Brian's 1975 recording of "In the Back of My Mind" is being released...

[RONDEMON]

Wow - these are both great. The new L&M is better than the original IMO. Gets the point across more.

[Emdeeh]

I like the fact that this version of ITBOMM doesn't have strings -- just voice and piano. Unfortunately, it doesn't change my opinion about the song, which is just too jazz-oriented for my tastes.

[Mikie]

I really like "Love & Mercy" too!  Sounds like Taylor Mills in the mix so I assume it was recorded during her tenure.

I miss Taylor.....

[Rocker]

Thanks for sharing this with us!

Was this maybe a demo he did and intended to give it to another singer? Wasn't "Still I dream of it" also proposed to Sinatra? Maybe I'm totally off....

He sounds like he has breathing problems (? - maybe he's just high) but man listen to those last notes!

[Rocky Raccoon]

I really like "Love & Mercy" too!  Sounds like Taylor Mills in the mix so I assume it was recorded during her tenure.

I miss Taylor.....

"Love and Mercy" is the charity single version from 2005 but without the "Walking Down the Path of Life" intro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQnlMQ538IA

[Mikie]

Thanks for sharing this with us!

Was this maybe a demo he did and intended to give it to another singer? Wasn't "Still I dream of it" also proposed to Sinatra? Maybe I'm totally off....

He sounds like he has breathing problems (? - maybe he's just high) but man listen to those last notes!

That's what an 8-ball of coke does to ya!  A little wheezing going on there. And at this point he's gained quite a bit of weight.....

[Mikie]

I really like "Love & Mercy" too!  Sounds like Taylor Mills in the mix so I assume it was recorded during her tenure.

I miss Taylor.....

"Love and Mercy" is the charity single version from 2005 but without the "Walking Down the Path of Life" intro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQnlMQ538IA

Ah, OK. Thanks.

[HeyJude]

I really like "Love & Mercy" too!  Sounds like Taylor Mills in the mix so I assume it was recorded during her tenure.

I miss Taylor.....

"Love and Mercy" is the charity single version from 2005 but without the "Walking Down the Path of Life" intro.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQnlMQ538IA

Ah fudge. That version *was* already released on CD (I have the CD single). I guess it still counts as an "exclusive" since the CD isn't in print any longer.

[Beachlad]

When in 75 was that done. It really wasn't as gruff as I expected.  I am completely stunned.<in a very good way>

[petsite]

Please don't jump on me for this, but after listening to this track and also re-listening to the California Feeling demo, I find these disturbing. Because it sounds like a guy who is extremely emotional. The way he hangs those notes, drawing them out. Yes he is emoting, but it also sounds like someone on the edge. I could be wrong, but I have been listening to Brian demo's for a LONG LONG time.

Just my opinion.

[18thofMay]

Its sounds to me as if he has consumed a considerable amount of Cocaine.

[petsite]

THAT could be true as well. He does sound alot like he does on I FEEL SO FINE from the Denny/Garby sessions.

[Mikie]

Yeah!  ALOT! 

He sings clearer hear than the 'Love You' demos, that's for sure.

[Jay]

Is it known why Brian recorded this? Was it a conscious decision to re-record the song? Or was it just for the heck of it? At the very start it almost seems like he was just searching for a song to play, in other words a very impromptu choice/performance. Were there other takes of the song? Or were there other songs played at the same session?

[Matt Bielewicz]

Wow. Count me as one of the many here floored by this. Yeah, there's some raspiness and shortness of breath evident, but this is a very powerful performance. Mesmerising stuff.

I too think it sounds as though the piano and vocal have been performed at different times. There's a couple of places where the tempo of the piano track stumbles slightly, and it completely throws the vocal off, which is what would happen if you were performing the vocal to a previously recorded piano track and the rhythm of the piano track faltered. It doesn't sound to me like the kind of timing errors you make when you're performing vocal and piano simultaneously. But what do I know — I'm just guessing.

Has this recording just been languishing in the vaults all of these years, or has it only recently been discovered? Have deep-cover fans known about it for years, or is everyone as surprised about its existence as most of us here?

If it was only recently found, that would explain its absence from MiC. If MiC's collators included stuff like 'Where Is She?' and 'Why?', I can't see why they would have left this off if they'd known about it...? Unless Brian vetoed its inclusion. But then why would he do that and then include it here...?

The mystery world of Wilson continues to unveil surprises, even after all these years... I wonder what else there is in those vaults that's as good as this...?

[Slow In Brain]

I imagine this would have been pretty much the way he would have sounded during those times he stumbled into bars to play for drink money.

[Matt Bielewicz]

I don't know about that... the 'stumbling into bars' stuff was later, wasn't it? 1978-79 and later still? And by Love You in 1977 he already sounded waaaay worse than he does here. A couple of years in the life of Brian Wilson from 1974 to 1976 seem to have resulted in a very long journey downwards, vocally speaking.

