Good Vibrations Success and Smile's Demise

[Cam Mott]

I think Pet Sounds was probably well promoted.  It had 4 singles from it on the radio for thing.  There were full page ads to the trade including a 4 page fold out ad.  Anybody seen an ad even close to that for any album or group of the time?

Do you know if there's an image of that ad online? It would be cool to see.

I wouldn't doubt it is, it has a giraffe on it.  I'm not a collector but I do have one of the original ads, if I could remember where it is.

[Emily]

I think Pet Sounds was probably well promoted.  It had 4 singles from it on the radio for thing.  There were full page ads to the trade including a 4 page fold out ad.  Anybody seen an ad even close to that for any album or group of the time?

Do you know if there's an image of that ad online? It would be cool to see.

I wouldn't doubt it is, it has a giraffe on it.  I'm not a collector but I do have one of the original ads, if I could remember where it is.

Is it a cartoony giraffe? If so, it seems familiar. I'll search online. Thanks!

Eta - I think I found it on BeachBoys.com with a real giraffe photo with the BBs at the zoo. I think the cartoon giraffe was for BW Presents Pet Sounds. Does that sound right? I wonder if I can get my paws on one of the originals. I'm not a collector either, but I'd love that.

[filledeplage]

I think Pet Sounds was probably well promoted.  It had 4 singles from it on the radio for thing.  There were full page ads to the trade including a 4 page fold out ad.  Anybody seen an ad even close to that for any album or group of the time?

Cam - I disagree. They got 4 singles, but that doesn't really relate to how as a whole themed body of work it was promoted.  The put GOK on the B side.  And then released Best of Vol. I, about 8 weeks later.   The singles got AM airplay and kept them on the charts, bridging the time till the release of GV but as far as a big promo push, I don't think so.  It never got the hype of Rubber Soul, and from the same company, coming out about six months prior to Pet Sounds, or Revolver afterwards.  Just saying'.  
  

The singles were on the album and got a lot of airplay, I guess I don't see how they could not promote the album.  I know the album itself was featured across the country from May through October on several radio stations as their "Album of the Week" pick.   As I remember there was also promotion in the teen mags (and there also was some complaining in the magazines about the change in style). I just think the idea that its reception was down to lack of promotion does not seem to be well supported by the actuality.  I'm thinking there probably weren't many albums that were being/had been promoted nearly as well as Pet Sounds.

Cam - I think a couple of those teen magazines (I found out fairly recently) by record companies;  Teen Set was owned by Capitol.  As a naive pre-teen, I would never have known that the record companies were publishing the teen mags.  Before I bought it, I checked to see if there was a story about the Beach Boys, before I bought it, if they had one, fine, otherwise, not.  Guess I was narrow minded.  

If I remember correctly, and don't have it at my fingertips, the back cover of the 1967 touring book even had a promo photo of Best of the BB Vol. I.  And, no Pet Sounds.  I wonder if the UK version of the 1967 touring book was any different?  (I'll have to check that.)

There would have been beaucoup TV appearances which likely would be on youtube.  They did a GV video on some variety show, in the white suits, in 1968, after by at least a year or year and a half, after the single release, but maybe closer to Smiley but after Wild Honey, with Darlin' as a single.   This was completely unconnected as a contemporaneous GV video.  

The singles did get airplay on AM.  The "sound" was taken out of the context of Pet Sounds, in terms of print media.  The hot orange and yellow swirl Capitol trademark of the singles of Sloop or WIBN/GOK, bore no resemblance to the green Pet Sounds, and it was treated in isolation.  

And, I just pulled up a website called afka.net (back channeled to this forum) which has covers of "Teen Set" magazine, which was a Capitol Records publication.  November, 1966 has no BB on the cover, but at the bottom of the front cover is "At Home with Al Jardine of the Beach Boys."  There is Dylan, Dave Clark 5, John Lennon and a few I cannot enlarge well enough to see.  January of 1967 had Paul Mc. on the cover.  Sept. 1968 has Janice Joplin on the cover. October, 1968, has Mick.

So, for this record company to have "America's band" as their clients, I'm not feeling the love.    

