The Smiley Smile Message Board

My Murry Wilson research/recording project has been completed. Go to this link to see what I found out about Murry's life as a composer and how to buy the album, if interested. Happy to answer any Qs too.

https://boltrecords.net/2020/10/10/murrywilsonlp/

Hey, this is a very cool project. Congrats. 

Enjoyed your take on "For You and Me."  Such a campy, pro-military ditty. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but interesting nonetheless...

That looks really interesting. Keep us updated if it's becomes available from anywhere in Europe as postage is $27.

What record store do you like to buy from in Europe? I'm happy to try to stock one with a few copies.

Finding For You And Me was a huge moment in the project. I'd been looking for it for a couple of years, not even knowing Murry had cut it as a demo. Twice. On acetate. Of all the songs, that one was a lot of fun to record, if not the most fun. Great band too with J Walter Hawkes and Daria Grace.

Fascinating! I'll have to check out the samples. Congratulations on completing the album, that's quite the backstory.

I guess if you wanted it to be available for as many people as possible then getting Amazon to ship it from the UK or Europe is best but maybe that's too difficult.

I sometimes buy from these guys - www.hhv.de in Germany but they maybe only deal with distributors. They do have a lot of independent stuff though.

Probably very difficult with Corona now I guess as not much traveling goin on.

They look like a chain, but I could be wrong. I do have an indie record shop in Berlin I like a lot. Let me talk to them, and I'll let you know what happens.

It's not a chain but mostly mail order or pickup as shop is small and mainly clothes plus they have a huge amount of records.

Cool, sounds good, I do a hell of a lot of record shopping in Berlin so know most places. Let me now If I can help with anything.

That's great. OK, I just sent them (HHV) a note and I'll let you know what I find out.

Congratulations Junkstar! Fantastic what you were able to find. I think I've mentioned it before, but this musical archaeology is fascinating.

Bought it--looking forward to it! I love labors of love, and we all know Murry can use all the love he can get!

Thanks for such diligence and dedication--but don't forget that you might get visited by the ghost of Murry demanding his royalties!!  :lol

You have a buyer! This looks like an amazing project, and I salute your dedication.

Thank you all for buying. As you can imagine, this thing cost a fortune, and to get back some of the investment means a lot to me.

Peadar: HHV declined to carry a few copies. I'll try another Berlin shop. I really love 'The Record Store' so will ask them.

Congrats Junkstar on a super project, I know there are fees involved (but bump up the price to cover those) so how about listing it on Discogs ?

That's a pity. I haven't been to the 'The Record Store' for a good few years.

I was in a band a couple of years ago and Dodo Beach stocked the record for us. Might be worth a go - https://www.dodobeach.de/

I just wrote to them. Thanks. Let's see what they say. I have less than 200 copies left (pre-orders have been strong), so maybe they will bite.

Edit: I also just wrote to the Pet Sounds Shop in the UK. Maybe that could be a solution.

Rob: It's now on Discogs (for the US). FYI, two more days at the pre-sale price ($18), then it bumps up to $22 on Friday.  

Today is release day. Thanks to all the interest (and the orders) that came from this board. I mean, like, a lot of orders. I really appreciate it. Less than 200 copies left, and I've got 100 to pack and ship today. Also, I've continued to update the essay page. A few new artifacts and another song has been confirmed as written by Murry (as per Ginger Blake). Thanks again.

https://boltrecords.net/2020/10/10/murrywilsonlp/

Excited to hear the LP soon! And appreciate the wealth of information on the site.

Michael Shelley just gave So Much In Love a spin on 'FMU, I was wondering if he'd be playing some cuts from the album today.

Damn, I missed the Shelley show on WFMU. Was at the post office shipping about 100 copies (thank you all. seriously). He's a great guy.

George, please check your PMs.

For those interested in the Michael Shelley show debut of So Much in Love from the new Murry album, it's here in the replay stream:  https://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/97478

Sound really good!


BTW, do you, or does anyone know, if Murry and Dennis wrote a song together in the early 70s? I somehow seem to remember hearing about that, but it's possible that I am a little confused and mix this up with something else.

