The Smiley Smile Message Board

I Just herd of this band, all i know is that they released a single in 1970, what was this band?

It was Dennis and Daryl Dragon, pretty much. Not really a "band" per se. The name was used for Dennis' first solo single in 1970, Sound of Free/Lady.

There was apparently a Dennis/Dragon album in a nascent stage of preparation, and some tasty tidbits from it lie fallow in the vaults. :'(

Which I have been banging on for them to release for several years now.

I want to hear Ecology. I've read that it's supposedly the Dennis equivalent of the best parts of Smile.

Agreed! Sound Of Free is definitely one of Dennis' top 5 songs for me but it could definitely use a remix/master. Also released digitally.

I don't think I've ever heard Sound Of Free.  :(

What is Ecology, and has anyone heard it? (paging J Stebbins ....)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xizNyCM97zA

I can imagine there being quite a bit of argument concerning which are the best bits of Smile.

Ecology is a track from Dennis' aborted 1972 solo album.

It was played at a Beach Boys convention several years ago; a fan who was there took notes about what he heard. He mentioned that Ecology was made up of fragments. The first fragment was the so-called "All of My Love" bit with Dennis' vocal overdubbed 350 times. The second fragment was an organ and piano "duet". These two fragments are booted. The rest of the track, however, is not.

it s better known under Quad Symphony ( Stephen Desper told about those 400 hundreds overdubs!). you can find some excerpts on bootlegs.

I Just herd Sound Of Free, Well i must say i am amazed  ;D,
This is by far the Best Dennis song i ever herd, So what other songs did Dennis and Daryl do, was this suppose to be an album? I Think Sound of Free could've been on Surf's Up

I've only got Lady on CD. Has Sound of Free made it to CD?

True dat!  I was at that convention in Oakland, California when Desper played it.

Googa -- not yet....and in fact, the "Lady" you have is probably a re-edited version....it's on one of those Capitol compilations, right? The original single version starts with Dennis singing over a drum machine, then everything else kicks in.

Thanks for th info. I was thinking it was a whole album of brilliant unbooted Dennis material!

This track sounds cool, I'll have to root around for the bits you mention.

Then I've got the original! On a comp All Back to Mine curated by Manic Street Preachers.

It's also on the Super Furry Animals curated 'Under The Influence' album (which also has Feel Flows).

Great to see Dennis' influence on modern bands :)

Well, Steve Desper contended that Dennis had "90% of it 90% done" but also that, apparently, a lot of Pacific Ocean Blue's material could be traced back to those sessions.

Dennis also liked working with Blondie and Ricky around this time, as well.

Sound Of Free is awesome!

Love all of Dennis' early solo work. "Lady" is one of the great, underrated songs. I still think there is room for a Dennis compilation with ALL of his music on there - Beach Boys-related, solo, unreleased.

Just to add to my message to buddhahat about Dennis' aborted 1972 solo album...

4th of July
All of My Love ("intro to Ecology") - Dennis times 350
Baby Baby
Barbara
Barnyard Blues - a piano demo apparently
Behold the Night
Cuddle Up
Ecology
Fallin' in Love (Lady) B-side of the Rumbo single
Follow Me to the Sea - a drum solo followed by the "finished" track
It's a New Day - Blondie on lead vocal, initially considered for Holland
I've Got a Friend - backing track only
Live Again - initially considered for Surf's Up
Make It Good
Old Movie - reworked as both Cuddle Up AND 4th of July
Sea Cruise - different from the 1976 recording from the 15 Big Ones period
Slow Song
Sound of Free - A-side of the Rumbo single
Untitled instrumental - sometimes called "Time" on bootlegs

These are titles recorded around the time of the aborted 1972 Poops/Hubba Hubba sessions, from 1970 until early 1972. Obviously, only the Rumbo single and Dennis' two songs on Carl and the Passions survived. Some (4th of July, It's a New Day, Live Again) were later given to the Beach Boys.

Andrew Doe's page with unreleased albums has a blurb about the Poops/Hubba Hubba album as well.

This is the year to see this material released.
If they'll don't release it this time, I think we have to forget about this.
Unless they do the right thing, make a deal with Rhino Handmade or Sundazed, and we'll have this.

Okay, that's the second time I saw someone say basically "this year or never." What would stop them from doing it later?

Mayans, of course.

The Dennis Wilson & Rumbo songs were released twice legitimately.

1. The EMI/Stateside single (in a few European countries but not the U.S.) in December, 1970.
2. Beach Boys Rarities, Capitol ST 26463 (vinyl LP) Australia, September, 1981.

The Rarities LP was withdrawn from the market not long after its release. EMI found out after the album came out that they no longer had the rights for the Dennis Wilson & Rumbo tracks, (which were never issued in Australia in the first place). The two Dennis/Dragon cuts for the LP were sourced from the vinyl single issued in Britain in 1970.

But the single was issued in New Zealand, so that counts, doesn't it?

Sure, if you want it to, Bgas.  You'd think if it was released in New Zealand that it would have been issued in Australia, huh?

