"Da Doo Ron Ron"

[All Summer Long]

Anyways, anybody in the know *cough* c-man *cough* aware of whether Brian was heavily involved in this one or not? I would be surprised to learn if he wasn't. Actually in general I kinda wonder about Brian's participation on KTSA. He's obviously much more audible then he was on L.A. (Light Album) but I wonder if he was involved much instrumentally or vocally especially on the songs he didn't write.

Yes, and yes.
If it was Brian's idea to record a cover, then he was heavily involved instrumentally and vocally, and probably arrangement-wise: besides "Da Do Ron Ron", examples from those sessions are "School Days", "Little Girl", "Jamaica Farewell", "Stranded In The Jungle" (Brian actually produced the basic tracks for those four, under Bruce's "supervision", a few months before the bulk of the sessions started), "Johnny B. Goode", and "Smokey Places". Two that he apparently WASN'T involved with (at least instrumentally) were "I'll Always Love You" and the Bruce-driven re-recording of "Johnny B. Goode" two weeks after the Brian-driven original.

Holy sh!t! There were two versions of Johnny B. Goode? I want to hear both of them. One of those had Dennis on drums and was probably the last time Dennis played on a Beach Boys session. I think his other contribution was some percussion on Endless Harmony.
Do you know who played on the two JBG's, c-man? And in case you've heard them, could you describe what they sound like?

Johnny # 1:
Brian, Bruce, Mike Meros (keyboards), Carl (guitar), Dennis (drums), Gary Mallaber (drums), Bill House (guitar), Jerry Scheff (bass)

Johnny # 2:
John Hobbs (keyboards), Steve Ross (guitars), Bill House (guitar), Bryan Garofalo (bass), Ricky Fataar (drums)

I have not heard either version.

Thank you! Oh man, I would love to hear Carl play with Jerry Scheff!

Agreed.

Can't blame him for not coming up with anything useful for "Goin' to the beach". What a lousy song.

I know I should hate it but I like it better than most of Mike’s other stuff I’ve heard post-Holland.

[Jay]

I vaguely recall somebody on here(either c-man or Stebbins?) several years ago posting that there is evidence that Dennis actually isn't on Johnny B Goode after all. Does anybody remember that? Or maybe it was Andrew Doe that said it.

That was me, and it was actually "Endless Harmony" I was talking about. It appears that one AFM contract was filed for both "Endless Harmony" and "Goin' To The Beach". Both songs were worked on at Al's studio, but Dennis wasn't present for that. According to eyewitness reports, he WAS, however, present for a subsequent Rumbo overdub session for "Goin' To The Beach", which is why his name is on that contract. It seems the intent was for him to add a drum track, perhaps replacing Scott Mathews' original drums. According to reports, Dennis sat down at the kit, "made some noise", and was dismissed. Christine McVie reportedly accompanied him to this session. No report on her reaction.

Thanks for that info and correction.