Looks like Hully Gully is so gone...

Sloop John B    Changed to help save a favorite.   

It's the "handlers" that are telling Brian not to talk up more reunion shows.

How do you know that?

I meant lawyers.  It's the take I have after reading interviews during the recent tour.

If you haven't, read the Brian/Beck fall tour thread.

The whole point of my post though, was about Mike.  More positive things need to be said.  Brian and Mike will decide what to do next between themselves.

Well, is the tour really over?  Hope not, won't they need to do close-ups or something?  If so, I will remember this thread most of all as the beginning of my posting days.  Lots of fun this last month.  Thank you to all who have made this thread what it was, with many interviews and clips.  Special thanks has to go out to ontor, who's still posting as fast as his fingers can fly.  And, it's Halloween, so look back and find the link to his Bat-Man movie on Youtube, it is a great work of Art.

I got to shut this down now, the kids are knocking..

Brian didn't fire Michael for one very simple reason - he was a founding member and was vital to the band's sound and live image. Brian is Michael's biggest fan, and vice versa. The two of them have a bond that none of us will ever understand. Blood runs thicker than water. I know that's tough for a certain radical pro-Brian faction on here to take but it's the truth.

There's an even simpler reason, and it's the same one which explains why Mike didn't fire anyone post-C50: he couldn't, without the support of his brothers. The band were formally incorporated on 3rd April 1964 as Beach Boys Entertainment Enterprises Inc., with Brian, Carl, Dennis & Mike as directors. As much as he may have wanted to (which was almost certainly - not), "you're out of the band, buckwheat !" was never a solo option.

The Real Beach Boy is spot on.  I've always been pro-Wilsons, but Brian loves Mike.  Brian's the one who has come and gone through the years.  He owed it to the band to share those late 80's tracks. That record would have been better too.  He's the one who wanted to leave the road.  And isn't Jason right about there being a very similar thread around here?  Just set in 1966...  Mike not a part of the band?  They wouldn't have made it past 1965.  Bands back then, had to tour.  Nobody else could have fronted this band, get real.  Even if Brian changed his mind and came back out to tour, Dennis and Carl were not yet ready.  And I still want Mike there.  Mike was cool in the early 70's too, even after 1974.  They did plenty of new tracks/deep cuts into the 80's.  How many oldsters are posting on this thread.  They would know it was not just surf-n-car shows, Carl and Al saw to that, and Mike did new stuff.  Carl left briefly in a beef over not practicing.  Know what, he couldn't get Brian and Dennis to either.  He got back quick.  And I don't think that was a money deal, he liked playing with Mike.  And please stop saying Mike was not an important part of the vocal mix on the records.  Mike and Brian's co-leads on so many of the mid-sixties tracks made them what they are.  Take out that element?  I think too many here are getting puffed up about the Mike/HuffPost thread, calm down little birdies.  Mike was and is like a brother to Brian.  It's the "handlers" that are telling Brian not to talk up more reunion shows.  Donny L  is right, like the Beatles, greater than the sum of their parts.  And you do realize there would be no Wild Honey or Sunflower without Mike.  Also added AGD's post 'cause I think it's neat that they signed those papers on my 12th birthday.  Okay, okay... I'm using up too many of my thoughts, I've been saving up for the "I like Mike" thread, and kids are at the door...Happy Halloween everybody!

Here Today

Looks like one of my favorites is near the axe.   

My pick is Help Me, Rhonda (single version)

I Should Have Known Better      Better to go now...

For Brian Wilson fans to criticize Paul McCartney's vocal deterioration is hysterical. We should be so lucky.

Clay makes a thoughtful comment here, on a brief break from the drama going on at the Mike/HuffPost thread

