Soul Searchin'

[runnersdialzero]

poor you.

POOR YOUR FACE

[Gertie J.]

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[Dutchie]

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[Andrew G. Doe]

It is really hard to understand what Carl's objections were with Soul Searchin' and Still a Mystery. This stuff was worlds better than that SIP junk, which presumably he approved of, since he sang on it, and it was released in his lifetime.

But we still haven't heard the Don Was stuff...

And Carl did a professional job on the SIP stuff but that doesn't mean he liked it. He didn't appear on the U.K. versions did he?

Yup, he did.

[Micha]

It is really hard to understand what Carl's objections were with Soul Searchin' and Still a Mystery. This stuff was worlds better than that SIP junk, which presumably he approved of, since he sang on it, and it was released in his lifetime.

Maybe - and this is pure speculation - maybe Carl was pissed that he was once more excluded from the creative process (songwriting) and it was one time too many after SIP, so he said to himself "Not again! I'm off."

[runnersdialzero]

I still love the guy either way, but I don't know if I've seen anyone actually consider that Carl may have just thought SIP was appropriate for the band while the 1995 songs somehow weren't. No offense, just seems like everyone is creating a lot of complex theories as to why Carl would go along with one and not the other while not considering the more obvious conclusion. These guys were only human.

If so, I obviously respectfully disagree with his choice and can't understand the logic behind it, but I don't know if it would surprise me much. This wasn't 1970 anymore, even the acknowledged "artist" of the band, Brian, had created his share of really questionable "of the times" sounding material during the decade or so prior to these sessions.

[Bean Bag]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  The Brian that reworked Help Me Ronda, into Help Me Rhonda and into a Number 1, could have certainly made something of this gem.

When you think of all strained "Beach," "Fun" and "Summertime" metaphors that were squeezed out of this band over the last 3 or 4 decades, and spread thin on a lousy, flimsy piece of stale white-bread -- you really have to wonder what azz-clown was managing this band's affairs, since Brian's demise.

One of the most mis-managed, under utilized talents EVER.


I was listening to Wishing You Were Here by Chicago (which utilized Carl, Al and Denny's vocals) this weekend, and it just emphasized to me how wasted the best years of this band were.  It's like there was this beautiful one-of-kind Ferrari sitting unused in a garage.  Or a delicious lobster dinner being fed to the dog -- while we were fed sugar-frosted Azz-O's.

[Lonely Summer]

I still love the guy either way, but I don't know if I've seen anyone actually consider that Carl may have just thought SIP was appropriate for the band while the 1995 songs somehow weren't. No offense, just seems like everyone is creating a lot of complex theories as to why Carl would go along with one and not the other while not considering the more obvious conclusion. These guys were only human.

If so, I obviously respectfully disagree with his choice and can't understand the logic behind it, but I don't know if it would surprise me much. This wasn't 1970 anymore, even the acknowledged "artist" of the band, Brian, had created his share of really questionable "of the times" sounding material during the decade or so prior to these sessions.

According to Gerry Beckley, one of the things Carl often said was "it wouldn't be appropriate". Maybe that's how he felt about the Was sessions. "Hey Carl, why didn't you continue working with Brian and Don Was?" "It wouldn't be appropriate at this time".

[picassosson]

Also, remember Carl's musical taste at the time, if "Like A Brother" is any indication. I'm glad we have it, but that album is so MOR it makes "Imagination" sound like Slayer. He may just not have been into the whole 50's throwback thing that Paley had Brian involved with. Combine that with all the other factors...

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  

I think you're absolutely right, and this is part of the reason I find it difficult to understand the aversion to the Paley material from within the group.  Certainly some of the songs show Brian's quirkier side (I get why they wouldn't have wanted to do "Slightly American Music," for instance, even though I like that song), but much of it had commercial potential in addition to being quite good.

[TimmyC]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  

I think you're absolutely right, and this is part of the reason I find it difficult to understand the aversion to the Paley material from within the group.  Certainly some of the songs show Brian's quirkier side (I get why they wouldn't have wanted to do "Slightly American Music," for instance, even though I like that song), but much of it had commercial potential in addition to being quite good.

