The Smiley Smile Message Board

I always took it that "Mike Come Back To L.A." didn´t circulate as a bootleg. In all my years as avid Beach Boys fan I never heard it before now, and I suspect there are others who would like to check it.

edit: I somehow can´t paste youtube clips here, but just type "mike come back to LA beach boys" in the youtube search field and you´ll find it.
here we go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt5YhYuJfr0

Nice find.

Sounds like that one eventually morphed into "Some of Your Love".

Hey, that's pretty cool. Thanks for sharing.

This one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jt5YhYuJfr0

Taken from the 1977 Our Team promo of the Iowa sessions: been on the 'net for many years, so not exactly a find. Would love to see a decent copy of this 30 minute prog - the very best I ever saw (back in 1983 at a small BB fan gathering that was also the first time I met Boyd) was at least third generation.

Did they even finish it? It'd be cool to hear what they actually got done. Sounds like they at least got the instrumental part close to being finished.  Brian sounds pretty good.  Sounded like he was getting part of his voice back.

I believe there's a finished track & bvs, scratch lead vocal.

Traces of Hard Times and Ding Dang in there to my ears…

Also "Child of Winter".

The ascending structure of the chorus is a lift from Be True To Your School

Perhaps it's just a coincidence, but the "Our Team" film is one of two instances where a "making of" doc was a done on one of their albums that used material that wasn't even included on the album. "Our Team" features "Mike Come Back to LA" and "Our Team", while the "Going Platinum" KTSA TV special includes "Goin' to the Beach." Granted, in the case of the latter, they discuss specifically that they left the song off the album.

I always figured on top of the all the obvious reasons they never aired "Our Team", it wouldn't be the best promotional idea to include two songs on the special that aren't even on the album, including the documentary's title track.

And yes, variations on the song's riff can be found all over the places. The melody/riff under the song's title can be heard in "Child of Winter" and "Some of Your Love", and to some degree even in the dreadful "Summer of Love" years later.

So they were simultaneously on warners and columbia in the fall of 77, had an album due soon to honor the new deal but then realized wb expected one more as well? They go to MIU and the xmas album is rejected so they took the four cuts from the 15bO sessions, reword the xmas songs and the MIU album was the end result? I still have no idea why the light album would get any more credit and why Our team wasnt included in place of say tomboy, wontcha come out tonight or winds of change. .

And "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" too.

The session dates show that they recorded the Xmas and non-Xmas version of some songs in tandem at MIU. Farewell to another long held BB myth !

MIU has no songs from the 15BO sessions on it.

come go w me, peggy sue, my diane & tomboy all orig recorded in 76, some polishing possibly done at MIU but I have the book w the session listings.

which book is that?

Beach Boys definitive diary, big blue book with all recording sessh documented.

Both the oldies covers were recorded during 15BOs but the MIU recordings are totally new versions. Tomboy and Diane were never done during the making of 15BOs. They were started during the Love You/New Album era. Dennis cut his vocal for My Diane after the MIU sessions. 

Nobody else notices that it's also the main riff of "Wontcha Come Out Tonight?" from MIU

You mean this? - http://www.amazon.com/The-Beach-Boys-Definitive-Americas/dp/B0076TVMTQ

"Peggy Sue" and the badic track for "Come Go With Me" were recorded during the 15 BO sessions.

Not all, and a goodly percentage is inaccurate or misleading.

I stand corrected. Was nothing added later for Peggy Sue? The MIU track seems to sound much more like a Ron Altbach arrangement then a Brian Wilson one.

Ok so it was later 76 and not early that tomboy, come go, peggy sue and the track for diane... MIU, Light album and KTSA were just as much hodgepodges as 20/20 is all I mean.

Kook, would you die a happy man if everyone on this board agreed that 20/20, 15BO, MIU, LA and KTSA were hodgepodge's and should be sold off by every BB fan?

Agreeing or not, history is history and theres different ways to categorize albums: studio, live, compilation etc. Contradict it or not the BBs ran outta material in the mid 70s and thus putting out cover albums, outtakes etc.

Rare Brian Wilson Footage 1978 • The Beach Boys - Mike Come Back To LA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x6jEGj5bLOM&feature=youtu.be

They wrote TONS of new material from the mid 70s onwards and you posting otherwise every other day is boring the sh*t out of people.

My, but you do talk rubbish sometimes. Most of the time, actually.

I'm sure this similarity has been pointed at before:

http://youtu.be/vQlPKmGh8V4

Anyone have any thoughts about MIU, LA Light Album, KTSA, 15 Big Ones or 20/20?  Very curious.

Not completely cohesive, but they rate from good to decent. There are good songs on them, some guilty pleasures, and some crappy ones too. 15 Big Ones has the least amount of songs I like. It's just a bit too rough.

Starting with 15BO and proceeding chronologically, a classic example of the law of diminishing returns.

I'm curious what your take is on Love You vs 15BO?

I was referring to the titles originally listed by Steve. My opinion of Love You has been well known for several decades.

You prefer MIU to LA?

<<You prefer MIU to LA?>>

The question was for Andrew, but sometimes, I do.  Depends on my mood.  MIU, for me, despite the weak songwriting, is just good old fashioned fun.  A nod to the good old days.  It's just plain fun.  LA, on the other had, is an album for adults, commercial and polished, more of an attempt to make some real, intentional art.  It was the last attempt to make a truly "group" record ala 20/20, Sunflower and Holland.  It doesn't achieve the heights those others do, but has its moments... and its moments are excellent.

