Anyone else configured their own Life Suite ...

[buddhahat]

... from TWGMTR and No Pier Pressure tracks?

A couple of NPP tracks have really me blown me away. They're the ones that sound most like the 'Life Suite' tracks (or at least what I assume are life suite tracks) from TWGMTR.

I put them all in a playlist together and, wow, it sounds exactly how I'd dream a late career BW masterpiece would sound (including Friends like brevity of 26 mins)!!

Here's mine:

Think About The Days
This Beautiful Day
Strange World
Half Moon Bay
From There To Back Again
Whatever Happened
Pacific Coast Highway
One Kind Of Love
Summer's Gone

I must admit, from the samples of NPP I knew I was not going to be bowled over by many of the collaboration tracks. No offence to BW but I'm just not a fan of those vocalists. As such I was approaching NPP with caution today but I've been blindsided by the tracks I've included above. Way more than I was expecting.

[kwebb]

I've been making a playlist blending the best songs from TWGMtR and the non-guest star songs from NPP. Think About the Days is still the opener, and I use This Beautiful Day as the song that kicks off the second half of the album/playlist

[Dudd]

It's probably really pushing it to throw in Lucky Old Sun tracks, but I doubt squeezing in Midnight's Another Day and Southern California would make it any less perfect (and while we wait for the rest of the suite they ought to do anyway)...

-------------

Here's something that really works for me:

Think About the Days
I'm Feeling Sad
One Kind of Love
Live Let Live
Southern California (with Morning Beat ending cut off)
Midnight's Another Day (with MORE PIANO replacing the 'lucky old sun' bit)

This Beautiful Day
What Ever Happened
Half Moon Bay
From There to Back Again
Pacific Coast Highway
Summer's Gone

[ontor pertawst]

I heard that "I'm Feeling Sad" was originally "This Beautiful Day part 2" so that might fit in nicely as well.

As far as not being blown away by the guest vocalists, give them another shot when you listen to the whole album together. It flows pretty good and they don't really stick out or seem abrasive.

[buddhahat]

I heard that "I'm Feeling Sad" was originally "This Beautiful Day part 2" so that might fit in nicely as well.

As far as not being blown away by the guest vocalists, give them another shot when you listen to the whole album together. It flows pretty good and they don't really stick out or seem abrasive.

Thanks. I'm not familiar with the song as haven't heard the deluxe version yet but am interested to hear that.

What happened to the summer means new love rewrite btw? Is that on the deluxe one?

I know I shouldn't jump to conclusions but I don't think I'll be won over by the guest tracks. The ones listed above though have knocked me out. I'm amazed at how well they fit with the TWGMTR slower songs. It really feels like a unified body of (great) work.

[RiC]

What happened to the summer means new love rewrite btw? Is that on the deluxe one?

it's the bonus track called Somewhere Quiet.

[buddhahat]

What happened to the summer means new love rewrite btw? Is that on the deluxe one?

it's the bonus track called Somewhere Quiet.

Oh thanks.

[buddhahat]

I heard that "I'm Feeling Sad" was originally "This Beautiful Day part 2" so that might fit in nicely as well.
.

Oh yeah! Just listened to the link from the radio show. That song is wonderful! Definitely another contender for the life suite playlist. Anyone else hearing Mark Eric in the chorus?

[the captain]

I was just thinking about this today, actually. I didn't have the music to do it or anything yet, much less had I put in any time to thinking about how they'd work together. But it did occur to me that unless I'm mistaken, it was at least implied "the suite" was done or easily finishable for TWGMTR (or did I make that up just now?). So it would be reasonable to think some of that material was here on NPP...

Was there ever a more complete rundown of what else had been included in the concept but didn't make TWGMTR?

[ontor pertawst]

I just know there's another short piece recorded during those "Radio" sessions. Somebody should ask Joe Thomas about any other songs, what with him owning all the hard drives and 1998 sessions.

[Generation42]

... from TWGMTR and No Pier Pressure tracks?

