California Feeling

[adamghost]

Hmm, so according to Mr. Doe, Dennis' two songs were recorded later in the CATP sessions, not earlier, though it looks like Bruce was in the band up until the last few sessions.  It's interesting that "Ten Years' Harmony" was recorded in April, days before he quit the band...it does seem then as if, as was indicated in press reports at the time, Bruce's departure was very sudden.  Otherwise why demo up an original song for consideration on the album?

It's funny, I actually saw Captain & Tennille in Binghamton, NY when I was a little kid, and I remember Toni Tennille saying onstage that her first-ever show with the Beach Boys was in Binghamton.  Looks like she stretched the truth just a little, though Oneonta is just 50 miles up the road, so it's close enough.

So, back to the Bruce on CATP mystery (I was stuck at the Verizon store for three hours today, so I want to indulge myself in some geekiness before I get back to work), he was definitely in the band for the following basic tracks in 12/71:  Marcella, Mess of Help, Here She Comes and He Come Down.  But they're already doing Blondie/Ricky originals so those two are in the band at this point.

We have a track sheet for Mess of Help somewhere in the vocal credits list but I don't have time to go look for it.  Listening for Bruce on these here's what I got:

Mess of Help
Bass is fairly rudamentary and played with a flatpick, but to the extent I'm familiar with Bruce's playing (not very), I'd guess this is Blondie or Carl or Ed Carter.  He could be playing the piano, but it seems more likely to be Brian or Daryl Dragon (or both, it sounds like there might be two).

There's a couple vocal breakdowns where he might be.  At 1:57 I hear Mike (double-tracked), Carl, Brian, and one or two other voices.  I think one of the others is Brian.  None of them sound remotely like Bruce, ESPECIALLY the highest one.

There's a very highpitched (and sloppy) background vocal part at 2:23.  It could be anyone, but the tonality is pretty nasal and un-Bruce.
verdict:  I can't prove he's not there, but I just don't hear him.

He Come Down
keyboards:  there's a piano and organ.  Piano sounds like Brian.  Organ sounds like Brian too, but it's not specific to his style, and some of the Hammond moves suggest it could be someone else. (Actually a second organ comes in around 2:15).
bass:  follows the piano bass line.  Could be anyone (including Brian).
vocals: 
Well, there's lots of parts.  On the "I believe it part" I hear Ricky and or Blondie (I have trouble telling them apart) scatting on the left and right parts.  Sounds like a 3-part harmony center channel.  Definitely Carl, possibly Brian, possibly Blondie, possibly Al.  Don't hear any trace of Bruce in there.  I don't know who's doing the "down down" bit but I'd say Blondie or Al.  Anyway, no sign of Bruce here.

As for "yes, I believe it!" -- again, lots of parts, but the only one that sounds remotely like Bruce is at the tail end, right channel at 3:35.  But I don't think it's him.
verdict:  again, I don't hear him vocally.  The high vocals have a denser and grainier texture than Bruce is known for.  I could buy that he's playing one of the organ tracks.

Marcella
Bass -- never noticed how bad-ass this bass line is.  It's mixed pretty low...I can't even tell if it's bass guitar, moog, or some combination.
Keyboards -- there's an organ on the right channel in spots.  There's another keyboard in the right channel (sounds like a Wurlitzer) at 2:25.  Piano comes in at 2:32.  The piano sounds like Brian.
Vocals -- During the song I hear Carl (a bunch of them I believe), Dennis, Mike, Al (one of the "knock you right overs" I believe)
At the end I hear a couple of Mikes, someone doing counterpoint (Al or Brian or both), Dennis or Carl ("Marcella hey"), Jack Rieley ("hey Marcella"), and someone else doing "doobie doobie doo" (I'd guess Al).  No trace of Bruce here.
The ONLY place that sounds like Bruce is the varispeeded vocals in the verses...that has a bit of his tonality to it.
One interesting thing about this track is that the drums at the end sound like BRIAN played them (the drums at the first part are clearly someone else), and also you don't hear the piano come in until the very end.  This track sounds to me like it was recorded in two halves...Brian producing the second half and cutting it mostly himself, and the band playing the first half.  Also interesting is the lack of Blondie and Ricky vocally on this track, indicating this is more of an "old school" BBs performance.
Verdict:  It makes sense that he WOULD be on this track, but I'd swear he's not on it vocally unless he's one of those varispeeded harmonies.  I could buy that he's playing the bass though it seems unusual.  There's not a lot of keyboards for him to have played, though he could have done the organ and the other keyboard in the first half of the song.

