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Theres the lost&found album, the surfin album, the greatest hits 61-62 from 1970 and the album 1961 from 72...what album was the first to issue the BBs candix/pre-capitol demos? I.e.: luau, karate, barbie, what is a young girl, judy...

The Wand LP has a 1972 copyright date.

US albums 1962-69 (http://www.esquarterly.com/bellagio/60salbums.html)

I know I'm blowing my own trumpet ('cause if I don't, who will ?) but really, a lot of this stuff is on 10452.  :)

And the reason for a message board is for people to ask questions like this...

And the great thing about having the website is so people can check for facts such as this for themselves

Hey Kook --

First and foremost, if you have not had a chance yet, treat yourself to checking out Andrew's excellent website, constructed with invaluable input from several knowledgeable Beach Boys' historians including Ian Rusten. One could spend weeks there, roaming around inside like in a favorite bookstore. "Hmm, let's see what this section has?" I consulted the website almost on a daily basis as I was writing my upcoming book Becoming the Beach Boys, 1961-1963 (McFarland).  My book could not have been written without the pioneering work of Andrew, Ian, and several other writers and historians who have added tremendously to our collective knowledge of the band. Check it out. You'll be glad you did.

Now, to your question.

On March 31, 1969, Hite Morgan, doing business as Deck Records, leased duplicate master tapes of eight of the nine songs (Morgan held “Lavender” back) to Herb Newman’s Era Records. Era released them on a vinyl album called The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits. It contained an alternate version of “Barbie” (“You love only me”) which differed slightly from the single released in April 1962 on Randy 422 (“She loves only me”). A single paired “Surfer Girl” with “The Freeze” by Tony and Joe (Era 042).

At the time, Era distributed Happy Tiger Records, a short-lived label for Flying Tigers, the LA-based Air Freight Company, and the album was issued under the joint Happy Tiger/Era label (HTE-805). Rather than feature a photograph or likeness of the Beach Boys, the album cover contained a cartoonish drawing of a suntanned blonde in a bikini standing on the shore holding a surfboard and gazing out at the ocean.

The album inexplicably included “Phantom Surfer” and “Bustin’ Surfboards” by the Tornadoes (misspelled as Tornados). “Phantom Surfer,” written by Dorinda Morgan and Rue Barclay, but credited to Dorinda only, was published by Prestige Publishing Company, the Morgan’s firm with ASCAP. “Bustin’ Surfboards,” published by Mate Music, BMI, was incorrectly credited to Prestige. The three Beach Boys songs previously credited as written by Bruce Morgan (“Luau,” “Barbie,” and “What Is a Young Girl Made Of?”) were now credited to Dorinda and the publishing of the latter two changed from Guild Music to Prestige.

Is there any documented evidence as to when The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits was actually released?  Brad Elliot's book says "Spring 1969" and Andrew's discography notes "  /69", i.e., month in 1969 unknown.

As a a person who very frequent perused local record stores at the time, especially the Beach Boys section, the first time I ever saw a copy of, and immediately purchased, The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits was in March 1970.  Granted, ERA was a small label, and people weren't clamoring for Beach Boys product at the time, but is there any documented evidence that the album was actually released sometime in 1969, as opposed to early 1970 when I first saw it?

Yes. I've handled a copy, and seen pictures of others.

Of course, I could be a liar and a phony, as one Carol Kaye has claimed.  ;D

Also, Elliott's book was, essentially, an inventory of the Reum collection.

AGD - Are you talking about The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits on ERA?  I've got a copy, purchased, as mentioned above, in March 1970.  My question was, is there any evidence that the album actually came out in 1969, rather than early 1970, when I first saw it?

Jim Murphy says "On March 31, 1969, Hite Morgan, doing business as Deck Records, leased duplicate master tapes of eight of the nine songs (Morgan held “Lavender” back) to Herb Newman’s Era Records. Era released them on a vinyl album called The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits."  But he doesn't say when the album containing these tracks was actually released. 

Perhaps Mr. Murphy and Mr. Reum could chime in here, since Mr. Elliot's book says the album was released "Spring 1969".  I've often wondered about this release date, and yours of "  /69" since back then I spent a ton of time going thru the bins of numerous record stores in San Diego, especially checking out The Beach Boys, and I never saw this album for sale until March 1970.

So Era waited over nine months to release the masters they leased from Morgan ?  Seriously ?

I am unsure of the exact release date, but it seems reasonable Era Records would have released it shortly after leasing the masters from Hite.

So, I would guess April 1969.  I think Peter and Brad were pretty much on the money with "Spring 1969."

