Post Release MIC Track Discussion

[Matt Bielewicz]

I can't believe I'm discussing whether Hal Blaine said 'ass' or 'asp' on some recording back in 1965. I like to think he would see the funny side, if he only knew.

[drbeachboy]

No, you're right. I was talking about that bit. I guess it could be ASP. I dunno. 

It is Asp. She is "Stella the snake dancer" An Asp is a snake.

[Marcella]

I learned about the asp line from AGD in his complete guide. It's nice to have it not faded out on MiC. It's 2013 it's high time the Beach Boys shaked their asps a bit, no?

[pixletwin]

No, you're right. I was talking about that bit. I guess it could be ASP. I dunno. 

It is Asp. She is "Stella the snake dancer" An Asp is a snake.

I know what an asp is. For whatever reason I heard it as "ass".

[drbeachboy]

No, you're right. I was talking about that bit. I guess it could be ASP. I dunno. 

It is Asp. She is "Stella the snake dancer" An Asp is a snake.

I know what an asp is. For whatever reason I heard it as "ass".

I wasn't trying to be a smart-asp. 

[pixletwin]

I need to find the version with Hal's extended show calling. I think it's my favorite part of the song. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

No, you're right. I was talking about that bit. I guess it could be ASP. I dunno. 

It is Asp. She is "Stella the snake dancer" An Asp is a snake.

I know what an asp is. For whatever reason I heard it as "ass".

You were supposed to. A joke. Hur hur.

[Ebb and Flow]

"Warmth Of The Sun" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" definitely now have stereo elements that were previously missing...stereo backing vocals for WOTS and stereo backing track for FFF.  Interesting that these new mixes aren't noted in the track listing.

I guess they found another session tape from Shut Down Vol. II (the session from New Years Day, 1964 specifically).  I'm still holding out for the tape for the single version of "Be True To Your School" to be discovered some day.

Can anyone confirm that these two songs are new mixes? Crazy that they wouldn't be noted as being such.

I know I'm the dude you quoted, but they definitely are new mixes.  And I have no idea why they're not noted as such.

"Fun, Fun, Fun" has always been missing the first stage tape with the backing track in stereo, and the original stereo mix of course ran much shorter than the mono single.  This new mix has both new stereo elements, the old stereo elements and has the full fadeout.

"The Warmth Of The Sun" of course has always had that lopsided mix due to the lack of the session master.  This new mix has the backing vocals in full stereo with Brian's vocals in the dead center and the fadeout runs over 10 seconds longer than the original mix, confirming that it is indeed sourced from the original session tape.

I guess the tape with these two turned up in the last year or so (possibly from the same source as the other SD II tape) but it's odd we haven't heard about it (and still haven't).  I just think it's amazing that these 50 year old tapes keep turning up.  It makes me hopeful that we'll get to hear more outtakes and remixes from this missing period in their tape library.

[Mikie]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

[Matt Bielewicz]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

Well, I dug out my SOT disc and listened before my earlier post. As I said above, this is it:

"Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest asp of any man or lady I've ever... [tails off]"

and then, later:

"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest..."

I can't believe I am *still* posting about what Hal Blaine said on a recording in 1965. I gotta get out of here.

[seltaeb1012002]

I think the BBC version of Hushabye might be my favorite early BW vocal.

[roll plymouth rock]

Damn. These 15 Big Ones & Love You mixes sound SO CLEAN 


If that interview re: more reissues etc the whole albums are probably remastered already. If only Capitol would release em!!

[Wirestone]

Damn. These 15 Big Ones & Love You mixes sound SO CLEAN 

To nitpick: The 15BO mixes are indeed new and sound fabulous. The Love You mixes are the same Carl-made ones we've always heard. (But newly remastered, so I would guess they're louder and have some EQ tweaks added).

[Mikie]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

Well, I dug out my SOT disc and listened before my earlier post. As I said above, this is it:

"Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest asp of any man or lady I've ever... [tails off]"

and then, later:

"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest..."

I can't believe I am *still* posting about what Hal Blaine said on a recording in 1965. I gotta get out of here.

Yeah, it's "Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest ass of any lady I've ever..."
 
"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest ass..."

There, I filled in the blanks for you. It is what it is, plain as day! Doesn't make sense that it's "asp". Plus, why else would they fade the "ass" part out on the record?  Hal always told dirty jokes to bust up the session guys and musicians.  This was right up his alley.

[Robert James]

was the "Child Of Winter" intro to "It's OK" originally intended for the song?

it ALMOST sounds like it's a runoff from the track before. It seems like it just doesn't belong.

[Andrew G. Doe]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

Well, I dug out my SOT disc and listened before my earlier post. As I said above, this is it:

"Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest asp of any man or lady I've ever... [tails off]"

and then, later:

"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest..."

I can't believe I am *still* posting about what Hal Blaine said on a recording in 1965. I gotta get out of here.

Yeah, it's "Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest ass of any lady I've ever..."
 
"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest ass..."

