For those doubting it's Brian on "Marcella", here's part of "Funky Pretty", him singing "Funky Pretty Gone" sounding exactly the same.

http://www.sendspace.com/file/3gr53m

Mr. Castillo -

Help me out here  ...  OK, so it's BW, but why does this sound totally like Mike?  I honestly can hear why it could be BW, but if so, he's doin' a big time ML imitation.

The Beach Boys have historically celebrated their anniversary - when they remembered - in late December, based on the now-disproven belief that the Ritchie Valens Memorial show on 12/31/61 was their first show.

Yes, it was not their first show, but significantly it was The Beach Boys themselves who considered the Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert on Dec 31, 1961 to be their first true concert performance.  This could have been due to faulty memory, but perhaps they considered the Valens Memorial Concert to be their first real concert appearance because they felt it was the first time they appeared with a well performed setlist featuring mostly their own material.

I was amazed ten years after the fact, when I heard Mike Love announce at the Long Beach Arena, that their first concert had been almost 10 years ago "next door" at a Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert at the Long Beach Auditorium.  (The Long Beach Arena is still there, but the Auditorium, although still next door in December 1971, is now long gone, replaced with a huge convention center.)  Ritchie Valens, up until the release of The Beach Boys Today in 1965, had been my all time favorite artist. With the release of The BB Today it became a tie.  Valens had only a six month recording career, whereas The Beach Boys, by mid 1965, had been recording for around three years.  By the time Pet Sounds was released the following year, The Beach Boys had moved to number one, where they remain today, hence this post on the SS board.  

And, for anyone unfamiliar with the amazing talent and guitar work of 17 year old Ritchie Valens, whose guitar instructor later taught Carl Wilson and David Marks, please check out any of Ritchie Valens CDs.  Incredible stuff, imo.  In addition to Valens' influence on Carl and David, Bruce Johnston worked for Valens' label, Del-Fi, and his manager Bob Keene/Keane/Kuhn in 1960.  Finally, if you find any of this historical info of interest, and for some reason you have not read Stebbins/Marks book The Lost Beach Boy, get off your butt and order it today!  

Totally Mike on the bridge.  And, most importantly, don't forget, that's the way Brian decided he wanted it.

My vinyl copy plays fine.  But, for all the hype surrounding vinyl, it still has a number of potential issues, including warps, clicks and pops, and other surface noise.  Although most of today's vinyl is pressed on thick 180 gram vinyl, my experience has been that the pressing quality of most vinyl today is just mediocre, and overall is not up to the standards of the best high quality audiophile stuff available in the 70s and 80s.  This could be due to the fact that few vinyl pressing plants are still around, and from what I've heard, they are running at capacity.

I have returned some recent vinyl purchases due to these issues, but ya gotta remember that vinyl, by its very nature, is far more prone to flaws than CDs.  However, the larger graphics are totally cool compared to the much smaller graphics found on CDs.

Check your BWRG disc for warps by looking at the disc from the side as it plays.   Mistracking due to warps is most pronounced at the outer edges of the vinyl, which is what you are experiencing.  Another issue could be your stylus tracking force is set too low.  If you have a stylus pressure gauge, check your tracking force to see if it is within the specified range, assuming you have paperwork indicating what that is.  Otherwise, if no warps seems to be apparent, try setting it a little higher to see if that solves the problem.

How was the packaging from Amazon?  Their prices are good, but I have been very disappointed by their cheap vinyl LP packaging.  I have returned two vinyl albums to Amazon due to the covers getting beat up due their cheap packaging. Then again, I also returned my first copy of the BWRG CD I got from them, as it was shipped in a cheap bubble pack envelope, and and the plastic tray on the digipac was completely cracked from one end to the other.  They shipped the replacement in the same cheap packaging, but the second one arrived in fine condition.  This wouldn't have been an issue for me if BWRG was a jewel box CD, as I would have simply junked the cracked jewel box and placed the CD and inserts in a new jewel box.  But, that being said, I do have a distinct preference for digipacs as opposed to jewel boxes.

Thanks for the reply Custom Machine! Much appreciated. I don't mind extra sounds (as long as it's not extreme) on vinyl records. Like surface noise, some clicks and pops, especially on older records, it adds something to the album imo. They packed the item in a medium sized box, with bubble packets, probably what you described your CD was shipped in.
Is that the proper way to ship vinyl? I've received vinyl different ways from won auctions on eBay and purchases from other websites.
I didn't see anything wrong with the disc as far as warps or anything, though I don't know exactly what to look for. What would they look like exactly?
I tried applying different pressure but that didn't cease it from skipping-even used the anti-skate function. And what do you mean by setting it a little higher, the pressure gauge or the speed of the record playing? Sorry to hear you had a problem with your CD shipment, glad you were able to get it straightened out, unlike my vinyl situation here it seems.

