The Smiley Smile Message Board

I can't believe nobody really is saying much about this new cd.  I picked it up today at Wal-mart (They had it unceremoniously still hid in it's box, with only about 3 more copies, I had to dig through their pallet @ 4 in the afternoon just to find it!).

I like some of the new stereo stuff, but others in my opinion just don't hold up to the mono versions.  That's not a comment on Mark's work, he's great at what he does and the best man for the job.  I just think some of the songs were meant to be Mono and sound the best they ever will when they're heard that way. 

I love the remastered sound of the tracks, though.  I've never heard "Friends" sound that good, I don't know what Mark did to some of that stuff but a lot of the tracks are kind of the 'definitive' version for me now.  Breakaway for instance sounds even better now.  I think maybe Mark even found some MORE vocals, I definately heard stuff I never noticed before in it.  I nominate Breakaway as the most over the top production of all time... basically 8 people singing 8 different things the entire song, lol.

Out of the redone stereo tracks, I think Wendy probably sounds the best to me.  It might be an improvement over the mono.  Another thing I should mention is the whole thing may just be I'm playing it on a car stereo, maybe on a high end stereo the stereo tracks blow the monos out of the water, I dunno.  With the stereo tracks, you definately hear a lot of things you never heard before, and it's neat to listen to... I'm not saying they shouldn't have been remixed or anything, just that I think they lose a little something sometimes. 

What's with "Disney Girls" ?  Is that just the result of having it remastered? I've never heard the song sound so clear, the intro doesn't even sound like the same instrument! (although it obviously is).  I guess that's a Mandolin.

I wish they would have used the longer mix of "Cool Cool Water", this version has kind of a weird cut from the SMiLE stuff into the newer stuff right at the beginning.  It's not as smooth as the full long version, but I guess maybe that was made years later and this is the original single version. 

Anyways, anybody have any comments on what they think? 

Oh! "Let Him Run Wild" sounds so interesting all cleaned up and in stereo.  I still like the original better, though, mainly because of the dynamics or I guess just the contrast between the "I GUESS YOU KNOW I!!!" "waiiiited for you girrrrrllll".  On the stereo the contrast doesn't sound quite the same but I realize there are things stereo does great and things mono does great. 

Ultimately though, it's interesting to hear the stereo mixes because you hear so much more of the instrumentation and the harmony vocals. 

I like the CD.

My favorite remixes are 'Please Let Me Wonder' and 'Then I Kissed Her', the first for the clearer Brian lead vocal, and the second for clearer instrumentation.

'All Summer Long' doesn't sound much different than the mono version to these ears, and 'You're So Good To Me' sounds like it's lost it's bottom end in stereo. I've never been crazy about 'Let Him Run Wild', so the remix wasn't really that interesting to me. 'Wendy' doesn't sound much different to me either.

It's definately a must-have though.

How interesting was the CD booklet?

It isn't, except for a few cool photos.  No liner notes, which was disapointing. Like all the stereo mixes. Like the alt. Breakaway very much. As with prior posts, my only real complaint is Why Do Fools Fall in Love. Totally out of place. Not only in terms of sequence (awful) but even on the CD at all.

Breakaway is the standout track to me as well... As for WDFFIL, I think it really show cases Brian's falsetto and really puts you in a place to remember where the BB were coming from.

I think WDFFIL sounds kind of sub-par for the album.  It's not really a bad song or anything, it just doesn't seem to fit.

I think they probably left the cd book kind of sparse purposefully since the compilation is the bookend to Sounds of Summer, so it's more for a generic audience than die hard BB fans.  Nothing but song credits and pictures, they could print this sucker out for 20 years and it'd never get dated. 

Well, I bought it for the stereo mixes and just to show capital that there are people out there who will pay good money for (genuine) new stuff. Anyway...
I think there's supposed to be a double track on Brian's lead on PLMW which is missing (probably for the same reason as YSBIM). On Friends it seems like Brian's vocal is clipped off before he says "turned each other on..." which I don't remember...LHRW sounds really good...YSGTM is so-so...Wendy's perfect, except no cough and some punch in sounds around the vox...CCW has a cool edit that I hadn't heard before...forgot how good the single version of WDFFIL is, great intro...I'd ditch 409 and Cal Dreaming for The Lonley Sea and Big Sur(unreleased version). Strange, but I like DGNTW on this comp; somehow it works! Oh, and switch the first and last songs...
    Aside from all that nit-picking, it is actually a pretty cool CD, especially if you are just a casual fan.