There, I filled in the blanks for you. It is what it is, plain as day! Doesn't make sense that it's "asp". Plus, why else would they fade the "ass" part out on the record?  Hal always told dirty jokes to bust up the session guys and musicians.  This was right up his alley.

Simple wordplay/double entendre, ass/asp. Stella the SNAKE dancer... an asp is a SNAKE... asp sounds like ass... simple sophomore level joke.

[Shady]

One of the most the mind blowing tracks on MIC is "Sail Plane Song", seriously it just sounds better than ever before

[Shady]

Jesus christ, "Soul Seachin" 

[Mikie]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

Well, I dug out my SOT disc and listened before my earlier post. As I said above, this is it:

"Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest asp of any man or lady I've ever... [tails off]"

and then, later:

"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest..."

I can't believe I am *still* posting about what Hal Blaine said on a recording in 1965. I gotta get out of here.

Yeah, it's "Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest ass of any lady I've ever..."
 
"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest ass..."

There, I filled in the blanks for you. It is what it is, plain as day! Doesn't make sense that it's "asp". Plus, why else would they fade the "ass" part out on the record?  Hal always told dirty jokes to bust up the session guys and musicians.  This was right up his alley.

Simple wordplay/double entendre, ass/asp. Stella the SNAKE dancer... an asp is a SNAKE... asp sounds like ass... simple sophomore level joke.

I've always heard "ass".  Never hearda "asp" before. It's "snake" over here.  "She's got the biggest "asp" " just doesn't sound right to me.

[runnersdialzero]

Runners, thanks to your post the other day ,I know you love me, and God Only Knows I love you too, but to the casual listener, this will ALWAYS be a She's Leaving Home rip-off. Think about the history... Paul played the song for Brian in April 1967 while the latter was trying to finish SMiLE, Marilyn cried and Brian obviously felt intimidated. Brian must have started playing around with that line of melody and WiS results. Consider: on the one hand you've got a song about a girl leaving home, and in the case of the Brian recording it's about wanting a girl to COME home. And Brian's song is clearly indebted to Paul's melodically — with no prompting and no idea what the song sounded like in advance, I heard the connection right away.

But d00d, it's a strong (but not exact) melodic similarity in one section. Different chords, different arrangement, different production and moon, different style, and the rest of both songs are very, very different from one another. "She's Leaving Home" is about a daughter running away, "Where Is She?" is about teh wifey being away.

Also, you and a few other folks are talking like "Where Is She?" was recorded within days of Brian rushing home after hearing the song, but nop, it took place over two years later. To accuse Brian of deliberately lifting part of it for his own song or liken it to what he did with "Surfin' USA" is silly and extremely presumptuous.

Sorry, I will only "man up to" and acknowledge one section has an extremely similar melody to the other, but that's it. I wouldn't doubt it may have been Brian unconsciously using a variation on something he'd heard prior, but every songwriter under the sun is guilty of that.

Sorry, it's just some folks are doing the tired and predictable "BEATLEZ DID IT BEATLEZ DID IT" and no, they're two different songs, great and unique in their own ways with one similarity. For a casual listener to dismiss it as a Beatles "rip-off" shows how limited their knowledge and appreciation of art is and ultimately, it's their loss.

I like Where Is She, but it's not a mindblowingly brilliant lost gem or anything.

To me, it's one of the best things he did in the somewhat spotty late 60s/early 70s, which is why it upsets me to see people Beatles-shitting all over it. I actually saw someone saying there's a "With A Little Help" reference because Brian used the words "How do I feel" in the song, as if The Beatles invented those words. Just, enough with it all, already.

[drbeachboy]

You guys are nuts!  It's been awhile since I've listened to the SOT disk, but this is from memory. It's clear as a bell:

Come on and see Stella!  She shimmies,  she shakes, she wiggles her ass like a reptile!

And.......Hurry, Hurry, Hurry, folks, see Stella!  She's got the biggest ass on a lady you've ever seen.........

Something like that. For real!

Well, I dug out my SOT disc and listened before my earlier post. As I said above, this is it:

"Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest asp of any man or lady I've ever... [tails off]"

and then, later:

"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest..."

I can't believe I am *still* posting about what Hal Blaine said on a recording in 1965. I gotta get out of here.

Yeah, it's "Come on in and see Stella the snake dancer! She walks, she talks, she wiggles on her belly like a reptile! She got the biggest ass of any lady I've ever..."
 
"Hurry, hurry hurry, folks — come on and see Stella. She shimmies, she shakes... she got the biggest ass..."

There, I filled in the blanks for you. It is what it is, plain as day! Doesn't make sense that it's "asp". Plus, why else would they fade the "ass" part out on the record?  Hal always told dirty jokes to bust up the session guys and musicians.  This was right up his alley.

Simple wordplay/double entendre, ass/asp. Stella the SNAKE dancer... an asp is a SNAKE... asp sounds like ass... simple sophomore level joke.

I've always heard "ass".  Never hearda "asp" before. It's "snake" over here.  "She's got the biggest "asp" " just doesn't sound right to me.

It's a type of snake like a copperhead, python, etc. I think it was an asp that bit and killed Cleopatra.

