The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/isnt-it-time-ep/id567488109

EDIT: Corrected the link to iTunes.

Nice.

California Girls is great.

Do It Again.. ha. Studio version vocals laid on top of the live track, smh. Haven't gotten to Sail on Sailor yet.. scared.

My download has the album title labeled as the Give Me ALL Your Fuckin' Money, Bitch! EP. Weird.

damn listen to that live b-pain

If a physical copy comes out, I'll buy it. Otherwise, nah.

I quite dig the single version of "Isn't It Time"...a nice departure from the original version.  Both versions work well.

Sail On Sailor is the same version that's on the NPR concert (which was supposed to be from "Grand Prairie TX"), as well as the Front Row Center special. Do It Again also sounds suspiciously the same between the iTunes and NPR concert version, though I couldn't get them to stay in sync perfectly (not an easy thing to do, on-the-fly, with a streaming iTunes clip). Nonetheless, the lead vocal is identical.

why must the Beach Boys lie to us on a regular basis?

I'll play the role of devil's advocate, fanboy apologist for a second and say that...this kind of stuff is par-for-the-course these days in terms of live releases with many bands. Flying stuff in from different shows, laying in studio overdubs, etc. Though, I'll also admit that the BBs often take it to a whole new level...lol. As we also already know, some of the stuff from the NPR concert was lifted from the Sirius show.

Still, they're nice versions, well-mixed and in good quality. So, supporter that I am, I'll probably purchase the iTunes shebang anyway for an official digital audio release.

What I don't understand is... They played scores of shows this year, why go back to the super early Grand Prairie gig? Surely they'd recorded some better, more recent versions of these songs, right?

Yes they did, but they need editing, fixing, overdubbing, mixing, mastering, etc
Probably not worth just for some iTunes bonus tracks.

I just checked, and the wording of the NPR Concert now says "Hear an hour of highlights from several of The Beach Boys' recent shows." So, I guess those tracks *could* be from Chicago. Something like "Rhonda" on NPR is definitely from Grand Prairie, as I have an audience video source to check it against, and it's just a straight mixdown of that track (i.e. it's the performance where the bra is thrown on stage and hung on Al's mike stand right before the song).

However, as noted as well, the iTunes version of SOS is *also* the same version that's on the Front Row Center TV special/DVD. Does the venue there look like Chicago? I honestly don't know. I suppose audience recordings of the Chicago shows might help as well.

I'm not surprised. Those vox are definitely pulled from the 2011 remake version & everything else has been overdubbed / tuned to death. Makes you wonder.. Was the actual tape of the performance THAT bad?? I find that hard to believe after seeing them perform & hearing all of the audience tapes. Ah whatever, I bought it anyway.

Btw, and I didn't mean for this to happen, but the single version of Isn't It Time has replaced the original for me already. I listened to the album version again the other day and it sounded very bare-bones, almost demo-ish to me.

Probably not.


Part of its charm imo

I'm a fan of both, but the single version has been my favorite ever since I first heard it...it's got a great energy running through it.
_____

I'm really liking this EP, but the autotune on SOS is killing me.

Reckon this is what they mean by releasing it as a single?

I don't mind the live tracks despite the obvious tinkering.  It's nice to have a version of "Sail On Sailor" with Brian on vocals, even if they're overly processed.  I just hope that a future live album (which should be coming soon, right?) doesn't go as hard, maybe have Mark Linett mix it.  (And praying for a release of the Royal Albert Hall show)

We should really try and make this happen. I'd love for a full show, preferrably this one, be released as the set. Of course, minor tweaking will always be done when it comes to an official live release, but I love the idea of one full concert instead of a hodge-podge of different shows. They did EVERY song from the tour in one show, and thank Banana and Louie that it happened to be one of Brian's best shows on this tour ever. USE IT.

… we're assuming it was recorded?  This is the Beach Boys we're discussing, not MENSA…

There were plenty of cameras and few cameramen so it would appear that the show was recorded in multi-angle.

It's really easy these days to at least make a soundboard recording of a live show. I would guess they at the very least have a pristine digital stereo soundboard recording of every show on this tour. With digital/PC technology, this is really easily done. Of course, a stereo live mix is not "releasable" by industry standards, as they would want to do more mixing to release anything.

Again, assuming you have lots of hard drive space, recording every show on the tour in multitrack form would also not be difficult.

The only bit of *extra* hope I have about the Royal Albert Hall show being released is that it's at least possible that the reason they ran through all 61 songs that they had played on tour was so that they could make sure they captured everything they had played on tour in releasable audio form, and/or to have more to work with if they are planning on some hodge-podge live album pulled from multiple shows.

Anyone notice the question mark that is now part of the title?

