Dennis tracks from POB/Bambu period not on the POB reissue...?

[Jason]

In browsing Dan Addington's excellent (albeit a bit dated) Dennis site, the music page caught my eye particularly. I had not seen the page in a while, and the speculation over many of the "new" songs on the reissue makes me wonder.

Here is a list of the songs that are or might be from Dennis' Caribou period, roughly 1975 (his signing year) to 1979, not on the reissue.

Our Love Remains (1975)
Grateful Are We For Little Children (1975)
Mona Kanau (1975 - possibly a re-recorded version with the lyrics)
Marble Sittin' at the Kitchen Table (1975)
Don't Want Much, Just a Country or Two, Maybe a Planet Before It's Through (1975)
Helen Keller (1975)
Slow Blues (1975)
Barnyard Blues (1975)
Life Symphony (1976)
Flowers Come in the Spring (1976)
10,000 Years (1976, 1977)
End of the Show (1977 - second version)
I Didn't Mean to Make You Cry (1977)
I Don't Know (1977)
Takin' Off (1977)
Thoughts of a Girl (1977)
Rock 'n' Roll (1977)
Here Comes The Sun (1977)
Oh Darling (1977)
Fever (1977)
Crying (1977)
Beautiful Play (1977)
My Love's Comin' Down (1977)
Down in Mexico (1977)
My Love Lives On (1977)
Something New (1977)
Merry Christmas (1977)
Something New (1978 – second version)
Let Me Out Of Here (1978)
I Gotta Get Out of Her Seat (1978)
Shu-ru Bop (1978)
La Plena de Amor (1978)
All Alone (1979 – second version)

The first six songs listed and Life Symphony are Dennis/Steve Kalinich songs. Some work was done on these tracks, and Steve Kalinich mentioned a rough backing track for Life Symphony which Dennis never finished. AGD mentions that Grateful Are We For Little Children is the origin of a riff used by Brian in Saturday Morning In The City. Mona Kanau existed back in 1968 as a backing track. If the lyrics were done in ’68 or ’75, I don’t know.

Slow Blues is on a tape with Holy Man.

Barnyard Blues was on a tape with an early track of Angel Come Home and Everyone’s In Love With You; perhaps this was a Beach Boys recording.

Flowers Come In The Spring is like Only With You on the reissue – 1976 Dennis doing an older song he wrote.

10,000 Years is a Dennis/Mike Love song, one of Dennis’ submissions for 15 Big Ones. A backing track is circulating on bootlegs, but I am unsure if this is the Beach Boys version, since apparently Dennis cut another two versions during 1977. The circulating track most likely is a Dennis recording, since it has almost no similarities to anything on 15 Big Ones.

Second version of End of the Show….who knows?

I Didn’t Mean To Make You Cry….again, who knows…unless it’s on the reissue under a different title. Another title going around for this song is “Worry”.

I Don’t Know MIGHT be the same as My Love’s Comin’ Down, which recently began going around. Again, it must just be Dennis putting a name on a tape.

Takin’ Off…who knows?

Thoughts Of A Girl…this one seems like it could be the “Piano Variations…” on the reissue.

Rock ‘n Roll….who knows? Brad Elliott thinks it might be What’s Wrong or Friday Night.

Here Comes The Sun….apparently done for the Sgt. Pepper film soundtrack.

Oh Darling….who knows?

Fever….who knows?

Crying….who knows?

Beautiful Play….who knows?

Down In Mexico….maybe it’s Mexico under a different name, but apparently documentation for this title exists.

My Love Lives On….hmmm, similar title to My Love’s Comin’ Down, which is part of Love Remember Me. Maybe this is Love Remember Me.

Something New….who knows?

Merry Christmas…who knows?

Let Me Out Of Here….who knows?

I Gotta Get Out Of Her Seat…who knows?

Shu-ru Bop and La Plena de Amor are both Carli Munoz recordings, for some reason they’re on Bambu tapes.

