The Smiley Smile Message Board

With all this talk about "WIBNTLA" it seems "Carry Me Home" has been forgotten for possible inclusion on the box set.

Id love to hear a clean re-mixed, mastered version though the bootleg we have is great.

Don't think Ive ever heard Dennis's voice so upfront and raw, just an incredible performance, one of may fav Dennis songs. The ending and verses are just killer with a great vocal from Blondie too.

The lyrics like "My eyes gettin' tired, I guess I won't grow old" and the end part..jesus...

Please God, please God
Don't take my life
Please
please help me

gives me goosebumps...

Hopefully Mike does not consider it too much of a "downer" to include on the boxset.

Seconded. "Carry Me Home" is one hell of a song.

I agree. Great great song.

I thought Blondie did a helluva job too.  Obviously Dennis thought he was the man for the job and he pulled it off wonderfully.  The song has been included on wish lists on this board and others over the years.  I've been all for a formal release of it since I first heard it on a bootleg in the early 80's.

There's a great live version on Adam Marsland's Dennis&Carl tribute CD, as well.

I think one of the magazines described it as 'overwrought' which fits well. Hopefully it will appear on the box set though.

I think........if I remember right.......that Toni Tennille sang on this one too.  Is that a yay or nay?

Overwrought is a word that springs to my mind when I hear this song. To be honest the sound quality on the boot doing the rounds is so bad I can't decide if I like the song or not. It would be nice to own a proper version.

Sound quality isn't that bad here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGk8xAHHDw

Thanks, that does sound better backing track wise but the vocals still have a weird reverb to them that I'm not sure they're meant to.

Wow. What a beautiful song.

I really hate to be a pessimist here (no, really!) but if this song came up for consideration at all for MIC, I think Mike would veto it. Just based on history and he being the reason WIBNTLA was rejected from previous releases - hell, if they couldn't get the even better "WIBNTLA" through, I doubt Mike would have his thumbs up for the release of "Carry Me Home".

Basically there should be a new rarities comp so that the unMikeable music such as Carry Me Home, My Obsession, Mona Kani, Out In The Country etc. can be released properly. We might have to wait a bit extra for that.

they could sticker it "unauthorised by Mike Love"

If im going on the Adam Marsland version (which is great btw), I still think carry me home is probably a better song...though of course I cant say for sure...yet

Both songs are great. I think because of the recording quality alone and not considering how good the actual songs are, WIBNTLA is the more releasable song. We know WIBNTLA is more 'finished' and of much better quality than "Carry Me Home", which we've only heard in pretty much demo form so far. Not sure if CMH is finished to completion - Dennis isn't around to tell us. And CMH would require a lot of clean-up before its formal release.

Based on what? I've said it before but the fact is that every rarity album that the band has released from Ten Years of Harmony onwards has featured material from Dennis. That has sometimes included very dark stuff like All Alone and has sometimes been when almost no other unreleased songs have been there (Hawthorne and Summer Love Songs). TWOTS wasn't a rarities album which is the key difference.

Also, I would be surprised if Mike were concerned about there being a few rare Dennis songs on the box set as I would expect there to be a lot more songs on MiC with Mike writing credits than there were on the 1993 set (and not because of the songwriting lawsuit). There are probably a good 15-20 songs that could contenders for inclusion this time that were omitted in 1993.

Based on my opinion.

Again, disregarding the songwriting and singing, I'm talking about the audio quality of the song. WIBNTLA is much closer to release than "Carry Me Home". Unless thay come up with another tape/version of the song, or undergo extensive clean-up. I love "Carry Me Home" Always have. I'd love to see it released! But that isn't the point. I'd love very much to see "Back Home" '63 released too, but I understand the audio quality isn't up to par, even though it sounds finished. Or even the alternate version of "Add Some Music". I think "Big Sur" (4/4) is ready to go without much touch-up......

The audio quality isn't going to be Mike's concern though obviously.

Obviously. But like Woody said at the top of the thread, the concern is that "Carry Me Home" will possibly be considered a downer to Mike. Mr. Positivity isn't into downers. He's into meditation.  :-D


Nice talkin' witcha today, Nick.

And you know this, how? If any of them have any pride in their work, then they all care. It may not be Mike who makes the the final call, but if he is unhappy with the way a song sounds, I'm sure he will speak his peace about it to Brian, the producers, etc.

Because if the sound quality isn't judged to be good enough then the compilers will make that call.

Plenty of downers appeared on the 1993 set didn't they including Still I Dream Of It and It's Over Now?