Man, that's a long time ago! You must be older than the hills by now, so it wouldn't be surprising if you were mixing up 1969 with 1970...

Are you serious in asking "Seriously?"?

I'd assume by this point in time that you'd be familiar enough with the record business to know that, for a variety of reasons, companies have frequently held on to material long before it is finally released.  Or have you joined the ranks of Phil Cohen and decided that if a record isn't released immediately that means it will never be released at a later date?  

For sure it seems reasonable that the album in question would have been released some time in 1969, but since I'd never seen it prior to March 1970, I was simply asking if there was any documented evidence as to the actual release date, which at this point we don't seem to have.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, "Granted, ERA was a small label, and people weren't clamoring for Beach Boys product at the time," so it's possible that many months transpired from the time the record was released to the time any of the well known (and lesser known) San Diego record stores bothered to stock the album.  

A simple reason the album might not have been released until early 1970 (and I'm not saying it wasn't released earlier) - this was the first US album of BB material to be released on a label other than Capitol.  So due to potential litigation concerns, Era could have decided to play it safe and wait until the BBs Capitol contract was over and the first Warner/Reprise release took place, which happened in Feb. 1970.  This scenario would also require the two Era 45s to have not seen release until this time as well, although the Starline site lists those 45s as having been released "Spring 1969".  Hopefully there is some documentation or purchase evidence to indicate that those 45's were in fact released in the spring of 1969, which would then imply that the album likely saw release during the same time period.  (BTW, the Starline site says "The Beach Boys Biggest Beach Hits" was a budget release, but my copy, purchased at White Front, was stickered at level E full price, $3.38.)

Like I said, the fact that I didn't come across this album until March 1970 doesn't mean it wasn't released earlier.  But sometimes someone throws out a date and then its repeated by others with no real documentation.  An example would be the date of the Beach Boys appearance at Taft HS, supposedly on Thurs Nov. 22, 1962, which was Thanksgiving day.  That date if often seen on the web attributed to Sally Landry, along with a description of the event and the times surrounding it.  I contacted Sally, and I'm sure Jim did too, and she said the write-up is hers, but she does not recall the date and never said it was Nov. 22.  Someone else copied Sally's write-up, then appended what appears to be an incorrect date, and reposted it.

So yeah, it seems logical that this album was released in 1969, but I'm still curious if there is some documentation of the date, and if so, perhaps an exact month.

Absolutely not!  I distinctly recall buying this album the same year that Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and Nixon was sworn in as president - 1970!!

Walk on Moon, 1969. Nixon sworn in as president, 1968.

According to this document:

http://heroinc.hostingsiteforfree.com/monarch/MonarchNumbers.pdf

which compiles the pressing "delta" numbers of Monarch Record Manufacturing Company (so named because the serial numbers scratched into the trail-out grooves were preceded with a triangle or "delta") the delta number of 14050 on the lacquers for THE BEACH BOYS BIGGEST BEACH HITS would indicate a November 1969 manufacturing date.  If the lacquers weren't cut until November, it could very well be December, or even January before the album was pressed, packaged, and distributed.

Lee

I had a copy of this lp and a test pressing for it also. I remember I bought it in early 1970..right before add some music was released. don't know when it actually was released but that is when I saw and bought it.


of course one can buy it rereleased from Canada here with a different cover:  http://www.discogs.com/Beach-Boys-Biggest-Beach-Hits/release/1802111

For the people who bought this right around the time when it came out... what were your thoughts at the time? Pre-internet, it must've been an odd, yet exciting experience suddenly hearing all these previously-unreleased very early BB tunes, songs that most everyone probably never knew existed. And did people wonder if this was a bootleg (since it almost seemed grey area anyway)?

it was a wtf moment for sure for me. I listened to it a couple of times and filed it away. in jan 1970 I was 16 years old. I don't think I even knew what a bootleg was then...    :)

Thought my comment above, where I stated that a couple of well known events that occurred in 1969 actually took place in 1970, would be taken as an obvious joke.  For the record, yes, the walk on the moon was July 21, 1969, but while Nixon was elected as president in November 1968, he was not sworn in as president until Jan. 20, 1969.

Thank you, Lee!  That's the kind of info I was looking for.  So it's safe to say that the earliest the record could have been released would be late 1969, and could easily be early 1970.

Brad Elliott's book lists the release date as "Sprlng 1969", which I presume was a rough estimate on his part, as he confirmed to me years ago that he had estimated some dates in his book.  Once that date (or season and year, to be exact) was in print, then it was taken as gospel by many, although Lee Dempsey's research shows that it's obviously incorrect.

 

Thanks for the info, Steve.  This further indicates that the album may have been released in early 1970.

