I for one can't bear to buy or wear anything with this modern logo, which was just starting to appear at around that time. Just too slick for me and too much association with ML's hats. When was the first use of that font, around the time of Knebworth '80?

It is great that they're selling any BB clothing at the brick and mortar stores, and '83 was a long time ago. Maybe I'll make an exception in this case.

It's coming.
It's major.

The machine is at full speed.

I hope so. Too much talk and not enough action!

I think you mean “action that you can see”; Howie and crew have worked their asses off to make this happen.

No doubt, and many, many thanks to Alan, Mark, and Craig as well as Howie. You have all added so much to our lives in recent years through your tireless efforts. Oh, and thanks to the band as well, this is going to be a mind-blowingly huge and perfectly breaking wave to catch a ride on!

Funny, when I just checked in to see what's happening in this thread I could've sworn I saw a tumbleweed roll across my screen.  

It'll be raining new desert content shortly.

Great metaphor, we can’t just settle for whatever released on a whim. How about a feel flows deluxe edition with Desper’s encoded mix?

It's always unfortunate when art and commerce collide, and the sales potential for an eminently worthwhile release are limited to a relatively narrow demographic of hard-cores, so that that research, personnel and packaging expenses become a factor, if that's what happened here. Luckily Alan and Mark are on board to ensure that these obstacles to full fruition are minimized as much as humanly possible, and can provide a more than adequate buffer for any minor technical compromises that may or may not have had to be made here, due to budgetary restrictions.

Too bad the flowering of lavish, nearly unlimited support for new releases that blossomed during the late '60s didn't happen to coincide with archival era (and that Smile couldn't have benefited from the full financial support and treatment from Capitol that was forthcoming at the time if only it had been completed. I can just picture that jewel dropping down onto the heads, eyes and ears of the unsuspecting masses in its contemporary context, both as an object of unparalleled physical and aural loveliness.)

With Regard to Desper (and Carl Wilson)'s visions of sonic perfection for this material, I bow down to their dedication for their craft and pursuit of absolute perfection and beauty. Thank you.

[Bambu]

Want to add the "I've Got A Friend" instrumental track to the list of (hopefully) likely candidates, one of the best unheard things out there. AND the supposedly magnificent rehearsals for the abortive DW POB solo tour.

One of my biggest regrets from visiting John Hanlon & Jon Stebbins in the studio for the mixing of Bambu was not having time to listen to the rehearsal tapes...  (Sadly, I do seem to recall that none of these recordings include DW vocals).  However, I was present for many of these rehearsals, (sometimes with Dennis, sometimes just wandering in to visit the band and listen by myself), and they were extraordinary!
The rehearsals took place in the back room of Brother, (in what was normally the room where the equipment was stored, and originally was rented to house the studio's return from the Netherlands), and I can't recall what format they were recorded on, (Jon, a little help here), but they were a portent of how monumental these shows were going to be!  Ah, Dennis, if only...

Oh well, no vocals, that's a shame, nonetheless these rehearsals need to be released! I had understood that they were going to be the big archival release that year, until the Legacy POB/Bambu reissue gradually became the #1 priority. It must be very hard to get a physical release project greenlighted nowadays, but I hope Jim Guercio hasn't just put them on the back burner indefinitely, at least no more so than anything else during these times.

There is a great and very intriguing track-by-track description of these POB tour rehearsal tapes, courtesy of Alan Boyd, in the pages of Ken Sharp's fantastic "Dreamer" book. The rehearsals were recorded to 2" 24-track tape, and while none seem to have a complete DW vocal performance, he does do some singing here-and-there.

MUST get that book.

Isolated tracks for many of the tunes in the CATP/HOLLAND phase would be most welcome, with "The Trader" at or near the top of the list. (But I think that's for a follow-up set and not for FEEL FLOWS...)

Obviously.

since SPRING re-issues have just been brought up here, this isn't the worst place for a reminder -

regarding that SPRING U.A. album what you really want to seek out is the original Vinyl issue, not any re-issues

I was lucky enough to buy it at a local store when it debuted

because the tracks have been substantially tampered with (for later CD appearances), specifically background vocals have been added

anybody who owns the old vinyl can easily do an A-B listening comparison (to the CD re-issue, with bonus tracks).  I'm a little surprised this recording fact doesn't get mentioned on this site

That is very interesting and unexpected news. Do you feel that the music suffered from the additional vocals being added? How noticeable are the changes? I nearly bought a vinyl copy at a used record store a few years ago at a reasonable price, unfortunately I didn't have a turntable or receiver at the time, wish I had after hearing this story, if true. I'd love to do a side-by-side comparison, it's a favorite album of mine (and many others here,)

Also, Mr. Boyd had said once that there is high-quality, significant DW/Rumbo material left in the vaults. To me that would also be some of the most important stuff to let see the light of day, although the DW Estate/kids might be opposed to it.

