The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey everybody, just wondering, but why after Love You, did the Beach Boys decide to use a lot of the Brian songs they put on MIU and KTSA instead of the (mostly) much stronger material that he wrote around this period that was almost, if not totally, finished.  I know music is all about taste, but I would find it weird if somebody honestly would choose "Oh Darlin" or "Sunshine" over something like "It's Over Now" or "California Feeling."

Which brings me to another question, mostly posed for the Beach Boys experts. What prevented the release of "California Feeling" in the 70's. The recording with Carl/Bruce seems to be from the LA era and seems like it would have been a perfect fit on an album sorely lacking Brian contributions beside "Good Timin." Also about "CF," was there a certain attachment Brian held to this song, because according to those BW Selected BB Classics liner notes, it seems like there is/was. Also, when were attempts made to record this song, I know of a demo session with a clear voiced Brian in '74, and (I think) the Carl/Bruce version from '78. Also, was there any Brian involvement in that recording?? Sorry for all the questions, but the whole late '70's period has been of great interest to me lately. Thanks everybody.

Maybe when the work-in-progress tapes for the first Caribou release were rejected by the record company there was a spirit of restarting from scratch and CF got lost in the way.

PS: I know that AGD will add that CF is overrated as hell but I could easily find a place for it in every Beach Boys album after Holland. It wouldn't fit with in Love You but then the other miscast, Good Time, wouldn't feel so lonely.  ;D

Some of the '74 Caribou tapes were destroyed in a fire...not sure about the '74 version of "CF" though.  As for the '78 version, Brian is the one who vetoed its release on "L.A.".  I can only guess that the reason must've been because he wasn't happy with the way the recording turned out, and wanted to wait until he had a good track on it.  Either that or he was hoping it would be released by American Spring, who I think cut it at MIU the previous fall.

Overrated only in that the 1976 Tim White articles promised it was jaw-droppingly wonderful and up there with the best stuff Brian had ever done. And naeive little fan that I was back then, I believed him. Actually hearing it was a severe disappointment. Not unlike first hearing the Wilson/Paley tracks that Priore had multiple orgasms over - some of them are good, but none of them were anything like as good as promised.

I think "Sunshine" is a pretty underrated Wilson/Love collaboration. Granted; the track's production is RIDICULOUS, but the song ranks at least with "Roller Skating Child," and the better tunes off MIU. Personally, I can find something special about just about every Wilson/Love co-write.


"California Feelin'" is marred -- as is "Sweet Sunday Love"; another great Wilson/Love "SONG" -- by lousy production and a phoned-in vocal by Carl.

Imagine CF with a more engaged Carl vocal, and just a piano -- if Alan Boyd could find the proper elements to make that happen, I'd love to see it realized/released after Dennis' 2,475 unreleased tracks get issued. (Man, the cool things this band could be doing with their catlogue rather than handing down orders to remix "Hang On To Your Ego" again...) I've also never been that big a fan of Kalinich's lyrics for the tune. (Sounds a bit like a tourist brochure at times.)

The "lost classic" from this era is "Almost Summer." A real gem that's gotten a bad rap throughout the years.

Um, it's not much of a W/L collaboration - the basic track is one cut for the Spector song "Little Girl" and it also used parts of "Smokey Places" (the song, not the BB recording thereof). Plus, even as white reggae it's astonishingly unconvincing.

What was it that you liked about The Beach Boys again, Andrew?

The beards.

I have to say that  I really like "Oh Darlin", "Some Of Your Love", & KTSA, of course. "Goin' On" is one of my favorite BB tunes of all time. It probably has more to do with what was going on with at the time (being 21 and having a girlfriend kinda thing) but I still love the tune to this day. I know Andrew really dislikes "Oh Darlin" but it still holds up for me after al these years. And now after hearing the Brian sung version, I really wish he would have done the lead. He had more emotion that Carl did in his vocal.

I wish that the Beach Boys central would get online and let us start downloading some of these late 70s tunes!

Bob

I love "Oh darlin" too. It's one of the best latter-tunes imo, but it was destroyed by the production, which is really awful....

I read an int where Bruce was very adament that CF not go on L.A. Light. So it may have been he and not Brian who nixed it.

Wasn't it that BW didn't want a version of California Feelin' on MIU when that was going to be called California Feelin'?

Yup, that's my understanding. But I've seen the Bruce comment too.

I agree with a lot of what has been posted about California Feelin'.

I think it's overrated too. Steve Kalinich might be a good guy, but I'm not a fan of his lyrics. And I find it hard to believe, yet in some ways totally believable, that Bruce or Brian would say, and these are my words, "Let's reject California Feelin', a light, harmony-laden song, positive, California/Beach Boyish song, and end the album with Shortenin' Bread". For me, putting Shortenin' Bread on L.A. (Light Album) is one of the biggest head-scratchers in BB history.

I also agree that Almost Summer was/is an enjoyable song. Unfortunately, it's commercial success (I believe it was Top 40) might've motivated Mike to go "back" with Brian (MIU) instead of forward.

"Almost Summer" topped out at #28 in the US. Highest since "R&R Music"..

This thread makes me wonder if a KTSA with all Brian vocals on the songs he wrote, and co-wrote (as well as School Days) would have increased in estimation amongst us fans.

