Beach Boys review

This piece on the new Beach Boys box set is my favorite review I've written in a while. I didn't think I'd have room for the 'Citizen Kane' riff, but it fell into place somehow. I've loved that speech ever since the first time I saw the movie some 20-odd years ago; it encapsulates everything 'Kane' (and Kane) is about. Bernstein's girl with the parasol, Kane's sled, Wilson's 'Smile' -- they all represent a safe home that we never actually knew and to which, therefore, we can never truly return.

Anyway, it's my little argument that you can write something very personal in a seemingly customer-service format.

Song of the Day 10-24-11

A hope for karmic retribution. "It's always funny until someone gets hurt/And then it's just hilarious."

Song of the Day 10-15-11

Oh, Ramona. If there was only something between us.

Song of the Day 10-13-11

Whatever became of Nathan Adler or Baby Grace Blue? Or of Major Tom? "Don't you want to be free?" Bowie is into asking questions, not answering them -- which is as it should be.

Song of the Day 10-12-11

In the wake of R.E.M.'s recent breakup after 31 years, I've heard a lot of critics writing off entirely the group's "three-legged dog" (Michael Stipe's phrase) era -- the period since drummer Bill Berry left in 1997. I'm certainly not going to argue that the post-Berry period isn't hit-and-miss, having recently fought my own completist impulse for long enough to sell my copy of Around the Sun. That said, I randomly heard this playing over a store's P.A. a couple of days ago and was kinda transported. It seemed like every band just had to do a Pet Sounds pastiche in the late '90s, but I'll put this up against any of 'em.