Gotta say I dig the original. This version is harmless enough, save the awful processing on the  "isn't it time to be lovers" bit, and though I prefer Mike's bridge over Jeff's, the single is a really good song as opposed to this version which is, in my mind, mediocre.

If you play both bridges at the same time, they fit perfectly. If it wasn't for the different lyrics/sped up single version. Although if you leave them both playing it ends up sounding like the runout groove of Sgt Pepper.  :lol

It would have been nice if they would have included an Al lead song on this EP.

I don't think SOS is from the NPR concert--listen to Brian's growl on the EP which was totally absent on the NPR version.  Was it overdubbed here?  Maybe, but then again this could just be a completely different recording as they suggest

The mixes of the live cuts are a little messy, but I'm glad we got these at least to tide us over for the potential live release of the whole show. 

Ha, funny you pointed that out because now the question mark has been corrected out of the title.  Maybe the folks at Apple are watching us.  :o

I'm not sure what growl you're speaking of. Is it something beyond the 90 second sample that's linked above? As for that sample, and unless they've changed it in the last 48 hours on the iTunes page, Brian's vocal matches that section of both the NPR and FRC show.....exactly. Every inflection. Every note.  :)


Here's a quick MP3 of the entire NPR track that can be streamed or downloaded for comparison's sake:

http://lukpac.org/~dave/12%20-%20Sail%20On,%20Sailor.mp3


And...for an even better comparison, here's the exact same 90 second section of the NPR performance that's used as a sample on the iTunes page:

http://www.lukpac.org/~dave/12%20-%20Sail%20On,%20Sailor%20-%2090%20second%20sample.mp3

"Damn the Thunder".  The growl on Damn.  He doesn't even say damn on the NPR show, it is Foskett or another band member.  Yeah, it is not on the sample, you have to download the entire song

Is it possible that they just mixed that one section differently? That is, using Brian's "damn" instead of Foskett's? Or...even overdubbed, or flown-in from another performance, after the fact?

Because, as you can see, using the respective 90 second samples as comparisons, those sections are 100% identical. Anyone can compare using the new, 90 second sample of the NPR show I linked below. They sync up perfectly:

http://www.lukpac.org/~dave/12%20-%20Sail%20On,%20Sailor%20-%2090%20second%20sample.mp3

Sure, I'm just sayin' "Damn the Thunder" is clearly different. How they got there I don't know

Cool. I'm gonna lay out coin and actually purchase it at some point.   :lol  :)

I have to say, I've been listenng to "Sail On Sailor" and despite the processing, Brian still sings the hell out of it and I can't get enough of it.  One of the highlights of the tour in my opinion and I'm just glad to have a souvenir of it.

Ok, is this the single release? I'm still waiting for a physical single to buy. I thought they'd do it better after the single release of TWGMTR was so confusing, but I still don't get through all of this

Bought the download. For DIA, all the live shows I went to, the band came out and started kicking into the song as Foskett introduced the individual BB's.....That is not in this "live" version of DIA

Ugh. The album version is perfect, and would've been a much better single. It just FEELS right. Proof that BW works best when he has a deadline, and doesn't have the time to overlabor and second guess what he's doing. That's probably why the whole album came out so good.

Well, they could have easily just mixed Jeff's intro out on this track.

Yes, single is too sound-effected, but love Jeff being kicked off the bridge--worth the price of admission. Love Dave's guitar work on SOS and DIT; the EP is lots of fun (great on headphones at the gym working out) and continues the pleasure we have in the reunion.  I do not know if IIT is on the radio or if this is the "single release." No one seems to be noticing but us. Any Billboard activity?

They didn't start doing that intro until later in the tour. I'm not sure when they started, but I can definitely testify that they didn't have Jeff announcing the into at the opener in Tucson.

I liked it much better that way. Nothing against Jeff, but I think it's a much more effective show opener to just start hitting that beat, then have everyone walk on and start playing. That's how you announce your presence. You don't need to tell anyone you're from Hawthorne California, or that these are your names. You're the freaking Beach Boys. There's no better way to say "Hey we're here and we're going to give you a great time tonight" than to just start singing.

2 cuts on 1964's Beach Boys Concert album are studio cuts with crowd overdubs....when you see footage of The Beatles playing Shea Stadium, half of the tracks were cut in the studio and synced to picture (or in the case of "Act Naturally" they just played the record and dubbed in crowd sounds....Kiss Alive was mostly done in the studio....

....it's just the way of the world.   

I've listened to the new version of Isn't It Time several times now.  It definitely sounds better than the audio samples we heard earlier...  that's often the case.  I also like the intro, and the beefed up instrumentation on the chorus.  Also, it was a nice idea to have all the lead vocals handled by official BBs members. 

