The Smiley Smile Message Board

I'm listening to this CD these last days and I wonder if some of the falsetto-parts were done by Brian (doubled probably with Matt or whoever). "Be true to your school" and "I get around" both made me think about this. Does anybody know? Mr Boyd?
To hear how great the Boys sounded makes one sad that no new album was released back then. I guess I'm the only one though, who wished there would've been a vol. 2 because I think if they would've done it right that time (right performers, right material, etc.), it could be a very cool album and vol.1 wouldn't stand as the last Beach Boys-album.

As I recall, Brian has said that the only falsetto part he sang on S&S was "Little Deuce Coupe", all others were by Matt Jardine.  I too, listen to the Boys' vocals on this CD with amazement (how really GOOD they were) and sadness (that they were wasted on this... )

I don't own this album, but I'll never forget the first time I heard the Stars and Stripes version of "The Warmth of The Sun". 

The music began, along with a stack of background vocals that sounded like a choir of heavenly angels.  I was transported to somewhere else, a wonderful place, lost in the bliss of pure musical enjoyment.


Then Willie Nelson started singing.

 

Nothing against Willie, but this ain't the kind of song he should be singing. 

He also should never ever undertake a duet with Julio Iglesias.  Dear God, that song makes my ears burn. 

I think the Beach Boys blend actually improved their sound with Matt Jardine in the mid 90's. Nothing against Jeff Foskett, awesome voice, but Matt blended better with the Beach Boys, probably because he was family to one but there is a noticeable difference when he  is singing. In fact, Bruce even said Matt was his favorite "Brian replacement"

I agree...I love Foskett, but Matt really had a nice falsetto sound that fit well with the others.  Obviously nobody could really replace 60's Brian voice-wise, but Matt brought a nice youthful sound that had the same strength that Brian used to have.  And as you said, having the family ties didn't hurt matters either.

I agree too. Matt's voice is awesome. I like his singing on "Hushabye" even better than Brian's.


I wondered about the falsetto in "Be true to your school", as I believed to hear a voice broke, which sounded like Brian's imo, while the other kept on singing.
Oh and do we know if something like audiotune was used? I think Mike's bass vocals sound kinda strange (not bad of course) though maybe that is because of the doubling....?

I too have to agree with Bruce and everyone else, Matt was the closest to Brian.


I agree, I don't think Willie Nelson is suited to this song at all. Well atleast I don't like this version mainly because of him. As for the background vocals on this song I agree, they are superb. Nothing compared to the original song but still magnificent.

I agree about the Julio Iglesias-song but WOTS imo is just great. He makes it toally his own and Mickey Raphael from his band is probably one of the best harmonica-players in the world. Such a touching performance. But I guess it's probably sounding too much country for some people because much of the other recordings on S&S are so mainstream, while Willie really gets to the song and makes it country. Some of the other cuts sound like country but they aren't. If that makes any sense... Dunno what I try to say... sorry...

I agree with you. "The Warmth Of The Sun" could appear on a Willie Nelson album and you wouldn't even know it was a Beach Boys' song. I put it on a compilation for my car, right after Johnny Cash's "Sunday Morning Coming Down". Fits perfectly. Then I follow it with Elvis Presley's version of "Always On My Mind". Love it!

I can't remember the exact source, but I recall reading an interview with Brian where he states that "The Warmth Of The Sun" is the only song on Stars And Stripes where he contributes his falsetto.

Well, that's new to me. I never would've thought that Brian's doing falsetto on that song. You can hear Matt clearly but of course Brian may doubling him.
BTW Jasper told me about a performance of Willie Nelson at Farm Aid in '96/'97 (iirc) doing WOTS and Brian (not the Beach Boys) backs him up. Has anybody seen this?

Yeah, Willie joined Brian onstage. Willie was fine; it wasn't one of Brian's better days. He sang some stuff from Imagination.

And, yes, Matt probably did double Brian, or vice versa, on Stars & Stripes "The Warmth Of The Sun". You know, I can kinda hear Brian on that song....

Man it would be great to see and hear that. Willie joined the BBs in the 80s, but Brian wasn't with them.

Well, I think in the video it at least looks like Brian tried to get some high notes, so it might be possible. But I still think I hear him on some other cuts too....

Rocker, it was in 1988 and it was terribibble... I call it that because calling it simply "terrible" is being far too kind. It was still the Joe Thomas era...*shudder*. I'll say this though, I wish Brian of today would do those setlits. He's gotten so much better.

