Cool Cool Water Live 1971 on Mike Douglas

[InAnOcean]

Greetings to all Beach Boys fans!  For a long time now, there's been a full-length clip of the The Beach Boys live performance of "Cool, Cool Water" in 1971 on Youtube.  It is said to be performed on the Mike Douglas show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnojeqlzo8s

Unfortunately,  the video quality of the clip is very poor.  This being perhaps my all time favorite Beach Boys song, I find this to be quite a bummer, as I long to see the full length performance and perhaps even some additional portions from this episode of Mike Douglas.  A piece of this performance was shared in MUCH higher quality in the Endless Harmony DVD, but it is a shorter and incomplete clip.  If you haven't seen it, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kANkGBy5lJ4

I absolutely love this performance.  My favorite moment might actually be at :58 into the second clip where Carl's amazing voice is completely audible and you can hear the beautiful parts he's singing.  Then again, at 1:29 you can hear him quite clearly.  I believe his voice is a little more audible than it is in the mix on Sunflower, as I really get to hear the brilliance of what he is performing wonderfully live.  Every time I hear the album version now, I listen for his parts at these moments. 

Does anybody have this full episode and / or performance in high quality?  It would be an incredible experience to see the bulk of the footage in broadcast quality.  Please, if anybody has any leads, let me know.  I'm happy to share, but all I have is the smaller portion of the performance in high quality, which I've managed to get up on Youtube for people to check out if they haven't already.  Also, does anybody possess any more live video performances (or audio only) of "Cool, Cool Water."  I recently had the pleasure of hearing it performed live at Princeton on 11/13/71:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9HP06opND4

Out of the two live performances I've posted (MD and Princeton), which one do you guys prefer? They are certainly quite different.  The Beach Boys appear to be using a synthesizer or some sort of percussion instrument I can't identify on the Princeton recording , which you can hear when Mike Love delivers his "In an ocean or in a glass" line.  I would love to have the opportunity to see some more live footage or hear some more live audio of this amazing song.  Please understand that I am in my early twenties, so it's somewhat difficult to hear more than what is already out there, as I wasn't afforded the opportunity to watch or attend these shows when they were happening.

Thanks guys!

[InAnOcean]

I just noticed on the Beach Boys Youtube Videos thread there was a post of Cool Cool Water / The David Frost Show, 1971 filmed May 7, 1971 @ Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Philadelphia.  It has since been pulled from Youtube.  Does anybody know if this was the same as the video I posted links to?  Thanks!

[Rocker]

I just noticed on the Beach Boys Youtube Videos thread there was a post of Cool Cool Water / The David Frost Show, 1971 filmed May 7, 1971 @ Westinghouse Broadcasting Company, Philadelphia.  It has since been pulled from Youtube.  Does anybody know if this was the same as the video I posted links to?  Thanks!

It probably was. I don't know of any other TV performances of CCW

[InAnOcean]

Thanks, Rocker

[Rocker]

No problem. Maybe someone else has more information.

Oh and btw welcome to the board !

[InAnOcean]

Thanks a lot, man!  Yeah I'm new here... what a wealth of information and materials.  My eyes felt the strain after going through a lot of the Beach Boys magazine articles that have been posted, also the Jack Rieley posts from years back... just so much.  I'm racking my brain trying to see what I can actually contribute!

[Ian]

By the way-although the Frost site and Keith Badman's book list that app as taped May 7 1971-it was not.  It was taped on March 1 1971 and there is 100% proof of that.  A reporter from Crawdaddy was following the band around-saw the Feb 24 Carnegie gig-then met up with the day after they played in Boston (Feb 28) and heard them taoe those songs at the Frost show (in NYC).  The reporter mentions the songs performed.  It's possible that they taped the app where Dennis sings Forever and Fallin' in Love on May 7 though.  I actually contacted the Frost show archives and they were clueless as to when things were actually taped and base their info on books like Badman. They don't have good records and according to them-neither app exists-though clearly at least the Cool Cool Water app does-but it is not in their archives.

[metal flake paint]

It's thanks to a friend of Alan Boyd's that we have that appearance for posterity. Sadly the tapes were wiped years ago 

[Jay]

So a professional tv studio bases their information on a biographical book? Talk about a "laugh or cry" moment.

