Studios used during the Capitol era.

[Foster's Freeze]

COMMENT:   Do question my recalls, it was a long time ago.  Here's what I recall. 

Alan very much liked the Big Sur area (who wouldn't?) and found property to buy. At first it was undeveloped. As he modified the land and built some buildings, fixed up the house, etc. he was not actually living in Big Sur. It was a vacation home. At first the vacations were just work holidays -- and supervision of heavy construction. I'm not certain when Alan officially moved to a year-round residence in Big Sur, but the recording of Cottonfields was as I recall, or at least ONE of the versions recorded during that time, was recorded in Big Sur. It was just the basic track, and in the case of Cottonfields may have even been just Alan and his quitar with a scratch vocal.

Yes, at the time Alan's property was a project-in-progress, but still usable for getting Brian and the guys out of LA and into a more restful environment. That was the idea. There were enough cabins to house everyone, except me (which I talked about before). But peace and quiet make some people nervous, so after a few days Brian went back to LA while the guys and all the equipment, including the sound truck stayed for a while at Al's place.

I also recall carrying the 8-track around with me on tour and in-between shows working on 20/20 at various local studios. While in NYC Cottonfields sweeting was also carried out at Capitol in Manhattan as well as a trial mixdown. The monitoring situation was rather strange at that studio, so little was used from those sessions.

~swd

Great info and memories, thank you Mr. D!

[Mikie]

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

[c-man]

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

Mikie - you might be thinking of "Come Go With Me". Al has says they rented a mobile track for a night (this would have been '75, years after the Bellagio studio was dismanted), and for some reason he was the only one who showed up to use it. So he started recording the old Del Vikings song, as he'd always wanted to do it. Brian was in bed but could hear Al working through the floorboards, and told Marilyn "He's gonna do the whole thing!". Why they didn't just book a session at their own Brother Studio is not known, but possibly they wanted to ensure Brian's participation, and therefore planned a session at his home (this was prior to the 15 Big Ones/Brian's Back days). In the end, Carl, Mike and Dennis didn't bother to show and Brian didn't bother to come downstairs!

[bgas]

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

 Guessing maybe no-one knows the answer, but is the early version of Big Sur you reference here, the same as the one on the track list of those Klay "Brother Proposed Reissue "CDs?
or something else entirely?

[Mikie]

Same one. The 4/4 version. Shoulda been released on MIC.

[Mikie]

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

Mikie - you might be thinking of "Come Go With Me". Al has says they rented a mobile track for a night (this would have been '75, years after the Bellagio studio was dismanted), and for some reason he was the only one who showed up to use it. So he started recording the old Del Vikings song, as he'd always wanted to do it. Brian was in bed but could hear Al working through the floorboards, and told Marilyn "He's gonna do the whole thing!". Why they didn't just book a session at their own Brother Studio is not known, but possibly they wanted to ensure Brian's participation, and therefore planned a session at his home (this was prior to the 15 Big Ones/Brian's Back days). In the end, Carl, Mike and Dennis didn't bother to show and Brian didn't bother to come downstairs!

That could be, C-man. I'd sure like to find that article though. I'm still thinking it was Cotton Fields.  The single version - the one that went up the charts to top 5 in the UK and number 1 in a few other countries.

[bgas]

Steve, thanks for the reply and the memories. I could have sworn that I read an article or interview about a year ago that said a mobile truck was set up outside Brian's house to record Cotton Fields, but having been up to 10452 Bellagio Rd. a couple of times in the 70's, like you said, there was no room on the street for it and the HOA would not have allowed it. I visualized it being set up at the bottom of the slope of the driveway near the house, but I don't think there would have been room for it there either. And Al's fondness of Big Sur obviously existed in early 1969, four years before he moved there, as he and Brian and The Boys worked on an early version of Big Sur that year (which remains unreleased).

Mikie - you might be thinking of "Come Go With Me". Al has says they rented a mobile track for a night (this would have been '75, years after the Bellagio studio was dismanted), and for some reason he was the only one who showed up to use it. So he started recording the old Del Vikings song, as he'd always wanted to do it. Brian was in bed but could hear Al working through the floorboards, and told Marilyn "He's gonna do the whole thing!". Why they didn't just book a session at their own Brother Studio is not known, but possibly they wanted to ensure Brian's participation, and therefore planned a session at his home (this was prior to the 15 Big Ones/Brian's Back days). In the end, Carl, Mike and Dennis didn't bother to show and Brian didn't bother to come downstairs!

That could be, C-man. I'd sure like to find that article though. I'm still thinking it was Cotton Fields.  The single version - the one that went up the charts to top 5 in the UK and number 1 in a few other countries.

Was the article you remember reading in an old magazine, or something that was new?

[Mikie]

Dunno for sure. Either a fairly recent article/interview or an older one that I'd never read before. Doesn't matter.