The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hello all, I'm a relatively new BW/BB fan and came across Adult Child on a file-sharing service (hope it's ok to mention that). I haven't seen much written about it on these boards and the net in general. Hope someone could answer some questions I have about it. Was this album supposed to be released after Love You? Was it to be a solo or BB release? Any chance this will ever get a proper release? Has there ever been another album in the history of music that mentions both organic food and getting season tickets for baseball? Any other tidbits on this great "lost" album would be appreciated.

Yes.
BB, as every BB member is represented by a lead vocal.
No.
No.
Games Two Can Play and H.E.L.P Is On The Way are 1970 outtakes strangely included.

I only recently heard the entire thing, but was very familiar with about half of the tracks before. It's an even more odd piece of Brian than we got on Love You, in my opinion. Songs like "Everybody Wants To Live" are just...well, nuts. The first verse is so bizarre it's just brilliant to me. That, "Lines," "ITTS (Baseball)," etc...

And more of the good ol' exercise-mantra coming from the, ah, slightly hypocritical Brian ("Life is For the Living," paired with the aforementioned). It is an interesting album, but I can't quite bring myself to call it exactly good. It's better than MIU and all that followed, of course, but so are the random sounds of passing traffic.

Deep Purple is amazing, and It's Over Now, Still I Dream Of It and It's Trying To Say are pretty incredible too.
Lines has one of Brian's GREAT stream-of-consciousness lyrics, who else would write a song about how much they hate lines at the movies? And then he actually narrates his thoughts on the movie! "Oh, the movie's movin' kinda slow...". Genius.

Yeah, "Adult Child" is just insane. I'll never get my head around the lyrics to "EWTL" and "Lines" almost reminds my of something Bob Odenkirk would write -- both in a good way.

Isn't Live the one where he says "A cigarette butt in the water goes pffft"?

Hah. That's the one.

I think Deep Purple is a good song, but his singing is weak, even for him at that time. (There's a line in there where he sounds as if he's either choking or laughing.) I agree wholeheartedly about the other three.

Been in my mind for days.

"... though you're gone *KAH* ..."

Well, Deep Purple being a classic standard, and Brian covering it makes part of this weird text that runs through the album of Brian interpreting the big-band sounds so loved by his dad. I think it's actually a tribute to Murry, that album. By a broken-hearted and wasted son.
Life, Purple, Still I Dream and It's Over all share that sound, with Over actually stating "I'll put a Frank Sinatra album on and cry my blues away. I wish he would have carried that sound through the whole album.

Oh my god, I've wanted to hear that song ever since I heard Carnie talking about it in the IJWMFTT documentary.. she said something to the effect of, "I remember one time when I was young, all of the sudden he said, 'I'm gonna write a song about a cigarette!', and then ten minutes later he's written this crazy song about putting out a cigarette in the toilet."

It's pretty easy to find. I'm sure somebody can help you with that.

No doubt that it would have been a more cohesive, and probably interesting, album. It is definitely "interrupted" by the 1970 songs, and even the other, differently-arranged tracks.

Shortnin' Bread really lets the whole thing down, even though it fits in with the title.
Al's On Broadway is by far his best oldie performance. Really good.

I am put to sleep by that entire song. Arguably the dullest, most lifeless piece of music I've ever heard.

You've heard him do School Days and Peggy Sue?

Sadly, yes.

I think it's gonna sound fanboyish, but his vocals in On Broadway sound VERY Alan Jardine. Specially the "Cause I can play this here guitar" line. But I suspect any outside listener would consider this version mediocre.

Might not fit in on Adult Child, but is still one of his best songs -- and the basis for about twenty five other songs by him I really like!

"Heaven, Heaven is far away, Angels no longer play"

I Just put Adult Child to play... Boy this line defines "singing in the shower".

I love Marilyn's voice on that line.

Everybody Wants To Live is such an odd, great song. Carl sounds like Dean Martin on this one.

Beware of the bootleggers' remixes that appear on the Dumb Angel Rarities series....Trying To Say, On Broadway and Hey Little Tomboy have redundant intros there.

And I have to agree about On Broadway...one of the lamest arrangements ever. But then again, I can't stand most of the Beach Boys's oldies covers.

