Shocking for sure. Did not expect that and my heart goes out to Brian so very much..she was his world I'm sure. Prayers for her and Brian and the family. I hope he's doing okay right now.

Had the same reaction to this song and actually for awhile I thought of it as autobiographical to Brian's life, which I sounded incredibly tragic and sad to me and it made me have a deep emotional connection with the song. Then I read Jack wrote the lyrics and literally meant it about a tree (and the environment in general) and it disappointed me a bit to know Brian didn't write it. Still it is an amazing bit of writing and the song is definitely one of the most beautiful songs Brian wrote, along with Til I Die and Surfs up, which I feel elevate the album higher than it actually is. There are some weaker songs like Take a Load Off Your Feet, Student demonstration time and Disney Girls which are so much weaker than the other songs. At least even the silly Don't Go Near The Water is quite brilliant musically and has nice piano playing from Brian. I do agree that Dennis's songs would have helped quite a bit and it's a shame they were left off.

Gee I hate to spoil anything else for you but Brian didn't play piano on Don't Go Near the Water - that was Al and Daryl Dragon.

Al jardine played piano on DgntW?

That's right.  He played tack piano and Daryl was on grand piano for the basic track.

"According to biographer Peter Ames Carlin, Brian Wilson contributed the dissonant piano part.[1] However, in a 2007 interview, Wilson stated of the song, "Totally Alan’s trip. I was not part of that."[2]

That must be where I got confused. Peter Ames Carlin claimed it was Brian but apparently very inaccurate information here.

Does anyone have info about what is actually out there that is included on this article? I don't remember finding and hearing half of this stuff, like a Brian sung "Our Sweet Love"?

https://www.laweekly.com/brian-wilsons-secret-bedroom-tapes-a-track-by-track-description/

Gee I hate to spoil anything else for you but Brian didn't play piano on Don't Go Near the Water - that was Al and Daryl Dragon.

Oh really, I thought that was played by Brian. It doesn't matter who played it though it's great either way and it's a good song. It's just funny to me on the two-fers how Cool Cool Water comes right before it.

Had the same reaction to this song and actually for awhile I thought of it as autobiographical to Brian's life, which I sounded incredibly tragic and sad to me and it made me have a deep emotional connection with the song. Then I read Jack wrote the lyrics and literally meant it about a tree (and the environment in general) and it disappointed me a bit to know Brian didn't write it. Still it is an amazing bit of writing and the song is definitely one of the most beautiful songs Brian wrote, along with Til I Die and Surfs up, which I feel elevate the album higher than it actually is. There are some weaker songs like Take a Load Off Your Feet, Student demonstration time and Disney Girls which are so much weaker than the other songs. At least even the silly Don't Go Near The Water is quite brilliant musically and has nice piano playing from Brian. I do agree that Dennis's songs would have helped quite a bit and it's a shame they were left off.

Wow just heard about these collections being released. Really interesting stuff, being a huge BBs fan, its nice to hear new versions of these songs and bonus tracks! Some of this stuff makes me wonder a lot - Whats with "The Gong"? "When A Man Needs A Woman" had extra Brian vocals in the 2nd verse. The original "Transcendental Meditation" sounds a lot better. A more sophisticated produced version of "Be Here In The Morning"? Why all these were omitted or edited out is anyones guess..

Still a ton more stuff I have to get through but I didn't see a thread about these yet..

I created my own edit of the twofer version that cuts the "way too long, been way too long baby" section in half, which as far as I'm concerned makes it perfect in every way. Hearing any new released version is interesting, but I'll only listen to it a couple of times.

Oddly, I find the "repetitive" full-length "way too long baby" section to be wonderfully hypnotic and wouldn't dream of chopping it up!

The twofer version of "CWTL" may lack the spoken/sung bit about looking up at the stars but it's a small concession. I'd say it's perfect as it is.

Yeah the 2-fer version of compiling all those takes together will always be my favorite, but I'll always listen to any alternate "Cant Wait Too Long" that they decide to release. Definitely one of my favorite Brian tracks, but its sad how mysterious and "obscure" it still is to this day. Guess it's because it was never formally put together, not even with a rough mix

Wow, been waiting for years and years for a stereo Wild Honey! I just found out today that this collection came out a few weeks ago. I am very very impressed with the new mixes. Very faithful to the originals but yet expanded, and brings out more things in the mix that shouldn't be buried. I've heard various mixes over the years of most of the tracks, only "Arent You Glad", "Id Love Just Once To See You" and "How She Boogalooed It" was 100% new stereo mixes to me, but i love these mixes together in this collection and I am very glad they ditched the unnecessary reverb as well. It should sound dry because that how the original was.

