The Best Summers of Our Lives

[Steve Latshaw]

I have great memories of this AM broadcast from the summer of 1976, hosted by Wolfman Jack.  I had it on cassette tape for years, lost sometime in the 70s.

Has it ever surfaced anywhere?

[Mikie]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music, which was finally released on the "Made In California" box set last year. I use to have a cassette tape of the special - probably still do somewhere, that I use to play over and over for a couple of years. And I think you could get the show on vinyl - a DJ copy from radio stations, like the 1980 Dick Clark Special. If I remember right, I saw it in Goldmine or on Ebay.

[guitarfool2002]

The 1976 special was also the source for that audio recorded in India, 1968, that has been labeled "Happy Birthday Mike Love", "Spiritual Regeneration", "Indian Rope Trick"...and whatever other variations exist in the Beatles collecting world. Some of those Beatles releases have part of the Wolfman Jack narration on the tracks, recorded from the 1976 radio special. It was syndicated by "Audio Stimulation" which also syndicated other Wolfman programs in the 70's, which means more first-gen copies could have survived since it was sent to stations around the country rather than coming from one regional station, and whether they're original station tapes or discs, or just people rolling tape at home.

It does still exist, as do the Dick Clark "specials" from 1981 and 1983, and has surfaced in the radio aircheck collector world. Just last year a full set of reel-to-reel tapes of the '76 special sold on Ebay.

[HeyJude]

If the various DJ/promo pressings of the special included the alternate mix of "Rock and Roll Music", I'm surprised that most of the copies of that alternate mix that have been floating around over the years sound pretty wonky, like a 5th generation dub or worse.

I think the "Made in California" version is a new mix (incorporating the extra bits of the song and, arguably, simulating the "hot" mix, etc.), so for those alternate mix wonks out there, a nice clean copy of that '76 special would be worth tracking down I suppose.

That is, unless the tape they used for the actual radio special sounded wonky to begin with.

Has anyone compared the "Happy Birthday Mike Love" tape heard on the unreleased "Mike Love Not War/Unleash the Love" Mike solo album to the other versions to see if sounds any better? My recollection is the sound quality was pretty similar. I also recall thinking there was no way Mike would ever get the legal clearance to include the recording if he had actually issued the solo album.

[PS]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music, which was finally released on the "Made In California" box set last year. I use to have a cassette tape of the special - probably still do somewhere, that I use to play over and over for a couple of years. And I think you could get the show on vinyl - a DJ copy from radio stations, like the 1980 Dick Clark Special. If I remember right, I saw it in Goldmine or on Ebay.

I believe I have a multi disc set of the Wolfman '76 on vinyl in my collection. A DJ copy. Will check later.

[Mikie]

Way back when while living in the Bay Area, late at night I use to listen to XERB 1090 Radio, Los Angeles, with Wolfman Jack, baby!  Powerhouse radio station with a signal that you could hear up in Canada!

[Andrew G. Doe]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music...

You believe wrongly: the hot mix of "R&R Music" was played on the National Album Countdown, April 1976, not in The Best Summers Of our Lives.

[LeeDempsey]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music...

You believe wrongly: the hot mix of "R&R Music" was played on the National Album Countdown, April 1976, not in The Best Summers Of our Lives.

You beat me to it Andrew.

I'm still beating myself up for not seeing that "Best Summers Of Our Lives" 6-reel set for sale on eBay last year.  But I did pick up a 6-reel set of the "London Wavelength Presents The Beach Boys Story" radio special.  I just put a reel on and listened to it, and it's in pristine shape.  Amazing interviews, among them the source for the Van Dyke Parks "Barco, barco, the man played 'Good Vibrations.' Sound, sound, the studio sensation" quote.

Lee

[bgas]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music...

You believe wrongly: the hot mix of "R&R Music" was played on the National Album Countdown, April 1976, not in The Best Summers Of our Lives.

You beat me to it Andrew.