[InAnOcean]

Wow guys, this is some great, though disheartening, information.  The last thing I want to be a reality is wiped tapes.  I guess these things just happen.  We should all thank that friend of Alan Boyd!  Thanks also to ian and metal flake paint for the valuable information!

[InAnOcean]

I guess the good news is that the Cool Cool Water performance has indeed been preserved, even if the original tapes were wiped.  That must mean the performance of the entire song exists in broadcast quality, not just the portion that was used in Endless Harmony.  Does anybody have this?  Even if it's not digitized?  I have great equipment that can digitize it!

[Jay]

Somebody "in the know" told me a very interesting story about a cleaning lady who worked for The Tonight Show. Apparently, she deliberately erased and/or destroyed several master film reels of episodes of The Tonight Show from the 1960's. Among the tapes erased or destroyed were an episode with John Lennon and Paul McCartney as guests talking about their (then) current film Magical Mystery Tour, and an episode with Jimi Hendrix as a guest. He did an interview and a performance.

[MBE]

That makes me sick to hear that/

[Jay]

That makes me sick to hear that/

It gets worse. I once talked with somebody who appreantly had the only known existing copy of the Jimi Hendrix episode. It was destroyed during Hurricane Katrina. He wasn't much for a Hendri fan then, and never thought to get a back up copy made.

[Ian]

Yeah-however sometimes things survive in poor quality because they were taped by fans.  For example I have a very poor quality video of John and Paul on that 1968 Tonight show-obviously filmed off of the TV.  An audio tape of the interview is also around-which by the way is nowhere near as bad as John later said it was (Joe Garagiola knew a litte about them).  I have also heard the audio portion of the erased Beach Boys 1968 Tonight Show.  There is also audio of the erased May 71 David Frost where Dennis sang Lady and discussed Two Lane Blacktop-though the video is apparently history.  I have also heard audio of the BBs 69 app on Happening-with Paul Revere, etc...so I assume fans taped these off the TV

[Jay]

Yes, I forgot to mention that fans have unknowingly helped out by making home recordings via 8mm and reel to reel audio recordings. I have an audio recording of the John Lennon and Paul McCartney appearance, in very poor sound quality. On the subject of The Beach Boys, I have heard a recording of them doing Slip On Through that's apparently from a tv show. It's a shame that there isn't a video of that. That just might be my all time favorite Beach Boys song that Dennis did. This recording is very interesting, because Dennis changes the syncopated rhythm of the original studio version.

[Ian]

Yes-some boots stated that the song is from an appearance on Australian TV and listed is as Dennis Whalley show 1970.  Actually-the BBs appeared on the Dennis Wholey show in Dec 1969 (probably taped Nov 69) which taped in Cincinatti and was syndicated. So it is possible they premiered "Slip On Through" (which was already recorded) there.

[Stephen W. Desper]

    Cool Cool Water Live 1971 on Mike Douglas « on: July 27, 2011, 07:38:51 AM »   
 
Greetings to all Beach Boys fans!  For a long time now, there's been a full-length clip of the The Beach Boys live performance of "Cool, Cool Water" in 1971 on Youtube.  It is said to be performed on the Mike Douglas show.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gnojeqlzo8s

Unfortunately,  the video quality of the clip is very poor.  This being perhaps my all time favorite Beach Boys song, I find this to be quite a bummer, as I long to see the full length performance and perhaps even some additional portions from this episode of Mike Douglas.  A piece of this performance was shared in MUCH higher quality in the Endless Harmony DVD, but it is a shorter and incomplete clip.  If you haven't seen it, check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kANkGBy5lJ4

I absolutely love this performance.  My favorite moment might actually be at :58 into the second clip where Carl's amazing voice is completely audible and you can hear the beautiful parts he's singing.  Then again, at 1:29 you can hear him quite clearly.  I believe his voice is a little more audible than it is in the mix on Sunflower, as I really get to hear the brilliance of what he is performing wonderfully live.  Every time I hear the album version now, I listen for his parts at these moments. 

