60s covers of Pet Sounds songs

[buddhahat]

Thanks to some recent threads I've discovered some great, obscure 60s cover versions of songs from Pet Sounds such as Carmen McCrae's I Just Wasn't Made For These Times and Peanut's I'm Waiting For The Day.

It'd be great to put together a comp of Pet Sounds tracks covered in the same decade. Obviously not every song from the album was covered, but can anyone tell me if I'm missing anything, for instance did anyone tackle WIBN at the time?

You Still Believe In Me - The Buffoons 1968 http://youtu.be/Hj1WX95rSMY

Don't Talk - Carmen McCrae 1967 http://open.spotify.com/track/5FeX2ylxaXkUuBGxDmPS5a

I'm Waiting For The Day - Mark Wirtz featuring Peanut 1967 http://youtu.be/nIeJ76kYMcs

Edit: Cornelis Vreeswijk - Jag hade en gång en båt 1966 http://open.spotify.com/track/737gOVnAVK0hJO2GQbmrzk

God Only Knows - Brenda & The Tabulations 1967 http://youtu.be/KIIYG0b6ync Thanks Guitarfool for that upload!

Here Today - Bobby Vee 1966 http://youtu.be/raMmNx0cWRo

Here Today - Robb Storme Group 1966 http://youtu.be/PqoCMn8z4zU

I Just Wasn't Made For These Times - Carmen McCrae 1967 http://open.spotify.com/track/2FBk3zLlRZxpgIOEeTND38

[buddhahat]

Score!! Here's another contender (added above):

A 1966 Dutch version of Sloop John B:

http://open.spotify.com/track/737gOVnAVK0hJO2GQbmrzk

So tempting to also throw Hugo Montenegro's Good Vibrations into the mix:

http://open.spotify.com/track/5TpGMC5JJRt1Pma5JREZ1W

[buddhahat]

Unfortunately the earliest cover of WIBN appears to be by Abba's Frida Lyngstad in 1975 and it's pretty dire ...

http://open.spotify.com/track/63WJ7r8ghE2blt5YU38ywr

[EgoHanger1966]

I feel like we've had this thread before.

There's a Gary Lewis & The Playboys 1966 version of Sloop John B which was projected to be a single. Lord knows what reason....it was cut after the BB version and has a very similar arrangement. Yet - Snuffy Garrett and co. took the arrangement credit and left Brian's name off! The single never came out and it ended up being on GL's "Paint Me A Picture" album that same year.

[buddhahat]

I feel like we've had this thread before.

There's a Gary Lewis & The Playboys 1966 version of Sloop John B which was projected to be a single. Lord knows what reason....it was cut after the BB version and has a very similar arrangement. Yet - Snuffy Garrett and co. took the arrangement credit and left Brian's name off! The single never came out and it ended up being on GL's "Paint Me A Picture" album that same year.

Yes probably right about the thread.

Thanks for the info on the sjb cover - had not heard that one.

[DonnyL]

My favorite is P.P. Arnold's 1968 version of 'God Only Knows' (doesn't seem to be on Youtube anymore).

Also stumbled across this awhile back, a fuzz-guitar version of 'Here Today' by a Canadian band called SUNSHINE. Not sure the year but sounds like the '60s for sure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWei43oN8Os

[Terry]

Very, very long time lurker, but first time posting!  I've always enjoyed Andy Williams' version of God Only Knows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm9y8BPRLzQ

[silodweller]

My favorite is P.P. Arnold's 1968 version of 'God Only Knows' (doesn't seem to be on Youtube anymore).

Also stumbled across this awhile back, a fuzz-guitar version of 'Here Today' by a Canadian band called SUNSHINE. Not sure the year but sounds like the '60s for sure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWei43oN8Os

Nice sounding record.  According to the little bit of information included, it was recorded in 1970.  Well, it's close enough to the 60s to be considered for this idea. 

[Shane]

I guess Good Vibrations is a bit of a stretch to lump in with Pet Sounds, but here's a loungy cover of it from 1967:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0U2W4idf4

[buddhahat]

I guess Good Vibrations is a bit of a stretch to lump in with Pet Sounds, but here's a loungy cover of it from 1967:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h0U2W4idf4

Thanks Shane. I stumbled on this too yesterday. I love the blues/country inflection in the piano playing when it hits the churchy section at 2.28. That is just gorgeous.

Very, very long time lurker, but first time posting!  I've always enjoyed Andy Williams' version of God Only Knows.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm9y8BPRLzQ

Welcome Terry! Never heard this, thanks for sharing. Man, Andy Williams could sing a shopping list with gravitas. I'm not into this version overall although his treatment is impressive.

My favorite is P.P. Arnold's 1968 version of 'God Only Knows' (doesn't seem to be on Youtube anymore).

Also stumbled across this awhile back, a fuzz-guitar version of 'Here Today' by a Canadian band called SUNSHINE. Not sure the year but sounds like the '60s for sure:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWei43oN8Os

That fuzz verson is awesome, thanks. Looks like 1970 unless the uploader is mistaken. Nice find!

