The Smiley Smile Message Board

Firstly.... Save For A Rainy Day - Why is it so lo-fi? Listening to it, and I understand it was recorded in a garage, but then Smiley Smile was recorded in a house. Was the entire thing recorded there, strings and all? Why are the tracks so muted and the vocals pretty clear?

Also, why are there two instrumental tracks for Yellow Balloon? I have The Yellow Balloon's album, and it seems their track for it is again different to both J&D versions. What's the deal?

My friend leant me a copy of Carnival of Sound (i've given it back now, didn't think to look at the liners!), and doing some digging round the net it turns out they don't sing on it? It just gives a stupendous list of people who have, with no order. Who does, and on what?

Also, for a second I thought he had recorded Only A Boy whilst he was suffering from brain damage, but it appears not. What was he thinking? In 1966!

And how good is Girl, You're Blowing My Mind?!

All the instrumental tracks for SFARD were mixed down to one mono track, and the vocals overdubbed on top in stereo, then mixed down again to mono. I think there were bouncedowns for overdubs as well on the instrumental tracks. What was left was a very primitive musical sound. A shame, as one can hear from the stereo backing track mixes on the Sundazed set that the instruments were well-recorded at the source.

Neither of those albums are very representative of Jan & Dean, and they appeared after the main songwriter and producer and singer was all but killed in a car accident.
To me, Dean's album (SFARD) is totally unique and, though I really love it, completely separate from anything he and Jan ever did. I think the record is a nice, personal little statement that turned out really amazing.

Carnival of Sound is Jan's first attempt at a comeback after his accident (I think he was working on it less than a year after his coma) and his ability to communicate verbally was extremely compromised, and for many complicated reasons he and Dean were on the outs, so Jan got guys like Ron Hicklin and Glen Campbell to sing the parts. The music was put together by Jan and Hal Blaine and maybe Don Altfeld so it really had that classic J&D sound (now with sitar!) but really lacks any emotion without either of the guys singing. Girl, You're Blowin' My Mind  is stone-classic though.

You say that neither of those records are representative of the Jan & Dean 'sound', but I don't think I LIKE the normal J&D thing. Too lightweight. The Little Old Lady From Pasadena makes me want to shoot myself. As does Surf City, Brian or no. And Dean's got a really bad sounding falsetto. And they seem so hollow and pandering. Like, what's famous today? Folk Music? Lets release an album called Folk & Roll with a song called Folk City on it. I mean, there's a reason pop music didn't take albums seriously until 1967. (although I'm listening to Folk & Roll right now. It's fluff, but it's not dreadful)

So it would make obvious sense that I like two of their records without a) that falsetto and b) with a better concept well implemented. Although it's weird, I was expecting Carnival Of Sound to be, whilst not Smile, a fairly cool selection of psych tunes. It's about half that. Then you have the jaw-dropping Only A Boy and then doo-wop covers? Does that make it more psychedelic? Or just a mess....?

Well, Dean's falsetto is rarely on any of the post '63 hits (that was either Vic from the Matadors or one of the Fantastic Baggys) so I wonder who's voice you don't like...Dean's falsetto is pretty lame, though(Barbara Ann anyone?).

I won't get into J&D's sound or musical ethic too much other than to say if you are trying to compare it to the BB you will always be disappointed. They were college guys who had some good contacts and made fun records that captured the feel of their world ('60's LA studio world) and then the main guy had his brains smashed in. Of course the story is more compelling then that, but unless you read a bio about them you are unlikely to change your mind.

Lastly, the early BB sound was a direct (and lame) attempt to do the J&D sound, and it wasn't until AFTER Jan and BW hung out that the BB records started sounding thought out. Jan was a great producer and really understood how to get what he wanted.

I'm with you here, for the most part. Most of the Jan and Dean stuff doesn't hold up to many repeated listens, although I do like it. I think my issue with it does mostly come down to Dean's voice, it's just not particularly good. However, I totally dig Carnival of Sound. Even the stuff like the doo-wop covers is still pretty enjoyable. Girl, You're Blowing My Mind is amazing. When I first got the Rhino release of the album a few years ago, I listened to that song in my car almost constantly.

