Analysis of the Live 50th Anniversary Tour CD

[Wirestone]

A few days in, this is my take. I've boiled it down to a few bullet points.

1.) My assertion awhile back that 80 percent or so of the album is fine still stands. It might be a higher or lower percentage depending on my mood. This is the vast majority of the album, or course. The tracks are still polished to an unhealthy sheen, but they're listenable.

2.) The inclusion of weird little off-key bits makes it very strange. Brian sings some out of tune backing vocals in places, and fluffs some lines in "Sail on Sailor." Why leave that stuff in when you're making other things so buffed and polished? Very odd.

3.) The tuning is not, perhaps, objectively worse than what you might hear in TWGMTR. But in the context of a live album, where some tracks are much more lightly touched than others, it is jarring. And Don't Back Down and H&V are still atrocious.

4.) If this was overdubbed in the studio, Brian was having a real off day. His studio vocals since the Gershwin album (and really, since TLOS) have been uniformly good. While there are a few mush-mouthed moments on TWGMTR, he phrases pretty well there, too. This album is a big step down for him, if he truly was re-recording leads.

5.) The re-used studio vocals really don't bother me that much. (Except for the BWPS theory, which is still so bizarre I can't handle it.) This band re-recorded chunks of the In Concert album in the studio. It is what it is.

6.) Brian is still working with Joe after this? Sheesh.

7.) Finally. I guess what bothers me most about this album, and I'm seeing it borne out in the threads, is that it tarnishes what was an incredible tour. The thing that was awesome about most C50 shows was that you heard all the guys in full voice, warts and all. You heard the symphonic backing band. It was blasted through a shockingly good high-volume sound system. It was dynamic and exciting, and the setlist evolved throughout. It was a living and breathing show, and the band set off sparks. It really did.

The CD really drains that excitement away. The ragged, yet soulful and powerful nature of the live vocals is gone. The backing band sounds like half of the members went away. The song choices have some rarities, but not necessarily the ones that were performed best (even on his off nights, Brian hit IJWMFTT out of the park -- I don't think he ever managed a totally convincing Marcella) or the ones that were most interesting (Our Prayer!). It becomes a document of a souless, corporate rock show. Which maybe some members of the band wanted, but which the C50 shows most definitely were not.

And for people who didn't go, and don't care to find the YT clips or soundboard shows, it makes it seem like the reunion shows were no big deal. Guys who couldn't sing running through tired hits. A pale, competent backing band. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing special. Another reason to dismiss the group's modern day incarnation. More justification for Mike to keep touring in his under-the-radar manner.

So at a personal level, at a surprisingly deep place, I feel betrayed and let down. Not by Joe Thomas, who was probably doing the best job he knew how. Not by Brian, who probably wanted a steak and salad really badly. But just by the band overall, and the management overall, and the label, who couldn't see what a special thing this was, and why it deserved to be documented in a truly fitting, truly reverent manner.

This is an amazing band that did an amazing thing. Just a year ago. And now it's being wiped away.

[AlFall]

CALIFORNIA SAGA - CALIFORNIA

With a few extremely minor exceptions below, this the undubbed and unedited performance from Red Rocks, and it's a very nice one. The Red Rocks bootleg  is sometimes marred in the first half by loud audience talking (why go to a concert if you're just going to talk??? Too much medical weed from the Boulder "dispensaries?").    It's great to have a clean recording. It also has some fun spoken passages, and the band is clearly enjoying it. 

Despite the many negative comments on this board, I am starting to warm up to this CD the more I hear it.   I am actually surprised at how "live" this CD actually is.  I've quibbled at the overdubbed lead vocals, (although I don't fault the artists for wanting their vocals to be perfect) but many of the songs are essentially unedited.  I was expecting to hear choppy edits from different shows spliced together on the same track.  I may hear that as I analyze more tracks, but so far, so good.

-0:08: The song begins 8 seconds earlier in the show, with Mike saying "This song's about
       a very special part of the California coastline, the Big Sur" during the intro
       riff. This is cut from the CD. (he introduces the song at the end of Sail On Sailor,
       which is from another show)

0:44: The line "'neath waves" is a little different on the CD than what was sung in
       the show. It could be a mixing anomaly, as it would be odd to overdub only two seconds
      of the song. The remaining Mike lead vocal is from the show.

1:03: An interesting edit here - Mike's spoken line in the show, "nice to have it ... if
      you don't need it' is spoken with a 1/2 second pause between the phrases.  On the
      CD, the 1/2 second is moved to before the passage, so "nice to have it" is 1/2
      second later, but "if you don't need it" is identical to the bootleg. Why this edit?
      Who knows?

