Brother Re-Issues: Proposed Bonus Tracks

[Micha]

Thank you for the information, Klay. There is a vocals only mix of "Let Us Go On This Way" somewhere (maybe on All This Is That?) and a piano demo of "Airplane" so really it is possible to make an alternate album of Love You.

Oh man though, the drums and synth make Let Us Go On This Way.

Oh man though, the drums and synth make Let Us Go On This Way painful to listen to for me..

[Andrew G. Doe]

I think that, should the pre-Carl remix/sweetening version of Brian Loves You ever be released, a lot of folk would be considerably disappointed at how... rough and unpolished it sounds. This may be a mild overstatement, but IMHYUEO what Carl did was to make it releasable.

[Jay]

What is "11th Bar Blues"?

[Howie Edelson]

This ran in my nationally syndicated feed this morning. . .

BEACH BOYS OUTTAKES CONFOUND HARDCORE FAN COMMUNITY
by Howie Edelson

Beach Boys fans are alternately thrilled and frustrated by a single copy of a three-disc test pressing of unreleased rarities and outtakes, which has suddenly surfaced. The collection, labeled Brother Re-Issues: Proposed Bonus Tracks, features a total of 56 tracks, including some widely bootlegged material in outstanding quality and others, which have never been documented before. The collection has been analyzed in depth by the Beach Boys’ connoisseur message board SmileySmile.net, with the buyer of the set, named ”Klay,” posting tidbits about his random prized find snapped up at a Southern California record store. The common consensus is that these were cuts that were passed around in-house at Capitol Records when the band's '70s catalogue -- known as the "Brother Years" after the band's boutique label and management company -- was being prepped for reissue in 2000. The albums were originally intended to be issued with a healthy dose of bonus tracks, but in the end were instead paired as "two-fers" with other albums in the catalogue.

Beach Boys author and historian Jon Stebbins has heard some of the tracks and remains floored by both quality and rarity of the material featured within: "Coming on the heels of the (recent) Made In California box, y’know, you kind of feel like, ‘Wow, we’ve gotten the best of the unreleased stuff.’ There’s just such wealth of great unreleased material on that box set that you figure anything else is really gonna be really scraping the bottom (laughs) and then all of a sudden these discs, from, I guess they probably source from, y’know, the late-‘90s, or something, when they were put together for consideration. Y’know, you find out there’s all this other amazing stuff on it, that is equal to the best unreleased things that are out there.”

During the demo for Brian Wilson's "Mt. Vernon And Fairway" -- which was released as part of the Beach Boys' 1973 Holland collection and inspired by cousin Mike Love's Inglewood, California family home -- Brian can be heard with brother Carl Wilson imitating their uncle Milton Love, calling for Love's younger brother -- and future pro-basketball player -- Stanley Love. Interestingly, Wilson had envisioned Mike Love performing the Six Teens' 1956 hit "A Casual Look" as part of the "Fairy Tale." Wilson later produced a version of Love leading the Beach Boys through the song on their 1976 15 Big Ones collection.

Stebbins feels that this newly unearthed demo proves that the officially released "Fairy Tale" ultimately represents a pulled creative punch by Wilson: “It makes more sense that way. His concept for the ‘Fairy Tale’ was way more expansive than what we got. And I think, y’know, basically, they weren’t into going back down the rabbit hole with Brian (laughs), y’know? Where. . . wherever that was gonna lead. He had an expansive concept for that. But, yeah, to have ‘A Casual Look’ in there would’ve been amazing.”

Although Brian Wilson has always been revered for the work he produced for the Beach Boys in the 1960's, frequent collaborator Mike Love told us that Wilson's music from the next decade has been unfairly overlooked over the years: "Y'know, I think Brian, when he was doing the Smile sessions and stuff, he was very dynamic. Then something happened where he shelved that for many years, until more recently. But see, the days of those -- When I called Brian 'The Stalin of the studio,' that was when we were coming out with all of those hit singles, one after another during the '60s. Then it changed. Brian's attitude and level of engagement changed. But there are some great songs that came out during, y'know, the '70s."

A substantial part of the Brother Re-Issues discs focuses on Brian Wilson’s 1976 and 1977 sessions for his two “comeback” albums as the sole producer of the Beach Boys -- 15 Big Ones and The Beach Boys Love You. We asked Wilson if he felt more or less freedom during the Love You sessions than previous albums, with Love You basically featuring him playing the majority of the instruments on his own: “Morefreedom. Very much more freedom. Yeah, a lot more freedom. Because we had. . .  we gave ourselves, like 10, 12 hours a day booked time, y’know? And we took our time and we weren’t in any big rush to go anywhere, so we just took our time and recorded Love You.”

Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine says that he's still amazed at the depth and beauty of Dennis Wilson's compositions from the 1970's: "Oh, he was the most underrated member of the band in those terms. His compositions, I think, were stronger, and they got stronger and stronger as we went along -- as he went along -- until obviously he couldn't go any further. And I just think that given time, y'know, he would've been the. . . probably the best composer in the band, outside of Brian, of course. Yeah, he just had that natural, intuitive instinct about music and lyrics. He always. . . he was the kind of guy who could get to the point without beating around the bush and, y'know, could just nail it."