I don't get it. I like Soul Searchin because it's the Beach Boys. But really as a song there is NOTHING special about it. It's just a boring 50s doo wop. It's not offensive and would have fit fine on a mid-90s BB album, but the idea that it would have been played on the radio and/or would have been a hit is laughable. It sounds like a hundred other songs of the same style. Don't get me wrong, it's the Beach Boys so it's good. But the song itself is the height of mediocrity from a songwriting perspective, and especially compared to SSAM which I see as probably the BB's most creative/interesting/enjoyable tracks of the 90s. I'm not sure why we're hero-worshiping this song when it seems so patently obvious to me that it's not particularly noteworthy in and of itself.

[Lonely Summer]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  

I think you're absolutely right, and this is part of the reason I find it difficult to understand the aversion to the Paley material from within the group.  Certainly some of the songs show Brian's quirkier side (I get why they wouldn't have wanted to do "Slightly American Music," for instance, even though I like that song), but much of it had commercial potential in addition to being quite good.

I don't get it. I like Soul Searchin because it's the Beach Boys. But really as a song there is NOTHING special about it. It's just a boring 50s doo wop. It's not offensive and would have fit fine on a mid-90s BB album, but the idea that it would have been played on the radio and/or would have been a hit is laughable. It sounds like a hundred other songs of the same style. Don't get me wrong, it's the Beach Boys so it's good. But the song itself is the height of mediocrity from a songwriting perspective, and especially compared to SSAM which I see as probably the BB's most creative/interesting/enjoyable tracks of the 90s. I'm not sure why we're hero-worshiping this song when it seems so patently obvious to me that it's not particularly noteworthy in and of itself.

Are you kidding? Soul Searchin' is a great song in Fats Domino style. If the Beach Boys weren't interested in it, Brian should have offered it to the Fat Man himself.

[Paulos]

I'm a bit torn on Soul Searchin', I like it but the tempo is so slow throughout that I start to get annoyed 3/4 of the way through the song.

[Nicko1234]

But we still haven't heard the Don Was stuff...

And Carl did a professional job on the SIP stuff but that doesn't mean he liked it. He didn't appear on the U.K. versions did he?

Yup, he did.

[/quote]

I stand happily corrected. Were these new contributions he recorded?

He wasn't on Island Fever, for example, was he? Terry Melcher seems to take all of his parts.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Err... Well he sings on "Surfin'" and "Lahaina Aloha" to name two. "Boardwalk" too. "Walkin' In The Sand"... in fact the only track he's obviously removed from is "Island Fever".

[Nicko1234]

Err... Well he sings on "Surfin'" and "Lahaina Aloha" to name two. "Boardwalk" too. "Walkin' In The Sand"... in fact the only track he's obviously removed from is "Island Fever".

Yeah, sorry. I was asking more about whether he contributed to the new U.K. versions. Obviously he's still on Under the Boardwalk, for example, but I don't know if he recorded any new vocals for it. And I don't know if he is on the new version of Summer in Paradise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlPQokMjKk

[HeyJude]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  

I think you're absolutely right, and this is part of the reason I find it difficult to understand the aversion to the Paley material from within the group.  Certainly some of the songs show Brian's quirkier side (I get why they wouldn't have wanted to do "Slightly American Music," for instance, even though I like that song), but much of it had commercial potential in addition to being quite good.

I don't get it. I like Soul Searchin because it's the Beach Boys. But really as a song there is NOTHING special about it. It's just a boring 50s doo wop. It's not offensive and would have fit fine on a mid-90s BB album, but the idea that it would have been played on the radio and/or would have been a hit is laughable. It sounds like a hundred other songs of the same style. Don't get me wrong, it's the Beach Boys so it's good. But the song itself is the height of mediocrity from a songwriting perspective, and especially compared to SSAM which I see as probably the BB's most creative/interesting/enjoyable tracks of the 90s. I'm not sure why we're hero-worshiping this song when it seems so patently obvious to me that it's not particularly noteworthy in and of itself.

Among most of the praise for this song, I've never really seen anyone contend that musically/compositionally "Soul Searchin'" is ground-breaking material. Of course the praise is due  to the overall performance. I'm not sure I would agree that it literally sounds like "a hundred other songs", I think the chord changes deviate a bit from the literal formulaic "doo wop" pattern you hear on many songs.

