Unreleased Songs Masterlist: Material to expect from further archival releases

[Bellagio 1975]

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[Bellagio 1975]

Wishful thinking beyond "Feel Flows":

So Tough/Holland set, 15BO/Love You/Adult Child set, MIU to KTSA set, and finally whatever remains from '81 to BB85 era.   

[jparis51]

Wishful thinking beyond "Feel Flows":

So Tough/Holland set, 15BO/Love You/Adult Child set, MIU to KTSA set, and finally whatever remains from '81 to BB85 era.   

Great list! And while this probably belongs in the Unpopular Opinions thread, I'd cap it with "The Terry Melcher Productions."

[Dove Nested Towers]

Wishful thinking beyond "Feel Flows":

So Tough/Holland set, 15BO/Love You/Adult Child set, MIU to KTSA set, and finally whatever remains from '81 to BB85 era.   

Great list! And while this probably belongs in the Unpopular Opinions thread, I'd cap it with "The Terry Melcher Productions."

Consisting of, as well as early Bruce and Terry and Rip Chords, a two-album "Kokomo" sessions set, including painfully slow, meandering songwriting interludes with John Phillips, Scott McKenzie and ML.

[All Summer Long]

Comments/questions in italics.

1980 - Keepin' the Summer Alive era

- "Can't Wait Too Long" (1980 remake): unbooted. Overdubs were attempted by the group - I thought this was for Captwin and Tennille

- Dennis Wilson and Christie McVie sessions: no luck - no luck as in erased or lost to time?


1981

- "I Ran (All the Way Home)": unbooted - Is there any chance this is a cover of the song by the Impalas?


1984 - The Beach Boys (self-titled album) era

- "Down By the Pier", "And I Always Will", "At the Hop": covers, only "At the Hop" is booted, and it might be better off kept in the vault - I thought Al wrote And I Always Will, later re-recorded for Postcard, and that we didn’t know who wrote Down by the Pier

- "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz": unbooted live cover - Technically it is somewhat booted because videos from 7/4/84 or 7/4/85 are on YouTube

- "Water Builds Up": unbooted. A song Brian later recorded on his own for the Sweet Insanity album - Interesting


1986 - Wilson Project era

- "Sweetie", "Rings", "Walking on Water", "Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel": booted piano demos by Brian - I thought at least one of these was from 1981 and that Brian added to an old demo tape

- "Rock and Roll to the Rescue" (alternate extended mix): not available for streaming, don't think the original version is either

- "Wouldn't That Be Cool": a Brian song attempted during sessions for Made in U.S.A. Apparently shares similarities with American Spring's "Do Ya" - maybe this had to do with the fight over R&RTTR?

- "Spirit of Rock and Roll": unbooted live version with the Boys - also interesting


1995

- "Grace of My Heart": unbooted - Isn’t this also one where we’re are unsure if it was recorded?


2012 - That's Why God Made the Radio era

- "I'd Go Anywhere": apparently unused part of Brian's suite from the end of the album, bits of it can be heard here since it was used in a behind the scenes EPK of the album with interviews played over it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1MWbi5jjh4 - How positive are we that this was I’d Go anywhere and not another one of the 16+ unused/unfinished songs?

- "She Believes in Love Again": remake of the Bruce song from 85. See you in 2062 for these hot tracks!!

-"Waves of Love": if it was even worked on? Al offered it for the album. Who knows if the Beach Boys (outside of Carl and Al) ever touched it - Couldn’t we say the same thing about SBILA?

-supposedly there were like 29 tracks overall recorded for this album. Whether or not any ended up on No Pier Pressure is another question though

[HeyJude]

All evidence indicates "Waves of Love" was never touched by the BBs during BB/TWGMTR sessions. I'd wager if they had worked on it and shelved it, Al would have used those BB elements on his subsequent mixes/releases of the song.

On the other hand, it sounds as though Bruce did steal away some time during actual TWGMTR sessions to work on a new version of "She Believes in Love Again", one that supposedly used elements of the original 84/85 recording (e.g. Bruce's vocal), and added a new vocal from Foskett on Carl's parts. How much work was done is unknown, but it sounds like recording work on this *was* actually done.

[HeyJude]

1984 - The Beach Boys (self-titled album) era

- "Down By the Pier", "And I Always Will", "At the Hop": covers, only "At the Hop" is booted, and it might be better off kept in the vault - I thought Al wrote And I Always Will, later re-recorded for Postcard, and that we didn’t know who wrote Down by the Pier

The scuttle has usually been that Carl co-wrote "Down by the Pier"; he was certainly writing stuff before, during, and after the '85 sessions with Robert White Johnson and probably others.

