Hi RaphPH, thanks for posting here.

So how did you come to be in possession of these tapes?

The couple of times i've spoken with the band members after a show, they have all been kind and generous and appreciative.

I don't think Brian would have toured so often if the band hadn't been so excellent behind him. We, as fans, owe a lot of Brian's late career rebirth to his backing band. Not just as musicians on the records, but for helping to hold the whole thing together.

Cheers guys!

Taking tracks from 76 thru 79, my list would be: 1 back home 2 let us go on this way 3 roller skating child 4 johnny carson 5 shes got rhythm 6 pitter patter 7 good timin 8 shortenin bread 9 keepin the summer alive 10 some of your love 11 school day 12 sunshine.

Those last three tracks were released in 1980. Fail.

Last four tracks. *cheeky cough*

On SIP, Bruce was the only BB to make instrumental contributions, he played keyboards on almost every song I believe.

He's credited with keyboards, but i'd be surprised if he played on more than his own (half) song. Why do you believe he's on almost every song?

HAve to assume he played on Til I Die.

Could most organ contributions be assumed to be Brian? I´m thinking specifically Til I Die and Surf´s Up.

"'Til I Die" has Brian on Rox-i-chord and organ, and I think Bruce on another organ part. Although Jack Rieley recalled that Carl played the Moog bass on "Surf's Up", a very informed source (who was there) says it was definitely Brian. Carl and/or Bruce added the organ parts, though.

COMMENT:  Sorry but Jack wasn't around. It was a late night session with only Carl and myself in the studio. I patched and played the Moog bass parts on Surf's Up and the original bass guitar parts recorded at Columbia were later replaced at the house studio. These and many other details will be revealed in the forthcoming second part of my book, Recording The Beach Boys due out this summer.

Part one of the book is viewable at http://swdstudyvideos.com
~swd

This is exciting news! Stephen, you played on Surf's Up!? Are there any other songs you played on?

C-man's sessionography might need to be revised, unless this was common knowledge!

Vocally he's very present on Disney Girls and Carl's two Surf's Up tracks.

I thought Disney Girls didn't feature any BBs except Bruce. I thought the vocals were done by Bruce's production buddies like Curt/Kurt Becher/Boecherr.

In 1971 ? Bruce didn't collaborate with Curt until the mid-70s.

Bruce and Curt were both involved on Sagitarrius' 'My World Fell Down' in 67, so i didn't think it was beyond the realm of possibility that these production buddies had stayed in contact.

Terence Trent Darby on BW88.

Al wanted Anthony Hopkins to do the reading of Tidepool Interlude. Al also said he was waiting for a Seattle band (I think that`s what he said) to provide vocals for California Dreamin` which is why it was not included on the first version of his solo album.

Isn't TTD credited on BW88? Backing vocals on Walkin the Line, i think?

And i don't know if the Seattle band in this case is the Fleet Foxes, but i sure wish Al and the FFs had recorded something together up at Red Barn.

Vocally he's very present on Disney Girls and Carl's two Surf's Up tracks.

I thought Disney Girls didn't feature any BBs except Bruce. I thought the vocals were done by Bruce's production buddies like Curt/Kurt Becher/Boecherr.

edit: Wikipedia says the whole band is present, vocally. Hmm...

It's paradise when I
Put up my antenna

none of those words are that unusual in a pop song.

Nepenthe

not on any official BBs records it's not


And how about 'arbitrarily', for unusual.

who can guess what song it's from without looking it up?

I had always thought that "Wish For You" was recorded post diagnosis. It sure sounds like a goodbye.

It sure does, but Beckley has said when those songs were recorded, Carl was healthy, no hint of what was to come.

My understanding is that the album was done and shopped around, unsuccessfully, in the early 90s. Herbie Hancock's label (Transcopic?) put it out after Carl's death when demand for it was probably higher than in the early 90s.

Any "goodbye" type feeling from Carl in the songs is unfortunate coincidence. The songs are also not very good

Denny's last known session was "LaborDay" on 9/3/82 at Unicorn.

This is a striking example of how far Dennis had fallen at the end. For a man who was driven to record, who had music pouring out of him for years, to go the last 15 (or is it 21?, depending of what dating system you are using) months of his life without entering a recording studio? Really brings home how troubled he was

3) I'm assuming Carl's last studio work was probably for Beckley-Lamm-Wilson.

