saw the Mike and Bruce show 2 nights ago, the 19th.  I have been fortunate enough to meet the guys several times over the last 20 years, and Bruce truly is a Jekyll and Hyde.  All  of the other guys have always at least been consistent. This was my 17 years old daughter's first time meeting them.  Fortunately, we got the "good" Bruce. He was engaging, talked for several minutes and discussed pieces of the group's catalog with her. I do wish everybody had this same experience with him.

The story I've read (from someone who allegedly asked Melcher) is that Brian and Terry started out coproducing the track, then Landy pulled Brian out mid-production to have a stress test in Hawaii. Melcher was pissed, and removed his name at that point.

I heard Brian relate that exact set of events in a radio interview maybe 20 years ago

Is this a recent collaboration? I’m surprised Mike didn’t mention it on his Facebook page or twitter.
So

Mike introduced it yesterday on Sirius by saying it was a “brand new recording of It’s OK”

Sounds about like you would expect it to.

You mean... it's OK?

Hmm, slightly less than It's Ok

has this been discussed?  If so, I missed it.  Just heard it this morning on the BB channel.  Mike Love and...Hanson.  Sounds about like you would expect it to.

Thanks

Anyone know why Nelson is not on this tour, and who is taking his place on percussion?  Sorry if I missed the discussion

1. Wouldn't It Be Nice
2. The Warmth of The Sun
3. Don't Worry Baby
4. I Get Around
5. God Only Knows
6. I Just wasn't Made For These Times
7. Good Vibrations
8. Sail On, Sailor
9. Help Me, Rhonda
10. Good Timin

As that photo from 2012 shows, Mike, Bruce and Dave wear the ball caps all the time. It's their thing.

Now, on to my grand shirt theory.

An earlier post noted that Brian threw the seating arrangement out of order. It probably the case that Brian was supposed to sit in Dave's chair, so the look would have been No stripes (Rob) -- stripes (Dave) -- no stripes  (Al) -- stripes (Mike) -- no stripes (Brian) -- stripes (Dave). That also would have seated Brian and Mike next to one another, in the center. Brian's back and reluctance to move simply threw it off.

Another clue? The photo gallery Dave Marks posted suggests he wasn't wearing that striped shirt when he went into Capitol for the day. The stripes were brought in just for the event.

Geez, I hope the shirts were brought in just for the event. You  don't think they go to the grocery store and DMV with those shirts and caps, do you?

Without getting into the potential motives of the wardrobe choices, I'll just say that Mike, David and Bruce look ridiculous. If only one of them (doesn't matter who, take your pick) decided to bring out the old-style striped shirt and wear it last night as a nod to the old days that probably would have been kind of cool. Three old men in matching striped shirts and caps?  Not so much.

cheesy, yes; but I'll watch at least for the Stebbins and Bobby Figueroa interviews.  I don't ever recall hearing/seeing a former backing band member being interviewed about their time in the band

Watched the episode on the Eagles Sunday night.  Full of "reenactments" and fake beards, it was pretty bad.

What I remember hearing back in that day was that while they were in Nashville the Boys were essentially bombarded with offers/requests to participate in sessions for multiple artists.

I have also heard "Mexico"; heard "Problem Child" twice

I think a project like this could have worked(or been saved) if bigger name artists had been involved, like Johnny Cash, George Jones, or even Garth Brooks.

Yeah, if you look at the atists I'd have chosen (link above) Cash is of course there. I said it before, "Let the wind blow" would be the perfect choice for a latter day Cash performance. I can already hear that version in my head.

Tammy may be "legend" but IMR with her is big bore, she doesn't sing the way I like. Ditto Merle. Stars & Stripes didn't lose without these outtakes. Granted, it didn't win as well.

Fair point, being legends doesn't mean you have to like them. But I'd advice you to listen to some of Tammy's songs. She was a great and soulful singer. Haggard the same, although his stuff is not always my cup of tea, dunno why, can't explain it. Al's demo btw sounds very much like Merle's singing style.

The most worthwhile thing that can could still be done with those sessions would be to isolate some of the BB backing vocals and put them on an archival package. The newly-arranged backing vocals for "Caroline, No" are of course among the most noteworthy additions they made, and I believe a "vocals only" mix of their backing vocals on that one were played at one of the BB conventions back last decade.

