The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hey guys,

Lets post your top five unreleased Beach Boys/Beach Boys related songs that you are listening to right now!

1. Santa Ana Winds (original).  Absolutely rocks! Major Balls.  Much better than KTSA version. "on my porch, thinking about the torch, i've been carrying for you so long..." Wish this could be cleaned up and released!

2. Black Widow. Very powerful song. wow.  Only heard this one this past year. Brian singing "can't take it no more!!!"

3. That Special Feeling...  Hey, I like it man!  Quirky and loveable. "sand and sea and you and me".....What year was this again?

4.  The Love You demos.  I listen to these in one sitting. I could sit and listen to Brian's piano demos forever.  It really shows when you strip everything away,  the chords and the melody is what matters and they shine through.  

5. Thank Him.  This has been discussed numerous times on the board, so I won't linger except to say it astonishes me why Brian forgot this song or decided not to put in on an album back in the day.  Simply gorgeous.  right up there with Brian's early introspective pieces like Lonely Sea and Your Summer Dream.  

Anyways, looking forward to some replies because maybe this thread will cause us all to go back and listen to or reevaluate hidden gems that we may have passed over.  Maybe someone might mention something that will cause me to say "hell, what a glowing review about that song...let me check that one out again!!!lol"

Mark

Great topic!!

1. Stevie - I love this song so much. Such a brilliant song throughout, I have no idea why this wasn't released. I've read that it was written about Stevie Nicks, but I'm not sure if it's true.
2. My Solution - This is a great track. I have two mixes of it, one is much clearer but I wish I could somehow make out the lyrics (including backing vocals!! :P). I don't know why but I really like this song. It's such a creepy sounding song and is so different to what you'd expect from Brian.
3. Life Is For The Living - Another great Brian song and was so much better than much of what the band was releasing during that era. I really do hope this song gets an official release some day. If it was cleaned up it would sound fantastic.
4. I'm Going Your Way - A Denny penned tune and a really solid song. AGD has it listed on his site as a "Beach Boys" unreleased song, but was it ever in contention for any Beach Boys album?
5. Oh Lord - Although the quality sucks, you can certainly get the feel of the song. Although I can't hear exactly what Brian is saying, you can certainly hear the emotion in his voice. A really moving song.

Another great song I want to mention would be I've Got A Friend, and that of course sucks in terms of quality too. Though I remember someone posting on the Blue Bamboo forum a much clearer sounding recording of the live performance. Unfortunately a lot of my old files were deleted and when I tried to get the file again it was expired. There is heaps of other great songs too and these aren't neccessarily my "top 5" favourite unreleased songs but these are the ones that I thought of off the top of my head.

1- (Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again: just majestic. Dennis at the height of his powers.

2 - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin': Brian Wilson - vocals, keyboards, percussion... and all in one session. Rough, ready and utterly compelling.

3 - You're Still A Mystery: the last time it all came together.

4 - Seasons In The Sun: well I like it, and the lyric is eerily prescient.

5 - Ecology: Dennis stretching himself - even incomplete, it's still hugely impressive.

edit - sorry, didn't see the 'right now' caveat. This is my all-time top 5.

1.  Soul Searchin'
2.  Stevie
3.  Everybody Wants To Live
4.  Life Is For The Living
5.  Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again (I've only heard the Chaos Band version, but trust the
opinion of those who've heard the original)

Runners-up are probably too numerous to mention, but include Carry Me Home, Lazy Lizzie, and the "Landlocked" mix of "Loop De Loop".

no particular order:

Big Sur (not the holland version)
It's Not Too Late
California Feeling (Spring)
You're So good To me (Lei'd in Hawaii)
Heavenly Lovers

I forgot an additional track: let's Stick Together...i love that accodian! go wierd AL!

Tough one...... But here goes:

- "Sea Cruise" - not completely 'unreleased', but (here's the Bob Ross in me) what the heck, I love this tune.......

- "I've Got A Friend" - Dennis again..... I have three different live versions currently, all are very touching. A wonderful song.

- "Everybody Wants To Live" - "If you start laughin’, you're just a coward."

- "Hard Times" - this song by Blondie still sounds very fresh today, and I love the intro.

- "I'm Going Your Way" - rocks your socks off.... go Denny go!

Never heard the original "(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again", otherwise it would be on my list of course.