I was dumbfounded when I first saw this record, unaware of the existence of most of the tracks on the album and anxious to hear them.  The cover said, "These are the songs of the early Beach Boys ... in the beginning."  I was also surprised that this material was on a smaller label like Era, but assumed perhaps Capitol had the rights to the unreleased material, and then gave the stuff to a small label when the BBs went to Warner/Reprise.  Still, the existence of the album seemed very surprising to me, especially when I heard Surfin' Safari and especially Surfer Girl, both obvious early versions.  I was also disappointed to discover that two of the tracks listed on the back album cover were not by the Beach Boys, but by the Tornadoes, although in truth I considered their instrumental Bustin' Surfboards to be one of the best tracks on the album.

For sure it was a huge stretch to call this collection "The BBs Biggest Beach Hits".  I played the album a little, but not a whole lot.  At that time I was anxiously awaiting the BBs first Brother/Reprise album, 'Add Some Music', "slated for release in April".  Although I don't have any specific recollections of doing so, I'm sure I played this album for my BB expert friend Ross, who probably told me these sounded like early recordings done when the BBs were on Candix, and were most likely finally being released now that the band was no longer under contract to Capitol.

Sad for all the lost stuff.  I wonder how many test pressing they would have made for something like that. and where they are now... 

Certain that buy the ERA LP newly upon release I didn't.

I also found this article in the August 2, 1969 issue of Billboard:

Happy Tiger Line to GRT
LOS ANGELES - Newly formed Happy Tiger Records has given its 8-track and cassette rights to GRT.  Happy Tiger will also provide GRT with product from Era Records, with which it recently worked out a distribution agreement.
Among the acts on Happy Tiger are newly acquired Roberta Sherwood, and Lynn Kellogg of the New York cast of "Hair."
The labels' other acts are Red Rhodes and the Detours, Priscilla Paris, and Buddy Bohn.
Happy Tiger's executive team includes president Robert Reiter and Don Peake, a&r vice president.  Herb Newman operates Era.

There is no mention of the Beach Boys release, which I think would be big news.

Since the singles were purely on the Era label, and the LP was on the Era / Distributed by Happy Tiger imprint, I think we may be talking two different timeframes -- perhaps spring of 1969 for the first pressing of the singles, and late fall / winter for the album.

Lee

Thanxx for the great info Lee, and really great that Custom Machine has been so persistent on this subject!!

Actually, the singles were on the Era "Back To Back Hits" label, which is wrongly dated ( I just discovered) on the Starlines site, as none of the labels' 45s were issued until at least 1972.
Article from May 20 1972 Billboard:  http://tinyurl.com/ljxaq37

Very interesting...

There was a similar discussion over on the Steve Hoffman board back in 2012:

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-were-the-first-issues-of-the-beach-boys-morgan-candix-tapes.301773/

Steve reported there that Bruce Morgan had his dad's tapes transferred to a mono 15 ips reel at Sound Masters in September 1968, and then had a copy cut (for Era) on October 2, 1968.  Jim Murphy reported that the contract between Deck Records and Era was executed on March 31, 1969.  But now we have no mention of the release in Billboard in August 1969, and a Monarch delta number that puts the lacquer being cut in November 1969.  All this is lending more and more evidence to the assertion that Era held onto the tapes for over a year -- maybe, as some have speculated, until after the Beach Boys' contract with Capitol expired (on June 30, 1969).

Lee

I'm not understanding the whole Capitol thing. The tracks were all cut before the band signed to Capitol, so they had no claim on them whatsoever. According to Elliott, Hite Morgan gave Capitol a special release to include "Surfin'" on the first album.

Thanks Bgas and Lee for providing even more interesting background and insight into the release date of this material.


The "whole Capitol thing", as far as not releasing the Hite Morgan recordings, is, to the best of my knowledge, simply based on conjecture.  First, it's possible that when Morgan gave Capitol the rights to release "Surfin'", the contract may have also stated that none of the other Morgan recordings could be released while the BBs were under contract to Capitol.  Second, it's possible that there was no such agreement, but there was concern about a potential cease and desist order or lawsuit from Capitol if the Morgan material was released, with Capitol potentially saying that they had the exclusive rights to release any Beach Boys recordings.  In this second scenario, Morgan and/or ERA Records, as small players, would most likely not have the desire and resources to dispute such an action.  Again, these are simply possible scenarios explaining why the material was not released when the BBs were under contract to Capitol.

