Love You backing tracks

[Cabinessenceking]

Carl's contribution as "Mixdown Producer" was enough to give the album that polish we all admire (the mixing process can radically change the way tracks sound, in this case much for the better, I'm told).  I doubt he did any arranging.  Some of the guitar is him, some is Ed Carter, some is probably Billy Hinsche.  As for his musical taste changing to the, um, shall we say "bland" side...funny how that change pretty much coincided with his '78 detox.  Maybe Carl began to draw a parallell between the exciting, wild side of music to the use of illegal drugs, and (maybe subconsciously, maybe not) played it safe by shying away from the wackier creative, stuff, instead preferring to stick to the Middle Of The Road musically.  Just a theory.

I'm probably missing something obvious, but please explain this to me as you would to a 5 year old. I get that mixes can make a difference, as in the 15BO vs MIU mixes of Peggy Sue (i think), where the instrumentation balance is changed. But it doesn't seem to me like there's much to bury in Love You. Is it just a case of Carl adding overdubs? If not, then what? Thanks!

Yup. Some tracks were, ah, 'fleshed out'.

I prefer my Beatles fleshed out ... but i'd love to do an a-b comparison pre- and post-Carl.

Really? I need mine staight. That's just me though...and perhaps AGD as well.

[Micha]

To me they sound more as if Brian is about to cough his lungs out. Horrible songs.

I don't think the songs are bad. It is the instrumentation and the things that slightly resemble an arrangement that make them sound bad.

[Mike's Beard]

To me they sound more as if Brian is about to cough his lungs out. Horrible songs.

I don't think the songs are bad. It is the instrumentation and the things that slightly resemble an arrangement that make them sound bad.

True, Love is a Woman might have had a shot with a better lead vocal (Brian sounds awful here - one of the worst professional lead performances I've ever heard from anyone) and some decent instrumentation but the other two are beyond hope. For me Solar System is hands down the worst Beach Boys song of all time.

[hypehat]

Carl's contribution as "Mixdown Producer" was enough to give the album that polish we all admire (the mixing process can radically change the way tracks sound, in this case much for the better, I'm told).  I doubt he did any arranging.  Some of the guitar is him, some is Ed Carter, some is probably Billy Hinsche. 

I'm probably missing something obvious, but please explain this to me as you would to a 5 year old. I get that mixes can make a difference, as in the 15BO vs MIU mixes of Peggy Sue (i think), where the instrumentation balance is changed. But it doesn't seem to me like there's much to bury in Love You. Is it just a case of Carl adding overdubs? If not, then what? Thanks!

Look at this way - have you got the SOT Smile? Those are straight off the tapes, all the faders up, with no mixing of any kind done to it. Now compare those to TSS. You can radically change things in mixing via effects (such as EQ, compression) or just moving the instruments and vocals around. It's not so much the arranging side.

I should try and find the Love You outtakes in my highly disorganised iTunes. IIRC, they are hardly the crispest quality, so a comparison was difficult.