Jan & Dean - Deadman's Curve Movie

[Mark A. Moore]

The Carnival of Sound website is a sub-site of the official Jan Berry site. It just has its own URL.

[grillo]

I just want to point out that BW does NOT sing the falsetto on Surf City but DOES sing a unison lead with Jan. Same with Ride the Wild Surf.

[Mark A. Moore]

I just want to point out that BW does NOT sing the falsetto on Surf City but DOES sing a unison lead with Jan. Same with Ride the Wild Surf.

Correct . . . They doubled the leads.

The session takes of Jan and Brian doubling the lead vocal for "Ride the Wild Surf" survive as part of Jan's personal collection.

A full transcription of their studio dialog between takes will be included in the Sessionography book. It's pretty revealing.

[Mitchell]

He has a clear solo "surf city, HERE WE COME" that's not a double, though.

[Steve Mayo]

for anyone who has not read the 1974 rolling stone article and wants to read it, that article is in the media section under magazine scans.

[Generation42]

for anyone who has not read the 1974 rolling stone article and wants to read it, that article is in the media section under magazine scans.

Awesome.  Thanks, Steve!

[“Big Daddy”]

Picked up Deadman’s Curve on VHS the other day from a thrift store for a grand total of $0.35... Was looking at the cover and noticed a weird error! They mismatched the names to the heads. Does anyone know how common this issue of the VHS is? 

[Steve Latshaw]

I think that was the original VHS issue... if it has photos on the back including one of the real Jan & Dean.

[joshferrell]

they need to release this on dvd... it's one of my favorite Rock movies,,, I'm surprised it hasn't been released yet..maybe they can release it with a Jan and Dean concert or documentary kind of a two fer type deal...

[Joel Goldenberg]

The entire TV movie is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrwhEF1czc

It really portrays Jan as obnoxious just before the accident, not including Dean as a partner in a planned Jan production company, cheating on Jill Gibson, mouthing off to the officer in the army office, etc. I heard in a documentary, though, that the cheating part (with two women) was accurate. And they used a different name for Jan's girlfriend, not Jill.
Strange how the opening sequence dates a J and D concert as July 1966. Wasn't Jan's accident in April '66?

[Steve Latshaw]

<<Strange how the opening sequence dates a J and D concert as July 1966. Wasn't Jan's accident in April '66?>>

The film plays fast and loose with dates.  It also notes Dean's visit to Jan to play him Save For A Rainy Day as occurring in 1970.  In fact, it happened in the fall of 1966.  This is standard telescoping with biopics.

[Steve Latshaw]

they need to release this on dvd... >>

I looked into this about 13 years ago when acquiring titles for Retromedia Entertainment.  There's a great deal of confusion as to who owns the rights to the film.  Reportedly Paramount, but they weren't sure at the time.  And due to this confusion, it may have slipped into the public domain in 2006.  Unfortunately, the only transfer out there is the one that came from the VHS, which in turn, I believe, came from a film transfer to 3/4 tape back in the early 80s.

[JimC1702]

The book "When We Get To Surf City" by Bob Greene offers a great look at Jan & Dean touring in later years.

http://www.amazon.com/When-Get-Surf-City-Friendship/dp/031237691X

Jim

[Komera]

The entire TV movie is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRrwhEF1czc

There's an old argument in there, but half of the argument's been deleted.   

[Moon Dawg]

 A great rock & roll movie.

[Komera]

I just want to point out that BW does NOT sing the falsetto on Surf City but DOES sing a unison lead with Jan. Same with Ride the Wild Surf.

Transcribed from JanandDean.com, Biography Chapter 3:
(I'm flipping between browser windows since JanandDean.com doesn't allow for copying.)


"A week later, Jan, Brian, Mike, Carl, Dennis, David, and I all got together at Western Recording Studio in Hollywood, California and we recorded the two surf songs and it felt like magic once again!  After the recording session was over, Brian wanted to give us a preview of his next record.  He belted out "Surfin' USA".  We were floored.  Jan immediately tried to talk Brian into giving the song to Jan & Dean but Brian wasn't about to give it up but he did say that he had a similar song that was only partially completed and that he would be more than happy to give that song to Jan & Dean.  The title of that song was "Surf City".  We snapped it up!  It took a couple of days to finish writing the incomplete song.  Jan then went into the studio and produced a brilliant basic instrumental track with his hand picked studio musicians which included the use of two drummers.  When we were ready to record the vocals, Jan called Brian and invited him to the studio.  Once in the studio, Jan and Brian sang lead together (in studio vernacular, this is called doubling).  Then Brian and I sang some of the background parts plus a falsetto part that Brian and I had written.  Brian then suggested that he and I sing the very same vocal part a second time and see what that sounded like, so we did.  Now we had four vocals all singing the same melody.  The result was very unique because of the differences in the sound of our falsettos.  Brian's falsetto was mainly midrange in sound but mine was mostly top end (treble), mixing the two voices caused a strange but interesting harmonic.  Everybody in the studio loved the final result!"

Of course one must read the biography from that site with a heavy dose of salt.  Mental reservation is heavily at work: Dean frequently misleads by failing to mention the full story (as shown above, he doesn't say WHY Jan tried to talk Brian out of "Surfin' USA"), or crack a joke rather than mention something uncomfortable (such as in Chapter 5 when he jokes how they were relieved to not be in "Ride the Wild Surf" and how other surfers had a hit on them, and something about that thing with a surfer's girlfriend and how she wasn't right for him anyway).  But sometimes Dean does get so detailed that you can't help but trust what he says then.