Your ideal of a 'Rare Live' release

[punkinhead]

With what we've heard in concerts before (either by attending or audience recordings) or even just reading on Eric's Setlist site (which makes my mouth water when reading what's been performed over the years.

For the anniversery, I'd love to see some rare/album cuts and rare covers (from over the years) get cleaned up and officially released. Even greatest hits have had their great performances (performing for Beachago, guest singers for encores/anniverseries.)

It'd also be great to hear some solo material performed live, Heaven, What you do to Me, Country Pie, River Song, Almost Summer, etc.

I'll come up with a setlist of possibilities.

[tpesky]

I woud hope that at one point for the 50th anniversary..some sort of archival live offering is made. Makes sense to have a disc a decade.

[punkinhead]

In no particular order, I was thinking of a group of songs as a discussion of what type of recording, who/when/where it was recording and it's importance to the Beach Boys saga.

I'd first like to throw out there that it'd be really awesome if the compilers could gather at least a song or two from each era of the touring/stage group. I know we have great albums of the early years, late 60s, mid-early 70s, and one last concert (officially released) with all the original Boys. Include earlier live recordings (early than the Concert album) such as songs/covers like What'd I Say (with Carl on lead), Louie Louie (David on lead), Runaway (not the 80s recording), Farmer's Daughter, Silly Boy (Dennis on lead), Blue City, Movin N' Groovin, and Honky Tonk would have a great live vibe to it (reference: those songs were taken from the Wayne County Fair, Honesdale, PA setlist taken from John S.'s book from David)...if only there was a recording! But I'm sure these songs were performed more than once and perhaps the tapes were rolling then. While on the subject of that fantastic book (the Lost Beach Boy), it's written how the guys were a backup band for a lot of musicians on stage and I thought that'd be great, heck, even if there was a recording with Jan and Dean being backed by them....I'd be pleased...imagine those backing vocals! If there's any recordings of Glen C. with the guys, I'd like to hear him on Brian's parts....maybe a recording of Bruce's first appearance in concert...With Girl Don't Tell Me being Carl's first official lead vocal, I just saw on Eric's site where it was performed on Aug. of 65, it'd be nice to hear one of Carl's first vocals live. Of course, moving on with the band in the late 60s, I'd love to hear some more tunes with the fantastic horn section...Live in London left me wanting more, I felt like the setlist was too short. Maybe throw Friends, Cotton Fields, Little Bird, Breakaway, Nearest Faraway Place, I can Hear Music, and Riot in Cell Block #9, I'm sure they've got great horn parts to add. Maybe hear a little bit of the Grateful Dead tunes that they played together, you can see those for yourself on here (http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/4-27-71.html). Some more Blondie/Ricky era stuff would be a great addition, highly doubt any of their live stuff would make it, but I'm sure their playing or singing could make it. I believe Ricky played metal-steel when they played California live on occasion. I think Ricky could play a mean set on It's About Time, which was performed a lot in the early 70s. Perhaps include You Need a Mess of Help (live) which would contain Blondie's vocals and maybe another cut of Marcella (with Blondie's great backing vocals).

But I'd like to expand that and showcase each member with a lead vocal of something they usually don't sing or a rarity. Like I know Carl (early 70s) and Denny sang Help Me Rhonda a couple of different times rather than Al. Then there was other great leads given to others than the original like Billy H. on Sail On Sailor or I'm Waiting For the Day. Giving Blondie the lead to Wild Honey was nothing short of genius.

For some reason, when I was thinking about live songs, I thought of Good Timin', it's been a favorite over the years...Two performances come to mind, one is the performance at Knebworth; not included on the official release for reasons unknown unless it was just Brian's flub of the lyrics (the ones he added on specifically for the live version: "He/You need Good timin'). I'm sure with today's technology, they could just repeat the correct line he sings from earlier in the song and it sound just fine. The other performance is of when Dennis performed the lead vocal, which is included on some of the Dennis boots & the Bamboo Dumb Angel Rarities; Denny says Carl was too chicken or sick to sing lead or something or another...but the song's lyrics have great meaning for the life of Dennis, it makes one reflect on his life through those lyrics.  I'm sure a cleaned up version of these two would please many fans...let alone, Good Timin' is usually considered a greatest hit (Best of the Bother Years among others)..


