Hey Craig! I've reread your conscientous comments several times. Oh to obtain a copy of Jimmie's memoir! Your reminder of Bobby Fuller's suspicious death in the same timeframe prompted me to place "I Fought The Law: The Life and Strange Death Of Bobby Fuller" by Bobby's brother Randell and Linna Miriam in my Amazon shopping cart. The mob contract decreed upon the King of Late Night occurred during his hell-raising, gin-soaked years when The Tonight Show emanated from New York [marriage did not deter his philandering; thank God for sidekick Ed McMahon and NBC brass stepping in]. In those days life-threatening danger could be around the corner if you didn't toe the line and play the game.

How did this escape me 'til now.......at the same October 1974 basic tracking session as "It's OK" Jimmie's first smash--"Honeycomb"--was attempted. Marilyn sang lead. Any other details known about this unreleased performance featuring Roy Wood, Nick Pentelow, and Mike Burney of Wizzard? Are any of the Beach Boys on the track? Brother or Caribou?

I'm much obliged, Spgass and Craig. PS revisions have come to light since you last took a gander.

[YouTube link for Jimmie Rodgers' stereo master of "The Wreck of the John B"]

The passing of Jimmie Rodgers at age 87 from kidney disease and COVID-19 complications on January 18 prompted a deep dive into his discography. Between 1957 and 1967, the Camas, Washington-raised artist accumulated 14 Top 40 Billboard singles such as "Honeycomb" [No. 1], "Kisses Sweeter Than Wine" [No. 7], "Oh-Oh, I'm Falling In Love Again" [No. 7], "Secretly" [No. 3], "Are You Really Mine?" [No. 10], and "Bimbombey" [No. 11]. Jimmie's composition "It's Over" [No. 37 POP, Glen Campbell and Hal Blaine were on the session] was given an orchestral makeover by Elvis during his innovative "Aloha from Hawaii" satellite broadcast.

A songwriter and acoustic guitarist since his Korean stint in the Air Force, Jimmie's career trajectory found him exploring pop, folk, country and western [a clever rendering of the traditional "Shenandoah" ballad is spine-tingling on the "Twilight on the Trail" concept LP], and even gospel. Jimmie pioneered folk rock and had an unusual guitar style where he strummed hard right hand rhythm barre chords with his thumb. Richie Havens was a similar picker, albeit on a more accomplished scale.

Towards the end of Jimmie's four-year tenure with Morris Levy's notorious Roulette Records, he waxed "Sloop John B" under its alternate title of "The Wreck of the John B" ["I Want to Go Home" and "John B. Sails" are further designations]. The lead cut on "At Home with Jimmie Rodgers—An Evening of Folk Songs" was issued as an A-side in June 1960. "The Wreck of the John B" hung around the lower region of the Hot 100 for nine weeks. Struggling to gain any traction, its peak position was No. 64. Jimmie was accompanied by producer Joe Reisman’s Orchestra, but the supporting musicians remain individually unidentified. Praguefrank’s discography lists Bell Sound in New York City as the potential studio. Jimmie's out-of-print memoir, "Dancing on the Moon: The Jimmie Rodgers Story" [2010], may elucidate further.

A diverse array of singers—e.g. the Weavers, Johnny Cash, soul stirring balladeer Jerry Butler, Barry McGuire, Dick Dale and His Del-Tones, The Ventures, Gary Lewis & the Playboys, Chet Atkins and Jerry Reed—have tackled the traditional folk standard recounting a sailor’s homesickness going back to the dawn of Truman’s second presidential administration. Skiffle king Lonnie Donegan scored the first hit version [No. 5] in Britain a month prior to Jimmie's take.


As we know, Al Jardine credits the Kingston Trio's 1958 recording, found on their debut self-titled album, for inspiring Brian's production which enlisted the prolific Wrecking Crew for a lush, Spectorized “Wall of Sound” intertwined with multi-layered group harmonies. But I'm curious if BB fans have heard Jimmie's performance. How does it stack up 60 years later compared to the definitive BB master? Are there any similarities?

Guess Who frontman Burton Cummings, an unabashedly “huge Beach Boys fan,” prefers Jimmie's rendition. “Jimmie’s vocal is superb, and how about that note he holds toward the end?” mused Burton on Facebook.