A couple of NPP tracks have really me blown me away. They're the ones that sound most like the 'Life Suite' tracks (or at least what I assume are life suite tracks) from TWGMTR.

I put them all in a playlist together and, wow, it sounds exactly how I'd dream a late career BW masterpiece would sound (including Friends like brevity of 26 mins)!!

Here's mine:

Think About The Days
This Beautiful Day
Strange World
Half Moon Bay
From There To Back Again
Whatever Happened
Pacific Coast Highway
One Kind Of Love
Summer's Gone

I must admit, from the samples of NPP I knew I was not going to be bowled over by many of the collaboration tracks. No offence to BW but I'm just not a fan of those vocalists. As such I was approaching NPP with caution today but I've been blindsided by the tracks I've included above. Way more than I was expecting.

Great stuff!  I love the thread topic.

As with a lot of us here, I'm quite sure, I've always been a sucker for Brian's suites.  So from the moment we first caught wind of something called "Life's Suite"/the 'Life Suite,' I was intrigued.

And once we actually heard tracks like "Think About the Days," "Strange World" and especially the 'Big Three' of "From There to Back Again," "Pacific Coast Highway" and the almighty "Summer's Gone," I was floored.  Since that time, I've been nigh obsessed with getting to hear the completed suite (and -- importantly, I think -- in Brian's suggested running order for the piece).

Yes, I remember having big hopes of hearing some more of the Life Suite tracks on Made in California, or the 'next Beach Boys album.' 

But of course, as grand a release as it was, the former didn't offer anything from the suite, while latter never quite materialized...


Still, there was reason to hope.  From the time that we first started seeing photos of Brian working in the studio following the C50 tour, I began to wonder.  And then, when we eventually discovered that a new BW album project was indeed in the works, I couldn't help but see this as a golden opportunity to -- if not quite complete the suite -- maybe just offer us a handful of choice selections from the work.

But is this what they have chosen to do?  Does anything at all appearing on No Pier Pressure actually originate from the Life Suite?

I think that until we hear any official word on the matter (one way or the other), it's going to be difficult to say.

----------

Now, for the purposes of this specific topic (and I know none of this is news to anyone here, but for reference), here's some of what we've learned about the suite:

"Four of the five songs from the second half of the suite — "Strange World," "From There to Back Again," "Pacific Coast Highway" and "Summer's Gone" — close out the album. The fifth track, "I'd Go Anywhere," which is meant to go between "Strange World" and "From There to Back Again," remains unfinished. The six songs that comprise the suite's first half are incomplete, too, Thomas said."

So (at least in 2012) the suite was said to comprise eleven songs.  That's Why God Made the Radio gave us at least four of them (though I tend to want to include TWGMTR's opener in the suite.)  And (refresh my memory, somebody) was "I'd Go Anywhere" not that instrumental snippet from the Doin' It Again blu ray?  If so, maybe that belongs in our suite playlist, too (as the quote suggests, between "Strange World" and FTtBA)?

And it would seem that we'd have a pretty good handle on the closing half of the suite.

----------

But to the (unaccounted for) first half?

As I've already alluded to, I personally enjoy putting "Think About the Days" at the start of my own personal suite playlist.  It sounds much too perfect and just 'right' to not be included among the known suite numbers.  But beyond that?

Well, from what precious little I've heard of most of the new songs (I've been trying desperately not to check out too much of the album before I have my hands on the real deal), I feel as though you just may be on to something here with your proposed play list, buddhahat.  Once I have the record in my hands, I'm absolutely going to try your idea on for myself, and see how it feels.

----------

Now, with a mind to adding to your list, I've read some here who have wondered whether the three bonus tracks included in the deluxe edition of NPP ("Don't Worry," "Somewhere Quiet" and "I'm Feeling Sad") may have come from the suite, as well.  But again, as I haven't heard these numbers yet, I'm not in much of a position to say.  But to those who have heard them, are there any takers on this idea?  Do they sound 'right' for the suite?