As far as I'm aware, the letter from Morgan to Capitol gave them permission to include "Surfin'" - and only "Surfin'" - on the first album. Capitol had no legal claim to the other Morgan material, some of which had already been released as it was recorded under contract to him and not them. What we have here is some postulating a non-existent situation as a possible explanation, and to any researcher worth their salt, that's abhorrent. Bluntly, it's making stuff up to support your pet theory.

Andrew,

I think we have to consider Custom Machine's postulation as a possible explanation -- simply because we don't have anything better.  I agree that Capitol had no legal right to the Morgan tapes, but perhaps there was a clause in the Capitol contract prohibiting release of alternate versions of songs released by Capitol -- which would apply to "Surfin' Safari" and "Surfer Girl" here.  Also remember that "Judy" was on the group's demo tape given to Nik Venet by Murry -- didn't Capitol purchase that entire tape?  Perhaps Era/Happy Tiger decided to take a "better safe than sorry" stance, and waited for the contract to expire.

And perhaps the fear was the Beach Boys themselves, and not Capitol.  We saw how they were able to block the FIRST WAVE set through the use of legal power and deep pockets, when they apparently had no proper legal claim.  And we also know that the Beach Boys' legal machine was in full motion at the time, having filed suit against Capitol on April 12, 1969.  Sometimes the threat of legal action can be as effective as legal action itself.

On the other hand, what better time to sneak a release out "under the radar" -- when the group and their record label are embroiled in a legal battle?  I can't find any trade ads for BIGGEST BEACH HITS, or any mention in Billboard or Cash Box, so maybe Era was trying to keep this release quiet to avoid controversy.  But keeping it quiet would be counter-intuitive to sales...

As an aside, for background on the Beach Boys lawsuit with Capitol, check out this article:
http://www.mcrfb.com/?p=15386

It has some information that I never knew --for example that the Beach Boys were investors in a cardiovascular clinic in Jacksonville, Florida???

Lee

Seems a fair point. In any case, there's no need to banter( Let's just let the >supposed<Capitol issue die now) as the Billboard articles show dating that precludes anything Spring /Summer 1969 AND the monarch numbering dates the LP to a November 1969 pressing.
Dirstribution after that is anyone's guess. Probably ERA couldn't promote it quickly enough for the Christmas market, so they postponed the actual release( just conjecture of course)  

edit: typed as Lee posted

I'm away from the Bellagio vaults right now, but my memory is that Capitol purchased three masters - "Surfin' Safari", "409" & "The Lonely Sea" - and not the entire demo tape.

Ahh, I stand corrected.

over on amazon, one can buy this lp and  a promo copy of it also for the collectors out there.

But where's the test pressings? 

Who the f*** cares about test pressings??? Aren't promo copies already going above and beyond the normality scope of most collectors who are satisfied by obtaining stock copies? What, are you addicted to vinyl? Is it the smell? And what do you do with it when you get it - file it away on the shelf, never to be seen by anyone for at least five years? What a fanatic!

mikie, I think he was joking about my previous post about having a test pressing for this lp before it was lost 6 years ago.

Andrew, No one is making stuff up to support a pet theory, and I can guarantee you that there is nothing "abhorrent" going on here!  As I said in my most recent post, "Again, these are simply possible scenarios explaining why the material was not released when the BBs were under contract to Capitol."  In my case, I'm a fan wondering why this material finally saw release when it did, and as a result of our discussion, Lee and Bgas have uncovered info proving that neither the album nor the singles were released in the Spring of 1969.  And the only two people posting in this discussion who purchased the album when they first saw it remember buying it "in early 1970..right before add some music was released" in Steve's case, and March 1970 in my case.  And in my case, it's not simply based on a recollection.  Ensuring that my stuff would be worth less than it could have been in the future collectibles market, I wrote my name and the month and year of purchase, "3-70", on the inside of the record jacket. 


Lee, Excellent point that the concern (or one of the concerns) could have been legal action, justified or not, on the part of the Beach Boys themselves, similar to what we saw in Brad Elliott's attempt to release "First Wave - The Complete Hite Morgan Sessions" on CD about 15 years ago.  And thanks for tracking down that April 12, 1969 Billboard article - interesting stuff!

Beg to differ, but people have been introducing theories into this topic that are, frankly, ludicrous - i.e. that Capitol in some way had a legal option over these tracks when they blatantly didn't - purely to promote their own personal idée fixe. I totally accept the Delta code evidence that it couldn't have been released before 11/69, and have a supplementary question: if there is one, what is the © date on the album sleeve ?

As for the BB putting a stop to the release of First Wave, I've heard it said that this was in part a stratagem to put Elliott out of business: if so it was entirely successful, if morally bankrupt. The band had no more legal claim to the Morgan masters than Capitol did.

