My personal favorites from the "MIU" album would be "Come Go With Me," "Peggy Sue," "She's Got Rhythm," "Kona Coast," and "Sweet Sunday." Though some take the remakes of "Come Go With Me" and "Peggy Sue" as indicators of lack of creativity (and they're probably right), the fact is that the songs came out very good. One interesting thing to point out is that those who have the Beach Boys' "Ultimate Christmas" disc with the previously unreleased 70s Christmas songs will recognize a few instrument tracks on "MIU."

My favorites from the "LA (Light Album)" would be "Good Timin'," "Lady Lynda," and "Sumahama." I disagree with the above notion to skip "Sumahama;" it's a beautiful song, quite possibly my favorite on the disc. For those who like the familiar upbeat Beach Boys sound, though, be forewarned that this album is what it's titled, a "Light Album." Most of the tracks are slow songs. The biggest surprise is the disco track, "Here Comes the Night." Not a bad song, but dragged out for nearly 11 minutes, it does become monotonous. It would have been nice if the single version could have been included on the disc.

So, I recommend this disc. With a few exceptions, the songs are great. If you're looking for surf music, though, this isn't the disc for you.
I don't know why these albums get such a bad rap. Both of these albums are far superior to the overly disappointing "15 Big Ones." M.I.U. has Pitter Patter, Sweet Sunday Kind of Love, Hey Little Tomboy, Peggy Sue, Come Go with Me, My Diane, and The Match Point of Our Love. True there are a few dull tracks on here, but its gems more than make up for it. M.I.U. has a nice blend of throwback 50s and 60s-esque rock songs mixed in with their more contempary 70s sound.
The Light Album is just beautiful. Every track shines. Love You is overall more creative than The Light Album, but I think the former is more consistant from start to finish. The Beach Boys even do a disco song, but it sounds suprsingly well. In many ways The Light Album is the final TRUE Beach Boys album because they hadn't fallen into permeant cliche mode.

The Light Album
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 spot. 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 # 59 in the fall of 1978 b/w Hey Little Tomboy from the M.I.U. Album, while from the other one sprang 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 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 # 40 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 # 18 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 displaying "in spite of the climate in which it was made [internal problems], such sheer sonic beauty and boasted the presence of some extraordinary - if under-apprecuated - 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.
M.I.U is a solid album. It doesn't touch records like Pet Sounds, Surfs up, or Sunflower, but it still carries some very good songs. As for the Light Album, I can't believe anyone can think so highly of it. The record is completely uninspired and carries very little emotion. It's work picking up to complete your collection and for M.I.U., but don't expect anything too spectacular.

is awesome!!! One of their 5 best albums!
These albums are the sad nadir of what was once a great band. They should have stopped in 1971 after Sunflower and Surf's Up. You know it, too. Imagine Dennis Wilson as a solo artist fully realized.

Sad.
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