The difference between the two, for me is like Summer Days and Pet Sounds.  I put Summer Days in the car stereo on a sunny day for a trip down PCH to the beach.  I wouldn't do the same with Pet Sounds.

I do.

I do, too. Whatever its faults, M.I.U. has serious BW participation. L.A. has virtually none, and a couple of good Dennis songs don't make up for that (to my ears, it's also the album where Carl descends into the anesthetizing pleasures of elevator music).

Same here, LA is just so damn boring after good timin (BW song from 1974).

Yup. Less... slick.

  To my ears L.A. is an intermittently successful attempt at adult pop, yacht rock, etc. It stuns that Bruce did not have to sense to advise the band to cut the album version of "Here Comes the Night" to about 5:00, then include perhaps the first version of "Santa Ana Winds" and something by Brian, hopefully "California Feeling" or "Still I Dream Of It." That would have been a good album.  I like all of side one - even "Sumahama"- but side two doesn't cut it.

   MIU does have more Brian participation, sure, but he was not the guiding light of the album by any means. Mike, Al, and Ron Altbach were able to use Brian's contributions to fulfill their own vision for the record, more or less. "Hey Little Tomboy" is one of the group's dumbest songs.

  Is "Mike Come Back to L.A" about Mike Love? Much better here than as the milk-curdling "Some of Your Love."

IMO MIU had a lot of potential,but is marred by horrible lyrics, IMO the music and harmonies aren't THAT bad, in fact some of the harmonies are actually quite beautiful, for example every one seems to "hate" "Belles of Paris" but the harmonies are great on that one, sure the lyrics suck,but if they ever released a stack o track version of the song (or album) or stack o vocals (or both) it may give people a better appreciation for the music and the harmonies. Now L.A. also had some potential, the problem I have with it is that it seems more like a bunch of solo tracks compiled as Beach Boy songs (some with dubs from other members to make it more beach boys),a couple Carl solo, a couple Dennis solo,a horrible Mike Love solo, and a Brian solo with Carl singing, to me it sounds like a band on the verge of breaking up trying to cut and paste an album, and of course I can't forget to mention the horrible disco song. they could have easily placed a couple more songs in it's place, after all they had a bunch of Great songs by Dennis and Brian collecting dust that could have gone in its place.

as for 20/20, when I first heard it I didn't know anything about it being a "Hodgepodge"  until a few years later, so I guess it works out as a regular Beach Boys album for those who don't know that it is a "Hodgepodge", but those who analyze there work it comes off as being "Hodgepodge". 15 big ones, IMO, is their worst album, too many cover tunes, and the original songs are either older songs or "solo" tracks plopped onto the album. KTSA is not bad but not great either, it has songs that people either love or hate, for example a lot of people don't like "Living with a heartache" but I consider it one of the best songs on the album, the cover tunes are pretty much like they are on 15 big ones, although maybe a little more polished, but, IMO, still bad. IMO "Santa Ana Winds" is the best song on it, and it would have been great on "Holland" in the California Saga medley, it seems the last of the "70's" Beach Boys sound to appear on an album.

I'd love to hear the demos for MIU, Brian may have his name on the songwriting credits but the arrangements and production is all Ron Altbach who's style is a million miles away from Brian's. I read recently that Brian says he has no recollection of making the album, I wonder if this is true or if he just doesn't wish to talk about it due to the personal problems he was having during that time?

here's something hella random: a cover of Mike Come Back to L.A. by Quichenight https://quichenight.bandcamp.com/track/mike-come-back-to-l-a

Enjoyed that more than SOYL!

MIU is a fun album. I admit to loving it when it first came out. Nowadays, I rarely listen to it, but like several of the songs. It's toward the bottom on the Beach Boys album list. but has its moments. My Diane I like a lot. I admit to a fondness fro Match Point Of Our Love - I enjoy Brian's vocal and the melody. A lot of people don't like its lyrics, but hey, he was going for a metaphor. LOL

I like LA a lot, save for Sumahama and the disco marathon. Yes, cut it short and add 3 songs. Bruce - you blew it there. I agree that Brian and Dennis had several songs, several, that could  have been added and really elevated the album. Yes, it's a Yacht Rock feel of an album, but I like that about it. Good Timin' has always been a favorite. Good Brian and Carl song. I like Full Sail, Angel Come Home, and Love Surround Me. Baby Blue is very good.

KTSA - I liked it at the time. Haven't put it on in years. I like the title track a lot, Santa Anna Winds, and Living With A Heartache. I always thought a country star would come across Living With A Heartache and have a hit with it. The covers do nothing for me. I enjoyed hearing them perform KTSA live back in the day. Have a great summer memory of that in a concert at the Pacific Amp in Costa Mesa, CA back in the early 80s. Just out from Indiana and a huge Beach Boys/Brian fan, those 80s concerts in Southern California were like heaven for this landlocked small town boy.

20/20 - I never knew or considered it a hodgepodge when I discovered it in the 70s. And so what if it is? Its a solid album. I just bought it on vinyl again. lol

20/20, Love You, LA, MIU, KTSA, 15 Big Ones...................................................................SIP

My order of those being discussed. MHO