Post Release MIC Track Discussion

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

The acapella Slip on through reveals a lot. Never realized there was that much going on in the verses.

Agreed!

Btw, is everyone still able to access the album? I've been logged out of the Netherlands IP address for almost a day - and I can still listen to the box set (minus "Back Home") on Spotify! I thought the service said it would crap out within an hour.

Not complaining. 

Yes and THANKS A LOT for the tip. There is a 100 mb limit on the free account but I just logged out of it and Spotify continued to work without it anyway..hopefully it will tomorrow as well

[zachrwolfe]

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[zachrwolfe]

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[Pretty Funky]

Complete ending meaning not a fade out?

Its a complete ending followed by Bruce, I think, saying "Goodnight". It does sound like a woman though.

I will have to listen to Rarities to compare.

The version on Rarities faded out before the song was over. I think the story was that the tape ran out. So I'm curios if this is the same concert performance, but just from an alternate(complete) source. Or was the tape running out story another one of those myths that everybody believed for all these years? Or is the recording on MIC from a completely different concert than the Rarities one?

Here's some info from Brad Elliott:

[During the vault search] we went up to the second floor [of the Capitol Records building] to this little room where some special project tapes were stashed, and the first thing we pulled out were all the tapes of four British concerts from December 1968 – two at the London Palladium and two a week later at Finsbury Park. It turned out the second Finsbury Park show was put out as the live concert album that everyone always thought was recorded at the Palladium in 1969. But here we are with three other shows, so I start comparing the track lineups and noticed that Aren't You Glad was on the Finsbury tapes, but there was a different song in its place on the Palladium tapes. The song was marked something like I Wanna Make Love To You.

[It turned out to] be All I Want to Do. When we played it, we found the version from the first show was really sad. Vocally, they miss all their cues. After one verse, Mike Love says, “This is a song we really don't know yet, so bear with us.” The second show was better and that's the one we used, but you'll notice that it fades out before the end of the song. The reason for that is because while they were recording it, they actually ran out of (eight-track) tape. We tried to splice in the ending of the other version, but it was just too sloppy.

Ok. After several listens I am sure this is the same track used and yes, on the MIC version there is now an ending with Bruce saying "Goodnight". Plus at 1.20 there is now some wicked guitar playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ztkM9DO0Ano

I'm not saying I'm right, but there is hollering and whistling from the crowd that just sound the same on both tracks for me.

[DMBeard_13]

http://www.examiner.com/article/the-beach-boys-are-made-for-california

[punkinhead]

The early version of Amusements Parks USA is epic.

Is it? I listened to it once, it seemed  little empty, much like an earlier cut to a song but I didn't hear a whole lot that made a huge difference from the album version.…I'm sure I'm wrong and maybe I didn't listen close enough for a just a casual listen…I'm sure headphones would make a world of difference.

[Wirestone]

Weird stuff going on in the 1995 sessions tracks. It does indeed sound like a different BW lead on You're Still a Mystery. Oddly enough, it may be doubled with the original vocal. Something peculiar going on, though, and the track suffers from the softer lead. Something about Brian's hard-edged original approach really works with the song.

As for Soul Searchin,' it sounds like there are some new layers of backing vocals in places, and someone is singing along with Carl in the bridge. Can't tell if it's Brian, Paley, or a really shoddy attempt at double tracking. I like the extra backing vox, but the bridge change is bizarre, given that it was Carl's last great recorded moment on a BB song ... but then, oh well.

The backing tracks, though, seem to be the same everyone is familiar with. And now everyone can play along and note that BW simply reused the Soul Searchin' backing track for GIOMH, along with some hamfisted Mertens overdubs.

[Jay]

Holy crap, the 1970 version of Back Home is quite a bit different than the version on Get The Boot. 

[Jim V.]

Weird stuff going on in the 1995 sessions tracks. It does indeed sound like a different BW lead on You're Still a Mystery. Oddly enough, it may be doubled with the original vocal. Something peculiar going on, though, and the track suffers from the softer lead. Something about Brian's hard-edged original approach really works with the song.

As for Soul Searchin,' it sounds like there are some new layers of backing vocals in places, and someone is singing along with Carl in the bridge. Can't tell if it's Brian, Paley, or a really shoddy attempt at double tracking. I like the extra backing vox, but the bridge change is bizarre, given that it was Carl's last great recorded moment on a BB song ... but then, oh well.

The backing tracks, though, seem to be the same everyone is familiar with. And now everyone can play along and note that BW simply reused the Soul Searchin' backing track for GIOMH, along with some hamfisted Mertens overdubs.

I haven't listened to either song yet, but do you think it's possible that both songs - or at least "You're Still A Mystery" was brought out of the vaults during the TWGMTR? After I get the set and hear Brian's vocal I'll probably be able to have a better idea. But honestly this seems like the only reason why there'd newly added or different stuff. Unless of course maybe Brian did a new vocal since the end of C50.

[Jay]

Brian's vocal on YSAM sound's totally re-done, and autotuned to hell and back, like Al on From There To Back Again. The high parts in the chorus("It's happening again", etc) are vintage 1995 though. The whole track is quite a bit slower. I'd bet that this and Soul Searchin' were brought out from the vault during the making of TWGMTR. If you think about it, it makes sense considering the fact that they would have a track with Carl being included.

[MBE]

Holy crap, the 1970 version of Back Home is quite a bit different than the version on Get The Boot. 

How?

[Amazing Larry]

The Get The Boot version sounds a lot more stripped down.