Wasn't the Beckley-Lamm-Wilson material done in the early 90s? Sure sounds like it.

Nothing in Brian's solo career suggests that he either has the voice or production style to suit a rock and roll album.

It would be a collection of anaemic Desert Drives.

I'd much prefer Brian to stick to the mature style he's developed over the past few years.

you won't find a better example of this than the UK band The Doves, releasing a b-side "Valley" to one of their singles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmaUlL0ggKg

shall we play Spot The Reference ?

My impression is that Brian was unwell, physically and mentally, and purposefully changed his voice. Cigarettes and other substances, sure, but what about unknown things, like screaming? I picture a 1970s Brian screaming on purpose to shred his vocal cords, to roughen them up.

There are going to be things we just don't know about, but likely a combination of all of them.

It's still sad though, that he would feel that way. He had such a beautiful voice.

Wouldn't be too hard for the label to put together a download-only itunes OST compilation, if all the tracks are previously released.

Al Jardine and Yoda are roughly the same height.

Al does look a little Yoda-esque these days

I love reading everyone's opinions of the album. While it doesn't seem to be a consensus favorite (by any stretch) Guess You Had to Be There is a great track. It's a nice peak into Brian's view of those days just before, during, and after they became famous. I would think Mike would have handled the vocals had this been on a proper Beach Boys album.
 

With 3 other co-writers on the track, i'd be surprised if Brian had much to do with the lyric of this track. And surely Dennis would have sung it, no?

With this level of anger and hatred coming from the OP, i'm guessing "howard beale" is American.

But 2 posts? Which other monikers does "howard beale" post under?

I wish I lived in a time where correct spelling was something mattered. Thanks for making the world lazy and unable to proofread themselves, internet!!

"As long as I get my point across", right?

The irony is strong with this one

I decided not to read any reviews of the album (and still haven't -- not even the long reviews offered here), for the same reason I avoid reviews of a movie I'm really interested in. I'd like the initial experience to be as personal as possible.

But does anyone know how these reviews in the media are done? Do the reviewers choose what they want to review? Or are they randomly assigned? Do reviewers generally listen to albums several times or merely give their first impressions? I assume it varies from place to place, and reviewer to reviewer, but does anyone know how it usually works? Or is their any pattern to it at all?

I somehow doubt these organizations monitor their reviewers and make sure they listen to the entire album. You never know what they have or haven't listened to, or how many times. I've mentioned this before, but DVD review websites are notoriously transparent in that some reviewers clearly aren't looking at all of the contents before they publish the review. You can even see some reviewers who use a clear template and just fill certain bits of info in.

It's harder to that with music reviews, since each album is pretty unique to itself. But I wouldn't find it hard to believe some reviewers have listened to the album once, or maybe even skipped forward to the next track early. I also *don't* think that just because a review is negative and doesn't mention every song it means they didn't listen to it enough. We would never know, other than a few total hack reviews with confirmable false information.

It's even easier to do with music, because review copies of albums come with press releases. Want to know why so many album reviews begin by trotting out the same kind of generic chronology or backstory? Usually because it's on the press release. i have a few at home.

NPP rose from #25 to #19 this week in the UK.  THAT's a VERY good sign isn't it?

[way to go Brian]

Would be a good sign if it were true. You're a bit premature. The charts come out on Sunday.

Guess You Had to be There. The whole song. It's a really really catchy pop song and is well suited to Kacey Musgraves' voice.

Forget the rock n roll album, i'd really like a whole album of Brian & Kacey duets.

[less]

Was it just me, or did Joe Thomas say that the BW record that NPP most resembled was Carl and the Passions? Is Joe Thomas so completely out of touch with Brian's previous work that he actually thinks they are similar?

This quote was taken from the web

Thomas says the vibe of the new music is not along the lines of "TWGMTR", but more akin to a "Wild Honey and Carl and the Passions/So Tough" style.

Question: Is there a BW style that resembles NPP any less than Carl and the Passions (okay, apart from BB Love You)?

Lets come up with a list of similarities:
Brian
Al
Blondie
They both have at least 8 songs
CATP was packaged with Pet Sounds, which had Sloop John B, and the SJB reference in Sail Away