I just think it's a bit much for you to already be blaming Mike for vetoing a song which may or may not be available in good enough quality to be included on the box set and even if it is the compilers may choose not to include it themselves. Or just maybe it will make an appearance.  :)

Well, duh! We all know that.

Ergo it is not down to Mike is it.

I'm sure the mastertapes of Carry Me Home are fine. The boot just seems to have all the faders up, so there's tonnes of talking and coughing and doors slamming. Why are we saying the boot quality is in anyway indicative of what a fully mastered version, properly mixed and edited, would sound like? Half of Smile wouldn't be released on that condition.

We know next to nothing about the recording of Carry Me Home. Took us years to find out that there's only a studio instrumental track of "I've Got A Friend" available - other than that a couple of live versions. Carry Me Home could be a demo, a second or third generation from the master finished track - we don't know. Nothing has surfaced of the song since it was booted in the early 80's in less than stellar quality sound. If they found the original master in the vaults, don't you think we would have known by now?

Now, my question again. Did Toni Tennille sing on it?

Was Daryl Dragon involved?

There's an article somewhere where Dennis describes the song back in the early 70's. Can't remember where it is.....

Whoa… sorry Mikie, can't answer your CMH queries, but am I reading right about I've Got A Friend? There are a couple of soundboard recordings? I've only heard pretty poor audience (assumed) recordings but that song has been stuck in my head for a long time, it's a stunner.

Another bar for the box set to reach!

I doubt that's what he meant. It's always been said before that only those poor audience recordings remain unless something new has been unearthed anyway.

He doesn't say there were any soundboard recordings, just that live recordings exist.
I *believe* that no soundboards exist for any 1971 shows (though I'm sure that someone will contradict me now), and that the only soundboards existing from 1972 are from the shows recorded for In Concert, so from November. I don't know precisely when I've Got A Friend was in the set, but the only recordings I have of it are from late 1971 and May 1972, so I suspect no soundboards exist, and they may never have been made...

I've Got A Friend. At least two live versions exist - one from Germany (Luxemborg?).

An instrumental track for the song, recorded in a studio, exists. No vocal, just the instrumental track. Per Alan Boyd.

Nobody is denying that. It's the quality of said versions that is being questioned?

I have four audience recordings -- University of Georgia June 1972, Munich May 9 1972, Radio Luxembourg May 10 1972, Long Beach December 71.

Do you mean those, or do you mean that soundboards exist of two shows?

I meant those. I've only heard two of those shows. Never heard a soundboard of IGAF other than audience recordings.

Damn, you're a tough nut to crack, aren't ya?  You'll nit-pick until the cows come home.  You high or what??

:lol

Comment of the day by Mikie. :lol :lol :lol

You've heard one of them, you've heard them all, unfortunately. Lovely song buried under a ton of tape hiss.

Sadly not.  :)

I would have thought it was pretty obvious though when the earlier poster was wrongly getting excited about the possibility of I've Got a Friend appearing on the box set that you had to confirm whether they were soundboard quality recordings or not.  :P

What? if Mike or any of the other boys have better stuff than carry me home then Id be delighted to hear it. put the good stuff on the set! its been long enough, 40 years FFS!!!we will all be dead soon!!! :P

FFS, you got that right!

I hopefully got another 50 years in me.

I'm personally excited for the 100th anniversary  ;D

I might have 50 but I'll be deaf and blind.

Where exactly does the "Mike vetoed Carry Me Home because it was a downer" story come from?

Isn't it Mike who exhorts: "That was a motherfucker" at the end of the boot? And wasn't it Mike who proclaimed I've Got A Friend one of his favorite songs he's every heard? .... And if Dennis, Carl, Al, Blondie, Ricky, Brian: or at least Dennis/Carl wanted Carry Me Home on Holland, would Mike's single veto be enough to send it to the dustbin of history?

For the record: if Carry Me Home had closed Holland, the album would be hailed as the Beach Boys other masterpiece....

Because he was the one who vetoed WIBNTLA.

and Mike's single veto was enough?

I sense more to the story..... Other, less verbal or cocky veto-ers

Yeah, Jon S posted confirmation on the WIBNTLA thread going. Sure Mike thought it wasn't upbeat enough for the collection. Yeah, CMH would have been killer on Holland.

What does "confirmation" mean though? Stebbins or not...

If so, we're looking at some pretty spineless guys if Mike gets to decide anything/everything all on his own....

Isn't there at least one radio broadcast of I've Got A Friend, thereby making it a professional recording? I'm not saying whether there is a multi track soundboard recording, but a radio broadcast would still be miles above a tape placed somewhere in an audience.

