A few questions for Ian and Andrew

[MBE]

1. October 18 1964 - Democratic fund raiser, Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood CA

Was this a political rally? It seems out of character for the Beach Boys of 1964 to be backing a candidate.

2. As far as the Smile era stuff, you have I Ran = Look, but only on one of the entries. Are they one and the same?

3. Is Dennis' 1970 reocrding Settle Down a cover of the Mike Settle song or an original?

4. Lastly what are the songs Excuse Me Baby,  You're As Cool As Cool Can Be, and  What Can The Matter Be?

[Ian]

Most of these questions are for Andrew- who has done his usual fine job with handling all sessions.  As far as the first question about the fundraiser- I found an article advertising the upcoming fundraiser- which was being put together by Milton Berle and the BBs are mentioned as scheduled to appear.  It's possible that the BBs did this as a favor to Milton Berle- he hired them for his daughter's party when they were just starting out.  Also-they were young and this was a more inncoent time-most young people were fans of JFK and then Johnson (pre heavy Vietnam involvement)- but I have no idea what motivated them to appear. We'd need more info- which I don't have.  Badman's book placed them in Idaho- but they were there a month earlier and there is no mention of an app in Oct 64 in the Idaho papers. He also mentions a Long Beach app on Oct 17- but I searched a number of Long Beach papers and founf not a scrap-so we left it out. So there you go.

[Charles LePage @ ComicList]

2. As far as the Smile era stuff, you have I Ran = Look, but only on one of the entries. Are they one and the same?

Some information on I Ran/Look:

http://www.thesmileshop.net/index.php/Song_For_Children

[MBE]

Thanks Ian. I think you are right. America was more united then as far as politics go. It wasn't the 'heavy' thing it became later.  Thanks to you as well Charles.
As far as the other questions AGD?

[Andrew G. Doe]

For the session info, I covered as many bases as I could - AFM sheets, articles, folk who were there and the researches of other BB historians. Essentially, from 1961-1969 the majority of the sessions are dated by AFM sheets, or Capitol session sheets, with very useful input from David Marks during his tenure. Thereafter, it gets more difficult, but some of the post-69 dates are taken from tape boxes.

"I Ran/Look" - I defer to the detailed research of Lou Shenk as presented on the old Smile Shop MB:

"I Ran (B. Wilson).
Instrumental track recorded Aug 12, 1966 with 11 musicians at Western.  Vocals recorded Oct 13, 1966 with 6 Beach Boys.

The vocal session tape is lost, so all we have is the instrumental track in an edited mix of take 20.  Three edits were made to the master:  in the chorus, 10 bars from pickup take 2, then 10 bars from pickup take 1, then the rest of the song from pickup take 2.  The session sheet was logged as “Untitled Song #1,” the tape box as “Look” but the song was renamed “I Ran (formerly Untitled Song #1)” for the vocal session.  One of the many revelations of Smile 2004 is that this song is now named Song for Children and has new lyrics recalling both Wonderful and Child is Father of the Man."

"Settle Down" - taken, with permission, from Dan Addington's outstanding Dennis Wilson - Dream website:

"Settle Down , 1971, (DW) According to Steven Desper (2003)a 1/4 inch professional tape from Capitol Records (A Safety Copy)exists with the following information: DATE -- 11-13-70, PRODUCER -- Dennis Wilson, ARTIST -- Dennis Wilson , TRACKS -- mono (full track), TRACK DESCRIPTION -- 1) alignment tones, 2) "Lady" 2:18, 3) "Settle Down" 2:21"

Now you know as much as I do. 

The other titles you mention are taken from Keith Badman's Diary - while the touring content of this book has been proven by Ian to be contentious (as regards absolute accuracy), as far as I can see, the session info seems generally credible (albeit with a few "huh ?" moments), although I reserve the right to amend this opinion.

[MBE]

Hey thanks a lot for this info. Isn't it funny (it happens with a lot of people) how many Beach Boys outtakes from 62-74 are better then anything they put out in the last 33 years. Even some of the stuff released before 1976 wasn't as good as certain things that did come out. Some great, great music sits on a shelf.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Some great, great music sits on a shelf.

True... alongside some of the worst dross you could wish to hear.. Stuff that makes "Wrinkles" sound good. 

[Smilin Ed H]

I's always assumed - been informed in fact - that Hard Times was a post Holland track, but I see by your chronology that there were sessions for it before then - or haven't I read the dates correctly?  Was it intended for Holland?

[Andrew G. Doe]

two songs go by the title of "Hard Times" - one is essentially a Flame song (i.e. Fataar/Chaplin), the other is the fabled 'dirty' version of "Ding Dang" (see 1974 when it goes live)

edit: think you've confused dates - the 1st "Hard Times" was recorded October 10th 1972 in LA, after the return from Holland.