[Bambu]

Want to add the "I've Got A Friend" instrumental track to the list of (hopefully) likely candidates, one of the best unheard things out there. AND the supposedly magnificent rehearsals for the abortive DW POB solo tour.

One of my biggest regrets from visiting John Hanlon & Jon Stebbins in the studio for the mixing of Bambu was not having time to listen to the rehearsal tapes...  (Sadly, I do seem to recall that none of these recordings include DW vocals).  However, I was present for many of these rehearsals, (sometimes with Dennis, sometimes just wandering in to visit the band and listen by myself), and they were extraordinary!
The rehearsals took place in the back room of Brother, (in what was normally the room where the equipment was stored, and originally was rented to house the studio's return from the Netherlands), and I can't recall what format they were recorded on, (Jon, a little help here), but they were a portent of how monumental these shows were going to be!  Ah, Dennis, if only...

Oh well, no vocals, that's a shame, nonetheless these rehearsals need to be released! I had understood that they were going to be the big archival release that year, until the Legacy POB/Bambu reissue gradually became the #1 priority. It must be very hard to get a physical release project greenlighted nowadays, but I hope Jim Guercio hasn't just put them on the back burner indefinitely, at least no more so than anything else during these times.

As excited as I am about this set, the next one should be even better...

I'd put an instrumental & backing vocal mix of 'Trader" at or near the top of things that I would most like to hear. Uncanny backing vocals on that lovely song. Anyone listening?

x

2.   Are there vintage lyrics for Child?  I've always assumed that all vintage lyrics got used....

As far as I'm concerned, the jury is still out on this.  On the one hand by the time BWPS rolled around, the vintage lyrics, if they ever existed, had been lost.   And, of course, they have yet to turn up on any extant tape or acetate.  For some, that's enough to say they never existed.... end of story... move on.

.... And yet it's not necessarily as simple as that.  Dial back to the 1966 NME piece in which the author states:

'I got a sneak preview of one of the tracks the previous night when Dennis played me a piano version of one track, Child is Father of the Man, a cowboy song, and then gave me the throwaway line of the year – "And this is a prayer I'm working on for it!"'

Why does the author say "Child is Father of the Man, a cowboy song"?   If Denny was just banging out the titular chorus, no one could possibly interpret that as having anything to do with cowboys.  Now, I've seen it hypothesized that the "cowboy song" was one of the other Smile songs (perhaps H&V, Cabin, Sunshine etc.) and maybe Denny segued into that other song and the author was none the wiser.  And that hypothesis is certainly plausible, but is it certainty?  Would you bet your life savings on that?   Is it significantly more likely than the other possibility that the report was more or less accurate?   The author certainly thought he was hearing a rendition of just one song, not two, as he even says that twice in the same sentence! ("one of the tracks" and "one track"), but sure it's possible that Denny's segue was so seamless that the author didn't know the difference.  But, hold on... why is Denny demo-ing CIFOTM at all?  Out of all the possible Smile songs to be offering a reporter a piano-rendition sneak preview of, he picks fragmentary, incomplete, chorus-only CIFOTM?  Does that seem likely?    What if... at that point there was verse melody... and some other verse lyrics that Denny knew which perhaps had never been recorded?  And said verse melody and lyrics were later discarded and/or lost and/or forgotten?

The other thing, and I don't have it in front of me, so this isn't an exact quote, is in the Anderle/Williams interview from '68.  Anderle says something along the lines that he's heard that CIFOTM is coming out on their next album.  And, of course, a snippet of it DID come out on Friends in the form of Little Bird.  But isn't the fact that Anderle mentions it all somewhat interesting?  Sure, it's a nice instrumental track and with a memorable chorus, but why was Denny showcasing it in late '66 and Anderle still talking about a year and a half later if what we have now is all there ever was to it?  My gut feeling is that CIFOTM was once something more than what survived to the present day.

The "cowboy song" quote is very interesting, but maybe just off-the-cuff humor, since it doesn't remotely resemble that remark. What I'm curious about are the lyrics added to Look and CIFOTM on BWPS. They sound vintage to my ears, and if not, they are a really inspired effort by Van Dyke to re-create the original vibe. The added lyrics on DYLW are definitely original as we all know, and those for Holidays and Da Da on BWPS are not. I once encountered Van Dyke alone at the bar at a reception for Frank Holmes newly unearthed Smile booklet art in S.F., but didn't get to ask him about it because he left soon thereafter and joined some others.

Somebody asked if The Beach Boys were ever filmed as The Beatles were for Get Back.  Well...  David Oppenheim filmed the Boys during The SMiLE sessions!  What a shame that the complete footage has never been found!  Or even the sound recordings!

