internal problems], such sheer sonic beauty (was displayed) and boasted the presence of some extraordinary - if under-appreciated - tracks is a testament to the raw talent inherent within The Beach Boys."

For the other album he quotes from the original vinyl release which says "The word "light" refers to the awareness of, and the presence of God. Here in this world is an ongoing, loving reality." To Tamarkin "there is undeniable brilliance here if one dares to look."

As with each of the other releases, all essential additions to any serious Beach Boys collection, the sound reproduction is nothing short of excellent. August 12, 2007

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