The Smiley Smile Message Board

Here is the only time Ive ever seen Annette talk about her recording career.
She recorded her vocals just like Mike Love!
She talks about "Monkeys Uncle " towards the end of the clip.
http://www.clipser.com/watch_video/625147
Astroray

why hasn't The Monkey's Uncle ever been released on a Beach Boys CD?  It's a sin.  I have to think they've scraped the bottom of the barrel (pun elective) for obscure & unreleased old BB tracks on all the modern day CD compilations, yet this one tune isn't even (apparently) on the horizon as such.  Why not, just because it's an Annette record?  Everybody knows there's just as much Brian heard singing as there is our favorite and puppy-loved late Mouseketeer, not to mention a fine Carl Wilson lead guitar solo.  If Dennis didn't play drums on certain Beach Boys studio recordings he certainly did on this one.  Brian has had a couple recent solo CD's with the Disney organization, certainly he could leverage a licensing of this one almost forgotten song to Capitol

I love this track! Brian should bust it out one night with one of his daughters singing the lead or something.

it's watching the fabulous Fendertones performance of The Monkey's Uncle that continues to remind me of the old Annette/Beach Boys track.  the Fendertones certainly wouldn't have bothered with it had it not originally contained a major Beach Boys component

i seem to recall some Brian interview from the late '60s where he states a desire to produce an Annette album!!!!!  that's Brian to a 'T'.  think of the (lost) possibilities

I hate to burst your bubble, but I'm 99.9% sure that it's been proven that it was Hal Blaine playing the drums on "Monkey's Uncle" and Tommy Tedesco playing the guitar solo, but both "dumbing it down" to sound like teenagers at the request of producer Tutti Camarata (Annette's producer).

EDIT: Yep, Badman's book lists the tracking session as occurring on Tuesday, June 16, 1964, at Sunset Sound, with no Beach Boys in attendance.  Musicians listed are: Hal Blaine (drums), Steve Douglas (saxophone), Gene Estes (likely tambourine), Jay Migliori (saxophone), Bill Pittman (listed as guitar, but likely bass), and Tommy Tedesco (guitar).

Lee

Dunno who you are, but when someone appears out of nowhere and starts posting stuff that's almost willfully inaccurate, they'd best be pretty think-skinned. Jus' sayin'.

Same day as the vocals session (same studio), day before the movie sequence was filmed.

Andrew, there was a guy in Sweden that wrote me years ago and swore that the Beach Boys were on Annette's song "No Way To Go But Up."  I had heard that song, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why he would think that.  A few years later I got a low budget LP of ANNETTE'S GREATEST HITS that had the incorrect track order on the label -- "No Way To Go But Up" and "Monkey's Uncle" were reversed.  That explained it!  :lol

Lee

Is it likely the sequence used in the movie is edited from more than one take?  Just wondering if it's possible.
Early on Brian is to Annette's left, then as the chorus starts he's suddenly to her right, alongside Carl and Al( as he appears later )

Nah, Brian was a fast mover in those days. Ask Diane...

The instrument track on this recording sounds nothing like the Beach Boys. Of all the great Beach Boys songs that people constantly and erroneously give the Wrecking Crew credit for being the session players on, and all the great Dennis drum tracks that people wrongly assume is Hal Blaine, and all the cool solos that Carl somehow doesn't get credit for, this is one that has absolutely no Beach Boys fingerprint on the tracking session. 

Andrew, you're KILLING me over here!  :lol

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CdVTCDdEwI

BTW Annette did a terrible Surfin' USA. If you want to hear it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8xJ-PfBNv8

But she had a great rack!! U.S. youngsters would sit in front of the black and white TV and drool at her "set" and her mouse ears!! M I C    KEY M O US E

Right!  People didn't care if she could sing when she was bouncing and shaking...

Yep! We use to call her Annette Fullajello. She was a strong woman and battled her affliction until the day she passed away.

I think this song is one of the clearest and best examples of Brian Wilson's falsetto.  That note he sings at the end of each verse is crazy high, and Brian just nails it, effortlessly.  This was at a time when he was touring and recording a lot, and his voice was very much in shape.

Actually I'd rather say her producers / mixers did a bad job, but her rather dull singing shows how good a lead singer Mike is. Or was at times. This recording would probably benefit from a double tracked lead vocal.

Wow & I thought Leif Garrett was bad. But here Annette ruining the classic to make it an epic fail. Stick to "Monkey's Uncle" & other fluff, I say, don't touch the best with your boring, mousey godawful voice. Thumbs down!

Eh, the style is typical of early sixties girl pop singers like Annette and Shelley Fabares. I'm not bothered by that. What I can't figure out is, why the lyric changes in the second half?

Well,  then the whole style is boring. I'm not bothered too if they don't bother covering major acts. Seriously, it's the worst "Surfin' USA" I heard, hands-down! I loathe it as much as the Troggs super-mega-uber-duper-ultra bad cover of GV, which isn't even half truthful to the original, like totally diff. beast.

Yeah, her "Surfin'" and "Surfer Boy" covers (related videos to the link you posted) kind of suck as well, but she had an awe-inspiring set of tits.  :hat



And in the end, isn't that what really matters? A good set of genes?

Have to agree with you Range Rover.

No. Look, I don't watch the youtube vid if it only has pictures rolling & turning. If it's a concert or clip with motion, then yes, in a way, the visual aspect matters. But in my case - & I thought naively in case of every audiophile, even casual listener - what matters in the end is music. And to me, Annette's cover was the worst among the dozen others *I* heard. If I felt otherwise, I'd of course tell it.

Annette was popular because of the way she was built so the guys didn't care whether or not she could sing  :lol