Same here. I immediately noticed that they worked on the EQ's for some tracks. "Little Honda" for example never sounded that good before IMO. A lot of bass!
The sequencing of the first 14 track (up to "Disney Girls") works for me. Even "It's OK" fits in perfectly between "409" and "You're So Good To Me" and I start to really like this song. After that, the euphoria level sinks considerably. Not that the songs are bad, but they don't flow into each other, not the same Vibrations. I would have preferred an up tempo rocker after "Disney Girls" and not "Forever", just not they same slow song types.
I prefer the new stereo mix of "You're So Good To Me" to the mono version. During one of the verses, I hear a bassline sung by Mike I never noticed on the original version. Maybe it's not even there.
With "Then I Kissed Her" happened what I feared would happend when you take apart mono wall of sound productions. It doesn't work. It sounds naked and uncovered. No criticism against Mr. Linett, but it's not the same sound anymore.
"Please Let Me Wonder": Some elements sound a bit digitally stereoised - home improvement - nice to hear but not the real deal for me. Sweet to have the background vocals upfront (also in "Let Him Rund Wild").
All in all I like this comp a lot and hope that it'll be another hit like SOS!

I love the new sound of Let Him Run Wild. I think it sounds very good. The verses don't work as well as the chorus in stereo, but the initial weirdness of the new sound gets replaced quickly when you realize just how great this song was to begin with.

But the chorus, it just sounds so amazing, the horns sound a lot clearer than ever, and the harmonies work better too. I guess you could say if I had to choose between this track and air, well, I'd be holding my breath just long enough to hear it again.

Love the new CD !
WDFFIL doesn't really fit in there, it should've come earlier.
I wonder why they didn't use the singleversion of "Cal. saga" but the alt. "Break away" (I like that one more myself, but it's not the original) and the new sound effects on "Cal dreamin" (which sound pretty good to me).

I never liked the frontcover, but as I hold it in my hands, it's ok. The backcover is killer though ! Awesome picture and I love how everything has that nice warmth and golden feel about it.
I think the missing of the liner notes is just to get the podcast more succesful.

BTW only mention of a website is thebeachboys.com (also in the podcast). No word about beachboyscentral. Is this a bad sign?

I love the new 'you're so good to me', the backing vocals especially sound great.
They (the new remixes) seem to have less of a 'room' sound than the Pet sounds stereo stuff, but overall I love the sound of the remixes. When I heard Salt Lake city on hawthornes I though it sounded great.

I love it, really do. And i'm glad it's a hit.

Salt Lake City in my opinion is the best stereo remix they've done yet.  That really kicks ass, especially when the "one horn goes, blah dah dah dah, next horn adds, blah dah dah dah!" finally comes into the song, just blows you away.  ROCK AND ROLL!

I grabbed the CD on my way home yesterday. I was most interested in the new stereo mixes, and as usual some of them sound quite good to me and others just sound too different from what I'm used to. "Please Let Me Wonder" sounds remarkably clearer than any version of the mono mix I've ever heard, but that makes it sound very foreign to my ears. Yet I think "You're So Good to Me" and "Then I Kissed Her" are quite nicely done, and "All Summer Long" doesn't seem different enough from the mono version to elicit an opinion from me either way.


I think I'd agree. Though I'm quite fond of "Kiss Me, Baby" as well.

After these reviews, I'm looking forward to getting this soon! :)

How is WOTS doing sales wise? or is it too early to know that?

My third cousin is an exec at EMI and he says first day sales have been 'Exceptional '

Amazon should be delivering it to me tomorrow. But what a nice half page ad in the new Rolling Stone for the new release. How cool is it to open a Rolling Stone these days and see an in-your-face Beach Boy billboard.

I got my copy from Best Buy, and just got around to downloading the "Best Buy exclusive" bonus track, the live take of "409" from Chicago in 1965. It's about what you would expect; probably the least interesting bonus track they could have come up with. I have to say it is a bit of a novelty to have a live take of "409" with Brian on it, and it's worth noting that the bits from the Chicago shows on the SOT CD's (which I think consisted of overdub sessions) did not include this track. Certainly this was a nice enough free bonus.