Confirm what now? I'm a fan and a collector. I've known for many years now (when you were still playing with your Hot Wheels) that there were only audience (or off the radio) recordings of the song we're talking about here. No soundboard recordings exist of it so far - at least that I know of. I pretty much know what concerts are out there that are soundboard quality and which ones aren't. I don't need anyone to test me about what I know. You want to play games and drill and interrogate somebody like a police detective about what they know and try to make them look stupid and embarrass them, go do that with the other kiddies on the board - I'm the wrong guy.

Chances are high there is a soundborad recording. Will we get it, who knows?

Mr. Stebbins, do you know if one exists?

Many thanks for the clarification Mikie, that's how I thought things were. Ah, who knows, maybe one day something may surface, maybe a radio station concert recording…

Jon and, I believe AGD, have both said Mike vetoed it. I don't know much more than what's on that thread.

I don't doubt he vetoed it, but I'm trying to understand how it works out in a band comprised of (at the time of Holland) 7 members where if one of the 7 members vetoes a song: that's it! It's gone! ..... Assuming (as we all seem to in order to make Mike look even worse) that the remaining 6 members voted FOR the song's inclusion.

Is this how it works???

As I understand it, as a BRI principal, he has veto power.

So, if one out of 7 members disagrees with a decision: that one person assumes all decision power?

7? Just 4. Brian, Mike, Al and Carl's estate.

I'm like that last person to be discussing the intricacies of BRI.

Oh, but I'm talking about Carry Me Home and Holland.... The decision to scrap CMH from the lineup for that album.

Oh yeah, definitely.  Thought we were talking WIBNTLA veto from SOS.

By far the most common live version of "I've Got A Friend" that has been bootlegged is from the Radio Luxembourg broadcast of the Beach Boys concert on May 10th, 1972 at Concert Hall of the Villa, Louvigny, Luxembourg. It's either an audience recording or someone recorded it right off the radio. Dennis also sang it the night before in Munich, Germany. I always wondered if the radio station recorded a copy and it's stashed somewhere in a box. Daryl and Dennis Dragon and Toni Tennille were on stage, and that was one helluva setlist with Blondie singing Wild Honey along with the band playing a couple of songs from the Carl & The Passions album.

I'm just trying to clarify if/how Mike alone had enough power to decide all on his own and with complete authority to exclude Carry Me Home from Holland.... I just can't see how that would work unless Mike threatened to quit the band or something over the song..... Either everyone was simply terrified of Mike and would abide by whatever the hell he wished OR other members didn't want the song included either and didn't fight for it or simply ceded to Mike in order to avoid airing their thoughts.

Yup... four years later in fall 1976. That comment is taken from the Love You 'presentation' session. Nothing to do with "CMH" whatsoever.

I don't know anything about Mike nixing CMH.

Thank you, AGD.

I suppose I am a case study on how these Beach Boys rumors get spread around based upon the most slippery grasp on facts.

The poster at the top of the thread.


As was explained by 3 different people (including myself) on another thread, Mike's statement was copied from a different bootleg of "Love You" demos and pasted at the end of "Carry Me Home" for inclusion on the California Feeling bootleg 'album'. So it's out of context - Mike was listening to Brian play "I'll Bet He's Nice" or whatever the song was in '77 on the piano and it was recorded and the snippet at the end with Mike talking was tacked on the end of "Carry Me Home".


I think Mike said that about "I've Got A Friend" while introducing the song in May, 1972, didn't he?

Sorry but I think you need to read through the posts again because I wasn't interrogating you about your knowledge at all.

You made the comment about live I've Got A Friend recordings and another poster asked you if you were talking about soundboard recordings or not. Your next post didn't clarify either way which is why myself and Andrew Hickey both asked you to elaborate. That's all.

Sadly I've never played with Hot Wheels.

It seems like everyone's posts (mine included) in this thread have been badly worded and open to misinterpretation.  :-D

I don't think anyone has mentioned Mike vetoing Carry Me Home from Holland at all . Some people think that Mike will veto this and Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again from the new box set. I don't think it's ever been claimed that Mike vetoed songs way back when because he couldn't. Several songs that he disliked were included on albums after all.

Mike never vetoed CMH off Holland. CMH was just a track that fell by the wayside in favour of other songs being included - every album has them. As for vetoing it off later comps, anyone of them could shoot down a song suggestion. From my understanding the 4 way vote from BRI has to be unanimous for a track to be included, hence Brian voting 'Let Him Run Wild' from the 30th box.

