Analysis of the Live 50th Anniversary Tour CD

[AlFall]

I would like to start a thread in the spirit of the Led Zeppelin site, The Garden Tapes, where officially released live CDs are analyzed in detail to determine when and where they were recorded, and what, if anything, was overdubbed in the studio.  I am hoping that others will contribute to this.  (Of course, it could be that Beach Boys fans are not quite as psycho as Zep fans!) I will start with THE LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW and WENDY.

THE LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW is from Dallas (Grand Prairie), the second show performed on the tour.  It is the Beach Boys in their full 2012 live glory, with no overdubs or edits.  (with one minor exception below) It was performed the night before in Tucson and rehearsed at the Dallas soundcheck, which I attended.  The song was dropped from the setlist later in the tour.  If any autotune was applied, it was also applied at the show, as the well-recorded booleg and the official CD have the same lead vocals from Brian, although another vocalist (I assume Jeff) is singing lead with him.  About an hour of the Dallas performance had previously been released on a PBS web site, so I predicted, accurately, that some of the tracks on the CD would be from this performance.

0:22: Brian's lead vocal line "then I had no eyes for her" sounds double-tracked,
      but another vocalist (I assume Jeff) is singing along at the show. I can't
      detect any differences from the CD and the show.
0:35 Crowd noise is overdubbed here, an unnecessary change that unfortunately is
     repeated throughout the CD.
1:00 Al's backing vocal is much more audible on the bootleg, but it's the same one
     as the CD.
1:32 The "bow bow ba ba bow" backing vocal sounds studio overdubbed - but it's from
      the live performance - just more audible on the pro mix.
2:55: The "thank you" from Al, and the "Summer Days Summer Nights album" from Bruce
      are heard on the CD as they were in Dallas. (Note that this song was not on the
      original SDSN album, but is included now as a bonus track on the CD)
2:59: Al says "thank you very much, thank you" at the show. The CD has just the "thank
      you", and fades into WENDY.  On my CD, the first part of WENDY is tacked on to the
      end of THE LITTLE GIRL I ONCE KNEW.  WENDY was played after this song in Dallas,
      but several seconds of silence and crowd noise are cut from the CD.
3:02 - 3:10: The beginning of WENDY is also from Dallas. The audience "woo woo"
      shouting is from the show.

WENDY (from the start of the CD track, which starts with the snare drum) The basic track is from Grand Prairie (Dallas), but Bruce's vocals are unnecessarily
overdubbed.  Other than that, this is a straight mix of the live performance.

0:49: Bruce's vocal is overdubbed - unnecessarily - as his vocal was fine in the show.
     There was a slight crack in his voice on the word "him" when he sings "I
     can't picture you with him". On the CD, there is no such problem.
1:32 Bruce's vocal is overdubbed again. In the show, he sounds a little like he's
     laughing in the show on the line "the farthest thing from my mind."
2:25: The CD track ends here. Al says something in the show (I can't understand
     what) , but it's cut from the CD.

[hypehat]

I reckon (and Rab overlaid the performances in Logic and came to the same conclusion) that Brian's Heroes & Villains vocal, for the most part - verses, chorus, and Children Were Raised at least - are taken from his studio performance on BWPS. As to what date the rest of the Beach Boys came from, I can't help you out there sadly.

I mean, a few people here think so, but maybe I am just going crazy. The tenor and rhythm, if not sped up sound exactly the same - and you have the Mermaid BBC performance to show you what an actual performance of H&V from the tour sounds like.

Also, Bruce gives away what state the performance of Cali Girls was in during the fade, and there's something similar in another song on the CD.

[AndrewHickey]

I reckon (and Rab overlaid the performances in Logic and came to the same conclusion) that Brian's Heroes & Villains vocal, for the most part - verses, chorus, and Children Were Raised at least - are taken from his studio performance on BWPS. As to what date the rest of the Beach Boys came from, I can't help you out there sadly.

I mean, a few people here think so, but maybe I am just going crazy. The tenor and rhythm, if not sped up sound exactly the same - and you have the Mermaid BBC performance to show you what an actual performance of H&V from the tour sounds like.

Also, Bruce gives away what state the performance of Cali Girls was in during the fade, and there's something similar in another song on the CD.