I do too, But I'm a fan. If this was Ms. McGuinn ruining the bridge of "Chestnut Mare" I think I wouldn't be so understanding.

If that happened, I'd be ready to kill someone. NO ONE tampers with that song or album.

The two things I really like on A/C is the alt. versions of Shortien' Bread and Hey Little Tomboy. The dialogue is a bit creepy but it makes it funny. Then Shortien' Bread has the crazy organ going on in the alt. WAY better then the LA Light version.

God, Im missing out on a lot of Beach Boys stuff... :(

Who would've thought that ADULT CHILD would be the last music that Brian Wilson would produce for/with the Beach Boys? Not me. And that was almost 30 years ago...

hey I'm totally new on this board (lurking for ages) and I recently discovered Adult Child.
It's over now and Still I dream of it are one of his best songs, and overall I think this could have been a great beach boys album (the last great I mean)
The lyrics aren't irritating on this record like on most post-SMilE, they are too weird for that, so is live is for the living, normally I hate those big band songs, but on a disc with Still I dream of it and Shortin'Bread it's so misplaced that I like it.

I guess it was rejected because it wasn't 'happy'enough and the tracklisting doesn't flow?

It's a quirky mess of a record.  Was BW's original intention to do a whole album of big band style stuff?  I quite like these except for the vocals on Deep Purple.  Shortenin Bread's far better here than on LA and I kinda like On Broadway - the only decent oldie from that period not on 15 Big Ones and better than most of them.  Pity about a lot of that filler stuff that had been lying around for a while...  As for Hey Little Tomboy... Well, no thanks.  Maybe he would've got away with it on Love You, but not here.

It wasn't.  He managed to get two tracks done in 1995.  And they were as good as you could have hoped for from the band.  Of course, that means that they couldn't manage to finish the album.

I would also say that "It's Just A Matter of Time" is up there as one of the last great BB songs.

As soon as I pressed the post button, I knew I should've been more specific and not just used the word "music". I also knew it was just a matter of time (no pun intended) until somebody would call me on it. Which they did!

What I meant to say was "album" - released or unreleased - or at the very least what could be considered a "project". And, yes, I am aware of Brian's producer credit on Stars And Stripes, but we don't really count that now do we?

OK, Jeff, I  THOUGHT about the 1995 sessions. But I had some serious questions about those 2 songs. First of all, I thought the sessions were too brief to be considered a project. Do you know how long they were in the studio? A day or two (I don't know, that's why I'm asking), and second, although Brian was there and contributing, was he actually producing the sessions, or was it a group production effort? Was it ever officially announced or understood that Brian was the sole producer of the then "new" album? I look forward to your information on these sessions.

Don Was produced those tracks.

"OK, Jeff, I  THOUGHT about the 1995 sessions. But I had some serious questions about those 2 songs. First of all, I thought the sessions were too brief to be considered a project. Do you know how long they were in the studio? A day or two (I don't know, that's why I'm asking),"

Basically, yes, because there were only vocals done for three of the songs. Brian and Andy Paley, of course spent many a session on all the other backing tracks.

"and second, although Brian was there and contributing, was he actually producing the sessions, or was it a group production effort?"

In terms of the Beach Boys, Brian definitely was in charge. It was NOT a group effort, and that's perhaps one of the reasons why Carl, of all people, pulled the plug on the project. It's often been said that he thought the new material wasn't good enough, but I don't believe he that was the real problem, as Carl had previously taken part of two BB albums which obviously are a piece of crap compared to Brian's new Paley material. Don Was helped out with a few tracks and the others were produced by Brian and Andy, with no particular input from the rest of the band.

So they say.  But I have heard Don Was productions elsewhere, including his Brian movie and soundtrack, and those songs do NOT sound like him in control.  My understanding was that Was was like a referee between Brian and the others, trying to heal and mediate old wounds, and that he wasn't calling all the shots.

Anyway, they certainly were Brian's artistic vision, and a far cry better than anything else the BB had done in almost 20 years.  And they killed the project only to do Stars and Stripes.  What is wrong with THAT picture...?

My understanding (and I think this is from AGD) is that Carl was opposed to recording Baywatch Nights for the Baywatch soundtrack.  He thought it was inferior.  Ironic that Mike was apparently fully supportive to the project as a whole.

