As a documentary i found it to be rather mediocre and a bit on the amateur side (the production value, editing, research, and overall presentation of the material), but i really enjoyed watching it regardless, including hours of the bonus material, even if i had already seen so many of the clips online over the years. There wasn't really anything revelatory, but its strength lies in rounding up the principals and getting them to share their anecdotes and memories. Sadly, these musicians have steadily been leaving this earth and will only continue to do so in the next decade or so, so i think it was an important film to make, sooner rather than later. That said, it felt more like seeing some old friends again rather than watching a good documentary, which i suppose is not necessarily a bad thing. I loved seeing Tommy, Hal, Carol, and Plas sitting around a table reminiscing, telling stories and jokes, laughing. Same with the Goldstar staff. Glen Campbell is a joy, really charismatic. Cher has a great spirit and i was surprised and very touched by what a strong connection she had/has to all the musicians considering she was a sort of inside outsider in that scene. Leon Russell, i could watch hours of him speaking, what a guy. Earl Palmer is not having any of that sh*t, as was expected from him.

I do think Denny Tedesco was remiss in not dedicating more time to Phil Spector and any time at all to Jan & Dean, as those two were pivotal in bringing the WC into prominent use with more popular/rock & roll artists in the early days. But what really bothered me about the film is that most casual viewers are no doubt going to walk away believing that the Beach Boys didn't play on most (or even any?) of their records. I'm afraid that myth is not only not going to die anytime soon, but it's probably going to gain even more traction with this movie reaching mainstream audiences. The director really sold the group short as musicians, and although i was expecting as much, it was still frustrating to actually see the myth perpetuated in the finished film. I also thought some of his editing choices were bizarre. For example, while "Good Vibrations" is showcased, he pans across a photo of the Surfer Girl LP cover? Uh, ok. Is that supposed to demonstrate the incongruency between the public image of the band and the "reality" of the studio situation? It's a baffling choice no matter how much you try to justify or contextualize it.

The most bothersome aspect of the whole BB/WC thing, of course, is that the story could easily be told factually without taking any credit away from either the band or the session musicians. Those musicians played on the near entirety of Pet Sounds, a record universally hailed as one of the best and most influential albums of all time, and Smile, possibly the most mythical unfinished album. It's not like there isn't a journalistic angle to work this story. It's there. And in that case, i don't see what the controversy is. I don't understand why or how anyone would hear horns, woodwinds, strings, mallets, orchestral percussion, bass harmonica, accordion, and theremin and think that the band members could and would play all those instruments. Was it really revelatory and disappointing to Dick Clark and the general public back then to learn that five young guys in a garage band from Hawthorne, California weren't playing the "auxiliary" instruments on their records? And going back to 1964 when the crew started appearing on their records with more regularity, was it surprising that a band who was releasing 3 albums per year while touring the globe would occasionally use session musicians to augment their tracks, especially given that their leader was staying off the road to, you know, produce records? 

Is the description "clip clop" percussion an accurate one? Unless I need to relisten (which I do not mind at all...), it sounds like a wood block with a single "pitch". The clip-clop percussion usually involves two differently pitched blocks being struck. And as far as what exactly was making the sound, knowing Hal had a massive collection of percussion toys and oddities along with the standard instruments it could have been anything. Or something completely off the wall like the Sparkletts bottle or soda cans proved from other sessions.

The clip-clop effect has also been done by playing coconut shells that have been cut in half and I believe even pitched somehow by the size of the shells. But if it's traditional orchestral or studio performance, chances are when you hear it on a recording or on stage it's either the "Temple Blocks" or a woodblock. Listen to something like Sleigh Ride as done by the Boston Pops every year, the horse gallup coming from the percussionist is the temple blocks.

Here's a video demonstrating the differences between woodblocks and temple blocks in the percussion section. See if either one sounds like the Pet Sounds track:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1soGwaPwyCo

Yeah, i initially hesitated to describe it as “clip clop”, but went with it anyway because it’s en easily identifiable term to people here. It’s certainly not the quintessential clip clop sound like the cups on GOK. But sometimes we get lazy and use that descriptor for any wooden percussion instrument on a BW production. I appreciate you calling that out.

