Stack-O-Tracks: Who picked the tracks, and why?

[maggie]

The Stack-O-Tracks LP credits "The Beach Boys" for production. Presumably that means there was some degree of collaborative effort in choosing what tracks to include.

To me, the track selection is curious. The biggest US hits ("I Get Around," "Good Vibrations," "Help Me Rhonda," "California Girls," "Barbara Ann") are all missing, while some lesser-known oldies ("Salt Lake City," "Little Honda," "You're So Good to Me") are included. Some of the lesser-known tracks seem to have been selected to show off the complexity and beauty of Brian's productions ("Salt Lake City," "Let Him Run Wild") but some others are just very basic early backing tracks (e.g., "Surfer Girl") of little interest in themselves.

Have any of the Beach Boys ever spoken about the track selection or the rationale for the production of the album?

[hideyotsuburaya]

DO IT AGAIN was just out then

[DonnyL]

I seem to recall reading somewhere the Carl selected the tracks.

[Cool Cool Water]

I seem to recall reading somewhere the Carl selected the tracks.

Have you got a source for that?

[metal flake paint]

In the Byron Preiss book, Brian is quoted as saying, "Stack-O-Tracks was Capitol's idea...They picked the cuts."

[JJ3810]

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,9830.0.html

[DonnyL]

I seem to recall reading somewhere the Carl selected the tracks.

Have you got a source for that?

Nope, just a memory of having read it in a book somewhere.

[Stephen W. Desper]

The Stack-O-Tracks LP credits "The Beach Boys" for production. Presumably that means there was some degree of collaborative effort in choosing what tracks to include.

To me, the track selection is curious. The biggest US hits ("I Get Around," "Good Vibrations," "Help Me Rhonda," "California Girls," "Barbara Ann") are all missing, while some lesser-known oldies ("Salt Lake City," "Little Honda," "You're So Good to Me") are included. Some of the lesser-known tracks seem to have been selected to show off the complexity and beauty of Brian's productions ("Salt Lake City," "Let Him Run Wild") but some others are just very basic early backing tracks (e.g., "Surfer Girl") of little interest in themselves.

Have any of the Beach Boys ever spoken about the track selection or the rationale for the production of the album?

COMMENT to Maggie:   You may have read about this in my book. At Capitol's and Brian's suggestion, SOT became a project headed by Carl. I don't know who originated the idea, the group or the company. The idea behind the album was to spotlight the vocal prowess of the group. Popularity of the song, available separated tracks, complexity of the arrangement, and vocal to instrument ratio, were some of the criteria used to assemble the play list. When I came onto the scene, Carl and the folks at Capitol A&R had decided on the songs, to be in Carl's order. Carl and the Capitol engineer had assembled almost everything needed to start mixing down. Everything was already recorded.

I was invited to join Carl in all the SOT mixdowns lasting a week, some a few hours and some all day. I had been mixing on the road, but now Carl wanted me to move into the studio with the group. During the mixdowns I sat next to Carl behind the mixing console. When you play SOT you hear the mixed vocals. I was hearing the many parts separately, before being assembled. This enabled Carl to instruct me in how the music is structured as it relates to the mix, his perspective of balance as it relates to the music structure. In short, how to build a Beach Boy mix. This time featuring the vocals, the heart of the Beach Boy group.

So Maggie, it was quite an education. Capitol engineer, Don Henderson was the engineer in charge. A very kind and helpful man, he handled all the recording levels and tapes, and oversaw the technical aspects of the studio. Carl (and I) were much younger then. This was my first trip into the renown Capitol Tower. It was full of wonderful recording equipment and beautifully sounding studios. Depending on booking schedules, the SOT sessions moved between control room 4, which had no studio, and Studio 3 that had an overdub studio  but we only used the Control Room. They were still using big Altec monitors back then. Some multi-tracks were 4, some 8. The consoles used vacuum tubes. There was a lot of editing and cleaning up of the tracks, sonically. Having worked in other studios before Carl let me help with that -- as second engineer (so to speak). Carl always let me mix the tracks, and hear for myself how each part could influence the whole. SOT was a learning experience for me.