I think the decision to not include Carry Me Home on Holland was down to Dennis, if I recall correctly it's mentioned in Tim White's book The Nearest Faraway Place.

I imagine the box set's tracklist has been set in stone for a while now and I'd speculate that all our speculating is nothing more than speculation.

That said, I'd love to see that Carry Me Home/Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again pairing, and if they have found a live soundboard of I've Got A Friend, then all the better; seems a lot of the speculating about the tracklist is centred more around Dennis's work than any other individual BB now and that'd be a knock-out trio.

If the backing track for IGAF is complete, then I wouldn't even object to a Dennis Dikken-style vocal as was done for Holy Man on the POD/Bambu set;  it's a song that deserves to be heard complete – how about an Al or Brian lead vocal?

I have a feeling you're correct. I have a vague memory that it was Dennis himself that thought the song was too depressing or word to that effect. And he was right - Holland is a mostly uplifting album.

What do you mean, what? Geez, we know some of the guys had issues with some song selections when putting together the 93 box set. We just talked about them shorting material by Dennis on said box set.

Nobody in this thread has mentioned Dennis' material on the 1993 box set have they? Brian vetoed Let Him Run Wild and Al vetoed Loop De Loop but I haven't heard of anyone vetoing specific Dennis songs.

Jon Stebbins posted in another thread that Carl had to fight to get stuff on there but he didn't specify whether he had to fight the compilers or his bandmates.

No, we don't know, but does it really matter? The point is that in the past Dennis tends to get the short end of the stick. So, that could happen here too. Whether it is a band member, producer or exec, there is always the chance something that we think may be great gets left off of these compilations. Like WIBNTLA getting axed from the final tracklist of TWOTS.

I think it matters quite a lot. David Leaf, for example, isn't involved this time so songs which Brian didn't write may be given a fairer deal (before anyone comments, of course most of the songs on the set will have a Brian writing credit but hopefully other merit-worthy songs will be included).

I completely disagree that Dennis tends to get the short end of the stick when it comes to the rarities comps.

Ten Years of Harmony had 2 unreleased songs on it. 1 sung by Dennis and 1 written by Dennis.
Endless Harmony had 5 (genuinely) unreleased songs on it. 2 by Dennis.
Hawthorne had 2 (genuinely) unreleased songs on it. 1 by Dennis.
Summer Love Songs had 1 unreleased song on it. By Dennis.

TWOTS was essentially a best of volume 2 compilation so I'm not sure why people are being so pessimistic.

Exactly. Dennis has always had a good shake on the various comps whenever rarities are involved. He didn't write the hits for the band - Brian and Mike did, so the Brian/Mike material is always going to be the most predominant on any comp. When you take into account Dennis was about the 4th most profilic songwriter writing for the band, then he definitely gets the lion's share of the rarities being put out.

pure speculation (wishing)

Brian Wilson, currently in studio with Don Was,  recording a lead vocal for  "I've Got A Friend" so that this
tune could be included in the upcoming box set.

why not? stranger things have happened.  :)

Why not? Because he's working with Jim Keltner, a drummer. He must be recording new backing tracks.

It would be nice...

If 10,000 Years could be finished as well (if no complete version exists) then that would be cool too.

Probably unlikely in the extreme though...

Don't be sad. They were OK. Kinda fast. They came out in the 60's after Matchbox cars. By Mattel.

"If 10,000 Years could be finished as well (if no complete version exists) then that would be cool too."

Mike finished A version of this song for his unreleased album of about ten years back.

could be working on more than one thing however.. ::)

So again, a great song that we don't know that much about. Anybody know Blondie's e-mail so we can contact him for his memories, if any? And I see there's no takers on my question about who sang on it. Are these the right chords here, musicians?

C     F       C     Fmaj7
Carry me home to my daddy
C     F       C
Carry me home to my mom
C     F       C
Carry me home to my love
C     F       C
Carry me home to my home
    Cm             Ab
The rain's fallin' down on me
    Bb6             Cm
The wind is blowin' cold
   Cm           Ab
My eyes gettin' tired
  Bb6                Cm
I guess I won't grow old
C      F
Ah I'm dyin'
         C
Carry me home
            F
Sweet sweet home
              C
Don't want to die this way
        F
In this cold
         C
Carry me home
            F      Db
Sweet sweet home
Db
  Don't wanna die
Bb
Can this feeling ever go
          Ab
I wanna live
Gb
Life
   Bm
Is meant to live
    Gb
And I'm afraid
      Bm7
I'm afraid to die
Gb
Please God, please God
Bm7
Don't take my life
Gb
Please
Bm7
please help me

Carry me
Gb
Carry me home
         Bm7
Carry me home
Gb
I'm afraid to die
Bm7
Please please
Gb        Bm7
Carry me home

Carry me home

True but a completed original version if it existed would be more enticing (and more likely to make the box set I guess).