So to be more specific, it has a bit of a scraping sound, meaning it doesn’t sound like the beater is hitting a flat surface, but rather dragging (only a tiny bit, very quickly) across something like a corrugated surface (kind of like a guiro, though i’m not at all suggesting it’s a guiro). Actually, as i listen to the backing track now, i don’t think it’s being struck with a beater at all, it sounds instead like something that's being struck against itself, similar to, say, the way that finger/hand cymbals or rhythm sticks produce sound by the instrument being struck against itself. I feel like it’s a somewhat familiar, every day sound that i’m just not placing. If it was temple blocks (as on IJWMFTT) or woodblocks (as on ITBOMM), i don’t think this would be such a mystery, because it just doesn’t sound like either one of those instruments. It doesn’t have that hollow, resonating tone, this is a short, “thin”, much sharper kind of sound.

Whatever it is, like other little touches on Pet Sounds, the way it was recorded and blended into the arrangement makes it such a unique and captivating sound. It just sounds so damn good, it’s one of my favorite sounds on any recording. Similar to that tambourine on the verses of WIBN—it may just be a standard tambourine (maybe striking a hi-hat?), but it sounds like God is playing it in heaven. Gosh, “Pet Sounds”…it’s so fitting of a title that it’s almost kind of dumb, as if a little kid came up with it.

C-man, i think you may be right about those notes at 2:04 coming from the organ. A slip of the left hand to be more precise. Fascinating how much it sounds like accidental low rumbling from a guitar.

That 6-string on the basic track, mostly buried on the mono mix, sounds so weird to me. It's so metallic, sounds like brand new strings with a really heavy gauge, it's like all tension and no slack, a thud with no resonance. At the lowest note of the phrase it sounds like a baritone guitar. I, too, hear a slight chorus-type effect or doubling. It's slightly out of tune too. But so then what's producing the low sympathetic ringing out notes or whatever it is at 2:04 here? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWgE8MuAYYU

It's weird how sloppy and amateurish this backing track sounds when heard isolated. It wasn't until i first heard it like this that i realized how different this track is from the rest of the album. But it somehow sounds much tighter and slicker with all the vocals on top. Those voices really glue everything together. It's ironic that in claiming that she plays on stuff that she didn't actually play on, Carol sometimes makes herself, to those who know no better and believe her, seem less professional of a player, this song being a prime example.   

I guess Al had better things to do that day than to go in for this session. Craig, has it ever been determined what the "clip clop" instrument is and who plays it?

I apologize for changing the thread's subject even further. It's only natural this sort of thing happens though, right? 

I am so excited about the MIC sessionography. Thanks for sharing a preview, c-man. I don't know if you can answer a few more questions, but i'm going to throw them out there anyway. This song has always bewitched me and there are so many unanswered questions about it.

The mysterious, sort of backwards-sounding instrument in the verses, what is that? This has mystified me for so many years, i just can't identify what on earth that is. It doesn't even really sound acoustic. To be clear about what i'm referring to, counting each beat of the measures, it goes:
1-(electric bass note doubled by piano bass note), 2-(piano chord, on Brian's well-loved, Smiley/Wild Honey, home studio, slightly detuned upright), 3-(harpsichord, single note(?), that sounds like the string is being flicked with a finger or something, rather than being plucked by the key's plectrum--what a crazy sound, i've always described it as marbles being thrown at the soundboard), 1-(bass/piano), 2-(harpsichord chord), 3-(the mystery sound). I really don't think it's an accordion, harmonium, harmonica, or melodica, which i guess are the closest possibilities. It almost sounds like a chord playing on a tape that's running in reverse, but i'm not suggesting that i think that's actually what they did. Donny? Aeijtzsche? Anyone?

This was an acoustic harpsichord, right, not the Baldwin electric?

Is that a muted piano on the second half of the bridge on the 2nd & 3rd beats of the measure? Another amazing sound.

I'm hearing a pair of cellos in the choruses, was this a separate overdub session or part of the same session for the strings?

That's wild that Marilyn & Diane are buried under the chorus. I think i hear them, but i don't know that i would've if i hadn't been prompted.

