Mount Vernon and Fairway

[Jay]

I have always been curios if any unreleased bits intended for Mount Vernon and Fairway exist. Or at least longer versions of the musical portions. In my opinion, "I'm The Pied Piper" is one of the greatest pieces of music ever created. It bugs me to no end that there is only a few seconds of it. 

[JK]

I'd say most people are in the dark when listening to it.

 

It occurred to me that MV&F must be the closest the LP era ever came to the CD's so-called hidden track. You can always skip the hidden track.

[phirnis]

It's not too far from something like The Point by Harry Nilsson.

[JK]

It's not too far from something like The Point by Harry Nilsson.

Thanks for the tip, phirnis. I've got it lined up for a listen later in the week.

[Rocky Raccoon]

The music is wonderful, I especially love the eerie "theme music" and the "dom dom kingdom" chant. 

The story itself is okay, kind of a forgettable children's book, the music and sound effects are what make it work.  Jack Rieley does a good job narrating though.

On the other hand, Brian's Pied Piper monologue might be one of the weirdest and most off-putting things ever put on a Beach Boys record.  I think they should have just cut that out.

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

An example of the road not taken. This piece sounds almost like Another Green World-era Brian Eno.

How different would their legacy be if the band reconstituted itself as mid-seventies avant garde art rockers? The potential was there.

Imagine if they changed their name (not to the beach but something else) and did more Denny and out-there Brian material. Perhaps the sales wouldn't have improved (but really, could they have been much worse?) But the band's modern day reputation would probably be way better

[Mujan, 8@$+@Rc| of a Blue Wizard]

The music is wonderful, I especially love the eerie "theme music" and the "dom dom kingdom" chant. 

The story itself is okay, kind of a forgettable children's book, the music and sound effects are what make it work.  Jack Rieley does a good job narrating though.

On the other hand, Brian's Pied Piper monologue might be one of the weirdest and most off-putting things ever put on a Beach Boys record.  I think they should have just cut that out.

That's the whole point of it though. I agree it has flaws and doesn't all gel together as well as it should but that wtf monologue is meant to take you aback and make you laugh

[Sheriff John Stone]

As Beach Boys/BW fans, yeah, we gladly would've welcomed more "out there" Brian Wilson music in place of/included on 15 Big Ones, MIU, KTSA, BB 1985, and on and on. And that's not to say there wasn't some good stuff from Brian during the 1974-1985 period, because there was.

However, if you take a look at what Brian DID release post-Pet Sounds, well, some of it WAS very "out there". Released from Brian included Smiley Smile, "I'd Love Just Once To See You (In The Nude)", "Mama Says", "Diamond Head", "Transcendental Meditation", "Passing By (roller rink music)", "I Went To Sleep (complete with snoring sound effects)", "A Day In The Life Of A Tree", and "Mount Vernon And Fairway". And those were the released songs. Unreleased ones include "Sail Plane Song", "My Solution", and "H.E.L.P. Is On The Way".

Again, we love that stuff. You can assemble an album of those "out there" BW tunes for me anytime. But, two quick points come to mind. First, when you look at those above songs, it's hard to say that Brian Wilson DIDN'T record whatever he wanted to or whatever came to his mind, regardless of the commercial potential, or lack of. And, second, I guess you can say that the average (majority of?) Beach Boys fan didn't buy them, literally, although you have to hold the other band members' songs accountable for that, too.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

I'd say most people are in the dark when listening to it.

 

It occurred to me that MV&F must be the closest the LP era ever came to the CD's so-called hidden track. You can always skip the hidden track.

From the pedia:

The Beatles' track "Her Majesty" off their 1969 album Abbey Road is considered the first hidden track in recording history. The original pressings of Abbey Road did not list "Her Majesty" on the back cover song title listing, nor the record label; subsequent LP pressings and then CD issues were issued revealing the track. However, two years prior, in 1967, on the UK version of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, there was the "inner groove" that appeared after "A Day in the Life" at the end of side 2. It was an unexpected, untitled, and uncredited Beatles recording - so this might be deemed a precursor to the hidden track. A potential hidden track on yet another Beatles album is on The Beatles (also known popularly as The White Album) 1968 double album. The hidden track is an unlisted, untitled and uncredited outro to "Cry Baby Cry" - more popularly known as "Can You Take Me Back", the primary lyrics of the song.

[JK]

I'd say most people are in the dark when listening to it.

 

It occurred to me that MV&F must be the closest the LP era ever came to the CD's so-called hidden track. You can always skip the hidden track.

From the pedia:

The Beatles' track "Her Majesty" off their 1969 album Abbey Road is considered the first hidden track in recording history. The original pressings of Abbey Road did not list "Her Majesty" on the back cover song title listing, nor the record label; subsequent LP pressings and then CD issues were issued revealing the track. However, two years prior, in 1967, on the UK version of the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album, there was the "inner groove" that appeared after "A Day in the Life" at the end of side 2. It was an unexpected, untitled, and uncredited Beatles recording - so this might be deemed a precursor to the hidden track. A potential hidden track on yet another Beatles album is on The Beatles (also known popularly as The White Album) 1968 double album. The hidden track is an unlisted, untitled and uncredited outro to "Cry Baby Cry" - more popularly known as "Can You Take Me Back", the primary lyrics of the song.

Thanks, ORR. I keep forgetting wikipedia is my friend. :=)

[runnersdialzero]

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

True. I wonder if that's where the Beatles got the idea?

[Robbie Mac]

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

True. I wonder if that's where the Beatles got the idea?

No. "Her Majesty" was intended for the side 2 Long Medley between " Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam".  The band decided not to use it, so it was spiced out with the Beatles telling the engineers to throw it away. If it weren't for an Abbey Road studio rule that said that no tape must be discarded, ABBEY ROAD would not have had a hidden bonus track. The engineer spliced it after the final cut. When McCartney heard the final track lineup (and no one in the band knew what had been done to "Her Majesty"), he loved the randomness of it and insisted that "Her Majesty" close the LP.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

True. I wonder if that's where the Beatles got the idea?

No. "Her Majesty" was intended for the side 2 Long Medley between " Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam".  The band decided not to use it, so it was spiced out with the Beatles telling the engineers to throw it away. If it weren't for an Abbey Road studio rule that said that no tape must be discarded, ABBEY ROAD would not have had a hidden bonus track. The engineer spliced it after the final cut. When McCartney heard the final track lineup (and no one in the band knew what had been done to "Her Majesty"), he loved the randomness of it and insisted that "Her Majesty" close the LP.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

One could argue that the "Banana & Louie" outro to the Pet Sounds album was a hidden track.

True. I wonder if that's where the Beatles got the idea?

No. "Her Majesty" was intended for the side 2 Long Medley between " Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam".  The band decided not to use it, so it was spiced out with the Beatles telling the engineers to throw it away. If it weren't for an Abbey Road studio rule that said that no tape must be discarded, ABBEY ROAD would not have had a hidden bonus track. The engineer spliced it after the final cut. When McCartney heard the final track lineup (and no one in the band knew what had been done to "Her Majesty"), he loved the randomness of it and insisted that "Her Majesty" close the LP.

Good info!
I was thinking of Pepper's inner groove track . Maybe an anwser back to the "Banana & Louie" outro?
I was thiking of

[JK]

There's a "hidden track" on an LP that the lads and lasses at Wikipedia seem to have forgotten: The ultra-slow "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" tune at the end of side one of the Stones' Their Satanic Majesties...

It seems to have been called "Cosmic Christmas" on CD reissues (whose idea was that???) but it doesn't get a separate mention on mine.