The best way to ship a vinyl LP album is in a cardboard box just slightly larger than the LP itself, with extra cardboard pieces on all sides of the album, so as to protect the album and cover from any shipping damage.  You can add bubble wrap as well, for even better cushioning.  Or, an album can be covered on each side by a piece of cardboard somewhat larger than the album cover, with the corrugations in the two pieces going in perpendicular directions to each other, then taped tightly over the album and placed in a bubble wrap envelope.  When I've gotten vinyl LPs from Amazon, the albums have been loosely placed in a large cardboard box, so that they move around a lot in shipping, and thus sometimes arrive with bent and dinged covers as a result of the movement.  Acoustic Sounds charges more, but their stuff is superbly packed in the manner I first described here.

But, back to your copy of BWRG.  To see if your album is warped, look at it's edge, from the side, when it is playing.  When it's revolving, the edge should look flat or pretty darn close to flat.  If the vinyl raises up at the edge where your mistracking is occurring, then it's definitely being caused by a warp.  (For "set higher" I meant set the tracking force higher.  Good that you checked the anti-skating, as this could also result in problems.)  In any event, since your other albums play fine, I'd definitely return this one.  Amazon is very good on returns of defective albums, paying for the return shipping and sending out a replacement right away, without waiting for the receipt of your defective album.

Unless he is under contract to have it out by a certain date I'd go Reunion - raised profile - Disney album.

Absolutely!  Like AGD said, the 50th anniversary will happen, regardless.  I'd like to see BW, ML, AJ, BJ, and DM together on one stage, to commemorate this fact, at least once, if not a number of times.

Brian's singing on this song is virtually unlistenable to me.  It was a silly song when first released in 1958, but by the early 70's it would have been considered, by the standards of the day, totally dumbass.  Perhaps Brian felt the same way and sang it as a favor for his buddy, Jan Berry, but I'm unconvinced that Brain was in a positive frame of mind when he recorded this.  Maybe I'm reading way too much into this, but after listening to a playback of this song, I can picture Brain wondering, "What was I thinking, maybe I am insane," before he later admonished Van Dyke Parks to convince him otherwise.  (And the date he did that is very much in question.)

Yes, some of the vocal intonations are reminiscent of Brian's voice during the Sunflower era, especially on background vocals, but can anyone seriously claim to have heard a BW lead vocal anywhere near this bad during that period?

Although Jan & Dean sites say this recording is from 1973, I'm not doubting that it could have been recorded in 1970.  AGD - can you provide any more info as to the source indicating that this was recorded in 1970?

In an interview from September 2010 Brian said about "Let It Be" (the song):

"I can't listen to it anymore. It's too scary, or too powerful, or too whatever. When 'Let It Be' comes on now I turn (it) off."

http://www.oregonlive.com/carlin/index.ssf/2010/09/brian_wilson_discusses_his_inner_gershwin_the_beatles_and_ufos.html

Great interview (and photo), written by Peter Ames Carlin.  Thanks for the link.

When I was over at Alan Boyd's a year or two ago, I heard some very cool live stuff he and Mark had transferred over from the '68 era...a live "Little Bird" that was excellent, a live "How She Boogalooed It" that was pretty shaky but fascinating.  There's also some of the stuff from TV like Dennis doing "Never Learn Not To Love" with Carl on drums.  One can hope that stuff gets out eventually.

Yeah, hopefully Beach Boys Central will finally become active for the big 50th anniversary!  It's been 42 years since I heard Dennis sing Little Bird live at at Beach Boys concert, and I'm more than ready to spend some more $ to hear a recording of it live in concert again.

Well, there's an entire black era of Brian vocals, from 1973 to 15 Big Ones. What demos he had recorded are either locked in the vaults or lost. So basically we jump from Holland era straight to 15 Big Ones. That's the reason why you don't see a gradual decline. There's just a lack of released documents from the main period of vocal decline. As for how it happened.... Well, 5 packs of cigarettes and cocaine a day for about a year could ruin ANYONE's voice. It's a miracle he could still sing at all.

There's Brian's duet with Jan Berry on "Don't You Just Know It" from 1973.  Don't know if this is from early, mid, or late 1973, but it's available on the Jan & Dean Fun City CD, as well as iTunes, Amazon, and various other places on the web.  Brian doesn't sound hoarse yet, but his vocal sounds somewhat spoken and shouty and he sounds absolutely nothing like he did a few years earlier.  To me, it almost has a "confused" sound to it, as in "why am I singing this?"  

