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Smiley Smile Stuff => General On Topic Discussions => Topic started by: delsboy on January 07, 2014, 11:48:13 AM



Title: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: delsboy on January 07, 2014, 11:48:13 AM
Are there two different versions of this song. For instance. Al has a video which show the boys all together recording w/David Marks?

Is there a "Don't Fight The Sea" that was recorded during the TWGMTR sessions?


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: Jim V. on January 07, 2014, 12:01:54 PM
Nah. There's just the version that is on Al's solo album. The group (plus Matt Jardine) filmed part of the video during the reunion but there's no other version.....


Except there was something called "Don't Fight The Sea" recorded in '76 during the 15 Big Ones sessions. I don't know if that recording has anything to do with Al's though.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: bgas on January 07, 2014, 12:11:05 PM
Youtube has two versions, which seem to be different: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCUUBkFTnwE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3V3rbs2r4V0


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: Mr. Wilson on January 07, 2014, 01:46:43 PM
Yea the 1st link the song is 1 1/2 minutes longer and the 2nd link the intro is different.. Wonder how Al got the BB to do the video because it is on Al"s solo lp.. Excellent track..  Very nice ecology song Al..!


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: chrs_mrgn on January 07, 2014, 01:53:55 PM
Yea the 1st link the song is 1 1/2 minutes longer and the 2nd link the intro is different.. Wonder how Al got the BB to do the video because it is on Al"s solo lp.. Excellent track..  Very nice ecology song Al..!

I think it's because it was for a charity.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: southbay on January 07, 2014, 05:04:15 PM
Yea the 1st link the song is 1 1/2 minutes longer and the 2nd link the intro is different.. Wonder how Al got the BB to do the video because it is on Al"s solo lp.. Excellent track..  Very nice ecology song Al..!

True, and it was filmed in April 2012 the day after Al's solo show at the Roxy.

I think it's because it was for a charity.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: JohnMill on January 07, 2014, 09:35:58 PM
Aside from the intro (with the whale sounds) which I can't figure out as it's not on the CV I have, the main difference between the "video mix" and the CV is that the video mix omits Carl Wilson's contributions for obvious reasons.  I'm assuming Carl Wilson's contribution to the song is "dropped in" from the "15 Big Ones" outtake that sweetdudejim references.  


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: TimeToGetAlone on January 07, 2014, 09:45:53 PM
Anyone else really like Brian's vocal bits on Don't Fight the Sea?  Sounds like one of the newer additions.

I remember listening to the radio in 2011 and being totally surprised when they announced they were going to play the new Beach Boys single.  Probably the one and only time I'll ever hear it in that manner.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: c-man on January 08, 2014, 03:52:04 AM
Brian's and Carl's (and Bruce's ?) contributions were recorded in 1989, during sessions for the "Still Cruisin'" album.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: Andrew G. Doe on January 08, 2014, 05:23:14 AM
Bruce doesn't remember being on the track at all.  ;D


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: TimeToGetAlone on January 08, 2014, 06:11:12 PM
Brian's and Carl's (and Bruce's ?) contributions were recorded in 1989, during sessions for the "Still Cruisin'" album.
I guess it makes sense, though it doesn't sound as strained to me as his other vocals of the time.  Makes me wish for more of a 1989 full-on group album.  Still Brian does appear regularly considering the time.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: beachboys_fr on March 03, 2014, 11:32:08 PM
Except there was something called "Don't Fight The Sea" recorded in '76 during the 15 Big Ones sessions. I don't know if that recording has anything to do with Al's though.

I guess it is from the sessions with Terry Jacks (like "Seasons in the Sun") since Terry Jacks also recorded "Don't Fight the Sea" (under the exact title "Y' Don't Fight the Sea").

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Dol148XNE


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: Alan Smith on March 03, 2014, 11:49:57 PM
Whoring out this article, again - http://www.examiner.com/article/al-jardine-discusses-a-postcard-from-california (http://www.examiner.com/article/al-jardine-discusses-a-postcard-from-california) - from the lips of that delightful kook Al Jardine, as told to the esteemed ESQ Ed.