Besides an unexpected Top Five hit in the UK with “English Country Garden” in 1962, Jimmie’s radio-friendly days grew sporadic. Three singles into a promising tenure with Herb Alpert’s A&M Records, concerned friend-conductor Eddie Samuels discovered Jimmie unconscious in his car not far from the San Diego Freeway on Dec. 1, 1967. Rodgers insisted that off-duty policeman Michael Duffy had beaten and presumed him dead. The LAPD said that Jimmie was stopped because of an illegal U-turn, was intoxicated, lost his balance while chatting with the officer, hit his head on either the asphalt or a manhole cover, was placed back inside his car, and apparently deemed okay. No medical attention was called, and Duffy and two fellow off-duty officers left the scene. Duffy had been suspended earlier for assaulting a teenager with a blackjack. Daughter Michele Rodgers maintains that her father was not a drinker. Michele, a Nashville resident who has contributed backing vocals for Kenny Rogers and Alison Krauss, also recalls that a girlfriend of one of the boys in blue, who watched from a car, was called to testify and could not be located. The impossible-to-find “What a Strange Town [The People Had No Faces]” was ironically Jimmie’s current single.

An $11 million lawsuit erupted that eventually earned Jimmie a $200,000 out-of-court settlement but derailed any career resurgence. A&M kept him on its roster through 1969. Jimmie believed the traumatic incident was payback for demanding back royalties from his former Roulette boss, known for being bedfellows with the mob. Roulette labelmate Tommy “Crimson and Clover” James corroborates Jimmie’s accusation. A steel plate inserted on the right side of Jimmie’s head sometimes prompted seizures when he sang onstage and was amazingly removed by surgery 40 years later.

Still, he was a fighter and persevered, returning to the road. A final burst of original, country pop material tracked in Nashville occurred in the late ’70s on a forgotten indie label. “Shovelin’ Coal Missouri” is the pick of the litter. Then spasmodic dysphonia strangled his vocal cords in the early ’80s. Botox and collagen injections enabled Jimmie to harmonize in diminished voice alongside karaoke tracks of his greatest hits by 1997 in Branson. In spite of a heart attack in the early twenty-tens, the deeply religious Rodgers toured intermittently, singing and playing guitar live to deep cuts including the Buddy Holly-dedicated “500 Miles Away from Home.” Elvis fans heard him interviewed on Memphis mafia alum George Klein’s SiriusXM Elvis show. In 2016 Jimmie exhibited early symptoms of Alzheimer's and was living in a memory care facility in California at the time of his passing. Photo credits: Discogs, 45cat, and Bol


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MDBQ5-tU0_4
YouTube link for Jimmie Rodgers' stereo master of "The Wreck of the John B"

[Carl Wilson’s Best Beach Boys Songs: 10 Essential Tracks]

Speaking of Carl, a nice change of pace story giving his 1965-1973 BB lead vocals the spotlight from UDiscoverMusic.....


Carl Wilson’s Best Beach Boys Songs: 10 Essential Tracks

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/stone-temple-pilots-cover-beach-boys-894002/

As written by Andy Greene for Rolling Stone...

The most surprising song on the set is a cover of the obscure 1964 Beach Boys song “She Knows Me Too Well.” “That was recorded during the Purple sessions,” STP bassist Robert DeLeo tells Rolling Stone. “That song and ‘Pretty Penny’ were both done during a field trip we did at one of Brendan O’Brien’s friends’ houses. We recorded them in the living room of his house on a 2 inch 8-track live tape.”

The song (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) was the B-side to “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” in 1964 and appeared on The Beach Boys Today! the following year. There is no record of the band ever playing it in concert, but Robert DeLeo has loved it for years.

“Being the youngest in our family, I would listen to the 45s that were always hanging out by the record player, and the Beach Boys 45s were the first ones I listened to,” he says. “There are certain obscure Beach Boys songs that have always been some of my favorites, including ‘She Knows Me Too Well’. When I first played that one for Scott [Weiland], he really fell in love with it, so I suggested that we cover it.”

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/stone-temple-pilots-cover-beach-boys-894002/

As written by Andy Greene for Rolling Stone...

The most surprising song on the set is a cover of the obscure 1964 Beach Boys song “She Knows Me Too Well.” “That was recorded during the Purple sessions,” STP bassist Robert DeLeo tells Rolling Stone. “That song and ‘Pretty Penny’ were both done during a field trip we did at one of Brendan O’Brien’s friends’ houses. We recorded them in the living room of his house on a 2 inch 8-track live tape.”

