Brian Wilson's Secret Bedroom Tapes - LA Weekly 1-30-14

[CenturyDeprived]

If the end result isn't a box set in my hands I will be sorely disappointed. 

My guess is they're gonna try to milk as many miles outta these tapes as possible. Much like the stereo remixes we were getting piecemeal for a decade, then all out at once. I think they'll put out a few here and there, and then a big box set down the road. Sucks, but I'd be surprised if it were any other way.

[rab2591]

If the end result isn't a box set in my hands I will be sorely disappointed. 

My guess is they're gonna try to milk as many miles outta these tapes as possible. Much like the stereo remixes we were getting piecemeal for a decade, then all out at once. I think they'll put out a few here and there, and then a big box set down the road. Sucks, but I'd be surprised if it were any other way.

A release like 'The Big Beat 1963' gives me hope that a full fledged rarity package is a realistic prospect. I'm doubtful we'll get a boxset full of rarities, but I'd be happy with even a downloadable album full of the stuff we want.

[CenturyDeprived]

If the end result isn't a box set in my hands I will be sorely disappointed. 

My guess is they're gonna try to milk as many miles outta these tapes as possible. Much like the stereo remixes we were getting piecemeal for a decade, then all out at once. I think they'll put out a few here and there, and then a big box set down the road. Sucks, but I'd be surprised if it were any other way.

A release like 'The Big Beat 1963' gives me hope that a full fledged rarity package is a realistic prospect. I'm doubtful we'll get a boxset full of rarities, but I'd be happy with even a downloadable album full of the stuff we want.

Crossing fingers. I think 'The Big Beat 1963' had much more limited appeal in terms of what it could be marketed as containing. Not much "legend" among music hipsters/elite could be built up from that stuff, even though the set ultimately contains some pretty cool stuff.

I'll speculate that these Bedroom Tapes are being viewed as an ace up their sleeve by the BBs/BW's people, something they could eventually get some real attention/accolades/$$ for as a full-on box set, much like TSS, if they play their cards right. I think it will be a physical release, too. But the band and their people, for product like this, have a history of showing that they're not usually ones to blow their load too soon, which is why I speculate the full set (sans a few tracks here and there) won't be released for some time.  I'd LOVE to be proven wrong though.

[urbanite]

I think this is all hype.  If there were anything good in this collection, it would have been recycled into a new release.

[The Shift]

L.A. Weekly recently was granted access to many of these never-before-heard tapes from 1968 to 1974 — almost 60 titles in all — currently stored at the Beach Boys' archive on Vanowen Street, near Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.

Yet there doesn't seem to be any firsthand account by Brian of hearing these tapes. Lots of secondhand accounts, lifted from various books and documentaries down the years…

… but how much of this is new, and how much is an after-the-fact attempt to group logs of stray tracks into a lump - call it a future box set for convenience - for the story's sake?

Please tell us more Brian!

[Theydon Bois]

That article seemed custom-built to push nearly every one of my buttons.

[Amanda Hart]

For all the boneheaded business moves the BBs have done throughout the last half century, this seems to be one of the smarter marketing maneuvers by them.

Seems like they're trying to cultivate another SMiLE-esque legend with these tapes in anticipation of the BW Biopic and book, and I hope they succeed in stirring up all kinds of interest.

I think the wife&managers machine has made some pretty solid moves leading up to most releases (although I don't know how much of the great PR ahead of C50 was their doing), it's the aftermath that is usually baffling.

[bringahorseinhere?]

great insight in this piece...

Brian has numerously stated, after he has been asked 'what advice would you give people today in the music business?

and he says, 'don't bum out half way through a song, finish it!.....'

this may be a big part of that period where he was coming up with 'great' ideas, but not completing the songs....

also interesting to me...... a recording of the song 'honeycomb'....

he mentioned that it could be a great hit for 'the beach boys' during one of the 50th BB reuion tour interviews......

which like Brian, seemed like a 'what the hell?' answer from the other guys ....  

it seems Brian when he gets something in his head that he thinks is great, and can't finish, he brings it back again years! later!

look at others like....... back home, sherry she needs me, the 'sweet insanity' tracks that came the basis of 'GIOMH'..

.'night blumin jasmine' for rio grande

California feelin that was part of 'songs selected by BW'......... and etc etc

and this is like, 'WOW!!!! it's the missing years of Brian Wilson!!!!  68 -74!!!  

any freak fan would give up his testicles for this!!  unless your a chick    of course....

A must have collection for the Brian Wilson story...

RickB

[D409]

So, Van Dyke Parks can time travel as well, can he ? "I went over to Brian's with my new Walkman", a device not on sale 'til 1979. Presumably he's using "Walkman" as the generic term meaning "portable cassette recorder"...

Still, if Alan Boyd "confirms that enough material exists to comprise a new release focused solely on the "Bedroom Tapes." " then this is very exciting news !

[urbanite]

How about he take the best of the best song from these tapes, and record it for the new album?   

[anazgnos]

I want to hear "Just an Imitation".

[Dan Lega]

What a cool article!  Let me add my voice in saying I want to hear this stuff now!!!

How about he take the best of the best song from these tapes, and record it for the new album?   