2:02  "I told you so" on the CD isn't audible in the show, but it may simply have been
      mixed out. "To tell him now" at 2:03 is audible on both recordings.

3:01  Audience applause is overdubbed in, perhaps to make the songs have the same
      audience sounds, so they sound like they come from the same show.  At 3:05
      on the bootleg, I think it's Al that says something, but it's hard to understand. It's
      cut from the CD.

[AlFall]

>> 4.) If this was overdubbed in the studio, Brian was having a real off day. His studio vocals since the Gershwin album (and really, since TLOS) have been uniformly good. While there are a few mush-mouthed moments on TWGMTR, he phrases pretty well there, too. This album is a big step down for him, if he truly was re-recording leads.


This is a very valid comment, but it illustrates the fact that you can't please everybody. So far, I have not heard any overdubbed Brian lead vocals on the CD.  On the tracks I've analyzed, it's 100% live as he sang at the show. In my opinion, I would have preferred to leave David's lead vocal as it was on Getcha Back, even through there were very minor problems (a couple of flat notes).  On the other hand, as an artist, he undoubtedly wanted his voice to sound as good as possible on the CD.  So, he probably re-recorded bits of it in the studio. (or, some of it came from another live show other than the Red Rocks recording which is used for the backing track)  It makes for a better quality CD, but less of a "live" CD.  Each of the principals clearly had their own opinion of what they wanted to release. Bruce wanted to re-record his vocals.  Brian didn't re-record them, either because he wanted it to be a truly live CD, or perhaps that he, again, is no longer on speaking terms with Mike and Bruce and can't re-record them. 

[Pretty Funky]

A few days in, this is my take. I've boiled it down to a few bullet points.

1.) My assertion awhile back that 80 percent or so of the album is fine still stands. It might be a higher or lower percentage depending on my mood. This is the vast majority of the album, or course. The tracks are still polished to an unhealthy sheen, but they're listenable.

2.) The inclusion of weird little off-key bits makes it very strange. Brian sings some out of tune backing vocals in places, and fluffs some lines in "Sail on Sailor." Why leave that stuff in when you're making other things so buffed and polished? Very odd.

3.) The tuning is not, perhaps, objectively worse than what you might hear in TWGMTR. But in the context of a live album, where some tracks are much more lightly touched than others, it is jarring. And Don't Back Down and H&V are still atrocious.

4.) If this was overdubbed in the studio, Brian was having a real off day. His studio vocals since the Gershwin album (and really, since TLOS) have been uniformly good. While there are a few mush-mouthed moments on TWGMTR, he phrases pretty well there, too. This album is a big step down for him, if he truly was re-recording leads.

5.) The re-used studio vocals really don't bother me that much. (Except for the BWPS theory, which is still so bizarre I can't handle it.) This band re-recorded chunks of the In Concert album in the studio. It is what it is.

6.) Brian is still working with Joe after this? Sheesh.

7.) Finally. I guess what bothers me most about this album, and I'm seeing it borne out in the threads, is that it tarnishes what was an incredible tour. The thing that was awesome about most C50 shows was that you heard all the guys in full voice, warts and all. You heard the symphonic backing band. It was blasted through a shockingly good high-volume sound system. It was dynamic and exciting, and the setlist evolved throughout. It was a living and breathing show, and the band set off sparks. It really did.

The CD really drains that excitement away. The ragged, yet soulful and powerful nature of the live vocals is gone. The backing band sounds like half of the members went away. The song choices have some rarities, but not necessarily the ones that were performed best (even on his off nights, Brian hit IJWMFTT out of the park -- I don't think he ever managed a totally convincing Marcella) or the ones that were most interesting (Our Prayer!). It becomes a document of a souless, corporate rock show. Which maybe some members of the band wanted, but which the C50 shows most definitely were not.

And for people who didn't go, and don't care to find the YT clips or soundboard shows, it makes it seem like the reunion shows were no big deal. Guys who couldn't sing running through tired hits. A pale, competent backing band. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing special. Another reason to dismiss the group's modern day incarnation. More justification for Mike to keep touring in his under-the-radar manner.

So at a personal level, at a surprisingly deep place, I feel betrayed and let down. Not by Joe Thomas, who was probably doing the best job he knew how. Not by Brian, who probably wanted a steak and salad really badly. But just by the band overall, and the management overall, and the label, who couldn't see what a special thing this was, and why it deserved to be documented in a truly fitting, truly reverent manner.

