The Smiley Smile Message Board

Does anyone know what the song Beach Boys Medley is on this album? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunshine_Dream I notice its almost two minutes longer then the official version released as a single! Is that not  an official Beach Boys album???

Also was this released as a single with out the permission of the Beach Boys? it sure did good if it wasn't.

I was looking at some old Billboard magazines today, and saw the Medley listed on the AC chart. Carl's "Heaven" was on there, too. The Medley was all over radio in the summer of '81, and I thought it was really cool how they edited all those snippets together, but now I find it annoying when I hear it.

The 6:44 time appears to be a Typo, the version on this album is the 4:05 version.   There is a Japanese 12" , that has different versions.   There's also a UK CD single, done as a promo, that has a different version as well.   And in the UK, I think they took some of the Japanese Versions from this 12" I mention, and added them as bonus tracks to the CD singles.  I think it was done for the STILL CRUISIN' UK CD single, and one or two others.  In the USA a few years ago, I believe there was also a CD single where it was included.  I'll see if I can find some scans.

Dogbone

Fascinating.  I was by coincidence today reading the August 1981 BBFUN (kindly donated to me by our very generous board member Metal Flake Paint  :love) which said the following: "They (Capitol Records) have also released a "Beach Boys Medley" consisting of parts of original recordings.  This is doing very well on the pop charts.  Carl Wilson's single Heaven has been getting good airplay.  He and Myrna Smith have already laid down a couple of tracks for a second album."

I also recall thinking the medley just brilliant back in the day (I was ten), but it's kinda clunky now (unsuprisingly of course).  The best thing about the 45 rpm is a pretty good pressing of GOK on the b-side.

The Beach - sorry, I used to have Sunshine Dream, but parted with it once I understood what a compilation album was and sought out the original albums.  For the life of me, I do not recall Medley appearing on that album, but that was so long ago.

I have heard a 12 inch version from a Fronch release that wasn't 6 minutes, but definitely a bit longer than the "radio edit" 45.  It had a the second verse of Shut Down, that kind of stuff, I don't recall if it had any songs additional to those on the radio edit.

Here is what I think of when anyone brings up the Medley--the 1981 version of the group lip synching to it on the Merv Griffin show in what may have been their all-time worst tv "performance." Brutal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3PdP7ikQZM

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rarities_(The_Beach_Boys_album)

I noticed on this Beach Boys Album it looks like there are three Medley versions and one is 6:51 is that the one that might be on the album mentioned above? Also the Ballad version is that the UK Version? The Ballad version has a whole different set of songs?

Anyone know where these there medley versions came from? the last one is obviously the US single but what about the other 2?


EDIT: Fixed link

"The Beach Boys Medley" was on the 1982 vinyl release of Sunshine Dream.  The length was, ironically, 4:09.  Here's the track listing:

(http://i68.tinypic.com/w1pt1s.jpg)

Lee

Haha that's to funny having the length 4:09.  Then that must b!e a typo on Wikipedia!

Does anyone know what the other two versions are from on that Beach Boys rarities album?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rarities_(The_Beach_Boys_album)

Back in the late 90's I corresponded with a guy named Chuck Kirkpatrick who had a pretty successful career as a recording engineer, session musician, and member of the band "Firefall" (You Are the Woman, Just Remember I Love You). He worked as a recording engineer between 1967-1972, 1979-1982. Engineered for Eric Clapton, America, Delaney & Bonnie, Aretha Franklin, Allman Brothers. Was a session singer and guitarist for Eddie Money, Bee Gees, Peter Frampton,  and Brian Wilson.

He had a record deal with Capitol in the late 70's, releasing an album called "Crane". He was a big Beach Boys fan and recorded his own medley in the early 80's that got a lot of airplay in south Florida. I recall him saying that he approached Capitol about releasing it as a single, they turned him down, and then shortly thereafter they released their own BBs medley instead.

This thread reminded me of Chuck so I did a quick search and found this.... his BB medley! Quite impressive!

http://ourstage.com/media_items/PZEJEECGTSYW-the-beach-boys-medley

I always laugh and wish I knew how "How She Boogalooed It" made this release!!  I'm sure there was something else that could've worked better!!

The Powers that Be (or Been)  (sigh!)

Dogbone

and this one's pretty bad from the Dick Clark Special.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbX3rKMHYy4

Funny thing on BOTH....Dennis on drums.  He and Brian were BOTH in rough shape during these times (albeit Brian was on the mend a bit, before Dr. Landy was brought in the 2nd time).

