The Smiley Smile Message Board

New, official Soundstage clip appears on the YouTube ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pF9k3I1sQSE

Nice, I do love those years of the band.  Still got it though the background vocals sound a little slick for Blondie's rawness.

I see this was linked to a couple of pages back on the general Soundstage thread. My apologies!

That being said, nice to see a high-quality video of this performance. I watched Blondie perform the tune with Brian, Al and Dave in Boston a couple of years ago, and it was special then, too.

Excellent! Great quality!

I hadn't seen that!

Thanks!  ;)

Kinda funny how there's more Beach Boys on that stage than the official touring band that owns The Beach Boys name.

Don't forget Billy Hinche!

Wow!! I mean WOW!!!  Blondie on stage with Ricky again! And Billy on keys! Shades of London, 1972! Brian's making more use of Blondie than the Stones did!  ;D

Would love to see Rick making a few guest appearances during Brian's upcoming tour. And Billy too! And Al with his white suit (again) getting into it and enjoying himself!

Man, looking forward to seeing Blondie sing a few songs on stage again. Hoping for "Hold On Dear Brother" if it isn't too much to ask!

Brian, making up for lost time........making up for Blondie & Ricky's being absent for the C50.  Take that, Mike & Brucie!

Now.........where's Dave.  Paging David Marks! Would LOVE to see all these guys on the same stage together this year.

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :rock :rock :rock :woot :woot

this is gold. The various BB playing amazing versions of their classics; this is just a dream come true. The only thing better would be all the BB together in this venture. Blondie is rockin' on the solo.

Agree. This is (as we say here in Blighty) the dog's bollox. My only addition would be a more relaxed setting, get rid of the seats, get a noisier crowd in… drag out those endings … crank up the amps…light up, pass out the beers… ROCK!!!!!!!

Sounds very much like the Crystal Palace gig version of WH from '72.

Did they change the lyrics? In the studio version it's "Eat up, eat up, eat up honey" and here it sounds different, though I can't make out the actual words.

Blondie's still a great singer/performer! Glad the original version doesn't have a sax solo. ;D

.........and that guitar solo............awl- righty !!

Not a bit fan of his vocal. Great guitar solo, though.

I know this is going to raise the ire of the faithful here, but I like Blondie's vocals on this better than Carl's. Blondie has a rocker voice. Carl just sounds so strained on "Wild Honey" and , as a Speech Therapist, I cringe at the thought of him shredding his vocal cords trying to "rock out." I can barely listen to him sing it. Blondie's more raw natural voice fits much better, IMHO.

Can't totally disagree with that but it goes to show what kind of range Carl possessed. Blondie does seem to handle it with no problem whatsoever. Wonder how Al or Dave would do on W/H??

Not to worry, Carl isn't shredding his vocal chords now

What's wrong with his voice?

If BW really wants to do "the rock n' roll album" next, ditch those smooth session player guitarists and get Blondie in there playing rhythm guitar with some occasional leads. Great filthy tone! Add David Marks & Fataar, "accidentally" remove some of Mertens' solo spots, you're sorted!

What are recording rates like in Holland?

This is amazing. I'm way more excited about and impressed by this performance than anything from the C50 Beach Boys reunion.

Blondie is a great addition to the band :)

You and me both!  Between the thin production on the stripped down albums (Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends) and Carl's "forced" delivery, I wasn't a fan of the song until I finally heard Blondie's take (which I LOVE!).  Seeing that the boys always referred to it as an R&B number, I'm thinking the Boys themselves preferred Blondie's more soulful take, which is why I suspect they gave him the vocal in concerts.  Carl is over all the best singer the band ever had but everyone had their particular strengths and that said, I think Blondie had the most "soulful" voice of the bunch.

Great, great version. And that solo....gold.

Since Brian didn't tour in the early 70's is this the first time he's played on stage with both Rickey and Blondie?

Carl recorded it in a higher key. They lowered it down for Blondie. 1990s-Carl would have sounded wonderful in this key. Cowsill sings it in the original key, if I recall.

Someone could correct me if I'm wrong but I think all three of them were at a a benefit for Carl in the early 2000s.  Though they might not have performed together.

October 8, 2000. All three were together that day.

The swag and confidence he has when he steps out to do that solo is the sh*t.  He's still got a Rock & Roll heart, I don't care how old he is.  I guess you never lose it if you've got it. 