The song (written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love) was the B-side to “When I Grow Up (To Be a Man)” in 1964 and appeared on The Beach Boys Today! the following year. There is no record of the band ever playing it in concert, but Robert DeLeo has loved it for years.

“Being the youngest in our family, I would listen to the 45s that were always hanging out by the record player, and the Beach Boys 45s were the first ones I listened to,” he says. “There are certain obscure Beach Boys songs that have always been some of my favorites, including ‘She Knows Me Too Well’. When I first played that one for Scott [Weiland], he really fell in love with it, so I suggested that we cover it.”

I was able to snag 320 kbps MP3 files of all three Jardine tunes using SoundCloudMP3.cc. If you are on Dvoskin's SoundCloud page playing the song(s) you need a copy of, click the share button under said song. Copy and paste the share link onto SoundCloudMP3.cc and you will be in business.

In an April 10 interview with Ken Sharp of Rock Cellar, founding Zombies bassist-songwriter Chris White was asked, "Are there any plans for the original lineup of The Zombies minus the late Paul Atkinson to do any future show?"

Chris White: "Yes, I’m hearing rumors we might be playing again and doing a tour with Brian Wilson. I can’t give any more details now but I’m hearing some pretty good rumors. (laughs) I would look forward to that because anything Brian Wilson did was so inventive and Pet Sounds was one of my favorite albums."

https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/the-zombies-chris-white-interview-rock-and-roll-hall-of-fame-influence-dave-grohl/

From Mr. Blaine's official Facebook.....

"Hal Blaine - loving father of Michelle Blaine; grandfather of Anthony, Josh, Aaron, Whitney, Tempest, Ever and Lyryk; and inspiration to countless friends, fans and musicians - has passed on today, March 11th, 2019 at the age of 90. May he rest forever on 2 and 4. The family appreciates your outpouring of support and prayers that have been extended to Hal from around the world, and respectfully request privacy in this time of great mourning. No further details will be released at this time."

https://www.facebook.com/HalBlaine/posts/2372154496162525

I'm much obliged for the thumbs up Mtaber, Don Malcolm, Billy, and SMiLE-addict (that Old Grey Whistle Test vintage mid-'70s interview was a delight).

[Ken Sharp for Rock Cellar: Brian Wilson guested on your Cry Like A Rainstorm album, supplying background vocals for the Jimmy Webb song “Adios.” I know you’re a big fan of Brian as a writer and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.]

Ken Sharp, the author of Dreamer: The Making of Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue," has a new interview out via Rock Cellar Magazine with Linda Ronstadt that touches on her admiration for Brian and Pet Sounds. Parkinson's disease has robbed Ms. Ronstadt of her singing voice, and she prefers to live a semi-reclusive life at home. The distribution of her debut live album [i.e. Live in Hollywood recorded for a 1980 TV special] has seen her granting conversations with Rolling Stone and CBS Sunday Morning among others.

https://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2019/02/13/linda-ronstadt-interview-live-in-hollywood/
Linda Ronstadt on ‘Live in Hollywood’ and the Singers Whose Voices Have Made Her Cry (The Interview)


Ken Sharp for Rock Cellar: Brian Wilson guested on your Cry Like A Rainstorm album, supplying background vocals for the Jimmy Webb song “Adios.” I know you’re a big fan of Brian as a writer and the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds.

Linda Ronstadt: I bought Pet Sounds in 1970 and listened to it unendingly, but those songs were very available on the radio. They say the record wasn’t successful at the time but I heard many of those songs on the radio when it came out, “God Only Knows, “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Caroline No” and “Sloop John B.” I mean, all those songs were hits.

Today, right, if you get one hit from an album it’s considered a great success, and that had three or four hits. There was an innocence to that record, and an innocence to Brian, that was beautiful.

Before the singing starts on his songs, you’re grabbed by the emotion and wonder of his work. The way the chords were voiced gave it gravitas. There was an inner beauty to those songs; it’s very sophisticated music, and he made it accessible, and that’s a hard thing to do. From Pet Sounds, I really love “I Just Wasn’t Made for These Times” and I did “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” on my Winter Light record.