Keep in mind, everyone, that "producer" doesn't always mean the same thing. With some bands, a producer is basically arranging, possibly performing, selecting songs, and making suggestions for engineers -- really getting into it. Other times, it's some other combination of those, more of some, less of others. Or even just being there to make sure it all happens. Nik Venet was a producer for the Beach Boys, but most people agree that Brian produced at least some of those sessions.

I've heard that "Soul Searching" was Paley's vision of a bland soul vamp. Come on, it's a fine little song but I think I even like "Goin' On" better than SS. Now "Still A Mystery" was much better.

Have you heard Solomon Burke's cover of SS? There it becomes quite a great soul vamp.

Disagree about Soul Searchin', though I agree it isn't their greatest.  But I will argue again and again that YSAM is the BEST BB track post-Sail On Sailor without apology.  If they had done an album in full with songs like that and arrangements like that, I think that they could have pulled an Eric Clapton/Santana comeback.  But such was not to be I guess.  Now I can only hope it gets some form of official release.

Luther, I will get back with you this weekend when I have time to look some stuff up. (from the PM, for those confused by this statement).

Everybody Wants to Live is one of my favorite Beach Boys songs.  I love the lyrics and the chorus is wonderful.  The synth bass is reminiscent of the best work on Love You.

All in all, "Adult/Child" would have been a great release in my opinion, a flop of course, but definetely better than MIU and LA.

It's Tryin to Say, Everybody Wants to Live, Lines, and of course It's Over Now, and Still I Dream of It are all wonderful.

Even, if you had any idea how much we love our Baseball in Boston...you would not TEASE! ;D

Haha, maybe not. I'm probably in a minefield I know nothing about.

Yep.  We have baseball, and beloved players with great names like Dizzy Dean and The Big Hurt.

You guys have AHA with great names like "Pal" and smoked fish. :P

And you get people like Jimmy Fallon to represent you in movies about your passion.  Bet you loved that.

Hahaha
FYI, It's pronounced "paul" and a-ha rock.

And, what's wrong with smoked fish anyway? You can even combine it with kiwi fruit. Who can beat that?
(http://www.vg.no/bilder/bildarkiv/1127460207.17865.jpg)

surrogate touche for Even!

Speaking of A-ha...remember when "Take on Me" was butchered in Corky Romano?

Who was in that? Jimmy Fallon.

 ???

My feeling is that whatever good reputation the Beach Boys still had after LOVE YOU would have been totally destroyed if they'd put out ADULT/CHILD.

As someone else posted earlier, it's a mess.

That is what happened, when MIU came out.

It's a mess, but a glorious mess. It's certainly better than both 15 Big Ones and MIU, imo. I don't think it would have hurt one bit. Sure, the lyrics are often goofy, but that didn't stop Surf's Up - containing "Take a Load off Your Feet" - from acclaim. And the "worst" lyric - Hey Little Tomboy - was used on MIU anyway. Au contraire, my friend, I think the public and critics would have recognised the greatness that is "Still I Dream of It" and "It's Over Now." My tuppence...

As if 15BO had not already done that in 1976.

But that album sold well.

And totally destroyed their rep.  The BB renaissance started by Endless Bummer guaranteed that any new album sold by the BB would go Top 10.  But notice how well all subsequent albums sold?  Or how easy it is to find a used copy of 15BO?  People bought it, got it home and hated it.  And the rep was shredded.

Therein lies the problem. The oldies sold because people knew the band that way. And even back to Pet Sounds, the oldies (i.e., Greatest Hits) sold better than the quality new stuff. Mike was smart, and he rode that wave (bad surfing reference) as long as he could. Made the band money. But it is the problem, and the reason that some very cool, progressive music didn't happen.

Spot on, Jeff.
Exactly the reason why Love You bombed. They could have put out the cure for cancer and bombed after 15 BO.

Love You does cure cancer. I'm convinced of it.

 
Some did, just not enough.

Very true, Ian.

On that note, what might have happened if more of Dennis' solo stuff had been incorporated into BBs material, more of Carl's music (there's some on LA, of course, but you have to go back half a decade or so for the last Carl songs before that), etc? Would it have made for better albums that bombed? Or might the public have cared?

I've been putting together in my mind albums that could have come out around '78, '79, etc. It isn't that they had to be so bad. There was plenty to work with.