The 'Ecology' doing the rounds a few years back isn't the true "Ecology". Fan edit of available sections.

I Herd a rumor Carl played Guitar on Sound of Free and there's a photo of Daryl and Carl in the studio performing this.

I live for the day when I see the title "DENNIS WILSON POOPS" on an album cover.

Unfortunately, that title makes a promise that the contents just will not deliver.

Funny, I don't think the absurdity of that album title has really been discussed around these parts. Could've been before my time though.

A goat joke!

For the youngsters on this thread:

"Poops" and "Hubba Hubba" were working titles (doubtfully serious ones) for Dennis Wilson's solo album, working at Brian's studio in the Spring of 1971 to 1972 with Daryl Dragon and Steve Desper.  *

Some song titles were:

It's a New Day 
Behold the Night 
Ecology
Baby Baby 
Wouldn't it Be Nice to Live Again 
Old Movie (later Cuddle Up)
Slow Song
Make It Good 
Barbara

* Courtesy Andrew G. Doe

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Sorry, thats the one I meant. Somehow I got the Furries confused with the Manics (that's me and modern bands).

I think I might be said fan. Even if not, my recollections might be of interest in this thread. My notes from August 15, 2003:

Intro – Ecology. 1971, Dennis solo track.

There are a number of sections to this piece, and more than anything other than "Rio Grande" or Smile itself, this music smacks of “grand-suite-itis.” Most of the pieces overlapped each other, begging the question of whether Dennis planned on editing them together in that sequence or if they just happened to end up on tape that way. Again, Mr. Desper stressed that the music of this time was a collection of works-in-progress, and Dennis was feeling his way through. But the title of the track certainly suggests a larger frame story.

The first section of “Intro – Ecology” is the “all of my love” choral section as heard by many before. It’s Dennis, double-, triple-, and kazilliontuple-tracked with himself so that it sounds like a huge choir. Then there’s a count-in to a different section. We hear water bubble sounds and exotic Moog sounds over a shimmery Eastern-flavored track. If you’re familiar with Pink Floyd’s Piper At The Gates Of Dawn, Richard Wright’s keyboard parts in particular, that will give you a feel for the mood and modality of this section. Dennis had laid down some backing vocals as well, and I can hear the exact melody in my head, a chant-like “run, run, river run / move the body.” This section was WAY COOL.

Then there’s another overlapping count-in and a new section begins. This one, in a faster tempo, is based on a piano playing arpeggiated chords VERY much like in the opening of "River Song." That section then segues into a final section that has made the rounds: I think it’s referred to as “Quad Symphony” or some such. This particular part features some organ trills played in a very fast baroque style.

It's funny that you mentioned Pink Floyd. I'm listening to one "piece" of music from Dennis from this period right now as I type this, labled only as "instrumental", that sounds quite a bit like Richard Wright's piano "intro" to Great Gig In The Sky. The piece that I speak of is maybe a little under two minutes, and is mostly piano with a little bit of drums and percussion near the ewnd

Does seem strange that they didn't. Who made those decisions anyway?

I dunno. I know the Boys were more popular over there at the time than in the U.S., but the U.S. shoulda gotten the nod. But I guess EMI/Stateside was the company/distributer that gave Dennis the contract, so.........

My understanding was that this single was kinduva 'feeler' to see how sales would be for a possible upcoming solo album.

The facts are, Brother and Capitol apparently don't see much of a point monetarily to put out previously unreleased stuff. They just don't think the market is there for this stuff I guess. So I figure that unless they put the cream of the crop on the upcoming box set, there probably just isn't much of a chance that we will ever hear this stuff.

However, I do think there could be a slight possibility that Dennis' early '70s solo work could find release, if only because of the fact that the reissued Pacific Ocean Blue did so well.

But besides that, I'm not too hopeful that we'll get too very much in the way of previously unreleased Beach Boys related stuff unless the demand for it stays high even after the box set is out.

Sorry, thats the one I meant. Somehow I got the Furries confused with the Manics (that's me and modern bands).


[/quote]

A good way to tell the difference between the Manic Street Preachers and the Super Furry Animals is thus: the Manics are a bunch of over-earnest pretencious over-rated slightly embaressing dad-rock sell-out boring stiffs and the Super Furries are an exciting troupe of Beach Boy/Wilson-influenced surprising inventive imaginative daring Welsh musical wizards. At least that's how i tell the difference...

The AGD unreleased albums page seems to say that "Old Movie" was merely a working title applied to both "Cuddle Up" and "4th Of July" at various points and that the two songs aren't actually linked in any way sans both using that title at earlier points. The page may even imply that Dennis used the title "Old Movie" as a working title beyond those songs, although it doesn't name any, so I'm not sure.

Can I has some AGDification?


Post of forever and ever.

Barbara = Cuddle Up.
Old Movie = working title.

Thanks, it's great!

Thanks!

Oh, you're talking about the SONG.  :lol

Obviously, I love it too, and think it's Dennis' best vocal.