1. Thank Him
2. Chain Reaction
3. Sandy (1965 backing track)
4. Can't Stop Talking about American Girls (no speed correction)
5. Short Skirts

Lines, It's Trying to Say (Baseball), Stevie, Everybody Wants to Live and Battle Hymn of the Republic...

OK, not the lattermost. Instead, You're Still a Mystery.

Imagine how much better it would be if we were including songs never really released by the band as it still existed as a creative entity, but released in later compilations: Loop de Loop, Soulful Old Man..., HELP is On the Way, Games Two Can Play, Still I Dream Of It, It's Over Now, the Smile material that has come out, etc. Quite a lot of great stuff.

1. Lookin' Down The Coast.

I absolutely love that song.

My top five are
1) You Are My Sunshine- Dennis's great vocal on this snippet deserves release
2) Thank Him- a great Brian demo
3) Carry Me Home- cool Dennis song
4) Big Sur-early version- One of Mike's finest moments
5) The Letter- I love Brian's vocal on this

Apologies, I couldn't pin it down to 5, so I turned it up to 11...


1) I can hear music (demo 1969) - Whether this is a demo or Carl singing a rough vocal over a quiet backing track I don't know, whatever it is its a great performance of basically Carl and an acoustic. Brilliant!
2 ) Awake (1970?) - Brians demo for this Spring song is a great lead vocal for him going into one of his purest falsetto performances. I prefer Brians falsetto in the late 60s/early 70s as its a bit more natural sounding and strangely more feminine. Lovely.
3) Back Home (1970) - Of all the versions of this song, this version is by far my favourite, Al adds a lovely vocal to Brians melody and gives it one of his quirky 'wooden' sounding productions as heard on some of his other material of the era. Very nice.
4) Surfs up (1972? version) - A great (radio?) performance of this song sung by Carl to a piano, absolutely breathtaking!
5) Carry me home (1972) - Propelled by Blondie and Ricky and ultimately taking it into 'The Band' style musical territory, its mind boggling (as is usual with the Beach Boys) how they did not release it?!!
6) You've lost that loving feeling (1976) - A classic in 15 Big Ones style production. Great slabs of moog synth and Arp strings catapult this into greatness topped off with his scarred vocal. The raw falsetto middle eight is fantastic!
7) Sherry She Needs Me (1976) - I love this. Brians falsetto is much more shrill in the late 70s and sounds more to my ears like Frankie Valli which ia appropriate as the song is about 'Sherry'. I like the remake on Imagination too, but this one is more thrilling.
8) Stevie (1980?) - Great Brian song with Dennis on drums and prduction. Quirky chord changes and great melody, could have been a hit in my opinion, either about Mr. Wonder, or Ms. Nicks (but probably the latter knowing Brian!)
9) Lets do it again (1988/89) - A leap to the underrated Landy era and this great outtake from either BW88 or Sweet insanity. Originally was 'Black Widow' , LDIA is a great slab of 80s pop which makes you realise how well that the Brians music could be assimilated into the shinyness of sparkly 80s production.
10) I sleep Alone (1989/90?)- From the same period, fantastic Brian song written apparently for Sarah Brightman to sing (!). Sounds a bit strange as the singer is supposed to be female and Brian sings it with that gender in mind, some great falsetto on this one. A high quality demo exists, definitely should be re-recorded in some form.
11) Gettin in over my head (1994/5) - The original version from the 'Paley sessions' highlights what a fantastic song this is. Made even more fantastic by the fact that Brians vocal is one of his best ever post 1973. I genuinely don't know why they didn't release this version, in comparison the version on the GIOMH is lifeless bland AOR, with Brian sounding like Ozzy Osbourne!

"Michael Row The Boat" - love the arrangement

"Runaway" - I know it was on that Sunkist thing, but I like how they incorporated their backing vocals into the arrangement and made it a Beach Boys' song

"We Gotta Groove" - strange but interesting

"Season's In The Sun" - if they were ever going to finish a track and graft Carl's vocal onto it, this would be the one; the lyrics are haunting and prophetic

"Mike Come Back To L.A." - I'll take this over "Some Of Your Love" any day

Eh, not really anything that hasn't been mentioned...and being a huge Dennis fan, most are DW related tracks.




I'm Going Your Way: (such a great rocker!)

Carry Me Home: (I'm not sure I've ever heard a more dramatic song...)