[Mitchell]

I fully approve of the decision to put Transcendental Meditation on the set. Kicks all sorts of ass. Too bad we didn't get vocals-only as well. Speaking of which, Slip on Through et al. are another mind-blower from Sunflower. When are we getting a box for that one?!

[anazgnos]

Runners, thanks to your post the other day ,I know you love me, and God Only Knows I love you too, but to the casual listener, this will ALWAYS be a She's Leaving Home rip-off. Think about the history... Paul played the song for Brian in April 1967 while the latter was trying to finish SMiLE, Marilyn cried and Brian obviously felt intimidated. Brian must have started playing around with that line of melody and WiS results. Consider: on the one hand you've got a song about a girl leaving home, and in the case of the Brian recording it's about wanting a girl to COME home. And Brian's song is clearly indebted to Paul's melodically — with no prompting and no idea what the song sounded like in advance, I heard the connection right away.

But d00d, it's a strong (but not exact) melodic similarity in one section. Different chords, different arrangement, different production and moon, different style, and the rest of both songs are very, very different from one another. "She's Leaving Home" is about a daughter running away, "Where Is She?" is about teh wifey being away.

Also, you and a few other folks are talking like "Where Is She?" was recorded within days of Brian rushing home after hearing the song, but nop, it took place over two years later. To accuse Brian of deliberately lifting part of it for his own song or liken it to what he did with "Surfin' USA" is silly and extremely presumptuous.

Sorry, I will only "man up to" and acknowledge one section has an extremely similar melody to the other, but that's it. I wouldn't doubt it may have been Brian unconsciously using a variation on something he'd heard prior, but every songwriter under the sun is guilty of that.

Sorry, it's just some folks are doing the tired and predictable "BEATLEZ DID IT BEATLEZ DID IT" and no, they're two different songs, great and unique in their own ways with one similarity. For a casual listener to dismiss it as a Beatles "rip-off" shows how limited their knowledge and appreciation of art is and ultimately, it's their loss.

I like Where Is She, but it's not a mindblowingly brilliant lost gem or anything.

To me, it's one of the best things he did in the somewhat spotty late 60s/early 70s, which is why it upsets me to see people Beatles-shitting all over it. I actually saw someone saying there's a "With A Little Help" reference because Brian used the words "How do I feel" in the song, as if The Beatles invented those words. Just, enough with it all, already.

Since I was the one who brought this up none of this was really my intention to denigrate the song or suggest it was a whole-cloth rip-off.  This tune is totally something to be cherished, a newly-unearthed original (!), non-fragmentary (!!) non-instrumental (!!!) 60s-era Brian Wilson tune - that's a big deal!  I don't mean to suggest that the She's Leaving Home quote is even the most interesting thing about it.

It doesn't constitute shitting on the song to point out the similarity.  It also doesn't really serve to get legalistic and try to winnow it down to just "four notes" in common or whatever...I think there's just an overall similarity in feel, and it  sounds like Brian had She's Leaving Home on the brain as much as he did "Ticket to Ride" with "Girl Don't Tell Me", as somebody else pointed out.  Brian had a lot of amazing, made-out-of-whole-cloth moments in his writiing, and then he also had moments where he did something really interesting with other people's fabric.  And to uh, belabor a metaphor, pointing out the seams shouldn't be all that troublesome.

[runnersdialzero]

"Warmth Of The Sun" and "Fun, Fun, Fun" definitely now have stereo elements that were previously missing...stereo backing vocals for WOTS and stereo backing track for FFF.  Interesting that these new mixes aren't noted in the track listing.

I guess they found another session tape from Shut Down Vol. II (the session from New Years Day, 1964 specifically).  I'm still holding out for the tape for the single version of "Be True To Your School" to be discovered some day.

Can anyone confirm that these two songs are new mixes? Crazy that they wouldn't be noted as being such.

I know I'm the dude you quoted, but they definitely are new mixes.  And I have no idea why they're not noted as such.

"Fun, Fun, Fun" has always been missing the first stage tape with the backing track in stereo, and the original stereo mix of course ran much shorter than the mono single.  This new mix has both new stereo elements, the old stereo elements and has the full fadeout.

"The Warmth Of The Sun" of course has always had that lopsided mix due to the lack of the session master.  This new mix has the backing vocals in full stereo with Brian's vocals in the dead center and the fadeout runs over 10 seconds longer than the original mix, confirming that it is indeed sourced from the original session tape.

I guess the tape with these two turned up in the last year or so (possibly from the same source as the other SD II tape) but it's odd we haven't heard about it (and still haven't).  I just think it's amazing that these 50 year old tapes keep turning up.  It makes me hopeful that we'll get to hear more outtakes and remixes from this missing period in their tape library.

Thanks for the response! I don't have access to the original stereo mixes right now, so I wasn't entirely sure if it was just a really tweaked remaster (they can occasionally do more than you might think with the original master) or if it was indeed a proper remix.

[Justin]

I have just discovered "Sound of Free" for the first time ever and already I've played it 5 times in a row.