Does anybody have this full episode and / or performance in high quality?  It would be an incredible experience to see the bulk of the footage in broadcast quality.  Please, if anybody has any leads, let me know.  I'm happy to share, but all I have is the smaller portion of the performance in high quality, which I've managed to get up on Youtube for people to check out if they haven't already.  Also, does anybody possess any more live video performances (or audio only) of "Cool, Cool Water."  I recently had the pleasure of hearing it performed live at Princeton on 11/13/71:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9HP06opND4

Out of the two live performances I've posted (MD and Princeton), which one do you guys prefer? They are certainly quite different.  The Beach Boys appear to be using a synthesizer or some sort of percussion instrument I can't identify on the Princeton recording , which you can hear when Mike Love delivers his "In an ocean or in a glass" line.  I would love to have the opportunity to see some more live footage or hear some more live audio of this amazing song.  Please understand that I am in my early twenties, so it's somewhat difficult to hear more than what is already out there, as I wasn't afforded the opportunity to watch or attend these shows when they were happening.

Thanks guys!


COMMENT: 

Hello InAnOcean,

I am Stephen W. Desper. I originally engineered the song CCW. I have read the above commentary and will try to give you my perspective.

During this time, when  not recording in the studio, I was traveling with five Beach Boys doing concert tours, as the house and monitor mixer. A TV show appearance in Philadelphia was arranged into the travel literary. That was The Mike Douglas Show , upon which the guys made several appearances over the years. Meanwhile, other tour itineraries would also book guest appearances on the LIVE with Regis and Kelly show. After 41 years, the memories are sometimes confused, as these shows and dates all run together. However, I do remember this particular MD show because of the CCW arrangement. Of course CCW contains several layers of vocals and vocal parts, too many to sing live (without using backup singers).  So the live arrangement had to give a good impression of the song. It would be a challenge and the group knew it, but after some discussion they decided to go forward and develop an arrangement for live performance. Since there were only four singing voices, Bruce supplied parts of the vocal flavors on his keyboard. What harmonies were to be played on the keyboard, and which ones would bed sung, would be the subject of many hours of practice time. Bruce developed a playing technique that you see on the video of playing the B3 Hammond organ in a staccato fashion. This technique supplied the harmonies necessary to the song without overriding the parts that would be sung. The arrangement would be worked out at the house studio and rehearsals of the final arrangement would continue to be worked on while on the road – right up to air time. We would tape practice performances and judge the playbacks, make changes and continue. As I recall, the air date was close when the decision was made to perform CCW, so as I said, the guys practiced on the road right up to the show date.

Before the performance you see on YouTube, the BB chatted with MD about CCW and how they recorded it, it’s history, Brian’s role, etc. Then Douglas noticed Darrel Dragon in the band and said hello to him, but Darrel had no microphone so he was shouting at Douglas and it became a little amateurish. Finally it was time to sing. In the interim I was to find my way up to the TV control room, the sound control room. The show’s sound mixer would mix the show, but before the show he and the producer ask me to show them where it would be good to put close-ups, feature instruments, who would be singing what top lines, stuff like that. Then I would stand behind the sound mixer and tell him what parts he should bring up or down in the mix. TV uses union engineers, so I could not sit at the desk, but would be a guide to the mixer. I recall he was a very amendable fellow and quite responsive to my suggestions. I thought the mix came out quite good for a TV show. I remember needing to demand that Mike’s mic be lifted in the mix as he sings his part softly. This required Mike’s fader to be twice as high as the other voices, an unusual setting, but finally we got it increased. The director got all the cues on time, with good calls on the shots. Remember this is live TV. No rehearsals and no rewind button!

As to finding video footage of this MD show, ask Boyd on his thread, The Allan Boyd Thread. He may be able to help you.

You also ask about other forms of “this amazing song.”  A few years ago Allan Boyd and myself decided to participate in a Beach Boy Convention, called Busy Doin’ Nothing. It was in Connecticut. One of several exhibits we set-up involved CCW.  The idea was to give fans a chance to mix all vocal parts with or without the instruments. To do this Allan and I went back to the multi-tracks (on 2 inch tape) and made a mix over to an 8-track cassette. With noise reduction, it’s a fairly accurate sound. Seven tracks of vocals and one of the instrumentation. This was made on my machine, which I still have. At the convention I located myself in a quiet area and with the 8-track, a 16-channel mixer, powered close-field monitors placed right in front of you. I put some heavy velvet curtains around the listening area. So each person would come in and sit in front of the mixer. I would show them how to make each voice louder by moving the slide fader and how to pan each vocal track. If someone wanted more, I would show them EQ, how to add echo, insert a track hop with delay, to each of the channels.  Although I have the whole song recorded on 8-track, at the convention I used only the last part of the song.  But that was plenty for most people … doing around six complete passes. Some people came back for seconds and thirds, as they developed a sound from the eight tracks. A few people mixed the entire song. Unfortunately, Brother Records would not allow copies of each person’s attempt at mixing CCW to be recorded, but each person who sat at that console did receive a certificate, telling that they did mix down Cool, Cool Water and signed and dated by me.

