Aeijtzsche's Annual Assortment of potentially unsolvable BB mysteries.

[OBLiO]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofByti7A4uM&feature=related

This is a video I found awhile back called Behind the Sounds. I think it's homemade but it's good stuff. At 4:48, the text mentions a mandolin body with a 12-string neck for Wouldn't It Be Nice. I can't determine if the photos shown actually show the modified instrument. I only see six tuning keys. But the sound is a hollow body sound... acoustic vs. electric sound.

Also, in another thread there was a question about a fellow sitting in a chair in a studio photo.
It was determined to be Larry Levine. There is another photo of him in the video.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

My ears have always heard the WIBN intro as an intentionally slightly out of tune harp... but that can't be right?

We know it's something that could be played by a guitar player, since we know the intro was played by Jerry Cole and Barney Kessel, and we know it is something that can be plugged directly into the console.  The session tape makes it clear that there are two guitar-like instruments.

But see, this is exactly what I mean.  It just sounds strange.  Lots of people have thought it was a harp.  People have thought it was some kind of keyboard.  I've heard people who think it's ukeleles.

Now, have you ever heard any cover, or heard Brian's band, or the Beach Boys band play it and have it sound like anything other than a 12-string guitar?

[Alan Boyd]

Hey Josh,

The Columbia engineer is actually Ralph VALENTIN - with a V. 

I believe his full name was Rafael O. Valentin, based on some quick online research... He's credited as engineer on a number of 1960s LPs, sometimes as "Rafael," sometimes as "Raphael," and sometimes as "Ralph."   He was on quite a few of the Columbia studio SMILE sessions, as well, often listed as "R.V." on the track sheets.

[GuyOnTheBeach]

Re the WIBN intro, my reckoning is that it must be a custom instrument or at least an instrument which is hard to obtain, otherwise why wouldn't Brian's band (who otherwise have a sound remarkably close to the record) not play the actual instrument live?

[37!ws]

Custom instruments never stopped Brian's band. That's why Probyn plays a Tannerin, Nelson played a VW hubcap and a water bottle, and Darian contacted a clown supply joint and had 'em honk all the horns for him over the phone so he could be sure he had a horn in the right key for "You Still Believe In Me."

I could believe that quote attributed to Brian that it was a guitar played high up on the neck. In fact, it sounds awfully like the strings are played right by the tuning pegs (have access to a guitar? Try it.), although I doubt that someone spent the time to tune the strings so that those little segments by the tuning pegs would happen to sound the right notes...

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Hey Josh,

The Columbia engineer is actually Ralph VALENTIN - with a V. 

I believe his full name was Rafael O. Valentin, based on some quick online research... He's credited as engineer on a number of 1960s LPs, sometimes as "Rafael," sometimes as "Raphael," and sometimes as "Ralph."   He was on quite a few of the Columbia studio SMILE sessions, as well, often listed as "R.V." on the track sheets.

Interesting.  Sort of reminds me of the whole Al Vescovo/Vescozo/Vescoso thing where once the misspelling hit something it was hard to undo.  That explains why googling "Ralph Balantin" always only pointed back to various Pet Sounds credits, which have chronically been mis-naming this poor fellow all this time.

Nice to see you pop out of the woodwork, Alan, thanks.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Not entirely relevant but check this out:  http://jaazz.wordpress.com/2011/02/02/barney-kessel-his-personal-kay-gibson-danelectro-coa-for-sales-on-ebay/

Very interesting to see Barney's bass was a 4-string.  Wonder if he just always went with that or eventually got a 6-string Dano.

I will see about tracking down somebody closer to this and figuring out if anybody still knows about the WIBN instrument...

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

OK, it seems that Dan Kessel, Barney's son, has an email address.

Has anybody here ever contacted him?  I always feel bad contacting people out of the blue about really nerdy things.  Is it worth a try?

http://www.dankessel.com/

[Don_Zabu]

Something like this is the closest I've seen to a photo of the Beach Boys recording a track with Wrecking Crew people.

That picture won't load for me. Could you upload it to Imageshack or something?

[Jay]

I have a question of my own, if I may. Who played bass on Slip On Through?

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Something like this is the closest I've seen to a photo of the Beach Boys recording a track with Wrecking Crew people.

That picture won't load for me. Could you upload it to Imageshack or something?

Does it work if you follow the link:  http://cache2.asset-cache.net/xc/73989286.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=77BFBA49EF8789215ABF3343C02EA54818B609A54F8341B27E726682337DDAA2279CE20876FC2722

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I have a question of my own, if I may. Who played bass on Slip On Through?

Could be about anybody.  Various Beach Boys played bass on Sunflower, as well as Daryl Dragon.  Some session people were around too, but I don't know that this session is documented.

[Jay]

I have a question of my own, if I may. Who played bass on Slip On Through?