Here She Comes
bass -- no way that's Bruce.
keyboards -- the piano sounds too funky for Bruce...I'm assuming this is Ricky or Daryl Dragon?  Someone probably knows.  There's a couple of organ tracks.
vocals -- there's actually more harmonies on here than I remember.  Evidence that Bruce is NOT here is there is someone on a very high harmony and not only does it not sound at all like Bruce, they're flat.  I would think if he were around they would have put him on that part.
Verdict:  I can't rule out Bruce on the vocals but I doubt it.  I could buy he's on the organ.

So I'm thinking that, if we take Bruce at his word that he's on CATP, he might have been the designated Hammond organ player on the sessions.  The Wrecking Crew guys had high praise for his feel on the organ, there's organ on all these tracks that's discrete from the other keyboard tracks (e.g. played by someone else), and he was playing the Hammond onstage as an integral part of the band at that time so it makes sense to me that if he was hanging around the studio when stuff was getting cut that would be what he was doing.

I took a quick listen to the ending of "Cuddle Up."  There's a lot of reverb on the vocals...I don't hear Bruce (though that's Toni Tennille on that high part right?), but the tonality of the vocals is such that he could easily be on there. 

So that's my thought.

[adamghost]

Oh the other thing is the lack of Bruce vocally would make sense, since they probably did the vocal tracks last.  So I'm thinking his contribution to the album was probably (mostly) instrumental.

[the captain]

I hope this doesn't come off too weird: I love you.

(You, sir, are my kind of geek.)

[TdHabib]

Great detailed post. I'll second Luther's modest statement.

[the captain]

I wasn't being immodest. I meant "my kind" as in the sort I can adore. I have no Chaos band!

[adamghost]

Right back atcha Luther.  I am always down with what you have to say...you never disappoint.

I didn't catch that "All This Is That" was the first song recorded for CATP.  Guess I should have listened to that first.

[runnersdialzero]

Goes without saying, it's totally redundant, but Brian's demo may top my list of tracks I want to hear most. Top five for sure. What all do we know about it?

[The Heartical Don]

I luuurrve Luther.

[Andrew G. Doe]

It really is an excellent website.  It's very generous of you to devote your time (and money) to nail down Beach Boy history.

I just assemble the info and host it - 99% of the props here go to Ian & Craig (c-man).

[Andrew G. Doe]

Goes without saying, it's totally redundant, but Brian's demo may top my list of tracks I want to hear most. Top five for sure. What all do we know about it.

Recorded at Western 11/12/74, engineered by Chuck. Just Brian & a piano, and he's in great voice until the end, when he starts dicking around, sounding like a bad Vegas lounge singer. "Lucy Jones" was cut at the same time, a prime example of shouty Brian. Vocal there shared with Stevie K.

[adamghost]

So Andrew, any opinion as to where Bruce J. is to be found within the grooves of CATP?

[Andrew G. Doe]

No idea. I'll ask him.

Going purely by the dates, well... could be almost any of them as the sessions commenced late 1971, when he was still firmly in the band. He evidently made his decision to leave (or had it made for him) between April 2nd-14th. We'll work it out, given time. We usually do.

[Andrew G. Doe]

This just in - Bruce says the only track he's on is "Marcella" (vocals).

[adamghost]

Well, now we know.  I'm guessing he's one of those varispeeded "aaahs" then.

[smile-holland]

This just in - Bruce says the only track he's on is "Marcella" (vocals).

Thanks for checking out, another riddle solved.

I'm still curious about the Marcella performance on Feb 72 on Dutch TV.
According to your site, Andrew, there were 2 sessions/periods in which Marcella was recorded.
- December 6-10th 1971
- February 17th 1972

On Feb 24th - only a week later - they did the performance at the Toppop TV show in the Netherlands. Apparently a lipsynch performance (from what I read in Keith Badman's book). On May 15, almost 3 months later C&tP/So Tough and the Mess Of Help 45 is released.

Seeing the pictures from that performance (I've never seen the video footage) Bruce was there. I'm very curious if he (Bruce) remembers performing there, if the recording that was used was the version we all know or an earlier mix. Why they performed it in the first place (were they planning on releasing this as the 1st single in stead of Mess Of Help?). And why only a day later, the Beach Boys perform on the Grand Gala, with Blondie, but apparently without Bruce (although I've seen a picture of Bruce being present at the show).

O well, just wondering... I happen to find these days from the BB-history very interesting (must be the Dutch connection).