The Smiley Smile Message Board

For the personnel of That's Not Me many people say Al Jardine plays the tambourine, while others say it was Terry Melcher. Who do you think it was?

Also, Bruce is listed for playing on the song, although there is no audible evidence to support that. My guess is that he could've laid down a basic bass track, playing the chord changes? I dunno, just a guess...

  If we're talking tambourine, why not Mike Love?  :lol

  Bruce has said it was Terry Melcher. Isn't this also the one PET SOUNDS track featuring Carl and Dennis? Did it bother the guys around this time to come back from the road and find session folks playing on the records? Or simply accepted as the way the wind was blowing?

Carl plays guitar on God Only Knows and bass on Good Vibrations which was partially recorded during the Pet Sounds sessions.

I don't think the BBs were upset to find the WC playing their tracks. The WC had been doing so, for the most part, since The Beach Boys Today!

I have no clue... but I can tell you if I were one of them, I'd be relieved somebody else was doing the work and I was going to be paid for it.    They had their hands full and the last thing they needed was to be writing or playing the music in the studio too.  Brian finishes it all up and then tells me what to sing?  Sounds good to me. 

Actually...there's TWO tambourines on "That's Not Me", played by Terry Melcher and Steve Korthof. Al is not heard on the basic track session. Bruce monitors the proceedings from the control booth.

Actually...I belive Carol Kaye, not Carl, plays guitar on "God Only Knows". On another thread, we've determined (thanks, Josh) that there's only one electric bass on the track, and from the session tape chatter, it's clearly Ray Pohlman. So what was Carol's role? The between-take guitar doodlings are more jazzy than the kinda stuff Carl played when waiting for a take, indicative of a WC player...and since we never do hear Carl's voice on the tape, I'd give the guitar credit to Carol. She also handled that chore on "I'm Waiting For The Day" (where, once again, Ray Pohlman plays Fender bass).

You're assuming it was a sudden, new development. The first BB track with full-on Crew playing it was "Why Do Fools Fall In Love", recorded January 7th 1964. Two years later, it was SOP.

  True, but there was a balance of sorts for awhile. The guys were still playing a fair bit on the records 1964-65, then basically not at all (except for Carl) during PET SOUNDS and SMILE.

Thanks c-man...the tambourines almost give an unplugged, acoustic feel and contrast to the formality of the rest of the instruments. Love it! Thanks for the background info.  ;)

There is a real balance on Beach Boys Today, as both WC and BB's are all over the sessions. Summer Days as well, though less BB's. And as far as "except for Carl" after that, check the PS and Smile sessions credits and you'll see that Dennis plays drums on a couple things, percussion on a few, and keyboards on at least one.

Whoever shook tambourine, isn't it, like, a very simple instrument? You jus' keep the beat in line with the rhythm section where necessary.

You ever tried to do that, in either a studio or live environment ? The instrument may be simple: using it properly, and effectively, isn't.

I played it in concerts with college orchestra.

Really ? Your question implied you'd no previous experience.

Whatever it implied, I did play tambourine.

Shoot, I just spent an entire minute trying to figure out what song in 1966 had the initials SOP.

Ok, then you tell us. You are the one with experience of playing it.

I did already. Read the last sentence of my 1st reply in the thread. Maybe it was crass generalization what I said, as it differs from one person to the next. For me, it's a very simple instrument.

Yes, it was a crass generalization in what you said. The tambourine is an easy instrument to get sound out of, for sure, but to actually PLAY it is another story. You don't have to tune it or pluck it, etc, but a percussionist that is off rhythm is much more noticeable then even an out of tune vocalist, in my opinion.

I did too then I realized Andrew meant that by 1966, it was Standard Operating Procedure for The Beach Boys to use The Wrecking Crew.