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Hey everyone! It's been a long time since I posted here. I wanted to share my latest fanmix which is an attempt at a follow-up to The Beach Boys' Holland LP (aside from SMiLE, the other dear obsession of mine).

Mike Love, in a late '74 interview, talked about the unreleased new album:

"The band's new album is coming out in January (1975)(…) The album's a combination between Sunflower and Holland. It's got some of the feel that Holland had, but also sounds a bit like Sunflower in certain respects." (1974 interview with Harvey Kubernik)

This is the vibe I was going for with this mix. This LP is culled from the available '73 to '75 sessions (plus one '70 outtake). I wish that one day we'll be able to finally hear songs like "Just an Imitation", "Why Don't You Try Me?", "Earthquake Time", "Our Life Our Love Our Land", "Don't Let Me Go" and "Riding High on the Music"... 'until then, enjoy this "imaginary" LP! :)

https://youtu.be/3ePMKagxwVI

The Beach Boys - Caribou Ranch (1975)
Produced by The Beach Boys
Musical directors: Dennis Wilson and James William Guercio

Side A  (16:40)

1. Good Timin' (Brian Wilson/Carl Wilson) (2:10)
- My own mix of both the '74 and '78 version.

2. The River Song (Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson) (4:02)
- My own mix of both the '74 version with bits of the POB version.

3. Shortenin' Bread (arr. by Brian Wilson) (2:50)
- The great soniclovenoize's remix from his Adult/Child mix. Track was started in '73 and finished in '77.

4. Back Home (Brian Wilson/Al Jardine/Bob Norberg) (2:22)
- MIC Box version. A Sunflower-era outtake that fits the bill for the "Sunflower meets Holland" vibe I was going for and leads well into…

5. Barnyard Blues (Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson) (2:33)
- MIC Box version

6. Rollin' Up To Heaven (Brian Wilson) (2:44)
- My own remix from a bootleg edit.


Side B  (17:40)

7. It's OK (Brian Wilson/Mike Love) (2:11)
- MIC Box version. Love that new intro that starts side B with a punch!

8. Rainbows (Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson/Stephen Kalinich) (2:56)
- The longer fade version from CD re-issue.

9. Had To Phone Ya (Brian Wilson/Mike Love/Diane Rovell) (2:37)
- Scott G's great remix of the song

10. My Love Lives On (Dennis Wilson/Stephen Kalinich) (2:33)
- MIC Box version

11. California Feelin' (Brian Wilson/Stephen Kalinich) (2:55)
- My own mix of both the '78 version with bits of the Brian demo from '74.

12. Holy Man (Dennis Wilson/Carl Wilson/Gregg Jakobson/Hawkins) (4:25)
- From the Legacy 2CD set. In an alternate universe somewhere, Carl would have sung this one (the melody sung by Hawkins is actually based on Carl's scratch vocal from '74)

This is great! Shortening Bread really works great in this context. Thanks for making it!

FYI, all the timestamps in the YouTube clip are incorrect. Might be worth updating em'.

Wonderful!  Would love a flac version of this.

Thanks for sharing, joe!  :hat

This, if released in 1975, would have been a G'Odd-send.  Even as is it is it's so much better than 15 'big' Ones ever was...and there wouldn't have been that 3 year gap which was the 2nd or 3rd last thing that the Beach Boys needed up 'til some FOOL decided to release 'Rock 'n' Roll Music' instead of 'It's OK' as the summer of '76 single of choice.  To hand pick most of the best of 15 B.O. and toss it on to Caribou Ranch is totally sensible because most of '15'...is just filler.  Back Home is far superior here.  2 quibbles really...and both with the last 2 songs...California Feelin' contains some horribly off-putting and entirely out of tune bits and pieces.  I don't think I've ever heard anything that 'nails on a blackboard'-like from the Boys...on anything officially released...ever.  Much of it is great...but there are 3 or 4 parts where I just cringed.  O.K.  O.K.  I get what this is...I'm just sayin'.  And it would have been extra specially nice if Holy Man had actually been finished in a timely fashion but realities entered into the fray, Carl didn't step up to record the 'buff and polish' performance necessary in lieu of a certain wife having a certain negative effect on the whole enchilada and, of course, this version wasn't going to be available for something in the general vicinity of 1/4 of a century.