I'd take an album of Brian singing cuts in this style from 1975 in a heartbeat (although I'd imagine there aren't enough extant recordings to create such a thing). He sounds different from his 60s peak, but he sounds different in an interesting way, and is still the master of what he's trying to do vocally for the most part (bar a couple of lines in this performance). Whereas some of those 15BO/Love You/Adult Child vocals just sound... incompetent. That's a harsh word, sure, but I have a sneaking feeling the Brian of today agrees. Adult Child *still* hasn't come out. And he sounded embarrassed when he discussed the period recently and blamed his vocal sound on laryngitis.

Yeah, right... laryngitis — and enough coke daily to frost Montserrat Caballé three times over!

[Loaf]

Is it known why Brian recorded this? Was it a conscious decision to re-record the song? Or was it just for the heck of it? At the very start it almost seems like he was just searching for a song to play, in other words a very impromptu choice/performance. Were there other takes of the song? Or were there other songs played at the same session?

It's not the first time Brian recorded himself demoing an older tune... check out BW's version of Al's Susie Cincinnati from the BBs time in Holland...

*casts line*

[TV Forces]

If it was only recently found, that would explain its absence from MiC. If MiC's collators included stuff like 'Where Is She?' and 'Why?', I can't see why they would have left this off if they'd known about it...? Unless Brian vetoed its inclusion. But then why would he do that and then include it here...?

They new about it at the time of MiC.  They also knew of a few dozen other tracks they decided for whatever reason not to give us.

I don't think Brian sounds drunk or high or anything.. he's just doing a casual revisiting of a song he probably hadn't played in awhile,
and tape just happened to be rolling for whatever reason. 

[Matt Bielewicz]

They knew about it at the time of MiC.  They also knew of a few dozen other tracks they decided for whatever reason not to give us.

Wild. In my opinion, Brian sounds much better on this 1975 recording than he does on the California Feeling demo, and they *did* put that out on MiC. But maybe that was to contrast with the more polished version of California Feeling later on the same set?

It's all very strange. Though I'm sure there must have been reasons at the time...

[Joel Goldenberg]

One thing's for sure, we need a Bedroom Tapes box set, and NOW!!!!!

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

I was a bit let down by this song. Don't get me wrong, I feel blessed that I even had the opportunity to hear it, but it just isn't what I hoped it would be (I mean, it was probably never meant to be heard, anyway). I guess I was hoping for a more faithful rendition, albeit just a piano and Brian's voice. I can understand why it was left off of MiC, and California Feeling was included. This wasn't nearly as cohesive a performance. Clearly very impromptu. The "in the front of my mind" bits and the bridge itself just feel so bizarre.

As far as his voice, it's a very interesting document. California Feeling has more of his old falsetto, but this performance of ITBOMM does sound almost like a younger Dennis in spots, and I heard some very Carl-esque bits in there, as well. Bravo to BW for allowing its release, but it just doesn't grab me the way I had hoped.

Love and Mercy sounds great, though. 

[Ovi]

It's on YouTube too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji-ZOmA0tsY

Oh man, this got me so emotional. I was just casually browsing stuff on YouTube and decided to search for it on the off chance that somebody already uploaded it. I didn't get excited when the result popped up, cause I wasn't sure it was the real thing. I just played it...and it hit me so hard, right from the first few lines. My girlfriend was sitting near and asked what was wrong. I just kissed her.

[Autotune]

I too think it sounds as though the piano and vocal have been performed at different times. There's a couple of places where the tempo of the piano track stumbles slightly, and it completely throws the vocal off, which is what would happen if you were performing the vocal to a previously recorded piano track and the rhythm of the piano track faltered. It doesn't sound to me like the kind of timing errors you make when you're performing vocal and piano simultaneously. But what do I know — I'm just guessing.

You know, I thought the same thing. But then, I think the piano playing is too erratic at times. He takes longer between phrases, and there's extra beats everywhere... It would send off any attempt at overdubbing a vocal if that were the case.

[Matt Bielewicz]

But that's my point - the erratic piano playing *does* throw off the vocal here and there, and so you have two lines of performance (piano and vocal) that are both temporarily out of rhythm with one another. That's what made me think that perhaps Brian played the piano first, flubbing the odd section as he did so, and then (rather as he did for the piano-only recorded version of Surf's Up multitracked after the Inside Pop performance) tried to overdub his vocal to the piano afterwards, and blew a few parts where he forgot the stumbling rhythm of the piano. For example, just before the bridge, when he gets to the lyric 'what would I do if I lose her... it'll always be inthebackofmymind' he has to rush the last part to fit over the slightly fumbled piano chords.

He also adapts the vocal to *avoid* stumbles in the piano playing. Listen, for example, to how he skirts the wrong chord in the latter half of the first verse: "Oh she made me happy, yeh [pause, piano flubs]... jus' livin' so plain..." That sounds to me like he adapted the vocal at the overdub because he had remembered that he had messed up the piano chord around that part of the song earlier. And on the final go-around, before he soars up into the falsetto ending, he sings 'whaaaaat would IIIII doooo', drawing out the words before singing 'if I lose her' with a more regular rhythm to cover over another slightly haltingly performed set of piano chords at the start of the line.

This could all be complete nonsense, though, and maybe these adaptations and faltering performance aspects happened live on the spot, as I am speculating solely on the basis of listening closely to what has just been released, and possibly drawing incorrect conclusions! Anyone know if BW performed this live, or if the vocal was overdubbed?