Then I'll Be Someone by Carl Wilson & Tandyn Almer

[rn57]

Almer turning 70 today reminds me that besides the three songs he wrote with Brian (Marcella, SOS, Beatrice From Baltimore), he was supposed to have written a song with Carl called Then I'll Be Someone. In the mid '70s David Cassidy performed this song on British TV according to the main DC site...and since that happened when Bruce was working with Cassidy I wonder if the song was written before the CATP sessions got underway. Anybody hear Cassidy's version? Or another?

[rogerlancelot]

The name of the show is detailed here:

"Then I'll Be Someone (on England's Russel Harty show, 1976) The song was written by Carl Wilson and Tandyn Almer"

from the website here:

http://www.davidcassidy.com/fansite/DiscographyPages/UnreleasedLiveSongs.html

Could be an interesting discovery?

[rn57]

banana-and-Louie.org's lists it in the unreleased BB song page. States it's from the Holland era but gives no source. Stuff from the Harty show in 70s is all over YouTube so I figure the Cassidy performance likely exists.

[Christian]

http://www.myspace.com/video/pinkpandoracat/then-i-39-ll-be-someone/13752341

[rn57]

Well, well...that almost sounds like something Dennis could have written...pretty far removed from Marcella or Along Comes Mary for that matter. The way Cassidy plays it, I wonder if he did learn about it from Bruce.

[Jason Penick]

Wow, what a great discovery. I'd do terrible things to hear a studio version with Carl singing.

[MBE]

Interesting, I wonder if Carl gave it to him?

[rn57]

Turns out there was a discussion of this at the BBB board in March. Bruce did not weigh in. But Billy Hinsche called it a "powerful romantic ballad" and said that Tandyn himself taught it to him at the piano and that he (Billy) did an unreleased recording of it later...but curiously, until the song was mentioned at the board, he did not know Carl was supposed to have co-written it. But the chord changes and melody, for the most part, sound more like Carl than Tandyn.

[rn57]

YouTube also has the audio of Cassidy's performance, along with stills from the videotape. Listening to it again...the bridge does have an Almerish type of sound, comparing it to the songs he wrote alone. But most of the composition does have the feel of something Carl would have written after LPR. Billy Hinsche said at the BBB board that it's a song he'd be proud to have written...and indeed when he commented about MIBS, that was his first post to that board this year, so he must think it quite the humdinger...

[guitarfool2002]

The song really does sound more like a Dennis song, to my ears! I even got a bit of a Dennis-style vocal vibe from David Cassidy's performance. But credits are credits.

Speaking of David Cassidy, I wanted to throw in my two cents worth and say I think he is one of the more underrated and overlooked musicians of that era. All the teen-pop idol success and trappings of superstardom aside, the guy was a helluva good singer. The double-edged sword of massive fame and idol status really cut deep into his reputation as a musician, I think, and all you need to do is check out his lead vocals on even a few of the bigger hits and you'll hear a solid musician at the mic.

And I wanted to mention as well for fans of the various "Wrecking Crew" studio players, and their offshoots and next generation studio cats from the 70's: David Cassidy's solo albums are packed with a lot of legendary studio names. His solo albums are literally a who's-who of studio players, everyone from the Blaine/Osborn/Knechtel/Tedesco/Shelton Partridge Family core bad, to Larry Carlton, Lee Sklar, Mick Ronson(!), Jesse Ed Davis, Skunk Baxter, Jim Gordon, Elvis' band stalwarts Ronnie Tutt and James Burton, etc...the list is huge. It's pretty impressive to see how many musicians, those we'd consider among the best at their profession at that time, performed with David Cassidy.

Of special interest to BB's fans are the names Bruce Johnston and Ricky Fataar on various album credits, and the fact that Cassidy covered "Darlin'", "I Write The Songs", and co-wrote a tune with Fataar and Gerry Beckley.

It might be worth checking out some of those early 70's Cassidy solo albums, as they kind of slipped out of the public eye.

[Rocker]

Never heard about this song. Thank you for posting !

Did the BBs ever record this ?

[Phoenix]

Speaking of David Cassidy, I wanted to throw in my two cents worth and say I think he is one of the more underrated and overlooked musicians of that era. All the teen-pop idol success and trappings of superstardom aside, the guy was a helluva good singer.

I LOVE David Cassidy's voice!  It's a shame he was in the same boat as Rick Springfield later got on.  It's not their fault they were attractive guys    but their looks caused most people to overlook their talents, especially Cassidy's voice and Springfield's songwriting prowess. 

