I understand that he went though a divorce around that time, but otherwise I've not seen much explanation as to why his first solo project was scrapped. Was it the failure of Sound of Free/Lady that dissuaded him?

I feel like Dennis showed a huge amount of potential as a writer in the early 70's, but he squandered it to a degree.

I don't have any insight, but it's interesting to think how much of that notional solo album ended up coming out anyway:

* Cuddle Up
* Make It Good
* Sound of Free
* Lady
* Only With You (albeit with a Carl vocal)
* Barbara (in demo form)

And that's leaving aside whatever material eventually recorded during the POB/Bambu sessions originated during this period, and the stuff that was definitely earmarked for the Beach Boys (e.g. WIBNTLA).

I don't know that I agree with the premise that Dennis "squandered" his potential. Taking these songs and the POB/Bambu material into account, did any other member of the band except Brian compose as much during the '70s?

With the knowledge that BW solo stuff has a limited but still viable audience/pool of potential customers, I think a boxed set (whether physical and digital or just digital) of outtakes would make far more sense than making us all buy the albums again.

It is possible that Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology was meant to test the waters for a more substantial Brian solo archival exhumation. But I gather it didn't sell well at all.

Anecdotally, I saw vinyl copies being steeply discounted soon after release here.

And add in all the chestnuts like those who insisted Brian was "forced" by either the label or his "handlers" to work with his guest musicians, with some saying he had no clue who those artists even were...Then the truth came out that in fact Brian's kids had suggested and even played those artists for their dad in a few cases, and in one specific case an artist who some of these 'experts' claimed Brian didn't know had actually babysat Brian's kids years ago. Little things like that in the name of denigrating a new album, I don't get it.

Just out of curiosity, which of the guest vocalists was it that had babysat Brian's kids? (I'm guessing it was Zooey?)

Lana and Frank never actually recorded anything for Brian. Their participation was announced before it was actually locked in. A pretty dumb move, publicity-wise. I'm not sure about the other two.

Wrong about Lana. I know this for a fact.

This would be huge news if true, and not just among the Beach Boys fandom. In practical terms Lana Del Rey is a much bigger star than Brian Wilson in 2020. Brian specifically told Rolling Stone, if I remember correctly, that Lana didn't record anything.

Out of curiosity, has it been stated what issue was with Our Special Love?

Reportedly the original version sounded a lot like the Shondells. It was supposed to be really good and more or less complete, but Brian didn't like it.

On the larger question of genuine outtake tracks (not just alternate versions), I think it unlikely that we'll see any of those while Brian is still active, just like a lot of Bruce and Mike stuff is going to stay unreleased as long as those guys are still active. None of them are prolific writers anymore and consequently, if they have any plans of releasing completed studio recordings in the future, they're probably going to want to hang on to any outtake material that has any merit until they're certain they won't be doing anything with it. (I think there's a good chance this is why "Sherry" and "My Solution" weren't included on the twofers or Good Vibrations box sets, for example.)

A similar thing happened with the Verve deluxe reissues from a few years ago, where Richard Ashcroft refused to allow them to release a bunch of outtakes because he still planned to use the songs on his own forthcoming albums (and indeed he has since done that with at least one of the outtake songs). Another member of the band ended up leaking all of the stuff onto the internet anyway.

I'd also be curious to hear the original Runaway Dancer.
If they exist, I'd also be interested in the Lana Del Rey version of Last Song, and Frank Ocean on Our Special Love.
Metropolis with Jeff Beck was another title mentioned during the making of NPP, as well as a Blondie sung "new track" He Come Down.

Related point, there could be interesting outtakes from TWGMTR, and anything in between these two albums.

Lana and Frank never actually recorded anything for Brian. Their participation was announced before it was actually locked in. A pretty dumb move, publicity-wise. I'm not sure about the other two.

I think most of the outtakes from TWGMTR ended up as part of the early working parts for No Pier Pressure. For example, "This Beautiful Day" seems intended to segue into "Summer's Gone." Probably the only significant exceptions were a Bruce track or two.

Thanks much for your response, maggie!

I didn’t think about the Scott Bennett aspect for TLOS (and any potential instrumental of One Kind Of Love). As for everything else, it is the raw workshop stuff I’m basically interested in (as well as some backing tracks) - the stuff that Brian noodled out on piano or whatnot before creating a finalized song.