I just don't get how Dennis would've agreed to showcase this Medley.   And I remember seeing BOTH clips back when they were aired.  

Scary then, and even more scary now!! LOL!!

Dogbone

Had Sunshine Dream on cassette. I absolutely loved that album!

Dogbone my friend!  Long time no see around these parts!   :)

The Beach Boys Medley definitely sounds better than the Beatles Movie Medley that Capitol put together in 1982. In the middle of a bunch 4/4 songs, they threw in You've Got to Hide Your Love Away in 3/4. There was also The Elvis Medley later that year, and Medley USA by CCR - what a strange fad that was. And ever stranger seeing the BB's on American Bandstand lip-synching to their medley!

While there are a few head-scratching additions on this album, at least it was a break from the usual compilation track lists! Vegetables really should feature more often on beach boys comps...

Who even put this album out! it wasn't the usual by the sounds of it. Wikipedia said that this isn't an official beach boys album! who knows with Wiki. There not right all the time.

When Endless Summer and Spirit of America were released, the Capitol albums Pet Sounds through 20/20 were under license to Warner Brothers, who had cleverly added them to the Beach Boys' new record deal in order to ensure that they had rights to all of the Smile-era material.  So Capitol didn't have the right to put tracks like "Good Vibrations," "God Only Knows," etc. on those compilations.  When the Beach Boys' resurgence happened in 1974, and realizing that Brian had no intention of letting Warner Brothers release Smile (even though it was mandated in the WB contract), Warner/Reprise issued its own Friends / Smiley Smile and Wild Honey / 20/20 two-fers, as well as Good Vibrations - Best of The Beach Boys, in order to try and recoup some of their investment.  I don't have the contract details at my fingertips, but I'm assuming that the WB deal was for 10 years (1970-1979), so when the rights to the late '60s albums reverted back to Capitol they were able to release Sunshine Dream and Beach Boys Rarities featuring tracks from that era.

The Wikipedia sentence "The album was compiled and released while The Beach Boys were contracted with CBS Records and, as such, is not considered an 'official' release." is poorly worded.  I think they are trying to say that it is a compilation of previously released material and not a new release, so it doesn't go in the Beach Boys' released albums count.

Thank you! Good information.

The Merv Griffin one, Brian and Dennis actually look and act reasonably good.  The Dick Clark one is kind of scary.  Dennis lost a mile back from the band (possibly intentionally) with angry body language, sometimes seeming on the verge of falling over his kit, Brian unkempt and animated in a somewhat offputting way - in the context of such a mainstream show, it's a little disturbing...the montage is kinda neat though.

The band had two of the best, and worst, pantomime musicians in history in Bruce Johnston and Dennis Wilson, respectively.

Thanks very much! That makes a lot more since! Shows you how accurate and trust worthy Wiki can be from time to time!

They are both awful.  I am STILL amazed the band survived 1981-82.

Hey Lee--

I'm around...just don't post a lot.   Just don't have a lot of time.  Drop me a line...you know where.

Hope things are good on your end Mr. Malaka!!

Dogbone

I was surpised to learn this in this 1985 Record Collector article: “Less well-known is the fact that before Capitol issued the medley, the Beach Boys had themselves attempted to create their own version of the gimmick, re-recording several of their major hits in tandem. This was scrapped when neither the group nor their record company could bear to listen to the results.” What I would give to hear this recording. I don’t wanna wait until 2031!

http://www.mountvernonandfairway.de/downloads/pdf/record_collector_jan_1985_no65.pdf

Despite not putting an album out between KTSA in 1980 and BB '85 in 1985, they were recording on and off during those years.

I'm curious if this is true and if it truly resides in the vaults. I can't say the circa 1981 band trying to cut a medley in the studio would be anywhere near the top of my list of priorities, but it's an interesting bit of trivia.

They were cutting other stuff, like *another* version of "My Solution" and "Shortenin' Bread" in 1980; I think "Sweetie" was cut in those years as well, "Stevie", etc. They did an early version of "California Calling" in 1982 around the time they cut the first version of "California Dreamin'."

It's pretty laughable that the label would scoff at something and then put out the AWFUL 1981 medley. I guess it was a little Top 20 shot in the arm for the band in 1981, but it's an awfully constructed medley with all sorts of weird things going on. Then they put it on the Japanese "Rarities" CD and added a bunch of extended versions of that medley that were even worse!

Considering they were still a performing outfit, I wonder if the dud attempt had more to do with song selection, sequencing etc?

I'd be curious to know if it was literally the *1981 lineup*, as that would have been extra blarggh compared to even the 1980 lineup, with Carl gone.