And, yes, I would like to see Brian try to finish some things.  ("Can't Wait Too Long", for example.)  However, I also want to hear the unvarnished originals -- as I have yet to hear in the past, what, 35 years, Brian taking an old idea and making it better.  Except for SmiLE 2004, from 1978 on, his old ideas always seem to lose quite a bit in their latter translation, in my opinion.  But I keep hoping!

Love and merci,   Dan Lega

[Andrew G. Doe]

Would love to what solo song "Spark in the dark" turned to. Or is that common knowledge and I missed it?

Its funky Pretty!!!

No, as I've said repeatedly for over ten years, "SitD" is several minutes of Brian noodling at the piano: starts off sounding like "Loop de Loop", wanders all over the shop and ends up with the basic "Chain Reaction of Love" riff.

[SMiLE Brian]

Would love to what solo song "Spark in the dark" turned to. Or is that common knowledge and I missed it?

Its funky Pretty!!!

No, as I've said repeatedly for over ten years, "SitD" is several minutes of Brian noodling at the piano: starts off sounding like "Loop de Loop", wanders all over the shop and ends up with the basic "Chain Reaction of Love" riff.

I'm sorry

[Shady]

Good god I need to hear this

[alf wiedersehen]

GIVE ME THIS NOW

[Lowbacca]

http://www.laweekly.com/2014-01-30/music/brian-wilsons-secret-bedroom-tapes/

HOLY CRAP!


Perfect product for them to get out in the wake of the high-profile biopic and upcoming autobiography. 2014's gonna rock.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I think this is all hype.  If there were anything good in this collection, it would have been recycled into a new release.

How do you know it hasn't been ?

[Menace Wilson]

If the end result isn't a box set in my hands I will be sorely disappointed. 

My sentiments exactly.  BRING ON THE BEDROOM TAPES!

[DonnyL]

I've always believed that there is a much larger market for these types of releases than The Beach Boys or their management understand. It's almost like they don't want to screw up a certain type of 'branding'.

Awhile back on this forum, I suggested the that the group should release a box set called BURIED TREASURE. Add an extra 2 discs for these bedrooms tapes. A high profile release that would surely outsell MADE IN CALIFORNIA if marketed properly (like THE BASEMENT TAPES or SMILE SESSIONS):

... I'd love to hear more 'works-in-progress' or alternate/demo mixes, etc ... like, actual vintage mixes MORE THAN ANYTHING ELSE! The vaults must be filled to the brim with this stuff! It's cool to hear this stuff with the original echo chambers used, the effects chosen, etc. ... I mean, I think the Badman book mentions something like 30 different mixes of 'Add Some Music' were done in one sitting ...

My fantasy future release is a 4-LP box set:

BEACH BOYS' BURIED TREASURE:

Disc 1 - Lei'd In Hawaii
Disc 2 - Adult Child
Disc 3 - Paley Sessions
Disc 4 - Bootlegger's Bankruptcy (all the coolest unreleased/weird tracks, 'Stevie', 'Carry Me Home', cocaine sessions, vintage alternate mixes, etc.)

Beach Boys hip and critical cred fully restored for all time.

This needs to be proper vintage or vintage-correct mixes. No Pro Tools edits ... proper analog mixing, etc. It needs to be compiled with care by someone with the proper artistic care and HIP FACTOR understanding.

[The Shift]

L.A. Weekly recently was granted access to many of these never-before-heard tapes from 1968 to 1974 — almost 60 titles in all — currently stored at the Beach Boys' archive on Vanowen Street, near Bob Hope Airport in Burbank.

Yet there doesn't seem to be any firsthand account by Brian of hearing these tapes. Lots of secondhand accounts, lifted from various books and documentaries down the years…

… but how much of this is new, and how much is an after-the-fact attempt to group logs of stray tracks into a lump - call it a future box set for convenience - for the story's sake?

Please tell us more Brian!

Okay, maybe this is new… Honeycomb was previously thought to be a collab with Roy Wood and Wizzard, recorded same day in Oct 74 as It's Okay; now it's a Moog driven piece with notable bass parts:

An eccentric Moog synthesizer piece titled "Honeycomb" was tracked in 1974, replete with the kind of jagged bass lines that felt a million miles from Wilson's heyday with the Beach Boys.

[Andrew G. Doe]

also interesting to me...... a recording of the song 'honeycomb'....

Recorded at the same session as the "It's OK" basic track, late October 1974 (with Roy Wood & Wizzard), described by Tim White in his 1976 Crawdaddy 2-parter. Marilyn takes the lead vocal.

[KittyKat]

Those tracks have all been bootlegged. They're not of the same quality as "Smile." I have no idea of what motivated that author to write about this like it's some kind of revelation. I don't think he describes Brian in very flattering terms, either, it's actually rather cruel.

[The Shift]

Those tracks have all been bootlegged. They're not of the same quality as "Smile." I have no idea of what motivated that author to write about this like it's some kind of revelation. I don't think he describes Brian in very flattering terms, either, it's actually rather cruel.

Bootlegged where? Thought the bulk of these didn't circulate?

[pixletwin]

Wouldn't that be great if Desper was involved?