http://popdose.com/a-fans-notes-brian-wilson-jeff-beck-wang-theatre-boston-ma/

Mike talks about intended plans that were changed by others during TWGMTR project.

http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/5650662/mike-love-upset-over-direction-of-beach-boys-reunion-album-tour

Today, it would be fairly easy to digitally fix the 'shunshine' mistake.  Just for the heck of it, I was able to make a pretty good repair by borrowing an 's' sound from another section of Carl's vocal along with a slight extension of the boys' background harmony patched in to replace the 'sh' sound.  It's just slightly noticeable but if this was done with the multi-track masters, it would be seamless.

Marcella.  I like this song - especially the live version - and recall hearing it quite a bit back in '72 (mostly on juke box) but as a hit,  it didn't even crack the top 100. 

It could have been a really big hit but I think the reason it wasn't is that, despite starting off really strong and catchy, it starts to run out of gas after 2:22 when the decision is made to keep repeating the "one arm over my shoulder" coda for the remaining 1:30 instead of somehow returning to the main chorus. 

It seems like Brian either got a little lost on this one or he was going for a Beach Boys kind of feel that also appealed to a AOR audience.  I think it was the latter but this alteration of formula put it where it belongs, somewhere in the middle between Pop & Rock.

It's beginning to look like the remixed version isn't going to be released to radio.  Expected it for some time now but nothing yet.

Stephen,

Thank you for your fascinating insight into what is a very personal thing for Brian.  I have a much greater appreciation for the mono mixes Brian produced through the Beach Boys years. 

This leads to another question, if you may know.  Does Brian still create mono masters for his solo works and/or perhaps TWGMTR and would there ever be a chance of them being released someday?

Anything new on this? Is it still planned as a single?

It hasn't been released yet - I anticipate that it will be out by end of this month.

For the '50 Big Ones' set, they should have included at least one track from the 'SMiLE Sessions' - perhaps Surf's Up or GV.  

I feel that if Endless Summer had never been released in 1974, it would have been because the social turmoil of the late 60s (Vietnam) which continued into the first half of the 70s, culminating in Watergate, the resignation of a president, the eventual withdrawal from Vietnam, plus, all of the related music that came about during those years, would never have happened to begin with.  

With Endless Summer, the nostalgia for the Beach Boys and all things 60s was a reactive and therapeutic need for a generation to recapture the one part of their youth that wasn't taken from them as a result of these events.
 
It can also be argued that such nostalgia also started both a new fan base plus a healing process between youth of the day and their parents' generation, who often fought their own wars of opposing ideologies over political views and musical/social tastes around kitchen tables most every night.

Now, given this as an alternate scenario, the question becomes what would have happened to the Beach Boys (and music in general) had we not gotten involved in Vietnam in 1965?  Musical tastes and styles would surely still change but there would have been no war songs and the youth culture surely would have evolved differently.

At this stage, Brian is turning more serious with his compositions, abandoning the very style that Endless Summer encompasses and Pet Sounds is on the verge as a work in progress.  So we can say that Brian would have continued in this direction and the competitive drive he felt against the Beatles would still fuel him.  

Would SMiLE have been completed or would it have never been attempted or would it have faced the same fate that resulted in Brian's effective creative departure from the BBs?

 

I'm keeping an eye out.  TWGMTR was released just over a month ago so IIT will probably come out in mid-late August.

I second that emotion, Private Life has a chorus and harmonies up there with BW's best. OK the lyrics are naff and the newsreader at the end is a bit cringeworthy, but it is an ace song. Isn't It Time is also brilliant. Shelter would also be a good single. Who would have thought the BB would ever do any good songs again, after hearing the title track I feared the worst, in my view there are 4 excellent songs on the album that could have been singles  (also counting Strange World).

Yes, the chorus has a really good hook that has grown on me and it should be the main focus. I would remix the ending to delete the news announcer sfx and have the chorus continually repeat as it fades out instead.  The verses are ok - they are intentionally generic but I would mix in a montage of news announcer sfx over the instrumental interludes, using different voices that are speaking about current/real celebrity couples without actually naming them - I think they would fit better here and give those breaks more purpose to the narrative.

I think this song would have been a better choice for the 2nd single rather than Isn't It Time.  

IIT does have a good beat plus catchy verse/chorus.   It's biggest asset is that it gives just about everyone a vocal spotlight at some point. The new mix might change my mind but I think IIT might have been better as a third release.  

TPLOB&S is a better written tune and has a catchier hook.  With some tinkering to the end, it could make for a very listenable and memorable hit.  It's very similar to South American - which Brian should have released ahead of the Your Imagination single for the same reasoning.  I think that SA would have given him more airplay back then especially when it is so difficult for older acts with new material to find a place on today's radio.

Article in Billboard discusses new single, possible new LP and future plans in general.

http://www.billboard.com/#/news/beach-boys-talk-another-album-together-1007435152.story?utm_source=most_recent