The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sorry if this has been discussed. I didn't see it or forgot about it.

I was just reading the booklet to "LDC/All summer long" and was wondering if there is any chance that the mistakes in those booklets will ever get corrected for new editions of the two-fers (of course I'd like even better if all albums were released individually). There is stuff like for "Carl's big chance" where the booklet says that Carl is playing on that with studio musicians which of course is not true, it's the boys themselves, except maybe for the saxophones. Unfortunately most people in the outside Beach Boys world think that after "Surfin' USA" the wrecking crew was playing on all BBs records because the boys couldn't do it, and to have such things written in the booklets only hardens that opinion. So any chance that something will happen ? Maybe all the albums will get a new treatment for the anniversary ?
Someone oughta write a book about the Beach Boys' instrumental role of their records. Maybe along the lines of C-Man's great website

Some great points, Rocker.

Could you be so kind as to point me in the direction of C-Man's web site?  Thanks!

Where'd you get release information on new editions of the two-fers?

I would rather have mono/stereo releases with singles/b-sides and unreleased stuff instead of re-releasing the twofers

In the two fer liner notes, Brian is quoted as saying something like "We got the guitars to sound just like we wanted them to" when they're talking about "I Can Hear Music", which is credited as a Carl production, and supposedly Brian had nothing to do with it.  So either Brian's lying, or the Beach Boys were lying back in the day. 

Or Brian knows what was done and is simply describing it, as he remembers...

C-mans website - http://beachboysarchives.com/ (http://beachboysarchives.com/)

Nice idea, pretty ambitious. I'd like to see that realized, but would it be viable commercially? Joe Public is satisfied with the annual summer hits compilation. Your plan would be attractive to us here, and people who resemble us (hopefully there are not that many, we must cultivate our obsessions and others must bake our daily bread and remind us of the beauty of boring normality from time to time).

Man they could do double CD's and triple vinyl sets on almost any Beach Boys album through 1980 and they would sell. The 2-fers kind of rob the albums of their own identity and the bare bones issues do nobody any favors either.

I agree that the 2-fers detract from the individuality of each album, but they're hardly bare bones issues – you get two albums for the price of one, after all, with a smattering of bonus tracks in the case of the Capitol era.

I know what you're getting at, but the 2-fers are bloody good value.

Doubt they'll re-issue the 2-fers again though given that they've been issued twice.

I'd expect an anniversary box set bringing them all together as, erm, 1-fers, with bonus tracks & discs, sometime next year, when Alan and Mark have recovered from SMiLE.

Good call, John. As it is, I am happy with the two-fers. And I stick with my opinion that putting out single-album CDs with bonus stuff would be commercially risky (limited target audience, economic situation, and the horrible decline in good taste with today's youngsters).

IIRC the saxophone sound is actually a droning accordion, possibly played by Brian.

No, it was just a thought. there's nothing planed as far as I know. Sorry if my post was misleading.


@heysaboda: As you probably saw Paulos has posted the link. It's a great website. Take a look at it.




Well, I'd never heard about that. That's really interesting to me. Anyone can shed some more light on it ?

YES!!! Me too!

No, something more sinistar is afoot.  Here's the actual quote, from the Brian credited Liner notes....

"I wanted the instrumental track of “I Can Hear Music” to be smooth and subliminal. I used acoustic guitars. Carl wailed on the lead. His voice was gettin’ established fast in the group. "

Just remember, that liner note essay was written by a "Landified" Brian.

I was talking about both issues of the 70's CD's and the 1994 Capitol Cd's They had no bonus cuts. The 1994 ones were cool to have on vinyl (rare as hell now and the best way to hear Stack O Tracks on wax) but even then I felt a little ripped that we didn't get the bonus cuts (except on Pet Sounds which makes that vinyl one really rare too).

Just remember, those liner note intros weren't written by Brian at all.  ::)

Right-in fact some of them have quotes from old Brian interviews-like where he discusses the Pet Sounds album and how he had Dennis sing a special way-this is from a 1966 interview. When he says Pet Sounds is the best album but Friends is his favorite-because he can listen to it any time, etc-that is from the 1970 Radio Pacifica interview, etc

Or nobody lied and whoever typed those liner notes just got it wrong.

*Raises eyebrow*

I'll qualify: whoever wrote those intros doubtless asked Brian a few questions, salted his responses with a few archive interview comments and then re-wrote it in pretty fair Brianspeak. And evidently, whoever it was didn't know that Brian took no part whasoever in the recording of "ICHM".

The question needs to be asked, I suppose: How did that make it past the initial editing stage if the folks involved in the projects knew it was false?

It's the same issue I had with things like the Mojo Smile deal, where certain statements are simply wrong - not opinion, not interpretation - but factually wrong. Mojo is a third-party article, however. The Capitol two-fer liner notes were "official".

What gives?

Good call. These things never cease to surprise (and irritate) me. The two-fers certainly were no budget job (although their price is low). They were intended as a prestigious and authentic re-release of the BBs back catalogue, with the contractual restrictions valid at the time (I am talking 1991 here). Therefore, one may expect fault-free and authoritative notes to come with them.
I am certain that on this board alone there are a dozen or so folks, if not more, who could have done a sterling job there, and probably would have done the copy-editing for free, had they not been the first authors.