I hadn't done the downloading a free bonus track thing before, so I was surprised that the whole process was pretty easy and quick. I thought it might download the track on its own and stick it somewhere on a playlist on one of playback programs or something, but it just let me download the WMA track wherever I wanted. The ease with which I downloaded the track was tempered by the fact that it's not exactly CD quality (160 kbps), and was my first experience with the dreaded DRM. I don't do ITunes, so I hadn't dealt with this before. I thought EMI recently announced they were going to start doing higher bitrate non-DRM files. But I guess that only applies to ITunes, and to services where you pay for the track. I guess the free downloads are lower bitrate, with DRM still present. Plus, I don't think EMI has anywhere near totally switched over to the non-DRM files even on ITunes. Oh well. I was hoping I would be able to put the track on a CD just to catalog it. I'm sure there are ways to get around it and encode it for a CD, but since I don't deal with downloads much, I haven' t a clue how to do that. So, in retrospect, I'm glad they didn't choose to make this free exclusive download some sort of huge, lost classic like a "Smile" track or a cool Dennis outtake. I would be totally ticked if I was stuck with some great masterpiece that I could only listen to in 160 kbps on my computer.

Now I'll have to listen to the actual "Warmth" CD! I think that might be a bit more fun!

It's a good compilation for the newbie - first play them Sounds Of Summer, then hand them The Warmth Of The Sun saying "OK, now for the stuff you probably won't know".

Certainly true, but I'd say the same thing to varying degrees about "Greatest Hits" Volumes 2 and 3, and some other compilations. But I certainly can't fault the programming of the compilation too much; there are at least 3 or 4 songs on the "Warmth of the Sun" that I would put in my Top 10 BB songs.

Interestingly, the liner notes state that "California Dreamin'" is the original 1986 mix, which certainly isn't the case. The song as a whole sounds like the same mix, but it has to be an alternate done either back then or recently to incorporate more of the thunder sound effects. The actual original 1986 mix starts cold with the guitar, and then incorporates a bit of the sound effects. The version on "Warmth of the Sun" stars with sound effects and then the opening guitar quickly fades up.

I might be motivated to write a more detailed review about the stereo remixes, but my general impression and feelings are mixed. Some do have too much reverb in my opinion. In general, I still like the idea of stereo remixes. Some have criticized previous stereo remixes for having too much reverb, and while I don't feel that way regarding the "Pet Sounds" stereo remix, some of these new stereo remixes do exhibit this to a degree, in my opinion of course. One of the reasons I like stereo remixes is that they can have more clarity in general than sometimes muddy mono mixes when a big production is crammed into mono. But if the stereo remix uses a lot of reverb, that tends to muddy it up a bit in a different way. But perhaps I'll get more into that in a more detailed review. I'd still say I'm generally happy to have these stereo remixes.

As for the CD's tracklisting, there are a few interesting tidbits on the "Warmth of the Sun" blog, indicating that Al didn't want to talk about "It's OK". I'd be interested to know why that is. Does he just not like the song? Is it something about that era of the BB's that Al doesn't like to talk about? In the actual podcast episode covering the song, and there is nothing from Al, so we can't even hear what his specific comment was about, well, not commenting on the song. Did he just say "I can't think of anything on that song", or was it like "I'd rather not get into that particular song", or something else? Brian certainly links the song with a period that he doesn't remember so fondly today, or at least didn't remember fondly at the time he gave that interview.

I'm a bit confused, there's the Sounds of Summer CD that was released with a big sun on the cover - that was the one that this is the follow up to?
Not the other 3 CD thing called Sounds of summer Platinum edition (with a surfer on the cover), which has a few of the songs on this new comp?
I remember about 6 or 7 years ago when they released the Best of the Beach Boys vol1, 2 and 3 they said that these would be the definitive best ofs, what rot!
Obviously its good that new people get into the BBs, but how many more compilations are there to come?

The 3CD set wasn't released in the US, and I have to say that as a thorough introduction to the band's whole career 1961-96 for the neophyte, it's pretty much unbeatable.

Well I suppose 3 CDs is pretty good for the price, seeing that the GV Box set is a big jump in price and much of the songs are the same.
But it is worth paying the extra for the GV box, when I bought it anyway the 70s 2fer Cds had not been issued, so a lot of it really was rare and obscure.