My understanding was that Carl and the A&R department submitted several lists of songs for inclusion. They went back and forth, submitting this list and that. I believe Brian was also involved in the selection. The considerations I listed at the top of this comment weighed-in during the decision making. Sometimes, separated vocal tracks were just not available, which would eliminate the song, no matter how popular. On other songs only backing tracks could be isolated. Technical limitations were as important as a song's popularity or complexity.   

When I joined the sessions, Don was still assembling all the tracks from the Capitol Vault. It was in a basement, quite secure -- and vast. The tape storage shelves were up to the ceiling. The vault had a Liberian, or person in-charge. He kept track of which tapes were where, what was on each tape, and technical notes. Don was still trying to find a few tracks - no PC's in those days. Just index cards. And you hope all the information on the card is correct. In some cases, you have to just go and get the tape box -- well, the librarian would go get the tape box, and then you signed it out for a certain time. Just like a book library. That's the stage Don was at.

Carl spent a lot of time himself -- finding the right blend. Don would suggest this EQ or that limiting, but it was Carl's final choice. Brian stopped by a few times, but it was a stereo mix, which he did not want to deal with. He told me stereo sounds to him like a double sound, one delayed behind the other. (Technically this is called Head Related Transfer Functions - HRTF). I would call that very sensitive and acute hearing.   

I got to know Carl quite well in that week and I also became familiar to the personal at Capitol. Later, I would be running sessions there myself -- little did I know. You may enjoy God Only Knows vocals from SOT as presented re-mastered through my equipment. It's on the God Only Knows studio video.   (http://swdstudyvideos.com). It was during the SOT sessions that I visited the Echo Chambers, as told in the study videos. Hope this provides some perspective for you. ~swd

[Emdeeh]

Love that very detailed and informative response -- thanks, Stephen!

[mikeddonn]

Am I missing something?

SOT doesn't have any vocals on it.

[hideyotsuburaya]

and the original S-O-T capitol vinyl album (gatefold w/ printed music booklet) is not stereo, just a variation on mono sound

[metal flake paint]

Am I missing something?

SOT doesn't have any vocals on it.

No, not missing anything, although there is some vocal bleeding in places.

[mikeddonn]

and the original S-O-T capitol vinyl album (gatefold w/ printed music booklet) is not stereo, just a variation on mono sound

Yeah, that's what I thought!

Maybe Stephen and Emdeeh are talking about something else!

[Stephen W. Desper]

Am I missing something?

SOT doesn't have any vocals on it.

COMMENT to aurthor:  I'm talking about the SOT sessions. These were about vocals and, yes, instrumentation too, but separated. I heard and learned how these songs were put together by hearing them and playing with them as parts. It was Carl teaching me. My memories of the SOT sessions were not about what is on the album, rather what is not. What you hear on the album and what I was hearing were quite different. In separating everything out, the vocal constriction was more easy to follow. It was training for me, more than just making an album.

Some tracks were separated and some were already combined (vocal and instruments) and could not be used. Some track mixes were of the instruments and some were vocal.  I have some and loaned them to BRI who published a few of the vocal mixes a few years ago. Some are on/in the box set -- the one in the green box. The SOT was about tracking, but the session was about separating the two. 

Some songs had the instruments still on several tracks so could be mixed with some separation. GOK is one example. Some were mono. Some vocals could be separated into two or sometimes three tracks -- early stereo. Where ever possible, a two-track master was generated. ~swd

[CenturyDeprived]

Am I missing something?

SOT doesn't have any vocals on it.

COMMENT to aurthor:  I'm talking about the SOT sessions. These were about vocals and, yes, instrumentation too, but separated. I heard and learned how these songs were put together by hearing them and playing with them as parts. It was Carl teaching me. My memories of the SOT sessions were not about what is on the album, rather what is not. What you hear on the album and what I was hearing were quite different. In separating everything out, the vocal constriction was more easy to follow. It was training for me, more than just making an album.

Some tracks were separated and some were already combined (vocal and instruments) and could not be used. Some track mixes were of the instruments and some were vocal.  I have some and loaned them to BRI who published a few of the vocal mixes a few years ago. Some are on/in the box set -- the one in the green box. The SOT was about tracking, but the session was about separating the two.  