Big thumbs up for this one! Blondie rocks! :rock

I've always loved Carl singing WH. Matt Jardine does a fine version of it too, closer to Carl's than Blondie's, and he sings it without any strain in his voice. I've never seen Cowsill's version.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zs8DTQhSNt0

Well Blondie is just amazing on this and I love it beyond belief!   Can't wait for the PBS Soundstage special and Brian's tour.

Thanks for this link to Cowsill's "Wild Honey" as well.  Even though I haven't been to Mike's shows, I now get it about Cowsill - that was truly impressive, even with the crappy YouTube sound.  He is as good as he's been described.

Of course, I've loved Blondie's voice since I first heard it in 1969, so...

Thanks for the link to the Cowsill version. That's a righteously hard-rocking take on the song. I've seen M&B's show a couple times since they started playing WH live, but it wasn't done at either show I attended.

If Scott Totten happens to be reading this, "Wild Honey" is my favorite song of all time, so I hope I get a chance to hear y'all play it.

And I'm looking forward to seeing Blondie sing WH at the Fabulous Fox this summer!

yes, Cowsill is excellent! A shame they didn't exchange him for Foskett at gunpoint over a lonely Berlin bridge one night. Or how about for Nelson Bragg? He could smile uneasily next to Stamos.

1969?  Really?  Before he was a Beach Boy? 

Blondie does look like he received a transfusion with Keith Richards' blood.  But this is cool, high end video and audio of a great performance.  I will say that relative to my recall of his stealing the show with this song at the Jeff Beck shows, it does feel a tad tame.  But that's quibbling!

*urge to make heroin joke rising*

Yeah, Aum, the hard stuff has taken a toll on Blondie. Surprised he can still belt out a good rocker after hitting the sauce for so long.

Not authentic enough ... Mike's not playing the woowoo machine.

Carl produced The Flame before Blondie and Ricky joined the band, and when did The Flame's album come out, about 1970? Carl must've brought some demos or tracks to Brother Records beforehand to get them signed to the label. 1969 seems reasonable considering thsi timeline, no?

Yep, Mikie, as Levon Helm said, "I ain't in it for my health!"  As I mentioned, Blondie stole the show at the Jeff Beck gigs.  He knew how to take the spotlight and really took his songs to "church."

I think Blondie's voice has gotten better with age.  A little different, much deeper than it was in his Beach Boys days but still very strong.  It's cool that he's sort of reclaiming his status as a former Beach Boy as David Marks also has in recent years after being ignored by the band's history for so long.

Right arm, man. I missed the Beck gigs but saw the clip on YouTube of Blondie singing Wild Honey at the Greek in L.A. Looking forward to seeing him in Saratoga with Brian in June. Meanwhile, this will have to hold me over:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JfDKow9kcpU

Well, Loaf, according to the timeline:

Blondie joined “The Flames” in 1967 and he was on their 1968 single, "For Your Precious Love." While the Beach Boys were on tour in the UK around the middle of 1969, Al heard the Flames in Blaise's (London) and told Carl about them. Carl invited them to the U.S. to record in L.A., and later that summer they flew to California, where Carl rented them a beautiful house overlooking Sunset Boulevard. Work permits were slow to materialize, however, which allowed them not only to immerse themselves in LA's hedonistic atmosphere, but also to move away from the cover versions that had defined them thus far, and start honing their own material under Wilson's encouraging supervision. Sessions with Desper at the controls finally began in October 1969, and without the constraints of a tight studio schedule they were given free rein to perfect their arrangements. Recording of the LP, which was produced by Carl, was completed in July, 1970, and they embarked on a small promo tour to support its October 1970 release. Meanwhile, The Flames had broken up and Blondie & Ricky changed their group name to "The Flame". Another album was recorded soon after that, this time with more strings and horns in the mix. After the first single by The Flame was released in October, 1970, Carl had "The Flame" open shows for The Beach Boys the following month. Then Blondie (and Ricky) joined permanently as Beach Boys in 1972.

So. Maaaaybe one could hear demos or recording session tapes in late 1969, but.......

Can you say "QUAD"?  An album by "The Flame" with a poster and insert that explained how to position your four speakers to hear the album?

Definitely... a lot of the country guys do that too, the older some of these guys get the heavier, thicker, and weary their voices get.  If they can still hit the notes in key, it adds a lot and makes their voice much better.  Blondie's got that going on, he's still hitting the notes but now his tone is much better. 

It's similar to playing guitar, technique is very important (hitting the right notes) but the tone is also very important (texture of the notes).