The only song by J&D that I really like is "Gonna Hustle You" as released by the Legendary Masked Surfers -- that backing track is monstrous and I even think the singing is good for the kind of "excited, horny schoolboy" thing going on, haha. Too bad that version is impossible to find (and "The New Girl in School" is awful)!

Welllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll.................apparently Jan and Dean are highly underrated in these parts. Didn't use to be that way.

Truly amazed! This song has a great arrangement, great drums and great background vocals. It is probably my favorite J&D tune. It is so wonderful to know that my taste is so awful. ;) I like all three versions of this tune, but the 4th version by Dean and the LMS is my favorite go to ...Hustle You version.

I guess these younger fans are having a harder time with the J&D stuff. The only artists I listen to more than J&D are the BB and Nick Lowe. In fact, I think I got into J&D slightly before the BB in the early eighties, so they've always been great for me!

Same here, I thought J&D were boss way before I could deal with the Beach Boys.

I love "New Girl In School."  I never knew about the Jan and Dean version at first, I knew it as that catchy tune in the Monkees episode with Bobby Sherman.

Was their version of "Barbara Ann" ever released on one of their albums or as a single even? Or did it only find its way onto latter-day compilations?

It was on Golden Hits, though it was not really a greatest hits album. It was mostly them singing other people's hits.

Thanks a lot, Dr.! :)

An interesting note on "Save For A Rainy Day". Quite a lot of us Jan & Dean fans like this album, however on the numerous times I've spoken to Dean for interviews etc, he dismisses the album as "...just a collection of old songs", and he seems to have no love for it at all. I think it's a great album, but I guess it's because I'm a huge fan of Dean's work.

:) Mark

I love Jan and Dean, and their run of lps from Surf City through Batman is a great document of what an excellent producer Jan Berry was. The wrecking crew play on those albums, and they are wonderdul good time records. For their day, they are the equivalent of The Bamboo Trading Company album that was released this year.

Seeing as I consider it the best work they've done, it's particularly strange... I guess it was hardly borne out of ideal circumstances.

Also my post upthread was immense hyperbole, but essentially how I still feel about J&D - I've warmed to Carnival Of Sound (apart from the hysterical war song) but J&D are what ordinary folk think The Beach Boys sound like. Shallow surfin' fools. The devotion does baffle me, I have to admit.

When I first got SFARD back when it was first issued on cd, all of the reviews I read called it a psychedelic masterpiece, and basically J&D's version of Smile. So I was pretty excited to hear it. I mean, even the album cover was rather psychedelic.  ;D When I actually heard it, I HATED it. This wasn't psychedelic in any way, just badly recorded garage band sounding music. But then again, I was expecting some kind of "Jimi Hendrix meets Brian Wilson" masterpiece.  ;D Years later, I love it. Go figure.  ;D I think that the Save For A Rainy Day Theme is one of the greatest and most underrated instrumental songs ever recorded.

Mickey Jones from The First Edition played drums on SFARD. I am doing a book on them and during our interview we discussed the sessions. First Dean did indeed go on local TV to sing Like A Summer Rain. Mickey also spoke of singing some of the "Jan" bass parts on the album.

And James Burton played guitar IIRC

J&D are completely awesome and anyone who can't appreciate what they did should be forced to watch all the Scary Movie, etc movies Clockwork Orange style.

I just found these on youtube. First a two-part late interview with Jand&Dean:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFnrrzVawd4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftmbsffz0Dg


And - as it says - the last TV appearance before Jan's accident.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl4TAwggSKU

Archetypal J&D.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B6dJO8nAoYY

Elsewhere on YT, someone evidently unfamiliar with the Jan Berry sense of conceptual humor has actually dubbed the studio recording over this - in stereo no less. At 3:10, you find out what kind of vehicles were roaring out of the studio's visitors lot after this.