The record arrived in the mail today.  I must say it is very well done.  I am glad I have this in my collection!

Thanks, Matt. I've made a sh*t ton of records in my lifetime and this one was the most fun, hands down. As available copies for sale dwindle (halfway there), I am stuck with 200 extra jackets I have to figure out what to do with though. I'm not printing more vinyl, so need a different solution.

Rocker: I saw someone mention that Dennis had something to do with a song called Run River Run. I have no proof. But, during my research for the Murry album, Alan told me this: "There are a couple of other tapes from The Snow era, 2'' 16 track, "artist unknown" but the client is designated as "Bri-Mur," which makes me think this might be associated with another project of Murry's.  The date on the first tape is 10/2/70, and the titles are RUN RIVER RUN and WIND RIDER." This could possibly be a connection.
 

Thanks, Junkstar! As mentioned, I could be totally misremembering, I just seemed to recall reading about it.
How interesting that the song that comes into closer look is called "Run River Run", given Dennis' (and Carl's) "River song" that probably also started during these years.

The copyright.gov Virtual Card Catalog has the following copyright records:

RUN, RIVER, RUN; w & m Bill Granstaff. 2 p. © Bri-Mur Pub. Co.; 28Oct70; EU214207.

WIND RIDER; w & m Bill Granstaff. 2 p. © Bri-Mur Pub. Co.; 31Dec70; EU223513.

Perhaps the tapes are Mr. Granstaff’s songwriting demos?

My copy of the LP arrived today. Those are some very interesting liner notes by David Marks. Also, I appreciate the bonus packaging items.

Must be!

Searching for Bill Granstaff info took me down a wild rabbit hole. One cool find was this Pray For Surf page with some great Desper and Vail quotes: https://prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/fred-vail-on-break-away-and-murry.html

.

I think every time Vail has mentioned The Parade, he's been thinking of Snow after reading this link. He sent me on the exact same chase too (Gail, the brothers), and I never got any response.

Was played again today and I got to hear -- excellent.  Impressed by this labor of love.  Curious perhaps but all the more interesting because : )

Michael has a great show. I'm humbled to be included, TBH. Even though I grew up with him, so did a ton of other musicians he could be choosing from.

Humility is important and Michael indeed has a great show, but you deserve kudos -- and airplay.    :)

The Boston Globe (US newspaper) did a short piece on the Murry LP today: https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/11/22/beach-boys-fan-tracks-down-elusive-songs-by-wilson-dad/

As a MA native, The Boston Globe and Herald are two different papers; regardless, I’m happy to see you get the exposure and hope to buy a copy if you stil have any left on Discogs.

Also, the paper couldn’t find a recent picture of M&B?  ;D Mike Kowalski and Randall Kirsch are in it; hell, even a C50 picture would have made a little more sense because Murry is Brian’s father and Mike’s uncle.

Poor choice for the photo, they should have used a vintage shot of the BBs instead of the latter-day touring act.

Regardless, I'm glad to see you getting the exposure, George!

Brett Milano, the author of the article, posted on my Facebook page that he submitted the article with the cover art and photos of me. Looks like the editors of the Herald made a decision to give Mike some Love.

BTW, Google's alert algorithm called my attention to the Boston Herald write-up.   So it's like the leading "Beach Boys" news story of the moment.   Very nice!   
And, yes, weird that the photo editor decided to go with a pic of Mike Love and crew.  Perhaps an omen that the Mike-Murry collaboration "By His Side: When Jesus Calls His Soldiers" will resurface in time for Volume 2?? ;)

You have no idea how much I would like to record that. Hell, I'll hire a full gospel choir. I may have said it before, but there are at least 6 more Murry songs being held by a variety of (living) folks ready to be recorded if they ever decide to share. Let's hope they don't die with them.

Just catching up on this, yes FFS at least tag the article about the music of Murry Wilson with a photo of the Beach Boys featuring at least one guy named Wilson! That's so absurd it's funny. But kudos on the press coverage in Boston!