There are no dates on the sleeve or the labels for either the stock or promo copies

The Canadian issue on RCA Camden (CAS-2371) also has no date on the cover; it mentions  > Released In The USA by ERA Records< n the back cover ;
I can't find a good Canadian discography, but the US one lists these two closely numbered  LPS: 
CAS-2367 Skeeter Davis Easy To Love (LP, Album) 1970
CAS-2377 Living Voices Living Voices Sing "True Girl"/"Jean" And Other Motion Picture Favorites (LP) 1970

Amazingly enough, this test pressing showed up on Ebay today, with a date of 9-25-69; Steve, does this look similar to the one you had?
It has the ERA numbers stamped in the dead wax. 
I'm not spending $495, so please, someone else go for it!!  ( Oh! It's 61-63 stuff, so Jim Murphy will HAVE to buy it)
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/BEACH-BOYS-KENNY-CADETS-TORNADOES-CENTURY-LP-60S-MATERIAL-TEST-PRESSING-/311296717026   

the white label was on the copy I had but there was no ink writing on it. came with a generic white jacket which had the lp title written on it.

From what I can see online, Century Record Manufacturing was a "vanity" record press.  They did stuff like high school marching bands, college glee clubs, etc. -- stuff that was typically presssed in quantities of 500 or less.  Maybe Herb Newman took it to them for test pressings, and then took it to Monarch for the full run?

Lee

Comparing these two statements then, I'd ask this of you, Steve:
As I'm not certain what you meant, did yours have a completely blank white label, or did it have a Century label without any writing added? 
If the latter, I could see someone possibly losing the Century sleeve and  using a plain White cover. If the former, I guess that implies two separate test pressing runs.

a blank century label without any writing

Perfect!  Now if Publishers Clearing House will hurry and show up at my door....

 :lol :lol :lol

I'm pretty tired and have not spent hours into this stuff, but when do the Hite & Dorinda Morgan recordings become 'public domain'??
is it 68 or 69? I have a hard time understanding all of this.
I have the great 'lost and found' cd, but obviously there is more available on tape and there are many takes and recordings still not 'official'.
Where are things standing these days?
I remember reading that there was no interest in releasing as they were not a part of the Capitol/Brother organisation. Is this correct?
if this has been discussed lately and in detail, can you please address me to the thread?
Thanks.

I wonder what Brad did to piss off BRI- One day he's writing the liner notes for Pet Sounds mono/stereo CD release,the next the liner notes are replaced and he's being sued for First Wave.  Was Mike "litigation" Love behind this?

No. An entirely corporate decision.

The last attempt to release some of this material was a kickstarter one by "Raphael". There was a thread about it on this site, and hi Kickstarter page – with samples – is still there though the project was cancelled… don't think it was ever resurrected though he had talked about it.

Kickstarter/samples:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/448050763/unreleased-beach-boys-recordings

Earlier thread:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,21369.0.html

Worth a read for sure!

Hmmm… just Googled "Beach Boys" + "Prelude to summer" and there' a message from Google stating that some results have been deleted due to a copyright issue. Spcifically:

"In response to a complaint that we received under the US Digital Millennium Copyright Act, we have removed 3 result(s) from this page. If you wish, you may read the DMCA complaint that caused the removal(s) at LumenDatabase.org."

The associated notice holds no clues at all:

https://www.lumendatabase.org/notices/11739011

… but I haven't a clue how all that kind of stuff works. It's admin, I'm therefore allergic to it.

I bought one of the Hite Morgon releases on vinyl and it had the song plus a couple instrumentals of "409" and "Little deuce Coupe" but for some reason the songs sound like they are slower than usual. like they pressed it at a slower speed,,,,kind of annoying,,,,the company is Teldec (from Germany) and the album is simply titled "The Beach Boys" and it features a photo of them from the last 60's sans Brian..it ha a 1982 date on it..has anyone else ever heard a release of these songs with the songs at the wrong speed?

A lot of releases of the Morgan tapes pad them out with non-BB tracks, thusly:

Balboa Blue - Marketts (Liberty 55443, 1962)
Wipe Out - Marketts
Surfer's Stomp - Marketts (Liberty 10110, 1962)

Tioga - Frogmen (Candix 326, 1961)
Beware Below - Frogmen (Candix 326, 1961)
Underwater - Frogmen (Candix 314, 1961)

ERA HTE 805
Phantom Surfer - Tornadoes (Auertaun 45-103, 1963)
Bustin' Surfboards - Tornadoes (Auertaun 45-100, 1963)

Little Deuce Coupe - Surfin' Six (probably members of the Crew)
409 - Surfin' Six