So one works with what one has...and this is brilliant...WELL WORTH taking the time to listen to it.  And i will again.  [and again...etc.]

Thank you Joe.

Thanks for all the kind comments!

I fixed the timestamps on YT.  :3d

For a FLAC version, PM please!

Lee, im' sorry you didn't like my California Feelin' remix, I tried my best to mix the '74 demo bits with the '78 version. You could either switch the track with the official '74 demo or '78 remix version from the MIC box (I do prefer the Carl-sung version myself, even if the Brian demo is a really interesting artifact and one of his last vocal with his "classic voice"). I do wish that someday, on a mega deluxe Dennis boxset, we'll hear the Carl scratch vocal for Holy Man...

Cheers!

To call it a scratch vocal is generous. It's literally a few seconds of humming.

It's almost unbelievable how much great material the "Boys' left lying on the cutting room floor, in the various and sundry waste baskets, gathering dust on the plentiful shelves or just laying there, oxidizing on old reel to reel tapes...especially when compared to what was 'officially' released post 1974.  Sometimes full throttle was simply displaced with 1/2-baked and far less significant measures.  So?  They sometimes were guilty of merely being DUHHHHHHHHH Beach Boys.  :'(

I'm in awe of this, many many thanks 😊
Will certainly share the link to similar minded sad bastards like me (who sadly don't even frequent this board  :-\)

We really need a release of the 1973-1975 material. Besides the Smile-era it might be the most interesting and certainly most pivotal period of their maturing career.

Absolutely! A few weeks ago, I wrote to Rhino Handmade to suggest such a project. Everyone who loves this era of recordings should do the same! Maybe around 2023-2025 we will finally get such a release...

I scoured the internet to find info on this particular era and really not much was written about it. I think it could really make a nice article (ESQ? maybe). Maybe with some input from Stephen Kalinich...has anyone ever contacted him on Facebook and asked about this period? I bet he could have some nice insight on unreleased tracks like "You're Riding High On The Music", "Just an Imitation", etc.

Good Timin and Back Home have always been criminally too short.  I probably would have started this album with River Song, then Good Timin'.  But in spite of a great idea, half of this material is still pretty weak and nothing special to me.  Shortenin' Bread, Barnyard Blues and Rollin' Up To Heaven are all meh which makes this too inconsistent to enjoy for me.  But thank you for sharing your project.

I completely disagree with you on this, as I think that Shortenin' Bread, Barnyard Blues and Rollin' Up To Heaven are all great tracks to me! Oh well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder... ;)

The River Song is EPIC!!!

Really enjoy this mix - it has a great vibe.  I've always had a soft spot for Rollin' Up to Heaven - it's got a great fun silly groove although it's not an easy song to sing in public or around your kids.  

Do you think they could have gotten away with releasing such a tune back in the day and explained it's just a joke?  If so, the revisionists would have certainly had a field day years later, not to mention explaining this tune within this #MeToo era.  

I can't imagine anyone thinking, then or now, that "Rollin' Up to Heaven" would be a justifiable album track, even with different "lyrics." Yes, I know one could argue they did something generally kind of similar with "Ding Dang", but that track on "Love You" is so short that it almost feels more like a "link track" than a "proper" song.

I guess I could envision like a 30-second "Rollin'...." as a link track. Not that I'd advocate for it, but that seems like the only plausible form I could see that track getting a contemporary 70s release on a "new" album.

I obviously don't see the track as anywhere near album-worthy. It's obviously interesting in a Beach Boys-themed archeological dig sort of way. But I've never pulled out "Rollin' Up To Heaven" and thought "Wow, that's a good *song*." 

Got excited just by reading the titles, particularly by "Holy Man" at the end. :)

Shortenin Bread is the type of song that might deserve to be on a rarities album but never on an album of new material.  It's awful.

Shortnin' Bread is, on the contrary, epically great!  Anyone who thinks otherwise is just, um, just... wrong.

Both Shortenin' Bread and Rolling Up to Heaven are great examples of the BB genius - take a simple melody and add layers of vocals to make it something different.  Add in the early 70s looseness of the band and these are just great fun tunes.