Origin circa '78, interested to hear about SD Jim's '76 ref.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: c-man on March 04, 2014, 03:38:48 AM
Well, "Don't Fight The Sea" is on a couple of AFM sheets from the early '76 "15 Big ones" sessions. The same basic tracking and string overdub sessions as those for "That Same Song", April 27 and 28, 1976. Alan Boyd tells me that tape is NOT in the Brother Records archive, which means Al probably took it with him to Big Sur at some point. Then Brad Elliott wrote in his book that Al was working on the song in the second half of 1980. My guess is that's a completely new version, and possibly the one used for the final version, since Bobby Figueroa is credited as the drummer on the released version, and he was gone from their employ by 1989, which is when the Brian, Carl and Bruce vocals (and probably Mike Meros' synth work) were added. It was next mentioned in '96 and '97 as a candidate for the album Al was doing with his sons. 


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: mikeddonn on March 04, 2014, 02:08:22 PM
Pity this wasn't on the "Still Cruisin'" album along with a few other originals.  Could have been a really good album without the 60s stuff.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: Alan Smith on March 13, 2014, 04:51:17 AM
Well, "Don't Fight The Sea" is on a couple of AFM sheets from the early '76 "15 Big ones" sessions. The same basic tracking and string overdub sessions as those for "That Same Song", April 27 and 28, 1976. Alan Boyd tells me that tape is NOT in the Brother Records archive, which means Al probably took it with him to Big Sur at some point. Then Brad Elliott wrote in his book that Al was working on the song in the second half of 1980. My guess is that's a completely new version, and possibly the one used for the final version, since Bobby Figueroa is credited as the drummer on the released version, and he was gone from their employ by 1989, which is when the Brian, Carl and Bruce vocals (and probably Mike Meros' synth work) were added. It was next mentioned in '96 and '97 as a candidate for the album Al was doing with his sons. 

c-man - thanks so much for sharing the timeline info, context and speculation.  A bit of a shame a copy of whatever was put down in '76 didn't remain in the BRI vault as a historical document.  Or a bootleg opportunity.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: ESQ Editor on March 19, 2014, 11:38:21 PM
Yea the 1st link the song is 1 1/2 minutes longer and the 2nd link the intro is different.. Wonder how Al got the BB to do the video because it is on Al"s solo lp.. Excellent track..  Very nice ecology song Al..!

True, and it was filmed in April 2012 the day after Al's solo show at the Roxy.

I think it's because it was for a charity.

It was Wednesday March 21, 2012.


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: ESQ Editor on March 19, 2014, 11:39:26 PM
Bruce doesn't remember being on the track at all.  ;D

That's true.  Scott Totten sent me an email and asked if Bruce was on it.  I told him he was, and Scott responded, "He didn't know."


Title: Re: Don't Fight The Sea
Post by: ESQ Editor on March 19, 2014, 11:43:56 PM
Well, "Don't Fight The Sea" is on a couple of AFM sheets from the early '76 "15 Big ones" sessions. The same basic tracking and string overdub sessions as those for "That Same Song", April 27 and 28, 1976. Alan Boyd tells me that tape is NOT in the Brother Records archive, which means Al probably took it with him to Big Sur at some point. Then Brad Elliott wrote in his book that Al was working on the song in the second half of 1980. My guess is that's a completely new version, and possibly the one used for the final version, since Bobby Figueroa is credited as the drummer on the released version, and he was gone from their employ by 1989, which is when the Brian, Carl and Bruce vocals (and probably Mike Meros' synth work) were added. It was next mentioned in '96 and '97 as a candidate for the album Al was doing with his sons. 

c-man - thanks so much for sharing the timeline info, context and speculation.  A bit of a shame a copy of whatever was put down in '76 didn't remain in the BRI vault as a historical document.  Or a bootleg opportunity.

Al broke down the entire timeline for me back in 2010.

There are at least four different iterations of the song.

Here's a bot more of a bockstory — http://www.examiner.com/review/a-postcard-from-california-cd