Could be about anybody.  Various Beach Boys played bass on Sunflower, as well as Daryl Dragon.  Some session people were around too, but I don't know that this session is documented.

Is it just me, or is a good amount of the bass sound that you are hearing actually coming from Mike's bass vocal?

[OBLiO]

Something else to consider regarding the sound of the guitars. They are both plugged into the console direct and pipe through reverb. That reverb is part of the sound. To replicate the sound you need that board and echo chamber.

If you watch the vid and listen at 1:10 you can hear one guitar with a lower tonal quality.... probably the tone control turned down to give it a deeper tone. The riff sounds like the beginning of The Star Spangled Banner... then right after you can hear the higher tone guitar try and replicate the riff but lower on the fret board where you can clearly hear the two strings so it's definitely a 12 string of some type. If the word "modified" is being used to describe the type of guitar... it could be that the type of 12 string used was a new thing at that time and not necessarily a homemade modification, but a new or rare instrument to use, i.e. Bellzouki. If there is a photo of someone holding a Bellzouki, good chance that is one of the 12 strings used.

[punkinhead]

7.  Why does there seem to be such a paucity of a photographic record for Beach Boys instrumental tracking sessions?

What do you mean by this?
I had to look up what paucity meant 


Are you suggesting there's only released material out there like Stack-O-Tracks and the Pet Sounds Sessions Boxset that contain the tracking sessions? I think there's even less of Beatles instrumental tracking sessions, especially released....Anthology had Within You Without You, Elenor Rigby strings only, parts of I'm Only Sleeping, parts of Benefit of Mr. Kite, etc....most seem to be early vocal session/demo tracks.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I have a question of my own, if I may. Who played bass on Slip On Through?

Could be about anybody.  Various Beach Boys played bass on Sunflower, as well as Daryl Dragon.  Some session people were around too, but I don't know that this session is documented.

Is it just me, or is a good amount of the bass sound that you are hearing actually coming from Mike's bass vocal?

That is a great effect, isn't it?  The voice-as-instrument philosophy there.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Something else to consider regarding the sound of the guitars. They are both plugged into the console direct and pipe through reverb. That reverb is part of the sound. To replicate the sound you need that board and echo chamber.

If you watch the vid and listen at 1:10 you can hear one guitar with a lower tonal quality.... probably the tone control turned down to give it a deeper tone. The riff sounds like the beginning of The Star Spangled Banner... then right after you can hear the higher tone guitar try and replicate the riff but lower on the fret board where you can clearly hear the two strings so it's definitely a 12 string of some type. If the word "modified" is being used to describe the type of guitar... it could be that the type of 12 string used was a new thing at that time and not necessarily a homemade modification, but a new or rare instrument to use, i.e. Bellzouki. If there is a photo of someone holding a Bellzouki, good chance that is one of the 12 strings used.

We know that Tedesco had a Bellzouki so that is certainly a possibility.  One thing that would be interesting to do apart from this would be to see what manufacturers offered 12-string electrics at that time.

That Star-spangled banner lick is also a lingering question--if you listen to the complete session, that is repeatedly played between takes, and I wonder if it references some other song.

The tonal difference is quite marked and very similar, again, to Sloop, where one of the twelve strings is thinner sounding and woodier.  That could simply be a neck vs. bridge pick-up issue, also.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

7.  Why does there seem to be such a paucity of a photographic record for Beach Boys instrumental tracking sessions?

What do you mean by this?
I had to look up what paucity meant  


Are you suggesting there's only released material out there like Stack-O-Tracks and the Pet Sounds Sessions Boxset that contain the tracking sessions? I think there's even less of Beatles instrumental tracking sessions, especially released....Anthology had Within You Without You, Elenor Rigby strings only, parts of I'm Only Sleeping, parts of Benefit of Mr. Kite, etc....most seem to be early vocal session/demo tracks.

I'm talking about photographic documentation, not audio sessions.

Incidentally, "paucity" comes from the Latin "pauc" root, either the noun paucus, which refers to a small group of something, or the adjective paucus-a-um, just meaning little, a small extent, etc.

[Jay]

I have a question of my own, if I may. Who played bass on Slip On Through?

Could be about anybody.  Various Beach Boys played bass on Sunflower, as well as Daryl Dragon.  Some session people were around too, but I don't know that this session is documented.

Is it just me, or is a good amount of the bass sound that you are hearing actually coming from Mike's bass vocal?

That is a great effect, isn't it?  The voice-as-instrument philosophy there.

It's to bad that he has such a bad reputation, because Mike has made some very overlooked, and essential contributions to songs. Slip on Through is a great example. Another is You're So Good To Me. If you take away his bass vocal in the chorus("You're my baby" etc), it wouldn't sound nearly as good. It's such a simple, understated contribution, but very essential to making the song just right.  

[Jon Stebbins]

There's no way that it's Billy Strange.

But it has to be... Carol says so.