I'll say this, though. That *is* Brian on WOTS, but he also has a part on Caroline, No, in the background parts.

Yeah, that's Brian singing the words "Caroline no" during the tag; it's not falsetto but it's oddly appealing.

I think Joe Thomas did a tremendous job producing the vocals on both Stars And Stripes and Imagination. Everybody sounded good...

 

I was told that Brian produced the vocals  on S&S or at least did a lion's share of that. I'm not sure if that was indeed the case, though.

I guess you mean '98 ? Do you have the live-recording of Willie and him ? If so, maybe you could pm me...?

Yeah, I love that part on "Caroline no". The backgound vocals on that song are great imo

The background parts on Caroline No are excellent I agree...Its Carl, Brian, and Alan delivering the goods very clearly one final time together. They all sounded phenomenal

I think the Willie Nelson version of "The Warmth Of The Sun" is just as touching as the original. It's the absolute highlight of the album for me.

I feel the same way. Some people commented that Brian's weathered voice on BWPS's "Heroes And Villains" fits the lyrics/theme of the song. Well, that's what I think about Willie's version of "The Warmth Of The Sun".

Brian's 1964 version, with his youthful voice, reminds me of losing your first love, your first heartbreak, coming of age if you will. But with Willie's weathered vocal, which I love, it gives the feeling of an older guy, who knew the "love of his life" for awhile, and he gets really wasted over it. I can picture Willie singing it in one of those southern honky tonks, although he probably never did... :police:

Hate to correct the Sheriff, but on the Stars and Stripes docu you can see the Boys recording the vocals for this tune, and Matt is clearly doing the falsetto.

Listened to S+S again, it could easily be Brian on "Little Deuce Coupe," it's not that high, possibly "Be True to Your School," but I'm less sure...

Hating the music to the point that I absolutely won't go back to confirm, don't consider this definitive. But I would never trust studio footage. At any given time, what is being shown on the screen may be all of the finished product, may be part of the finished product, or may be none of the finished product. As Mr. Parks once said, Movies is Magic. (And so are recording studios.)

On the 'S&S' video, I'm pretty sure those shots of the boys singing around a mic are lip-sync'd or at least done after the fact... so it is possible that Brian did a falsetto part on the actual recording.

I too love Willie's interpretation of "Warmth"... but his voice is clearly not for everyone.  That scene where Mike comes in and tells him how to sing it is so hilarious and so uncomfortable at the same time. Willie handled him so well. And I love how Brian points out what an ass Mike made of himself.  :lol

It's a shame that 'S&S Vol. 1' was such a pandering attempt to cash in on the mainstream (speaking of Mike), instead of being a really solid tribute to American music. Country/Western and the Beach Boys... it doesn't get much more American than that. This album could have been so much better... but I'm still glad they did it.

I realize the entire project probably would never have happened if it weren't for the "hot new country" boom of the mid-90s, but I just wish they had focused more on the legends of country music and less on the flash-in-the-pan pretty boys  (James House anyone?) I would have really loved to hear George Jones or Merle Haggard sing a Wilson tune.

It's a crime that Tammy Wynette was left off the album too (I know they were planning a Vol.2, but still)... her scene in the video brings me to tears every time I see it, especially when you consider it was her final recording session.

While we're at the videos, why was Carl missing on the WOTS-clip? You can clearly hear him on the recording...








Haggard was supposed to sing "California", at least that's what I heard. I probably did this too often on too many boards, but I think it would be fun to make a tracklist with artists that would make a great record. What's your choices? I quote myself from the review-thread on this board:


I should mention that not all of the guys mentioned are alive anymore.

Add to that Glenn Campbell (why was he not on vol. 1? I think a participation from him should've been a given). Maybe someone could take "The trader" or "Hold on dear brother". "Back home" would be great for Hank jr. or maybe Waylon Jennings (RIP), who actually did write a song with that name on his "Closing in on the fire"-album. Would've been cool imho.
BTW was "Sail on sailor" really recorded for the album ? In the video it's just a rehearsal-performance I believe.

John Denver should've sang Long Tall Texan. I know he would've been great at it, because I actually happen to have a recording of John Denver singing Long Tall Texan in 1966 with the Chad Mitchell Trio.

