Bellagio-Many updates now listed...

[Ian]

Just wanted to alert anyone interested that AGD has updated the Bellagio Sessions/Gigs site again-has a lot of new session dates-based on AFM's that C-Man and I have uncovered in the
Union archives.  Check out 1969, 1971 and 1972 especially. Also added a number of gigs- Nov 12 1974, Feb 18 1966, Oct 21 1966, Apr 19 1965, Apr 9 1968 and some changes (EX: The Dec 20 1970 show was at the Hague, not Amsterdam), etc, etc. Worth a look-if this is the sort of thing that appeals to you.  Some changes create problems of course. The fact that I have confirmation that the BBs played at Michigan State on Oct 21 1966 (and the college has sent me confirmation) means that they could not have recorded vocals for Do You Like Worms that day, as written in Badman's book.  Perhaps they sang them over the phone....... One might also note that he listed the gig as Dec 10.  It's been suggested that some of his dating errors result from British vs American dating.  An American dating of 10/21/66, would be written as 21/10/66 in the UK-so if you have a small error it could easily be 12/10/66...Perhaps the date given to him by his researcher.....

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Any details/info  on "What Can The Matter be"? Never heard of that track before. Also "Where is She", "Untitled # 3", "Settle Down", Spark in the Dark" ,"Body Talk", "Funky Fever" , or" Rooftop Harry"? Have you heard of any of these, and if so, what do they sound like?


Oh, and "Dr Tom".

[Ian]

No- Perhaps AGD or C-Man has..That being said, the BBs often used working titles-so at least a few of those may have been turned into finished tunes with different titles or else they were just songs that didn't make it onto albums-like a zillion others- I Do, Running Bear, Thank Him, Seasons in the Sun- just to name a few.  Perhaps-s ome songs just didn't work for certain albums, For example-you can imagine that as good a song as Lonely Days is-it just didn't sound right for the Wild Honey album. Just as Can't Wait Too Long-as brilliant as it is-wouldn't have sounded right on that low-fi collection either (even if Brian had finished it). So a song gets shelved and then it becomes a road not taken.  Having a studio in your house -allows you to do a lot of fooling around also.  Carlin describes how Brian worked real hard on Gimme Some Lovin-but the BBs rejected it (of course he allegedly had to fight to get Til I Die on the Surfs Up album-and the modern consensus is that it blows everything else on the abum away-including Carl's two best tunes- so there is no accounting for taste)

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

re: working titles.. that's what I was wondering about.

There really needs to be a 70s unreleased collection.

[Bicyclerider]

The  Badman October group vocals date was taken from my Smile primer where I had transcribed the December date into October by mistake.  A typical third-hand account not checked by Badman et al before appearing in the book.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Any details/info  on "What Can The Matter be"? Never heard of that track before. Also "Where is She", "Untitled # 3", "Settle Down", Spark in the Dark" ,"Body Talk", "Funky Fever" , or" Rooftop Harry"? Have you heard of any of these, and if so, what do they sound like?


Oh, and "Dr Tom".

"Where is She" is a sweet little Brian thing, and "Spark..." is essentially Brian noodling on the piano for many minutes - ends up sounding an awful lot like "Chain Reaction Of Love" !

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Really ?! That's...interesting.

[MBE]

Is What Can The Matter Be a Dennis song?

28 - Wilson/Sandler session: Funky Fever (Bolec)

Could this have been done at Ike Turner's Bolic Sound studio?

[smile-holland]

Just wanted to alert anyone interested that AGD has updated the Bellagio Sessions/Gigs site again-has a lot of new session dates-based on AFM's that C-Man and I have uncovered in the
Union archives.  Check out 1969, 1971 and 1972 especially. Also added a number of gigs- Nov 12 1974, Feb 18 1966, Oct 21 1966, Apr 19 1965, Apr 9 1968 and some changes (EX: The Dec 20 1970 show was at the Hague, not Amsterdam), etc, etc. Worth a look-if this is the sort of thing that appeals to you.  Some changes create problems of course. The fact that I have confirmation that the BBs played at Michigan State on Oct 21 1966 (and the college has sent me confirmation) means that they could not have recorded vocals for Do You Like Worms that day, as written in Badman's book.  Perhaps they sang them over the phone....... One might also note that he listed the gig as Dec 10.  It's been suggested that some of his dating errors result from British vs American dating.  An American dating of 10/21/66, would be written as 21/10/66 in the UK-so if you have a small error it could easily be 12/10/66...Perhaps the date given to him by his researcher.....