I wonder if you would be so derisive to this woman in person as you and others often are on this board? 

Given the horrible things she's said about me and my mother on her forum, whilst banning me so that I cannot reply, not to mention accusing me of theft, damn right I would. She's a liar and a fantasist who takes credit for other people's work. Fact. Don't care how old she is.

Interesting to see this trailer for a new documentary about Carol in which she is credited as bassist on Good Vibrations...a credit which new evidence suggests is probably not accurate. Although she was definitely one of the bassists on the GV "sessions", she more than likely is only on a few seconds of the fade on the released record, or not at all. She's certainly not on the part she plays in this clip. I wonder how much of this doc. just takes her word, or actually researches the work. With the long list of amazing credits that are solidly hers, its a shame she has to muddy that with a habit of claiming credit for some things that are not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMznvEgOPhU&feature=youtu.be

[Firemellow]

The tone that the strings make, unless they are highly EQ'd and/or processed (and there's no doubt that we have a ton of reverb on them), I'm gonna step out on a limb and suggest that perhaps we have someone playing a classical guitar (nylon strings) on the WIBN intro.

[Andrew G. Doe]

There's no way that it's Billy Strange.

But it has to be... Carol says so.

I wonder if you would be so derisive to this woman in person as you and others often are on this board? 

Given the horrible things she's said about me and my mother on her forum, whilst banning me so that I cannot reply, not to mention accusing me of theft, damn right I would. She's a liar and a fantasist who takes credit for other people's work. Fact. Don't care how old she is.

Interesting to see this trailer for a new documentary about Carol in which she is credited as bassist on Good Vibrations...a credit which new evidence suggests is probably not accurate. Although she was definitely one of the bassists on the GV "sessions", she more than likely is only on a few seconds of the fade on the released record, or not at all. She's certainly not on the part she plays in this clip. I wonder how much of this doc. just takes her word, or actually researches the work. With the long list of amazing credits that are solidly hers, its a shame she has to muddy that with a habit of claiming credit for some things that are not.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMznvEgOPhU&feature=youtu.be

Said trailer also shows the picture sleeve for The Doors "Light My Fire", a record which she most certainly wasn't on. This is going to be one interesting documentary when it comes out...

[grillo]

That Star-spangled banner lick is also a lingering question--if you listen to the complete session, that is repeatedly played between takes, and I wonder if it references some other song.

Isn't that part just the bridge/pre-chorus slowed down thing that the guitars (or whatever) play?

[Ebb and Flow]

3.  If a full session tape for "That's Not Me" exists (does it?) why wasn't it booted?

The full session seems to exist, according to the official Pet Sounds Sessions Box.  Though the excerpt there is short (suspiciously short), you can hear Chuck call take 1, and it was recorded in 15 takes, so you'd assume the rest is available.  It does seem strange that the SOT people would have omitted it from their otherwise exhaustive archive of available PS session material.  Perhaps it was one of the tapes where Brian recorded over the beginning because the tracking session ran too long?

4.  What exactly is going on in the guitars on I Know there's an Answer?  Are they special, i.e. abnormal?

To my ears it sounds very much like the guitar combo on WIBN (Recorded only around a week before), Kessel on a mando guitar or something similar and Glen Campbell on a normal 12-string, both treated with a heavy amount of echo.

6.  Is the second harpsichord on YSBIM overdubbed after the main session?  If not, why does it sound like it is totally isolated on its track?

Yes, because you can hear the click of Brian's talkback mic cut in at the very end of the track the harpsichord is recorded on....just prior to when he calls the end of the take on the basic track.  IMO damning evidence that the harpsichord was overdubbed.

7.  Why does there seem to be such a paucity of a photographic record for Beach Boys instrumental tracking sessions?

It does seem strange that there are so few photos out there.  You have to wonder if members of the band (and surviving relatives) have some treasure trove of photographic material not cataloged by BRI.  I also wonder if Diane Rovell has ever been asked if she ever took any photos during tracking sessions.

My personal Pet Sounds mystery...what happened to the tracking session tape of "Don't Talk"?  Portions of it were booted long ago as an early take (With a much more prominent organ and a different tympani fill at the end) and edited portions containing Brian's instructions to the musicians.  I guess it was just one of those tapes "borrowed" but never returned.  It's sad that the full stereo backing track was not available for the remix.

[Custom Machine]

If you have known me for long, you may know that I have certain pet mysteries to the bottom of which I would very much like to get. 
...
If you can shed any light on these, I would be eternally grateful. 

OK, here's one of my pet mysteries ... when will Josh finish his excellent Sunflower Blog, on which he last posted 3 and 1/2 years ago, after completing song descriptions for only half of the album.

If anyone can shed any light on when Josh will complete writing descriptive info for the songs on the second half of the album, I would be eternally grateful. 

Check it out at http://recordingsunflower.blogspot.com/