I've Got a Friend (the various live versions that I've heard are GREAT.)

Seasons in the Sun: (this one has quickly become one of my most-listened to tracks.)

Oh Lord: (I've gotta list this one, it's so damn emotional.)

Oh man, how could I forget "Marilyn Rovell", which I've been diggin' to a lot lately...OK, that replaces my current #3, and "Everybody Wants To Live" knocks "Life Is For The Living" out of the Top 5.

I always end up back at the Lucky Dog demos. Those are pure, basic Brian Wilson tracks.  My favorite is probably Black Widow.

So I'm not the only one who cruises around with a CD of these somewhat hissy, lo-fi piano/organ/drum machine demos blasting on their car stereo?  Cool!  "And Frank Sinatra sings his song"...

Does anybody know the timeframe for Black Widow? Seems to be later than the Love You demos. There is some vocal processing.

Well, just looked in my Beach Boys directory, and forgot "Awake" which is an amazing vocal.

As far as the "finished" but unreleased Brian tunes, "Being With The One You Love." That song has such a cool vibe to it. Kind of reminds me of Gary Lewis and the Playboys' "Count Me In."

All of my faves are here except Brian's 1974 ditty known as "Hard Time" or "Rollin Up To Heaven".

 Awake (which is outstanding) is from 1971. I also like Brian's voice the best during this period.

We're only allowed to list 5? It can't be done!  ;D Here is my list:

1. Oh Lord: There are no words to describe this. For Brian to come up with this during the worst period in his life is nothing short of magical.

2. Oh Darlin': The outtake with Brian singing lead.

3. Rollin' Up To Heaven: This rocks! Great lyrics. :lol

4. Lookin' Down The Coast: Worth hearing just to learn where Al Jardine likes to lay his head.  ;D

5. Sherry She Needs Me: Very good Brian falsetto for the time period. GREAT "classic" Brian backing track from 1965.

6. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling: Great solo performance from Brian circa 1976.

7.  River Deep Mountain High: An outtake recorded after the KTSA album.

8. Big Sur: Early Landlocked version

9. Proud Mary: A Brian outtake

10. Soul Searchin: A great soul song with a Carl lead vocal

11. Still A Mystery: As somebody else commented, the last time it call came together for the Beach Boys.

12. Deep Purple: From the unreleased Adult Child album.

13. Look: A Smile outtake. Brian Wilson at his peak.

1.  I'm Going Your Way (California Slide) - great Rocker sung by Dennis (Sunflower sessions I think)
2. Michael Row Your Boat Ashore - very 'Sloop John B-ish
3. Proud Mary - love that synth groove
4. Still A Mystery - what could have been!
5. Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again - An amazing song!

It's neat - but it's not unreleased.  :)

"Black Widow/Let's Do it Again" is from the 1986/87 era. Very nearly included on Brian's 1988 album, and again as a 45 B side.

If this is the one I'm thinking of (I wouldn't know for sure) then there is a bit, just before the "child is father of the man" tag starts, where Carl sounds EXACTLY like Brian's performance on that Leonard Bernstein TV special thing or whatever it was. Well it does to me anyway. Like I said though, not sure which version I'm thinking of but it sounds superb.

Ive never heard "thank him" or "you've lost that loving feeling" (hint *cough* pm)  :lol

cant really think of much that has not been mentioned but i like the song "thank you" aka brian off sweet insanity (despite the lyrics)

top 5

1) Stevie
2) Carry me home
3) ive got a friend
4) Lines
5) Go away boy

which version would that be? The Honeys version was released oficially on their Ecstacy-album.

I believe the demos for "In The Nightime", "Little Children", and "Black Widow" recorded at Lucky Dog studios in Venice date from late 1983.  In a 1988 issue of BAM, Wayne Erwin, the studio's owner/engineer, gave a great recollection of the session, and said it was late 1984.  But somewhere else I recall reading source, perhaps AGD, listing the timeframe as being a year earlier.

All interesting choices...like I said, these are my favorite unreleased top five now.  I think I will have to give Michael Row ...another listen since it has cropped up here a few times. 

"Walkin'"
"Wild Situation"
"Stevie"
"Time To Get Alone (Backing Track)"
"Out In The Country"

"Out In The Country" is indeed a short, but wonderful tune.

Plus I forgot to mention the alternate version of "My Diane", which I prefer to the released version.