Well, I need to leave for a bit, but I'll continue if you want me to...unless this is too much....I have a lot more to write

[onkster]

I'd like to see a nicely-edited box set of choice live cuts from all eras--perhaps a disc devoted to each era.

Kind of a "Good Vibes" box, but live.

[punkinhead]

I'd like to see a nicely-edited box set of choice live cuts from all eras--perhaps a disc devoted to each era.

Kind of a "Good Vibes" box, but live.

I kinda started my rant/ideas about each era being included...I stopped at the Blondie/Ricky era, but I'll continue about the other eras in a little bit.

[punkinhead]

As I was listening to the Knebworth recordings, I was thinking about why the other songs didn't make it besides GT. I listened to In My Room and I believe the lead vocal is Bruce, but his higher voice just didn't mesh well with the older/more gruff backing vocals...and then the synth comes in midway through and it makes me gag. and speaking of synth, I was listening to Santa Ana Winds, which should really be a smooth song to play in concert but it's not too great, but I believe it's the first time they ever played the tune live.....but for some reason, Al has to announce when the solo is and instead of like the studio cut (harmonica), it's the synth again (i think!), which sounds terrible. Speaking of sounding terrible, you'd think Wouldn't it Be Nice would make the release (being a favorite/hit) but it's possibly the worst rendition of it...Al says it's him and Brian singing it but I can't hear Brian really. It just sounds so jumbled and unorganized...the vocals are nothing to brag about. I believe Some of Your Love and I Write the Songs are played too...they're just mediocre. I'm really surprised I Write the Songs hasn't been on any official BB release...is that Bruce's call? Legality issues?

[Curtis Leon]

I wish the Seattle '70 concerts w/ Brian were released.

[Jason]

They would have had to have been recorded first, and I doubt the Boys would release the bootleg tape that's been around forever.

[onkster]

I see, Punkinhead--we were actually typing and posting at the exact same time!

[Mikie]

Gimme three era's of live stuff - '66/'67,  '68/'69,  and early 70's stuff.  Anything from the early 70's.

Boots already exist of much of this stuff. SOT Live Box, Michigan, Hawaii gigs, entire Vocal Element boot (Detroit, NYC, Pittsburgh, & Boston), Paris, London Palladium (full shows) Winnepeg, Filmore East, Syracuse, Nassau, Joysie, Carnegie Hall (full shows), Madison Sq. Garden, Central Park, Wembly, Bumfuct, etc.    Especially Carnegie!!

Just eliminate all the Mike Love on-stage banter, re-mix and/or re-master the tapes and you can have a real nice Live set!!

[onkster]

So...as I haven't dragged myself thru all these...which are the best performance- and sound-quality-wise? I may make my own set until the real thing comes along...

[Mikie]

.........and if you want live shows from '64/'65.........the two SOT Sacramento shows, Sydney, and of course the two '65 Chicago shows are essential.

Onk.  Man, you gotta search these babies down! It's all goooood.

[bgas]

Myself, my dream live release?
At least two of these shows, preferably on vinyl/tape, but CD if I hafta( video tape would be even betterer): 

December 31 1961   - Ritchie Valens Memorial Concert, Long Beach CA
January 25, 1962 - Mesa Presbyterian Church Surf Nite, Hawthorne CA
February 19/20 1962  - Academy Fine Arts Theatre, San Diego CA
March  2, 1962  - Millikan High Auditorium, Long Beach CA

[PhilCohen]

My idea would be a chronological box set of professionally recorded live shows from 1963-1970. Usually, at each venue, an afternoon & evening show(with a similar or identical song list) were recorded with the idea of getting one satisfactory performance & recording of each song. This policy of recording two shows probably has its' roots in an attempt to record an earlier (1963 or early 1964) show at Sacramento. Apparently, only one show was recorded, and most of it was unusable due to performance or recording problems(this show may have been the source for "Long Tall Texan" on "Beach Boys Concert"). I would want to see a box set with composite sets(one best recorded and performed version of each song performed at each pair of shows)

Sacramento August 1964(undoctored and with actual live versions of "I Get around" & "Fun Fun Fun")
Chicago, Spring 1965
Michigan, October 1966
Hawaii 1967(from both shows & the studio re-recording session)
The December 1967 mono soundboard shows where the "Wild Honey" songs were performed
Big Sur 1970

Plus selected radio broadcasts(Hollywood Bowl 1963, Swedish Radio 1964 & the 3 songs recorded in Australia 1964)

[king of anglia]

The 1972(?) Radio Luxembourg concert.