The next single, Heroes was on Brother. People expected Surf's Up to be the next single after GV.      

Collector extraordinaire bgas has some Teen Set uploads in the BB Media threads. 

[Emily]

Hi FilledePlage,
Afka.net only lists magazine issues that feature Frank Zappa.
Teen Set June 1966 features Brian Wilson
Teen Set September 1966 features Dennis Wilson
Teen Set October 1966 features Mike Love
Teen Set November 1966 features Alan Jardine
Teen Set December 1966 features Carl Wilson
Teen Set January 1967 features Bruve Johnston
I think all of the issues are uploaded by bgas to the BB media section.

[filledeplage]

Hi FilledePlage,
Afka.net only lists magazine issues that feature Frank Zappa.
Teen Set June 1966 features Brian Wilson
Teen Set September 1966 features Dennis Wilson
Teen Set October 1966 features Mike Love
Teen Set November 1966 features Alan Jardine
Teen Set December 1966 features Carl Wilson
Teen Set January 1967 features Bruve Johnston
I think all of the issues are uploaded by bgas to the BB media section.

Emily - they have articles, yes, but they are not the "cover guys" as are the others.  Pet Sounds should have made them "cover guys."

Somewhere, I have some of my own copies of those articles, cut from those magazines so I was delighted to see them uploaded by bgas.  I guess that is what my point is.  There was more or less a vacuum during that time.  Those articles were "puff pieces" - "at home with" - when there was the most creative release of it's time.  

Pet Sounds.  Seriously heady stuff, that made you think.  It was "not shelved" as was Smile.  And, I get that there is "lead time" that a publication needs, of a few months between the setting up of the articles and timely photos.  But, I guess what was released, in terms of publicity, was ultimately "not timely."    

Some of those volumes are 65'-ish and not "contemporaneous" to the music release and not going forward from Pet Sounds, in a timely fashion, that was appropriate to who they were as musicians, how and what they performed in concert, and how they had all grown up and were not still in high school.  One photo which was taken in Times Square, maybe in 1964 or so was used on a foreign copy of a Smiley Smile CD I have, with striped shirts on.    

Those are not the "Smile" BB's but the BB's Today era.  In terms of the difference, it is the difference between a 4 year old and a 7 year old and that is a huge amount of growth and evolution in the music.    

[Sound of Free]

I think Pet Sounds was probably well promoted.  It had 4 singles from it on the radio for thing.  There were full page ads to the trade including a 4 page fold out ad.  Anybody seen an ad even close to that for any album or group of the time?

Cam - I disagree. They got 4 singles, but that doesn't really relate to how as a whole themed body of work it was promoted.  The put GOK on the B side.  And then released Best of Vol. I, about 8 weeks later.   The singles got AM airplay and kept them on the charts, bridging the time till the release of GV but as far as a big promo push, I don't think so.  It never got the hype of Rubber Soul, and from the same company, coming out about six months prior to Pet Sounds, or Revolver afterwards.  Just saying'. 

   

I think "God Only Knows" as a B-side was a huge mistake. It should have been an A-side after WIBN. Pet Sounds, being such a departure, was going to be a slow builder in terms of sales. Having GOK as another, separate single could have kept the momentum building, got the album higher than its peak of No. 10, and MAYBE prevented the "Best Of," which really led to Brian and the group beginning to mistrust Capitol.

[Micha]

Another thing I have neglected to mention concerning GV is that it could have fit well in a twelve track record but never seemed right tacked on the end of BWPS. I know I'm not alone in that camp.

Actually most people want to have Surf's Up as the ending. Even before BWPS my personal mixes ended with GV though, I always thought it was the perfect ending. (I think though that originally it was to open the album after Prayer - fits perfectly with the chords.)

In the Fall of 1967, GV was released

Yes, it really was so ahead of its time that a typo like this is understandable. It's really not like any other 1966 recording. Before I really got into the BBs, I thought GV was a 1967 song like Strawberry Fields Forever and Let's Spend The Night Together (which has its middle eight definitely inspired by GV).