“Don’t Talk” is one of the most exquisite and beautifully constructed songs I’ve ever sung; the range and the melody came right out of the faerie bowers. In Ireland they say the faerie’s music was the most beautiful of all. “Don’t Talk” is just such a beautiful melody and such a sophisticated song coming out of a young person, especially at a time when the culture didn’t support that approach to music particularly. It just came out of the sky somehow. The architecture of the song is so exquisitely formed.

If you can sing, it gives you something you can perform on because it goes to all of the beautiful places in your voice. I learned a tremendous amount about singing hearing Brian sing. I love Brian and I love his work. He’s a true genius as a musician and I love the way that he writes harmonies and the way the words fit them in that pure, straightforward way. He’s one of the few that were able to structure harmonies and vocals like the great classical masters. There’s something about Brian’s earnestness and brilliance and his “aw shucks” attitude combined that seeped into the music.

[Bobbie Gentry’s Archivist Explores Colossal ‘Girl from Chickasaw County’ Box Set]

I convinced Universal producer Andrew Batt to go on the record with me and discuss all things pertaining to "The Girl from Chickasaw County — The Complete Capitol Masters," a chronologically sequenced 8-CD box set due out October 12. It contains all seven original Bobbie Gentry studio LP’s enhanced by over 75 unreleased recordings including a lost jazz album...


https://medium.com/@jeremylr/bobbie-gentrys-archivist-explores-colossal-girl-from-chickasaw-county-box-set-d54d316856fb
Bobbie Gentry’s Archivist Explores Colossal ‘Girl from Chickasaw County’ Box Set

["As Long As We Had Him: Rick Nelson's Inner Circle Expose His Unreleased Last Record"]

Still writing about Rick Nelson......insiders and experts — youngest child Sam Nelson, Telecaster maestro James Burton, arranger-producer Jimmie Haskell, personal manager Greg McDonald, authors Philip Bashe and Sheree Homer — set the record straight on the rock entertainer’s final recording project left undisturbed for nearly 35 years.



https://medium.com/@jeremylr/as-long-as-we-had-him-rick-nelsons-inner-circle-expose-his-unreleased-last-record-acad31262342
"As Long As We Had Him: Rick Nelson's Inner Circle Expose His Unreleased Last Record"

Jon, Craig, Rocker, Zesterz, Ian--thank you for shedding further light on "I've Got a Friend."

Who were the musicians on the unreleased studio backing track of "I've Got a Friend?" And do the live versions closely mirror the studio rendition? And just to clarify--any backing / harmony vocals on the studio take--or is it completely instrumental? Any unreleased BB music from the '60s and '70s fascinates me exponentially.

FYI, the Rock Cellar interviewer is none other than Ken Sharp, author of the just-released tome "Dreamer: The Making of Dennis Wilson's 'Pacific Ocean Blue'" and other books exploring Elvis's songwriters, the King's 1969 Vegas comeback, John Lennon's Double Fantasy, the Raspberries, Cheap Trick, and KISS.

And to watch the complete interview all you have to do is "subscribe" by inputting a username / email address.....then all the video installments are unlocked free of charge.

Mike will be interviewed live on SiriusXM's Elvis channel across the street from Graceland in Memphis in a few minutes.....just saw the news on deejay Big Jim Sykes' Facebook page.

[Uncovering Mark Lindsay’s Musical Odyssey to the Rebel Raiders and Beyond]

Mark's complete interview with me from a couple of years ago can be found @ the below link. Thanks much for stumbling upon the ML / Brian quotes, clack.

Uncovering Mark Lindsay’s Musical Odyssey to the Rebel Raiders and Beyond
https://medium.com/@jeremylr/uncovering-mark-lindsays-musical-odyssey-to-the-rebel-raiders-and-beyond-48e7f73b3b

I randomly stumbled upon a cool clip on Team Coco of an acoustic "Little Saint Nick," performed by a Long Island, New York band named the Lemon Twigs. It's a web exclusive filmed for Conan O'Brien's TBS late night show. Also included is a feature article explaining exactly who the Lemon Twigs are. Merry Christmas! http://teamcoco.com/video/web-exclusive-the-lemon-twigs-little-saint-nick?playlist=x;eyJ0b3RhbCI6NDAxLCJ0eXBlIjoibGlzdCIsImlkIjo1fQ




Six Things to Know About Teen Sensations the Lemon Twigs
Written by Cam Lindsay via Exclaim!
http://exclaim.ca/music/article/six_things_to_know_about_teen_sensations_the_lemon_twigs


The Lemon Twigs are one of the most curious bands to emerge in 2016. From Long Island, NY, the band are comprised of two teenaged brothers, Brian and Michael D'Addario, a couple of wunderkinds who demonstrate extraordinary musical chops. With their eccentrically throwback hair and wardrobe, the brothers might come across as a tad contrived, but as their debut album, Do Hollywood (out now on 4AD), demonstrates, these guys are simply committed to their craft.
 