Doubt it, partly on basic principles, but mainly because "IGAF" isn't on the track list I've seen*.

[* indicates a statement that is almost certainly a base falsehood, but ya never know...  ;D]

Seriously though - why would Brian lay down a vocal for a 41-year-old song he's almost certainly never heard in his life ?

That would depend on whether the box set compilers would have played it for him as an idea I suppose.

Unlikely in the extreme but...

By the way, has anyone ever covered IGAF as they have with WIBNTLA?

Occam's razor -- "Plurality must never be posited without necessity".
In this case, we have two hypotheses. Hypothesis 1 -- Brian is working on something that requires a drummer. Hypothesis 2 -- Brian is working on something that requires a drummer and also on a new vocal for I've Got A Friend.
Occam's razor demands that the second hypothesis, which contains more complexity than the first, be dismissed without further thought unless and until some actual evidence for it turns up.

I'm a bookie and I can safely say that the odds on that happening are up there with being hit by a flying saucer piloted by Elvis while water-skiing on Loch Ness behind the monster.

Not sure, but Primal Scream covered "Carry Me Home".  Not bad!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ4x1YB88_s

Even if it did happen, I'd rather hear David take a stab at a vocal.

I haven't listened to CMH in a long time but after reading the lyrics again, I wouldn't be surprised if both Mike AND Brian vetoed it for the box...it's a powerful song but might be too disturbing to Brian considering the subject matter.

I look at it this way...

Brian in the last couple of years has done covers of "Forever" (Dennis) and "Heaven" (Carl) with pretty decent results and I would think has heard pretty positive comments on both.  The compilation of MAD has surely had some input from Brian if not song selection.  If I was one of the compilers of the box and had a decent instrumental track for a song the fan boys want (IGAF) and a live version to use as a guide.. why not ask Brian to finish it?

It is just as legit as the completed "Holy Man" on the POB set and as its Brian, would be even more so...
To say Brian's never heard it is pure speculation as well....

Its a stretch, but why not?    8)

Because there's absolutely no evidence whatsoever that it's happened.

all very true, .here's absolutely no evidence

All I'd like to add is.... certain people and organizations follow this board
 ;)

Well, if your "speculation" that it's actually happened is actually an attempt to plant the idea in someone's head... you do realise that in the unlikely event you succeed, you'll get lynched by half the board when the box set release date is put back another year to accommodate the new recording, resequencing the discs, and rewriting the booklets? ;)

 :lol :lol :lol

I'm no Phil Cohen, so I'll take my chances..  For a August release I wouldn't think the booklets are done yet anyway.

besides Brian can always use it on his next solo record if he desires...


cheers

doc smiley

And pray, what the f***, exactly, is MAD ?


You... don't know much about how these things are put together, do you ?  The release date is a mere 135 days away: if the booklets aren't done yet, it won't be released on 8/27/13.

How I feel when people keep using SIBATCOTOL* instead of BTTFSTTAWTO** ?

*Stupid Incomprehensible Bloody Acronyms That Consist Of Thousands Of Letters
**Bothering To Take Five Seconds To Type A Whole Title Out

me bad... I should have typed it out long form... (Made In California)
where did I get MAD from?  no idea (a brain cramp)

As for the time needed for the booklets and such, your right, I have no idea, just seems that in 21 century, having the booklets done 135 days in advance of the release seems ridiculous. I've seen bands recording in the studio in September rushing for a Christmas release ??

don't Phil me guys, I was just speculating on a idea that I thought would be pretty cool... 

Midnight's Another Doughnut   ;D

Sorry if you feel like you're being picked on. Certainly not my intention. It's just that around here speculation has a habit of becoming rumour, which then becomes confirmed fact, without at any point having any contact with reality. And then when people find out that the speculation is just that, they either refuse to believe the truth or go into a massive strop about how Mike Love stopped them from having whatever nice thing they've become convinced they're going to have, even though it never existed outside their heads.

Much better for the general sanity level around here, in my view, if you make mildly pessimistic assumptions when discussing things about which we have few or no details.

Obviously there are a few Dennis songs (the aforementioned plus Mona Kani, California Slide etc.) that seem to be available for the box set. But of the other unreleased songs listed on AGD's website, how many is it thought have survived up to this point? Is it only some of the 1974 recordings that are thought to have been destroyed?