Goodness, this song, i just want to add to the voices in this thread. This song/performance/arrangement/production is absolutely glorious, one of the very finest moments of their entire career. I want to shoot this recording out of a canon at people who clamor on about Brian losing it after Smile. Just the arrangement in the verses alone, that tricky rhythmic pattern created by the interplay of those instruments, is enough to put the song in a league of its own, it's just such an unbelievable sound and feel. I am so grateful that the Redwood version didn't pan out, i find their vocals to be the pits. It's almost painful to imagine an alternate turn of events where such an incredible song and production had escaped the Beach Boys and been wasted on an inferior group. It just doesn't get any more suitable for the voices of The Beach Boys than the composition, arrangement, and production of this song.

I find it impossible to believe that this hasn't been mentioned anywhere yet, so i feel i must have either missed it (although, if this were the case, the discussion would be far from over by now) or i must be missing something, probably something really obvious that i'm overlooking. Maybe i was deceived, fell for some trick. Did i imagine it? Was my own mind playing tricks on me? Did i fill in the blanks somehow and convince myself i heard it? Or did it really happen, and it's just that i missed a big, prior news announcement at some point? Could this possibly be old news? Am i that out of the loop? Are there not snippets of isolated Good Vibrations vocals in the movie?! I am certain i heard a little of Carl's lead and portions of the chorus. Isolated. No backing track. No aural signs of digital extraction. What the hell is up with this? I demand an explanation.

This is a great start, i find it very charming. Here are some thoughts: Brian and Carl are too skinny, Al is too tall, Jan looks too much like a superhero or anime character, and all of their legs are too muscular. Why are they all positioned as if about to pick a fight or take flight like a bird or being strip searched? Also, why are you placing such importance on their height to the the point where you won’t even attempt drawing up a new character? Can’t you get a close enough approximation based on photos? I WANT TO SEE THE ROVELL SISTERS AND MURRY. Also, Chuck Britz (and his exceptionally hairy forearms), Van Dyke Parks, Phil Spector, Banana and Louie, etc.

I've always been amazed by how Brian managed, on a couple of spots, to sound exactly like Dennis on IJWMFTT. And so it is.   

As i gaze out toward the horizon, crossing the golden wheat fields, i find myself encumbered by the straw men and their shields.

Hey, there’s Cooper Black and a tidal wave once again. I don’t know that i’ve ever seen such a revered artist so persistently shoehorned into the tiniest little box even by the very people who claim to revere him the most. This poster is embarrassing.

For those who have seen the movie already, would you say that the trailer is typical deceptive/misleading movie marketing (i.e. selling the film as something it's not so as to appeal to a wider audience) or does the full trailer capture the overall mood of the movie faithfully?

I think this is significantly better and more promising than the teaser, but it still possesses a good amount of Hollywood genre-film/love story/tortured artist tropes. I suspect the actual movie will come off very different from the feel of this trailer. At least i really hope so! I mean, i keep hearing comparisons to Tree of Life and that element is obviously totally absent here...

Also, i want to believe that the decision to focus half the movie on '66-'67 has more to do with the insurmountable challenge of telling a wider period of Brian's varied life, as well as the sad reality that the #2 Greatest Album of All Time (OMG Paul McCartney loves it) + the mythology of Smile is probably the only avenue that could realistically sell this movie to the general public, rather than it being a continuation of the ever growing scenester mentality that The Beach Boys = The Genius Brian Wilson = Pet Sounds/Smile, man, and that's it (musically speaking). I'm having a bit of a hard time believing that Pohlad doesn't fall into that camp at least a little bit, but i really want to believe in him and his vision and be wrong about this.

One of Mike's best moments, that I think exemplifies a lot of what makes him important to the group's sound is his doubling of Carl's voice on the first line in 'This Whole World' (listen closely ... in the left channel). If you 'OOPS' the track, you can hear just Mike.

So wait, what's the deal with the first line of TWW? Something about the quality of the vocal in that first line always left me a little uncertain, but i just always assumed it was Carl. Then, a few months ago, i was taken aback when i noticed that the consensus here says it's Brian. With a new perspective, i listened to that opening over and over and slowly i started hearing it as Brian. But then i returned to it after some time only to revert to my initial stance that it's Carl. However, since then i've (mostly) come around to accepting that it's Brian. But you say it's Carl and Mike doubling each other?? Why you do this to me, Donny?  