John,  I am going to get the new Beatles BBC 2 set that's coming out.  Hope it's worth it.  If you caught any of the radio shows of the BBC stuff, on cassette, back when - there was tracks going back to 1963, that didn't feature on the first set.  On that Wings tour, yeah that was special with one of his best bands, tickets were so hard to get I missed that.  I liked Linda, and she got better.  By the time the late 80's/early 90's shows happened, McCartney had put together another very strong band.  I saw a couple of those.  To bring a Beach Boys focus to this...In 1976 as Wings crawled across the USA, I thought that THAT was the reason Brian was returning to the stage.  Maybe charged up that one was his heroes had returned to touring.  What did I know.  At the time the boys had been quite for years - and there really wasn't any real news you could trust.  I sure wasn't seeing the boys, as I had to spend 1976-78 back home in Louisiana helping my family, (my pop was dying with cancer).  The Boys didn't seem to think southerners wanted to see them.  I'd have to check Eric's Site, but I don't remember them getting any closer than Georgia.  Not that I heard about anyway.  Promotion was nothing back then - word of mouth almost. Then when I got back to San Francisco in late '78, it was all settled down a bit, and the Beach Boys were doing fine as far as I could tell.  I enjoyed all the shows I was seeing.  And even if Brian would not sing as much as now, I loved seeing him pound away on that grand.  When he did sing, I think he did well.  You read so much here.  For me Brian was a great talent always, then and now.  He's got so much soul.  I'll try to come back later and add more thoughts.  It's dinner bell....

Wait, what did he say?  That's Paul he's talking about.  

McCartney has had trouble holding my attention since 1997.  I don't think it was Linda dying, though most of the tracks date back a couple of years.  Flaming Pie was very powerful, and his voice was still great.  The folks that helped (Jeff Lynne, Steve Miller, Ringo, and Linda and James), were all at their best.  The songs were inspired.  That radio show he did - great.  It stands as the last vinyl record ($40 Import/1997 dollars) I bought by Paul.       But NOw,  I enjoy the records for awhile - Fine Line holds up well, and a few others.  I felt burned by the oldies record, and I really loved the other ones he did in that style.  Part of it is that I don't like his "new" band.  I got tired of buying the DVDs too.  He keeps adding one more tune, or four, from the old stuff to a set that has been way overdone too long.  I always wanted more Wings tunes back when I would pay to get into his shows.

Now, he's doing more of them, but his voice can't hold up.  I was questioning "Is he using auto-tune" with a friend the other day.  I have bought all his re-issue box sets, except the Wings Live - the DVD was enough for me on that.  RAM was done so so well.  The McCartney's I and II are worth it (if you are on the fence on those), the DVD bits are fantastic!  The sound up-grade on II is the first time it's ever sounded as good.  That is what I think he should focus on.  

I can't wait til he gets to Red Rose... and Wildlife.  The DVD material for those will be special, hope he doesn't double-dip to get the Blu-ray.

I Now live in the past with this cat.  Or if this hits the Amazon Christmas Special for $5, I'll probably give in.

Wait, I see there's a voting deal.  I give it a three.

.

EDIT:  Change my rating to a 0.  I listened to this while on vacation 4th of July week-end 2014 all the way through for the last time.  Wasn't my request, we take turns.  I never bought it and it hasn't grown on me.  This is the worst McCartney album I've ever heard.  It's not his voice that bothers me so much, it's the writing.  This is even worst than Driving Rain, which was also a set of badly written tracks.  What happened Paul?  Get rid of that band and think about waiting until you have a set of better tunes.  Better yet, just go back to work on releasing more box sets of the 70's stuff.

Oh my, Bruce, check your pocket, there's a fiver hangin' out.

Okay, Sloop can wait.  I am sure it won't last long with or without my help.  And there are no bad songs here.          Why so much picking the instrumentals?

MY PICK IS:      Here Today

Looks like I'm the only one in the room that thinks Help Me, Rhonda (single version) did not fit on this.  Okay, that's my pick, again.

I'm sticking with Times they are a-Changin'.  It won't last much longer.  One thing I was thinking in between votes, is how so many folks I knew were rockin' to this long-player at Christmas 1965.  The Boys were very popular.  It was good.

SWD wasn't working for the BB in 1967.

Actually he was.

Took me awhile to get back here, but I wanted to add where I "got the impression" SWD was "working" with the boys back in 1967.

But first - Don, thanks for the support.  Karen had a beautiful voice.  My favorite Carpenters track was "Top of the World" - One of the ones Richard had a hand in writing.  They also, always did a great job with Nichols/Williams numbers.

Custom Machine - Rob, I have enjoyed many of the threads you have taken part in, none more than your relentless pursuit to get to the bottom of Brian's visit to KHJ in July 1967, (in the Heroes and Villains released 45 Years Ago Today thread back in 2012).  Just the other day, bgas quoted me one on SOS.  You are good for this board.

Andrew,  I have spent years reading the old threads and archives from the old board.  There is a lot to learn there, history is a wonderful thing.  I am going to let Stephen speak for himself.  I'll tap it in, so you don't have to go searching through threads.