[Ed Roach]

The song really does sound more like a Dennis song, to my ears! I even got a bit of a Dennis-style vocal vibe from David Cassidy's performance. But credits are credits.

Of special interest to BB's fans are the names Bruce Johnston and Ricky Fataar on various album credits, and the fact that Cassidy covered "Darlin'", "I Write The Songs", and co-wrote a tune with Fataar and Gerry Beckley.

Tandyn, David & Gerry were a big part of the crew that hung out at the Miller Drive house during the time it was occupied by Ricky, Van Dyke & Lowell George; the same house written about in the infamous collaboration of Dennis & Gerry Beckley.  It was simply an amazing time & atmosphere, and all sorts of germs of ideas were exchanged between things guys, as well as McGuinn, Burton Cummings, and lord only knows who I can't think of off hand, or wasn't fortunate enough to have been there to see & hear.
In addition to that, Ricky would often scoop me up at night to drop in on Timothy Schmit's house & studio, and Cassidy would often pop in there, too.  I guess sometimes songwriting session continued out of these times, but often people were just glad to help out, and went uncredited.  Witness "You Are So Beautiful"!

[guitarfool2002]

That is an incredible post, thank you for sharing!

It is amazing to read again and again just how much interaction and cross-pollination of music, styles, and ideas was going on among musicians like those mentioned above. It would surprise some to put David Cassidy in the same group as Van Dyke Parks and Lowell George, but in reality that's exactly the kind of thing that made a lot of great music possible.

One of my favorite quotes from whoever said it is "It didn't happen in a vacuum..."

[EgoHanger1966]

Speaking of David Cassidy, I wanted to throw in my two cents worth and say I think he is one of the more underrated and overlooked musicians of that era. All the teen-pop idol success and trappings of superstardom aside, the guy was a helluva good singer.

I LOVE David Cassidy's voice!  It's a shame he was in the same boat as Rick Springfield later got on.  It's not their fault they were attractive guys    but their looks caused most people to overlook their talents, especially Cassidy's voice and Springfield's songwriting prowess. 

Count me in too. David Cassidy is one of my all time favorite voices. He came here almost two years ago, Danny Bonaduce opened up for him as a stand-up act. I'm a 20 year old guy, but I braved the hoardes of 50+ year old screaming fangirls and sat first row. It was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. What a voice!!! Bonaduce learned how to play one song on the bass and came out during David's set in one of those red velvet Partridge suits.

[rn57]

Well - over at the thread where Stephen Desper was explaining what the background vocal was saying in the opening of "Surf's Up," I just asked if Then I'll Be Someone rang a bell. So hopefully we'll find out if this is an actual BBs track.

Cassidy really is a very talented singer. He did national tours of Broadway shows in the '80s and in the early '90s starred on Broadway in "Bloodbrothers," and you have to be a heckuva singer to do that.

[Jim V.]

I remember seeing this song listed in Byron Preiss Beach Boys bio, and being quite interested in knowing what it was. Gotta say that it's odd that Carl wrote with Tandyn. I thought that "everybody" around Brian thought that Tandyn was a bad influence. I would probably agree with these people by the way, since after he "collaborated" with Tandyn, he became quite unproductive.

However, I wonder if there are any more Brian/Tandyn collaborations, because the songs from the Tandyn era are some of the rockingest things Brian ever did. I personally wouldn't mind hearing a few more. Maybe "Rooftop Harry" is one of them?

[Phoenix]

Bonaduce learned how to play one song on the bass and came out during David's set in one of those red velvet Partridge suits.

That's awesome!     I knew about Danny opening for him but didn't know that.

[adamghost]

Arrrgh.  So frustrating that they had material like this lying around and put out as much iffy stuff as they did.

Because of the interpretation on piano instead of electric piano, this performance has more of a Dennis vibe, but the types of chords used are more Carl's bag.

I had never heard this before.  Wow.  Great song.

[Slow In Brain]

Cruise To Harlem was a song from this period as well.

[Jason Penick]

I thought that "everybody" around Brian thought that Tandyn was a bad influence.

I'm guessing Marilyn didn't. 

[Jim V.]

I thought that "everybody" around Brian thought that Tandyn was a bad influence.

I'm guessing Marilyn didn't. 

Actually, despite her, Brian, and Tandyn's little "adventure", I'm pretty sure she thought he was one of the biggest "drainers" around Brian in the early '70s.

[Don Malcolm]

Much of the Cassidy RCA material is up on You Tube. First two LPs were co-produced by Bruce, the third by Gerry Beckley. I used to torture my pal Jeff Gold when we worked at Rhino Records back in the day by playing the "Home is Where the Heart Is" LP in the store. He kept saying "it's a god-dammed 20-cent record" (the ultimate Rhino insult...) and would really get pissed when folks would come up and say "Who is that? I love that guy's voice!!"  