I love the GV box set, but a lot of the songs have been remastered since then and sound a hella lot better on other compilations and cd's and things.  Oh damn, I guess they're gonna have to release another box set. 

Somebody mentioned somewhere (Maybe on the podcast page) that there's been 70 BB's hits compilations. 

I thought that the real number was closer to 150...

Interestingly, it appears that there is a previously unreleased downloadable track exclusive to Target stores as well. It's a live version of "Fun Fun Fun" from Sacramento, 1964. It's supposedly labeled as previously unreleased, so it must be different from the version on the "Concert" album, perhaps from the other show or a non-overdubbed version.

The Target website or flier makes no mention of the exclusive, so that's a bit strange. But I don't think I'll buy the CD again for this track, especially since all of the Sacramento 1964 stuff has appeared on the SOT CD's, while the "409" track at least hadn't been booted.

Ok...three things about Warmth Of The Sun:

1.) Nice new stereo mixes of songs that only mono mixes were available of before. All Summer Long sounds like it is missing some instrumental overdubs.  I wonder why Wendy needed a new stereo mix. The 1964 stereo mix was preety cool already (same with Shut Down on the Sounds Of Summer CD). We don't need NEW stereo mixes. But new stereo mixes of mono only tracks are always welcome.

2.) Why Do Fools Fall In Love - while out of place on this comp, at least we finally have the 45 mix of the track. But, after listening to it several times, it sounds sourced from vinyl. There are pops throughout. But that could be just tape noise. And as far as tape noise, I am glad that Mark either used noise reduction or careful careful eq'ing to clean up Forever. Really hissy on Platinum Collection 3 CD set.

3.) Live track - 409. I dont care that it was a live track. But as Shut Down (on the Hawthorne Ca. CD) shows, there were some good performances in that  Chicago '65 show. 409 was not one of them. The guys sing out of tune and there seems to be tape speed faults. Whatever. Pull another song. Hell, give us Denny doing "Hide Your Love Away" from U of M 10/22/66!

Nuff said.

Bob Flory

There should have been at least one more Dennis Wilson song on the album. In general, I don't like DW's role in writing and performing some of the greatest Beach Boys material of the late sixties and early seventies being reduced to just one single song.

That said, I like the overall feel of The Warmth of the Sun and while I'm never too crazy about the prospect of 'new stereo mixes' I've got to say that Please Let Me Wonder really does it for me. Just incredibly gorgeous.

This is really, really geekish stuff... but is it just me, or is the photo on the front of the new comp the same beach as the one on the back of the SOS booklet ?

Really like the shot of the guys on the back of the CD case.

One thing that really stood out for me was the bass sound in the new PLMW remix - very fat, clean and defined. Beautiful!

Agreed. When's "Slip On Through" gonna get its time in the sun?

We're lucky to have that...remember "Best Of, Vol. 3 - The Brother Years"?  NO DW songs on that one!  B/C, I've been told, Dennis' family sold their interest in the corporate business years ago to the other BBs, so they no longer have input.  The fact "Forever" made it on a CD recently compiled by the surviving BBs themselves is pretty fortunate.

I said Why Do Fools Fall In Love - while out of place on this comp, at least we finally have the 45 mix of the track. But, after listening to it several times, it sounds sourced from vinyl. There are pops throughout. But that could be just tape noise.  

Just found out it did come from tape...my bad.

Still loving it!

Re: Alright, lets talk about Warmth of the Sun!
« Reply #33 on: Today at 02:40:06 PM »

I said Why Do Fools Fall In Love - while out of place on this comp, at least we finally have the 45 mix of the track. But, after listening to it several times, it sounds sourced from vinyl. There are pops throughout. But that could be just tape noise.

Just found out it did come from tape...my bad.

Still loving it!


Shouldn't be any pops on the CD as several people listen to a ref disc with headphones for any stray clicks and pops and they are removed in the final mastering stage. Why Do Fools..... like everything on the disc is sourced from tape and the Sunflower and Surfs Up cuts are from a much better source tape than has been previously used.

Lastly Why Do Fools ..... is the original single mix. I even compared it to my original picture sleeved copy that I bought when the record was released, complete with my name handwritten on the label.

Oh yes and to answer a question from further up.... Wendy was remixed to remove the cough and the talking in the  original stereo mix

Mark

I think that the compilations 1-3 as well as SOS focussed on hit singles. The reason given (I read it somewhere) for no DW material on Best of Vol 3 was that there were 20 other songs that had charted or were more significant than even Forever or Slip on Through.