[Cam Mott]

Fille, I think the evidence of extensive promotion is still out there but maybe we won't agree on how much was enough.

Re. GV:  wouldn't GV's success have embolden Brian to double down on whatever he wanted to do with GV being the proof his  instinct was the right track?

[Paul J B]

Filledeplage.... I really appreciate your insight and recollections. The part about releasing the Best of Vol 1 post Pet Sounds and the Beach Boys forming their own label in '67 stands out. Again, GV is smack in the middle of that as well. It could be Brian was emboldened by GV success and factored that into not only going in a different direction with Smile but also figuring he'd just do what he wants period and not have to answer to Capitol anymore.

[filledeplage]

Fille, I think the evidence of extensive promotion is still out there but maybe we won't agree on how much was enough.

Re. GV:  wouldn't GV's success have embolden Brian to double down on whatever he wanted to do with GV being the proof his  instinct was the right track?

Some of the answers might be found in The Beatles' decision to exercise full control of releases, with Capitol discography which differed, from the UK versions.  (From wiki - a good start, but not the end of research) In 1967, Capitol was not allowed final say over what was released and how.

In October, 1966 around the release of GV - the birth of Brother Records, Inc. In a way I respect the BB's more because they did it themselves, and didn't (for the most part) contract it out.  The Beatles established apple records in 1968.  Again, The Boys are ahead, conceptually.

The biggest change was the track listing, running order, to be released unmodified from what that band approved.  And no issue of 45 singles were to be "mined" in a manner of speaking from The  Beatles' album, and any singles would remain as singles, released between albums, and not to break the "work" up as a whole.  

It seems that Capitol also had "modified" Beatles' work, via engineering and the "duophonic" concept I've learned about here...I've learned that it was not customary to split the UK albums for singles, as in the US, but maybe as the world got smaller with air travel and communication, it was thought to be a better idea to use "anchor" singles coming from the album as a marketing tool.  

If someone can come up with proof of a multi-media, including print, radio, and TV spot promotions and a full promotional tour, commensurate with the quality of Pet Sounds, I'd love to see it.  I think the Teen maggie sums up the publicity..."at home with..."  

[filledeplage]

Filledeplage.... I really appreciate your insight and recollections. The part about releasing the Best of Vol 1 post Pet Sounds and the Beach Boys forming their own label in '67 stands out. Again, GV is smack in the middle of that as well. It could be Brian was emboldened by GV success and factored that into not only going in a different direction with Smile but also figuring he'd just do what he wants period and not have to answer to Capitol anymore.

Thanks Paul, for the kind words... but GV came out after Best of Vol. I.  

Roughly, Pet Sounds came out May 16, 1966. (Sloop was still on the radio after having been released in March of '66.)

Best of Vol. I came out in early July of 1966.

GOK came out on July 18, 1966 on the flip of WIBN.

GV came out in October of 1966.

2016 is the 50th birthday of both Pet Sounds, with GOK and GV.  It is a big and great year coming up! 
  

[Paul J B]

Filledeplage, Right on the dates..I may not have been clear. I meant GV came out between  Best of volume one and the boys forming their own label. Capital seemed to think the boys career was no longer viable as far as new music went by releasing the best of shortly after Pet Sounds. Then the monster hit of GV really makes them realize I guess Brian does know what he's doing.  But before Smile is delivered, it all goes haywire and the Beach Boys form Brother.

You have a ton of knowledge and you were there so yes, always good to read posts by you as well as many other great sources on this board.  2015 was great for Brian and 2016 will be great as well.  We are all fortunate it has gone on this long and so many of us still care so much.

[filledeplage]

Filledeplage, Right on the dates..I may not have been clear. I meant GV came out between  Best of volume one and the boys forming their own label. Capital seemed to think the boys career was no longer viable as far as new music went by releasing the best of shortly after Pet Sounds. Then the monster hit of GV really makes them realize I guess Brian does know what he's doing.  But before Smile is delivered, it all goes haywire and the Beach Boys form Brother.