All Alone’s second version is (I think) on boots, if we’re talking an electric piano version that’s going around on many Dennis compilations.

Do these tracks exist on tape, or are they lost? If they do exist are they being held for possibly another release?

[Roger Ryan]

"Beautiful Play" became "Moonshine" on POB, I'm pretty certain.

[Alan Boyd]

I Don't Know + My Love's Coming Down = Love Remember Me on the new album

[Jon Stebbins]

Some of this stuff listed is on the new set, its just that the titles vary or one segment joins with something else...Crying and Taking Off are the same track, which is also the same progression as Piano Variations on the upcoming set. I Don't Know and My Loves Comin' Down are elements of Love Remember Me. Down in Mexico is Mexico. I'm not familiar with the Kalinich stuff other than talking to him about it, whether tapes exist I'm not sure...but a lot of the other things on this list exist on tape in one form or another. And many of them are things that are not in a releasable form IMO. The great thing about the POB/Bambu set is it doesn't sound like a collection of extras and outtakes...its all new release quality...complete sounding tracks. There are still some things of a similar quality that will see the light of day in the future. There is a big production version of Taking Off that didn't make the package and I think that is release worthy for sure. But some things like Here Comes The Sun with a Karen lead vocal are just terrible, Barnyard Blues is Dennis and Carl but IMO it is weak, some of these titles are just bare piano tracks with no production or vocals, a couple are just POB early versions of things that improved greatly by release time...a couple are Carli Munoz only tracks. There are still some great things in the vault, but i'm not seeing too many of them on this list. I see that Alan Boyd has weighed in while I was writing this...he probably has the deepest perspective on what's around, what's good and what's not good. But in general there are some worthy alternate versions and alternate mixes and a few unreleased tracks that are pretty good...but I'd say the best stuff is on the POB/Bambu release.

[Don't Back Down]

is "Fever" the jazz tune ("never knew how much I loved you, never knew how much I cared?") or something Dennis wrote?

[Aegir]

If there's a recording of Dennis singing that Fever I'll crap my pants.

[Andrew G. Doe]

According to my info, it's a DW composition.

[Don't Back Down]

neat, thanks Andrew. interesting

[Jason]

Regarding Time For Bed....Stebbins mentioned that this track went around, without vocals as "New Orleans".

Apparently two versions of this track go around, one with a rollicking piano, the other is more subdued, with more fuzz guitars. Is one of these the Beach Boys' version from '78?

[c-man]

Regarding Time For Bed....Stebbins mentioned that this track went around, without vocals as "New Orleans".

Apparently two versions of this track go around, one with a rollicking piano, the other is more subdued, with more fuzz guitars. Is one of these the Beach Boys' version from '78?

I think they're the same track...it's sped down the second time around on the bootleg, and the honky-tonk piano & horns are added.  I don't think there's a "Beach Boys" version...it was reported at one time that the song was worked on at a "Baby Blue" session in Miami, but there's a good chance the date was inverted (read as 8/29 instead of the correct 9/28).  According to the Addington/Elliott archives, there was an earlier version from '77 though.  Alan, if any of this is wrong, please jump in and set things straight...

[Alan Boyd]

Time For Bed was kinda redone for the LA sessions, but a sliver of San Miguel (the modulations at the end of the verses just before "lookin for the ladies of love") was incorporated, and it became part 2 of Mexico.... which is actually a trilogy... no vocals recorded... part 1 is on the new album, part 3 is a bluesy slowed down version of the part 2 progression....

Barnyard Blues has a rough vocal featuring Dennis, Carl.. and Ricky.  1974 or a little earlier, and there's a piano demo from 1971....

Fever is a pretty straightforward rocking basic track... lots of "fuzz."  No vocals....

Symphony from 1974 morphed into 10,000 Years (another trilogy) which later got reworked and became the album intro which later was the foundation for Friday Night....