This would be great, undoubtedly more interesting and fulfilling than a Brian Q&A, which is a joke. A Q&A on here with Mike would be an amazing, rare opportunity to throw questions at him that no one else would except for the occasional one on one meeting backstage with a particular kind of fan. It's such a waste that his interviews only ever touch on '61-'67, the hits, the Wilsons' drug problems, Kokomo, and the touring band. We could ask him about All I Wanna Do, Big Sur, All This Is That, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Love You, dumpster diving dinner parties with the Manson family (he talked about it on Howard Stern), Uncle Murry, his bass vocals, his sax, visions of being in a room with Cousin Brian, SUMMER IN PARADISE, WRINKLES. And you know his answers would be good and candid. I think his memory is pretty solid, too.

Dennis: Man, this is a drag. Do you know how many other things I could be doing right now instead of this sh*t?
Al: Aw, it’s not so bad, Denny. It’s kind of like the old days again, gettin’ together for a shoot and a session and all.
Brian: (sigh)
Al: Hey, Bri, remember that guy, that old friend of yours, Loren what's-his-name? Schwartz! That was it, Schwartz. He was somethin’ else, wasn’t he? Real cool cat, that guy.
Brian: (sigh)
Al: Had a whole different vibe about him or somethin’, really tuned in. I don’t know, I’m just reminiscing is all.
Brian: Al, come on, no. Don’t. I don’t... That’s not…no. Come on.
Al: No but, Brian, remember how he protected you? He was like your guardian angel, he healed you. Golly, I’d go as far as to say he SAVED you, Bri. Remember? I mean, the guy pretty much single-handedly did a great service to all mankind by introducing you to cool books and LA hipsters. You guys agree or what? I mean, Brian wouldn’t be the genius we know him to be today if it weren’t for Lor.
Mike: Al. We don’t talk about that guy. Understand?
Al: Alright, fine. I’m just sayin’, I liked the guy, you know? And, shucks, he liked me too. We were straight with each other. Guy was real swell, didn’t give a f*** what anyone thought of him. Real groovy ideas on women and socioeconomic class, too.
Brian: AL!
Carl: Hey, real quick, should I have my left hand over right or right over left? What looks better?
Mike: That’s not really important, Carl. I appreciate your commitment to this, but let’s focus on the bigger picture.
Dennis: Hey, what the f***, is that Bruce over by the garbage? What’s he doing?
Mike: How does this thing look next to the plant like this? Next to the plant or on the other side, away from the plant?
Al: You know, Bri, in a few years, thanks to the sage wisdom of Loren, Mar is gonna leave you. It's gonna be just like how he got you to get rid of Murry. And watch it, Mike, you're next!
Dennis: Hey Brian, I’m just thinkin’ aloud here, something about seeing Bruce rummaging through the trash that got me thinkin’ … This is a little out there, but … Suppose one day there's a bunch of maniacs who get together on a daily basis to talk about us and you and Mike and specific dates and sh*t like old bags of potato chips...  
Brian: Yeah?
Dennis: What if they were to ask you a bunch of questions. Lots of them, just hurling them all at you, you know? About sh*t you don’t care about and don’t want to be thinking about.
Brian: Well, Dennis ... I guess I don’t think I really understand your question.
Al: Yeah, that’s pretty far out, Denny. What do you mean by that anyway?
Brian: I guess I would answer all the questions very insightfully, Dennis.
Dennis: Hey, thanks for that answer, Brian! Really appreciate you doing that, you're the best! Can't wait to hear what you're working on next. Best of luck to you.
Al: Denny, you're actin' pretty weird. What gives?
Mike: God dammit, are we a diseased bunch of mo'fos! Can we just get this shot?
Carl: Hey, I’m good to go, Mike. I got this.
Mike: You’re doin’ a fine job, Carl, and I can appreciate that.