Finally, if you'll allow me to toss an idea of my own out there: How do we feel about "The Last Song"?

Now, have we any indication whatsoever that this composition was conceived as a part of the suite?  Not to my current understanding, no.

But to they who have heard 'Last Song' in its entirety, do you feel as though it might 'fit' with the feel/flow/subject matter of the Life Suite tracks?

[the captain]

This morning I've been enjoying the new album with the "life suite" idea bubbling beneath the surface. I came up with something that works well for me. This isn't the product of detective work--I'm clueless about the reality, however much of that there ever was--but rather is just my little stab at something similar based on the idea. A few aspects might be surprising. I look forward to my deluxe edition arriving so I can consider those songs for possible inclusion.

The Life Suite, it's the new Smile.

First:
1. This Beautiful Day
2. Saturday Night*
3. One Kind of Love
4. Whatever Happened
5. Summer's Gone**

Intermission Music:
1. Half Moon Bay

Second:
1. Tell Me Why
2. Strange World
3. From There to Back Again
4. Pacific Coast Highway
5. The Last Song***


*This is probably the biggest liberty I took, using a guest vocalist as part of this "very-Brian" (or at least "very-Beach Boys" project. But to me it brings the sound of freshness and youth, some real energy to a mostly down-tempo and contemplative if not depressing experience.

**This actually worked better than I expected it to. A lot about this--including the actual album on which it appeared--screams "closer." But I wanted "The Last Song" in that role here. And besides, the end of summer isn't the end of the year, is it? Or in the metaphoric sense here, of life? I thought of it more as the end of youth, even middle age--the beginning of old age.

***For me this had a redemptive quality, which is why I wanted it as my closer. The question was whether it would feel good after "Pacific Coast Highway." Splitting up those TWGMTR songs was something I wasn't at all sure about; while I have no idea how they were written, they were produced to run in the order in which they ran. (Obviously.) For me, though, this worked. "Goodbye..." ... followed by a statement of wisdom, if you will (from the grave?).

[SMiLE Brian]

Nice playlist captain!

[Mendota Heights]

Nice playlist captain!

+1.

[Generation42]

This morning I've been enjoying the new album with the "life suite" idea bubbling beneath the surface. I came up with something that works well for me. This isn't the product of detective work--I'm clueless about the reality, however much of that there ever was--but rather is just my little stab at something similar based on the idea. A few aspects might be surprising. I look forward to my deluxe edition arriving so I can consider those songs for possible inclusion.

The Life Suite, it's the new Smile.

First:
1. This Beautiful Day
2. Saturday Night*
3. One Kind of Love
4. Whatever Happened
5. Summer's Gone**

Intermission Music:
1. Half Moon Bay

Second:
1. Tell Me Why
2. Strange World
3. From There to Back Again
4. Pacific Coast Highway
5. The Last Song***


*This is probably the biggest liberty I took, using a guest vocalist as part of this "very-Brian" (or at least "very-Beach Boys" project. But to me it brings the sound of freshness and youth, some real energy to a mostly down-tempo and contemplative if not depressing experience.

**This actually worked better than I expected it to. A lot about this--including the actual album on which it appeared--screams "closer." But I wanted "The Last Song" in that role here. And besides, the end of summer isn't the end of the year, is it? Or in the metaphoric sense here, of life? I thought of it more as the end of youth, even middle age--the beginning of old age.

***For me this had a redemptive quality, which is why I wanted it as my closer. The question was whether it would feel good after "Pacific Coast Highway." Splitting up those TWGMTR songs was something I wasn't at all sure about; while I have no idea how they were written, they were produced to run in the order in which they ran. (Obviously.) For me, though, this worked. "Goodbye..." ... followed by a statement of wisdom, if you will (from the grave?).

Fascinating.  What a great post.  And I love that you've shared the reasons why you've gone in the direction you have.  


For instance, I see, captain, that you've chosen to include "The Last Song."  So you feel that it does work as a part of our Life Suite fan mix, then.  That's awesome.