- "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz": unbooted live cover - Technically it is somewhat booted because videos from 7/4/84 or 7/4/85 are on YouTube

I think unreleased live recordings of songs otherwise unreleased by the band is a whole other rabbit hole. There are a ton. "Love Me Tender", "Come Softly To Me", "Bony Maronie", "Dancin' in the Streets", "Wishing You Were Here", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Merry Minuet", just off the top of my head at the moment.

- "Spirit of Rock and Roll": unbooted live version with the Boys - also interesting

There would be sort of two versions of the "Beach Boys" version of this song, both very similar.

Brian and Gary Usher brought their studio recording of "Spirit" with them to the pre-show studio recording session for the 25th Anniversary show. Most everything for that show was pre-recorded, with then some live vocals for the actual show. Brian brought his studio recording of "Spirit" (essentially something identical or pretty close to the version/mix he just recently released on his website), and then Mike, Bruce, and Glen Campbell added additonal backing vocals during that pre-TV taping session (Carl and Al apparently staged a walkout in protest to Landy's shenanigans during the session). Then, for the actual live show, presumably some of the mics were live so we have that studio version plus whatever is live during that show. That "live" take would probably sound like a mess, but what hasn't been booted thus far is that studio session version with Mike, Bruce, and Glen adding additional backing vocals.

- "Grace of My Heart": unbooted - Isn’t this also one where we’re are unsure if it was recorded?

I think it's fair to say it's pretty likely that some sort of demo for the song exists, even if there aren't any full/proper studio sessions with multiple band members on it.

[All Summer Long]

HeyJude, thanks for responding to most of my questions. Do you think my theory about the 1981 recording of I Ran (All the Way Home) holds any water?

[thetojo]

- "Buzz, Buzz, Buzz": unbooted live cover - Technically it is somewhat booted because videos from 7/4/84 or 7/4/85 are on YouTube

I think unreleased live recordings of songs otherwise unreleased by the band is a whole other rabbit hole. There are a ton. "Love Me Tender", "Come Softly To Me", "Bony Maronie", "Dancin' in the Streets", "Wishing You Were Here", "Oh, Pretty Woman", "Merry Minuet", just off the top of my head at the moment.

There are so many of these it's ridiculous. Was "Duke of Earl" ever done prior to the split of the band, or just in the Mike & Bruce years.

Add Runaway from the early 80s to that (one of my favourites) - even though it was on the Sunkist LP.

There was a list once put together in the old Aussie BB zine BBA covering this exact matter - I'll have to dig up when I get a chance.

[WillJC]

HeyJude, thanks for responding to most of my questions. Do you think my theory about the 1981 recording of I Ran (All the Way Home) holds any water?

I'd be surprised if it isn't a cover of the Impalas song. Recorded together with the original version of Sweetie at Rumbo, March 1981.

The demo tape with Brian playing Walking on Water, Sweetie, Rings and Don't Let Her Know is dated October 1986 by a voice on a collector cassette, although the songs are all known to have been written by 1985. It's possible that the date could be a year off. Sweetie is just a case of Brian revisiting an old song.

[as1972]

There are so many of these it's ridiculous. Was "Duke of Earl" ever done prior to the split of the band, or just in the Mike & Bruce years.

It's first documented in 1999

[HeyJude]

HeyJude, thanks for responding to most of my questions. Do you think my theory about the 1981 recording of I Ran (All the Way Home) holds any water?

Can't say I have any specialized knowledge on that one; I think your theory sounds quite plausible.

You never know, though. We later found out two *completely* different Brian songs called "Lay Down Burden" existed, and somehow they wrote during the "No Pier Pressure" era a song called "He Come Down" that *isn't* a cover of the "So Tough" song? They did "Where I Belong" in 1985 and apparently Brian has a brand new song for his new documentary titled "Right Where I Belong." There are many examples of course (All I Want To Do/All I Wanna Do).

So there is precedent for very specific song titles to reemerge as completely new songs.

[All Summer Long]

HeyJude, thanks for responding to most of my questions. Do you think my theory about the 1981 recording of I Ran (All the Way Home) holds any water?

I'd be surprised if it isn't a cover of the Impalas song. Recorded together with the original version of Sweetie at Rumbo, March 1981.

The demo tape with Brian playing Walking on Water, Sweetie, Rings and Don't Let Her Know is dated October 1986 by a voice on a collector cassette, although the songs are all known to have been written by 1985. It's possible that the date could be a year off. Sweetie is just a case of Brian revisiting an old song.

HeyJude, thanks for responding to most of my questions. Do you think my theory about the 1981 recording of I Ran (All the Way Home) holds any water?