Exclaim! recently spoke to both D'Addario brothers to find out what they're all about.

Six Things to Know About Teen Sensations the Lemon Twigs:
 
6. The Lemon Twigs began playing together when they were in elementary school.
 
Although they're still teenagers — Brian is 19 and Michael is only 17 — the two have been in bands for a decade.
 
"We formed our first band in elementary school, like third, fourth or fifth grade," Brian admits. "We did one for the talent shows, and then we got more serious with it. The band was called MOTP — Members of the Press — but some other band had that name already. It was mostly cover songs, but then we would write occasionally and throw those songs in."
 
They didn't form the Lemon Twigs until they were teenagers. "Michael was 14 and I was 16," Brian says. "Michael was doing these songs with this great production, and my songs were lacking that. Prior to hearing Michael's songs, I was very into doing my own thing and keeping it separate, but once I heard his songs, I thought I could use his help. That's when we started full-on collaborating."
 
5. They come from a musical family.
 
Their father Ronnie D'Addario was an accomplished songwriter, session musician and producer in the '70s and '80s. His love of the Beatles rubbed off on them when they could barely walk. But their mother taught them how to appreciate music.
 
"He was a pretty big influence, but so was my mom," Brian says. "She's a great singer and she encouraged us to do harmonies with each other early on. But my dad being a musician, he feels a song should be poppy, but also have some depth to it. Especially when it comes to putting the chords together with the melodies. It shouldn't be the first thing that you come up with. If you can really avoid using a simple chord progression, you should. That was something that he taught us, and we heard it in his music while we were growing up. We definitely looked up to him, and I'd say that my mom had an influence, because she's not jaded when it comes to music. Even though it's important to strive to make complicated music, you shouldn't think all other music is shitty. So from her we got a love for other types of music."
 
4. The D'Addario brothers were successful child actors.
 
Before the Lemon Twigs existed, both brothers were child actors. The elder Brian appeared on an episode of Law & Order and CSI: NY. Michael, however, experienced greater success, scoring substantial roles as Ethan Hawke's son in Sinister and Chris Pine's estranged nephew in People Like Us. The way they see it, acting prepared them for a career in music.
 
"From a performance aspect, we don't get that nervous going on stage, because we had to shed that early on if we wanted to remember our lines," Brian says. "You learn how to do a lot of stuff unconsciously and that prevents you from making mistakes. And that came from having to read the same lines every day."
 
They haven't shaken the acting bug either. "The Lemon Twigs is definitely a full-time project, but in the future we'd definitely like to get back into acting," Brian adds. "It'd be cool if there was a relationship between acting and what we do musically. There used to be a lot of rock'n'roll movies, and that'd be really cool to do something like that. Of course, it would be on a much smaller scale than the Beatles movies."
 
3. Their new album, Do Hollywood, is being called their debut, but it really isn't.
 
In 2014, the Lemon Twigs released a limited-edition cassette on Winspear called What We Know. There were only 100 copies made available, and the band were still trying to find their sound.
 
"What We Know is the music we thought we wanted to make, and Do Hollywood is the music we actually want to make," explains Brian. "We realized that pretty soon after doing What We Know that we missed the mark of being this psychedelic band we wanted to be, and that it wasn't really suited to us. It's been two years since we wrote the songs for Do Hollywood, and I can stand by them. I think it was important to realize that."
 
2. Do Hollywood was produced by Foxygen's Jonathan Rado.
 
All of the songs on Do Hollywood were written and arranged when they went into the studio with Rado, who most recently produced Whitney's Light Upon the Lake.
 