Also at that convention I setup two tables full of headphones. I rented thirty professional headphones and headphone distribution amplifiers from a NYC studio equipment rental house. In preparation for this listening session by the fans, Allan and I selected many out-takes, unreleased songs, and other sonic items of interest that may never be heard … into a 45 minute presentation to be listened to only over headphones. By sitting at a table with hard-wired headphones we could assure BRI that none of what was being presented would be copied by fans. In this way we could let the fans hear many things that will never be heard. At a second table we continually played the unreleased second album by The Flame, produced by Carl Wilson. This album still remains unreleased to this day, but those who came to the convention could hear it all.

Finally, with respect to Cool, Cool Water…   It seems you are a “late arrival” fan, and may not know of my book Recording The Beach Boys, now out-of-print. In the Sunflower  section I go over details about recording all the songs including CCW. When I was selling this book I was also selling a device that you could insert into a stereo system the would de-code the matrix that CCW and other songs were recorded in.  You do know that Sunflower and of course CCW was released in stereo with the mix still locked in a matrix. I mixed down in those days into a dimensional matrix that, when played back through, would project the vocals and some instruments to sound as if forward of the speakers and beyond the speakers another thirty degrees or so. Some sounds even image behind the listener. When you listen to CCW through the matrix you will hear much more music than listening in stereo.  Unfortunately I can’t get Capital to release Sunflower or Surf’s Up with the matrix decoded. So all these years only a few fans have actually heard the playbacks as Carl and I made them. I did offer the matrix device and many fans bought the matrix to hear these albums.

At this point in my Comments I must say that your request, InAnOcean, and written commentary shows me that you are quite serious about this song, CCW. Being a past member of the Beach Boy organization there are some things I cannot do in a public forum.  But, if you contact me by way of a private message, I can work with you to bring to your attention some ways and means to enhance your listening experience of CCW beyond what you are now hearing. To contact me directly, click on my name and look for my email address in the profile. Send me your email address and I will contact you directly.  There is a compatibility issue between Windows 7 and the SmileySmile message board that prevents me from typing answers directly to my thread (Stephen W. Desper). I wrote this response in MSWORD and copied it one time to this thread. That’s about all I can do. Too bad the powers at SmileySmile can’t get the bugs out, otherwise I would post more.

Please note that other fans who may be reading this will find a copy of this post on my thread (The Stephen W. Desper Thread @ SmileySmile ). It is at this thread that I prefer to answer any questions that anyone may have, so if there are follow-up questions, post them to me on my thread, please.

Hope to hear from you InAnOcean, until then…

Good Listening, ~Stephen W. Desper   
   

[Mikie]

Welcome back, Mr. Desper!

Enjoyed your dissertation about Cool, Cool, Water, one of my favorite Sunflower tracks! Sure would like to see you post more on this or other threads, and maybe let us know when your updated version of "Recording The Beach Boys" will come out.

By the way, I had the same issue you do concerning the "bugs" in the Smiley Smile board. I have Windows 7 too, and all I did was update my browser to Microsoft Exploder 9 and now I'm dancin' with the wolves. I understand that the Mozilla Firefox browser works well also.

[Jay]

It would be really interesting(and cool!) if somebody could develope an "internet mixing consol" for fans like us to be able to take part in mixing songs like CCW. 

[Rich Panteluk]

Very happy to see you post here again, Mr. Desper.  Your engineering with the boys produced their BEST SOUNDING albums and to have your presence here, sharing your knowledge and personal stories is a wonderful gift.

I would love to buy the Recording The Beach Boy book and also the matrix, if you ever do reprints or updates as I missed out the first time.

Thanks again for posting and we would love to see you more around these parts.  All the best through the holiday season and into the new year!

Cheers,
Rich Panteluk
Calgary, Alberta, Canada