"Sweet and Bitter" and "Out In The Country"

[Mikie]

It's OKAAAAAY, but nuthin' to shout about.  Better hurry up and grab this because it's going to be taken down soon, just like the other one with Al back in '08!

[Bill M]

Sometimes it takes a bit for the obvious to slap me in the face: if SWD engineered it, it can't date from later than fall 1971, because that was when he left the BB's employ. Ergo the 1972 date for writing has to be inaccurate.

Or, perhaps SWD didn't engineer "Out in the Country," even though Mr. Goldberg claims so.  There certainly are some inaccuracies here.

[GuyOnTheBeach]

I think Brian may have remembered "Sweet and Bitter"
The Bridge to "Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight" shares quite a bit with the bridge in this.
The Chorus has something that reminds me of the "tag" to the "I'm Beggin' You Please" demo.

There's something else in this, especially in the bridge when Mike sings up (for lack of a better term) that is screaming out at me but I can't place what it's from. --EDIT-- It's the chorus to "Sherry She Needs Me", which, of course predates this, if Brian had a hand in writing this he may have recalled the melody, if not, it's probably just coincidence.

[Shady]

wow, how great is Sweet and Bitter, would have fit in with Sunflower no problem..

"Out in the country" is ok, Al would have sounded good on the lead

[Mikie]

"Out in the country" is ok, Al would have sounded good on the lead

Al did sound good on the lead.  That's the consensus.

[DonnyL]

Sometimes it takes a bit for the obvious to slap me in the face: if SWD engineered it, it can't date from later than fall 1971, because that was when he left the BB's employ. Ergo the 1972 date for writing has to be inaccurate.

Or, perhaps SWD didn't engineer "Out in the Country," even though Mr. Goldberg claims so.  There certainly are some inaccuracies here.

I'm fairly certain Desper engineered it. You can hear the vocal effect ... and the PER-525 tape box is a pretty big clue.

[Don Malcolm]

Very interesting to get more glimpses of the BBs trying out different directions...it gives us a better sense of how much work they were really doing at the time, making a concerted effort to figure out a path through the forest of their exile from the American pop charts.

Always good to have more evidence of Mike's talent as a vocalist--whatever else folks may think of him, he is a great singer. While "Sweet and Bitter" sounds like a work track with a not-quite-finished vocal, the ears tell us that Mike knew just what to do with the track and would have been more than capable of bringing it on home as an LP cut.

Wondering if the banjo in "Out in the Country" might have sparked Brian's use of it on "Mess of Help."

[Rocker]

wow, how great is Sweet and Bitter, would have fit in with Sunflower no problem..

No

[Custom Machine]

I contacted Stephen Desper concerning these videos.  He replied that he does not currently have time to comment in depth, as he is working on a a study-video of Breakaway:

COMMENT:  Thanks for the heads up. No time to comment in depth, working on study-video of Breakaway. As I have always pointed out, there are many songs that were produced, but not released -- the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. Nice looking video. Too bad it's in mono.  ~swd

[bgas]

I contacted Stephen Desper concerning these videos.  He replied that he does not currently have time to comment in depth, as he is working on a a study-video of Breakaway:

COMMENT:  Thanks for the heads up. No time to comment in depth, working on study-video of Breakaway. As I have always pointed out, there are many songs that were produced, but not released -- the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. Nice looking video. Too bad it's in mono.  ~swd

 I hope the Breakaway study video includes the version recorded by "The Parade" produced by Murry and Fred Vail

[Catbirdman]

Better hurry up and grab this because it's going to be taken down soon, just like the other one with Al back in '08!

What other one? I must have missed that.

[Mikie]

http://www.nme.com/nme-video/youtube/id/GbEZEGaiXpY

[bgas]

That's only a snippet!  Where's the whole thing?

[Don Malcolm]

The outro to Al's lead version of "Out In the Country" seems to have some points of connection with two other released BB songs--very reminiscent of the opening of "Cool Cool Water" (albeit much rougher and far less precise) and it seems to also contain the seeds of the chorus melody (with significantly more gospel energy, to be sure) in "He Come Down."