But putting "Summer's Gone" any place other than right after "Pacific Coast Highway"?  Wow, now that's a bold move!  I'll need to hear TLS for myself before I can consider breaking up the flow of those final TWGMTR suite numbers as you have here.  But I like your reasoning behind the decision.  It reads as a compelling case.

Even without hearing the song, I can see why one would think about closing with any number called "The Last Song."  And having it come after "Summer's Gone" just didn't feel right, I imagine (that one's obviously a stunning closer in its own right).  I tell you, I cannot wait to get my hands on the record and give this thing a try for myself.

----------

I'll say it again, buddhahat: I feel you've hit upon a terrific thread topic!  At the very least, it's a lot of fun.  

And in the name of fun...

-Fantasy time-
Now, all of this is predicated on Brian deciding that he wants to finish the recordings, of course.  But assuming that happens, I picture a day when we are not only treated to all of the suite numbers being released in their entirety (along with a running order), but also something wonderful like a television special where the suite is performed front-to-back in the presence of a live audience.  Or maybe a home video project where the studio version of each song is set to its own specially-produced promo film (like a kind of 'video album')?  Something like that could be incredible.  Add in interviews of Brian and the other principles involved.  Behind the scenes stuff.  Studio footage, 'making of' goodies, etc.  

Oh, yeah, if it were my call, I'd see to it that every effort was made to celebrate the Life Suite as a featured element of Wilson's career.  A big 'tent-pole' of Brian's later years.  A milestone.  From what we've heard of the suite, it would certainly seem to merit such attention.  The material is, in a word, outstanding.
-End fantasy-


But until such a day ever comes, there is still an awful lot of fun to be had in adding and subtracting selections for the suite all by ourselves (and trying out any number of different running orders, along the way).  As you say, in a sense, the Life Suite is the new Smile.

[Rocket]

There's nothing I want more from Brian than a completed Life Suite. I sincerely believe it would be one of his best works.

Maybe we'll get it all one day.

[shangaijoeBB]

Here's mine!

The Life Suite Aka PET SOUNDS PT.II

1. Think About The Days
2. Strange World
3. One Kind Of Love
4. Tell Me Why
5. Whatever Happened
6. Half Moon Bay

7. This Beautiful Day
8. Im' Feeling Sad
9. Somewhere Quiet
10. From There And Back Again
11. Pacific coast highway
12. Id' Go Anywhere (dunno what it is, thought)
13. Summer's Gone

[Generation42]

So, I have a general question for anyone more well-versed in the rules regarding Beach Boys-related material: Can Brian even release the rest of the Life Suite?

What I'm getting at is, since we know that more of the suite numbers were partially recorded during the TWGMTR sessions, does this mean these recordings can only ever be released under the Beach Boys name?

If the 'Boys don't ever regroup again -- if it's just not going to happen -- but Brian Wilson decides that he'd still like to finish the rest of the suite and release it under his own moniker, is that feasible?  What if some of what was recorded for the unfinished suite numbers includes vocals by Mike or Bruce or whatever?  Can such a recording still potentially come out on a "Brain Wilson" album?

Similarly, let's say Brian records the rest of the suite songs, but doesn't use anything from a Beach Boys session; the suite numbers from TWGMTR are still Beach Boys material.  Does the would-be fact that the suite is made-up of both Beach Boys/BW recordings mean that no complete collection of the Life Suite can ever see commercial release?

I'm at a loss.  Somebody help!

[ontor pertawst]

Besides that one known track recorded for the suite during the RADIO sessions, I would assume the unreleased first part of the unfinished suite songs Joe Thomas mentioned are basically all the late 90s demos and Chicago recordings he has, right? Fragments extracted from those sessions. Wouldn't it be fascinating to hear those on some kind of Brian Wilson Bedroom Tapes/Piano Demos boxed set? A great context to release stuff like that if they don't plan on rerecording or overdubbing the tracks for a future album.