"You kinda get attached to your demos, but when we had the full record, I felt Rado had contributed to the overall sound," Brian says. "I was much happier with the finished versions. I would say he was more of a producer, because as far as the sounds on the record go, he was very responsible for those. Like the sound of the drums and guitars, and knowing what synths to use for each part. It was very important that we were comfortable and that his idea for the record was the same as ours. It was very easy to be comfortable and come up with ideas with him."
 
1. They both wrote the songs on Do Hollywood – but not together.
 
Brian and Michael both shared songwriting duties, but separately. In fact, the album is sequenced so that their songs alternate throughout, one after another.
 
"It's because we have big egos," Michael says. "Or we did have bigger egos at the time. We didn't want each other to sing on the other's songs. It was like we wanted to be in two different bands. But I like his songs as much as my own songs, so we felt it would be a better group if it was two songwriters instead of one."
 
Since they finished Do Hollywood, however, their songwriting process has changed. Now they collaborate. "Yeah, it was pretty soon after this album was done," Michael admits. "A lot of great songwriters write together. It's easier, but it can get too easy. Another person can be such a huge influence, so the only time we go to each other is if we literally come up with an idea at the same time, or we get to a place in a song where we're stuck. If I'm writing a song and I'm really flowing, I don't want anyone else's energy or input, because the truest songs are probably one person's vision. It's more like we originally didn't think it was a good idea, but now we do think it's a good idea. I think we were too proud. We now see what the benefits are."

[All You Need is Love: Mike Love of the Beach Boys Q&A]

Journalist Ken Sharp often delivers an incisive interview influenced by a fan's perspective. Here's an example that appeared in my inbox yesterday, part one of a new conversation with Mike for Rock Cellar Magazine. Good to find him discussing Dennis & their songwriting (I'll paste the Dennis comments below)

http://www.rockcellarmagazine.com/2016/10/07/mike-love-interview-good-vibrations-beach-boys/#sthash.djgndzG8.dpbs
All You Need is Love: Mike Love of the Beach Boys Q&A


It’s well known you had issues with Dennis Wilson through the years, you bit him in a fight in the ’60s?

Mike Love: Oh yeah. He filled up a squirt gun with some urine in the bathroom in Des Moines (laughs) when we were on one of our earlier tours and that didn’t’ go over so well with me. (laughs) Anyway. So yeah, we brawled that time but we came to our senses also and said, “Well, we have shows to do so we better stop beating the hell out of each other.” (laughs)

But you were also very close at time too, even sharing an apartment together in the early ‘60s. Looking back with love, what were the things you loved most about Dennis?

Mike Love: He and I were the driving forces in the band when you talk about the competitive forces of the Beach Boys. I think we were right there lockstep with each other when we went out to do a concert. We’d say, “Let’s go out there and kick some ass!” He would beat the hell out of the drums so he was a very powerful drummer and he had that competitive spirit. He was also tremendously attractive to the young ladies as well. And he was also very generous and giving in his own way. He didn’t care much about possessions. He ran through his money like water.

You credit him with the gift of connecting you with meditation and the Maharishi and near the end of his life, you rescued Dennis somewhere in Venice and it all came back to meditation.

Mike Love: As you know, transcendental meditation has been an important part of my life. It’s one of the most important things in my life because it’s given me the inner strength and ability and flexibility in coping with stress. There’s plenty of them…personal stresses, familial stress, business stresses and being in a group itself. It can be a hassle.

We had left Paris in December of ’67 and gone to London and no sooner had we arrived in London that I got a call from Dennis saying, “Hey, you gotta come back to Paris!” And I said, “Why is that?” And he said, “Maharishi is gonna teach us to meditate.” So it was actually Dennis’ call to me that got us to fly back to Paris and this is before we’d even been in England for 24 hours. So we flew back and did in fact get initiated into TM by Maharishi in December of ’67. So it was because of that call from Dennis that that happened. I had gone to a meditation lecture before that but didn’t sign up for it because I’d gotten into an argument. Because of the value and importance of meditation I became a teacher of TM. I went to a six month long meditation course in the ‘70s; six months living like a monk!

“So it’s been an invaluable experience. Meditation has meant a tremendous amount to me and I always have to attribute that connection to Dennis. Even when he was having problems with alcohol or whatever kind of drugs he was taking, he never forgot about meditation. So when I went to visit him when he was living in Venice and he had been kicked out of the group because he was dysfunctional because of alcoholism and drug abuse, he still said, ‘Let’s meditate.’ We always tried to help Dennis; same thing with Brian and we supported the whole thing with Dr. Landy because we felt it was preferable than him dying and the same thing with Dennis. The reason we kicked Dennis out of the group is not because we didn’t want him in the group, we wanted him to get healthy. But Dennis was tough. He would go into rehab for a night and then leave the next day. Those demons just had a hold of him and he could never quite shake them.