I think it's rather hyperbole that the song is the "height of mediocrity." I for one think the actual song, the composition, is what makes a song. Stellar vocals on anything I would deem a "mediocre" songs aren't terribly interesting. Excellent vocals certainly help. But I'm not much for the "I'd listen to them sing the phonebook" mentality. I used to say that about, for instance, Carl's voice, and while I think I would still hold to that summation, something like Carl's "Like a Brother" material truly tests the limits of that sentiment.

"Soul Searchin'" seems to be more a pro attempt at doing a song it that sort of style, as opposed to say something like "It's Just a Matter of Time" which literally steals the exact same chord progression from a million other songs.

[smilethebeachboysloveyou]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  

I think you're absolutely right, and this is part of the reason I find it difficult to understand the aversion to the Paley material from within the group.  Certainly some of the songs show Brian's quirkier side (I get why they wouldn't have wanted to do "Slightly American Music," for instance, even though I like that song), but much of it had commercial potential in addition to being quite good.

I don't get it. I like Soul Searchin because it's the Beach Boys. But really as a song there is NOTHING special about it. It's just a boring 50s doo wop. It's not offensive and would have fit fine on a mid-90s BB album, but the idea that it would have been played on the radio and/or would have been a hit is laughable. It sounds like a hundred other songs of the same style. Don't get me wrong, it's the Beach Boys so it's good. But the song itself is the height of mediocrity from a songwriting perspective, and especially compared to SSAM which I see as probably the BB's most creative/interesting/enjoyable tracks of the 90s. I'm not sure why we're hero-worshiping this song when it seems so patently obvious to me that it's not particularly noteworthy in and of itself.

I don't think it's release would have revolutionized popular music as we know it, but I would be more inclined to say that does the '50s doo-wop tradition of which you speak proud than I would be to say that it sounds like a hundred other songs of the same style.  Perhaps my standards are lowered by the generally low quality of Beach Boys music in the '80s and '90s, but I just think that it (a) is a well-written, well-performed, well-produced song (though not revolutionary in any of those respects) and that it (b) confuses me that the other band members would not have jumped at the opportunity to release a song like this since it is both good and not weird in the slightest.  I do think that "You're Still A Mystery" is a more unique song, but I think "Soul Searchin'" is much closer to its level than say, "Lahaina Aloha" (which, I admit, I kind of like and think is much better than anything else on Summer in Paradise.)

[southbay]

Err... Well he sings on "Surfin'" and "Lahaina Aloha" to name two. "Boardwalk" too. "Walkin' In The Sand"... in fact the only track he's obviously removed from is "Island Fever".

Yeah, sorry. I was asking more about whether he contributed to the new U.K. versions. Obviously he's still on Under the Boardwalk, for example, but I don't know if he recorded any new vocals for it. And I don't know if he is on the new version of Summer in Paradise...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUlPQokMjKk

He just wasn't removed from everything, just some things (oddly, he was removed on some parts of "Island Fever" and replaced by Melcher, wheras his vocals were left alone on other portions of the song.) He did not record additional vocals for the Euro release like Al did. His vocals were "brought up" in the mix on the Euro "Forever", however. 

[Heysaboda]

QWERTYUIOPASDGGJ

there's a typo there!

 

[Heysaboda]

At any rate, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  It's got a bright, radio-friendly feeling to it, nice hooks, great vibes.  It would have been a nice addition to any Beach Boy record and possibly made into a single if it had been given the attention it deserved.  The Brian that reworked Help Me Ronda, into Help Me Rhonda and into a Number 1, could have certainly made something of this gem.

When you think of all strained "Beach," "Fun" and "Summertime" metaphors that were squeezed out of this band over the last 3 or 4 decades, and spread thin on a lousy, flimsy piece of stale white-bread -- you really have to wonder what azz-clown was managing this band's affairs, since Brian's demise.

Bean Bag has it right fellows, Soul Searchin' is a great song.  The Boys needed to come up with 8 more recordings as good as that and they would have had a really nice album!