A load of the unreleased songs are from the 70s with several by Al (Gold Rush, Rubles, Dr. Tom, Canyon Summer etc.). Have these songs ever been booted or heard by nefarious people?  :)

Rubles exists and is rumored to be on a Wrinkles or Summer of Love level of horribleness.

Lovely stuff. Should fit nicely on the box set between Hey Little Tomboy (original version) and the full Country Love album!

I know, right?

Dr. Tom exists as well, I forgot to mention that. Never heard it, but it's confirmed. Holland era. Gold Rush and Canyon Summer are unrecorded as far as I know. For the record, the actual title of "California Slide" is I'm Going Your Way, and "Mona Kani" is Mona Kanau.

Its possible brian did hear "i've got a friend" when he attended the bbs december 3 1971 long beach show . It was performed

Thanks for the info.

Hopefully plenty of unbooted songs will make it onto the box set...

I think the recordings that circulate of the Radio Luxemburg concert were recorded right from the radio. Problem was the fact that the weather conditions that day (night) were not so good. This made the broadcast not being perfect in most of Europe.

There's a fifth one circulating: Ahoy Rotterdam (Netherlands), May 13th 1972. Again quite a bit of hiss on the background, but not as bad as the ones mentioned above.

Can it be assumed that Radio Luxembourg engineers recorded the gig simultaneously? It'd seem odd not to give themselves the option of repeating the show another date.

perhaps, and I wish I could confirm that...

Thanks for the info, SH.  I'm assuming Ian has documented all five of these shows in his new book(?)  I'm thinking maybe someone out there could take away some of that hiss without compromising the quality of the recording.

I seriously doubt it. There's more hiss than recording there.

There's a copy - or was - in the band's vault.

And a sixth from Georgetown University, November of 1971.

Yeah, the Luxembourg one is the best chance, unless they recorded a show that we aren't aware of. I like that version anyway, because Dennis breaks it down at the end to tell us how much he loves his wife. That's soul music, right there.

One of my good friends on the board sent me another version of "I've Got A Friend" today. So that makes four that I've heard now. Out of the four, one of them has very minimal hiss and the other minimal hiss but with slight distortion. Seriously now, I'm thinking that with a Radio Shack 4-channel dual quad posi-traction Dolby equalizer, the mid-frequencies could be turned up and this could be a gem in the rough. I think the frequencies could be messed with to eliminate most of the distortion or hiss. It's just Dennis and a piano. Then in the middle, Carl comes in on guitar and (Dennis Dragon?) plays drums. One version he's on what sounds like a pipe organ. And a horn. These were all recorded live around mid-May of 1972. Dennis really got a good long ovation in Luxembourg and I'm a little surprised that didn't prompt him to go home and complete the recording for this song. Instead, he went over to the Bellagio studio the following month and recorded the song "Barbara". "Barbara" wasn't finished either - there were strings intended for it - probably like were planned for "I've Got A Friend". Plans for further work on "I've Got A Friend" were probably aborted at that point. A session for "Cuddle Up" was recorded up at Bellagio the previous month and he probably figured that he'd done enough on "Barbara" and "I've Got A Friend", so he added some strings to "Cuddle Up" in a studio in Downey and released that one.

"I've Got A Friend" was about Barbara. At the end of the song in Luxembourg, he repeated his wife's name "Barbara" and said, "I Love Barbara" three times with emotion. Dennis really soaked up the ovation, which seemed to get even louder after he told the crowd about her and expressed his love publicly for her.

It's nice to have Friends!

Yes it is, Bgas.  :)

There used to be a version of I've Got A Friend on Youtube that sounded quite a bit better than my version(s). I wish I could still find it...

You had a very different opinion about the same recording in this thread: http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,10904.0.html  ;D

I was being facetious, Jay.  It ain't bad at all.

Why didn't you download the better Youtube version?

I didn't have any program to download it with. I probably wouldn't have known how to do it anyway. lol

Until a few years ago I had the Rotterdam recording on YT (accompanied with some pictures of the concert), but my channel got blocked. That's probably the one you saw.

Yeah, I remember your videos, and JasperEich(sp?). Good times.  ;D

So Ive been listening to as many versions of "Ive got a friend" as possible to try and work out the lyrics and here is what Ive got. Feel free to chip in with any corrections.