The vocals are a interesting thing. That's what I meant in a posting above. The participation of the Beach Boys didn't make for a lot of working with the songs and arrangements. The Boys were going to sing the arrangements they'd always sung, especially with Brian producing. And that's understandable. They worked their a$$es off back in the day to make the songs sound like they do and with the arrangements Brian wrote. It's probably not a good idea to do a tribute album to yourself. But that's the Beach Boys - always taking the easy way.
But the possibilities of a project of Beach Boys songs done by country artists is/was just tremendous. With the right artists and the right producer (Don Was for example) this could've been very worthwhile. Although we wouldn't have had the Beach Boys themselves singing when they'd followed what I have in mind.



@southbay: Thanks for the info on "Winter wonderland"! "Howy from Maui" sounds like mostly Jardines to me. Was that the whole band, including Brian?

WW was the whole band (and again, their BGV's on this are tremendous); pretty sure it was just Al and Matt on Maui

To be honest, I really don't have much interest in any kind of outtakes or unreleased stuff from these sessions, unless one of the members of the band is either singing or sharing a lead.

I feel the same way.

Agree, but I WOULD be interested in a release that only contained the BB's BGV's for these tracks.  If you can eliminate the leads and just concentrate on the BGVs, man they are good

was George Jones going to sing God Only Knows or was that just something I dreamed?

I don't know if that idea ever floated around back then, but I put it on my "list" of ideas about what could and should have been the album:
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,12521.msg635016.html#msg635016

To be honest, I really don't have much interest in any kind of outtakes or unreleased stuff from these sessions, unless one of the members of the band is either singing or sharing a lead.

I feel the same way.

Basically I feel the same, too. But with legends like Tammy and Haggard it's different, because there is almost nothing you could do wrong (except not releasing it - and they even messed that up!).
But yeah, let's not kid ourselves. The big problem with this (apart from the selection of artists and songs) is that the Beach Boys were directly involved, including Brian as producer. It was clear that they wouldn't stray very far away from their original versions and also wouldn't be very open for experimenting with country styles and arrangements.


BTW does the version of "Winter wonderland" Collin Raye recorded with the Beach Boys on background, come from these sessions?

I was wonderin' if "In my room" off of the Stars&Stripes sessions was actually ever finished? We have a recording on the DVD ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGntEUmk3dE ) and a version released on "Tammy Wynette Remembered" with only Brian's vocals ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6B0hGjSgzA ). Now, I don't know if the DVD version is a finished master but it definitely sounds like it wasn't mixed like a master.
This performance actually was one of the highlights from the project. First Tammy's fantastic reading of the song stands out. But also it sounds more country than much of the released songs.
And am I right that of "Sail on sailor" only the rehearsal performance on the DVD exists and no studio recording? Also, Merle Haggard for whom Al recorded the "California saga"-demo AFAIK never actually got around to work on it? Will we ever get a release of a finished "In my room" with Tammy and the Beach Boys?

Am I missing something? The first half of the song seems to be her vocals on the link you posted for "Tammy Wynette Remembered."

That's just her and Brian. I wondered if a finished version with the Beach Boys (as on the DVD) will ever be released

The Collin Raye "Winter Wonderland" and Jeff Foxworthy "Howdy from Maui" sessions took place while the Boys were in Nashville working on/promoting the SS cd, but were not technically SS sessions.

I think at this stage, in terms of the "archive", we're past the point of trying to use piggybacking onto hits (either thematically or literally) as the *main* outlet for archival material. I'm not saying that can't be part of the strategy.

But the vaults need to be opened wide, and the only people who want "Sea of Tunes" multi-disc-set style compilations of *every second* of the session tapes for eventual hit songs are the same people who, in some cases, already have those SOT sets, and/or are just as interested in the esoteric vault material from the 70s and 80s and so on.

I think mainstream targeted releases (whether "Sunshine Tomorrow" or something else) are great to put out there. But the realization needs to be that the archival material has its own inherent value, and also that archival releases aren't going to be popular enough to chart (high or at all), and that the purpose would be to service the several thousand to tens-of-thousands of hardcore fans.

We've made more than enough "bridge" projects that could have turned casual fans into hardcore fans. A 20-disc set of every second of every session tape only for songs that appear on "Sounds of Summer" is not something that is going to appeal to anybody but super hardcore fans. And even some of the hardcore fans would rather see a 2-CD set of Brother-era rarities or a 5-CD live boxed set than *multiple discs* of raw session tapes of hit 60s tracks.

