"Add Some Music" blurb (and cover art!) inside Reprise LP!

[TheLazenby]

A while back, I bought a rather battered 2-LP set called "The Big Ball," which showcased various Reprise artists circa 1970 - the Beach Boys, Norman Greenbaum, Captain Beefheart, Fleetwood Mac, etcetera.

After months of letting it sit on my shelf, I took it out this evening, and spotted something in the liner notes....


Yep - at this point, their next album was still "Add Some Music," complete with artwork recycled almost entirely for "Sunflower"!  The next column (not shown in this photo) touts the LP as due for release April 1970.

[jiggy22]

Wow, great find! 

I personally like the Add Some Music title much more than the Sunflower title, I wish they kept it for the final release!

[Custom Machine]

Thanks for posting the photo. The Big Ball was released in March 1970, and was part of Warner Brother's 2 disc LP "loss leader" program, which started in 1969. The records were advertised on inserts inside Warner/Reprise albums and sometimes in magazines and were sold via mail order for only $2, which was a great price for a 2 disc sampler LP. No internet or 800 number to call back then - you just sent in two one dollar bills and an order form, put 'em in an envelope, attaching a 6 cent stamp, or a 10 cent stamp for airmail.

The Add Some Music / Susie Cincinnati single came out in Feb. 1970, and a few months later a friend told me that a guy in Zura Hall at San Diego State University had a sampler album with a new Beach Boys song on it. I went over to his dorm room and when he played This Whole World I was absolutely astounded at what a great song it was and immediately sent off for The Big Ball, which arrived at my house in early June. Since The Big Ball stated the Add Some Music album was to be released in April, the record was obviously overdue so I assumed I'd have it in my hands any day now. During visits to record stores as well as phone calls made to them I would ask if they had the new Beach Boys Add Some Music album and if not if they knew when it was going to arrive. In early July a new single was released, Slip on Through / This Whole World, which failed to chart. It wasn't unitl August 21st, when I walked into the record store closest to home that the clerk said, "We've been calling trying to get ahold of you, the new Beach Boys album arrived today."  Been my favorite album ever since.

I continued to buy each of the Warner/Reprise loss leaders as they were released, many of which featured BB songs, until the series ended circa 1980. I later got rid of all but two of them, keeping The Big Ball, with the Add Some Music album write-up, for nostalgic purposes.

[Shane]

Very interesting.  I think I have this sampler in the very back of one of my overflow bins at my record store.  Now you have me wondering if there's any mix differences, being that it was issued months before the actual album.  Just wishful thinking...

[pdas1996]

The inner sleeve of the 2009 Capitol Vaults vinyl re-issue is basically this. I was shocked when I saw it.

[Custom Machine]

Very interesting.  I think I have this sampler in the very back of one of my overflow bins at my record store.  Now you have me wondering if there's any mix differences, being that it was issued months before the actual album.  Just wishful thinking...

The Big Ball mix of This Whole World is the same as found on the single and the Sunflower album. The 45 rpm single promo copies of Add Some Music / Susie Cincinnati are mono mixes that sound completely different (and far worse) than the released versions. (And Susie Cincinnati has undergone some mix variations over the years, although if I recall correctly it's mainly in the placement of the engine sounds.)

Nice to hear that you have a record store. Hope it's doing well and that you're selling a lot of vinyl. Where is it located?

The inner sleeve of the 2009 Capitol Vaults vinyl re-issue is basically this. I was shocked when I saw it.

Yeah, it was really cool that they included the original Add Some Music artwork, on heavy duty stock, on the inner sleeve for the 2009 Sunflower vinyl reissue.