Dennis: Carl. What the f***, man. Why'd you bring the reel out here?
Carl: It's cool, it's cool, don't worry about it.
Brian: Why are we doing this? I was in the middle of watching a really good show.
Dennis: Hey, this coffee sucks I just realized. We should get a new machine or something. And sh*t, styrofoam cups...why don't we get some nice espresso cups with saucers?
Mike: Everyone, please! Just look into the camera. Make sure your props are visible. Look serious.
Carl: I got it, Mike.
Dennis: Yeah, he's got the fuckin' tape.
Brian: How long do I need to hold this pose? This chair sucks.
Mike: Brian. Come on. Please. Look at Al, he's doing just fine. You don't hear Al complaining, do you?
Al: Naw, I'm not complainin'.
Dennis: This is bullshit. Why is the plant out here? Who brought that out? Carl?
Carl: Don't sweat it, Denny.
Dennis: You just better not lose that tape, bro.
Mike: Symbolism, Dennis, SYMBOLISM. This cover's gonna have layers, lots of room for interpretation.
Brian: I gotta go, guys. I can't do this anymore.
Al: Hey Brian, foosball later on? After dinner?
Mike: You will not go just yet, BRIAN.
Al: Hey Mike, play us a song on that thing. You know any good ones?
Mike: Al?
Al: Hey, I just realized, where's Bruce? Shouldn't we have told him about the photo?
Mike: AL?
Al: Sorry.
Mike: How's it goin', Earle? Any good shots yet? Hold on, I'm gonna switch to the claymore. Everyone stay put!

I don't know whether LDR has a huge body of work as of yet [...]

In relation to the relatively few years she’s been recording (since 2006-ish), she has a staggering amount of recorded material. Most of it is unreleased. But easily available, which is the key point. It’s tricky and exhausting to count it all up because her output is such a confusing mess, but, in addition to 5 released/made available albums, she has, in my cursory estimation, about 8 albums worth of unreleased material, and that’s not including at least 40 demos for songs that went on to receive a proper studio recording, or the plethora of alternate versions/arrangements for a handful of her songs (some of which have up to 4 different recorded versions!)

Some of her best stuff is unreleased, sitting alongside some pretty egregious attempts. But there’s this spirit that comes through in her output, that one can only really see if the time is taken to go through and digest it all, that shows someone who is willing to try essentially anything (in pop form) and is not afraid to fail. Sound familiar again?

I'm anticipating "Last Song" the most. LDR's song "Ultraviolence" sounds really nice with harmonies. I think it'll be a great collaboration.

Backing vocals on the bridge are by 3 of the 4 Nashville session singers, The McCrary Sisters; the rest of the harmonies in the song are by Lana. That bridge is one of my favorite moments on that album. I am, by far, anticipating "Last Song" more than anything else on NPP, including any leads by Al, which is saying a lot because Al is my second favorite singer in the group, and we all know his voice has barely changed in half a century.


This post is not directed at anyone in particular. I just finally felt compelled to offer a perspective that i think has been lacking here. There is great irony to be found here in fanboys of what is probably the most misunderstood band of all time dismissing another wildly misunderstood and mischaracterized artist--one who has a HUGE body of highly varied, unreleased and lesser-known released music that is both unequivocally uncommercial and perfectly commercial, completely defying the one-dimensional view that the general public has reduced her to due to their failure of just digging a little below the surface. Does any of that sound familiar?

Even without having heard it yet, i feel i could say that this BW/LDR meeting is one of the best things to happen to Brian in a long time. In my mind, this match makes perfect sense, almost too much sense. I actually had what i thought then was a pipe dream about this happening well before it was announced. I've said it here before, but that was before the name Lana Del Rey was on this board's radar, so i'll say it again--she has repeatedly been mentioning her love of The Beach Boys for a long time, years before she became famous or anyone outside of NYC had even heard her name. She mentions them all the time. She's also singled out Dennis. When asked by German Rolling Stone earlier this year to list her top 10 favorite albums from the '70s, her #1 was Sunflower. She loves harmony, idiosyncratic arrangements, and traversing the line between the melancholy and the exuberantly, almost naively optimistic. She has great talent, versatility, character, and vision.   

I have been gradually, over the last few years, informally composing an essay in my mind detailing the myriad parallels between these two eccentric musical artists who were born a day apart from each other. Lana Del Rey and The Beach Boys are really the only pop music that i listen to obsessively, and i've been paying very close attention for a long time now, and the connections are there, they're quite apparent (just to briefly cite a few examples: mental health issues; a certain kind of insularity and alienation; the inability to eloquently discuss their own art even though they put so much of themselves into it; a similar kind of sensitivity and desire to be accepted; pathological about their interests; erratic and capricious personalities; hopelessly out of touch with the music scene despite being such singular artists themselves; certain aspects of family life--they're both the oldest of three siblings, etc.)