You have a ton of knowledge and you were there so yes, always good to read posts by you as well as many other great sources on this board.  2015 was great for Brian and 2016 will be great as well.  We are all fortunate it has gone on this long and so many of us still care so much.

Thanks again, Paul.  BRI was a concept in mid-1966.  The timelines sort of dovetail into the GV release in October, 1966.  And apparently it was over Capitol's squeamishness over the Smile concepts. And would be smack in the middle of the Pet Sounds singles (GOK/WIBN) and must have involved a lot of frustration, and not without the backing of the entire band at the time, which tells me that they were willing to gamble on Smile, alongside Brian, despite a lack of confidence in Brian's work, coming from the record company.  The band would have had to discuss this very bold move many times and at length, and take the leap of faith, in Brian, and themselves to be assertive going up against the music "mafia." 

It was "reactive," indeed, but instead of being micromanaged, they set some boundaries over creative control and "went for it" facing possible financial problems, for the sake of creative control. So, for me, the timelines tell me a better story than any sanitized and revisionist history that can be concocted later.
And, I think they could see the writing on the wall as they say, especially after Best of was released, diluting any chance of making Pet Sounds the star it was, and is. 

Barbara Ann on Party (November, 1965) (the cover was a big US hit) and album-wise, preceded the release of Pet Sounds.  The Boys had given Capitol no reason to doubt their ability to deliver quality.  Capitol may have thought that the band was at the end of their "life cycle" and preemptively released the Best of Vol. 1 to keep themselves in a good secure income stream. 

And, I gotta give credit where credit it due, by striking out, taking the risk, and creating some boundary lines for creative work. Guys in their early 20's. Sometimes you have to retreat in battle, and regroup to ultimately win the war.  It is the way I see it. They won the war.      

[Emily]

Hi FilledePlage,
Afka.net only lists magazine issues that feature Frank Zappa.
Teen Set June 1966 features Brian Wilson
Teen Set September 1966 features Dennis Wilson
Teen Set October 1966 features Mike Love
Teen Set November 1966 features Alan Jardine
Teen Set December 1966 features Carl Wilson
Teen Set January 1967 features Bruve Johnston
I think all of the issues are uploaded by bgas to the BB media section.

Emily - they have articles, yes, but they are not the "cover guys" as are the others.  Pet Sounds should have made them "cover guys."

Somewhere, I have some of my own copies of those articles, cut from those magazines so I was delighted to see them uploaded by bgas.  I guess that is what my point is.  There was more or less a vacuum during that time.  Those articles were "puff pieces" - "at home with" - when there was the most creative release of it's time.  

Pet Sounds.  Seriously heady stuff, that made you think.  It was "not shelved" as was Smile.  And, I get that there is "lead time" that a publication needs, of a few months between the setting up of the articles and timely photos.  But, I guess what was released, in terms of publicity, was ultimately "not timely."    

Some of those volumes are 65'-ish and not "contemporaneous" to the music release and not going forward from Pet Sounds, in a timely fashion, that was appropriate to who they were as musicians, how and what they performed in concert, and how they had all grown up and were not still in high school.  One photo which was taken in Times Square, maybe in 1964 or so was used on a foreign copy of a Smiley Smile CD I have, with striped shirts on.    

Those are not the "Smile" BB's but the BB's Today era.  In terms of the difference, it is the difference between a 4 year old and a 7 year old and that is a huge amount of growth and evolution in the music.    

I have absolutely no dog in the 'Smile's Demise' discussion. I was just responding because it seemed in your post you didn't know that these issues, other than the Al one, existed.

[Emily]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

[Mr. Verlander]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

Do you know why he got in that car accident in November? He had just listened to some of Brian's SMiLE tracks that Derek Taylor stole and played for him. Do you think I'm lying? Just ask Van Dyke Parks   

[Emily]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

Do you know why he got in that car accident in November? He had just listened to some of Brian's SMiLE tracks that Derek Taylor stole and played for him. Do you think I'm lying? Just ask Van Dyke Parks   

So what really happened is that Brian made some Smile music, the Beatles stole it and were making a whole Smile album, Paul McC was so blown away he got in an accident and died, the Beatles' Smile was turned back over to Brian to complete while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper, but by that time Smile had gotten so muddled it had to be shelved?
The secret history, right there.

