The Smiley Smile Message Board

 In the late part of 1971 Dennis booked the studio to record what he tiltled   Poops/Hubba Hubba  anyone have info on this session? Dennis did tell me that's how he remembered  the log entry but just laughed over it.

That's the semi-serious name he gave the solo album he was recording in the very early seventies. From the Bellagio 10452 site:

Poops/Hubba Hubba
recorded spring 1971-1972
produced by Dennis Wilson & Darryl Dragon
It's a New Day - Behold the Night - Ecology - Baby Baby - Wouldn't it Be Nice to Live Again - Old Movie - Slow Song - Make It Good - Barbara
(track sequence not known)
 
   Despite his lack of material on Surf's Up (reportedly due to a falling out with Carl over sequencing), it's undeniable that in the early seventies, Dennis was the major creative force of The Beach Boys, and equally hardly surprising that he gave serious thought to forging a solo career, to which end he worked intensively in Brian's home studio with the pre-Captain & Tennille Darryl Dragon and band engineer Steve Desper. The results of theses sessions were a precursor to his only released solo album five years hence, richly textured soundscapes imbued with considerable passion. Although the sessions continued into early 1972, the fate of the album was effectively sealed when he offered "Make It Good" and "Old Movie" (a Surf's Up outtake reworked as "Cuddle Up"... and also as "4th of July": apparently "Old Movie" was a catch-all title used by Dennis back then) to round out Carl And The Passions - So Tough - where they naturally stuck out like a pair of sore thumbs ! (A demo of "Barbara" was released in 1998 on Endless Harmony). Some further points - the title(s) of the album were tentative, the Beach Boys reportedly played "Baby, Baby" during their 1972 fall tour, "It's A New Day", a collaboration with Stanley Shapiro, was recorded (at Sunset, with a Blondie Chaplin lead) for possible use in a hair grooming product promo, upon which The Beach Boys expressed an interest in cutting it. However their version was never completed, foundering in a legal morass.  "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again", another magnificent Wilson/Shapiro opus, was another Surf's Up outtake (and ws slated to be included on the proposed DVD-A of the album). One final interesting observation from Steve Desper: not only does he contend that "90% of [the album] was 90% done", but that a lot of Pacific Ocean Blue had its origin in these sessions. Hmmmmmm…

Why were the Beach Boys even bothering to make Carl and the Passions with so few songs apparently available.  If it hadn't been for Dennis offering his songs, a very short album would have been even shorter!

thanks for that valuable insight. The construction and idea behind C&TP is an interesting story. Solid songs mostly, but the album as a whole feels lacking.

More like they were recording some songs and when Dennis offered some of his material there was enough to get an album out. Doesn't seem like there ever were cohesive C&TP sessions, which would exlain the album being a little varied as a finished product. The preceeding and succeeding albums had cohesive sessions, a cohesive sound and as a result were much more enjoyable to listen to.

Is it possible it's release was to capitalise on SU being rather succesful and to encourage the newest members of the group?

I wish he would have stuck with the "Poops" title, even in 1977. Dennis Wilson Poops would make an awesome album cover.

Seems plausible.  But, it still had only 8 songs on it and we know they had other songs lying around from previous projects.  And I wonder why, after apparently withdrawing songs from Surf's Up due to arguments over running order, why Dennis decided to give them songs again and one of them wasn't WIBTLA.