I've never heard any sessions to the album.

I believe Mike wrote the bridge to GPLUGOTW (how's that for an acronym), which is why he sang it.

From what I've heard, Carl basically assembled the album from Brian's sessions. He was very respectful to the rough-hewn nature of the project, though -- he didn't polish much at all.

Hmmm. Much of the answer to this question depends on what you think the Beach Boys were.

If you think of them as a creative recording ensemble, they arguably died with Dennis. The group has managed only two albums of original material in the quarter-century since his death. That says something. Even though Dennis wasn't the main songwriter of the group, he was -- as many say -- its spirit.

If you think of the group as a touring troupe, they probably died with Carl. That is, the line of performances that began in the early 60s and expanded and contracted over the decades ended with his passing. Why? Well, when I saw the group in 1997 (Carl was quite ill), the four BBs on stage sang lead on practically every song (Matt Jardine did fill in on some BW standards) and differentiated themselves from the support players.

In the 10 years since then, Mike and Bruce have become cheerleaders for a group of backing musicians who, from the look of setlists, sing lead on a good portion of the show. Al has performed in competing ensembles. So that incarnation of the group is dead.

In terms of Brian's involvement, it's much harder to say. He did intend, it seems, to make a BBs album in the mid-90s. He worked some with Mike. He patched things up with Carl. He recorded with Don Was and the band on some tracks in the studio. He told Andy Paley he wanted the group to perform the songs. But after that project morphed into Stars and Stripes, Brian went along for the short term and then politely went his own way.

They key point here is, sadly, that none of that material came out. Stars and Stripes scarcely counts.

If you look to the band and wonder when the last time Brian was fully involved, in terms of writing and producing released material, in terms of charting the band's course, it was in the "Love You" period. And even then ... well ... Point is, you could say the group flamed out in the late 70s. Or the 80s. Or the 90s.

Or hey, maybe they essentially ended after Brian handed over the reigns of the group in the late 60s. Who knows.

Eden -- I'm with you on this. It's a great piece of work.

But I find it interesting that what a lot of people seem to react to in TLOS -- the Smile-like organization, linking tracks, etc. -- seems to be the part he had less involvement in.

And the organization is brilliant, too. MAD is just shattering where it is.

And what's funny is -- at least according to what was said at the performances -- Darian put the whole shebang together. One wonders how much Brian really thought of it as a cohesive whole -- but it still works. The songs are that strong.

Wow! I would have never spotted that. Good call, Andrew.

Anyhow, my point was that it was cool to see the song revamped a little bit with the new intro -- Brian playing keys, Taylor vocalizin'. And Brian seems to dig it.

Re: SOS. It's weird, because the band really digs into the song, which is why they do it, I think. But Brian has never exactly been up to it vocally.

On the other hand, he tends to kick ass with Marcella -- and wrote a whole new section of it just for live performance.

That seems like the attitude of a lot of the BBs toward studio work, too. It doesn't seem like they cared that much about taking credit for playing on their records -- even though they did. Brian, even, never talks about his keyboard or organ playing. Dennis even hired other drummers for his solo. Despite their talents, they never seemed to take the process of studio work as something to be celebrated. They talked about the final results.

My impression was that Carl wasn't that bowled over by the Paley sessions songs. While you can debate the merits of some of the other stuff Carl sang on in the early 90s (SIP, for example), I don't know if he was entirely wrong.

I'm guessing they're caps. But they could be false, I suppose.

I'm just glad he's letting it gray naturally now. It was a little too dark in the mid-90s.

Nah. He's used the best bits of it in the LOS "Goin' Home" anyway.

Well, Brian did record some tracks with big-band backing -- both the original Christmas album and the mid-70s songs like "Life is for the Living." He likes Sinatra-style stuff, too -- recall the lounge-y "I wanna be around" from Smile.

You know you want to, Andrew. C'mon .... :-)

And for what it's worth, I'm fairly well versed in the commonly available BW boots, and TLOS is almost entirely unfamiliar to me. Except for Been Way too Long and variations of that RIFF in the opening and closing tracks, that is.

Actually, I think it's "every guy, Rocky Pamplin"

Easy mistake to make.

Yep. As in Marilyn Monroe.

That's a question for AGD, not me. I have only ill-informed speculation to offer, and I'm over my quota.

Great thread about a little-documented time in the BBs history. I'm sure everyone involved would prefer not to remember those times, but gosh, some pretty decent songs were started then.

I'd have to hear both to know. After the "Goin' Home" vs. "I'm Going Home" fiasco, I'm not willing to make assumptions about these things anymore.

Those songs have the same title, same tag line -- but otherwise are entirely different. One a kind of Western ditty, the other a thudding rocker with a cappella interludes. Who would have guessed?

Well, regardless of when OTTB was written, it's part of a long and honorable tradition of Brian Wilson fitness songs, dating back to HELP is on the Way (off the top of my head), and including Too Much Sugar and Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move.

As for Wondering What You're Up to Now, fascinating to see that it made its way into TLOS. It's never been booted, as far as I know.

As I've said elsewhere, I bet these are the original lyrics. I suspect they were rewritten specifically for the Arctic Tale movie.

Logically, it makes sense that Brian and Scott would write some sort of general song about the ocean during the summer of 06. Then, this movie project comes up, and the song comes to mind. But it needs a new set of lyrics, and Van Dyke has been roped in to write the LOS narratives. Why not let him have a crack at the words?

That's my entirely speculative chain of events.

Yes. MAD is good on its own, but in the context of the piece, and with the band -- it's brutally beautiful.

I had an extraordinarily quick round-trip flight on Monday night. (Cough, cough.)

I suspect the Arctic Tale lyrics are actually the "new" lyrics.

My guess is that Brian and Scott wrote the original version in the summer of 06. Then the soundtrack came up, and they asked Van Dyke to take a crack at the words, making them global-warming themed. The soundtrack version was just recorded in May, I hear.

Some quick thoughts.

1.) "Morning Beat" and "Goin' Home" have absorbed the "Shortnin' Bread" riff. Thankfully, they both have more going on than that.

2.) "Live Let Live" has entirely different lyrics than the soundtrack version. They sound considerably less Parksian.

3.) "California Role" is an unexpected delight. Definitely a song Van Dyke would appreciate.

4.) "Goin Home" is practically a different song from the Paley sessions version. One line of melody and lyric are carried over -- "I'm Goin' Home." Otherwise, the underlying riff, lyrics and bridge sections are new.

5.) Someone needs to give Paul Mertens some props. The string and horn charts for the work are spot-on.

This is really a substantial work. It ties together so many thematic strands of Brian's music. It touches on autobiographical concerns. It has some "day in the life" songs. And, of course, it embraces California mythology whole-heartedly.

Someone get Paul Williams on the case.

Just for kicks:

Beatle Man
Spanish ballad
Walkin Down the Path of Life
What Love Can Do
Believe in Yourself (still love this song)

and then --

You're Still a Mystery
Some Sweet Day
My Mary Anne
Rock and Roll Express
Proud Mary

Look -- it's a follow up album!