Also, you mention ‘Beautiful Dreamer’ - my copy is buried in a box somewhere, but is the instrumental content a feature of the disc? Or is it playing on the menus? Thanks for any information about that.

Hi rab2591. Coincidentally, my copy of Beautiful Dreamer is also packed away at the moment (along with all of my other DVDs), so I can't answer for certain whether there is an isolated soundtrack option. I don't think there is, though. But instrumentals and other exclusive mixes of the 2004 Smile recordings form the main soundtrack of the film. Regrettably, the narration plays over almost all of this material, but it may be possible to extract the music from the 5.1 mix.

It's an interesting idea. We basically did get this for his first album. I can think of a few problems, though:

* A lot of outtake material from Imagination would be tied up with Joe Thomas (it's the basis for most of TWGMTR and NPP) and there would be rights issues; BW & Co. can't release this stuff unilaterally, and it would apparently take a quite a feat of editing to make it presentable anyway.

* The TLOS demos are unlikely to see the light of day officially considering how much Scott Bennett they contain IMO. (Side note: it's telling of the Brian camp's attitude towards those guys -- for very different reasons, of course -- how little Bennett and Thomas there is on Playback: The Brian Wilson Anthology. There's almost as much Paley on that disc as Bennett and Thomas put together.)

* I don't think there's very much outtake stuff from Smile, Gershwin, or Disney, if any. They worked out the sequences before they even started recording, and the vocals were all stitched together in post, so all that they could conceivably release would be backing tracks -- not very interesting (although a lot of the Smile backing tracks are included in Beautiful Dreamer).

* So much from No Pier Pressure was released on the various versions of the CD (plus "Run James Run") that I really doubt there's much left, except for raw workshop materials in Joe Thomas's possession. The most interesting thing still unreleased would be Brian's original production of "Our Special Love," which Brian reportedly and specifically doesn't want released.

Brian has a ton of genuine, completed outtake material from his solo career in the vaults (e.g. the Paley stuff, Sweet Insanity), enough for a box set. But for the most part the album releases give us pretty much everything from those particular sessions. Maybe there's a bunch of leftover material from What I Really Want for Christmas, but I doubt it.

The Fender Electric XII was not available in stores until November or December of 1965, and most of them were manufactured in 1966. So unless he has the guitar model wrong, the session could not have been much earlier than Sloop John B in December '65.

It couldn't have been an earlier session (e.g. "Help Me Rhonda") because the guitar didn't exist yet. Fender rushed it into production due to the success of "Mr. Tambourine Man" and other such recordings. Carl had an early prototype, but I don't think he had it before the middle of 1965.

There were other electric 12-strings available at the time, e.g. Rickenbacker and (much cheaper) Danelectro. But the Fender was the only solid-body one so it's quite a different instrument.

BE, of course he knows how. He received sole writing credit for stuff like Everyone's In Love With You, Brian's Back, Unleash The Love, etc...

You think Mike wrote those songs entirely on his own? On which instrument do you think he composed them on? I'm honestly asking. If I'm wrong, so be it. I just always assumed that people like Ron Altbach (and/or whoever else was in his orbit at the time) wrote most of the music for Mike's songs. I figured, he'd have an idea for a song, have some lyrics, but he'd have to enlist someone to actually write the music.

Mike has been playing keyboard/piano since he was a child.

There’s Love the lyricist and Big Sur, where he wrote the words and music but are there other Beach Boys songs where Mike wrote at least part of the melody or most/all of the music? I recall reading that Mike had written the melody for Let The Wind Blow and Anna Lee The Healer. Anyone know if this is true and of other examples?

I have also read online that Mike wrote the music for "Let the Wind Blow," but to my knowledge he himself has never claimed that, only saying that he wrote the poem upon which the song is based and that Brian set it to music. (I believe Brian has said the same thing.)

By Mike's own account, his main musical contribution to Beach Boys songs was usually hook lines. For example:

* Mike composed the single-note "round round get around, I get around" part (based on "ba-ba-ba, ba-Barbra Ann") which Brian then turned around
* Mike credits himself with writing most of "Surfin' Safari" if I remember correctly, or at least the verse melody (plus lyrics, of course). Mike's account in his book actually understates his authorship a bit, but from what he says it's clear that he composed the majority of the copyrightable elements of the song.

