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Does anybody have any information on this song? It sounds like it's sung by Al and Bruce. The only instrument being played is a keyboard. The thing that interested me in it is that there is a short section that has the exact same chord change found in the song Oh Lord from the Cocaine Sessions.

AGD's awesome site says it was penned by ( Alan Jardine?--obviously he isn't sure himself) and says the lead vocal is Alan.

Recorded during the CATP sessions.

Yeah, the lead vocal is just Al, to my ears. It sounds like Bruce at one point, but then again, during his career, Al's sounded just like every other Beach Boy but maybe Denny at one point or another.

A full-on track was cut for this, too, at the same session as "Marcella" and something called "Body Talk".  Musicians present were Tandyn Almer, Ricky Fataar, Bruce Johnston, Tony Martin Jr., Brian Wilson, and Carl Wilson.  A few days later, banjo & strings (arranged by Tandyn Almer) were overdubbed.  Shame that version hasn't leaked out.  Don't know if it has vocals or not. 

Would've been awesome if that song made it onto CATP. Since it didn't go onto Holland they should've brought it back out for the Caribou and/or 15BO sessions.

Funny you should mention this. Earlier this week I asked Al about "Out In The Country" and he had no memory of it. I sang him a bit and he said that he definitely didn't write, it and suspected it was a Brian composition.

Bear in mind that Alan was also convinced that "Honkin' Down The Highway" hadn't been released...  ::)

haha! Has it been a while since Al looked at the tracklisting on Love You?! :lol :lol

It is funny isn't it. Unless all the work on "Out In The Country" was done at Brian Wilson/non Al Jardine-attended sessions, which is entirely possible, how could Al have NO memory of it? Howie, what kind of singer are you? ;D   

How could a non-Al-attended session be one where the song was worked on, when Al sang the lead vocal?

Maybe Al didn't write it, as he says, and therefore the writer, possibly Brian, was happy enough arranging and recording the song without him playing on the track. Al sings Then I Kissed Her, but I don't think he contributes to the tracking session.

Maybe Al was there, and didn't play anything, just supervised from the control room, and the AFM contract didn't credit him.

Maybe Al played the banjo overdub.

I sing soft and sexy. I fight for success. I sound like Rocky Pamplin.

Honestly, I've never heard the track, so I didn't want to assume that Al sang the song, not that I'm doubting the above posters who say that he did. But, hey, Al takes no backseat to anyone, including Brian Wilson, in the amount of totally head-scratching statements ever made.

I'm actually listening to "Out In The Country" right now, and it sounds like Al singing to me.

"I can't see me hangin' round
Shuffling my feet through the same ragged town
All of this city life's gettin me down can't you see
Out in the country where I'd rather be
grazing in the fields of yellow and green
gotta keep movin on
this kind of life ain't for me"

Then Carl and and a couple other voices come in.
"ooooh
I've been livin'"
And a couple more lines all being sung at the same time.

It's a really pretty song. I think it would've made a good album opener had it been given more full-on production.

How could Al not remember singing a line like that? It's not that he had an overwhelming amount of BB lead vocals. Heck, he probably wrote the lyric. Anyway...

Yeah, I'm for another song or two on CATP, an underrated album, like many BB albums, with a couple of more songs on it....

I just relistened to the track, and I'm not SURE it's Al anymore. How does Tandyn Almer sound?

Nope, Doug Dillard.

Thanks for the info everybody.  :)

I've listened to this song a few times now, and I think that Al sings the first few lines, and then Bruce takes over starting on the line "Out in the country where I'd rather be....", untill the rest of the group comes in. You can listen to the track here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwBnn463MXA

Thanks for the YouTube link, John. I never heard that song before; but I think it's good. I liked the Beach Boys' sound around that time.

I'd put a small sum on it being Alan all the way through. Bruce doesn't have that kind of edge to his voice.

Wow!  ;D Do you look like Burt Reynolds, by the way?

I asked Alan Boyd about this one via myspace a few months ago.  I assumed it was Bruce but he said it was indeed an Al tune. I wish they had finished that one.  It kinda sounded to me like it would have fit nicely on the Holland album. The version I have is on Landylocked.

Where else might this song be?   

Those sound like Al lyrics to me. He wants to graze in a field? What, does he want to be a cow? Then again, Brian was crazy, so maybe that reflected his sentiment at the time.  Musically that sounds like a Brian composition to me, especially the vocals at the end.

If Brian can speak on behalve of a tree, and a 50+ Mike Love is allowed to sing on "summers of love" like he's 18.... than I assume Al has all the right to so speak out on behalve of a cow (or a horse for that matter)...