Highlights on The Beach Boys' Brother Re-Issues: Proposed Bonus Tracks are:

“This Whole World” -- An alternate version of Brian Wilson's 1970 Sunflower tour-de-force, which features Mike Love taking the opening line, and a double -- and sometimes triple-tracked -- Carl Wilson vocal. Brian Wilson is featured on the bridge, with Dennis Wilson adding a vocal to Carl’s in the second verse. The gospel vocal fade includes a discarded drum break, which leads into a longer instrumental portion, which is reminiscent of Paul McCartney’s work the following year on Ram.
     
“4th Of July” -- Dennis Wilson's majestic backing track to his tune originally intended for 1971’s Surf’s Up collection, yet not released until 1993. The version featured here includes a six-string bass playing the song's melody note-for-note.
     
“Clangin’” -- A brief scaled back snippet of a group vocal that eventually morphed into 1977’s “Ding Dang” from The Beach Boys Love You.
     
“Ol’ Movie” -- An early version of Dennis Wilson’s 1972 Carl & The Passions - So Tough closer, “Cuddle Up,” featuring multi-tracked wordless backing vocals from Dennis and a flute arrangement playing the top melody line.
     
“Til I Die” -- Brian Wilson's 1969 instrumental piano demo, which is not dissimilar from his late-1965/early-1966 demo of “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)” found on The 'Pet Sounds' Sessions box set.
     
“T.M. Song” -- An extended version of the faux group “argument” is tagged onto the incredibly bright and rich instrumental track, which proves that Brian Wilson had lost none of his production capacities during the first half of the 1970’s. An aural treat.
     
“Carry Me  Home” -- A pristine, releasable mix of the oft-bootlegged Dennis Wilson Holland-era song, with shared vocal by Blondie Chaplin.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Awesome article Howie! Hopefully, articles like this, and the recent Brian bedroom tapes series, will lead to the release of more vault material.

[The Shift]

Many thanks Howie. That lends a lot of clarity to what we've already been reading. Tastebuds are a'tinglin'!

[Disney Boy (1985)]

RELEASE THIS STUFF IMMEDIATELY PLEASE. Thanks.

[bryand]

Great Article, Howie!

Now if we could just get these released, they'd go nicely alongside of our new "Icon" double CDs

[bgas]

Great Article, Howie!

Now if we could just get these released, they'd go nicely alongside of our new "Icon" double CDs

maybe they could simply recall the ICON cds and replace them with  the Brother Bonus tracks

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I must hear that version of til I die...

[Andrew G. Doe]

As ever, sterling work from Howie.

[Howie Edelson]

Thank you guys.
I try to take what we do here and bring it out into the world at large.

It should be noted that the existence of (and conversations regarding) the music on these discs has sparked some interesting questions from some of the people involved in creating it.

Whether that means anything -- time will tell.

[Smilin Ed H]

We live in hope...

Just curious, but were there bonus tracks for the later stuff too?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Not as far as I know. But, as the original gameplan was for single CDs with bonus tracks for the albums 1970-85, looks like I know nothing. As usual.  

My involvement with the 2000 Brother 2fers was limited and brief (for them as don't know, and why should you ?) I was asked to do the liners for the KTSA/BB85 at very short notice - two weeks, maybe even ten days: no pressure) but even so I learned that the project went through some format changes pretty rapidly, to wit:

single CDs with plentiful bonus tracks...
2fers with a handful of bonus tracks...
just 2fers, with a proposed 2CD rarities package...
just 2fers

[guitarfool2002]

Maybe someone can clarify this, maybe not, but here it goes.

How did these songs "discovered" on these test CDRs manage to slip through the process of gathering songs for the box set? Or did they really slip through?

I'm just thinking many of the same people were involved in researching and compiling when this CD test comp was made as were involved in the box set and even earlier projects, finished or not. So how did something like the Fairy Tale demo or Til I Die demo on piano manage to stay hidden when all-out efforts were made to find stuff exactly like this?

And man, in light of certain tracks on this newly surfaced collection, doesn't it make you want to put on the box set and play Kokomo again? 

[Jay]

You know, the recently talked about "Bedroom Tapes", and these newly surfaced "Proposed Bonus Tracks" would make one hell of a Made In California part 2 box set. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Maybe someone can clarify this, maybe not, but here it goes.

How did these songs "discovered" on these test CDRs manage to slip through the process of gathering songs for the box set? Or did they really slip through?

I'm just thinking many of the same people were involved in researching and compiling when this CD test comp was made as were involved in the box set and even earlier projects, finished or not. So how did something like the Fairy Tale demo or Til I Die demo on piano manage to stay hidden when all-out efforts were made to find stuff exactly like this?

And man, in light of certain tracks on this newly surfaced collection, doesn't it make you want to put on the box set and play Kokomo again? 

Think again.

