New book from AGD included w/rerelease of DVD set "The Beach Boys: Videography"

[SurfRiderHawaii]

 I don't know much about this DVD set except that AGD has written a book that is now included in this rerelease.

http://www.amazon.com/Beach-Boys-Videography-Book/dp/B000Q677B8

Amazon Product Description
This definitive overview of the band and its music provides an unrivaled insight into the world of the Beach Boys. With powerful and rare live performance footage as its backdrop The program also features fascinating archive interviews with Brian Wilson and his late brother Carl. In addition, a team of eminent musicologists and respected rock critics are on hand to unravel the secrets of the Beach Boys phenomenon; these include influential drummer Rod Gretsinger and producer/guitarist Les Davidson.

AGD has given us a taste of his book in the "About A Day In The Life Of A Tree" thread
   
Re: Ques. About A Day In The Life Of A Tree
« Reply #18 on: Today at 03:32:27 PM »
   Reply with quote
It's basically an overview of all the albums from Surfin' Safari to In Concert (and including Smile). Here's a taster:

Smile
not released December 1966/January 1967

It may seem strange to include an unreleased album in a survey of a band’s catalogue, but Smile was no simple failed project: rather, it marked the decline of both The Beach Boys and Brian Wilson as major creative forces in rock. After Smile, neither of them would ever be the same again.

Although by the band’s own high standards a relative failure, Pet Sounds was a vindication of Brian’s rapidly evolving songwriting and production methods, and now, in summer 1966, he sought to apply the “feels” method of making an album to a single: and he already had the basic material to hand, for during the Pet Sounds sessions he’d begun a song initially entitled ‘Good, Good, Good Vibrations’, only to set it aside (and also pull it from the track listing) to concentrate on finishing up the album. Once this was accomplished, and with the rest of the band on tour, Brian returned to the (mildly) retitled ‘Good Vibrations’ and from 17 further sessions from early May to late September at three different studios (and at a reputed cost of some $50,000, a figure that would have funded four of five albums for most bands of the time !), and after discarding at least two previous mixes, distilled 3.35 of sheer musical and vocal magic that topped the charts world-wide. At once classic Beach Boys, yet sounding like nothing they’d ever done before, ‘Good Vibrations’ swung effortlessly from rock to choir via barbershop and doo-wop over a backing track of deceptively simple complexity and spaciousness (punctuated by a wailing theremin). It remains a towering achievement.

Having proved to himself that he could assemble a song from so many different sections with such success, Brian saw no reason why he couldn’t do the same with a whole album and, recruiting Van Dyke Parks as his new collaborator, he embarked on that very course. The underlying theme of this new album (initially titled Dumb Angel, then simply Smile) was one of American history and territorial expansion from New England to Hawaii shot through with shafts of humour. Initially, all was plain sailing: Capitol backed Brian’s judgement by booking studios in month-long blocks and devising lavish packing for the new album, while the sessions for the instrumental tracks came to be regarded as legendary even as they were happening, for the excellent reason that the music itself really was as good as everyone said it was. Before departing on an overseas tour, the rest of the band did vocal sessions for such experimental tracks as ‘Home On The Range’ (later ‘Cabin Essence’) and ‘Do You Like Worms ?’, and while they probably didn’t have the least idea what they were singing about, they did excellent work: everything was looking decidedly rosy.