The outtakes are amazing as well. Highlights are the extra clips from sessions that we haven't heard, and like a lot of people have said here "Honey Get Home" is a killer track. It is simple and fairly unfinished but it has that awesome Wild Honey-type groove just like the rest of the songs that made it on the album. I would have preferred this as a closer instead of "Mama Says", which is nice but doesn't quite fit the album to me imo.

I really wish there were more Smiley Smile session stuff. This stuff probably amazed me the most. I love the "Fall Breaks" mix. That song is one of my faves from Smiley and it's great to hear an alternate mix. This one really accentuates the unique minimalist type of production and melding of strange sounds that I love from this era.

"Little Pad" instrumental is gorgeous as hell. My favorite thing on this whole set besides Fall Breaks mix. Wow.. what a amazing beauty this mix is. I love the slide guitar and the organ is so, so good. I never really noticed it even in the 2012 stereo mix. There's also an extra second of Brian going "do it". Kind of an interesting new perspective now. Brian maybe egged on Al (or whoever yelled "DO IT!" like on the original) and started a laughing fit. Anyways it's so incredibly nice to hear just instruments to hear the arrangements of these beautiful songs better.

I love to see Lei'd In Hawaii stuff get a release too. They played rough at times, but they really struck gold a lot of times as well. Even some songs which sound rough instrumentally like Sloop John B have amazing vocals still. And I am so damn glad Brian brought his Baldwin Organ. That thing is absolutely godlike, in all of these recordings that he used it in this period, not just the Hawaii stuff.

I've heard some of this stuff before (most of the alternate takes from Wild Honey I've heard before), but this is really presented well and they add some things at times that is completely new to me. I've heard that version of "Surfer Girl" at the end, but definitely not a capella. Beautiful.

I really hope they keep doing this every 50th anniversary of every forthcoming album. That will be really exciting. All my "Beach Boys" dreams of hearing certain recordings keep coming true      1967 happens to be my favorite period of the BB's too.

Cant Wait Too Long is amazing and probably my favorite. Its the best mix/arrangement that I've come across and I think the edits are perfect.

Definitely the original H&V on SS/WH 2-fer too. Some of the earlier posts about getting it when it first came out: wow I can only imagine the excitement. Back before internet it certainly was a lot more rare to come across certain things if you didn't live right near a large city. I depended on mom & pop record stores a lot back then.

Walk On By is beautiful, but I wonder why they didn't flesh out the whole song? Regardless its also great.

All Dressed Up For School was also a favorite, although there is now a superior mix on Made In California box.

Also Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring. It's not their best vocal performance or anything, but for some reason the 'Boys sound depressed and/or tired. Or maybe just high. But for some reason their performance is so sad and touching on this 1967 version.

I also always really loved "You're Welcome", despite how brief it is.

one other thing I noticed is the backing track to the 1976 remake with new vocals is completely different from the "Sandy" that I'm familiar with on the Unsurpassed Masters boot. Is there a completely different backing track for the song that Brian did in the mid 60s that is unsurfaced or something?

The duplicates of stuff everyone already has kinda irks me about the Made In California box. I don't even mind a whole retrospective of their album tracks and hits because there are a lot of remastered stuff or stereo remixes that I am always a sucker for no matter what. The "From The Vaults" disc though could have been better. No one needs the Good Vibrations session highlights. We had that in numerous other sets including the Smiley Smile/Wild Honey 2fer. Same with the Smile material. Other stuff that is just pointless too, for both die hard fans and casual fans. I do love "Where Is She", the Dennis stuff, "Why", ".. lovin' feelin'" and all the other previously unreleased stuff though. The instrumental "Don't Go Near The Water" was a nice treat that I didn't expect to see. I still wonder if Brian was mainly responsible for the production of that one.

Sorry for reviving such an old thread but I think this is ripe for a lot more discussion. I was about to start a thread asking this exact thing. I am still really wondering if Carl's vocal was from 1966 or not. Apparently there was an overdub in 1968, so I wonder if that's a completely new vocal from that time, did Carl just remember it from when he sang it with Brian in '66? Or was there an existing tape with the exact lead vocal and Carl recreated it? Or the 1968 overdub session was merely just putting the sections together and just ADT'd what he already did? So many questions and I haven't been able to read much info about the authenticity of the 20/20 version of Cabinessence.

I like anything with Al lead, even "Crocodile Rock". He shifts any bad song to good.

I like anything with an Al OR Carl lead.  I stumbled upon the guys singing the Late Night Top 10 list from 1994 on you tube last night.  Man was that good.  A David Letterman Top 10 list and Carl sang the absolute crap out of it. 