Love that version of Had To Phone Ya - the horn in the beginning has a SMiLE feel to it - where is that version from?

"Shortenin' Bread" is obviously an important part of BB history and of Brian and the band's historical narrative. Same could be said for other similar stuff, including even "Rollin' Up to Heaven."

That doesn't mean they should have ever been on albums. First of all, "Shortenin' Bread" was a more fully-formed song, whereas "Rollin' Up to Heaven" sounds more like a tedious well-formed jam with nonsense "lyrics." I've never understood why anybody thinks anything about the song would have made it worthy of release on a studio album in the 70s. "Hee-hee, it kinda sounds like they Beach Boys are singing "tit"!" Really?

Don't get me wrong, dump all of this and everything like it ("Drip Drop", etc.) on an archival collection. I'll eat it up all day. But the band would have been rightly taken to task by critics and fans for putting "Rollin' Up to Heaven" on album in 1975 or at any other time.

Actually guys, "Rollin' Up To Heaven" was finished and released as a single in 1974, complete with a classic Brian Wilson double tracked falsetto lead! Am I the only one who knows this?

https://soundcloud.com/smilead/rollin-up-to-heaven-1974-mono-single-mix

Why is Shortenin Bread an important part of Beach Boys' history?  It was recorded during a downturn for the group, and helped to drag down the L.A. Light album.

"Important part of the band's history" as in *everything* that was released and occurred is important, and certainly "Shortenin' Bread" has some extra infamy involved due to Brian's obsession with it and its variants.

"Important" doesn't mean good.

The "Here Comes the Night" disco track is important to understanding their history too. Even "Looking Back With Love."

Some bits are obviously more "footnote" status than others. But "Shortenin' Bread" is of more import to the history/story than, say, "Chasin' the Sky" or something, even if I like listening to the latter much more.

Man, this mix COOKS! I've always been impressed by your stuff. Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for listening! Been a while, but reading this thread inspired me to have a little editing fun.

Maybe it could've worked as a solid link track on a '74 album. Did my best to rechannel it, because I think having the backing vocals buried makes it a bit more of an easy sell. Also the doubled lead!

I also highly doubt Rollin' Up To Heaven would make any potential cut. Very little is known about the non-cover recordings made during this period. Only a handful made it on 15BO, and of those maybe 2 are actually good?

If "Barnyard Blues" was the best they could retrieve from in the vault, then I'm not crossing my fingers for some lost masterpiece ;D
Material of this period is purely of niche fan interest in any case.

Sheesh people. Can't you ever get satisfied with anything? ::)
Fine. Just replace "Rollin' Up To Heaven" with "Pacific Ocean Blue" if you "don't think the Beach Boys would have released such and such". Tired of all this hating. It's just a fun mix for all to enjoy.

I don't see any "hating" or any problem at all with anything in this thread. You posited a fantasy/fan track lineup based on a contemporary quote from Mike about an album that I guess could have but never did materialize. To me, this invites discussion as to the plausibility of whether any given track could have ever been put on a BB album. Even given the shaky quality of some BB albums from the late era, I don't think "Rollin' Up to Heaven" in its currently available iteration (or any other potential iteration that can be envisioned) would have ever made it onto a BB album, either the one Mike describes in that interview or any other. There's nothing wrong with discussing the quality of the songs on your tracklisting or the plausibility of such a lineup or any given individual song actually seeing a release back then.

Nobody's saying fan mixes and fantasy album tracklistings and all of that shouldn't be made. It's all good. But it's all worth discussing and picking apart as well. That's what the board is for.

the other night based on this discussion I went back and gave rolling...heaven some fresh listens and I get a bit of a kick out of it.  It is NOT BAD, trite if fun brian Wilson style, and great album filler material as may be needed IMO

Thanks for the collection shangaijoe - I've really enjoyed it: a nice album - mellow and quirky in the best BB tradition. Don't be discouraged...

Also that SMiLE A.D. mono mix of "Rollin' Up to Heaven" smokes! - thank you seltaeb!

I love that version of Good Timin. Sounds like something from the Sunflower era. I guess I must have never actually heard the 74 era recording of it. Always found the LA version a bit bland.

Hello all!

Sorry for my outburst last time I was here; I was going through a rough patch personally but now it's a-ok.