However, the rest of the changes not so good.  The original lyrics were better, the vocals sounded better without so many effects,  the new bridge is quite limp vocally and melodically, and the overall "modern" production touches mostly sound kinda fake, like they were desperately trying to make it into a hit single.  Still, I love the song in both incarnations, but definitely prefer the minimalistic, quirky original. 

I like the live cuts, beefed up or not, as as pointed out, they've been beefing up live recordings since 1964, so it's not exactly unusual.  I REALLY like the version of SOS, and second the opinions above that it's great to have a recording of it already.  And the other songs sound great too--Brian's band plus the BB's voices is a brilliant combo.  If they can make a 2.5 hour, double-CD live album from the reunion tour, I'm all over it. 

I went over to iTunes to purchase the EP download and was presented with a notice that it wasn't available in my country (USA). Has anyone else had this problem?

No, I downloaded it on October 2nd and had no problems at all.

I had a similar problem, it is not on Canadian Itunes either.   Grrrr.  Maybe tomorrow when the new stuff is released in North America we'll get the new EP too.

I know Amazon wasn't releasing it until tomorrow. Could iTunes have released it early and then caught their mistake and taken it down? 

Emdeeh,

When I was comparing clips last week, I got the same notice when I went to the link that was posted here (i.e. the one with the 30 second samples). However, when I opened the iTunes program *directly* (i.e. the iTunes software already on my computer), went to the "Store" section and did a search on "Beach Boys Isn't It Time," it was still there for purchase....and with 90 second samples. So, give that a shot. That should work.

Dave, that worked -- thank you!

I'd disagree.  Out of all the singers on the stage, why'd they give the most soulful song to the guy who's just barely conscious????  I mean, you've got Darian who can rip a new ass into "Darlin", but they give the song to Brian???   Fail!

Yeah! I mean, Brian's a braindead vegatable, right? He shouldn't be singing! Hey, aren't the rest of them REAAALLLLY old? You've got a guy up there who can sing their leads too, I bet.

Downloaded the 4-track "single" from iTunes but the title track skips. Maybe it's my iPhone…  :(

Perhaps a corrupted download.  I would delete the track, go to the Purchased section of iTunes, and re-download it.

Does the new EP come with 'cover artwork'?

Yes, it looks like this.  There are no liner notes.

(http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mbmmxuWenv1qzd1yeo1_1280.jpg)

So the 50 Big Ones version of "Isn't It Time" is actually 10 seconds longer than the iTunes single.  Looks like the iTunes version has a slightly more sped-up tempo.  What's up with that?

A DJ Promo cd has popped up on ebay (and presumably elsewhere) in the past few days. It has an instrumental mix of the song. Did anyone here nab a copy of that?

This intrigues me. As I believe I noted in another thread, the BBC-streamed version was digitally time-compressed. That is, a tempo "speed-up" but with no pitch change. I had assumed it was their doing. Now, maybe that's not the case after all? Is the iTunes version moving along quicker than the 50 BO's version but still in the same key as well?

Ah, more redundant mixes to collect and never be listened to. This band never fails, do they?

They're really not promoting it, aren't they?  :-\ Has the official single version surfaced on youtube yet?

Not surprised in the least.

Why would they? The "50th Celebration" is over.

Thus they shouldn't push the song at all?

Just as a quick FYI, for folks who actually care about these little things...  :)

I did finally do a direct comparison the iTunes EP version of the single version of "Isn't It Time" to the BBC version. They're the exact same time-compressed "sped-up" version (although with the radio airing fading out a bit early). Which makes perfect sense now, because lo and behold, there's now a 1-track CD radio station promo of the track floating around where it's referred to right on the disc as the "Radio Edit." This is obviously the disc that was supplied to the BBC all those weeks ago for its radio debut.

Again...this is the same 3:38 version that's on the iTunes EP -- digitally time compressed to move the track along at a quicker tempo while keeping it in the same key. (i.e. not an "analog-type" speed-up). It's *not* time-compressed on 50 Big Ones.


Call me a heretic, but I actually like this time-compressed "Radio Edit." It "peps" the track up slightly without making everyone sound like a chipmunk. Sort of ironic too, in that, like the very first Capitol single of their career, the potentially last Capitol single of their career has had its speed tweaked, too, in a released form (with the first one obviously being an analog speed-up and pitch change). Symmetry!

In conclusion:

"Isn't It Time" - single version
50 Big Ones - 3:47
"Radio Edit" - 3:38 (digitally time-compressed)


Edit: Listening again to both versions, there *may* be a bit of "analog-type" speed-up as well. Going back and forth...I honestly can't tell. Any changes in pitch are virtually imperceptible. At least to my 4:30am ears they are...lol.