Why is Sweet Sunday Love a "SONG" and not just a song? Is it not actually a song or something, or ironically a song in some way? Just curious.

Now that I live in Iowa, you'd bet your ass I'm going to MIU (now MUM, I believe) and jamming the sh*t out of MIU. I'm convinced that if I blast "Pitter Patter" with the right EQ in the "Golden Domes" (http://truenorthbytomnorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/best-small-towns-fairfield-ia-praying-large.jpg), it will usher in the age of the Aquarius. But I don't know, that's just me.

Seriously though, MIU is a major guilty pleasure for me. "Pitter Patter", "My Diane", "Matchpoint", "Wontcha Come Out Tonight?", and "Hey Little Tomboy"? Sorry, but I'd take those songs over most of Holland.  "Belles of Paris", and the idea of Mike trying to romance French woman, is always good for a laugh. To think I've been pronouncing "croissant" wrong this whole time.

I actually think MIU could seriously benefit from a remix. It's got that "slab of sound" Love You/15 Big Ones vibe, but it's flattened like a pancake.  Just a nice, bouncy vibe.

Might you be referencing that elusive group mentioned by Elvis in 1968?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JPMNJ14KHJg#t=35s

Totally agree. M.I.U. is a great candidate for a remix. And, I'd go one step further - add "Our Team" as a bonus track. Actually, it would fit perfectly right after "Winds Of Change" as an album closer anyway. I would love to hear a newly-remixed, 13 song M.I.U Album, with some liner notes and rare photos. Maybe even package it with the Our Team documentary on DVD. I'm in!

Think he meant it was a great song as opposed to great recording...

My biggest disappointment with Made in California was lack of attention to songs of this era as far as getting the mix right, best versions, alternate versions etc.  I had hoped there would finally be a completely realized version of CF.  I'll allow points for speeding up Its Over Now.  Actually, I'm a big fan of the stuff that came after Holland.  Tons of potential that has not been realized.

How could any version of CF be any more realized than what we got in the MIC box set?

Without dragging the surviving members to the studio to add new parts in 2012, of course.

  My impression is that CF is good but not great. The '78 version would have sounded better if Mike Love had handled the chorus instead of Bruce. It needed more vitality and Love would have delivered. Even so, it would have been welcome on LA or KTSA. For whatever reason Brian was ambivalent about the song.

As not brilliant as it is, it would have improved LA - instead of Shortenin Bread or Sumahama or Goin' South or Here Comes the Night or Lady Lynda.

 Impossible to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear even though I do dig "Matchpoint".

Actually, now that I think about, Al's take on the song on Postcard is about as good as the song can get. Which is pretty good. The song just has an odd bit of clunkiness to it that prevents it from being a true Beach Boys classic. It's funny that Al got Brian on "Drivin'", but not "California Feelin'", and such a typical Beach Boys move, lol. Brian on the harmonies could've been a nice touch.

Here's a perfect MIU

Side 1
California Feelin'
Wontcha Come Out Tonight?
Hey Little Tomboy
Our Team
Come Go With Me
Good Timin'
Shortenin' Bread

Side 2
Sweet Sunday Kinda Love
My Diane
Match Point of Our Love
It's Over Now
Love Remember Me
Life Is For the Living

  Let's delete "Tomboy" and pull in "Tug of Love", which was available as an POB outtake.

I get that "Hey Little Tomboy" is controversial, but I still think it's a catchy song. The way they trade off on lead vocals is awesome.

  More embarrassing than controversial. But I see you have "Love Remember Me" which gives Dennis his moment. You've nearly managed to salvage the album. Any thoughts on "Still I Dream Of It" fitting in?

"Still I Dream Of It" fits in musically, for sure. But almost feel that it's too confessional and Brian for a Beach Boys album. It's definitely a closer song if it's on an album.

The problem with "California Feeling" is definitely in the recording, not the song. I actually think  the song is a bit of a classic, and Al's version of it (and dare I say it, Brian's demo) show the potential of what it could be far more than the Beach Boys recording, which features distinctly meh vocals by both Bruce and Carl.

Indeed, I think Brian's demo gives the clearest picture of the direction the arrangement should have been taken in. It's more of a Randy Newman type, slightly theatrical song, and shouldn't have been given a reading that was quite so straight as the Beach Boys version.

Al's choice to make it into a sort The Good, the Bad and the Ugly style southwestern thing with the whistles like you can hear the dust rolling past the cactus works pretty damn well.

When I heard Alan's version, first thought was "he's heard Brian's 1974 demo" because they were essentially identical in phrasing (down to the whistling). And gosh darn it if he didn't admit that in an interview recently.  ;D

lyrics of CF could need a little rewriting.
'look at the orange grooves, and taste a grapefruit from a grapefruit tree...' is weak imo and could be redone, even if it gives good imagery.

I would save California Feelin' for LA because it's more worthy. MIU without Pitter Patter? Shudder.

Pitter Patter is superior to many of those songs imo...

My personal tracklist:

1, Pitter Patter
2, Lady Lynda
3, It`s Trying to Say

4, Come Go With Me
5, Country Pie
6, Sad, Sad, Summer

7, That Special Feeling
8, My Diane
9, Still I Dream of It

10, Kona Coast
11, Winter Symphony
12, Holy Evening

See, I save Country Pie for my LA too, but Lady Lynda without the intro and Winter Symphony? Definitely.