[Bedroom Tapes]

I love Brian's lounge singer type delivery on the CF demo!  I'm almost expecting some light clapping by the end of it.  So quirky and out there, quite different than the average Brian demo.

[Jay]

Holy crap, the 1970 version of Back Home is quite a bit different than the version on Get The Boot. 

How?

There are a few extra verses. There are also parts of a verse that sound like they were edited from the version that circulated on Get The Boot. There are also a couple different things in the music that I don't remember hearing on the boot version.

[MBE]

Cool I am sure it will be good.

[Jay]

The 1969(?) demo, the Get The Boot version, and the new MIC version all have quite a few differences in the lyrics. 

[Jim V.]

So if anybody knows, what is the deal with 2012 mix of "Sail Plane Song"? I haven't heard it yet, but I've heard there's some different stuff going on during some of it. Does anybody know if these were Brian's ideas or if this something that Alan Boyd or Mark Linett recently put together without any Brian input?  Like in the case of "We're Together Again" the 2012 mix makes sense as the version with the strings was known of beforehand, so that makes it a worthwhile addition to the catalogue. But if the changes to "Sail Plane Song" had no historical basis well then it's kind of a nonsensical addition.

[Quzi]

So if anybody knows, what is the deal with 2012 mix of "Sail Plane Song"? I haven't heard it yet, but I've heard there's some different stuff going on during some of it. Does anybody know if these were Brian's ideas or if this something that Alan Boyd or Mark Linett recently put together without any Brian input?  Like in the case of "We're Together Again" the 2012 mix makes sense as the version with the strings was known of beforehand, so that makes it a worthwhile addition to the catalogue. But if the changes to "Sail Plane Song" had no historical basis well that's it's kind of a nonsensical addition.

This mix makes heavy use of stereo panning for psychedelic effect so my immediate guess is that Brian wouldn't have had this type of vision for the song. That said, it was cut around the time Desper was brought in to try and bring stereo to the Beach Boys camp so there's perhaps a possibility that Brian was trying to cut a demo using stereo techniques to get familiar with this new process, even if he couldn't appreciate it himself.

[Micha]

I just posted it on another thread, but it really belongs here:

IMHO "Brian's Back" should have gotten voted off MIC by somebody. If there's one reason to hate Mike Love this is it!

[Nicko1234]

I just posted it on another thread, but it really belongs here:

IMHO "Brian's Back" should have gotten voted off MIC by somebody. If there's one reason to hate Mike Love this is it!

I don't hate this song but it has no place on the set. If they were going to choose a song from First Love then they should have chosen a genuinely unreleased one. But really they should have just chosen a Beach Boys song.

[Quzi]

I just posted it on another thread, but it really belongs here:

IMHO "Brian's Back" should have gotten voted off MIC by somebody. If there's one reason to hate Mike Love this is it!

I don't hate this song but it has no place on the set. If they were going to choose a song from First Love then they should have chosen a genuinely unreleased one. But really they should have just chosen a Beach Boys song.

Yeah, I agree. "Viggie" or "I Don't Wanna Know" would have been great.

Speaking of tracklist refinements, I was just thinking how good a "stripped back" mix of "We Three Kings of Orient Are" could have been. Less of that superfluous orchestration would really give those terrific vocals a chance to breathe. Anyone know if it could be done? Would have been a really nice way to offset disc one's lack of unique material.

[Pretty Funky]

Brian's vocal on YSAM sound's totally re-done, and autotuned to hell and back, like Al on From There To Back Again. The high parts in the chorus("It's happening again", etc) are vintage 1995 though. The whole track is quite a bit slower. I'd bet that this and Soul Searchin' were brought out from the vault during the making of TWGMTR. If you think about it, it makes sense considering the fact that they would have a track with Carl being included.

Remember this shot of Brian back in May?




Just saying.

[Micha]

But really they should have just chosen a Beach Boys song.

This is the main reason for me too that I feel it shouldn't be on there, but it is a not that good song with really embarrassing lyrics.

[hypehat]

So I'm hearing a lot of these now.

The California Feelin' demo is so funny! Brian playing demented piano runs, singing really weird melodies, generally not giving a f***. He sounds like he really hates the song. As for his voice, it's hard to tell really - he's so not into giving a serious performance, but his falsetto sounds good. Good on them for releasing this, though, I would imagine that was a tough sell.

Dennis is my hero. My Love Lives On is so beautiful! Mona Kani, WIBNTLALALALALALA is of course a wondrous feat of human endeavour (just when his voice cracks on the I Know I Can Cry line...), Sound Of Free in good quality, the Be With Me demo is funny.

I would wager that the YSAM vocal is from the JT attempt at the tune. Maybe Brian didn't like his 1995 vocal - isn't he doing the falsetto on the boot, which would explain it's lower mixing here? Also, the track is a lot slower than the booted version.

Barnyard Blues is so freakin' good. It sounds so incredible I cannot believe they would be all like 'you know what guys, we haven't got anything, let's cover Chapel of Love instead'.

Rock & Roll Music - best mix of the tune. love the extra drums and falsetto vocal.

The banter at the start of There's No Other is hilarious. And it's my favourite Party! tune, so great to hear it like this.

If we're talking about wasted space, why is the Pom Pom Play Girl vocal outtake there?

Rare dissenting opinion - why in the name of God would you consent to the release of Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love? They sound awful on it.

Meant For You totally rules. Even though I in fact have never seen a pony run alongside its mother. Just totally cool to hear that harmony keep going on.

[bsten]

Can't wait to hear all of MIC... Mouth watering...

Wonder if they ever going to release the Coke sessions, or Daddy dear, great stuff!