Can't say I have any specialized knowledge on that one; I think your theory sounds quite plausible.

You never know, though. We later found out two *completely* different Brian songs called "Lay Down Burden" existed, and somehow they wrote during the "No Pier Pressure" era a song called "He Come Down" that *isn't* a cover of the "So Tough" song? They did "Where I Belong" in 1985 and apparently Brian has a brand new song for his new documentary titled "Right Where I Belong." There are many examples of course (All I Want To Do/All I Wanna Do).

So there is precedent for very specific song titles to reemerge as completely new songs.

Thanks to SaltyMarshmallow, and thanks again to HeyJude for the helpful info/reminders.

[jiggy22]

All material related to the proposed BROTHERS, COUSINS AND FRIENDS project:

1. Night Bloomin' Jasmine
   - Demo cut in February 1979. Brian mentioned to Les Chan that he wanted to include it on the next album.
2. Da Doo Ron Ron
   - Cut during the KTSA sessions. Bruce mentioned in a 1980 interview that he wanted to include it on the group's next album after KTSA.
3. Why Don't They Let Us Fall in Love
4. Bucks
   - Also known as "Fly." Features Mike on lead vocals. Apparently quite good.
5. Children of the Night
   - Mike song cut in May 1980. Most likely unfinished.
6. Song Within a Song
   - My Solution/Shortenin' Bread medley. Brian apparently recorded narration for the My Solution section, but this is unbooted.
7. Be My Baby
8. Greenback Dollar
   - Unfinished cover of the Kingston Trio hit. As Mike and Brian weren't that big into folk music, I'd be more inclined to believe that their rendition was more inspired by Dick Dale's interpretation.
9. Come Tomorrow
   - Unfinished cover of the Manfred Mann hit.
10. Roller Skating Child (Remake)
   - Unfinished remake recorded in the summer of 1980.
11. Baby, I'm a Changed Man (Remake)
   - Unfinished remake of the Country Love song. Also known as "Changed Man" and (most likely) "I'm a Man."
12. River Deep-Mountain High
13. Candlesticks
   - Unfinished Brian song recorded in November 1980. Currently missing from the vaults.
14. Boys and Girls (Remake)
   - Unfinished remake of the KTSA song, recorded by Brian in November 1980. Currently missing from the vaults.
15. Up Again
   - Unfinished Brian song recorded in November 1980. Currently missing from the vaults.
16. Stevie
17. Sweetie
   - Recorded in March 1981. A demo from 1986 circulates on boots. Considered for inclusion in the group's infamous 1981 Long Beach performance.
18. I'm Sorry (I Ran All the Way Home)
   - Cover of the Impalas hit recorded in March 1981.
19. City Blues
   - Recorded as a demo during the "Cocaine Sessions" in 1980/81. These sessions more than likely did NOT take place in 1982 as has long been assumed.

[HeyJude]

I vaguely recall that the studio version of "Sweetie" was described as having a rotated lead vocal (probably Mike, Al, and Brian?).

I've long gone on and on about how fascinated I am with this era of material; I'm more interested than most. But I also have no problem saying that there was no even decent, KTSA-level "album" there based on what we know. Even assuming one or two of those Mike tracks are good, an album isn't there. Who possibly wanted a cover of "Roller Skating Child" in 1980? The potential story or explanation for why a remake was cut in 1980 is infinitely more interesting than it would be a feasible, well-thought-out album selection for a 1981-ish album.

The covers we've heard are interesting, but not commercial and are very much the epitome of what hardcore fans would find far more interesting than anybody else.

I'd be quite interested in hearing that studio version of "Sweetie", but the song itself is not A-material. It's the most uninteresting, common chord progression.

"Stevie" might rise to album-quality. A well-made studio version of "City Blues" could have been good.

This material would have had even less of a chance to be a solid album had Bruce somehow ended up in the producer's chair again.

[jiggy22]

Yes, Sweetie does indeed have Brian, Mike and Al trading lead vocals. And as for Roller Skating Child, I recall reading an article stating that if the Here Comes the Night single did well, then the group was planning on re-recording Roller Skating Child in a similar fashion as their next single. That, plus the song lasting in live sets well into 1979, helps makes it a bit more clearer as to why they went ahead and started work on a remake.

[thetojo]

All material related to the proposed BROTHERS, COUSINS AND FRIENDS project

Forgive my ignorance and/or inattention, but this is the first I've read about this project. Any background on this would be appreciated.

[All Summer Long]

Thanks jiggy22 for the list.

