This is just my opinion and nothing else, but the last couple of years its been very noticeable the decline in Brian's voice.  Up until about 2016 he could hold a note longer and wouldn't do the talk/sing he does now.  Understandably he's pushing 80, but it kind of seemed to happen quickly for Brian.  The times that I saw him live in 2008 (TLOS) 2012 and 2013 his voice was really really strong. 

Might have something to do with the fact that between 2016-2019 he was doing Pet Sounds for the "last" time, about a million times...

That and they were pretty good at giving Brian vocals he could handle comfortably with his decreased control & strength. She's Got Rhythm being a very unusual outlier...

Just listened to that one again after many years. That lead vocal *is* really kind of a miracle. Yes, you can hear rough bits around the edges and it's triple tracked (at least), but it's a sky high melody and very competently done. It's amazing that it was within Brian's grasp *and* that he had the patience at that time to see it through.

Someone or other said Brian was taking vocal lessons just prior to MIU, and it seems to have paid off. But man, what a drop after that. His lead vocal outtakes in '78 and '79 for LA and KTSA (some not yet heard) are among the worst ever.

Yep, vocal coach/recording engineer Bob Rose was on hand for the sessions at M.I.U. in Fairfield. He reportedly also worked with Dennis at Brother Studio during the Bambu sessions (not that it necessarily shows - but imagine how rough DW's vocals on those tracks might sound if he hadn't!).

That, plus Brian had given up smoking (and cocaine) during the M.I.U. era, which I think was a big factor in his vocal "rebirth" as well.

The earliest account I remember is in the music press (RollingStone or another mag) around 1971.

Yeah, and that's when Murray was still alive!

I'd guess that nobody cares enough to make it available; same with Summer in Paradise perhaps? Still Cruisin' has Kokomo but that's available on several hit compilations and only the most hardcore fans care about stuff like Somewhere Near Japan (good song) let alone Island Girl (guilty pleasure at best). Wasn't Still Cruisin' (the song) a minor hit though?

Yeah, I used to hear "Still Cruisin'" (the song) piped in at placed like Walgreens, so I've always considered it a minor hit.

Yeah, too bad the part about Bruce and Blondie being in the band was reported - since they weren't.

The old-school hack for recording off the radio with a timer was using a VCR and basic AV receiver setup, better if it were hi-fi stereo for FM. You'd tune in your tuner to the station, rout that signal to the VCR (through a receiver or otherwise) as if it were a cassette deck, set your timer on the VCR, keep everything powered on, and you could record between 2-8 hours off the radio. Then transfer it to cassettes later. Real old-school but it solved the issue of timing a radio recording without having a special deck. Ahh the good ol' days.

Interestingly, it is my understanding that this was how the Beach Boys vaults were raided for the Sea of Tunes boots. A VCR was the only available recording device!

VCRs actually had a pretty hi-fidelity audio recording capability - back in the mid-'80s, I recorded at a studio that used a VCR for stereo mixdowns.

For a moment I was thinking Live or Let Die....Brian doing that would’ve been interesting for sure...

Possibly besting the GN'R version? 

I doubt he's doing much work these days. Would absolutely love a new Christmas song.

I always thought the melody to "Live Let Die" would work well as a Christmas song.  Change the name to "Christmastime" (Christ-mas, Christ-mas-tiiime), add some sleigh bells, and convert the lyrics (which were fairly lousy for both versions of the song anyway) into yuletide-themed goodness and you'd have a nice track. 

Um, I assume you mean "Live Let LIVE"...

Random question: does anyone else have a hard time listening to thoughts of you because there’s a short piano part that sounds just like the MASH theme song?

Doesn't bother me, but I always notice it.

McCartney 3 can be purchased on cassette in 2020? Oh dear lord.
Sorry...respect for the guy has dropped a notch reading about the variants above.  

In case you aren't aware, cassettes are considered "hip" again amongst millennials (and maybe others who just like them). Hence, every Record Store Day for the past few years has seen someone of notoriety do a special "cassette-only" release.

Wasn't Egypt Station a Billboard 200 No. 1?

Delete.

FYI, from various sources I've seen, it seems there actually was no restraining order between Mike and Dennis. The latter definitely had a restraining order filed against Stan Love (and Rocky P.) after the Super Bowl Sunday incident. I think after Dennis died, it was erroneously reported in the press that the restraining order was between Dennis and Mike, when it was actually Dennis and Stan.

Maybe Carl's motivations should be looked at from a slightly askew perspective... if Carl did indeed say that "the BBs were not capable at that time of producing artistically relevant content" or whatnot.... maybe that's not a dig on the BBs.  He was right.  They were not.  Not at all, not even close.  What would make anyone think otherwise, by 1995, if they paid attention to their timeline?
On the other hand, that doesn't mean that Brian Wilson was not capable of creating artistically relevant content.... nor Carl Wilson, frankly... but perhaps this was a moment of realism from Carl at this moment, as someone who was better than probably anyone else at understanding the "big picture" of a 35 year old band of 50-somethings and what could possibly be best for all parties.

Maybe I'm wrong, but I take Carl saying that about "the Beach Boys" as including Brian. Like, he was judging "artistic relevancy" by a standard that included widespread mainstream success (radio-friendly, Grammy-worthy), not "hip cult status".