15BO's didn't hurt the BB's career! They had their first hit single in years with it and it sold well enough. (I detest that single but whatever) It was in fact Love You that bombed mightily, setting them back with their record company (nefariously negotiating with rival companies didn't help). Love You was such a departure (I"d say 'ahead of it's time') for the average BB fan that it fed the internal struggles within the group (leading to the Mike & Al show of MIU) and alienated Warner's enough to look unfavorably on Adult Child.

AC is a very fragmented album to begin with, but I think it has lovely moments. It's Trying To Say, Lines, etc. Deep Purple, though, was straying too far into MOR.

I don't get this!  Everyone thinks that because 15BO was a hit that it didn't hurt the BB?  And that LY bombing was what did it?  Come on -- re-read the 1976 press.  There was a tremendous backlash critically against the band who came across as washed up.  They had not released a new album in 3 years, they knew what was at stake, a huge promo package put together, and THAT was the best that they could do?  Carl and Dennis were both opposed to its release but overruled.  They knew what would happen.

Love You bombed for two reasons: 1) no one believed that the BB could make a decent record after 15BO and 2) they had already negotiated the new contract with Caribou at that time and poisoned the label against them.  That happened just as Love You was being released and the label gave it zero promotional push.  It frankly is amazing in some ways that Love You went Top 50 -- no single, no radio play, and yet it outperformed the next three albums which all generated radio singles. 

And did they ever actually submit Adult Child for possible release?  My understanding is that they did not.  And surely Warners would have taken something like Adult Child over MIU any day of the week.

I don't agree with you on this. Yes, 15 Big Ones did hurt the Beach Boys, but only slightly. Some of the reviews were critical, but there were also a lot of "we're glad to have 'em back" reviews. Brian took a hit, but people still believed he was a genius. The backlash gave them a dose of reality, and they survived 1976 pretty much intact. Even though much of the material on 15 BIG ONES was admittedly weak, the group was still happy that they got a hit album and hit single, and of course that Brian was back contributing.

LOVE YOU bombed because no one believed that the BB could make a decent record after 15BO? I totally disagree. Like I said, Brian was still regarded as a savior, they just had a commercially successful album, the Beach Boys were still selling out everywhere, and, this newfound success also helped (as Endless Summer did) re-open that wonderful back catalogue of material to fans. If anything, people WERE EXPECTING a new, great album from the Beach Boys. Now, Brian was really gonna show everybody. Now, he's really back. He was rushed into producing 15 Big Ones. He just wrote 40 new songs, two albums worth...

As far as the record company not promoting it, I never bought that as an excuse for LOVE YOU bombing. LOVE YOU bombed because of what it was not. It was not a Beach Boys' sounding record. And that's what the record-buying public wanted from the Beach Boys at that time. Other than the first 2 tracks on LOVE YOU, those songs are not even remotely what the public wanted from the Beach Boys. They didn't want Johnny Carson, Solar System, or Love Is A Woman. They didn't want to hear Brian and Dennis croaking (some would say ruining) potentially great songs. Even Honkin' wasn't a real car song like Custom Machine. Even the album cover was questionable (sorry, Dean). Do you really think a few ads in a few publications would've helped LOVE YOU? That album never had a chance. But I love it anyway.

And, finally, no I don't think Warners would've taken Adult Child over MIU. Like I mentioned above, in 1977, people were just coming off Endless Summer, Spirit Of America, Rock And Roll Music, It's OK, and I believe Sail On Sailor had recently charted. Warners would've taken one listen to Brian singing "Deep Purple" or Dennis croaking "baseball's on" or Mike singing about a pudgy person appearing and gone "WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So instead of Adult Child, the answer was MIU? If the people wanted those backward-facing cliches and (worse) Match Point of Our Love...well, I guess that would say something about people.

Luther, I did not say MIU was the answer. What I did say was that Adult Child was NOT.

Hey, I like Adult Child, although I think it's slightly overrated. I'm just stating what the general public preferred in 1976-77...

I know, SJS. I think we're mostly saying the same thing. I think that, since the BBs were not going to do well either way, apparently (in the public's eyes), they may as well have followed an artistic muse. Put together an album from Dennis' and Brian's better music, don't give up and make albums of 1/2 oldies, 1/2 old-sounding newbies. They could have retained a "Beach Boys" sound AND made something artistically valid.