Some songs had the instruments still on several tracks so could be mixed with some separation. GOK is one example. Some were mono. Some vocals could be separated into two or sometimes three tracks -- early stereo. Where ever possible, a two-track master was generated. ~swd

Amazing how ahead of its time that album was, Stephen. Today, fans are spoiled by rarities and alternate mixes being officially released on albums like Hawthorne, CA and the Pet Sounds Sessions, but it seems to me like it was a daringly innovative (and unappreciated) release at the time for a major band to do way back then.

[mikeddonn]

Am I missing something?

SOT doesn't have any vocals on it.

COMMENT to aurthor:  I'm talking about the SOT sessions. These were about vocals and, yes, instrumentation too, but separated. I heard and learned how these songs were put together by hearing them and playing with them as parts. It was Carl teaching me. My memories of the SOT sessions were not about what is on the album, rather what is not. What you hear on the album and what I was hearing were quite different. In separating everything out, the vocal constriction was more easy to follow. It was training for me, more than just making an album.

Some tracks were separated and some were already combined (vocal and instruments) and could not be used. Some track mixes were of the instruments and some were vocal.  I have some and loaned them to BRI who published a few of the vocal mixes a few years ago. Some are on/in the box set -- the one in the green box. The SOT was about tracking, but the session was about separating the two. 

Some songs had the instruments still on several tracks so could be mixed with some separation. GOK is one example. Some were mono. Some vocals could be separated into two or sometimes three tracks -- early stereo. Where ever possible, a two-track master was generated. ~swd

Thank you for clearing that up Stephen.  It's good to know that the album wasn't a rush job and some care was taken over the mixes.  As CenturyDeprived said, ahead of its time.

[Bicyclerider]

Stephen - since a lot of care was used into mixing both the isolated instrumental tracks AND the isolated vocals, when possible, was there ever consideration of releasing a "vocals only" stack of tracks or including vocals only tracks in the SOT album?

[Stephen W. Desper]

Stephen - since a lot of care was used into mixing both the isolated instrumental tracks AND the isolated vocals, when possible, was there ever consideration of releasing a "vocals only" stack of tracks or including vocals only tracks in the SOT album?

COMMENT to Bicyclerider:  I do not know about other releases or what exactly happened to the vocal stuff. A&R must have decided that only instrumental tracks should be used on an album with "Tracks" in the title. I have no idea what future plans for other releases were envisioned, but evidently if anything was planned, it never came to be. I was just getting into the studio scene with the guys back then. What they did with the SOT session mixes was not for me to know. I was busy designing and building the first and smaller 12 input console PA system we would use at smaller concert venues. There was no such thing as an off-the-shelf PA console back then, so this console was custom made to my specifications It had low and high frequency EQ and twelve inputs. Mixing was via 12 large 2" knobs. It had two VU meters, one for the house feed and one for stage monitors. I can't remember what power amps we used, but we carried four Altec Lansing 9844A speaker systems (https://www.manualslib.com/manual/365786/Altec-Lansing-9844a-Speaker-System.html) for the house. Together with the stage Fender guitar amplifiers, this system was mostly to boost vocal levels. Come to think of it, this was the same monitor Carl used at Capitol for the mixes of SOT. I was not around for the assembling of the SOT album release. I know and have found some of the vocal tapes in the vault at Capitol, but I think they are lost now or mis-categorized and sometimes found by accident. The copies I have are all out there for anyone to hear. Some others have turned up on box sets. So I don't think you're missing anything if you look for it. ~swd

[hideyotsuburaya]

there's this jan. '68 brian wilson interview about forthcoming S-O-T album:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvzc2UXl9BU

But the official release date for the L.P. is Aug. 19 '68, which's also the date for BEST OF THE BEACH BOYS VOL. 3

WILD HONEY album was a December '67 release (the exact date coinciding w/ DARLIN' single)

FRIENDS 45 came out in April '68, the album of same name in June

DO IT AGAIN was a july '68 release

I've not been able to put a precise release date on the 3 record Capitol boxed-set BEACH BOYS DELUXE, but it appears to be shortly before WILD HONEY album