This is an amazing band that did an amazing thing. Just a year ago. And now it's being wiped away.

Wirestone. I was thinking of starting a kind of 'one year after' thread now that we have what could be the final C50 product. (Proposed end of this year tour DVD aside) You seem to have hit the nail on the head with the tour album IMO so perhaps I can add some thoughts as to a wrap up of the C50 overall.

-Re-recording of DIA and video. Little info why but I'm of the opinion it was more for the promoters letting them know the band was hitting the road. Initial version omitted Dave but great to see he was added later. Kudos to whoever wanted him involved, although it is said to be Mike.

-Dec 2011. Official announcement after months of speculation and denial. Well worded PR that lit this site up.

-TWGMTR album. Who would have thought? Pretty good reviews, nice tunes, well sung but with a few duds. A true Beach Boys album in other words.

-Grammy Appearance. In light of what was to come later during the tour....pathetic!

-The tour. Original 50 shows in North America became over 70 World wide plus promotional one-offs such as QVC, RS and the BBC to name a few. Plenty of TV interviews of a band seemingly in sync. Fantastic band supporting, expanded career setlists of up to 61 songs. Early concerns about Brian being auto- tuned corrected after the first few gigs.

-Doin It Again DVD. Well produced video although the period from the late 60s to 2011 largely ignored. First concerns about sweetening raised during the concert scenes.

-Merchandise. Hit and miss as was the so called 'Meet and Greets'.

-Sept 2012 tour ending. After so- called firings, the band goes out on a high with 2 shows in London. Who knows what to believe but reports are the C50 line-up are finished for good. Brian claims he wants to continue then doubts they will a few weeks later.

-Live In Concert DVD. Cheap and Nasty! Only 21 songs with far to many camera shots and no individual song selection just a few complaints. That sweetened feeling back again.

-Live C50 CD. Mixed reviews after high hopes. A 41 track list featuring leads for the first time on a Beach Boys live album  by Bruce Johnston and David Marks.

[AlFall]

I'd like to read AlFall's take on "Good Vibrations."

I haven't thoroughly analyzed Good Vibrations yet, but most of it is from a heavily edited copy of the released soundboard recording of Chiba, Japan, which in turn is probably edited too.  The Brian vocal is from this tape.  The "I'm picking up good vibrations" bass vocal is different from the Chiba tape and clearly overdubbed - it doesn't even sound like Mike.  There appears to be a loud overdubbed studio vocal at 2:24. There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

[Generation42]

I'd like to read AlFall's take on "Good Vibrations."

I haven't thoroughly analyzed Good Vibrations yet, but most of it is from a heavily edited copy of the released soundboard recording of Chiba, Japan, which in turn is probably edited too.  The Brian vocal is from this tape.  The "I'm picking up good vibrations" bass vocal is different from the Chiba tape and clearly overdubbed - it doesn't even sound like Mike.  There appears to be a loud overdubbed studio vocal at 2:24. There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

Sounds as though you've confirmed some of my suspicions (and yes, the audience sing-along does come across as a bit fishy, what with just the gals, huh?).

Anyway, I look forward to an even more comprehensive breakdown, should you decide to delve any deeper!  Thanks for your reply.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

I didn't want to say anything, but I came into a bit of money last year, and booked the Beach Boys for my daughter's 7th birthday party. It's her little friends you can hear singing along. Joe Thomas insisted on recording everything, and then autotuning the f*** out of it. This included us singing "Happy Birthday To You", which I was not happy about (especially as I was most ceratinly not off pitch!)

[astroray]

Wirestone hit the nail on the head! The album drains the excitement of the 50th celebration! It was such a good show , such a shame!

[Rocky Raccoon]

There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

I didn't want to say anything, but I came into a bit of money last year, and booked the Beach Boys for my daughter's 7th birthday party. It's her little friends you can hear singing along. Joe Thomas insisted on recording everything, and then autotuning the f*** out of it. This included us singing "Happy Birthday To You", which I was not happy about (especially as I was most ceratinly not off pitch!)

And the winning post is... 

[c-man]

I'd like to read AlFall's take on "Good Vibrations."

I haven't thoroughly analyzed Good Vibrations yet, but most of it is from a heavily edited copy of the released soundboard recording of Chiba, Japan, which in turn is probably edited too.  The Brian vocal is from this tape.  The "I'm picking up good vibrations" bass vocal is different from the Chiba tape and clearly overdubbed - it doesn't even sound like Mike.  There appears to be a loud overdubbed studio vocal at 2:24. There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

Sounds as though you've confirmed some of my suspicions (and yes, the audience sing-along does come across as a bit fishy, what with just the gals, huh?).