This is my revised 1975 LP mix (now called "California Feeling") and with a bonus imaginary LP from 1974 that would have been the last from the Rieley era (and one last LP with Blondie & Ricky). Enjoy!  

SWEET MOUNTAIN (1974) (38:30)
https://youtu.be/xVB0w8EGxm8
*Please note that this mix requires a stretch of imagination (many tracks without BB lead vocals). It is done in a similar mood to the So Tough/Holland-era and is more a fun compilation of outtakes like The Who's Odds & Sods or Led Zeppelin's Coda.

1. TM (Composer: Charles Lloyd)
2. HARD TIMES (Composer: Blondie Chaplin/Ricky Fataar)
3. OUT IN THE COUNTRY (Composer: Al Jardine/Brian Wilson/Don Goldberg)
4. SWEET AND BITTER (Composer: Mike Love/Don Goldberg)
5. CARRY ME HOME (Composer: Dennis Wilson)

6. WE GOT LOVE (Composer: Blondie Chaplin/Ricky Fataar/Mike Love)
7. AWAKE  (Composer: Brian Wilson/David Sandler)
8. ECOLOGY (Composer: Dennis Wilson)
9. IT'S A NEW DAY (Composer: Dennis Wilson, Daryl Dragon, & Stanley Shapiro)
10. SWEET MOUNTAIN (Composer: Brian Wilson/David Sandler)

**Thanks to Scott G for his great mixes!

CALIFORNIA FEELING (1975) (36:00)
https://youtu.be/NNdE6_Bc6O4

NEW STUFF:

- Switched "Rollin' Up To Heaven" with "Pacific Ocean Blue" remix (with 1975 backing track). RUTH is now the bonus hidden track at the end of the LP, courtesy of seltaeb1012002's great remix of the track.

- Changed California Feelin' mix by keeping the MIC box mix with the Carl-sung bootleg intro. Now with less snippets of the Brian '74 demo.

Great stuff, thanks!

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Hi Guys! Sorry to rebump my old thread, but I remade my imaginary 1975 LP mix with brand-new spanking remixes. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/labriel-olvrette/1975-california-feeling

The lineup goes like this:

Side A: Good Timing (Remix)/The River Song (Remix)/Shortening Bread (Soniclovenoize Remix)/Back Home (MIC mix)/Barnyard Blues (MIC mix)/Pacific Ocean Blues (Remix - In my mind, Mike would have the taken the lead on this)

Side B: It's OK (MIC mix)/Rainbows (Alternate mix - Carl would have sung this one)/Had To Phone Ya (Remix based on Scott G's version)/My Love Lives On (MIX mix)/California Feeling (Remix)/Holy Man (Would have loved to hear a full-on Carl lead on this…we'll do with the Taylor Hawkins version)

I wonder when they will stick Sweet and Bitter on a comp, it used to be available on You Tube, but was taken down.  It's a pretty good song.

What is that? Any information to share on that song?

It's a song that was recorded after Sunflower with Mike as the lead.  Mike wrote it with Don Goldberg.  It's about the highs and lows of a relationship with a woman, good lyrics and background vocals.

Sounds interesting

You can listen to it in shanghaijoe’s Sweet Mountain alternate album on YouTube, posted above.

BTW, regarding said Sweet Mountain album, “Awake” is credited solely to Floyd Tucker. Who this guy even was is still kinda up in the air, but the song definitely isn’t credited to Brian and David.

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Thank you very much it is appreciated

I appreciate your shedding light on this period (the major events of it being Caribou Ranch, 'Beachago' and California Music) of the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson.

PM'd you saying I'd be extremely appreciative of a FLAC version of your Caribou Ranch mixes Good Timin' and California Feelin', or all of them, if it ain't too much trouble  :)

Many thanks.

"Out in the Country" is credited to Brian and Goldberg? I thought Brian had nothing to do with that one. When was it recorded anyways?

.

If anyone is by some chance in possession of a FLAC copy of this good chap's mix of Good Timin', please coud you PM it to me? I desperately want to listen to a high quality copy of it, not use it for any other purposes, of course, and shanghaijoe doesn't appear to be a really active member. Would seriously appreciate this gorgeous track  :)

It would honestly mean a lot.