I've heard the two performances synced, and I'd bet that not only the lead vocal, but a good chunk of the backing vocals and instrumental tracks come from the 2004 version, too. You play them one version in each channel and it practically sounds like a mono mix.

Cal Girls has "Colorado Girls" (Red Rocks), Bruce says "We must be in Texas!" after the introductory medley (Grand Prairie), Mike thanks "my people the car people of Arizona" (I think probably from Tucson, but maybe Phoenix).

[hypehat]

Do we know for sure what date Joe Thomas left the tour? I mean, he was there at the early stages when they were tuning the vocals live, so it isn't out of the realms of possibility to suggest that most of the regulars in the setlist could come from the early stint - things like Marcella and Isn't It Time came from the halfway point on.

Such a thing would be fucking depressing, but there you have it. Joe Thomas hates The Beach Boys and any realistic approach to making records.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

if it's true that Brian's H&V vocals come from his 2004 studio SMILE, as do a majority of the backing vocals: Joe Thomas should have to issue a refund out of his own pocket for each and every copy sold thus far!

[Pretty Funky]

How would the record companies react if this is the case also.

That other Beach Boys related quote springs to mind. "Gentleman....I think I've just been f****d!"

[hypehat]

sh*t guess you're right - BWPS was on Nonesuch/Warner, iirc...

Maybe BW owns his mastertapes?

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

[Wirestone]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Um, Mike and Bruce are the group, according to their acolytes. So ask them how they feel about it. Mike was pimping the record on his FB page, so he must be fine with it.

sh*t guess you're right - BWPS was on Nonesuch/Warner, iirc...

Maybe BW owns his mastertapes?

I believe that may be the case. Still am not entirely convinced the vocal is reused, but it does seem possible.

[oldsurferdude]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Absolutely! mYke and brOOth have no excuse whatsoever for even existing.

[hypehat]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Um, Mike and Bruce are the group, according to their acolytes. So ask them how they feel about it. Mike was pimping the record on his FB page, so he must be fine with it.

sh*t guess you're right - BWPS was on Nonesuch/Warner, iirc...

Maybe BW owns his mastertapes?

I believe that may be the case. Still am not entirely convinced the vocal is reused, but it does seem possible.

With the latter, I'm nearly off the fence at 'it's BWPS' but I can't shake it - my first reaction was 'THAT'S HIS VOCAL FROM BWPS' and whilst it has been sped up, it really strikes me as it. It'd be a fucking d*ckhead move to use a nearly ten year old vocal on this release though.

If it IS his 2004 vocal, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the session just to see how they did the acapella 'I been in this town so long' part - JT sweating his way through pitchshifting and timing FX to get a studio BW to match 10 dudes working around Brian's erratic live phrasing, or dousing BW's vox in fx to make to erratic live Brian sound like the rest of the song.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Absolutely! mYke and brOOth have no excuse whatsoever for even existing.

Take that up with their parents!

Mike's dad's still around. You might wanna have a talk with him 

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Um, Mike and Bruce are the group, according to their acolytes. So ask them how they feel about it. Mike was pimping the record on his FB page, so he must be fine with it.

What's Mike supposed to do, trash the set and get even more heat from "fans"?

[SMiLE Brian]

M&B are coming to my local fairground this year, might protest them....

[oldsurferdude]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Absolutely! mYke and brOOth have no excuse whatsoever for even existing.

Take that up with their parents!

Mike's dad's still around. You might wanna have a talk with him 

If only those parents had thought about it seriousley for a moment before going "forward", we wouldn't have this problem.

[oldsurferdude]

M&B are coming to my local fairground this year, might protest them....

I'm working on the sandwich boards as we speak! I also have 3 busloads coming in from Kohkohmoe to aid in the rally.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

If this is the way the world's most renowned singing group wants to go out, it's truly pathetic.....

Can we still blame Mike and Bruce for jumping ship?

Absolutely! mYke and brOOth have no excuse whatsoever for even existing.

Take that up with their parents!

Mike's dad's still around. You might wanna have a talk with him 

If only those parents had thought about it seriousley for a moment before going "forward", we wouldn't have this problem.

But think of all the out of work and impoverished divorce lawyers we'd have milling about!