Others on this board may be able to offer more insight into this recording, as I only heard it for the first time a few months ago.  Had I heard this vocal from BW back in 1973, I would have been quite surprised and described it as "disturbing", but his singing voice here is very closely related to his spoken parts on Mt. Vernon and Fairway on Holland, which, back then, I also considered "disturbing" as well as close to unlistenable.  I think it's fair to characterize the singing on Don't You Just Know It and the spoken parts on Mount Vernon and Fairway as sounding like that of a person suffering from some form of mental illness.

[Landlocked]

I'm gonna have this chiselled on my tombstone, but...

No Landlocked album - never was, never will be. It was the working title for Surf's Up for, oh, maybe three weeks, a month. That's all.

But I've owned the Landlocked album for years!

Wait ... could it be, gasp, that my copy of Landlocked is a bootleg??   

Well... y'know... I'd be dubious.

I just realized my copy of the Landlocked album has gotta be legit, because no one on this board owns any bootlegs!

[Landlocked]

I'm gonna have this chiselled on my tombstone, but...

No Landlocked album - never was, never will be. It was the working title for Surf's Up for, oh, maybe three weeks, a month. That's all.

But I've owned the Landlocked album for years!

Wait ... could it be, gasp, that my copy of Landlocked is a bootleg??   

I guess this is as good of thread to ask as any:

For anyone who bought the vinyl edition of Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin:
I ordered this item and the first copy I received from Amazon skipped during the first two tracks.
I asked for an exchange and the replacement I received skips on the first track, but not the second. Did anybody else have this problem - or something similar?
My needle seems to be fine, because it plays all my other records. Maybe I just received badly pressed copies?
Just wondering if I'm the only one who had this happen to them or not.
Thanks!

My vinyl copy plays fine.  But, for all the hype surrounding vinyl, it still has a number of potential issues, including warps, clicks and pops, and other surface noise.  Although most of today's vinyl is pressed on thick 180 gram vinyl, my experience has been that the pressing quality of most vinyl today is just mediocre, and overall is not up to the standards of the best high quality audiophile stuff available in the 70s and 80s.  This could be due to the fact that few vinyl pressing plants are still around, and from what I've heard, they are running at capacity.

I have returned some recent vinyl purchases due to these issues, but ya gotta remember that vinyl, by its very nature, is far more prone to flaws than CDs.  However, the larger graphics are totally cool compared to the much smaller graphics found on CDs.

Check your BWRG disc for warps by looking at the disc from the side as it plays.   Mistracking due to warps is most pronounced at the outer edges of the vinyl, which is what you are experiencing.  Another issue could be your stylus tracking force is set too low.  If you have a stylus pressure gauge, check your tracking force to see if it is within the specified range, assuming you have paperwork indicating what that is.  Otherwise, if no warps seems to be apparent, try setting it a little higher to see if that solves the problem.

How was the packaging from Amazon?  Their prices are good, but I have been very disappointed by their cheap vinyl LP packaging.  I have returned two vinyl albums to Amazon due to the covers getting beat up due their cheap packaging. Then again, I also returned my first copy of the BWRG CD I got from them, as it was shipped in a cheap bubble pack envelope, and and the plastic tray on the digipac was completely cracked from one end to the other.  They shipped the replacement in the same cheap packaging, but the second one arrived in fine condition.  This wouldn't have been an issue for me if BWRG was a jewel box CD, as I would have simply junked the cracked jewel box and placed the CD and inserts in a new jewel box.  But, that being said, I do have a distinct preference for digipacs as opposed to jewel boxes.



 

Has anybody read "Endless Summer: My Life with the Beach Boys" by Jack Lloyd, released on July 26?

http://www.amazon.com/ENDLESS-SUMMER-LIFE-BEACH-BOYS/dp/1593931131/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I3N9RA5GE6VEN&colid=25GWJG6WZIJL5

AGD -

I've got "The Beach Boys Videobiography" written by Andrew Doe and John Tobler.  It's a book that contains one DVD, which I have not yet gotten around to watching, and a write up on each of the BB albums thru The Beach Boys in Concert (with an erroneous cover photo of Beach Boys' Concert for the 1973 album).  I have not yet read the book either, but I do see that the Sunflower writeup is identical to the one you posted in this thread.

For some reason, there is no copyright date to be found anywhere in the 72 page book, which looks to be very well written and definitely a keeper.  Could you tell me when this was published, or when the text was written?  I'd like to know, for historical purposes, as perspectives can change over time, especially when newly discovered info comes to light.