On Steve Desper's unreleased/released ratio noted in a previous post, a clarifying question, please: does he mean that for every released BB track there are one-and-a-half times more songs still in the vaults than what's released, or does he mean 50% (that is, half as many unreleased songs as currently released songs)?

[ohthosegirls]

Fading Love Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34KwL9RFSCI
Just posted so I haven't even heard it yet!

[seltaeb1012002]

Gruff BW count-in!

[ohthosegirls]

Life is for the living! Kind of reminds me of "Won't You Tell Me" style.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Fading Love Song

Well, that Garry Ulmer was a well-known engineer who owned the M.R.I. Studio where the song was recorded, whatever that's worth...

[doc smiley]

Fading Love Song ..  decent demo from the era (early 70's) wouldn't have guessed it was BB related without the notes... interesting note in the video (by Brian?) which asks the composer to write them a hit!

[seltaeb1012002]

"To Don, Write us a hit!" - BW

Looks like he was a songwriter working with Brian trying to come up with hit records for the BB's. Iiinteresting.

So essentially we (will) have half of an unreleased early 70's Beach Boys album.. kinda. With Don Goldberg on vocals.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Looks like he was a songwriter working with Brian trying to come up with hit records...

Yeah, looks like that was happening earlier than I thought. I thought it only began when Brian went solo.

We gotta get this Don Goldberg on the board here. He has some 'splaining to do.

[Custom Machine]

I contacted Stephen Desper concerning these videos.  He replied that he does not currently have time to comment in depth, as he is working on a a study-video of Breakaway:

COMMENT:  Thanks for the heads up. No time to comment in depth, working on study-video of Breakaway. As I have always pointed out, there are many songs that were produced, but not released -- the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. Nice looking video. Too bad it's in mono.  ~swd

I hope the Breakaway study video includes the version recorded by "The Parade" produced by Murry and Fred Vail

Is the recording of this unreleased version of Breakaway in circulation?  Although Fred Vail initially stated that the name of the group was "The Parade", he later stated that he must have been mistaken and that he could not recall the name of the group. 

http://prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/fred-vail-on-break-away-and-murry.html

[bgas]

I contacted Stephen Desper concerning these videos.  He replied that he does not currently have time to comment in depth, as he is working on a a study-video of Breakaway:

COMMENT:  Thanks for the heads up. No time to comment in depth, working on study-video of Breakaway. As I have always pointed out, there are many songs that were produced, but not released -- the ratio is about 1.5 to 1. Nice looking video. Too bad it's in mono.  ~swd

I hope the Breakaway study video includes the version recorded by "The Parade" produced by Murry and Fred Vail

Is the recording of this unreleased version of Breakaway in circulation?  Although Fred Vail initially stated that the name of the group was "The Parade", he later stated that he must have been mistaken and that he could not recall the name of the group.  

http://prayforsurfblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/fred-vail-on-break-away-and-murry.html

All I can tell you is I have someone forwarding a message to Gail; whether she answers is obviously up to her, but from reading her online bios, it seems doubrful that she was in any group that was playing in Colorado.  
I've never heard of the song being in circulation; one has to wonder if Fred has a copy stashed next to his country album.

[EgoHanger1966]

Fading Love Song
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34KwL9RFSCI
Just posted so I haven't even heard it yet!

That's really nice, I like that quite a bit. Kind of a cross between early 70s bubblegum and singer-songwriter. The "strings" during the solo seem to be a recent addition. I don't think that's Brian doing the count-in, though.

[seltaeb1012002]

[I don't think that's Brian doing the count-in, though.

Definitely sounds like BW to me. Sounds like a slightly younger, slightly less gruff version of his '76 self. Which would make sense.

Either way, I love that we're goin back and forth about a newly discovered BW-related 1973 recording. Awesome way to kick off '13.