By the way, her father's business associate, Chris Hartnett, attended MIU, became close with the Maharishi, and helped build the MIU studio, which prompted the band to invite him on stage for a show in Iowa City (incidentally, i've always thought Hartnett bore an amusing resemblance to Al Jardine--check him out in this picture with Lana in her pre-fame days).

Now i don't buy for a second that it was Brian's idea to bring her in, but i couldn't be happier either way. I just really hope that he took full advantage of her capabilities and wrote a really neat, involved backing vocal arrangement for her to stack her voice to rather than just giving her the lead. I want to hear her all over this song. Really, if one has been paying any attention, the idea of Lana Del Rey singing on a BW record makes perfect sense. Since so many people here have been obstinate about not paying attention, perhaps a slight push in the right direction might do something to quell the concerns that a great, eccentric artist who undeniably travels her own path, and happens to be a big fan of The Beach Boys, is singing a lead on a Brian Wilson record.

I'll just leave two examples.

Listen to how she layers her voice in harmony on some of her laptop demos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hQqXuynmods

And in the studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko4mjqQHOZs

The reason, to me, has always seemed a lot simpler than people make it out to be: after Smile collapsed and they moved things to the home studio, the music they started making, stylistically and lyrically, fell in between the cracks, into a lonely place that has no place to call home in our culture of binaries and easily identified genres/scenes/movements. Their fall from grace happened because they couldn't or didn't want to transition over to the counterculture, yet they simultaneously started making music that was too eccentric and singular for mainstream audiences/Top 40. They turned inward, became so insular and out of touch with everyone, that they were like a remote island. Radio and the hippies were equally disinterested because the music they were making didn't serve either ones' needs. So where does one in that position go?

I don’t even have to think about this for more than a second. I wouldn’t take the offer. Just thinking about doing it, no matter the price, makes me feel empty and regretful.

So how does one actually use these reverbs (which Joel uploaded an entire folder of in another thread) in their DAW? I have the wav files (from the aforementioned other thread) but, uh, what do you do with them?

I think the Beach Boys diehard fan community can be summed up with the expression about the pendulum swinging too far in the other direction. It always does. And then it seesaws back and forth. Hyperbole and then the backlash, the return, and then back to the backlash. On various subjects.

David Leaf is a prophet. David Leaf is full of sh*t.
Mike Love is evil. Mike Love is above criticism.
Brian Wilson is an infallible genius. Brian Wilson is equal to the rest of the band.
Dennis Wilson has no talent. Dennis Wilson is the Messiah.
etc.

Look, even this post is hyperbole!

Landlocked version x17 billion. That is one of my favorite Beach Boys recordings, it has such an amazing feel. Those backing vocals are top notch. I wish they had done more stuff with the drum machine. It's okay that it's repetitive because it's sublime, so what's so bad about repeating a great thing? I think the backing track fits the lyrics just fine. The Holland version, on the other hand, reminds me of Bob Dylan and i have no tolerance for Bob Dylan.

Please, to the powers that be, release the original version of Big Sur.

Oh, and one more thing, that ESQ Editor dude is telling it like it is...I don't play games with the fans. Be cool.

Subscribe to my Facebook page and enter a contest to win a free copy of my new album THIS SUMMER! THis one's gonna sound a lot like an old fan favorite!

Hey, someone told me they were talking about me over at a Beach Boys message board? That's cool but I never said anything about wild honey. But yeah, my R&B krazy style is so tough, so yeah! You lost me on that stuff about the "semitone increments" and "metallic overtones" though. Anyway, Morning Phase isn't really my type of jam so I'll leave you guys to that. Check me out on Twitter! New album drops THIS SUMMER!

Would be funny if this did happen in a parallel universe and Spector had produced them, ha! What if instead of marrying Ronnie Phil had married Brianna?  And Denise was a Manson girl.

I don't understand the constant asking him about the sessionography as if he forgot about the project and this will remind him and get him to finish it. He will obviously notify us when it is finished, as i'm sure he's just as eager as everyone else to get it out.