For WOTHS I would have replaced DGNTW with a Dennis song or made it 30 tracks a la SOS.

Oh yes and to answer a question from further up.... Wendy was remixed to remove the cough and the talking in the  original stereo mix

Just wondering.....and my clicking copy of Why Do Fools...........bad CD. Got it replaced today. No surface problems, just a bad copy.  Now it sounds great!

I am like everyone else (even though I am a programmer and know my computer hardware inside out). I never think that a CD can be bad. But anything manufactured can have a flaw. If not, there wouldn't be any type of service industries anywhere. As a troubleshooter, I would be out of a job!

Great mastering Mark!

Bob

It is the same as this photo -> http://www.thebeachboys.com/site/images/desktops/BB_01_1024x768.jpg (http://www.thebeachboys.com/site/images/desktops/BB_01_1024x768.jpg)

I'm puzzled as to why the final track Warmth of the Sun is in mono - I thought the whole idea of the Sounds of Summer and this collection was to present the songs in stereo - hence the stereo remixes where possible - and there is a perfectly respectable stereo mix of WOTS to release here.  The mono's on the Good Vibrations box set and Greatest Hits Vol 2, so it's not to give us an unavailable version.

On the new version of You're So Good To Me...I hate the change at the breakdown from 1:41-1:45. In the original recording someone was still singing "la la la la la la la" and it was mixed down very quietly. Although it may have been an accident, it was one of my favorite features of that song and I still listen for it everytime...

 :'(

I think that was some audio bleed through on the tape... I liked it as well and its the only thing about the new mix I don't like. I miss the "lalalalala" too...

My understanding is that on the new stereo version of "Wendy" that's on THE WARMTH OF THE SUN, an audible cough has been removed.

Thing is, I've just been listening to the original mono version, off of the GOOD VIBRATIONS box set, and for the life of me, I can't hear that cough AT ALL.

Can someone tell me where it is?  And is it possible that the cough was removed BEFORE the new compilation?  Maybe the one on the box set is actually missing the cough too?

It's during the organ solo at 1:19 in.

Thanks.

It's definitely missing from the version on the GOOD VIBRATIONS box set, so I guess the fact that the cough has been removed is actually old news.

The cough also isn't in the original mono mix.  A lot of the little anomalies people hear in the stereo mixes aren't in the mono because Brian took them out in the final mixdown.

It is interesting for those of us (like me) who entered the picture quite late--in my case, the '90s. We never heard original mixes in many cases, only CD re-releases, and mistake their sound, their mistakes, their improvements, for the originals. I believe S. Desper made that point recently, and a good one it is.

Yes it is - when the organ solo is faded down, listen carefully. That's where it is. That's why the organ solo is faded.

But was it removed from the version on the GOOD VIBRATIONS box set?  I've listened to it five times today, both through the headphones and through the speakers turned all the way up, and I could not hear it at all.

I just bought my copy today. I love the songs they picked for this compilation and I really like the sequencing. Also, the remastering is superb! Mono tracks like 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' sounds so amazing, they need to go back and remaster all of the twofers. That said, I don't think the stereo mixes sound better than Brian's original mono mixes, especially the songs from the Today! album.

Actually that is one of Brian's best productions and a prime example of a great 'Wall-of-Sound-Alike'.

The masters on the box set are, wherever possible, the original mono 45 masters (thus nothing was remixed for the box that wasn't previously released). The organ's faded down at about 1.19-1.20, and that's where the cough is - faint but it's there. I can only assume there was some bleed-through.

I've gotta say that not only do I think it's a smart move to have no liner notes so people get the podcast, it's also a bessing that there are no liner notes as terrible as the ones for SOS. The typical biographical stuff would've been fine but those notes suck. Good that they didn't use something like that for WOTS

my copy of WOTS finally arrived from amazon today. i am glad i bought it, i really enjoy the new mixes and like having a cd with sunflower/surf's up cuts on it (my fav period of being a fan). also glad it has charted. hope this means more future releases like this one.

only thing i have noticed wrong about the cd is in the insert on page six. under the "it's ok" section it says it comes from 15 big ones and that lp was released 5/7/76. actually it was 7/5/76.

but i am happy with this set and i do believe i will be playing it a lot this summer.

thanks to all who made this cd possible..........