Sunday March 17, 2002 -9:19am  Reply to Mr_Marcus's comments:

Perhaps I can answer some questions as I was there assisting Jim on various songs and engineered the following songs (but did not receive album credit) when Jim got sick.  He was in and out a lot due to excessive coughing and breathing problems.  A great guy!

Mama Says     Vegetables     Heroes and Villains     She's Goin' Bald

Fall Breaks and Back to Winter     Friends     Little Bird     Wind Chimes

Whistle In     Anna Lee, The Healer     Be Here in the Mornin'     Wake the World

We all have moments where our memories fault on us, old age does that.  I would have fixed my post if you would have given me a mo - play nice.

peace,  Will

That's Not Me. Hearing Mike Love's vocals on this track bring down what is otherwise a perfect Side A

Not to me.  Mike is great on this.  Mike was at a peak on this album.  This whole album is perfect.

And perfectly hard to pick apart.  I'm hoping this song stays in for awhile.

In no specific order:

Sun Ra - Secrets of The Sun; The Heliocentric Worlds of Sun; Visits Planet Earth.
Can - Tago Mago
Kaleidoscope (UK) - Tangerine Dream
Kaleidoscope (US) - Side Trips
The Rolling Stones - December's Children (& Everybody's)
The Freak Scene - Psychedelic Psoul
The Beatles - Magical Mystery Tour
The Dovers - We're Not Just Anybody
The Hobbits - Down to Middle Earth

& add to those most of Tom Waits's & NRBQ's material. I'm a big fan of these 2 artists.

Hi Marianne,  Good Stones pick.  Nice to see Tom on a list.   Early or late period?  I like both.

SMiLE-Holland,  Thank you for your kind words.  I have never been the kind of collector that many on this board are.  I only bought the UK copy in hope of better sound.  Have many from Japan, Germany, and Holland too, as those countries were known for their pressing plants.  I treasure what I have chose to keep.  I just tossed 4 & 8 tracks, that was car stuff to me.  Reels, that was the 70's, gone.  My new car came with a CD player, the dash is really a computer, so cassettes too, gone, except for some old live stuff from the radio and DVD-to-tape collection - I have a NAD double-deck, I got back in 1999 for that.  My home set-up is beyond great, sound is where it's at.  Technology moves on, we keep buying the same stuff over and over.  Bless those little suits.  My collecting now is for sound upgrades and packaging, I'm very into MLPS from Japan. My collection will go to people who will just sell it. I'm here to chat and share with fans and others I admire.  And to have fun.  That I am.

peace,  Will

bgas,  Another mistake, sorry.  I changed that.  Yes, Reprise, not Capitol.  I'll try to proofread better in the future.  It was dinner bell, and I was typing too fast.  I had some trouble getting the first try to post, and had to type it in twice.  The same thing happened to me yesterday.  I'm not perfect.  I am just a fan.  I hope to be accepted on this board as just that.  I try not to make spelling errors, but I will make memory mistakes.  I'm thinking more about my label mistake than focusing on the lyric sheet.  Some here take any slip-up as offence.  It's hard to tell  when someone is having a go, or just trying to be funny.  Both, I'm sure.  I honestly don't know why, even after seeing your revised image, that they would reprint the lyric sheet like that.  If I am seeing it clearly, they have put SOS in the gap, instead of fixing the sheet outright.  I bow humbly, to your thoroughly researched collector knowledge.  I made what I thought was an innocent post agreeing with SMiLE-Holland about a lyric sheet decision, and how I thought he was right.  I am here to learn more about this band I have loved for many, many years.  

Klaas,  Let me try that again.  You are on to something here.  The easiest way for the printing plant to change the plate, was to leave off SOS lyrics, and change the song list on the left side.  Notice too, that *side one*is not printed above Steamboat, that was removed as well.  Then remove the WGL lyrics from the second plate, where it would have been in the old running order. simple.

Also note, our UK copies have the p&c1973, while the USA p&c1972.  I have a second USA copy in storage, when I get a chance I'll check to see if it has a corrected lyric sheet that adds SOS.

