The Smiley Smile Message Board

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Surprised the Beach Boys never wrote a song about the Bat mobile and rockin Robin

Their musical peers Jan and Dean did a whole album called "Jan and Dean meet Batman" and it is exactly what it sounds like, I kid you not.

:lol I love it!

i wonder what will be next, 'Superman was presented a complete collection of BB songs for his heroic deeds' or 'Attention! Spiderman retired cuz he fell for the Beach Boys!'? no, seriously, do we need these kinds of threads again? ::) How 'bout Sandbox?

Does this really merit a thread?

I got a kick out of it :/

Aww, I was just going to do a new thread with that Willy Wonka meme, making a cool Beach Boys reference. Damnit.

J&D Meet Batman is one hell of a strange and simultaneously goofy and complex album. Some tracks of it are on Youtube, and probably the rest of it is here and there in wfmu.org's archives. When Brian used to talk about making a humor album in the Smile era, I wonder if he had it in mind as some kind of template. 

The whole thing is on Spotify.

Holy sh*t the Jan and Dean album for Batman is true!

"Gotham city, here we come" to the chorus of Surf City! HOW ULTIMATE LAME! :lol

Jan and Dean meet Batman is, pardon the expression, batshit crazy.

Their records have a real manic-ness to them which the BB didn't really- I suspect from continuing with Surf type stuff right through 65/66/67. Fan Tan anyone? No wonder they were Keith Moon's favourite band

I agree. Listen once to that album and you can guarantee you'll never listen to it again.

It's a f*cking awesome album. Everyone should listen to it. It's still available on CD I believe. The mono mix of the title track is on "The Liberty Singles" and blows the strange stereo mix away easily

It would seem that any thought that passes into one's mind merits a thread, these days.  At least this one got converted into an appraisal of the J&D record.  And yeah, it's not like some ultra-rare Smile thing that is undiscovered.  It's not hard to find on CD and it's certainly available to legally download.

The truth is that the only CD release (on One-Way, doubled with J&D's live album Command Performance) is pretty scarce now. (Amazon lists secondhand copies starting at $56.) But it is a download.

http://theseconddisc.com/2011/07/23/comic-con-special-reissue-theory-jan-and-dean-meet-batman/

discusses the record at some length. A 1987 UK release on LP had the original cover art, but One Way could not get permission from DC Comics to put the Dynamic Duo on the cover so it's just the title against a black background. Kind of like the Velvet Underground's White Light White Heat or Faust's So Far, to mention two other notable avant-garde albums.

In interviews, Dean Torrence has mentioned that the album as originally recorded tied in more closely to the TV series but after Fox, which owned the show, raised objections, it was changed. He also has said that had Jan not hit the truck the duo's future direction might have built on the Batman record. Which makes you wonder what they might have been recording in fall '66 to compete with Smile.  I mean, answering Pet Sounds with something like this was the kind of thing only Captain Jan and his Boy Blunder would do.

J&D Meet Batman is incredible, the West Coast Who Sell Out. I was happy to be quoted in the booklet for the digital re-release.

It's a brilliant album. Might I suggest listening to it on a triple bill with "The Many Moods of Murry Wilson" and William Shatner's "The Transformed Man".

Does Murry sing on the many moods album? I thought that was all instrumental for some reason.

I don't think he sings on it though then again, I've never heard it (and I don't plan on hearing it any time soon).

It would be worth hearing though if he ever recorded a full scat version of "Help  Me, Rhonda" like he demonstrated on the session tapes.  ;D

No, he didn't sing on "Many moods..." and didn't do any "Rhonda" but covered a Jardine-instrumental

He doesn't (thank God!!) sing on it, but as a piece of swinging sixties kitsch it can't be beat.

Which was produced by Brian Wilson.

Right now on eBay somebody is selling what seems to be a clipped-out magazine ad for J&DMB. The copy above the cover reads:

What? Another Batman LP?

YES! The fun one!

It's got BAT-TACULARS (holy mirth and merriment)!

It's got BAT-TUNES (zowie)!

It's got Jan and Dean....


Ah, those were the days when record companies employed folk with a gift for the written word.  (BTW I can remember the start of Adam West-style Batmania, and yep, there were a number of not-so-fun Batman records out there at the time, so people needed to know J&D had done it different.)

The record's also got Jill Gibson. She broke up with Jan immediately after it was recorded. But don't know if there's a connection.

"the West Coast Who Sell Out. I was happy to be quoted in the booklet for the digital re-release."

Nice one!

It had more to do with Jan than with Batman

Oh no, It's utterly bonkers, but I love it!

Top of my Jan/Dean wantslist is a copy of 'Fan Tan' on the J&D label. Anyone got a spare?

Of course not a original record from back then but I hope you have the fantasic, great, awesome, mesmerizing "Carnival of sound" CD from a few years ago.

I've listened to it online, but I've had to be a bit selective about what I hard file these days due to massive collection/space issues. IE- no room for cds, or even vinyl represses/reissues!