But no. Fate has it (as it had in the MOJO material) that for one reason or another, mistakes were allowed to creep in and persist.

I'm just saying it.  No cutesy rolling eyes smileys needed... the topic is "mistakes in two-fer booklets".  In THAT two-fer booklet, to the AVERAGE fan, Brian says he produced the song, and the credits to the song say Carl produced it.  That's a mistake.  I'm not a in the know, rub it in your face AGD'er, I'm just saying if you read the book Brian's lying, or the credits are lying.   ::) ??? 8) :o :( >:( >:( ;D :-D :) :P :-[ :-X :-\ :'( >:D ^-^ :afro :3d :angel: :police: :lol :smokin :hat ;) :p 8)

sometimes the answer is a simple..oops..people are human. i pointed out a couple of mistakes in the good vibrations box set book to david leaf (chart positions) and his reply was a simple.."s h i t".  and yes, it does happen...  :)

Mistakes do happen, obviously. It's amazing how many mistakes are found in various box sets, reissues, etc. No one is perfect. However, it makes one wonder about the machinery behind the scenes that has situations where fans catch these mistakes instantly upon the release of these sets yet groups of editors, managers, lawyers, historians, etc who are actually paid to do this sort of thing don't catch them in the early stages of the project and correct them.

I could see it with a newspaper, on a very tight schedule where perhaps one copy editor and maybe even the editor-in-chief *might* catch the obvious errors. But considering any historical reissue project or box set release with blatant factual errors (not typos or grammar issues), I'd think the standards should be higher with all the stages of the process. Not that it really matters at all, I'm just commenting on it.

David's funny like that: when Made In USA came out I questioned his stating that MIU came out in 1977. He looked at me as if I was an idiot and said "because it did ?"  So I showed him the sleeve. "Sh*t".

The very end of the o/d session bears this out. By the way, the guys really groove on "Memphis Beach" (as it was then slated), during the sessions. Carl and Al are on guitar and bass respectively, plugged directly into the board, while Dennis, on drums, and Brian, on piano, are out in the studio with Brian counting off. The lead guitar was o/dubbed by Carl as was the accordion, possibly by Brian, possibly someone else. There's also a tambourine being played live (i.e. not o/dubbed). Not sure if it's placed on the high-hat of Dennis's kit (was that usual practice?) or it's being played by an unidentified person (Hal, Mike, Ron Swallow, Terry..?)

I don't have it to hand but I swear that the booklet for 15 Big Ones/Love You says that Mona was written as a collaboration with Phil Spector.

Thank you for the infos ! The band sounds really good and tight on that track. That's why I believed the things written in the booklet until I heard some parts of the sessions were Brian clearly was talking form the studio floor and Dennis was being complimented by Chuck Britz (?). In fact it is this which gave me the idea to this thread.





It seems that usually the company doesn't give a damn. You always can find even wrong takes (!) of songs on Presley boxsets (or even simple CDs). On the other hand, the Beach Boys aren't dead and Carl was still alive in 1990. We know that Mike wanted to write an essay which caused the Pet Sounds Box to being released later than planned.

What is even more interesting is that "Memphis Beach" or "Carl's Big Chance" is not an anomaly by any means. Most of the All Summer Long LP...probably 90% or more is the Beach Boys on the instruments, other than sax and piccolo etc... The guitars are Carl, the drums are usually Dennis, the bass is usually Al, and the piano or organ is usually Brian. There are maybe two or two and a half exceptions. One thing that always kills me about those two-fer notes is where Leaf points out that the "demo" for "Dance Dance Dance" sounds different because it features the Beach Boys on instruments, as if they were all replaced on the record, but the record features Carl and Al on guitar, Dennis on drums, and Brian on bass with some session players adding percussion and augmentation on bass/guitar. The core Beach Boys are the band on that great record, and so many more great records that too many people assume are not them. The two-fer liner notes really perpetuated that myth and it sucks. Also Peter Buck crediting Brian as lead vocalist on "Mona" when its Dennis, and as stated here Brian taking credit for "I Can Hear Music" when he wasn't on it, and a bunch more ugly errors. Grumble.

It's rude to swear, especially when you're wrong about it.  ;D

Lyric mention PS - that's all.

The Beach Boy's epic TAMI show appearance definitely proved that the band played on the studio version because they knew the song well and made it rock to new heights. That show was Dennis Wilson's finest hour on the drum kit.

May god bless the men behind the upcoming smile booklet  :lol

They are gonna need it

:)

 :lol

See, that's where I wanted to get with my first posting. It sucks, when you always hear (even in Beach Boys fandom) that they more or less stopped playing on their records after Surfin' USA. That myth is so widespreaded that you also read this in all music magazines. That's why I think there should be a major book release (or something to that effect) about the role the boys played on their records instrumentally and vocally. Maybe even the kind of instruments they used. As mentioned, C-man's site is a great way to start.

Would you happen to know any author who has an interest in the Beach Boys and maybe already has written two or three books about them ?

With a big assist from C-man we delve fairly deeply into this subject matter circa 1963 - 1965 in my upcoming book...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0879309873/ref=pe_143810_20758230_snp_dp

I was hoping for that ! Thanks for the heads up. Bring on september !