Hate to see the changing of order on those that added the EP to side two.  Those side a/b opener/closer songs meant a lot to an artist in the vinyl era.  So LTT, now opened side two, right?

peace,  Will

 Your point on the opener/closers would be more apt, if not for the original lineup the BBs submitted ( rejected)  and then had  to add SOS; But evidently not in time to get the lyric/credit sheets reprinted.  Steamboat was to open Side one and WGL close. ( the sheet for the test press: )

    

I wonder if  there ever was a lyric sheet setup including WGL; That change was made before the LP ever got to the pressing stage. The only reason SOME  German copies have WGL is their using the wrong master, tho they had already been sent the revised version.  


What are you on about with the dates?  Looking at my copies, all the covers have a 1972 date, while all the labels have 1973.  I believe there may be a few test pressings out , with 1972 labels

OH!  LTT does open Side 2 on the versions with EP on the LP

bgas,  You are just not reading what I said.  I said THE SECOND PRESSING PLATE - for the REVERSE SIDE of the lyric sheet, not that WGL was the SECOND SIDE opener.  WGL was the original side-a closer, I didn't say it wasn't.  I thought that was SMiLE-Hollands whole point.  Why the gap above what is listed SIDE TWO/The Trader on the reverse side of the lyric sheet.  If the original lyric plate was not already set, then why didn't they put SOS on it?  As you say, that it was put on later releases.  Because to add SOS to the lyric sheet, both SHEET PLATES would have to have been re-set.  I don't have one of the corrected, with SOS, sheets in front of me,  but they would have either had to make it smaller lettering, or put one of the Saga (On My Way To...) lyrics on the reverse side of the sheet, where the gap is.  Pressing plates (for the lyrics) are done by hand, one letter at a time in reverse order, it's no easy task.  And that is why the gap is there.  The simple way to correct the plates.  They just removed that part of the plate, and removed the lettering denoting SIDE ONE above Steamboat, moved the left side down a bit to include SOS to the track list.  fixed.  If they had already "printed" the lyric sheet, as you say, didn't want to "reprint" it, then WGL would have been ON the lyric sheet, not a blank spot.  And I have seen those kind of errors go-slide before on other releases.  The image you are showing is for the label, no?  Was there a "test pressing" lyric sheet?  My comment on the date was just something I noticed on my UK copy vs my USA copy, (when Klaas was talking about the changing the back cover for the EP/side two version) all my labels have 1973. I didn't know if Klaas had a USA copy, he probably has several. Again, my USA copy says 1972 on the back cover.  The idea was to get it out by Christmas, sure that's what Reprise wanted.  Do you have a UK copy to check?  I have never seen the EP on side two variation, my "?" was a comment, figured as much.  Now, have we been as anal as possible about all this?  You know bgas, I know you have been around here forever, and love to stir pots, but please...

let's have world peace first,  Will

   

I would much prefer if the Smiley board didn't exist and the Cabinesesnce board still did ... this is a pale shadow of the original.

I was just reading on one of the archives at surfermoon.com this morning.  Yeah, you were there.  To answer the OP, I used to read a lot of reviews at assorted Amazon sites, YOU-(videos here)TUB, Steve's place, lots of artist's sites (Laura Nyro, John Martyn, Beatles, Iron and Wine/Sam Beam, Jimmy Webb, ect. - many good ones out there), and there is a site for re-issues called Second Disc.  I still do move around the net, but this is a fun place, and has gotten much more of my time in the past two years.  I've only owned a computer since 2006.  One of the first searches I made was Beach Boys.  On that, I have never seen a better site than here.  And a lot of the old posters of which you speak, are here.

EDIT:  26 November, and I'm enjoying the first snow of the season here in Ulster, New York.  I moved to the East for that, more than any other reason.  

Now that I've been posting for a couple of months...there have been growing pains, a few pain-in-the-ass folks, and some just plain crazy folks.  But the good far out-weighs the bad.  Some very interesting minds merge at SmileySmile.  I'm learning a lot, though not much in this Sandbox...  

 

Sloop John B   ...can't even imagine what my next pick will be. 

For SMiLE I was thinking about maybe presenting Soniclovenoize's 67 version for vote (since many of us, it seems, consider his version about as close to how an official release may have been sequenced). Otherwise I would only really do the TSS 2004 sequence version.

For all those little goodies I was thinking, congruent with the Christmas album round, I might do a bonus tracks round that would include the twofer stuff, assorted GV/MiC box set stuff and perhaps things from EH and Hawthorne.

What do you guys think?

Sounds good to me.