Nice to see another Al fan. It seems like he's very underrated among BBs fans. Some poster even praised Bruce before Al & he's not even original BB. But "Al is just Al".

Is that video where Matt Jardine was? There's video with Letterman talking in-between & BBs changing lyrics to their songs to match the Top 10 content. There was Matt singing with the BBs. Carl is great singer but I wouldn't be total about him. There's some leads, esp. from the 70s which imo were Carl's worst. Tastes differ.

Re: CAYL - "crack" means "drug", right? I do not see the humor in drug reference.

Al had one of the best voices in the BBs.. And he still has conserved his voice a hell of a lot which is impressive.

"Crack" in this case is not the drug, it is an old expression, like "shot" or "a try", ie. "Recording? I want to get a crack at that guitar part again". Its just such a cheesy thing that is so very Brian and is funny.

Somewhere Near Japan and Crack At Your Love a bit embarrassing

Crack At Your Love is my archetypal guilty pleasure song. I honestly believe there is Brian Wilson greatness buried in there - just hard to get to through all the 80s synths and the inescapable anal imagery of the title.

Despite the upbeat production, the song oozes sadness. Imagine Brian hammering the middle eight out on a piano in that gruff wounded-bear Cocaine Sessions howl of his -

Lonely nights
Lonely days
Lonely nights
Lonely days
I'm reaching out for you
In my mind, in my mind ....

Greatness I tells ya!

I couldn't agree more. It would have been better if it were produced better than with all those dated 80s synths, but the song grew on me a lot. The title makes me laugh a lot with its unintentional humor. Only Brian would title that for a song. I've been playing the chords on guitar on and off and there are definitely some nice chord changes and the verse melody is great.

Male Ego is another guilty pleasure of mine. Cheesy and hilarious lyrics, and pure Brian Wilson songwriting that reminds me of Love You.

Oh and Brian's 90s remake on Imagination is good, but I hardly ever listen to it.

I wonder why Brian never finished this song the first time in '65? Even as an instrumental it is a gorgeously produced song. Surely could have been a hit at the time if they released it instead of "Little Girl I Once Knew" as a single, don't you think?

I am glad Brian added a vocal in the 70s at least (its still a great vocal performance for the time) but I really wish this one had more attention. Just something very sublime about it; love the organ, love the bassline, love the tinkly marimba sounds, love the harmonies at the end and Mike's unfinished vocal.

It sounds like bandwagon jumping, desperation to be relevant too late to the game, and above all it couldn't even be an original song. It is easily one of my least favorites and least played in the entire BB's catalog, mostly because it's more or less a cover of Leiber and Stoller with ham-fisted and desperate for relevance lyrics. The only saving grace I listen for if I do give it a spin is the work Stephen Desper did in recording it.

Yea I agree completely. I wish he at least tried to write an original song. Its just such a stupid idea to cover a 50s song like that with those type of lyrics. Wasn't that type of song totally outdated by 1971?

Honestly, maybe its because I'm in my mid-30s now and so much "revolution" stuff has been going on nowadays but any song that would advocate for violence or rioting is so extremely dumb to me. And I certainly don't think "Street Fighting Man" has anything to do with advocating for that. I dunno, I just feel like people nowadays are spoiled and entitled and have no real reason to be doing this, so now it looks incredibly dumb to me in general.

I don't feel guilty about any of their music anymore, I just love them so much. Although I'd feel weird if I played these songs in front of someone

Still Cruisin (Dumb lyrics but catchy song with some nice guitar and vocals)

Fall Breaks And Back To Winter (I'm sure most people would have a strange face on if they heard me play this but it is absolutely brilliant)

Sunshine on KTSA (great melody and exuberant vocals that I love.. real cheesy Caribbean type of sound on it but I love it)

Hey Little Tomboy, Roller Skating Child, Honking On The Highway [lyric: taking one little inch at a time now/until we're feeling fine now], I Want To Pick You Up (songs like these have some creepy lyrics, downright pedo type stuff but I know these guys don't mean any harm and I find them absolutely hilarious)

Island Girl (cheesy but some great vocals once again, especially from Carl)

Male Ego (cheesy again, with really dumb lyrics, but this is classic Mike/Brian songwriting right here)

Most of MIU or KTSA in general. Cheesy but fun as hell

I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man (really stupid but yet creepy and sad in an interesting way)

Rock N Roll Music, Chapel Of Love and some other 15 Big Ones stuff

There's so many "guilty pleasures" but that's why I love them. They are a unique band that were intent on being themselves, and they didn't make much effort to be overly serious or pretentious in anyway just to impress people. I'd rather have a whole album of "Sunshine" rather than stuff like "Student Demonstration Time".