I think it may simply have had to do with the 1981 band sounding so little like the early-mid 60s band. Listen to them in 1981 when they started re-adding super old stuff to the setlist for the first time like "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfin'"; it doesn't sound so hot.

Ahhh yes 1981. No Carl of course. Thinking about the Queen Mary show and putting those vocals to a medley single was never going to work.

I still have nightmares about that Queen Mary performance. The nadir of the Beach Boys career in my opinion

Does anyone happen to have a link to that performance? I've never been able to find a good copy of the full show.

I don’t think I have ever read the words ‘good’ and ‘that performance’ in the same sentence before.  :lol

There's a first time for everything  :lol

The Queen Mary '81 show is very bad. But most of the Carl-less shows sounded like that. Other recordings from 1981 are just as bad. The Queen Mary show just happened to be nationally televised.

I *will* say that pretty recently someone posted some video from what appeared to be a re-airing of the Queen Mary show later in the year, probably from some European or other non-US airing, and as opposed to the live audio mix heard on the radio and on TV on July 5, 1981, this re-airing had been remixed and *does* sound somewhat better. I'd say it's a bit more "sympathetic" of a mix, mixing down some of the more wonky bits and bringing up the "okay" bits. It wasn't like a night/day difference, but I was surprised it was a relatively more "presentable" mix.

I'll never forget watching that performance in my living room and thinking OMG this is horrible. It's over without Carl Wilson.

On the Pebble Mill Show from late 1983 Mike mentioned Adrian Baker did a version which inspired the Boys.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8mMU9QVAbo

What I cant understand is how they let Brian sing "Dont worry baby". If you look on youtube you can find a boot from literally the night before and its just as bad....Its not like it was just that show...I know carl "mr. quality control" wilson was out of the band at the time but you don't have to be a genius to have someone say "jeez, brian, maybe we should have someone else do that song next show...especially one on national tv" or "jeez, maybe we should cut the song so we dont embarrass ourselves on national tv".  Or even brian himself should've said "jeez, my falsetto isnt so great these days i shouldnt do that one"....I mean, i can totally understand if a guitar is slightly out of tune and no one but carl notices...or someone flubs a line....but this was so much worse....

Agree. That performance was a train wreck. My assumption would be that the boys as a whole just didn't care and figure they could do whatever they wanted to do at that point and the crowd Applause like crazy. That being said what an embarrassment that was for  Brian Wilson to attempt to sing that song and to have no one really care

In terms of Brian singing those songs in 1981, my best guess is that they simply wanted/needed to fill the setlist out and had a few gaps in the setlist due to dropping a few Carl songs like "Darlin'" and most of the previous year's KTSA tracks.

But for the most part Brian simply took over Carl's leads, and indeed I can't explain why they needed Brian to croak out "Don't Worry Baby" in its original key instead of just picking some other old song. The 1981 tour was already the beginning of adding stuff they hadn't done in the set since the 60s like "Surfin'", "Surfin' Safari", and "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena." That tour also, as I recall, had them doing "Back in the USSR", and they also added "Sail on Sailor" (with Bobby F. singing) for the first time in a few years.

I wonder if this is really true. The whole article seems on point with their info, but I don't think I'd ever heard that they had ever tried to actually do a true medley recording on their own.

We'll have to wait for the 2031 copyright release to see :-D

I wonder if the versions of "Be True To Your School" and "Surfin USA"(I *think* it was SUSA) from the mimed 1981 cheer leading competition come from that session?

A mimed 1981 cheerleading competition?? Details please.
Just when I thought I knew of all the embarrassing parts of this band, they never fail to have more aces up their sleeves.

I forget the exact name of the program now. Part of it used to be on YouTube, but I can't find it now. It has Mike, Al, Bruce and Dennis. Each member introduces himself, along with where they come from. Dennis literally pushes Bruce out of frame(in a joking way) and rasps out " DENNIS FROM VENICE!". He looks pretty puffy. Then the group mimes to "Be Truce To Your School". Dennis "accidentally" sends a drum stick flying at Mike(it hits his leg).

Be True to Your School from that performance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJNlB47QQyg

"DENNIS - FROM VENICE"  :-D

That performance doesn't sound too bad actually.

I thought Dennis is looking pretty good. Hard to believe what happened to his appearance in the last year of his life just two years after this was taken

He looks okay, but his voice is gone.  :(

Agree. Don't know of the loss of voice was mainly attributable to the drugs, alcohol, or punch in the throat. Likely all of this things. So very sad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8mMU9QVAbo