Sharp eye!  I would have never noticed that!

There's also a wrong production credit.   ::)

Couldn't that date be 'wrong' because of the different ways we have of noting it, for exmp: 2/5/74 means Feb.5 to me, but across the pond it means May 2nd...Just a thought.

nope...rest of the dates were right

Anyone think Capitol will remaster all of the twofers and release them again?

Which one?

I do, honestly.........but it will be a long time before they do so. However, it's only a matter of time and $$$$.....

My guess is "All This Is That"...says it was produced by Alan, but in their authorized biography (Byron Preiss) Alan says that Carl wanted a certain approach to the production, so he cut the track.  Without getting up to look, I believe the liners in the "So Tough"/"Holland" twofer credited both of them.  Is that the one, Andrew?

I think the whole idea of the crediting of a production credit can get confusing. Apart from a few instances such as songs released on singles, we don't have a lot of song-by-song production credits on the original releases.

Often, on compilation albums, the production for a given track is simply credited to whomever was credited with producing the whole album when the original album in question only had one full-album production credit.

I see several contradictions between the production credit on WOTS and some previous releases. The GV '93 boxed set credits production of '"409" to Murry Wilson, while WOTS credits it to Brian. The GV boxed set credits Carl and Al for production of "California Saga: California", while WOTS credits only Al. The GV boxed set credits only Brian for producing "'Til I Die", while WOTS credits Carl and Brian. The GV boxed set credits "Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys" on "Surf's Up", while WOTS credits Carl and Brian.

For "All This Is That" on the other hand, the GV set doesn't offer individual credits for production and simply notes that all seven BB's were credited with production on "So Tough."

I could be wrong, but I think a lot if not most of the individual song production credits we've seen on latter-day compilations of material are more for historcal accuracy, using the evidence at hand (namely, AFM and/or other paperwork  and records and simply interviewing the members to ask who produced it) to show who produced a given track, while contractually or technically the production credit goes to whatever the original credit is. So on albums where the production credit simply went to the "Beach Boys", while individual tracks may have been produced by fewer or a single member and then credited as such on later compilations, the producer of record would still be the "Beach Boys."

"409", produced by Murry (not Brian) at the Western demo session 4/19/62

Oh snap...that's right...that was one of the "original" demos.

Even though I wish they were longer...I'm really digging the podcast for WOTS.

http://beachboyswarmth.blogspot.com/

The latest episode, with Brian playing a little bit of "The Little Girl I Once Knew" on the piano...very cool.  I wish he'd just sit down and record a few piano versions like that.

Are these podcasts video or just audio?

The first episode is video, the rest are audio only.  Itunes is free so it's definitely worth checking out.

If you don't want to deal with Itunes, they're available as mp3's on the sidebar of the blog.

Just started listening to the podcasts today.  Good stuff!  You get about a minutes worth of comments from Bruce, Al , Mike and Brian for each song.  Nice to hear them focused on the music, rather than the "personal" stuff.

Brian still can't stand "Let Him Run Wild"!

And Mike seems to have got "...Run Wild" and "Little Girl I Once Knew" mixed up, judging by his humming of the intro. "Run Wild" doesn't even really have an intro.

As well as "Help me Rhonda" and he talks about that "intro" too, so I guess he just mixed up the meaning of "intro" (or he talked about "Help me Ronda" from Today!, which in a very wide sense has an intro)
What he tried to hum was the 12-string-guitar-part of "Let him run wild" if I understood it right


Re:podcast

I think Bruce's first comments were just terrible. He didn't talk about "It's ok" but talked about how great Mike's two voices were. I mean it's ok if he thinks Mike has a good voice, but nearly everyone can sing in a nasal kind of way and a little softer, there's no big thing about it. To tell you the truth I have the feeling that Bruce tries to show Mike as a little too important, the same way he did when he talked about him as "Mr. cool" in the EH-documentary. Anyway, my opinion, but I don't like Bruce's contributions. For "Catch a wave" he said "Oh yeah, I cought a wave too" and for "Little Honda" "Yeah, I drove those too. the same for "409" where he said iirc "I never was a 409-fan, I liked other cars". I mean why can't he talk about the music as the other guys do? I know he wasn't there when that stuff was recorded, but he sings it every night. Maybe it's my problem but this really annoys me

I don't know, I can kind of see where he's coming from.. most of these songs he's talking about as an outsider. They should've gotten David to talk about the early songs.