Let's not forget about Carl singing on the LA Light album about a mammy who liked Shortnin' Bread.  8)

Not to say you're wrong, but I'm not so sure about that. There are certain words in the second half that have Bruce's inflection. I guess that's what you would call it. Also, the high voice in Be Here In The Morning, if it's Al, sounds very different to the high voice in Out In The Country.

Bruce wasn't in the band during the CATP sessions, if this was actually recorded then. 

Yes, he was.

http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/gigs71.html
http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/gigs72.html

Ten Years of Harmony was originally demo'd for CATP, wasn't it?
Anyway, it's Al.

Absolutely he was.

But its Al.

1 - the AFM sheets place the song as recorded during these sessions (Feb 17 & 20)

2 - Bruce's last gig with the BB until 1978 was 4/2/72

3 - as it's not Bruce singing anyway, the point is moot.

Sorry guys!  From all accounts  I've read (there were some posts on this), Bruce was only on a few sessions for CATP.  He left the band before most of the album was recorded and wasn't pictured on the inner sleeve.

Fact is, we don't know if Bruce was even on this session, who wrote it, who played on it, who sang it (the end certainly has a Brian feel to it). I agree with AGD, it sounds like Al (and how could he not remember doing it).  

Maybe Howie needs to play the track for Al in person!  Sounds like Al could use another original track for his solo album.  Seems to fit the California coastal theme of many of the songs.

It is Al, to my ears. The end is arranged by Brian. No idea who wrote it, my guess is Brian and Al.

Concur

listening to this again. It is definitely Al singing lead and Brian Carl and Mike on backing

Is the backing track the same one that did leak a few years ago on YouTube?

When was that leaked on YouTube ?

A few years ago. It wasn't sung by any member of the Beach Boys though. I can't remember the guy's name now.

I assumed this was also Don Goldberg?

There are 4 different versions,  3 of which were widely booted.  4th was played to me on the phone about 20 years ago by someone who has since passed on. I originally thought it was Brian but it's 99 percent certain to be Al

Edit

Correction. ..seems to be five (I forgot the one cman mentioned)

5? I have heard two

I think the more widely known version is sung by Al with a keyboard backing. I've heard two edits of this one. One is a short minute or so and fades out with the full group harmonizing. The other edit I've heard is about three minutes, give or take a minute. This edit features very short fragments of the song. It's like somebody is playing a tape and rewinding it, or fast forwarding it. I can't remember hearing any significant difference from the one(or one and a half) minute one with Al singing a few lines. The only other version I've heard is a full band version with Don Goldberg singing(which is no longer on YouTube).

I think Jay is right.  I have heard precisely 3 versions: The 5 minute version, the edited down 1:30 version, and the Don Goldberg version.

I have the Don Goldberg version on my hard drive. Why did he cover it though? He wrote Sweet And Bitter didn't he? So did he help Alan out with this tune, 'maybe. And is this Goldberg backing track A So Tough recording?

The way I understand it, the Don Goldberg version is a vintage Beach Boys backing track with a possibly vintage vocal from Don. But I don't know the story of exactly who he is, and how he became involved with the group.

i've gotta say i prefer the minute long Beach Boys version with the organ, if that was masted and released with the backing vocals brought up it would be gorgeous, clearly Carl, Brian and Mike and Al singing the backing vocals.

Don Goldberg offered a bit of background info back when he posted the songs. I don't remember the precise (limited) details, but I got the impression that they were mainly working on stuff for Goldberg, and presumably simply pitched him one of their songs. Somewhere in the process, he then had Mike cut a lead for a song he had written. Maybe it was kind of a reciprocal thing. They clearly didn't have a clear end game in mind, and ultimately there was no end game at all.

Supposedly, there are some BBs on instrumentation on the three tracks. But I don't think the "Out in the Country" backing track was a "Beach Boys backing track" in the sense that they had cut it potentially for the BBs. It sounds very different both from the older BB recording as well most of the stuff (save possibly "Cottonfields", and not even really that) the BBs were cutting and releasing at the time.

What also seemed apparent is that at some far later date, the tracks (most noticeably "Sweet and Bitter") had been overdubbed. It sounds to me like the overdubs are from the late 70s or early 80s, and almost certainly had no BB involvement. So it's unclear, even if some BB played on the backing tracks, what exactly remains of their performances.

"Out In The Country" features very beautiful & meaningful Al lead. Don Goldberg did nice redo but I wouldn't say he can sing well. "Sweet & Bitter" is curio.

I always thought that Sweet and Bitter had one of Mike's best vocals.