Thanks for the heads up on the PP Arnold version. Just found it on Spotify. It sounds great. I fantasize about a Spector produced, girl group version of Pet Sounds. The whole of Pet Sounds, like a Christmas Gift For You but Pet Sounds. Can you imagine that?! If only I had a time machine and an awful lot of money ... Arnold doesn't sound dissimilar to Ronnie Spector so I guess this is as close as it gets!

http://open.spotify.com/track/50NZeuY06a9cuZ8PxbvK98

[guitarfool2002]

I never knew Floyd Cramer covered the Beach Boys in the 60's! Thanks for that rare upload/link.

For those unfamiliar, Floyd Cramer was among the top 5 first call studio musicians in Nashville before becoming a massively successful (in his 'Nashville Sound' genre and style) solo artist making instrumental hits in the 60's and beyond. His biggest and most famous solo hit was "Last Date", one of my personal favorites and a favorite of my Dad who had a stack of Cramer's albums which I'd play all the time when I was a kid.

For those who don't know Floyd's solo work, that's him playing the piano solo on Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel. Floyd was a key member of Nashville's own version of the "Wrecking Crew" in the 50's and 60's, alongside guys like Chet Atkins, Hank Garland and Grady Martin who'd play on damn near every hit record coming out of Nashville in the 50's.

Just so it's on the record, Floyd Cramer was one of the most successful studio players in history, with a solo career to boot and a catalog of records that sold millions to a very loyal listening base. The comments on the YouTube clip suggest the Good Vibrations "lounge" cover was kind of a novelty, a throwaway, but Floyd had some serious musician cred by 1967 so it wasn't like a one-off.

His piano style, too, is very distinctive - he had this way of doing a hammer-on (in guitar lingo) from one note to another, like a "grace note" kind of thing but played in a unique way. It's all over "Last Date", and you can hear him hammering-on (for lack of a better term) Brian's Good Vibrations melody on that record. I've heard several guitarists from his era say that some of their own technique came from trying to emulate how Floyd would play a melody and make it his own by that rather basic "hammer on" grace-note style. That was his trademark, again it's a sound that's all over the hit records coming out of RCA and Nashville from that era.

Note as well...the Electro-Theremin part played by Paul Tanner on the original seems to have been played by a pedal steel guitar on Cramer's cover! Nice Nashville touch...though I have to admit I did that too as a quick-fix for covering GV when I didn't have a  Theremin on  hand before hearing this, as did probably every pedal steel player who's a Beach Boys fanatic. 

Thanks again for that and the other new links, I definitely never heard Cramer playing GV until today.

[buddhahat]

I never knew Floyd Cramer covered the Beach Boys in the 60's! Thanks for that rare upload/link.

For those unfamiliar, Floyd Cramer was among the top 5 first call studio musicians in Nashville before becoming a massively successful (in his 'Nashville Sound' genre and style) solo artist making instrumental hits in the 60's and beyond. His biggest and most famous solo hit was "Last Date", one of my personal favorites and a favorite of my Dad who had a stack of Cramer's albums which I'd play all the time when I was a kid.

For those who don't know Floyd's solo work, that's him playing the piano solo on Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel. Floyd was a key member of Nashville's own version of the "Wrecking Crew" in the 50's and 60's, alongside guys like Chet Atkins, Hank Garland and Grady Martin who'd play on damn near every hit record coming out of Nashville in the 50's.

Just so it's on the record, Floyd Cramer was one of the most successful studio players in history, with a solo career to boot and a catalog of records that sold millions to a very loyal listening base. The comments on the YouTube clip suggest the Good Vibrations "lounge" cover was kind of a novelty, a throwaway, but Floyd had some serious musician cred by 1967 so it wasn't like a one-off.

His piano style, too, is very distinctive - he had this way of doing a hammer-on (in guitar lingo) from one note to another, like a "grace note" kind of thing but played in a unique way. It's all over "Last Date", and you can hear him hammering-on (for lack of a better term) Brian's Good Vibrations melody on that record. I've heard several guitarists from his era say that some of their own technique came from trying to emulate how Floyd would play a melody and make it his own by that rather basic "hammer on" grace-note style. That was his trademark, again it's a sound that's all over the hit records coming out of RCA and Nashville from that era.

Note as well...the Electro-Theremin part played by Paul Tanner on the original seems to have been played by a pedal steel guitar on Cramer's cover! Nice Nashville touch...though I have to admit I did that too as a quick-fix for covering GV when I didn't have a  Theremin on  hand before hearing this, as did probably every pedal steel player who's a Beach Boys fanatic. 

Thanks again for that and the other new links, I definitely never heard Cramer playing GV until today.

Thanks for the info on Cramer. Interesting to learn he was such a high profile session guy at the time.