The scenes of everybody in the studio "recording" are done later, for the video.   At any rate, as I said on the first page, Brian did an interview (and yes, I know how trustworthy Brian's interviews are) wherein he said the ONLY song he did a falsetto on was LDC.  He is many other places on that CD (including TWOTS), but not doing a falsetto. At least that is what he said...

Makes sense about LDC and its not even that tough of a falsetto...how much falsetto do you think he would have been doing..it was 1996 after all!!!

It always kind of annoyed me though that Long Tall Texan was on Stars & Stripes Vol. 1...I mean firstly it's a cover song (not saying that matters too much) and secondly the band never even released a studio version of the song. I mean who wouldn't have rathered Tammy's take on In My Room rather than this?

I was going to read the whole thread...until i read this:


The first time i heard Willie sing this song it sounded EXACTLY like what i pictured when i first heard about it...and that was a very, very fine thing.

Volume Two would have been just fine with me.  There is a mountain of material that was unmined, and there's a mountain of talent in country music today.  Vol2 could have been - i'm choosing this word on purpose - it could have been great.

While I would've preferred the aborted Don Was-produced album instead of Stars And Stripes, I still got some enjoyment out of it.

First, somebody above took a(nother) shot at Mike Love, but I would think that the GROUP voted on the Stars And Stripes project. They were not a dictatorship. And wasn't it Carl Wilson who walked out of the Don Was sessions but turned up for Stars And Stripes? But nobody takes a shot at him?

I know many will disagree, but I think Joe Thomas did an excellent job producing Stars And Stripes. The ballads are touching, the rockers rock, and he added some nice touches to songs like "I Can Hear Music" and "409". I can even tolerate "Long Tall Texan". Everybody - everybody - sounds great, the songs sound "crisp", and everybody seems to be having fun with their songs.

The project is hurt by the same things that hurt many Beach Boys' albums before it. It wasn't long enough and some choice songs were left in the can. I know they were keeping some tracks for Stars And Stripes Volume 2, but, if you take the existing 12 tracks and add "In My Room" by Tammy Wynette, "Sail On Sailor" by Rodney Crowell, "California" by Merle Haggard (I hadn't heard about that one til this thread), and maybe a song from Glen Campbell, the album would've improved by another grade/star.

This is a bit of a reach, but Willie Nelson was friends with his fellow Highwaymen - Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson - and it would've been neat if he would've talked any of them into doing a song. Regardless, I enjoyed the Stars And Stripes album, the accompanying video, and the TV appearances - at least for a couple of months when nothing else was happening in BB land.

I've never heard Stars and Stripes, and I never want to hear. To me it is irrelevant. I always try to forget that it even exists. Just give me the 2 finished Don Was tracks plus the Brian/Paley sessions.

And btw they recorded an album in '95 produced by Don Was.
Jerry Lee Lewis did an album in '95 with Andy Paley, so the connections were there

You're right, I forgot about that! And I even saw a documentary on the Highwaymen and Don Was was in it. That could've been the way Willie got hooked up with the Beach Boys.

And it's funny, but just a couple of weeks ago, Brian hooked up again with Don Was at a concert - with Kris Kristofferson. Hey, how about a new super group? Willie Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Glen Campbell, and Brian Wilson! Produced by Don Was....

Man, Kristofferson and Brian are two of my all-time favorite songwriters. I was blown away to see both of them on one stage on youtube. Hope the "Fun fun fun"-performance will show up too. I would be all for it, though I don't think Brian would fit in with such a group of country-stars.



BTW got this from the Beach Boys Britain Board:



My my... what a cool album vol.2 could've been....

The heck with Vol. 2, I want a complete re-issue of Vol 1, with those unreleased tracks included, new sequencing, new liner notes, and a budget price of $9.99 at WalMart! :police:

The warm-up, term of reference vocal in front of Willie for WOTS on the DVD.

Live and natural or enhanced?

Too smooth to be natural IMO but convince me.

Probably staged imo...
Some cool, live-moments are the rehearsal for "I can hear music" in the control room and the backgrounds to "Caroline no" arund a piano. I'd like to hear that in complete form, if there exists more...

BTW I'd like to repeat my question, was "Sail on sailor" actually recorded? In the movie it's just the performance from a rehearsal.

There were more tracks planned and perhaps recorded than those on Stars & Stripes Vol. 1. They included one of my favorite songwriters Rodney Crowell on Sail on Sailor, Tammy Wynette on In My Room, Steve Earle on Shut Down, Ronnie Milsap on Surfer Girl, Merle Haggard on California Saga (On My Way), plus the Oak Ridge Boys and Hank Williams, Jr..


