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I'm all for highlighting and examining this time period, and I think it's fun to kick around various track lineups and theories.

But, this album lineup is a mess, and I'm saying this as someone who is probably more into post-Holland 70s and 80s material than the typical fan.

I don't think, had the band put together an album, say, at the end of 1974, that it would have been much like this. And as a compilation of unreleased material, it's not particularly flattering for the band. I'm more forgiving of "Battle Hymn" than most fans, but album material it ain't.

Rough mixes of the actual good songs don't really help their cause either.

I think the underlying material from a given era/album project has to *really* good to warrant including incomplete sections, reconstructions, etc. It's why "The Smile Sessions" works. But giving that same treatment of doing a hodge podge of demos, half-finished songs, rough mixes, etc. to somewhat wonky material, it just doesn't work as an actual release unto itself.

To be clear, I've been the loudest advocate around of moving past the 60s stuff and doing a huge dump of archival material from the 70s and 80s. I'd be happy to see all of this Caribou material as part of such an opening of the floodgates of the archives.

But an actual, boutique 1 or 2-CD set focusing on unreleased material would have to cast a wider, different net to not get raked over the coals critically.

I think even the post-KTSA 1980-1983 era produced more interesting unreleased material and various flotsam and jetsam.

As for why Rhino Handmade hasn't touched on BB material, it's surely to do with Brother owning the material, having varying levels of licensing deals with Capitol/UMe, and both Brother and Capitol not exactly being pro-active about releasing post-60s archival material.

Hopefully that changes and we get all of this material and more.

Chic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1qQ1SKNlgY

Yes!!!! Thanks for that, Ovi. :=)

My favourite Chic song is the follow-up, the magnificently minimal "Good Times":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Er9xGRolrT4

Thanks for this! Been listening to it on and off since you posted it.

I often wonder whether I'm wasting my time and energy posting things like this and here's proof that I'm not. Thank you, sir. :=)

In terms of the more personal, subjective "I like this song a lot, I think it should have been a hit!", then there are countless great under-recognized songs in the catalog.

If we're talking about positing that, had such-and-such song been pulled from an already-existing album and pushed as a single, it *would have* been a hit, then I think we're in much murkier territory.

I can really only think of a few examples where, had single release strategies been altered, they would have seen another minor to moderate hit. But even then, some of those examples would be items that *were* pulled as a singles but could have been pushed differently (timing wise for instance) to gain more traction. Things like pushing "It's OK" earlier and harder.

But most of the stuff, including the good or great stuff, off of latter-day albums, wasn't often in step with anything else that was popular at the time. I don't think there was any way they would have seen hit status with "Marcella" in 1972. It didn't rock hard enough to play to that audience, and wasn't poppy enough for the other.

Similarly, I don't think anything off of "Love You" would have gained much more traction on the singles charts. Same with MIU, etc.

I don't think lead vocal switch offs on that latter-day stuff would have helped with the charts. "Rock and Roll the Rescue" was never going to be a hit, even with Mike singing. Mike sang the lead on "Getcha Back", and that was absolutely as good as they could have mustered on the single charts in 85/86.

One of the few compelling arguments I've seen for a single potentially being more popular with a different singer was, interestingly, as I recall, Jon Stebbins positing that "Do You Wanna Dance" would have done better on the charts with a Mike lead. I think that was possible during their peak chart era in 63-66-ish.

The main way the band, especially in the post-KTSA 80s, could have snagged a hit single would have been to go somewhat the Chicago route of pairing with a David Foster-type and using outside writers (or at least co-writers) and outside producers. Steve Levine was a bit like that, but I'm not even sure if Levine was an absolute A-lister even in 1985. He was a successful producer, no question. But I'm not sure if he was in the same category as Hugh Padgham or David Foster and folks of that ilk.

The Brian/Paley mid-90s stuff was *never* going to garner a hit single. Much like McCartney's work with Elvis Costello in 87/88, the Paley stuff was (or would have been) about making a critically well-received *album* (that could have also performed well on the charts). But those songs weren't going to be hits in 1995. Even McCartney, who was producing, to varying degrees, more "commercial" single releases in that era, wasn't getting traction on the *singles* chart.

By the 90s, the BBs could have and should have gone the "Flaming Pie" route of doing well on the album charts, getting good *album* reviews, and getting Grammy nods for *albums*.

The commercial was shot on Sept 2. 1999. After they said they are going to the dealership it would have been hilarious if she had have replied  ‘So you’re buying Al Jardine a Pontiac for his birthday tomorrow’?’  

 

This is basically Mike & Bruce's version of Eastbound and Down's Kenny Powers and the KIA dealership debacle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8tg_J2gbPo

Looks like bad Internet case. Even via this ancient 2010 laptop with snail traffic it's easy to d/l, just checked it.

Anybody else?

RR, I now have a keyboard melody in G major downloaded onto iTunes. Is this what you meant?

[The Sinking of the Titanic]

Talking of Eno, this atmospheric and extremely moving modern "classical" work by Gavin Bryars was originally released on Eno's Obscure label. This first (1975) version of The Sinking of the Titanic is the one I've posted.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oVMRADOq5s

"...from aft came the tunes of the band..... The ship was gradually turning on her nose - just like a duck that goes down for a dive. I had only one thing on my mind - to get away from the suction. The band was still playing. I guess all of the band went down. They were playing 'Autumn' then. I swam with all my might. I suppose I was 150 feet away when the Titanic, on her nose, with her afterquarter sticking straight up in the air, began to settle slowly.... The way the band kept playing was a noble thing. I heard it first while we were still working wireless, when there was a ragtime tune for us, and the last I saw of the band, when I was floating out in the sea with my lifebelt on, it was still on deck playing 'Autumn'. How they ever did it I cannot imagine."

Harold Bride, the junior wireless operator, in an interview for the New York Times of April 19th 1912

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sinking_of_the_Titanic

Thanks for this! Been listening to it on and off since you posted it.

I think Funky Pretty should have been on side A of their second single for Holland. Give the 45 some cosmic artwork to go along with it. I think that song is much like 'Good Vibrations' in how timeless it sounds.

Lahaina Aloha.

Chic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1qQ1SKNlgY