[Ebb and Flow]

So were these CD's compiled by someone other than Boyd/Linnet?  Does it contain material or higher quality sources previously unknown to them?  Perhaps they were compiled by Andrew Sandoval circa Endless Harmony.

It makes me physically ill that dreck like "Goin To The Beach" was officially released before the material on these discs.  I wish they'd just put this stuff on iTunes already.

[Andrew G. Doe]

We've pretty much established these discs date from the 2000 Brother 2fer reissue program. Check the liner credits to answer your question.

[guitarfool2002]

We've pretty much established these discs date from the 2000 Brother 2fer reissue program. Check the liner credits to answer your question.

Got it - but also in those liners is a "special thanks" to Mark Linett, whatever he was being thanked for was he at least  consulted on some of this material, or not? - that's what I'm curious about.

And this from Howie opens up another gaping hole in the timeline:

Thank you guys.
I try to take what we do here and bring it out into the world at large.

It should be noted that the existence of (and conversations regarding) the music on these discs has sparked some interesting questions from some of the people involved in creating it.

Whether that means anything -- time will tell.

So we're to assume there are band members who are asking questions now about this material? It's as if this compilation dropped in from Mars or something, and I guess I'm just not understanding how there was such a disconnect between the 2-fer project's available vault material and the box set's available material.

I'm just thinking again (I know, it gets me into trouble...   ) how there were more than one set of ears who heard something like the Fairy Tale demo back in 1999-2000, and when it came time to list possible inclusions on the current box set, either no one remembered this music which is sending fans here over the moon with excitement, there was little or no sharing of info between those who researched in 99-2000 versus recent years, or else there was simply no knowledge of these tracks in the vaults or otherwise even though this CDR set had been compiled and burned, and people had it.

It just doesn't seem to make sense, you know?

[guitarfool2002]

It makes me physically ill that dreck like "Goin To The Beach" was officially released before the material on these discs.

Me too. But hey, we got that "add your own guitar solo" contest out of Goin To The Beach, right? It wasn't a total bust. (sarcasm )

[petsite]

Goin' To The Beach is a great Tracks. I remember hearing it on the Going Platinum and really liking it. Bob Hanes wanted that track out, he also liked it. Thought Mike actually wrote a good one.

As for these tracks, we did get some of them on the box. Not nearly enough, but some. This would have been about the time of the Brother Rarities CD's set. It was a competing in house project with Hawthorne Ca. I would like it if more of these had wound up on that set instead of just stereo remixes (that isn't a knock on Mark, just want more unreleased) and vocals only. But we have to remember, the guys took forever to do SMILE (primo material), I am sure in 2000, they would not have ok'd these tracks for release. 2000 was a very legally active time for the band. And also, I remember there was some talk, people chime in here, that Capitol was bulking at what the group was asking for licensing of the Brother LPs and unreleased material. That is why there are more Capitol tracks on Hawthorne.

Just some thoughts.

Bob

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm just thinking again (I know, it gets me into trouble...   ) how there were more than one set of ears who heard something like the Fairy Tale demo back in 1999-2000, and when it came time to list possible inclusions on the current box set, either no one remembered this music which is sending fans here over the moon with excitement, there was little or no sharing of info between those who researched in 99-2000 versus recent years, or else there was simply no knowledge of these tracks in the vaults or otherwise even though this CDR set had been compiled and burned, and people had it.

It just doesn't seem to make sense, you know?

You've pretty much answered your own question in there. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

This would have been about the time of the Brother Rarities CD's set. It was a competing in house project with Hawthorne Ca.

Not so, on at least two levels:

1 - Endless Harmony was originally released August 1998 (and revised February 2000), while the Brother reissues were August/September 2000.

2 - The proposed Brother Rarities 2CD set was only ever that - proposed, and it was essentially dead in the water by early 2000. It never progressed beyond a provisional tracklisting.

Thus, it was never in competition with Hawthorne CA, in either of the latter's incarnations. My understanding is that the progression from single CDS stuffed with bonus tracks to unadorned 2fers was dictated solely by financial considerations. I was asked about where the Fairytale should go late 1999 (and I don't believe for a moment I was alone in this: my ego, though of impressive dimensions, isn't that big) and my question was "is the rarities comp set in stone ?", and the reply was along the lines of "um, no, it isn't", whereupon said for Capitol to go with the other option, a 2CD CATP/Holland set. Seems that was what everyone else said too. 

[Smilin Ed H]

Not as far as I know. But, as the original gameplan was for single CDs with bonus tracks for the albums 1970-85, looks like I know nothing. As usual.  

My involvement with the 2000 Brother 2fers was limited and brief (for them as don't know, and why should you ?) I was asked to do the liners for the KTSA/BB85 at very short notice - two weeks, maybe even ten days: no pressure) but even so I learned that the project went through some format changes pretty rapidly, to wit:

single CDs with plentiful bonus tracks...
2fers with a handful of bonus tracks...
just 2fers, with a proposed 2CD rarities package...
just 2fers

Thanks, Andrew.

Did a tracklist for the proposed 2 CD set ever leak?