The album would've been given  considerably more gravitas with the involvement of more genuine country heavyweights - and it might have made it tolerable.  Speaking of BB and country, I like their singing on Collin Raye's Winter Wonderland.

As long as I have read the boards about this album, the three songs that seem to have hit the spot for most are WOTS, In My Room and SOS. Another 7-9 songs of this style rather than the fluff chosen and you had the making of a ok album IMO. I Can Hear Music is nice. Don't Worry Baby is good too.

Caroline, No is good too.

You can't truly judge "SOS" from a very partial rehearsal - that said, I wasn't overly impressed.

AGD, do you know if there was a real studio recording of SOS done? And were other songs except "In my room" already recorded for vol. 2, and therefor slumbering in the vaults ?

Junior Brown is cool too. I'm glad they at least put him on there.
He's a big car enthusiast too, so it makes sense he did "409"...

Heres a setlist for Fan Fair. Watching 'The Making of Stars and Stripes' it does look to me some of the stage performances were rehearsals for the actual fan fair concert. Maybe Crowell, while not on the album, just wanted to sing as a fan. On watching the SOS portion it looks to me like Carl running Crowell and the band through the song.
     
Fan Fair at Nashville, TN
June 14, 1996

Beach Boys present:

Mike Love
Bruce Johnston
Al Jardine
Brian Wilson
Carl Wilson

Backup band included:

Unknown

SETLIST
1. California Girls
2. Do It Again
3. Come Go With Me
4. Kokomo
5. Surfer Girl
6. Don't Worry Baby (with Lorrie Morgan)
7. Fun, Fun, Fun (with Ricky Van Shelton)
8. Sail On Sailor (with Rodney Crowell)
9. I Can Hear Music (with Kathy Troccoli)
10. Long Tall Texan (with Doug Supernaw)
11. 409 (with Doug Supernaw)
12. Little Deuce Coupe (with James House)
13. Little Deuce Coupe (acapella with James House)
14. Sloop John B (with Collin Raye)
15. Be True To Your School (with Collin Raye)
16. Help Me, Rhonda (with T. Graham Brown)
17. Rock And Roll Music (with T. Graham Brown)
18. I Get Around (with Sawyer Brown)
19. Surfin' Safari
20. Surf City
21. Surfin' USA
22. Barbara Ann

Contributed by: Mark Raphael, setlist correction Jeff Arndt

As a aside. I remember reading a story on Branson, Missouri that listed all the numbers of album sales that year and C and W led by a country mile. Something like 3 to 1 over R and R. Was it any wonder the BBs tried to get a slice of the action.


Refer my 'fluff' comment top of post. Sorry bossaroo!

I was at the Fan Fair show. The backup band included Matt Jardine, Mike Meros, and Richie Cannata from the BB's band, the rest were unfamiliar guys (to me) from the country music side. Matt was a featured vocalist in the front line.

Junior Brown is the real deal. He's a master of country guitar and steel guitar, he writes real country songs, he sounds like Ernest Tubb... hell, he even wrote a tune about ol' ET.  I think his big "hit" at that time was "My Wife Thinks You're Dead"... he uses humor in his music in a way that is sorely lacking in Nashville (and most everywhere else)... something Brian probably appreciates.

you just can't compare guys like James House, Collin Raye, or Doug Supernaw to Junior freaking Brown.

Junior's also crazy about surf guitar, so it makes even more sense for him to be included.

check these out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1oxhJW3Nv-o&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=497ZmAsGAT4

Sounds good!

My 'fluff' comment was in reference to car and surf songs in general. Something I thought the band should have left behind in the early 60s, not put on a new album. Junior and any of those artists could have been guided into any of hundreds of  BBs songs.

Brown could have done a good version of 'Pet Sounds' don't you think?

ok, I see your point. and of course Junior would sound great playing "Pet Sounds"...

ever heard Danny Gatton's instrumental version of "In My Room" on lap steel and guitar? beautiful.

OK Confession time. I can't stand C and W. The first sound of a twangy geetar and I'm sadlin up an outer ther  pardner!

I don't even have the S and S album, just the DVD. Will have a search for Gattons IMR though.

edit..

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0011ZVF3O/ref=dm_mu_dp_trk6/103-5814129-2477455


Nice!

I like country from the late 40's to the early 80's. After that it just wasn't the same for me.