Anyway, I look forward to an even more comprehensive breakdown, should you decide to delve any deeper!  Thanks for your reply.

Hmmm...in years gone by, they would ask the female audience members only to sing the "gotta keep" part for awhile, and then ask to hear just the men, and then ask everybody to join in.  Could that explain it?  If they didn't do it at that particular show, maybe those female-only audience vocals could be flown in from another performance where they did.

[hypehat]

(why go to a concert if you're just going to talk??? Too much medical weed from the Boulder "dispensaries?"). 

Lol, it has nothing to do with medical ganja and all to do with people being jackasses, I'm afraid - the evidence, your honour, being that medical marijuana does not exist in the UK

I haven't thanked you for your work yet on this thread! You're doing good stuff, sorry for whinging about H&V all the while 

[hypehat]

I'd like to read AlFall's take on "Good Vibrations."

I haven't thoroughly analyzed Good Vibrations yet, but most of it is from a heavily edited copy of the released soundboard recording of Chiba, Japan, which in turn is probably edited too.  The Brian vocal is from this tape.  The "I'm picking up good vibrations" bass vocal is different from the Chiba tape and clearly overdubbed - it doesn't even sound like Mike.  There appears to be a loud overdubbed studio vocal at 2:24. There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

I noticed this too - so strange!


....Did JT autotune the crowd?! 

[SurfRiderHawaii]

There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

I didn't want to say anything, but I came into a bit of money last year, and booked the Beach Boys for my daughter's 7th birthday party. It's her little friends you can hear singing along. Joe Thomas insisted on recording everything, and then autotuning the f*** out of it. This included us singing "Happy Birthday To You", which I was not happy about (especially as I was most ceratinly not off pitch!)

Hey Stephen, can I borrow 50 quid?

[runnersdialzero]

5.) The re-used studio vocals really don't bother me that much. (Except for the BWPS theory, which is still so bizarre I can't handle it.) This band re-recorded chunks of the In Concert album in the studio. It is what it is.

There's a huge difference, though. Taking the vocals from the album and placing them onto an alleged "live" album? Again, it insults the listener's intelligence big time and is giving them something they already have when it's implied that they're getting something totally different. Lame, cheap, and fairly offensive.

[drbeachboy]

5.) The re-used studio vocals really don't bother me that much. (Except for the BWPS theory, which is still so bizarre I can't handle it.) This band re-recorded chunks of the In Concert album in the studio. It is what it is.

There's a huge difference, though. Taking the vocals from the album and placing them onto an alleged "live" album? Again, it insults the listener's intelligence big time and is giving them something they already have when it's implied that they're getting something totally different. Lame, cheap, and fairly offensive.

There is no difference to Brian. He did this type of thing all the way back in 1964 with the Concert album. The vocals for Fun Fun Fun and I Get Around are from the original studio tapes. Isn't that the reason we can never have a true stereo mix for IGA? Lost tapes.

[runnersdialzero]

SHIT FROM A DOG'S ASS

[Shady]

Thanks for that

[Wirestone]

This place ...

[joshferrell]

SHIT FROM A DOG'S ASS

Is this a clue about an unreleased song from the upcoming MIC box set???

[metal flake paint]

5.) The re-used studio vocals really don't bother me that much. (Except for the BWPS theory, which is still so bizarre I can't handle it.) This band re-recorded chunks of the In Concert album in the studio. It is what it is.

There's a huge difference, though. Taking the vocals from the album and placing them onto an alleged "live" album? Again, it insults the listener's intelligence big time and is giving them something they already have when it's implied that they're getting something totally different. Lame, cheap, and fairly offensive.

There is no difference to Brian. He did this type of thing all the way back in 1964 with the Concert album. The vocals for Fun Fun Fun and I Get Around are from the original studio tapes. Isn't that the reason we can never have a true stereo mix for IGA? Lost tapes.

I never quite understood why the live versions of Fun, Fun, Fun and I Get Around weren't used for Beach Boys Concert, because they ROCK!

[Generation42]

Hmmm...in years gone by, they would ask the female audience members only to sing the "gotta keep" part for awhile, and then ask to hear just the men, and then ask everybody to join in.  Could that explain it?  If they didn't do it at that particular show, maybe those female-only audience vocals could be flown in from another performance where they did.

You know, when I first heard the disc, this was my first thought, too.  But when I thought back to the show I attended at Darien Lake, I recalled that there was no such separation between the guys 'n' dolls during the sing-along, just a gentle encouragement from Al (I think it was Al), saying "Everybody sing."  From the other sources I've heard, the same was true pretty much throughout the tour, no?.