Sherriff, you will have to quote a specific review to get me to believe that one.  15BO is probably the most critically savaged album in the catalog and has dated the worst of all of the 70's albums.  From Back to the Beach:  "What the little deuce coupe is going on around here?  ...a gaggle of cover versions of songs which might be called 'classics' if you were feeling generous and/or drunk."  "..just what kind of menopause, re-evaluation, or plain laziness has gone on in those years since Holland no one has been airing to the public...the first reaction to 15BO is disappointment."  "[Brian's] professional collapse cannot be ignored."  "The Beach Boys ony succeed in jumping several steps sideways and ten years backwards...grimly disappointing."  There is one positive review quoted, but it sounds like a review done by a Reprise staff writer.  Unfortunately no sources for any reviews are given, and I expect these are all British.  Can you seriously find more than one or two isolated good reviews?

The band was not united behind 15BO and in fact was in process of disintegrating, which would take place completely in 1977.  From Badman's book: "Carl and Dennis object strongly to the release of the record.  Carl tells Newsweek that he was disappointed with 15 Big Ones.  Dennis adds: 'We were heartbroken.  People have waited all this time, anticipating a new Beach Boys album, and I hated to give them this.  It was a great mistake to put Brian in full control. [Jeff: reference this in the 1995 thread, perhaps...?]  He was always the absolute producer, but little did he know that in his absence, people grew up, people became as sensitive as the next guy.  Why do I relinquish my rights as an artist?  The whole process was a little bruising.'"  Does THAT sound like a band happy that they had a hit album and that Brian was contributing to you?

By 1976, their success was hardly newfound.  They had the initial explosion in 1974, and 1975 saw a second top 10 hits compilation and the amazing success of Beachago.  The pressure was on in 1976 to create a new album and Holland was still in people's minds at the time.  Even those in favor of the hits didn't like 15BO because the production was so bad.  LY had no publicity.  How many reviews did it even get? (and BTW -- those that did review it liked to loved it)  How much radio time did it get?  How many people even knew that there was a BB album out there?

If LY was so anti-public expectation, why didn't MIU or LA outsell them?  Unlike LY, both had radio singles with decent airplay, with a top 40/top 20 AC placing for "Good Timin'" which sounded just like what people were expecting of them one would think.  And Caribou was trying its best to sell it.  People wanted the hits and weren't listening for new material, which was proven by concert boots.  There was one from the LA tour where you can hear Al and Bruce apologizing for spending time to a quiet crowd playing this music, but that they had to.  And Mike deals with a heckler asking for 409.  Perhaps things would have been different had they seized a new identity at the time of 15BO, or at least made respectable product.  

Believe me, hits can hurt a band as bad as flops, and 15BO was perhaps the biggest hit to their reputation ever.  They never recovered.

And one more critical thought -- 1976 was also the year for Brian Wilson's stint on Saturday Night Live.  He lost a LOT of credibility that night with his performance.  At that point, the public's view of Brian's "comeback" was that it was a pure PR stunt exploiting a sick individual.  No one thought that Brian was in a position to do anything on the evidence of that show and 15BO.

[koff] didn't. #53.

Jeff, you threw a lot at me there! Great post!

I think our biggest disagreement is that you are looking more (not entirely) in hindsight, and from a critical point of view, as the knowledgeable Beach Boy fan you are. I am trying (to you unsuccessfully) to view 15 Big Ones from the average record buyer in 1976, who only knows the Beach Boys through Endless Summer.

In that regard, 15 Big Ones was not the failure you make it out to be. No, I cannot pull out the positive record reviews that I referred to. I was referring to more of the People magazine, or US magazine reviews, or newspaper articles, as opposed to "serious" music publications like Rolling Stone or Creem. I still maintain that more people read "they may be old, bald, and fat - but we're glad to have 'em back" than reviews which hammered the album. Although I agree the album deserved the criticism.

Just a few quick responses to your post... I did not say the Beach Boys were united behind 15 Big Ones. I said they survived 1976, which they did. The first real collapse began in late 1977 I believe.

I did not say their success was newfound in 1976. I believe I refferenced Endless Summer and Spirit Of America which were released in 1974 and 1975. But that is pretty close to newfound isn't it?