Exactly when, and why, it all began to unravel is hard to pinpoint.  Certainly Brian’s escalating drug usage wasn’t helping matters, but to blame this alone is to ignore the increasing distractions which now beset him. He was moving in a new, more sophisticated circle of people, all eager to show him something of their world, be it poetry, art… or more drugs. More, some of his new friends considered that Capitol weren’t treating him fairly, and as a result, a lawsuit against the company was being instigated: further, the band’s own record company, Brother, was being set up – and all these activities began to distract Brian from the immediate task at hand, as did the later arrival of a film crew to shoot footage for a prestigious TV documentary on pop music, hosted by Leonard Bernstein. Then again, it may have begun to dawn on him that maybe what had worked with a single song might not be practicable on a whole album (which album was in turn expanding as Brian sought to incorporate all his new experiences and influences). The band returned from Europe in mid-November and promptly embarked on a short US tour, but when they returned to LA they discovered that in their absence, things had changed, and not – in their view – for the better. To their credit, they buckled down to singing lyrics that seemed at best incomprehensible, at worst next to gibberish, but between late November (and the legendary ‘Fire’ session, which Brian’s altered perception held directly responsible for a rash of fires in LA) and mid-December the situation slowly deteriorated, to the point where some of the band were openly questioning Brian’s judgement. Exacerbating the situation was the deadline for the album, which was originally set for a December 1966 release, but by the middle of that month Brian had to tell Capitol that neither the album nor a new single, ‘Heroes And Villains’, would be ready until mid January. At the same time, a handwritten track listing for the album was also handed in, presumably at the request of Capitol in order for the design of the back cover to be finalised – however, the handwriting wasn’t Brian’s and it’s doubtful if he knew of its existence at the time.

Come mid-January 1967, and neither album nor single were close to completion as the situation surrounding Brian and Smile edged closer to dissolution. His self belief ebbing as his paranoia increased, Brian systematically shut out his new friends one by one and took to almost obsessively re-recording ‘Heroes And Villains’, perhaps realising that, after all, he couldn’t pull it all together. From here on in, the final death of Smile was merely a matter of time: when Paul McCartney dropped in on Brian at a ‘Vega-Tables’ session in mid-April, it was all over bar the final rites, yet ironically the broadcast of the ‘Inside Pop’ TV show later in the month, which featured Brian performing a stunning solo version of ‘Surf’s Up’ aroused huge expectation for Smile as, for the first time, the world at large could judge for themselves what all the fuss was about, and the verdict was overwhelmingly positive.

It was too late: by May, the album was officially pronounced dead by the band’s publicist, Brian locked the tapes away and returned to the studio with his band mates to come up with something – anything – to fill the void caused by Smile’s collapse. It wasn’t just an album that died – something inside Brian Wilson was snuffed out that spring, never to be rekindled. In the years to come, he would sporadically make great music, but never again would he approach the heights he once attained in the fall of 1966. For the band, the final slamming of the door came with their withdrawal from the June 1967 Monterey Pop festival: the perception was they knew they couldn’t compete with the newer, hipper bands from LA, San Francisco and England and, true or not, it was hugely damaging. It would take The Beach Boys close to four years to win back their audience and reputation.

The crowning irony is that had the album been completed and premiered at Monterey, things could have been so very different, for Brian’s compositions and productions were as advanced as anything that anyone of the day was doing, as the public response to ‘Surf’s Up’ showed. Songs like ‘Wonderful’, ‘Wind Chimes’, ‘Heroes And Villains’ and ‘Child Is Father To The Man’ demonstrated an almost organic unity, common musical themes and riffs flowing from one to another, while the vocals were, if anything, better than ever. We’ll never know, but one thing is undeniable – on almost all subsequent albums for the next four years, there would be an echo of Smile, be it a brief musical moment or a whole song. Smile may have been something of an albatross around the band’s collective neck, but it was also a useful resource to mine in times of need.
« Last Edit: Today at 03:36:57 PM by Andrew G. Doe »

[SurfRiderHawaii]

AGD, can you tell us what is on the DVD(s)?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Basically, exactly the same as on the 2005 release - the main DVD is a whole buncha talking heads (none of whom I've ever heard of before) talking about the band's career up to about 1973, spiced with contemporary footage and some BB live performances from Ed Sullivan (1964 & 1968), Knebworth 1980 and the 1963 Steve Allen Show. The 2nd DVD is said clips in full. File under 'completeists only'.

Obviously, the biggest challenge was to write something that wasn't a complete rip of the ComGuide, but there is some new stuff included in there that I didn't know back in 2004, plus a few opinions of mine have been revised. It's about 22,000 words.