Bruce is hardly my favorite Beach Boy but I kinda thought his imitation of Mike was funny. Yet I did pick up on him kissing up to Mike.

I know, he wasn't there and that's ok. But he plays those songs every night, he probably knows some of them them better than Brian, so why can't he talk about the music? He knows much about music so it shouldn't be too hard to talk about how intelligent the harp on "Catch a wave" was used or at least mention that Jan&Dean had a hit with this too. Don't want to hear an old man remembering his youth (I know, technically the others do the same but they talk about the songs, not their life). That's just my point.
I agree, it would've been interesting to hear David talking about the songs he played on.

WOTS is #56 on the billboard top 200 lp chart this week, it's second week on the chart.

SOS is up to #7 on the pop chart, it's 202nd week on billboard charts.

That's amazing its still selling so strong. Has it been hitting the top 20 every summer since it came out? It's great there is still that much interest in their music, 'cause maybe Capitol will continue to remaster the catalog and maybe put out that Sunflower boxset and Wild Honey stereo remix.  ;)

Just to be clear, that's #7 on the Pop *Catalog* chart, not the pop chart.  The pop catalog chart contains titles that are older than 2 years and have dropped below the Top 100.

Does that mean that SOS is #107 ? I don't know about this stuff, so sorry if that's a stupid question....


I have a feeling that WOTS really does well in getting the great post-Smile stuff out to the world. See this for example: http://www.joplinglobe.com/enjoy/local_story_158164033.html?keyword=secondarystory (http://www.joplinglobe.com/enjoy/local_story_158164033.html?keyword=secondarystory)

No - the 'catalog' chart is totally seperate, but I'm guessing that were it still in the top 200 album chart, SOS would register in the 140s or so.

It really is fantastic how well both titles are selling..Seeing as how 'WOTS' is up against some serious competition, it's holding strong.

for those who may be interested...

WOTS is #90 this week in the top 200 billboard chart

SOS is #8 in the top pop catalog billboard chart

Stinks that it sunk so fast

Not really, digital sales are now where people get there music, don't leave that out.

Episode 7 is up, if you know where to look

Okay, the new compilation pissed me off... Just the one Dennis track? & 'Forever' yet again..? Do u think by any chance this is the surviving members attempt to gloss over slightly just how much of a genius songwriter Denny actually was, the therefore play up their own (inferior) talents? I mean, we had Forever on SOS and now we got it again.. It's creating, deliberately I believe, the misleading impression that 'Forever' is the only song of merit Dennis ever wrote. Why not have included the lost classic 'Lady'? Or a terrifc album track such as 'Slip On Through' or 'Baby Blue'? ANY Dennis song would've been preferable to like the likes of 'Don't Go Near The Water' which is, at best, average. Brian and Al harp on continuously about what a great underated talent Denny was, but given the opportunity to highlight this to the wider world and they're too busy falling over themselves to see who can get the most of their own tracks onto the compilations, regardless of the quality..

Given that "Forever" was not a top 40 hit, i sincerely doubt  it was included on Sounds of Summer

Golden Rule #1 when making a point/ranting - get your facts right.

Also, there was this...

Right. That's why "Lookin At Tommorrow", arguably Al's best song, is on it. Oh wait, it's not. Oh sh*t...

And you have to remember, these compilations aren't meant to be some democratic or neutral assessment of the BB canon, rather they're designed to appeal to the casual listener.  WOTS is designed specifically to appeal at a casual level, and then hit those same casuals with a few tracks they might not have heard before.

It's better for the fans, and the record company, for someone to hear "Add Some Music" on WOTS, and then be compelled to go and buy Sunflower, rather than include half the tracks from that album.

Next episode is online.

Brian says that Al, Mike and Dennis wrote "All this is that". In truth it was of course Al, Mike and carl. I think that should be made clear or edited out.

Otherwise a great episode with Mike finally adding something usable. Still waiting for Bruce to do so (except maybe "Disney girls")

I was fully expecting to CRINGE when "Why Do Fools....." came on, but, dang me, that is a killer wall of sound production and singing job.  I'd rather listen to it 3 times in a row than to two times thru Disney Girls (unless it's the Art Garfunkel version).

