The Smiley Smile Message Board

Found this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JReRSTzYrXw


Bruce on lead vocals, with an added middle 8. Can i get some info on this track? Was it recorded for SIP?

Guest appearance on an album by a British vocal group that usually does more classical-oriented stuff. They did Kokomo on the same record, IIRC.

Mike is on that bridge too, btw.

PLMW is one of my personal top 5 tracks ;  Surf's Up, Caroline, No , Wouldn't it Be Nice and Heroes and Villains round it out. I consider PLMW a perfect record , so I wanted to see if anyone could enlighten me on this track. 
1/- Is that a DX7 ?
2/-Are those background vocals run through the synthesizer ?
3/- Are there any credits listed; who produced it ect. Sounds like Bruce on keyboards
4/- was this actually released and when ; late 80's as that was the high water mark of DX7 usage ?

Thanks

Hey there Ray, I'll take a swing at a few of the questions.

I can't say whether it's a DX7, although I do know Bruce has been VERY fond of them since probably the mid '80s.

Also, I'm pretty sure this was actually recorded in the mid '90s and released in the mid to late '90s. So yes it sounds dated, but don't forget that him and Mike are the same guys that put their names on Summer in Paradise and Summertime Cruisin'. They obviously did not give a damn (and probably still don't) how tacky whatever they are doing sounds. Although I must say Mike's latest solo material does sound a bit more organic. So maybe at least he learned.

Thanks Jim , mid 90's surprises me ; I would have thought 87-89 so , thanks for that. And it was released !  I couldn't find anything on google so I appreciate the feedback !

Release date according to CD Universe: Oct 28, 1997

According to the creds with that YouTube upload, Bruce plays keyboards and is listed as co-producer.

Crudely reproduced:

Bruce: producer, keyboards, vocal, vocal arrangement

Keith Wechsler: co producer, percussion

Santa Barbara Festival Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Baldwin (sp? Baldwin?)

Bob Chilcott: vocal arranger

Release date: 19/5/97 according to the YouTube data.

Thanks John ...97 , still really surprises me. I better put headphones on because I hear nothing but a keyboard.....but I think it's an inside joke by Bruce; I believe Benjamin Baldwin is his birth name ,,,

Quick question Ray....

If you feel so inclined to answer, have you ever met Bruce? Any thoughts on him? I have to say that he is quite interesting to me, as he's apparently been so hot and cold with fans for a while now. Shoot, apparently he's even been a bit weird with David Marks since the '70s! You know, with the whole "it's an honor to be in your band!" thing when he was thinking Dave might be joining (and replacing him) in the early '70s, and then acting like he didn't know him after it became clear Dave wasn't rejoining. Very odd. Not to mention the fact that he released a whole heck of a lot of music in the '60s under a bunch of different names, yet hasn't really done anything much recording or songwriting wise since maybe the mid '70s. Just a tough guy to figure out.

 Anyways, if you don't wanna touch this question, I fully understand.

.

Me too Ray.

Not to thread crap, but one of the prized pieces in my Beach Boys collection is a Western Recorders acetate of "Please Let Me Wonder," with a count-in and the vocals continuing all the way through the fade-out.  I acquired it legitimately from Diane Rovell back in the '90s.  Think about the words of the song, and Brian's known feelings for Diane, and you can see why it's an interesting piece of Beach Boys history.

Lee

Jim;

I was kind of part of the furniture on 25 or so dates on the C50 tour so sure , I met Bruce.  I don't know anything about any of that stuff between he and David so I can't comment on that.  Bruce was always nice to me when I was there , that is what I can pass on. That , and he did give me some good solid info on Pacifico !

Lee;

When I first heard it , I was floored; the chord changes, to me , were off the charts....Side 2 of "Today" just plows the road for what is coming.  I never picked up on the Diane connection....of course !

A mutual friend told me we will be getting together next month on the 10th-12th....looking forward to seeing you there...Ray

By chance,  did you attend the show on 8 June 2012 at the Woodlands?

Yes, I did

Ahhh....that was the one show i got to attend and was well worth getting drenched!
Brian was on fire that night, and to be slightly more on topic, Bruce's Disney Girls was one of the best Ive ever heard him do.

I kind of love this version. The reharmonization in the verses is pretty damn cool and the overall arrangement wouldn't be out of place on BW "88" and Bruce sings it beautifully.

Nobody mentioned that Mike is singing that new middle 8 and there's a nod to the descending bassline of "I'm Waiting for the Day" played by a DX7 (I think) on the outro fade.
Very clever Bruce!

As cheesy as the instrumentation is, this is still kinda cool. I like hearing Bruce on this. I also dig Mike's new part. You'd think that something like this would have been included on the NASCAR disc - even though it's not car-related, it could have been the Be True to Your School of that "concept" album.

Does anyone know if Mike ever sang that new part in a live version at any point? Almost seems like a parallel the God Only knows bridge (?) part which got simplified/modified for live performances, so I wonder if it was written just for this version, or if the part was ever utilized in a live setting to help simplify the instrumentation.

Also, speaking of alternate Please Let Me Wonder studio versions, I'm still surprised the Mike lead vocal version has never been officially released, if only as a bonus 2-fer track or on MIC. I wonder if its non-release would indicate that Mike himself doesn't like it? While Brian's lead was obviously the right choice, I can think of no other time in the early years (until Meant For You in '68) that Brian gave Mike a quietly-sung lead like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiGh5Sccugo

Ugh. This version of PLMW makes Stamos Forever sounds good in comparison. I for one, am not a fan. My impression of Bruce is that he has musical talent. But he may be kind of lazy. It's hard for me to believe that he could write songs like Tears in the Morning and Disney Girls, then Going Public was the best he could do? He said himself, he left the Beach Boys because he got too lazy. So he became more lazy.