Sometimes you feel, you're alone
but im not alone
Ive got a friend

sometimes i wonder whats its all about
then you come along
I've got a friend

my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend

sometimes, im lost and cant find my way
then you come to stay
I know a friend

when i walk, i feel the wind
upon my face
then i know, i know a friend

my friend, my friend, my friend, my friend

Ive got a friend
makes you giggle if your feeling down
just like the wind blows
that's how our friendship goes

reach out, you can touch my life, you can touch my soul

you make me feel warm
when i know its really cold
you took me by surprise
you really opened up my eyes

i know, now i see, yes i know

you've got a friend
Ive got a friend
we've got a friend

Looks good, Wood.  Close enough for government work.....

Jon Stebbins said, quite rightly, that 'if River Song had had a Brian Wilson writing credit people's teeth would've fallen out in amazement'.

Same applies with Carry Me Home. It is an exceptional song, and to me it is mind-bogglingly ridiculous that a song of this emotional power and sheer quality could be left to gather dust in the vaults. No other band would ever leave a song of such obvious brilliance unreleased - the politics of this band are seriously infuriating - and i think it'd be a travesty if this song were once again passed up for official release. So it's a downer? As Mojo magazine said when discussing the song, and the reasons for it's exclusion from Holland: 'down can mean deep, boys'. It's Dennis' 'Til I Die'.

WIBNTLA and Carry Me Home should both be on the box - let's show Denny some respect.

Good job, Woody! I was just listening to a few recordings of IGAF and trying to figure out the  lyrics  myself.

To be honest, I can understand why Carry Me Home has never been released. It's unfinished, and it shows. The "life, was made to live" section, and up to the end of the song, is oddly disjointed, and almost sounds disconnected from the first half of the song. It's also not one of Dennis's best vocals.

I've never noticed or thought any of the things you've just mentioned re Carry Me Home - completely disagree. It's a heartbreakingly broken vocal from Dennis. And i personally love the way the song stops, starts, and unexpectedly changes from one section to the next. To me, these aren't negatives. And it sure seems pretty complete to me. What's missing exactly, other than decent sound quality?

Don't get me wrong, it is a great song. It could just use a few more takes. It sounds to me like a rehearsal to me. Or a very early take. As I said, the different parts of the song make it seem disjointed. Similar to how a Smile track would have different parts to be edited and assembled.

Blondie sings lead.

Anyhow, I agree - one of Dennis' best songs and it would've been on of the BB's best 70s songs. I'd love to hear a cleaned up version  on the box. There has to be some reason for me to buy it. Normally, I'm pretty loyal, but it's got to the point where sme of the recent comps, with some different mixes or maybe one 'new' song have been pretty much ripping off loyal fans. I want this box to be special.

Nah...it's all there, all good, it's just a very unflattering monitor mix. With the smile stuff, even when it's unmixed, it's pretty easy to tell what they were going for, because there were like, three tracks with multiple instruments on each. What they were basically going for was a live capture of musicians playing in a room. On sessions like these, with more tracks and opportunity for overdubbing, only a finished, final mix would really reveal what the track was meant to sound like. They could have totally dropped the lap steel, added masses of tape delay to the 'oohs', there could be synth parts that are buried in this rough.

I mean, sure, they may have added some bits and pieces before getting to a final version- none of us could know now, but certainly, it'd be possible to make a finished mix *just* with the bits we've heard.

Now, "I'm going your way" sounds unfinished...there clearly would have been more parts added to that- probably along the lines of 'it's about time', and it's an obvious scratch vocal. I bet Dennis's vocal on Carry Me Home was intended to sound like that- super fragile. It's a perfect fit for the song.

It's a co-lead.

Agreed. I'm not remotely interested anymore by alternate mixes of familiar songs (which, incidentally, never sound better than the original versions) and i'm even more bored of this song in mono or that song in stereo etc. Seriously, i couldn't care less. Give me unreleased/unheard songs/material every single time. That's what i'm expecting from this box set. I dont want to be shelling out £100+ to hear some vaguely different mix of California Girls or similar.

Agreed.

I think you're right to say that Carry Me Home can be cleaned up to have a nice mix, a good example would be how awful the mixes of the booted Bambu material sound compared to the POB re-release.

Well, obviously Paulos, that all depends on the availability of the master or safety copy tape. The one that's made the rounds for years sounds like it was recorded off of a speaker with a microphone. Or at least 2nd or 3rd generation from the master. Not very good quality, unfortunately. There's just so much you can do to clean it up.

Very true, hopefully there is a good quality master in the vaults somewhere.