[matt-zeus]

Has it got the Brian with his dildo story in it? 

[Andrew G. Doe]

Nope - that was excised on grounds of me not wanting my ass sued. 

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Mahalo AGD

[Emdeeh]

Any chance the DVD is playable on American equipment??

[HeyJude]

Any chance the DVD is playable on American equipment??

I ordered the DVD from a US retailer, and it is playable. It's on Amazon.com and other retailers. (I bought it from deepdiscount.com because it's quite a bit cheaper than Amazon). I don't know if it's Region 1 or Region 0 (I'm guessing Region 0 because the DVD has like a dozen different subtitle options).

[HeyJude]

Basically, exactly the same as on the 2005 release - the main DVD is a whole buncha talking heads (none of whom I've ever heard of before) talking about the band's career up to about 1973, spiced with contemporary footage and some BB live performances from Ed Sullivan (1964 & 1968), Knebworth 1980 and the 1963 Steve Allen Show. The 2nd DVD is said clips in full. File under 'completeists only'.

Obviously, the biggest challenge was to write something that wasn't a complete rip of the ComGuide, but there is some new stuff included in there that I didn't know back in 2004, plus a few opinions of mine have been revised. It's about 22,000 words.

I got this a few days ago (from deepdiscount.com as it's $8 or so cheaper than Amazon). It's only one disc, though. It only has the talking-heads documentary. There is no second disc with full music clips.

The whole package is constructed and looks pretty nice, but is of course way overpriced even at deepdiscount's price of $26. It's basically a hardcover book with a DVD at the back.

I haven't read the book yet. I had assumed it was simply excerpted from the ComGuide since it had both AGD's and John Tobler's name on it. I'll have to give it a good read now that I know there's some new stuff there.

One error I caught in the book is that they use the '64 "Concert" album photo twice, for both the '64 "Concert" album and the '73 "In Concert" album.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Has it got the Brian with his dildo story in it? 

WTF? Never heard of that one before...!

[matt-zeus]

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,4243.0.html

[Alf64]

  So, specifically, how comprehensive is this videography?
Does it start from "Surfin' Safari" and go through "Santa's Goin' To Kokomo"?
What is the track line up?
Is it chronological? Unfortunatley mine isn't for profit, BUT it is this chronological and comprehensive. Just over 100 music videos. NO talking heads. Just music videos. Chronological. Each menu will be specific to each era in their career. Down to the buttons. I already have all but about 10 picture sleeves done for it.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Congratulations - you've just announced to anyone who cares to read this site  - and you'd be surprised who does - that you're making copies of copyrighted material available for redistribution without bothering with little things like licensing it.

Real smart.

[STE]

And now you have stressed and underlined the fact to anyone that might not have noticed before...

Even smarter.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Like I've said, many times on many boards, you'd be surprised who monitors this stuff.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Believe me...somebody has already noticed. The wrong person, too.

Jeez...my wife gives birth on Monday, I'm pretty much offline all week, and come back to this.

[SloopJohnB]

Believe me...somebody has already noticed. The wrong person, too.

Jeez...my wife gives birth on Monday, I'm pretty much offline all week, and come back to this.

Hey, congratulations! 

[Andrew G. Doe]

When posting on BB MBs, it's safe to assume two things:

1 - there will always be some dweeb who will argue with established, documented fact...

2 - the board is being monitored by BRI, Brian's 'people', Alan's 'people', Capitol and many other  'interested parties'. I have personal experience of this, as does any other BB board admin. Thus, saying "I've made this video comp", even if not for monetary gain, gets someone's antennae twitching.

[adamghost]

Like I've said, many times on many boards, you'd be surprised who monitors this stuff.

I wouldn't! 

There's a video for "Santa's Going to Kokomo?!?"

[smile-holland]

[There's a video for "Santa's Going to Kokomo?!?"

check youtube...

[Andrew G. Doe]

Like I've said, many times on many boards, you'd be surprised who monitors this stuff.

I wouldn't!

You, sir, have an inside track.