You may be right that something was flown in from an earlier tour, or maybe AlFall is on to something concerning a studio overdub.  Either way, it's a bit curious.

[Kurosawa]

They should have released the RAH show with no alterations.

[AlFall]

HEROES AND VILLAINS

After reading the very negative comments on this board about this track - and the theory that they pilfered Brian's lead vocal from the 2004 Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE recording - I waited a few days before tackling this one.  Like many fans, I feel rather emotional about any SMiLE song, and the thought that the folks who engineered this CD could rape this material was a bit disconcerting to me.

So, I took a deep breath and listened to the track. Surprisingly, my first reaction was, "that sounds pretty good." Obviously Brian's vocal is autotuned and artificially double-tracked.  Brian struggled to sing the song on pitch throughout the tour.  (I've just listened to about 20 You Tube videos of this song from the tour, and he has at least a little trouble in all of them.)  However, my hunch is that the vocal was live.  Unfortunately, the more I dig into this track, the more mysterious it becomes.

One thing I do know: the Chiba, Japan live streaming track that's available on the internet, and the track from the CD, come from the same tape.  The Chiba tape is slowed down on average of about 4%.  The tempo is slowed down without changing the pitch.  Each section of the song is slowed down differently, a little more here, a little less there.  Once I change the tempo (fiddling around with it for about an hour), the tapes match.

It is interesting that they decided to slow down the tempo.  There is no question about it; I've listed to several other performances from the tour, including others from late in the tour, and they are all played faster.

 So, mystery solved, right? It's the live track from Chiba, right?  Not so fast.

I found something a bit odd on the Chiba tape.  The lead vocal second verse of the song (between 0:20 an 0:30) does quite not line up with the backing track - it's sung just a little faster.  The CD has no such problem.  Does this mean that the vocal comes from some other source?  Or, did they just do additional editing for the CD?  It would explain why there were so many edits to the tempo.

I wish I had a You Tube or bootleg of the Chiba performance, but I have not been able to find one. They would prove, or disprove, that the lead vocal is from Chiba.  My hunch is that this is live Brian.   It could be from Chiba.  It is more probable that the lead vocal is spliced from several shows, explaining why there were so many changes to the tempo of the backing track.

I analyzed and rejected these possible sources of the lead vocal: Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE CD (several differences - on the 2nd verse, the words "home" and "fight" are pronounced very differently), BWPS DVD, Grand Prairie, St Augustine, Phoenix, Red Rocks, Hollywood Bowl, Irvine, Melbourne, Mönchengladbach, Wembley.) It is possible that sections of one of these shows were used, but not the entire vocal track.


0:00 Chiba tape is slowed down by about 4.5% without changing tempo
1:25 slowed down a further 1%
1:18 sped up 1%
2:07 slowed down again
2:13 "You're under arrest" spoken by Scott is slowed down and lowered in pitch
2:25 overdubbed audience noise. A rather strange spot for it.
2:41 sped way up (an additional 4%)
2:48: 1/2 second cut before the line "and sunny down"
2:54: the 1/2 second is restored, before the line "by the heroes and villains"
2:55 another 2% slowdown
3:37 almost 1 second of extra silence added before the last vocal "ahh" harmony phrase
3:48 Mike's spoken line "Heroes and Villians from the SMiLE album" is heard on
         the Chiba streaming release but cut from the CD.

[The Heartical Don]

There are female backing vocals starting at 2:29, which are the only vocals on the track at 2:45 - it almost sounds like a children's chorus.  They added echo to make it sound like the audience, but what audience consisted entirely of female children?

I didn't want to say anything, but I came into a bit of money last year, and booked the Beach Boys for my daughter's 7th birthday party. It's her little friends you can hear singing along. Joe Thomas insisted on recording everything, and then autotuning the f*** out of it. This included us singing "Happy Birthday To You", which I was not happy about (especially as I was most ceratinly not off pitch!)

Hey Stephen, can I borrow 50 quid?

 

...a double whammy if there every was one...

[Jonathan Blum]

There's a huge difference, though. Taking the vocals from the album and placing them onto an alleged "live" album? Again, it insults the listener's intelligence big time and is giving them something they already have when it's implied that they're getting something totally different. Lame, cheap, and fairly offensive.

So, about the 1964 "In Concert" album?  Backing tracks for "Fun Fun Fun" and "I Get Around"?  Heck, this is almost the fiftieth anniversary of the Beach Boys doing that!

Cheers,
Jon Blum