Someone else asked why Capitol hasn't put out any teasers for Feel Flows.  Well... in the newly released video for "Little Saint Nick" there is an Easter Egg with "Feel Flows" written on a surfboard!


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

That's really subtle and cool, Dan. The full Oppenheim footage supposedly also included a "Child is Father of the Man" session and Mike "sabotaging" a Cabinessence session. "What exactly does 'over and over, the crow cries, uncover the cornfield' mean?", perhaps? What there is of the footage supposedly wound up in a specific archive, but has never been located there, as we all know.

It’s About Time [0:50]
San Miguel [2:34]
Good Time [2:56]
Carnival (Over The Waves) / Sobra Las Olas [1:34]
Susie Cincinnati [3:02]
I Just Got My Pay [2:43]
Soulful Old Man Sunshine [3:14]
I’m Goin’ Your Way [2:24]
This Whole World [1:41]
Add Some Music To Your Day [3:27]
Our Sweet Love [1:00]
Slip On Through [3:25]
This Whole World [3:11]
Add Some Music To Your Day [4:35]
Add Some Music To Your Day [3:30]
Got To Know The Woman [2:55]
Deirdre [3:35]
It’s About Time [2:53]
Tears In The Morning [4:13]
All I Wanna Do [3:46]
All I Wanna Do [2:58]
Forever [2:59]
Forever [2:52]
Our Sweet Love [2:39]
At My Window [2:51]
Cool, Cool Water [6:26]
Loop De Loop (Flip Flop Flyin’ In An Aeroplane) [2:49]
San Miguel [2:59]
Good Time [4:27]
When Girls Get Together [1:51]
Susie Cincinnati [3:04]
Back Home [2:23]
Sunflower Promo [1:00]
This Whole World [1:05]
Big Sur [2:36]
(Wouldn’t It Be Nice To) Live Again [6:53]
Seasons In The Sun [3:30]
Old Movie (Cuddle Up) [3:38]
Sound Of Free [2:22]
My Solution [3:44]
H.E.L.P. Is On The Way [2:31]
Surf’s Up Promo [1:02]
Don’t Go Near The Water [2:42]
Long Promised Road [3:40]
A Day In The Life Of A Tree [0:35]
Good Time [0:19]
Don’t Go Near The Water [3:41]
Long Promised Road [4:16]
Take A Load Off Your Feet [2:29]
Disney Girls (1957) [4:17]
Student Demonstration Time [3:46]
Feel Flows [5:02]
Lookin’ At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song) [2:43]
A Day In The Life Of A Tree [2:54]
‘Til I Die [1:56]
‘Til I Die [2:36]
’Til I Die [4:47]
Surf’s Up, Pt. 1 [1:41]
Surf’s Up [4:08]
Surf’s Up [4:05]
Sweet And Bitter [2:33]
Won’t You Tell Me [2:01]
Won’t You Tell Me [2:54]
Settle Down (Sound Of Free) [2:17]
Medley: All Of My Love / Ecology [5:06]
Before [2:26]
You Never Give Me Your Money [0:40]
Hawaiian Dream [4:34]
Medley: Happy Birthday, Brian / God Only Knows [2:47]
I’ve Got A Friend [2:28]
Feel Flows [0:35]
Disney Girls [0:36]
Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) [2:46]
Riot In Cell Block #9 [3:31]
Add Some Music To Your Day [3:22]
Take A Load Off Your Feet [2:26]
It’s About Time [4:24]
Susie Cincinnati [2:42]
Back Home [3:29]
Student Demonstration Time [4:44]
Cotton Fields (The Cotton Song) [2:44]
Celebrate The News [2:34]
It’s Natural [2:35]
Awake [3:44]
Walkin’ [2:44]
San Miguel [1:00]
Baby Baby ;3:15]
My Solution [3:43
Marcella [3:29]
‘Til I Die [2:11]
Sunflower Promo [1:02]
You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone [3:35]

What exactly is this amazing track list?

OK, I haven't been here for a while, I'm scrolling backwards here trying to find info but it's an endless process and I'm losing patience. I heard the incredible samples on AllMusic a couple of weeks ago but apparently they were taken down or something, from the one comment I've seen, plus they were just samples, amazing as some of them were. The Surf's Up alternate or whatever was fantastic, as were quite a few others.

Can someone briefly summarize what the latest is regarding the new boxset or copyright extension release?

Mad pumped for this.

Really hope it has a clean version of I've Got A Friend amongst the live stuff.

That doesn't exist. Only the studio instrumental track.

Have to go with OSD on this one though.

She’s goin bald before a baffled audience...

impromptu Woody Woodpecker Symphony jam.