...and (referring to the The Hague gig) a few additions/adjustments were made as well I see on a number of Dutch gigs/performances for which Goin'Bald and I were able to deliver some information.

Ian, a few more minor changes:
- 'Martinihalle Groningen' (May 1972) should be 'Martinihal Groningen'
- 'Der Doelen Rotterdam' (June 1969) should be 'De Doelen Rotterdam'.
Minor details, I know, but the way it's written now is a German translation of both Dutch locations.

[c-man]

Is What Can The Matter Be a Dennis song?

28 - Wilson/Sandler session: Funky Fever (Bolec)

Could this have been done at Ike Turner's Bolic Sound studio?

On the former: the personnel are listed as Carl, Dennis, Alan, Bruce, Michael, and Roger Neumann (horn player/arranger), plus contractor Jon Parks.  Carl's the "leader" of the session, but that doesn't rule out it being a Dennis song, or a Brian song, because Carl was the leader of the session for Brian & Mike's "All I Wanna Do", and Bruce and Carl were listed as leaders for some other Dennis songs.  I really don't know, as I've never heard it.

On the latter:  the location address is given as 1310 La Brea Ave, Inglewood...which produced no good Google results for me, but perhaps someone out there knows the address of Ike's studio?

[Ian]

Yes- I did not want to forget the help of Smile-Holland and other Dutch fans-who graciously looked into the history of the BBs in Holland-allowing me to correct some small but important errors in Keith Badman's book.  Most notably you will see that we have deleted a Dec 10 1970 show that apparently didn't happen and changed the listing of Dec 20 1970 from Amsterdam to the Hague.  We can also now attest that Blondie was indeed at the Grand Gala Du Disque despite allegations to the contrary.  We also have an interesting footnote for Aug 15 1972-check it out

[smile-holland]

Keep up the good work Ian (and AGD). It is a great source for BB-information. Really hope it can evolve in a book-project as well!

[Andrew G. Doe]

On the latter:  the location address is given as 1310 La Brea Ave, Inglewood...which produced no good Google results for me, but perhaps someone out there knows the address of Ike's studio?

Can't give you a street addy, but Ike's Bolic Studio was certainly in Inglewood, and I seriously doubt there were two studios called that in the same area. 

It burned down in 1982. Three days before Stevie Wonder was going to buy it.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

It burned down in 1982. Three days before Stevie Wonder was going to buy it.

D'oh.

[MBE]

Is What Can The Matter Be a Dennis song?

28 - Wilson/Sandler session: Funky Fever (Bolec)

Could this have been done at Ike Turner's Bolic Sound studio?

On the former: the personnel are listed as Carl, Dennis, Alan, Bruce, Michael, and Roger Neumann (horn player/arranger), plus contractor Jon Parks.  Carl's the "leader" of the session, but that doesn't rule out it being a Dennis song, or a Brian song, because Carl was the leader of the session for Brian & Mike's "All I Wanna Do", and Bruce and Carl were listed as leaders for some other Dennis songs.  I really don't know, as I've never heard it.

On the latter:  the location address is given as 1310 La Brea Ave, Inglewood...which produced no good Google results for me, but perhaps someone out there knows the address of Ike's studio?

I checked his book and that was Ike's. Had a great sound. Brian must of known Ike through Spector. 

[c-man]

Mystery solved.  See what happens when we all work together? 

[c-man]

"Ike spent the '70s and most of the '80s on a cocaine bender, smoking up his hard-earned fortune to the tune of $2000 a day. Among the talented friends who partied or recorded inside Bolic Sound - Ike's state-of-the-art studio at 1310 La Brea in Inglewood, California - were Sly Stone, Little Richard, and Bobby Womack. "There was a little silver box on the console with cocaine," recalls trombonist Jeffrey Deane. "Ike would try to engage you into snorting cocaine and then laugh at you when you couldn't play the parts. There was an upstairs at Bolic through a secret door. I went up there once; it was right out of Superfly, everything was white, with oval doors. There was a plastic bag with the largest amount of cocaine I'd ever seen in my life - at least a pound.

The permanent party at Bolic Sound came to an abrupt end when the temporarily uninsured building burned to the ground in 1982." - from the article "Unforgiven: The American Tragedy of Ike Turner" written in 1998 by Ann Marlow and published in Vibe, December 2007.

[MBE]

Well Ike was pretty productive through 1976 though his cocaine addiction was already out of control. After Tina left he recorded sporadically. That's when things really changed. When Brian was there in early 72, Ike was not quite out of control yet and in fact his Blues Roots LP from that year may be his finest work. I would love to hear what that track sounds like.