The Smiley Smile Message Board

The footage of "Mike Come Back to L.A." is really important, one of the best places to see Brian arranging in the studio, and by far the best footage of him in the 70s. The only version I can find anywhere is a severely degraded black and white VHS garble. Does anyone own the real thing? I've talked to both the producer and director on this project, and neither has seen it since it was completed.
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Somewhere, there's got to be a better quality version in existence. Maybe the band has a copy in their archives?

This is not included in part in other films?

Many years ago I saw a copy of the full 30 minute doc that was, at worst, 2nd generation.

I've seen a color version but it is still poor quality.

Saw a fairly decent color copy at the 1982 convention in Oakland CA that our late friend Les Chan put together at the Oakland College of Arts and Crafts.  There was some good stuff in it. Never been able to find any of it again that was watchable.

I remember that. Les had it. About 3 years later I went over to John Pickens' house and he had it. It was on the collector's circuit on VHS for awhile, but I've never seen it higher than at least 3rd or 4th generation. Who knows where the original is, or even a first generation copy.

The session with "Mike Come Back to LA" is interesting. It's 10/11/77, and all the Beach Boys are present at MIU in Iowa. Things look like they're going great--hell, Mike Love is playing the ORGAN! Apparently, some incident that has never been made public happened after that session, Brian disappeared and the track was never finished. Later, MIU is released without "Our Team," or "Mike," songs which, combined, comprise a good third of that documentary. What could have happened?

Also, the great MIC track "Why" was tracked at the same sessions. Never turned up either.

I have somewhere a copy ex-VHS which was optically converted from NTSC to PAL. Full colour but shocking quality.

I found this really cool Beach Boys blog that has some clips on it. 
http://keepinthesummeralive.tumblr.com/film

Here's a short clip of Dennis laying down his vocal for My Diane (sadly with a narration overdub)

http://youtu.be/YOTpFtp0d4E

Looks like they're having a whale of a time and Mike Come Back... is certainly no worse than many of the numbers on MIU

Why hasn't this been officially released?

I can only think that it's because this takes place during an era which the band is not particularly proud of, and isn't especially highly regarded by fans and critics. So, either the band may be slightly embarrassed by it, or they think there's not enough money to be made from it, or a combination of the two. Too bad, because it still is historically important and very, very interesting.

You can be sure if this was a documentary with significant, important studio footage about Sunflower or Pet Sounds, it would've been released on DVD.

On the other hand, maybe it's a rights issue or the master footage is misplaced/lost?

At 2:30, Brian's falsetto is shaky but sounds surprisingly like it used to. :o

The reason it hasn't come out is that there is no real commercial market for it. But if beach boy central ever happens then maybe they'd offer it to the five or six hundred hard core fans that might buy it

It's nice to finally see this stuff in viewable quality. Even in color!!! Thank you.

It's highly probable that this happened in Seattle at Kaye Smith studio on 12/13/77: the band played the Center Coliseum the same day, and there's no documentation that the track was ever worked on at MIU, or that Dennis was ever in Iowa, although he may have drummed on an early session there for "She's Got Rhythm". The instrumental track was recorded at Brother in the fall of 1976 and sweetened at Wally Heider's 2/22/78.

Yes, point taken that this footage wasn't part of the MIU sessions despite its inclusion in the "Our Team" documentary. Rather, I used the example to illustrate the quality of the footage which is a step up from what I had seen previously.

I asked the director who was present at the "Come Back" session. He said it was all the Beach Boys and most of their wives/girlfriends. In that footage, somebody is definitely playing drums. Somebody with a beard. Either Carl or Dennis.

All the other stuff recorded that day was Christmas music.

The day before has the band playing in Indiana, and the day before that, Iowa. It would make sense they were all there at M.I.U. that day.

The day before when ? The only sequence in 1977 that fits is October 15th & 16th, two weeks before the MIU residency.

Mike Come Back to LA sounds like Some of Your Love from KTSA...

and the outro to Wontcha Come Out Tonight, and Child of Winter, and Summer of Love, and a few more too.

Thanks to bedroom tapes!   I watched all of the bits on that link.   fresh Beachboys candy!

I guess you mean the instrumental track to "My Diane"? Because at first reading I thought you were referring to the instrumental track of "She's Got Rhythm" with the part I highlighted. Just to see if I now got it right.

I know that whenever I'm at a loss for what's being said about a  session/ show, I head over to AGD's site and check for myself...  Such as:  http://www.esquarterly.com/bellagio/gigs78.html

cool site thanks...

Um... I said that Dennis might have played on a track at MIU, then referred to two different studios, one with an exact date that wasn't 1977.

i took a stab at recording "Mike, Come Back to LA" tonight:

https://soundcloud.com/quichenight/mike-come-back-to-la

Yours is probably better than the original!  :lol

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-19LFYE4RTQ&feature=youtu.be&t=44m49s

Now, in color!