[Malc]

True... alongside some of the worst dross you could wish to hear.. Stuff that makes "Wrinkles" sound good. 

I've always kinda liked "Wrinkles" !!! Well ... Junkstar's version anyway 

[MBE]

Ok Andrew you told us what you like best in the vaults, what was the worst material!

[smile-holland]

edit: think you've confused dates - the 1st "Hard Times" was recorded October 10th 1972 in LA, after the return from Holland.

The song is being discussed on another topic as well, but just to make sure: BW's Hard Times is the same track as the one on Get The Boot with the title "Rollin' Up To Heaven"?

[Andrew G. Doe]

edit: think you've confused dates - the 1st "Hard Times" was recorded October 10th 1972 in LA, after the return from Holland.

The song is being discussed on another topic as well, but just to make sure: BW's Hard Times is the same track as the one on Get The Boot with the title "Rollin' Up To Heaven"?

Yes.

[Smilin Ed H]

It's a New Day was recorded during the Surf's Up sessions, right?  Blondie's lead was added later, but when?  Was it ever intended for CATP?

[Alex]

Ok Andrew you told us what you like best in the vaults, what was the worst material!

Recently on youtube, I saw a video for a "rare" Beach Boys song called "California Beach", had a late 70s/early 80s vibe to it, Mike Love was singing lead vocals, couldn't make out any other BBs on it-could've been from one of Love's solo album or something done with Celebration-I really don't know anything about the song, but it sounded HORRIBLE. 

I wonder if AGD or Alan Boyd or anyone else with expertise in unreleased BB material knows anything about this song. Here's a link in case no one knows what song I'm talking about. http://youtube.com/watch?v=eIzkQ0wAfGA

[Wilsonista]

Something tells me I may have heard this on that multi=part rarities boot.  It was never issued - it's actually not that bad. The stuff on Looking Back With Love was much much worse.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Ok Andrew you told us what you like best in the vaults, what was the worst material!

Recently on youtube, I saw 70a video for a "rare" Beach Boys song called "California Beach", had a late 70s/early 80s vibe to it, Mike Love was singing lead vocals, couldn't make out any other BBs on it-could've been from one of Love's solo album or something done with Celebration-I really don't know anything about the song, but it sounded HORRIBLE. 

I wonder if AGD or Alan Boyd or anyone else with expertise in unreleased BB material knows anything about this song. Here's a link in case no one knows what song I'm talking about. http://youtube.com/watch?v=eIzkQ0wAfGA

"California Beach" was a rewriting of a song called "Skatetown USA" (Love/Jardine) which the band recorded in early 1979 in the hope that it would be the theme song of a movie of the same name (the producers chose a Dave Mason song instead). Trust me, this is by no means the worst piece of tape in the archives. There's stuff in there that makes you say out loud "WTF were they thinking of ?"

[MBE]

Ok AGD name a few. I know you hate Battle Hymn.

[smile-holland]

edit: think you've confused dates - the 1st "Hard Times" was recorded October 10th 1972 in LA, after the return from Holland.

The song is being discussed on another topic as well, but just to make sure: BW's Hard Times is the same track as the one on Get The Boot with the title "Rollin' Up To Heaven"?

Yes.

thanks! This for me results in a second question: how to officially call this song? Is it "Hard Times" aka "Rollin' Up To Heaven"? Or just "Hard Times" (and forget it's alternative title)?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Ok AGD name a few. I know you hate Battle Hymn.

Pretty much the entire Country Love album... some of the Lovesongs stuff from summer 1980  (Brian's vocal on "River Deep" is just terrible)... "At The Hop" (wrong singer, wrong tempo, wrong song)... some late 70s stuff that was just a waste of tape, electricity and the engineer's wages.

[c-man]

Has anyone actually heard the Mike Love outtake with the all-time WORST title..."You Don't Have To Be Brown To Get Down"...?

[smile-holland]

Has anyone actually heard the Mike Love outtake with the all-time WORST title..."You Don't Have To Be Brown To Get Down"...?

Sounds like the work of a genius!! 

On a more serious note: never heard of this one. From what era was this?

[Smilin Ed H]

Bobby Brown?   

[c-man]

Has anyone actually heard the Mike Love outtake with the all-time WORST title..."You Don't Have To Be Brown To Get Down"...?

Sounds like the work of a genius!! 

On a more serious note: never heard of this one. From what era was this?

Early '80s Mike/Adrian sessions.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

'Sun City' is god awful!  Similar to 'California Beach'.  AGD said recently where 'SC' came from but I forget.