I think it is true that Mike wrote the r&b style verses of "Anna Lee." I am less sure about "All I Wanna Do." It becomes both easier and harder to track Mike's contributions after about 1965 -- easier, because Mike increasingly got solo credits as he worked with Brian less, but harder, because Mike's book doesn't include as much detail about the songwriting and recording process after this point.

But his accounts in his book about his melodic contributions to the early stuff are very credible and detailed. You can hear a lot of Mike's musical frame of mind whenever they get into a kind of R&B vein with the vocal chants. I suspect he made a lot of musical contributions to the Wild Honey album.

So I have a bunch of classic video games, uh , "acquired" on my Raspberry pi, and am playing a game called Yo Bro for the Turbo Grafix 16. So why am I posting about it? Cause every level in the game has a beach boys song for the level music,  and I see no copyright notice....

I had a TG16 and a friend did too and had a copy of "Yo Bro." I believe the Beach boys music in it was properly licensed because it was advertised on the box (main character is wearing a BBs t shirt in the box art).

There was another licensed game during this era, "Camp California".

They'll never dig up BW solo deep tracks. They do a couple of songs from whatever the new album happens to be - if there is one. Other than that, they stick to the BB's catalog. And this is true with other legacy artists, too. I don't see Ray Davies...or Dave Davies...digging deep into their solo material.

I thought it was pretty audacious that Brian did the entire Gershwin album in concert in 2010. Unfortunately, I never saw one of those shows.

I think most of the Holland album could pass as some semi-prog slick pop act of the Steely Dan/Floyd variety.

And the ending wordless series of “ahhs” at the end of Melt Away, starting at 2:31, which are ONLY found on the 1988 original issue release:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBTsx3J_0JU

These are simply so gorgeous, it’s beyond words.

They screwed the pooch when the BW88 album was reissued in 2000, and the “remastered” version is inadvertently missing them at the same timecode:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9spymNA7PQ

and unfortunately, this “remastered” version is the “normal” go-to version for most people, including how it was for me (for years) when I first heard the song. It was only much later when, thanks to this board, I learned of the proper original 1988 mix, and was BLOWN AWAY by hearing this small, but powerful part.

This "remastered" version should have been quarantined and banished, but it's out there and most people unfortunately think that's THE version of the song, when in fact it's a mistake.

Just to be clear, the version with the "ah-ahs" missing was withdrawn. The deluxe edition that I have features these vocals.

The same vocal part is also on the IJWMFTT version.

Oh, Caroline, noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

If we could...FIND a way. If you would ONLY stay.

One thing I don't get about this release is that there was already a widely distributed version of the POB deluxe edition on LP. I believe it was a triple set and may even still be in print, although it was very expensive.

On listening through my comp, the past 10 years seem to have been a definite improvement over the preceding 10-15 years of BB related music IMO. (Presents SMiLE excepted)

Anyone else find more enjoyment in Brian's modern solo work than most 80s-90s recordings? How do his most recent recordings compare to his previous eras?

I agree completely. I find it bizarre that, for example on the Steve Hoffman forum, there seems to be a lot more affection for the 1988 album than any other solo Brian. I find the '88 album very hard to listen to. I don't have GIOMH or the Christmas album, but I'll take any of the others over the '88 album.

I think the 21st century has been very good to Brian overall, and the best of his work from this period is clearly his most thoughtfully conceived and warmly performed music since Love You. I often listen to this compilation of my favorites from Brian from TLOS on:

Morning Beat
Good Kind of Love
Live Let Live
Midnight's Another Day
Southern California
The Like In I Love You
I Loves You, Porgy
I Got Plenty o' Nuttin'
I've Got a Crush on You
Someone to Watch Over Me
Baby Mine
When You Wish Upon a Star
A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes
Think About the Days
Isn't It Time
Spring Vacation
Shelter
From There to Back Again
Pacific Coast Highway
Summer's Gone
This Beautiful Day
Half Moon Bay
Our Special Love (so I like this tune -- sue me)
Tell Me Why
Sail Away
I'm Feeling Sad
Somewhere Quiet

I tack on a few tracks from Imagination to bring it up to an even 30.