Love You probably sold what it did BECAUSE OF the success of 15 Big Ones. Love You was the album, if any, that "hurt" the the Beach Boys' career the most. And I still love it!

I'll close with this. 15 Big Ones, as flawed as it was, served it's purpose. It gave the Beach Boys a hit single and a hit album. Maybe it helped Brian regain some of his lost confidence. At the very least, it helped to buy time until he was "really back", which he proved with LOVE YOU.

No, the only reason 15 sold was because of press hype and Endless Summer fumes. No one regarded it as a great album, and no one left that album wishing for more new BB music.

Still better than any BB album to follow until 1985.

You really don't think the fact that LOVE YOU doesn't sound ANYTHING like the Beach Boys, and that Brian and Dennis sound AWFUL, and that the songs are completely loopy, had anything to do with why it bombed?

I'd love to see that episode.  Any idea who hosted that night?

Brian Wilson.  11/27/76.

I think it was Jodie Foster

 :-[

Oops -- I checked my history of SNL book and you are quite correct.  I read somewhere once that Brian was a host and he WAS in a skit so I was confused.

I'm slightly confused. I always thought Adult Child was recorded BEFORE Love You, but based on this discussion it would appear it came after. Which one is it?

Well, certainly some of the songs (HELP is on the Way; Games Two Can Play) were recorded well before Love You was released (as was Love You's Good Time). The other songs, I believe, were recorded right in that same time frame, 1976-77.

 ::)

While some Adult Child songs were lifted from earlier projects (as already mentionned),, the bulk of it was recorded after Love You, at least the big band arrangements. I think Hey Little Tomboy is a Love You outtake.

"Tomboy" predated BBLY - just. . I'll save y'all the walk over to 10452.  :)

'New Album'
projected release date unknown
recorded fall 1976 except * April 1965 (track), ** November 1969, + 1970, #January-May 1976
produced by Brian Wilson
My Diane - Marilyn Rovell - Hey Little Tomboy - Ruby Baby - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' - Sherry She Needs Me* - Come Go With Me# - Mony Mony# - On Broadway# - Sea Cruise# - H.E.L.P Is On The Way+ - Games Two Can Play+ - When Girls Get Together**
(track sequence unknown)

Adult/Child
projected release date fall 1977
recorded  early 1977 except * 1970, **winter 1973, + January-May 1976, @ fall 1976
produced  by Brian Wilson except * The Beach Boys
Life Is For The Living - Hey Little Tomboy@  - Deep Purple - H.E.L.P. Is On The Way* - It's Over Now - Everybody Wants To Live: Shortenin' Bread** - Lines - On Broadway+ - Games Two Can Play* - It's Trying To Say - Still I Dream Of It
 
   Although Brian had found the 15 Big Ones sessions tedious, by fall 1976 his appetite for studio work had returned, so much so that by the year's end he'd completed two new albums. Brian Loves You was released in May 1977 after undergoing a minor change of title, but of 'New Album' little is known bar the title and tracks to be included. As indicated above, eight of the fourteen tracks had histories ranging from a few months - the 15 Big Ones outtakes - to several years (in the case of "Sherry…", an eleven year-old instrumental track overdubbed with a 1976 Brian vocal). The remainder are largely Brian solo recordings, ranging from the near-banal ("Marilyn Rovell") to the sublime ("You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'"). For whatever reason, the album was never released (and here it should be noted that some BB historians hold that the title itself is highly suspect - it's possible that someone misunderstood Brian's reference to "a new album").
 
   Early the following year, Brian hit the studio again, the result being an album entitled (reportedly by Gene Landy) Adult/Child, yet another confection of new recordings and five tracks from the archive, four of which were recycled from 'New Album', the other being the 1973 American Spring recording of "Shortenin' Bread" (with Brian on bass vocal) completed by a Carl lead. Of the new material, four - "Life Is For The Living", "Deep Purple", "It's Over Now" & "Still I Dream Of It" - saw Brian reunited with Dick Reynolds, the arranger for the 1964 Christmas Album, who handled the role again here. The album was widely publicized as the next Beach Boys release, but fell foul of a serious group fall-out, centered on the 'big band' tracks: it's possible that Reprise also rejected the master. Of the titles not covered previously, "My Diane", "Come Go With Me" and "Hey Little Tomboy" were released on  M.I.U. Album, "Come Go…" almost entirely re-recorded, the latter thankfully shorn of some embarrassing voice-overs in the middle eight. "Sea Cruise" appeared on Ten Years Of Harmony, "Shortenin' Bread" on L. A. (Light Album) (completely re-recorded, with Dennis on bass vocal) while the 1993 box included "Still I Dream Of It" and "It's Over Now".