I think what this all boils down to was timing. Jack Rieley was the perfect person to have in that position at that time. What might've happened with him in the mid and later seventies is pure conjecture. I think most of the time the BB's were their own worst enemies in terms of career moves, they succeeded in spite of themselves. In the long run( no pun intended) I think Irving Azoff would have been a great manager for them.

Not sure why no one is mentioning "Endless Summer" here. That is what basically killed their career, when they thought that they needed the stereotypical "fun in the sun" image with the band just because of how successful that compilation was, and rushing out an album just to capitalize on that (15 big ones) rather than waiting for true inspiration to spark.

I think someone like Rieley could have brought the band to their senses and stopped them from trying to be their old selves and shoehorning things in their music in a contrived manner just to stay relevant (which made them more irrelevant).

I am shocked an album like Love You was released, which is why it is one of my favorites. That's a rare case of them realizing they have some Brian Wilson gold and just working with what they had instead of overcompensating to try to get some hits. Granted maybe that would have kept happening if Brian was capable of producing and writing as much again but then again Adult Child was rejected and discouraged. Thank God for Carl to make Love You what it was.

Not the worst album, but only songs I really dig are the title track, Santa Ana Winds, Sunshine, and Livin' with a Heartache. Goin' On is ok apart from that horrible sax solo.  I much prefer the version of OH Darlin with the BW vocals

I love Sunshine, Goin' On, and Livin' With a Heartache, but I especially love Oh Darlin'. I didn't know that a Brian vocal version of that song existed... where might one find it? The Google is not helping!

I believe its on the "Get The Boot" set? The 2nd disc.. I am very surprised its not on youtube!

 I've noticed that almost NO ONE will admit that there are some good tunes on this album (except hardcore BB fans of course). Everyone trashes it and calls it one of their bottom worst albums they've ever done. I don't know, I'd at least give it 3 stars out of 5. There are a bunch of Brian Wilson written tunes and even though some are old and they aren't exactly A+++ material or anything, there's nothing wrong with much of the material. It's fun and catchy enough imo.

Sunshine, Goin' On, When Girls Get Together, Livin' With A Heartache, and Endless Harmony are really good songs to me.

My favorite is "Oh Darlin'". Has that classic Brian Wilson style to me and a great Carl vocal

The production isn't great, they aren't very inspired and Dennis is nowhere to be found but it's still not a bad record. What do you guys think?

Let me start by saying how much I love Al Jardine and his contributions , He is also a genuinely nice person. But I feel his presence made the band look less hip, the stripes shirts were inspired by the Kingston Trio in which Al was a big fan of and I assume is responsible for.  His vocals remind me of the fact that he was going to be a dentist i.e. not good. David Marks on the other hand had a cooler look and looking at early pictures of the band with David, they look much better.  I wish he wasn't in the band and I also wish The Band had a different name . I know this sounds harsh but I feel that The Beach Boys are one of the best bands of all time but because of an image problem people discard the band as nothing but a good surf band with the exceptions of the aficionados.  On top of that I'm not a fan of Matt Jardine's voice, Its too squeaky and I am so surprised that people like him.

Al can really sound like the Wilson brothers a lot of times though. He had an amazing voice and was an excellent blend in the group. I think all this "image" stuff and their name and whatnot is just pointless to go on about in my opinion. I love everything about the Beach Boys and wouldn't ever want them to change. I don't care if they were as big as the Beatles or if people had hangups because they weren't "badass".

I always skip over "Disney Girls" on Surfs Up. In fact, I always forget it even exists, and I love the Surfs Up album in general

Great topic idea. I've thought of this occasionally.

I really like take 2 of Hang On To Your Ego. I love that main melody they used. The released version I Know There's An Answer sticks it on at the very end but I just think take 2 sounds really good. I also think Brian should have used "Hang On To Your Ego" lyrics but I know Mike or the other guys didn't like that title.

I don't prefer it, but Mike's lead vocals are really nice on the alternate Please Let Me Wonder

Brian should have raised the piano take in the mix for the first part of She's Goin Bald. Then again there are a lot of confusing things on Smiley Smile

Definitely love the early version of Little Saint Nick (the alternate version of "Drive In") better than the regular version

Also, not really related, but I don't understand how Brian didn't spend more time on "Sandy", but "I'm Bugged At My Ol Man" made the album..

Foo Fighters "Sound of Free" would be a hit!  In addition to the car and surf songs my band covered the following songs live:

It's About Time
Sound of Free
Breakaway
Good Vibrations
Sloop John B

The Foos or Green Day or someone similar could make those 'hits'.  River Song would be another.

River Song and Forever are dying to be "hits".. Its a shame they never got the wide recognition they deserve (other than Uncle Jesse 30 years ago with "Forever")