Then we all get to cobble together "The Life Suite" without involving Mike Love and his lawyers as much. Or Joe Thomas if both parties didn't want to finish the songs and release/tour the completed work. This way we at least can hear the demos and how it would flow together.

[Cristian Kiper]

I've finally been able to listen to the whole album, and the first thing I thought of was putting together my own Life Suite. Still not sure about the playlist... I had read that This Beautiful Day quotes a bit from Summer's Gone, but what I also noticed is that the melodies for Half Moon Bay and I'm Feeling Sad are almost identical. I wonder if that's why I'm Feeling Sad was left as a bonus track. Anyway, I think mine would be something like this:

1 - This Beautiful Day
2 - I'm Feeling Sad
3 - Half Moon Bay
4 - Whatever Happened
5 - Strange World
6 - Tell Me Why
7 - Think About The Days
8 - From There To Back Again
9 - Pacific Coast Highway
10 - Summer's Gone

I'm so used to listening to those last three songs in that order, I don't think I could place them anywhere else. The rest is still a work in progress

[Summertime Blooz]

I believe the bonus tracks Don't Worry (youthful optimism), Somewhere Quiet (representing the Beach Boys 60s period) , and I'm Feeling Sad (representing some of BW's more aimless years) could all fit in the theme. But who the heck knows? Maybe we should ask the big guy the next time he does one of those Q&A thingies. I don't think The Last Song is part of it though. BW said that Summer's Gone is the end of the suite, right? The Last Song is pretty weak coffee anyway, so better off without it. Guess You Had To Be There would work as a song about BW and the BBs decline.

[The Cincinnati Kid]

In one of the Q&A sessions Brian did say that none of the songs on NPP are from the Life suite.  Of course I'd take that with a grain of salt, though.

[Generation42]

In one of the Q&A sessions Brian did say that none of the songs on NPP are from the Life suite.  Of course I'd take that with a grain of salt, though.

I thought that I remembered that, too.

I suppose any Q+A questions re: the suite might be boiled down to: "Are any of the NPP songs from the Life Suite?" (just to be clear), and "Many fans would like to know, will we ever see the completed Life Suite released?"

The answer might be as simple as "1. No, 2. Yes, hopefully."  But you never know.

[kwebb]

I've been trying to combine TWGMtR and NPP, but right now my playlist has 20 songs and I don't want to cut any of them. So far I have the order of the first few songs:

Think About the Days
That's Why God Made the Radio
Isn't It Time
Tell Me Why
Shelter
Sail Away

[buddhahat]

Now, for the purposes of this specific topic (and I know none of this is news to anyone here, but for reference), here's some of what we've learned about the suite:

"Four of the five songs from the second half of the suite — "Strange World," "From There to Back Again," "Pacific Coast Highway" and "Summer's Gone" — close out the album. The fifth track, "I'd Go Anywhere," which is meant to go between "Strange World" and "From There to Back Again," remains unfinished. The six songs that comprise the suite's first half are incomplete, too, Thomas said."

So (at least in 2012) the suite was said to comprise eleven songs.  That's Why God Made the Radio gave us at least four of them (though I tend to want to include TWGMTR's opener in the suite.)  And (refresh my memory, somebody) was "I'd Go Anywhere" not that instrumental snippet from the Doin' It Again blu ray?  If so, maybe that belongs in our suite playlist, too (as the quote suggests, between "Strange World" and FTtBA)?

And it would seem that we'd have a pretty good handle on the closing half of the suite.

Thanks for this R. Smith.

I remeber an interview that Joe Thomas did about No Pier Pressure where he compared it to Wild Honey! I had a feeling he discussed the Life Suite in that interview, but maybe I'm misremembering?