As several others have said, the photos are very effective.
The group photo on the back could be a metaphor to start a dozen different essays on the band.

Yeah, I know it's been mentioned (briefly) but is that back cover photo real, or some photo-shop magic job? The front, I imagine, is a total fake...?

The back photo looks like it's from the photo session in Summer 1967, post Smile, where Brian has a beard and they're all at the beach.  The colors were probably changed to match the cover.  I've never actually seen the back cover photo before though, so who knows?

From the same session. As I recall, l-r it's Dennis, Alan, Carl, Brian, Mike. the color has been adjusted, of course.

As for the front shot, try comparing it with the image on the back of the SOS booklet.  ::)

geez, I saw a cut-out copy of the WOTS CD in a new/used store already today.

How have sales been?

In the latest podcast, Bruce mentioned that Ricky and Blondie weren't royalty-members but only sidekicks. Did I misunderstand something or is he wrong?

My only "wha?" moment was when I heard CCW for the first time single version. No wonder it didn't do all that good. The beginning is cut off and that is like crucial to the whole song! Starting with the water chants is just not the way you go with that song  :-\ I don't know about all of you but the opening really glides you in to the rest of it.

Forever should have been an a side. Creative but commerical.

Better than that would be miniature vinyl replica reissues.

So what's everybody's thoughts on the TWOTS podcast series?
I for once really enjoyed it, though some of Brian's comments were sort of a let-down for me. Seems like he doesn't give too much of a f*** about most songs he didn't have a hand in writing. Admittedly it's no big surprise, I guess.
Really liked some of the nice things Mike Love had to say about 'Til I Die, heartfelt or not.

Those podcasts are a great thing as they reunite the boys in a way.
I think Brian did ok mostly, Al was good, Mike needed quite a while to bring in something usable imo. Bruce needed even longer. At first I thought he was just there to kiss Mike's ass or to tell us that he did drive a Honda and did go surfing but didn't drive a 409 (iirc), but then (almost too late for me) he began talking about the music hich I enjoyed.
I think Brian's "I wasn't involved"-answers were not necessarily, he at least could've said if he liked the song or not, although I like his talking about "California". Another big letdown for me was that he mentioned Dennis and not Carl as co-writer for "All this is that", something that the people could have edited out, because as we all know it is just wrong.
On the whole I tend to giving Al the congrats for saying the most interesting things for a new fan or newly interested person, like the way "Feel flows" was produced for example.



I'd like to ask this question again, Bruce said that Blondie and Ricky were just sidemen and not royalty-memebrs. But i thought, and the booklet lists them, they were official memebrs. Or is there a difference between being a member and being a royalty-member? Sorry if this is a dumb question....

Yes, that was kind of a strange bit as that song doesn't even remotely sound like something Dennis could have written. I wonder if Brian even cares. More than once his comments about early seventies songs seemed to be clouded by his "That one brings up bad memories" mode. So those nice things he had to say about Al's California really came as a pleasant surprise. That said, it's kinda odd he seems to totally dislike Sail On Sailor while it's been one of his concert standards for so many years. I for once always thought the lyrics were great and an obvious improvement over the original lines by Ray Kennedy, whose version, while pleasant enough strikes me as far less precise than the finished version by Reiley or whoever wrote it in the end...

As of June 11, 2007, the album has sold 55,269 copies in the US

I have to admit, with 7 weeks in the US Billboard Top 200, I expected a bit more...

For a 'greatest non-hits' compilation, I think it's done well. Joni Mitchell tried the same thing a few years back with a 'Misses' compilation to accompany her 'Hits'. I'm pretty sure it didn't do as well as TWOS.

An indication of how well "Misses" did is that I can't unload the thing at any local used CD store.
They don't want it.

Is it only me that thinks that the EQs have been overused a bit on this new compo?

I'm particularly thinking of Breakaway (or Break Away as it is now) which has been completely transformed into something almost uncomfortable to listen to. Surely the decision to make such a transformation should rest with the author, not the engineer?

And another thing... What were they thinking of when they did that to Cool Cool Water? Why wasn't there someone around to just say No! That's a terrible idea?

However,  Please Let Me Wonder sounds fabulous (much better than the original mix, which was pretty bad for most of that album, hiding all those BG vox away).

So there!  :-D

That was the original single mix. Now we know why it bombed.