There was talk you told him that had he toured behind his solo album, he would be been thrown out of the band. But in your book, you state that rumor is not true.

Mike Love: No, it’s not true that I told Dennis if he went off on a solo tour that he’d be kicked out of the Beach Boys, I don’t know where this kind of crap comes from but it’s all bullshit. (laughs) I mean, there are so many things that are outright inaccuracies and lies. I would have never said that to Dennis but I would say is, “Dennis, you have to go get your life together, you have to get healthy and until you do that, don’t come around.” We also would show tough love to Dennis; Carl and myself.

You worked with Dennis on his solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, penning  the lyrics for the title track.

Mike Love: Yeah, well, the thing is he had a boat and he lived on his boat for a quite a while. It was called “Harmony.” He and I both had concerns about the environment so he asked me to go ahead and write the lyrics to the song that he had come up with. So I was happy to do that and I was looking forward to doing more with him because there were plans to do future albums.  My success in songwriting happened with my cousin Brian, Dennis’ brother. They were different styles of writers. Brian had a way of crafting things and I would come up with some hooks and he would incorporate them into the song. With Dennis he would write the song and have a track and give me that to write to. That’s how I worked with him on previous songs like Only With You and Sound of Free. With Brian I’d sit at the piano and we’d interactively create the song. He also had aspirations to be in the movies and he appeared in the film, Two Lane Blacktop.

Do we know if Carl submitted any original material for "Summer in Paradise" that was rejected...or recorded but left unreleased?

I've always had the impression it was a Love/Melcher project all along, and Carl didn't even participate as heavily in the sessions as Mike did.

I've heard no evidence that he proffered any material for the album.

I think Carl was writing and cutting stuff in the early-mid 90s, some of which ended up on the "Beckley Lamm Wilson" album. But I always figured Mike spearheaded the SIP album, and it essentially as we all know came across as a Mike Love solo album with some vocal contributions from the others. (Yes, I know, it has 1/2 of a Bruce song on it).

Thank you for the detailed analysis, Hey Jude...there's still a lotta gray area regarding Carl's recordings in the final decade of his life...makes you question whether he was tracking music in a home studio that has still not seen the light of day.

Nice article on it! The album was ok! pretty good for the music that was coming out in the 1990s

You have a point about 90's music... But, I am truly grateful that SIP had some of the last of  Carl Wilson's vocals who had shared leads on half of the tracks.

And, I do really love Lahaina Aloha with that yearning Carl lead. (Maybe it should have been released as a single. I still think it was a very strong song, probably the best on the album.)  We've lost that voice but still have those tremendous Carl vocals.    

Van Dyke Parks played accordion on two tracks.  And, I prefer Summer in Paradise live (MIC) to this version but do appreciate that they made an effort to stay in the market.

Do we know if Carl submitted any original material for "Summer in Paradise" that was rejected...or recorded but left unreleased?

Such sad news to hear, but I'm happy that Ricci lived long enough to see the reissue by Real Gone Music of "Beached" last year. I was able to snag an autographed copy. Wish we could sort out each musician's contributions to each song, particularly the Beach Boys. According to the reissue notes Dennis is drumming on "Stop Look Around" and its B-side, "I Had a Dream," which was released as a non-charting single via Capitol on October 20, 1975, two years prior to the album's belated issue [Ricci had switched to Epic Records by '77]. Not sure if Dennis's contributions were based on Ricci's memories or whether the Brother sessions logs confirm it. Besides drums, there are congas, a tambourine, and various other percussion on "Stop Look Around" so Dennis might not have been the sole drummer.

Can't say for sure, but Glen's attire seems to be much more "stage ready", so I'd lean towards it being a Glen gig that Al sat in on. Also, Al's not playing his normal Strat. Al does sometimes use rented gear for his own solo shows, but it also could mean it's a Glen gig and someone just handed him a guitar.

Makes sense and thanks much, HeyJude; I always look forward to reading your insightful, well-written posts.