[Mikie]

The December 1967 mono soundboard shows where the "Wild Honey" songs were performed.

I believe you're referring to the November, 1967 soundboard shows(?) Detroit, Nov. 17, New York, Nov 21, Boston, Nov. 23, Pittsburgh, Nov. 27. These are all documented on the "Vocal Element" boot. Were there December soundboards recorded too?

 

[PhilCohen]

The December 1967 mono soundboard shows where the "Wild Honey" songs were performed.

I believe you're referring to the November, 1967 soundboard shows(?) Detroit, Nov. 17, Nov 21, New York, Boston, Nov. 23, Pittsburgh, Nov. 27. These are all documented on the "Vocal Element" boot. Were there December soundboards recorded too?

 

Perhaps they were November 1967 recordings, as you say. The group was previewing the "Wild Honey" material. "Wild Honey"(the first Beach Boys record that I bought) appeared in local department stores in Jan.1968. I remember buying it at the same time that I bought "The Rolling Stones-Their Satanic Majesties Request". I was 11 years old.

[Jason]

Ideally, I would gladly buy any live release they put out, but I am definitely against a box set of choice cuts from 50 different shows if we could reasonably get individual live releases of complete shows. For the 1960s shows that were recorded, you could easily get both gigs of a night's performance on one CD in most cases. It would be great to have an official set of the pro-recorded gigs we've seen on bootlegs, and many of the soundboards would make for good releases too. I would argue that the September 1971 Carnegie Hall audience tape is one of the best candidates for a live release.

[PhilCohen]

Ideally, I would gladly buy any live release they put out, but I am definitely against a box set of choice cuts from 50 different shows if we could reasonably get individual live releases of complete shows. For the 1960s shows that were recorded, you could easily get both gigs of a night's performance on one CD in most cases. It would be great to have an official set of the pro-recorded gigs we've seen on bootlegs, and many of the soundboards would make for good releases too. I would argue that the September 1971 Carnegie Hall audience tape is one of the best candidates for a live release.

But unfortunately, because live recording was in its' infancy between 1964-67, the composite show approach that I describe would be neccessary, because for each pair of renditions of the same song, usually one version is truly unuseable, due to inaudible vocals and/or instruments or a wretched performance(there were no onstage monitor speakers back then, making it tricky to perform harmony singing). For example, on the two August 1964 Sacramento shows, on one of the shows, the vocals are inaudible on 3 songs. And on Michigan Oct.1966, one of the versions of "Good Vibrations" was not captured complete.

[Micha]

I'd like to have the August 23rd 1972 concert in Boston, in which they were backed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra during the second half of their set. I have an mp3 of Surf's Up from that concert (in very bad sound quality though), and the strings make that song much more majestic.

[Jason]

But unfortunately, because live recording was in its' infancy between 1964-67, the composite show approach that I describe would be neccessary, because for each pair of renditions of the same song, usually one version is truly unuseable, due to inaudible vocals and/or instruments or a wretched performance(there were no onstage monitor speakers back then, making it tricky to perform harmony singing). For example, on the two August 1964 Sacramento shows, on one of the shows, the vocals are inaudible on 3 songs. And on Michigan Oct.1966, one of the versions of "Good Vibrations" was not captured complete.

I am well aware of that; I have copies of them on bootleg. I see no problem with them as a release. It's called "warts and all". And frankly, the fact that we've listened to and argued endlessly about the sessions for an album that was never finished seems to make any squabbling about live releases with a few inconsistencies rather hypocritical, doesn't it? I think the Beach Boys know very well that we'll listen to anything they put out at this rate. I say they should strike while the iron's hot. They have the tapes; they have leagues of stuff we've never heard. I'll be first in line to listen to it.