[I don't want to besmirch any other band, but as someone who's quite aware of what's in several other group's vaults, of the "majors" (and I'm not exaggerating), The Beach Boys are the ONLY one where if its unreleased material was finally released, the entire narrative changes and history gets a revamp. The BB's are the only band who can get a 10th life from what they left on the cutting room floor. The Grateful Dead definitely do not have five more "Sugar Magnolia's" tucked away in the vault -- The BB's have 15.]

In a discussion last year that initially centered around "Sunshine Tomorrow", Howie Edelson said this:

I don't want to besmirch any other band, but as someone who's quite aware of what's in several other group's vaults, of the "majors" (and I'm not exaggerating), The Beach Boys are the ONLY one where if its unreleased material was finally released, the entire narrative changes and history gets a revamp. The BB's are the only band who can get a 10th life from what they left on the cutting room floor. The Grateful Dead definitely do not have five more "Sugar Magnolia's" tucked away in the vault -- The BB's have 15.

I don't want to speak for Howie, but I sense he was talking more about "Carry Me Home" and more Dennis material, and "Bedroom Tapes" type of material more than alternate session breakdowns and takes for "California Girls" and "Surfin' Safari" and "Fun Fun Fun."

Remember, especially when it comes to the 70s and 80s, there is TONS of stuff we've *never* even heard or maybe even heard *of.*

Missed this 1st time around. Certainly some fine early Dennis stuff, as Alan Boyd has said. Tantalizing.

[SEE AND HEAR]

COMMENT TO EVERYONE: !!

I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU ARE HAVING THIS CONVERSATION.  THERE IS ABSOLUTLY NO DOUBT THAT CARL WILSON SANG THE LEAD VOCAL, AND THEN DOUBLED IT, ON THE LP RELEASE OF GOD ONLY KNOWS .

I REFER YOU TO THE PRODUCER, BRIAN WILSON   AS HE TALKS WITH GEORGE MARTIN ABOUT GOD ONLY KNOWS. IN THIS VIDEO YOU WILL SEE AND HEAR THE ISOLATED VOCAL TRACKS FROM THE GOD ONLY KNOWS MASTER MULTI-TRACK.

IT WILL SETTLE THIS STUPID ARGUMENT.  

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-watch-george-martin-los-angeles-god-only-knows-brian-wilson-20160309-story.html

SEE:  3:18 TO 3:48  

You can also hear the isolated vocal tracks at http://swdstudyvideos.com  --  page 3  --  "God Only Knows" button.    ~SWD

Mr. Desper,

With all respect, this thread is about the version of GOK marked "Brian Sings Lead" on the Pet Sounds Sessions. I'm almost certain everyone here knows that Carl sings the album version. It seems this topic that I started has initiated a string of similarly related ones about who sang which line, such as the Be Here in the Morning. Sorry if the title of this topic didn't make that clear. Much respect!

COMMENT to John Brode:  Well what are you asking?  Brian singing GOK is completely different than Carl singing GOK

Brian sings >>> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCYw3HrtXAQ

There are plenty of other cuts on youtube of the same, but in a concert setting.  Brian's phrasing is always the same, and it's not because of his age . . . it's because that's how he shapes his words. Further, it's not because of drug damage either. He's always spoken and sung that way. Brian and (if he could) Carl will tell you, some songs are suited for one and some for the other. Of course, you know that.

There should be no difficulty in determining who is singing this song. Carl and Brian are completely different in phrasing, intonation, and pronunciation. How can you mix up Brian's delivery from Carl"s?

Am I missing an argument here?   ~swd

I believe they are talking about this track from the Pet Sounds Sessions box set:

https://youtu.be/X7ztzc7Xp0g

COMMENT to someone (I've lost track):

If you're talking about Disc 3 cut #29 --- I know this version. It's from one of the early attempts of Brian to sing the lead back in '66. It is after this take that Brian decided that the lead is best for Carl. If I remember correctly, this version survived with only one track of Brian .. with Carl trying the lead while listening to Brian's delivery. However, I can't say for certain, but it sounds like Mark blended both tracks together. However, it was meant to be only the one track of vocal. My memory is cloudy on this. 

This is a matter that should be ask of engineer Mark Linett on his thread. I'm sure he could tell you exactly what is which.

~swd

Sounds very plausible. Yrplace or mine?

OK after more listens with ears open wider I'll go with both Brian and Carl, doubled.

Three is a huskier timbre to Brian's lower range that is present here, and when he strains to hit "stars" it is also inimitable. I'm frankly surprised that there is so much dissention. Flame away....

Zeppo flown in.

If the "I've Got A Friend" instrumental track was going to be on it then I'm seriously bummed.

The thing that makes me feel sure has something to do with the pronunciation, which is inextricably linked to Brian's youthful personality. it just seems positive that it's Brian in my sense memory while listening. As far as the double-tracking goes, it seems like common sense that they would double-track the same person's voice while giving it a full test run to decide who would eventually do the lead on the finished track.