My CD purchases have declined significantly during the past few years.  Instead I'm much more likely to purchase individual track downloads of my favorite stuff on an album.

But, that being said, Kayla, I love your stuff, so in your case I'd prefer a CD.  (But, few CDs seem to be released these days with out also being available as digital downloads, including individual tracks.)

Whatever format you go for, I'm definitely in as a purchaser. 

(But please don't even consider doing Smart Girls!  Hope that request was in jest!  And, yeah, you'd do a great job on With Me Tonight.)

As bgas says, it definitely appears legit, especially with the Rockaway Records involvement in the grading.  And the seller was offering MP3 copies to interested parties, so the audio has gotta be floating around somewhere, especially with Beatles collectors.

Here's the only known (to my knowledge) phone conversation between a couple of the Beatles and Brian Wilson. It sounds like Jack Wagner conducting the interview.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VgutMOXygg

This is the same audio clip that's found on the link in my original post for this thread.  But, interestingly, this one is a split second longer, with Jack Wagner starting to say "Well", so this YouTube clip is not sourced from from the link I referenced, but from something at least a little longer, and perhaps the entire phone conversation.

Reading the comments on the YouTube clip that Mikie provided, I see that it's not John and George, as I had initially thought, but rather Paul and John.  And yeah, that's definitely the voice of Jack Wagner, who was the voice of Disneyland thru the early 90's, and Jack the Malt Shop guy for anyone old enough (as I am!) to remember The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet (with Pop, Mom, Dave, and Rick Nelson).

To be specific, it is stated that the audio was recorded via phone hook-ups, but played back at the Teen Fair at the Hollywood Palladium (where I have great memories of seeing the BBs in April 73).

Assuming that the acetate was, in fact, discovered by a collector at a flea market in 2001, who then decided to sell it, with the most recent bidder paying $10,408 for it, it seems logical that the individuals selling and buying this item may have decided that circulating recordings of the audio would diminish the acetate's value.

AGD - when you said "memory is cloudy but I think the opinion was it's not entirely kosher" were you referring to the existence of the audio, or the legitimacy of the acetate containing the audio being a one of a kind collectible from 1964?

I'm no expert on acetates, so I guess one question would be, to what extent does this 33 & 1/3 rpm 8 inch acetate resemble something that Capitol would have pressed in 1964?

Then, as far as the audio is concerned, is there any existing audio making the rounds of Brian speaking, via a phone conversation, with John and George, (along with Jack Wagner) about their haircuts?  If not, at least this 15 second snippet, featured on the link, is legitimate, and would indicate a very strong probability that the entire 6 minutes is legitimate.

My feeling is that from what bgas has said, coupled with the 15 second audio snippet, the info from nme.com (seen on the link), and the fact that someone actually paid over 10K for the item, that it is most likely legit.

Has anyone heard the audio to this Capitol Teen Fair promo acetate?  (Other than the short snippet which can be heard on the link below?)  If so, what details can you provide?

http://www.beatlesource.com/bs/ac-teen.html

1964 33 1/3 RPM 8 Inch Capitol (No #) (Acetate)

"This unique Capitol Records acetate features phone interviews from March 11, 1964 with all four beatles, Brian Wilson, and Dick Dale. The interview was done as a promotion for the California Teen Fair. The recording features a full six minutes of verbal interplay between John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, Brian Wilson, and Dick Dale. Comments include Brian Wilson saying how much he likes the Beatles music and Dick Dale commenting on the Beatles' haircuts. The Beatles discuss the filming of their upcoming movie, which they said still didn't have a title. The movie they talked about was of course Hard Day's Night."

"Beginning March 15th, 1964, KFWB radio in Los Angeles sponsored a week long "Teen Fair" at the Hollywood Palladium. The event was basically a music and pop culture festival with various vendors and non-stop music. Dick Dale & His Del-Tones played every day with various special guests performing ... A few days before the event, as a promotion for the fair (and their label's artists), Capitol Records' Jack Wagner set up a conference call telephone interview with The Beatles, Dick Dale, and Brian Wilson. Apparently, this interview was played many times at the Capitol Records booth at the fair."

"Although apparently scripted, it's a very entertaining interview narrated by Jack Wagner with some Beatles, Beach Boys & Dick Dale song snippets. The six minutes of verbal interplay between all four Beatles, Brian Wilson and Dick Dale is precious. Brian comments about how much he likes the Beatles' music and he and Dick Dale discuss the Beatles' haircuts. They also give their opinions about the Beatles' suits. The Beatles talk about their as-yet unnamed film which they had just begun filming. Of course, this film was to be "A Hard Day's Night".  This acetate, which apparently is the only known copy, was discovered at a flea market in Los Angeles in 2001 and auctioned by Good Rockin Tonight. The final bid price at that time was $10,408." 