Carnival of Sound is great! Now if only Jan and Dean actually sang on it...

I want the jan Berry version of "Filet of soul" in full on cd..I have the stuff on the Anthology album but it would be nice to finally hear the complete album the way Jan invisioned it before Liberty Butchered it..

What, by re-recording Surf City on EVERY ALBUM?

Psych City

"Two tabs for eeeeeve-rrrrrrrrrry booooooooooy'

Rock City

*Waaah-wahhhh-o--wahhahhfofvhjxgjx* - The hook to Surf City played on a wah-wah pedal for 20 minutes a la Hendrix.

Watts City

"Two Riots for every boy!* "Explosion FX, sirens*

Laurel Canyon City

"Two Beards for every Boy" sung to plaintively strummed acoustic guitars, backing harmonies by Linda Ronstadt and David Crosby, released on Asylum.

Synth City

"Two Moogs for every botttt"

Prog City

"AQUARIUS SCREAMS THE FANDANGO AND BEHOLDEN, THERE WERE TWO FEMALES FOR THE ENJOYMENT OF THE MALES, AND THE CHILDREN DANCED THE DANCE OF THE SURF (40 minute synth solo)"

Coke City

"Two Rails for every boy, motherfucker"

Etc, etc...

Jan & Dean fandom is something I really can't fathom. Save For A Rainy Day is a lovely record, mind. Probably because he didn't re-record Surf City on it. Must have been Jan's 'genius' that made them do that on every album, including Carnival Of Sound.

What you need is a minor head injury followed by lots and lots of coffee, then it will all become clear. FANTANFANTANFANTANFANTANFANTANFANFANFANFANTANTANTANTAN

actually they redid The Little Old Lady From Pasadena (about a drug dealer from Tijuana) on Carnival of Sound, not Surf City!

I haven't even heard the tracks on Anthology. I always wondered what they sound like.






Jan sings on some background parts. "Love & hate" for example and he is in the talking bit at the end of "Mulholland". I think the session singers did a great job and it's a very interesting concept to me to record no matter whom but all under the banner of one project, that is Jan & Dean. I don't know how to explain but it is kinda similar to all the Beach Boys recording their individual songs and putting them on an album so that it becomes Beach Boys material. That gives very much freedom for creativity. Like putting out "Save for a rainy day" without Jan and "Carnival of sound" without Dean but all being part of the legacy of Jan & Dean. You know they both have the supervision and the production under their control but don't necessarily need to sing on their records. Kinda like a Spector record doesn't need him to sing on it.

I agree with you to a certain extent, but there's a certain magic in Jan and Dean's deadpan vocal performances and Dean's distinctive falsetto that is sadly lacking on Carnival of Sound. The Jan & Dean album I listen to the most is Take Linda Surfin', which is almost entirely covers, just because I really enjoy their vocals.

I still really dig the songs/arrangements/production on Carnival of Sound, though.

Thanks for this pre-emptive strike, mr moderator Sir.

You put me firmly back on the ground again, so I will back off from starting that thread I had in mind, about some SMiLE related acetates I bought in a garage sale just last Saturday. One of these is in a box labeled: "Son Of Smile And The Freshly Pressed Orange Juice (unreadable felt marker words) In Full".

Everyone needs to be corrected, and guided through this life, including yours truly.

Surfing on the Chocolate River
Everlasting Wave Topper
Pure Imagination with TM
Cheer Up Charlie Manson

The word i would use to describe it is "Bizzare",picture a Jan and dean concert turned into a stand up comedy show,with strange sound effects and jan and dean singing off key the  band playing really sloppy  and changing the lyrics and messing up the songs while the fans boo them and you get the basic idea of what it's like..lol, it's was supposed to be a comedy album but the funny thing is when you hear the official release of it the record company left all the off key stuff and the changed lyrics and the sloppy music so it just sounds bad because it is taken out of the "Comedic" cotext..

Sounds interesting.
Some performances on the released album are quite good though, "Michelle" "Honolulu Lulu"...

yeah for me the released version has a weird vibe to it,he was still in his coma and they release it with "Deadmans curve" on it,almost like they were expecting him to die and making him into a james dean,kind of errie IMO.

Foiled!  :angry

Originally they used the actual Batman & Robin characters plus the villains of course. But that would've gotten them into legal battles so they just invented "Captain Jan & Dean The Boy Blunder". But you can find some stuff with their original Batman dialogues on bootleg. I hope for a deluxe re-release sometime.

Once again I've got to say that it is one heck of an album. And I agree with what someone mentioned that Brian probably had this kind of comic-humour in mind when making the humour-songs for Smile.

Jan&Dean always had a weired kind of humour and this album project was absolute perfect for them, especially for Dean who was pissed off by stuff like "You really know how to hurt a guy" and singing about women dying while giving birth and other arker themes on "Folk'n'Roll" (which features the awesome "I can't wait to love you" - released as a single by Jan Berry)






And what did you have to say?

Stuff.

 ;D