If Bruce could have been more successful at appropriating Brian's production style for Cassidy, those records would have been better...it seems as though they tried to emulate a lot of more "au courant" 70s styles on a lot of the songs, and more often than not to their detriment (IMO). There's a fascinating little BB-esque passage in Cassidy's cover of "Tomorrow" (a Sir Paul original from Wings Wild Life) that has 15-20 sec of Smile-y interlude, and overall it's a good track.



Cassidy could really sing, but he's never been able to add sufficient personality in his singing beyond his natural talent to become really interesting. The closest he came (again, IMO) was on "Gettin' It In the Street" (title track of the LP co-produced by Beckley)...there's an edge to his voice that's like a cross between Dennis and Eric Carmen. They don't quite pull off the song as a full "entity," but it's a fascinating little artifact. That LP was announced and brought to the point of release, but then abruptly canceled by RCA in America, but appears to have been recently released on CD and/or MP3. "Cruise to Harlem" was on this record--a track that's enjoyable, but winds up sounding like second-rate BW combined with the slickness of the original SNL house band...

[rn57]

Much of the Cassidy RCA material is up on You Tube. First two LPs were co-produced by Bruce, the third by Gerry Beckley. I used to torture my pal Jeff Gold when we worked at Rhino Records back in the day by playing the "Home is Where the Heart Is" LP in the store. He kept saying "it's a god-dammed 20-cent record" (the ultimate Rhino insult...) and would really get pissed when folks would come up and say "Who is that? I love that guy's voice!!"  

If Bruce could have been more successful at appropriating Brian's production style for Cassidy, those records would have been better...it seems as though they tried to emulate a lot of more "au courant" 70s styles on a lot of the songs, and more often than not to their detriment (IMO). There's a fascinating little BB-esque passage in Cassidy's cover of "Tomorrow" (a Sir Paul original from Wings Wild Life) that has 15-20 sec of Smile-y interlude, and overall it's a good track.



Cassidy could really sing, but he's never been able to add sufficient personality in his singing beyond his natural talent to become really interesting. The closest he came (again, IMO) was on "Gettin' It In the Street" (title track of the LP co-produced by Beckley)...there's an edge to his voice that's like a cross between Dennis and Eric Carmen. They don't quite pull off the song as a full "entity," but it's a fascinating little artifact. That LP was announced and brought to the point of release, but then abruptly canceled by RCA in America, but appears to have been recently released on CD and/or MP3. "Cruise to Harlem" was on this record--a track that's enjoyable, but winds up sounding like second-rate BW combined with the slickness of the original SNL house band...

Knowing Jeff, I figure he'd cleanse Rhino's air after each play of an RCA Cassidy disc with the strongest stuff available - which, to his way of thinking, no doubt was "As Kind As Summer" by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. ("Evil - live-e! Evil - live-e!")

It's hardly mentioned on this board as much as Bruce-plays-PS-for-Paul-and-John = Here There & Everywhere, but the BBs influence on Wings' music was very pervasive. "Back Seat Of My Car" is the most spectacular example but a lot of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway shows the impact of Sunflower and Surf's Up, the way I hear 'em, and there are several other examples from the rest of the Paul/Linda/Denny et al output.

[Don Malcolm]

Knowing Jeff, I figure he'd cleanse Rhino's air after each play of an RCA Cassidy disc with the strongest stuff available - which, to his way of thinking, no doubt was "As Kind As Summer" by the West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band. ("Evil - live-e! Evil - live-e!")

It's hardly mentioned on this board as much as Bruce-plays-PS-for-Paul-and-John = Here There & Everywhere, but the BBs influence on Wings' music was very pervasive. "Back Seat Of My Car" is the most spectacular example but a lot of Wild Life and Red Rose Speedway shows the impact of Sunflower and Surf's Up, the way I hear 'em, and there are several other examples from the rest of the Paul/Linda/Denny et al output.

Actually I think we were getting more "progressive" stuff from JG at that point--Neu! or Faust. He was big into Nico's solo records at that point, too, IIRC. This was also the time frame when Rhino was just beginning to dip its toe into record production/marketing (well before they became the licensing whiz kids: which wasn't Jeff, but Foos and Bronson) and a lot of fur was flying re Roky Erikson (moving very close to the WCPAEB material you reference).

Agreed about that period of Wings...this was also the time when John Cale was doing his BW production hommages ("Mr. Wilson," "China Sea").