I'd love for *everything* to put out in raw form (via digital downloads of course).

But we need to start with something substantial but not like 50 disc-sets. The areas I would focus on (beyond yearly "Copyright Extension" releases) would be:

- Live Releases via Digital Download - Release 1 or 2 soundboard live recordings each month spanning from the 60s to 1997 (and 2012)

- To jump start/promote the live online archive, they could do a multi-disc set of some of the best live stuff covering the entire career

- Deluxe Editions of key (or all) albums, especially 1970-1985, with original mixes, possibly full album remixes, and the 1-2 discs of outtakes

- Some sort of "Bedroom Tapes-ish" release focusing on Brian's stuff from the later 60s into the 70s (and possibly 80s); this could be a very loose theme utilizing home demos and studio stuff

- In lieu of (or in conjunction with) deluxe editions of the 70s/80s albums would be a true "Brother Rarities" multi-disc set; this would be perhaps where the true gems come from

- Looping back around to online/download territory (and/or streaming), they could then also dump a huge studio archive online. *This* is where the 87 false starts for songs could be housed

This stuff is all there ready to be released. Some of it has even already been mixed for old projects, etc. How about something like this:

Fall 2018 - "Friends" era Copyright Extension Set
Holiday Season 2018 - "The Ultimate Live Collection" 5-CD Boxed Set
Launching December 2018 - Live online archive of downloadable shows, 1-2 per month
Spring 2019 - "Bedroom Tapes" 3 to 5-CD Boxed Set
Fall 2019 - "20/20", etc. era Copyright Extension Set
Holiday Season 2019 - "Brother Rarities" 5-CD Boxed Set
Spring 2020 - An earlier-in-the-year "Copyright Extension" set for "Sunfower" era material, followed by....
Spring 2020 - "Sunflower" and "Surf's Up" "Immersion" style boxed sets
Fall/Holiday 2020 - "So Tough" and "Holland" Immersion sets

Yes, this is probably too packed of a schedule. Ideally, it's usually like one big project per year at most. But guess what? We're all getting older. There's probably a few million Beatles fans who died waiting for a decent "Let It Be" DVD/Blu-ray. If music industry trends/politics dictate less physical releases, then some or most of the stuff above can be all-digital (downloads *and* streaming).

But it's all stuff the group members wouldn't have to lift one finger to do. Just listen to it (or look at it), sign off, and collect some extra monies.

Yes.  Especially the digital download release of soundboard recordings of the years you indicated.

I don't think any of us who were fans in 1988 ever dreamed Brian could come up with something like Rio Grande (or Melt Away) at the time. He was able to do those things in spite of Landy, in spite of the heavy drug cocktail.  I was expecting an album of I'm So Lonely's. You have to take all of those elements into consideration when looking at those songs.

During Al’s show Saturday in San Luis he said that he and Brian would be touring Europe this summer and then be back doing shows in the states in the Fall and holidays

Does Al address the origins of Lookin' At Tomorrow?

Yes, he did. Said he wanted to try his hand st writing a real folk song and that it is about blues singer Bessie Smith

Good show last night. No surprises or additions, however. No Santa Ana Winds, San Simeon, et al. 500 seat theater, about 75% full. As usual Matt and Al sound great together. Also had a brief meet and greet after the show, photos taken by Mary Ann Jardine. The show is adsolutely worth your time and effort to see, just don't go expecting any deep cuts with the exception of Vegetables and Lookin at Tomorrow

Anybody confirmed to make it to Al's show tomorrow?

I’ll be there

While I admire Adrian Baker's overall musicianship, I do not like him as the lead falsetto singer for The Beach Boys! His falsettos, to my ears, usually sounded fine in the blend, but when it was a falsetto lead vocal, there were a lot of pitch issues.

I'm indiffrent as to Christian being back.  He's a fine addition, but tbh I didn't really miss a whole lot in his absence.  Kirsch, on the other hand is a clear downgrade to me. It's all subjective, but I never really cared for his falsetto.  I would rank the various participants as follws:

1. Matt jardine
2. Foskett
3. Ike
4. Nobody
5. Kirsch

x
x
x
6. My Golden Retriever
7. Adrian Baker

Yes, becoming a BB fan.  It's incredibly frustrating. I should have just kept on walking...