All material related to the proposed BROTHERS, COUSINS AND FRIENDS project

Forgive my ignorance and/or inattention, but this is the first I've read about this project. Any background on this would be appreciated.

This was a proposed follow-up to KTSA. The board has a couple other threads on it; I could only find the link to one which I will put below. Like HeyJude, I have a strong interest in this era. Maybe it’s because there is all this interesting unheard material. Maybe it’s because they had 5 years of no albums. Maybe it’s because of how great the touring band sounded in 1980, but it’s just really interesting to me.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?topic=2293.5


I don’t want to derail this topic more, but in typical Beach Boys fashion, couldn’t they have used outtakes from previous albums? Or even try to use some of Dennis’ unused songs from Bambu? I think that’d give them at least two albums worth of material (in varying quality) that they could narrow down to make something.

EDIT 10/13/21: My excitement and fast typing resulted in some embarrassing typos that have now been fixed.

[HeyJude]

Yeah, I think the "Cousins, Friends, and Brothers" project is really not much more than a title. It may have been thrown around as a title for the KTSA album (makes sense since it references the lyric in one of the songs on that album), and post-KTSA the title would occasionally be mentioned by band members (I recall several stories of fans just talking to Bruce or whomever in the 1980-82-ish time frame where Bruce would throw out the title), but it was just a title for a theoretical future album, which at any given moment could of course theoretically include any track that had already been recorded up to that point.

But as far as I know, there was never anything even semi-official about this. They never went into the studio for a "Cousins, Friends, and Brothers Session", and they never got to comping tracks together as an "album."

Knowing what we know now about the state of the band in 1981 and especially 1982 (and 1983 for that matter), it was pretty far fetched to think they could have put together a "new" album during that timeframe. Carl was gone, and recording solo albums while in and out of the band, Brian was off the rails by 1982, and Al, Mike, and Bruce weren't bringing in any A-list material. What were they trying to do? Bruce wanted to record a disco version of "Roller Skating Child?" Al was obsessed with doing that live "Runaway" track. They were sporadically recording material, but with no particular purpose, seemingly done on a whim. "Stevie" is about as formed and planned and commercial as it got during that time frame, and even that project was saddled with and ultimately brought down by group politics and machinations. I guess the 1982 "California Dreamin'" session produced a solid, decent track that proved they could have done more of something like that in 1982, but that project had issues too. Dennis still wasn't there, Brian was minimally involved, it wasn't exactly an inspired original piece of music, and even back then it ended up getting tied up in politics as Carl was supposedly pissed the song was released in 1983 in that state.

[thetojo]

Okay, I'm up to speed now.

Reading Jiggy's post, I quickly (hopefully) jumped to the conclusion that there was an actual archival project in the works. I should've known that wasn't the case, because of the mention of a track or tracks not being in the vaults.

ps. It's a wonder that no bootleg, to my knowledge, ever adopted that title, but I guess stuff from this era didn't really leak widely as 60s and 70s stuff.

[Rotat]

Does anyone have info about what is actually out there that is included on this article? I don't remember finding and hearing half of this stuff, like a Brian sung "Our Sweet Love"?

https://www.laweekly.com/brian-wilsons-secret-bedroom-tapes-a-track-by-track-description/

[Bellagio 1975]

I know a good chunk of those have been released on the copyright extension and Feel Flows sets.  Beyond '71, we'll have to wait and see.  🤞

[nts and the drum]

I would finally like to hear a full version of both Rooftop Harry and Spark In The Dark. What I have heard sounds amazing and leaves me craving for more.

I still haven’t heard Telephone Backgrounds and I know it was technically released as part of the ‘71 copyright extension but I can’t find it anywhere. I’d like to hear that.

A good quality version of Hard Times and Carry Me Home.

But by far, the most anticipated things I want to hear are the Caribou Sessions. Unfinished as they may be, I’d love to hear that Carl/Mike song if it ever got recorded.

[Jim V.]

Does anyone have info about what is actually out there that is included on this article? I don't remember finding and hearing half of this stuff, like a Brian sung "Our Sweet Love"?

https://www.laweekly.com/brian-wilsons-secret-bedroom-tapes-a-track-by-track-description/

Hey, I don’t know if you ever figured this out, but I’m pretty sure that a so-called “Brian sung” version of “Our Sweet Love” is just the song as he left it before Al and Carl got their hands on it.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=rpeWMGOEuAU

And that is basically it, I’d say.

[PhilSpectre]

Yes, Sweetie does indeed have Brian, Mike and Al trading lead vocals.

Sweetie later turned into Love Ya from the Sweet Insanity sessions, so is kind of ‘finished’.

Would be fun to hear a Beach Boys take on Sweetie though.