The boot of Carry Me Home, along with some other booted songs, such as the Shortnin' Bread track, the Good Timin' track, Battle Hymn of the Republic, & a few others, sound to me like they were Dolby encoded (possibly with Dolby SR) & then transferred from a 1/4 inch machine without Dolby decoding.  Perhaps the booters forgot to flip a switch before transferring this stuff, or had no Dolby noise reduction units available.  Anyway, here's hoping we'll get to hear Carry Me Home in decent fidelity for MIC.  Something tells me we won't get both Carry Me Home AND WIBNTLA.  Probably one or the other & the one would likely be WIBNTLA.  Just my thoughts.

I think we all know that...the phrase 'cleaned up' was being used in the context of posting about a better mix being made, from the most likely still existing multitrack.

"Cleaned up" is a general term. Finding the master (or first generation copy) is the number one task. Finding the multi's to the song would be a bonus. At this point, all we've heard is an unfinished product in poor condition (or more than likely a demo). AB would know if/what tape(s) exist of this song.

I think Blondie or Steve Moffitt or maybe even Daryl Dragon might remember the song. I think Desper was gone by this time.

6 CDs and we can't get two unreleased Dennis songs? That would truly suck!

Yeah, no. That's a biased generalization and it sounds like pure rhetoric. Some people just genuinely don't like Dennis' aesthetic/style, songwriting/arranging approach, vocal delivery, lyrics, etc. And that's fine. He's not for everyone. Just like the different eras of the band and even The Beach Boys as a whole aren't for everyone.

Anybody else here admit to not liking Dennis Wilson's music?

Anybody else here admit to not liking Dennis Wilson's music but still post negative comments on threads about his music anyway?

Nah. Dennis' stuff gets a lot of praise and now I don't think anybody could seriously claim it is underrated.

I couldn’t give you names, but i’ve seen some people on the board who aren’t into Dennis. Granted, it's not many, but there are a few. I only responded to that comment because i find it tiring to often hear this sentiment coming from the Dennis cognoscenti that implies that if you're not into his music you're somehow in the wrong, or you’re just unfairly comparing him to Brian, or you’re not giving him a proper chance because he’s so underrated, or you’d like the music if it had Brian's name on it (what does that even mean?), or you must be devoid of any emotion, etc. To me, very little of Dennis’ music (the most notable exception being Little Bird--which has Brian's fingerprint all over it) represents what i love about The Beach Boys sound/style/songwriting/etc. And it’s not because it’s not Brian or because of an unfair comparison or whatever. It's just simply because i don’t like the music (it doesn’t help that his is my least favorite voice/singer in the group). I wanted to defend this position, and clarify that not all Dennis detractors are being disingenuous about their reasons. That’s why i commented. That's all.

I would think the liklihood of having just one, single previously unreleased DW track on the box is vanishingly small.

How so?

Because there are multiple good previously unreleased Dennis songs, and because the people putting the box together aren't imbeciles.

Indeed. Sorry, that's not how I interpreted AGD's comment.

The Bambu version of Baby Blue is far better than the version on LA. Bruce really shredded that one. Backing vocals are almost gone and that harp playing through the entire song is edited out. But then again Bruce botched everything productionwise for LA. There is hardly a backing track on many of the songs, and it is usually very low compared to the vocals and 'thinned' out.

Bruce wasn't the only producer on that album so harsh to blame him for all its perceived faults.

I like Carl to much to blame him, but if he was part of that decision making then my criticism will include him. LA's music is rather good but production is lacking, making it more slumber-like music. Then again, most production after Holland was rather weak compared to what it had previously been.

Dennis and Guercio may have had a part to play too.

Al produced Lady Lynda on his own so probably had little to do with the rest of the album.

My worry for the box is that they will keep holding out on stuff. If they put everything they have on this, then what do they put on the next compilation they want to sell? In saying that, its been quite a while since Hawthorne came out so maybe they will throw everything on MIC

Yeah, it's been twelve years since the last rarities comp we've seen. In another twelve years the CD format might not even exist any more, and it's fairly unlikely that the band themselves will still be here (awful though it is to think of). I'm pretty sure they know this is the last chance to get anything releasable out. If they do release another best-of in future and want to stick a track on to draw in the hardcore fans, there are plenty of live shows they could take a track or two from, but it may well be that last year's collection ends up being the last best-of they release as well...

I really wouldn't see the point of that. Did Hawthorne even sell anyway? And they must know that only the hardest of hardcore fans would buy the box set if it didn't contain an appealing track selection.

I'll have to listen again...I can't hear past Carls over loud vocal intro and the lack of the Dennis lead on the boot.

Shame, because that's exactly what I meant.

I too misunderstood your comment. The way it read was as if you were saying the chances of their being more than one unreleased DW song on the box is unlikely. Very relieved to hear you meant otherwise!

Good to hear.