[guitarfool2002]

In his own way, in his own style and genre which was very commercially popular at that time in the 1960's into the 70's (some call it the 'Nashville Sound' or 'Country-politan'), Floyd Cramer in terms of commercial success might be on the level of someone like Glen Campbell. In other words, the session player who played on hit after hit in the studios, but who then went on to become a household name as a solo artist releasing records under his own name.

Not many session players overall have done that with the level of success Glen and Floyd had, where more often the solo efforts may have been well-regarded (and respected by other musicians) but never quite reached the million-seller level crossover success with the general public.

[RangeRoverA1]

You Still Believe In Me - The Buffoons 1968 http://youtu.be/Hj1WX95rSMY

Utterly beautiful! They're one of my favorite bands & I never even heard them covering The BBs. Terrific to know that. Thank you, buddhahat!

[donald]

Another thing about Floyd Cramer was that he released instrumental records.  UNlike Glenn who had a tremendous voice to go along with his  guitar licks.  If I were to compare Floyd to another Nashville contemporary it woudl be the late great Chet Atkins  who made a career out of a very unique style and sound with his instrument, and reached a broad audience while employing state of the art recording  chemistry of the day.

Not Pet Sounds, but does anyone remember the BJ Thomas cover of Don't Worry Baby?

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm Waiting For The Day - Mark Wirtz featuring Peanut 1967 http://youtu.be/nIeJ76kYMcs

Nice to know that Brian wasn't the only composer prone to recycling riffs. 

[buddhahat]

You Still Believe In Me - The Buffoons 1968 http://youtu.be/Hj1WX95rSMY

Utterly beautiful! They're one of my favorite bands & I never even heard them covering The BBs. Terrific to know that. Thank you, buddhahat!

I'm glad you like it RangeRoverA1. I think it was Bgas who originally posted the Buffoons track.

[Phoenix]

Arnold doesn't sound dissimilar to Ronnie Spector so I guess this is as close as it gets!
http://open.spotify.com/track/50NZeuY06a9cuZ8PxbvK98

The link showed the track but wouldn't play it so for those who still want hear Arnold's version:

http://mp3.li/index.php?q=P.p.%20Arnold%20-%20God%20Only%20Knows

[bgas]

Can't remember whether I posted about this track in the old thread, but I couldn't find a place I could hear it, so I loaded it to Sendspace.   

From 1967, Sam Fletcher covers God Only Knows on his Vault LP (LP 116 )  The Look Of Love  The Sound Of Soul 

http://www.sendspace.com/file/i12ady

[Tord]

Nick De Caro & Orchestra - Caroline, No (1969):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73CnOYhBNyQ

Claudine Longet - God Only Knows (1972):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy9f4HFw7FI

Hollyridge Strings - Wouldn't It Be Nice (1967)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-UyheDHWYo

Hollyridge Strings - God Only Knows (1967)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziVaQB86cps

Hollyridge Strings - Sloop John B (1967)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nvtu_tp_9Cs

Hollyridge Strings - Caroline, No (1967)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjE04XWfmj0

[Phoenix]

Going through this great thread it seemed like a lot more.  I was hoping to compile a "tribute album" but it looks like only half of the album was covered back then.  That leaves "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's Not Me", "Let's Go Away For Awhile", "I Know There's An Answer", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", and "Pet Sounds".

[Tord]

Gary McFarland - God Only Knows (1968)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oV-wHjn2_T4

The Vogues - God Only Knows (1970)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzFcFcxFq48

[metal flake paint]

In 1969, A Taste Of Honey (the British cover band, not the 70's duo ), covered God Only Knows and Sloop John B on their 1969 LP "The Hits of The Beach Boys - performed by A Taste Of Honey"

http://www.discogs.com/viewimages?release=3327874

Those tracks, along with the rest of the album can be heard here (again, the page erroneously shows a picture of the US act) :

https://myspace.com/aatasteofhoney/music/album/sing-the-beach-boys-songbook-17167758

[shelter]

My favorite is P.P. Arnold's 1968 version of 'God Only Knows' (doesn't seem to be on Youtube anymore).

Really? That's one of the very worst covers I've ever heard. Simply unbearable.

But to each his own, of course.

[buddhahat]

Going through this great thread it seemed like a lot more.  I was hoping to compile a "tribute album" but it looks like only half of the album was covered back then.  That leaves "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "That's Not Me", "Let's Go Away For Awhile", "I Know There's An Answer", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", and "Pet Sounds".

Actually, thanks to the recent additions of WIBN (albeit instrumental) and Caroline No,  I think the only ones we're now missing are: That's Not Me, LGAFAW, I Know There's An Answer and Pet Sounds. I'm surprised so many songs from the album were covered in the immediate years after its release.

I think if you throw in one of the Good Vibrations covers (Hugo Montenegro one is pretty groovy) in place of the four missing songs, you have a pretty good late 60s PS tribute album! If only I knew how to rip the buggers from Youtube I would put this together myself. If I work it out I'll upload it.