Is anyone aware of airplay for any of the BWRG tracks?

So who did originate the Brianista tradition then?

Murry.

Three songs -

Do I Love You - The Ronettes

Better Watch Out, Boy (title changed to Better Watch Out, Now) - The Accents, featuring Sandi

Hot Cheri - Danny Spanos (this song was produced by Spencer Proffer, the same guy who produced Chasin' the Sky)

I think this is just another in a long line of Brian's fan base going ape-sh*t over his latest release, and then the reality of how its really being received by the general public sinking in. This release is doing fairly well with critics, 72 score on Metacritic...not bad. TLOS was a 70, POB Legacy was an 87, BWPS was a 97, Getting in Over My Head was a 55. The media critical perspective is only one yardstick....BWRG was not a critic's darling, it was a medium success. Another yardstick is sales, chart placing etc... BWRG sold about 12,000 in its first week, pretty good, #26 on the charts. I felt that performance must have been a bit of a disappointment to Brian's camp because TLOS debuted higher with much less buzz and clamor, not to mention media attention. If anybody actually thought BWRG would rise in the charts the second week they are not in touch with reality or the state of the music business. Falling to #52 isn't horrible...if it had stayed in the top 40 that would have been great. Some have called this record his career topper, of course that is not and was never going to be the case. A lot of BW's fans absolutely love the record and that's a positive. Will it rank as his best solo release once the glow wears off and it is assessed in a more sober way...say in a year? I'd say probably not. It'll probably be ranked in the top 3 BW solo releases for sure. Personally i think Brian's singing is great on it, a few tracks are really enjoyable...but many of the arrangements IMO are kind of bland. I grew up listening to Gershwin interpretations by a lot of great artists...this is another one, its not the best, and nowhere close to the worst. Brian and his team have dialed in a few very good records over the last 6 or 7 years. BWRG is very good too. Will it have a lasting effect? Probably yes with a good number of his hardcore fans. Will it become a classic? I think the odds on that are very slim. It still could win a Grammy or two and then sales will spike again...and maybe that's what Disney is counting on.

Thank you, Jon Stebbins, for an accurate, fair, and balanced (and not in the Fox News sense!) assessment of what is going on here.

When the Beach Boys debuted a new album, they often did that "talk show" circuit, Mike Douglas, Merv Griffin, The Tonight Show. 

Yeah, and when those Beach Boys albums didn't do well, people claimed that they were poorly promoted.

One thing I do find "cultish" is spelling Smile with all caps except for a lower-case i, in an attempt to ape the logo. As a graphic designer, that bugs me. It's not a secret handshake, rather it's a fannish affectation, imho.

 

As I mentioned a few years ago on this board, I consider the practice of writing Smile as SMiLE to be absolutely bizarre.  Following the logic of writing Smile as SMiLE, Surfin' Safari must be written only in lowercase as surfin' safari, while Surfin' USA and most other releases must be written in caps as SURFIN' USA.  When referring to Shut Down Volume 2, not only must the album title be in all caps, but The Beach Boys must be referred to as the beach boys, in all lowercase, and when referring to Surfer Girl, both the album title and band name must be in caps and italics, etc, etc. 

But, getting back to Magic Transistor Radio's original question, it is a very good one.  Like all popular bands in the 60's there was an official Beach Boys Fan Club, but I really don't know much about it, and I think it existed mostly for girls who liked the music and were into the guys in the band.  It would be interesting to know if they published a newsletter, and, if so, what info it contained. 

In 1974, while listening to KRTH FM in LA, they had a Beach Boys Day and mentioned "Beach Boys Freaks United".  At the time I considered joining but then decided I was too cool to be a member of a 'fan club'.  A few years later I realized that the Beach Boys Freaks United newsletter was a great source of info on my favorite band, so I joined.  And, the term 'freaks', while popular at the time, should help to give you a clue that at that time huge fans of the BBs could be considered cultish to an extent.  But, as time passed and the term 'freaks' seemed to refer more to strange people or aging hippies, the club shortened it's name to BBFUN, and now they are simply Beach Boys Fan Club. 

In the pre-internet days, there were a number of fanzines, including Pet Sounds, first published Feb 77, Add Some Music, first published Dec 78, and Endless Summer Quarterly, first published Aug 87.  ESQ is still going strong, and anyone who is seriously interested in the BBs and BW should definitely be a subscriber.