Great posts, Jeff.  :)

And to Glenn Greenberg: I don't really see your points about the vocals. They are as bad or worse on 15BO. "Back Home" is probably the weakest Brian vocal ever, and Mike's vocals on "R&R Music" and "Blueberry Hill" are too horrid for words. The Brian and Dennis vocals on Love You are gruff, to be sure, but they have a soulful quality UTTERLY lacking on 15BO (except maybe on "Had to Phone Ya").

Forgot about "Sea Cruise"
I thought that was a 15BO out-take--
a GREAT oldie on that one.

Agreed, one of two oldies that actually worked from that session, the other being the amazing "Just Once in My Life".  I can stomach "Palisades Park" and "Blueberry Hill"... the rest should have remained in the vaults until 2011.

I enjoy the slightly later recorded "You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling" and "On Broadway".  Al's Chuck Barry and Buddy Holly covers are abominations though.  The death knell for the Beach Boys as an artistic entity.

Adult/ Child grows on me more and more with each listen.  The new material is fantastic, and as a whole the record is really only marred by the inclusion of those two Sunflower outtakes as others have stated.

MIU and the Light Album-- hit or miss affairs.  Some strong material buried amongst some dreck, which is symptomatic of every Beach Boy release of this time.  My solution was to create a double album compling the best material from the following: MIU, LA, KTSA, FIRST LOVE, LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE, CARL WILSON, ALMOST SUMMER and the CALIFORNIA MUSIC tracks with Bruce or BW involvement.  This homemade CD is KILLER!  I cannot overstate it enough, there are some great songs on these albums if you are willing to dig through the dreck. 

I'll post my track listing if anyone's interested.  :)

I am, my friend!

I'll second Ian's interest. In fact, I've done similar things with the early 70s and late 60s material, too. (Not to mention making a single-disc White Album and a "what-if Beatles" album of the members' 1969-70 solo and unreleased stuff.) I really get into stuff like that.

Here ya go... This is really similar to what we did with the later Monkees stuff, assembling the double album out of the later material:


Side 'A':

California Feeling

Wontcha Come Out Tonight

Jamaica Farewell (California Music)

Full Sail

Don't Worry Baby (California Music)

Daybreak


Side 'B':

Good Timin'

One Good Reason

Angel Come Home

Hurry Love

Brand New Old Friends (California Music)



Side 'C':

Goin' On

Pitter Patter

Heaven

Sad Sad Summer

Endless Harmony


Side 'D':

Match Point of Our Love

First Love

Paradise Found

Winds of Change

Seems So Long Ago

 

Running Time: 79.57

I assembled this about 4 years ago, and still listen to it today.  I even went so far as to come up with cover art and a backstory.  The info can be found here: http://pages.sbcglobal.net/jason.penick/inspiration/mia.html

Cool!

How would one be able to acquire this M.I.A? :)

All the albums he compiled from and a burner.

no Diane?

OK, can I have that song then? ;)

I put "Diane" and "Marilyn Rovell" on my Adult/ Child cd in place of... well, you know, those two Sunflower songs that don't belong there!


Amosario, what Ian said...

aha of course!

"Marilyn Rovell" is way underrated and "Diane" is heartwrenchingly good.

Then again, I adore "Hey Little Tomboy" and "Matchpoint of Our Love", so maybe I'm just a big weird-o!!!

Marilyn Rovell is amazing.

as is your Elvis avatar...

Thanks, man  ;D!

I did that with the Beatles too!  I call the CD I made "Odds and Ends," because at the time those first solo albums were being written, the Beatles were at odds with each other, and they were coming to an end.

is it perhaps possible that since this material was mostly recorded together that California Feelin' and Adult Child will be a two-fer like the other reissues? There must be a market for this type of material.