I can't find it now but did stumble on this post TWGMTR interview from andrewromano.net:

http://notes.andrewromano.net/joethomasbeachboys

With a few snippets about the suite:

He didn’t want the album to be this statement of “Summer’s gone. That’s the end.”
Exactly. And that was a big thing for me because we’ve got another 10 or 12 songs that we didn’t have time to put on this record, and he perceptively felt that and was like, This is a downer. I really do want to do this again. Maybe. And it’s not really over.” “Summer’s Gone” was never really about being over. It was about being in a chronological version of a year, you’re not a kid anymore, it’s not spring. Maybe you’re best days of summer are over. But it doesn’t mean it’s all over. It just means summer’s over. So he tossed that around for awhile and decided that, you know what, it should be the last song on this album but maybe not the title.

Another one that we had that was around was the first one on the second side called “Strange World.” Second side, I’m looking at…

The vinyl.

Exactly. That was done as part of a suite that he was always interested in writing. On this record it’s called “From There to Back Again.” He really wanted to do like a kind of reflection of California from the standpoint of a, you know, a guy who’s almost 70 years old. So it’s driving down Pacific Coast Highway and thinking about his life in retrospect. So this suite was a series of maybe one or two minute vignettes that he had like 15 of them that he would start and never finish. When I put them together on ProTools, it was eerie to me that they all fit together. It was like, wow. This song was written a year before the song that followed it, but yet they fit completely perfectly: modulation, key move, the whole thing. Then Brian started assembling these little bits and I kind of dreamed… I was 10 years old when Smile was recorded, but I kind of dreamed that was how that happened. I have no special authority to tell you that’s how it did. It just seemed like all these little pieces became like this theme, and instead of being Americana or whatever Smile was, it was his drive down Pacific Coast Highway.

So there were more pieces? There are only four or five on the record.

Right. We’ve got another 10 or 12 vignettes that we don’t know what to do with yet.

All on the same theme?

Oh yeah, yeah. They all fit together. I’m hoping someday that that will come out in its entirety. The whole suite, as it was always intended to come out.

A bit more from later in the interview:


So those were the new ones?
Well, in the suite, the song that Al sings is brand-new.

“From There to Back Again”?

Yeah, that was brand-new. “My Life,” the one that’s now called “Pacific Coast Highway”—that’s one where we found some bits on a tape. And then, “Strange World,” again, was some bits that we found on tape. Brian has a person, Gloria, who’s been his housekeeper, confidant, been taking care of Brian and the kids, Melinda. I don’t know what the right word is in California. Just the person who’s always been there, helps cook… She’s done this for many many years. He’s always had this Spanish influence because I think Gloria is Colombian. So he was talking to her about—he knows quite a bit of Spanish, and he came up with a couple of Spanish words in “Strange World. It was just kind of a look at Santa Monica and all the different kinds of people there, and how everybody, whether you came from Ohio like his parents did or Colombia like Gloria’s parents did, it was just such a good cornucopia of people. Santa Monica pier, the different colorful kinds of people… what a strange world and we’re all a part of it. Look at how different everybody is, but we’re all sitting on the pier eating ice cream cones.

I really noticed the two sides of the coin listening to this record. You have the upbeat, sunny, classically-themed Beach Boys songs: Spring Vacation, Beaches in Mind. And then you have the second side. What was Brian’s inspiration for putting that suite together—for making something melancholy, that was grappling with aging and even mortality?

The suite was always intertwined. From 15 years ago to some of the pieces he just put together and then shelved this last year. He’s got a really uncanny ability to pace an album. Look at Pet Sounds: Wouldn’t It Be Nice starts the album, then it ends with Caroline, No. There’s an uncanny pacing there. I think even with the solo work I did with him, Mike’s influence not being there makes it a completely different kind of an album. In a way, it’s refreshing. I go to a lot of the shows. I started the tour with these guys, and I came out to the first five or six shows to get everything… not that I contribute that much, just make sure that familiarity, that everybody’s on their way. When I look at the fans, there’s the hardcore Brian fan and then there’s the Beach Boys fans. I think this is a melding of the two. It’s great that both fans can enjoy an album like this. Hopefully they will. And that there’s a little bit in it for either one of them and that they can share the guys together.