I'm still beating myself up for not seeing that "Best Summers Of Our Lives" 6-reel set for sale on eBay last year.  But I did pick up a 6-reel set of the "London Wavelength Presents The Beach Boys Story" radio special.  I just put a reel on and listened to it, and it's in pristine shape.  Amazing interviews, among them the source for the Van Dyke Parks "Barco, barco, the man played 'Good Vibrations.' Sound, sound, the studio sensation" quote.

Lee

Interesting!   I picked up the same 6 reels; I wonder if it was the same seller, and if so, how many sets they had for sale

[Mikie]

That was a great show. That show was my (and millions of others) first exposure to the alternate Good Vibrations with Tony Asher's lyrics. The actual session for the take(s). Also, I believe that was the first time I heard the alternate (hot) mix of Rock & Roll Music...

You believe wrongly: the hot mix of "R&R Music" was played on the National Album Countdown, April 1976, not in The Best Summers Of our Lives.

Is that the radio program where an announcer with a deep voice comes on and he has Carl Wilson on the phone and he discusses what's going to be on the next album?

Oh. Damn. What was I thinking, huh?  Geez, I haven't listened to it in 35 years - gimme a break, eh?

I remember "Happy Birthday Michael Love" sung by The Beatles was on the "Best Summer Of Our Lives" tape though. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

That's the one.

[TheLazenby]

Has anyone compared the "Happy Birthday Mike Love" tape heard on the unreleased "Mike Love Not War/Unleash the Love" Mike solo album to the other versions to see if sounds any better? My recollection is the sound quality was pretty similar. I also recall thinking there was no way Mike would ever get the legal clearance to include the recording if he had actually issued the solo album.

Mike just used one of the common bootleg versions that has Wolfman Jack haphazardly spliced out.

[Mikie]

If the various DJ/promo pressings of the special included the alternate mix of "Rock and Roll Music", I'm surprised that most of the copies of that alternate mix that have been floating around over the years sound pretty wonky, like a 5th generation dub or worse.

I think the "Made in California" version is a new mix (incorporating the extra bits of the song and, arguably, simulating the "hot" mix, etc.), so for those alternate mix wonks out there, a nice clean copy of that '76 special would be worth tracking down I suppose.

That is, unless the tape they used for the actual radio special sounded wonky to begin with.

For some reason, the source for that sounded wonky to begin with and I'm not sure why. I can't believe the original tape is like that. I can think of is they misplaced the master and used a second or third generation tape for the special. I assume what AGD said is correct (paraphrasing) that on the released version on MIC, all they did was push all the faders up. So they took the best copy they had and remixed it for release. But this released version still sounds much cleaner than the one on the Best Summers Of Our Lives special, even if it was for radio broadcast.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Mikie, either I'm being industrially dim here or you're still misunderstanding what Lee & I have said - the "hot" mix was NOT included in The Best Summers Of Our Lives. A tape of that special was the first ever BB archive tape I got back in 1977, and it came to me minus all the "standard" tracks included, but retained all the stuff that no-one had ever heard before... and "R&RM" was edited out. Because it was the already released version. The tape of the "hot" mix doing the rounds for so long sounded like crap because it was an open-mike recording off the radio. And yes, what's on MiC is indeed a faders up reconstruction.

[Mikie]

Mikie, either I'm being industrially dim here or you're still misunderstanding what Lee & I have said - the "hot" mix was NOT included in The Best Summers Of Our Lives. A tape of that special was the first ever BB archive tape I got back in 1977, and it came to me minus all the "standard" tracks included, but retained all the stuff that no-one had ever heard before... and "R&RM" was edited out. Because it was the already released version. The tape of the "hot" mix doing the rounds for so long sounded like crap because it was an open-mike recording off the radio. And yes, what's on MiC is indeed a faders up reconstruction.

Nah, I'm industrially dim for misunderstanding.  Eso se entiende fácilmente.

[petsite]

I wanted to bump this because I am desperately looking for a copy of this special. I had it on cassette that was copied from the reels. During my 1989 divorce, she took it and threw it out (long story). Been looking ever since. Coming up on the 40th and I would love to have a primo copy. I got a download from one of the members of this board, and I really appreciated it. But I would like to find a copy with good sound. It was lucky that I made a safety of the Good Vibrations portion of the show.