Just listen to the Wilson-Beckley-Lamm album, and you'll hear where Carl's head was at musically - as nice as it is to hear his voice, it's pretty bland stuff. Almost all of Carl's songs from '79 on are very MOR/AC-ish - sometimes they're quite sublime (e.g. "Where I Belong"), but he's definitely going for a "contemporary" sound (although, by the time of Wilson-Beckley-Lamm, that style really wasn't contemporary anymore).

Brian's stuff since '76, on the other hand - including the mid-'90s work he did with Andy Paley - definitely did NOT fit in with what was considered "mainstream", and I think that's why it didn't interest Carl. Of course it wasn't "grunge", and of course it wasn't "avant-garde" - but it would've gone over very well, I think, with the then-hip Ben Folds Five crowd, y'know?

What happened instead, is the group went the route of what they thought was going to get them hits - going country with a slew of guest stars ('cause it worked for The Eagles), produced by the king of MOR slickness Joe Thomas....and guess what? Brian's camp thought Thomas was just what HE needed to get HIM some solo hits! Unfortunately for both of them, there was just no way either side was going to get the kind of huge commercial success that Michael Bolton or Celine Dion were enjoying, no matter how hard they tried...that ship had sailed. Meanwhile, what little chance they had of ANY kind of "success" (street-cred critical acclaim) was blown when they shelved the Paley stuff and went for the fluff.

I wonder what Al thinks (or thought at the time) about this time period. I think I remember reading here on the board that Al didn’t know about or wasn’t invited to some of the sessions, and I think that is extremely interesting.

So, there were TWO periods of Beach Boys sessions in '95, held to record new Wilson-Paley material (there was also the beginning of the S&S sessions, but I'm skipping that for the purpose of this post). The first was in March, when Brian, Mike, and Carl partially recorded (but apparently did not finish) the Baywatch Nights theme (and possibly something called "Grace Of My Heart" for possible submission to the movie of the same name - but it's unclear, to me at least, if that ever actually got put on tape). For whatever reason, Al and Bruce were not invited to participate in the recording that was actually done at this time. I suspect maybe the whole Brian-Mike-Carl dynamic was such - and with the three of them being, or course, flesh and blood family - that the thought was, "Let's see how the three of us get along, and if it works, we'll bring the other two guys in." But things fell apart, whether it be Carl walking out, or perhaps the Baywatch Nights deal falling through prematurely - who knows.

Then, the second series of sessions was in November, where "Soul Searchin'" and "You're Still A Mystery To Me" were completed (the Boys' vocals added to Don Was-produced tracks), but plans to record additional songs scrapped when Carl decided he'd had enough - apparently because he didn't believe in the material strongly enough to continue. Or possibly other Brian-Carl related reasons - again, who knows. But Al and Bruce definitely WERE part of these sessions.

Found a news report of the show on May 2nd 1982 and added the youtube link to the list. Despite the reporter mentioning Dennis, it looks like he wasn't there.

Someone who was there has said that Dennis showed up onstage late...after being seen before the show entering the locker room area with an attractive young lady...

That may legit be the most uncomfortable interview I’ve ever seen

Yes, Bri looks VERY uncomfortable in his own skin. But I doubt it was the interview per se making him feel that way!

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

Easter egg...or stocking stuffer?   EDIT: given the timeline, Easter egg does make more sense.

The whole thing's here....https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUHUGXDIhz0

Man, I REALLY wish we had footage of Carl doing those guitar overdubs...but it goes from Brian and Mike in the studio, Brian telling Mike how Carl's on his way down...to the Brian interview from later that night, where he talks about how great Carl just played. Wonder if Carl demanded the cameras be turned off while he was there? Can't imagine any other reason for that part to not be on film...

Shame they didn't let us hear what Dennis had to say there, Donny! Also a shame they felt the need to dub in the studio recordings over the live concert footage on most of this, instead of letting us hear the band for real.

Are we expecting any digital Xmas presents tomorrow (25th, Friday)?

You mean, the day AFTER tomorrow? 

Do we know for sure when Blondie's vocal was added to "It's A New Day"? While true he wasn't an official Beach Boy until early '72, and the track was cut in the summer of '71, isn't it possible Dennis hired him to sing it anyway, since it was being pitched as a commercial jingle?

Were the Flame in the US around then and is it known when they were recording their second LP with Carl? I'm wobbly on my Flame timeline.

Howie said on here once that Blondie told him his 'audition' BB recording was playing bass on Student Demonstration Time (is there a session tape to verify that?), which could set a precedent for doing other studio things before joining the group.

I believe The Flame moved to the U.S. sometime in '69, and their first LP was released in 1970. "SDT" was cut in December of '70, I believe (no, I've never heard that session tape). Blondie moved back to South Africa for a few months after the breakup of The Flame, so probably late '71-early '72. Timeline-wise, he definitely could have recorded the vocal for "It's A New Day" when it was tracked or shortly thereafter.

Incidentally, I hope Cam is still around these parts, though it seems not. As a 16 year old when I first started posting on the Smile Shop, and later, he was always very responsive to my posts and full of interesting info.

 

Cam's still around, though not necessarily "these" parts...if you catch my drift...

Do we know for sure when Blondie's vocal was added to "It's A New Day"? While true he wasn't an official Beach Boy until early '72, and the track was cut in the summer of '71, isn't it possible Dennis hired him to sing it anyway, since it was being pitched as a commercial jingle?