[oldsurferdude]

It's true, we need another mYke luHv divorce to help with the struggling economy.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

It's true, we need another mYke luHv divorce to help with the struggling economy.

I'd love to see Bruce mentioned in there ala Dennis as a "contributing factor"

Back on-topic: I'm listening to the 50th set right now and it sounds like Nelson's off in the parking lot or something! Another classic F*up! For a band where percussion (as opposed to drums) is extremely important, this is extra lame.

[seltaeb1012002]

Here's a sync of the live version & BWPS vocal.

I tend to think it might be a new vocal.

Although there are a few words here and there that are extremely similar.

http://limelinx.com/b1ng

(just click the play button on the media player)

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Might be a new vocal. I (think I) hear spots on the left side where there's no Brian suddenly but lots of Jeff whereas I only hear Brian on the right side

[AlFall]

GETCHA BACK

Getcha Back, which features David Marks' lone lead vocal on the tour, is entirely from Red Rocks.  There is certainly overdubbing on some of David's lead vocal.  He sang a couple of notes a little flat that night but did a better job at the souncheck.  The souncheck vocal was not used on the CD.  My guess is that he did the overdubs in the studio with the Red Rocks track playing in his headphones, and he was trying to duplicate his vocal on the track as much as he could.  The backing vocals are not overdubbed. The Beach Boys remain, 51 years later, the best vocal harmony group in the pop music business - an art that's lost on this generation of pop stars.

0:05 - a really good electric guitar part (I think it's David's lead guitar) is       
         inexplicably mixed out on the CD.
0:24 - the lines "playing our song, have you heard it for oh so long " are overdubbed, as they don't match the bootleg
1:14 - I think this lead vocal line is from the show, with a little autotune on the word "star"
1:24 - "I can too" is overdubbed
1:48 - "Can we ever get it back" is sung identically to the show, so at least some of the vocal is not overdubbed
2:02 - Another clear overdub of the lead vocal, but strangely, it's inferior to the
      actual vocal from the show.  On the CD, David has a crack in his voice on the
      word "can", a problem he did not have on that Monday night in Colorado.
2:11 - an inexplicable overdub on David's lead vocal. In the show, he sings the normal
     lyric, "If I leave her, and you leave him."  On the CD, I am not clear what he's
     singing, but it sounds like "If I leave high."
2:32 - Some interesting editing of the banter at the end of the song. 
     Mike says "David Lee Marks on that one". This is edited out, although you can hear
     him say "one" in the background when Brian says, "The great David Marks!".  Mike's
    "that's for sure" is from another show. Bruce's "fantastic David!" is from
     Red Rocks.

[The Heartical Don]

I am in two minds on the double live set (haven't heard it, BTW) -

but going by the comments I read here, I am getting ever more wary of purchasing it. I can stand a little doctoring a posteriori, it is par for the course. The very first time I had serious doubts, that was with Bruce Springsteen's 4-LP live box from the '80s, IIRC it spans 1975-1985. It is audibly 're-constructed', to create the impression of a perfect live concert. But eventually I got used to that.

But a line has to be drawn. If it is true that the H&V vocals stem from 2004's BWPS, than that is inadmissible tampering with historical reality, in my book.

I said: I am in two minds. And that is because there are seriously 100% positive reports also. The reviews at Amazon are glowing (but I can't, of course, say anything about their veracity and authenticity). And on this site there are enthusiasts too.

For the record: I don't have a car and I don't drive.

[AndrewHickey]

If it IS his 2004 vocal, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the session just to see how they did the acapella 'I been in this town so long' part - JT sweating his way through pitchshifting and timing FX to get a studio BW to match 10 dudes working around Brian's erratic live phrasing, or dousing BW's vox in fx to make to erratic live Brian sound like the rest of the song.

That bit is live. It's the first couple of verses and choruses that are definitely from 2004.

[drbeachboy]

If it IS his 2004 vocal, I'd love to be a fly on the wall at the session just to see how they did the acapella 'I been in this town so long' part - JT sweating his way through pitchshifting and timing FX to get a studio BW to match 10 dudes working around Brian's erratic live phrasing, or dousing BW's vox in fx to make to erratic live Brian sound like the rest of the song.

That bit is live. It's the first couple of verses and choruses that are definitely from 2004.

That Brian Wilson, what a fraud.