[filledeplage]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

Do you know why he got in that car accident in November? He had just listened to some of Brian's SMiLE tracks that Derek Taylor stole and played for him. Do you think I'm lying? Just ask Van Dyke Parks    

So what really happened is that Brian made some Smile music, the Beatles stole it and were making a whole Smile album, Paul McC was so blown away he got in an accident and died, the Beatles' Smile was turned back over to Brian to complete while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper, but by that time Smile had gotten so muddled it had to be shelved?
The secret history, right there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Records

"Motivated in no small part by the negative reaction of Capitol Records to some of Brian's ideas for Smile, the new company gave the band more control over their recordings." 

 

[JK]

while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper

Is that what they call a Freudian Slip? 

[Emily]

while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper

Is that what they call a Freudian Slip? 

Well, they can't be the Beatles if it's Faul instead of Paul, right?
I'm just playing.

[Emily]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

Do you know why he got in that car accident in November? He had just listened to some of Brian's SMiLE tracks that Derek Taylor stole and played for him. Do you think I'm lying? Just ask Van Dyke Parks    

So what really happened is that Brian made some Smile music, the Beatles stole it and were making a whole Smile album, Paul McC was so blown away he got in an accident and died, the Beatles' Smile was turned back over to Brian to complete while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper, but by that time Smile had gotten so muddled it had to be shelved?
The secret history, right there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Records

"Motivated in no small part by the negative reaction of Capitol Records to some of Brian's ideas for Smile, the new company gave the band more control over their recordings." 

 

As has been established, this was a cover story. The truth was suppressed. They drugged BW for the next 15 years to ensure he didn't remember.

[filledeplage]

Guys,
I'm so sorry you've spent so much valuable time on the question of what happened with Smile. There was just one public report of the truth, but Capitol and EMI worked together to bury it:
https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=2gxKAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cR4NAAAAIBAJ&pg=903,2323118&dq=mccartney&hl=en

Do you know why he got in that car accident in November? He had just listened to some of Brian's SMiLE tracks that Derek Taylor stole and played for him. Do you think I'm lying? Just ask Van Dyke Parks    

So what really happened is that Brian made some Smile music, the Beatles stole it and were making a whole Smile album, Paul McC was so blown away he got in an accident and died, the Beatles' Smile was turned back over to Brian to complete while the Featles went on to make Sgt. Pepper, but by that time Smile had gotten so muddled it had to be shelved?
The secret history, right there.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brother_Records

"Motivated in no small part by the negative reaction of Capitol Records to some of Brian's ideas for Smile, the new company gave the band more control over their recordings." 

 

As has been established, this was a cover story. The truth was suppressed. They drugged BW for the next 15 years to ensure he didn't remember.

Care to elaborate and particularize that, including whom "they" are?

And, I'm looking at time lines and incorporation dates, and actual promo (which was "illusory" - both for Pet Sounds and Smiley.)  Not the "installment" version of "at home with..."

But, I still have seen not promo spreads or national TV variety show dates or videos for either albums.   

[NOLA BB Fan]

And they did Back in the USSR as a tribute to Brian? So Mike didn't have anything to do with that song?
Thought I was finally getting all the facts down and then I read this.
 

[Emily]

Care to elaborate and particularize that, including whom "they" are?

And, I'm looking at time lines and incorporation dates, and actual promo (which was "illusory" - both for Pet Sounds and Smiley.)  Not the "installment" version of "at home with..."

But, I still have seen not promo spreads or national TV variety show dates or videos for either albums.  

The EMI and Capitol cabal. They dropped the Pet Sounds promotion because they needed Brian out of the public eye. He knew too much.

[Emily]

And they did Back in the USSR as a tribute to Brian? So Mike didn't have anything to do with that song?
Thought I was finally getting all the facts down and then I read this.
 

Mike did contribute. He was the runner between the Capitol cell and the EMI cell. The Featles wisely got all the EMI employees "in the know" out of there and started a new "company" to isolate them.