But the truth is, I think TLOS, the Gershwin album, and TWGMTR are an astonishing late-career trilogy and I enjoy them in their entirety, notwithstanding some of the lovesick-robot vocal effects on TWGMTR. (I'm a little more pick-and-choose about NPP and the Disney album.)

What's the story behind the piano intro on Why Do Fools Fall In Love? I listened to a version of the song today with it and I've never heard that intro before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zxd0gqP5Phg

Sorry for the delayed reply. Supposedly it was found on the session tape for the Shut Down Vol 2 album, which was located in about 2009. This tape allowed them to remix "Fools" as well as "Don't Worry Baby." Both remixes came out on the Summer Love Songs compilation.

Everyone seems to agree that the piano intro was intended for "Fools," but I'm not so sure. It's in a different key than the song proper, there's a hard edit between it and Mike's "doo-bop" vocal intro, and it appears to be based on Carole King's "Take Good Care of My Baby." I've often wondered whether it was an unrelated piece or a sketch for a "Take Good Care" cover.

The strings were arranged by Van McCoy, based on Dennis' ideas, and the horns were arranged by Roger Neumann, again likely from ideas plotted out by Dennis. Neumann did a lot of the horn arrangements for late '60s BBs tunes. You may be interested to know that the French horns on this tune were played by Alf Clausen...later famous for composing the "Simpsons" theme.

Correction: Alf Clausen didn't write the Simpsons theme, he wrote/writes the incidental music for the show. The theme is by Danny Elfman.

I believe its on the Endless Harmony sound track. With extra vocal bits to the single version.

That's my favorite too. The extra falsetto is incredibly fun and haunting at the same time. To me the EH version is definitive.

I always considered the alternate "Heroes & Villains" to be interesting and valuable, but not necessarily a revelation. Perhaps it was because the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey CD was my first Beach Boys album and I didn't have that historical context. But I agree the whole SS/WH twofer is fascinating listening, and the bonus tracks all have a seductive atmosphere to them that is unique to those recordings. It is interesting to think of them, as another poster pointed out, as the first  cache of Smile material released since Surf's Up.

But my 5 favorite BBs bonus tracks are all contained in the astonishing sequence at the end of Friends/20/20: "Breakaway," "Celebrate," "We're Together Again," "Walk On By," and "Old Folks/Ol' Man River."

Honorable mentions: "I Do," "Cindy, Oh Cindy," "TLGIOK," the live "Don't Worry Baby," and "Morning Christmas" (does that count?).

I actually consider the Today/SD and LDC/ASL bonus tracks mostly inconsequential (I guess the alternate vocal "Let Him Run Wild" is pretty nice), but I appear to be alone in this.

The Zappa-esque yeahs in "It's O.K.".

That's Denny? I always thought it was Mike.

This one will never die...at least as long as people like me keep bringing it up...and forgive me if this was discussed when the book first came out, but in Brian's recent memoir, it's described as a Gibson mando-guitar (page 178). The way Brian refers to it as a "one-of-a-kind" guitar relates perfectly to how he described it back in '96 or '97 as being something really special - a"ringy-dingy" kind of guitar. We've discussed this at length over the past 5-6 years, but is it time to put it to rest with the knowledge that Brian has revealed the instrument's true identity? Or not...?

In the same book, he says that "He Gives Speeches" is on BWPS.

The book doesn't say "Speeches" is on BWPS, it says the following (p. 209):

1> "She's Goin Bald" used to be "He Gives Speeches"
2> They used the Eltro on "Bald" (NOT "Speeches")
3> They used the Eltro effect in live BWPS gigs

I'm not sure where they used the Eltro on BWPS if anywhere (somewhere on H&V or "Gee"?), but the passage does not suggest that "Speeches" is on BWPS.

As to the original question, the WIBN intro is clearly a course-stringed instrument (you can hear the notes beating slightly with themselves) so Kessel's 12-string mandolin-body guitar (tuned EADGBE rather than in reverse as a normal mandolin would be, and pitched an octave higher than a normal guitar) is an obvious candidate.

yes and Dennis described the song as about a 'funky cat up in the woods with his chick'

The verses in the released version are still about a "funky cat up in the woods with his chick." It's a very sensual lyric (and performance by Carl): "nestle in a kiss below there..."