Having gone through all of the surviving tapes, I find real and significant similarities between Dennis' working methods around this time and Brian's MO from Smile.  Recording fragments and feels "from the hip," restless searching for the right home for seemingly disconnected musical fragments, everything very much emanating from pure emotion and inspiration.... with Earle, Steve, John, Trish, Carly, Tom et al offering encouragement and support.... and Gregg and Jim providing much-needed focus (and just the right bit o' discipline) when it came time to merge these musical elements into a finished, cohesive whole.    No wonder these sessions had such a powerful impact on the folks who were fortunate enough to have been part of that incredible process.

I've also come to realize just how crucial the mere fact of Brother Studio was to Dennis' musical creativity - having that incredible facility and all of those talented people available whenever the mood hit allowed Dennis unprecedented freedom and flexibility (but was probably a little rough for studio clients who happened to have booked time when Dennis was in town).   Losing Brother must have had an utterly devastating effect on Dennis' creativity.

POB definitely captured a magical moment in time that went way beyond the album, you know? 

[Jason]

Alan, do you think there is a possibility of Dennis' solo material recorded under contract for Brother/Capitol being compiled into a release, and what hurdles would have to be jumped in order for this to come to fruition? I've heard some estimates that about a four-disc set of Dennis' unreleased stuff was possible, but since the POB reissue now, we'd scrape off about a disc or two.

I'm a huge fan of Dennis and I would hate to see his solo legacy remain solely on a few years on Caribou, as great and transcendent as those years were and are.

Stuff like Ecology....these tracks need to be heard at large.

[Alan Boyd]

You're absolutely right - this music certainly deserves to be heard....

But it really comes down to demand, the market, and money.... if the Caribou release does well, further releases of Dennis' music, including a lot of these unreleased gems, would probably follow.

[MBE]

Alan what does Dennis' voice sound like on Barnyard Blues? It is rough already, or still have some smoothness?

[joe_blow]

You're absolutely right - this music certainly deserves to be heard....

But it really comes down to demand, the market, and money.... if the Caribou release does well, further releases of Dennis' music, including a lot of these unreleased gems, would probably follow.

Alan, when you say if the Caribou release does well, what kind of sales figures do you think would be considered well? Would you consider Endless Harmony to have done well? I am not sure how well that package did.

[c-man]

Time For Bed was kinda redone for the LA sessions, but a sliver of San Miguel (the modulations at the end of the verses just before "lookin for the ladies of love") was incorporated, and it became part 2 of Mexico.... which is actually a trilogy... no vocals recorded... part 1 is on the new album, part 3 is a bluesy slowed down version of the part 2 progression....

OK, so I went back to the boot and listened, and I was wrong about the two versions of what's called "New Orleans" being the same track at different speeds and different overdubs.  "Version One" has the San Miguel-esque modulations Alan speaks of, but "Version Two" does not.  "Version Two" DOES seem to be slowed down (playing with tape speeds was a favorite in-studio trick of Dennis'), but it's a different track than "Version One".  So..."Version One" would have been Part Two of the "Mexico" trilogy, and "Version Two" would have been Part Three??  And the track for the "Time For Bed" that's on the upcoming release - when was that recorded ('77 or '78)?

[Jason]

Does Dennis' mix of POB exist on tape?

[doc smiley]

 


Just a thought (comment) that comes to mind awaiting for the legacy recordings....

I hope someone is planning on sending a copy to Christine McVie...

If there are more archive Dennis recordings in the future, she is one person who might be in possession of tapes that would help complete the puzzle of post-Bambu recordings...

I know that it's been quoted that she has said that the songs they were working on together were way too personal  to ever be released, but she may have tapes of older songs that Dennis was still working on that may be of a less personal nature ... and as the years have gone by her stance on everything may have changed....

with Dennis by these years (79+) no longer having Brother studios to work in, some of the tapes could be anywhere... including Christine....


just a thought


Doc Smiley

[punkinhead]

What about the studio that was built in hawaii? or was that just an idea?

[c-man]

What about the studio that was built in hawaii? or was that just an idea?

Idea and blueprints, but that's it.