The Alan Boyd Thread

[Bicyclerider]

Well I assume two of those boxes are the master tapes for the Surf's Up and Sunflower album - surely the tapes aren't missing, they just found their way into different boxes?  Because I thought the CD's were made with the master tapes.  The Pet Sounds master tape depicted in the picture is the L.A. tape that has gone missing, presumably.

[Alan Boyd]

Actually, I doubt those were the original masters - for the true 1st generation masters, most of the post-Capitol albums - including SUNFLOWER and SURF'S UP, are split onto separate side one and side two reels.  On some of the later albums that were mastered at 30 ips, the side one and two masters are on larger reels, in larger boxes.  The tapes in this picture are probably reference copies.

I sure wish I knew what BELLAGO/HOLLAND is referring to..... or what might have been on that DUUMB ANGEL reel.... or SUMMER CONCERT or REMOTE, ST. PAUL....

*sigh*

We've been showing this picture to everyone who was involved in BB-land and/or Brother Studio back in the day, and so far no one knows what might have become of these tapes.

And I'm STILL hoping to find the multii--tracks and/or mixdown masters for YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELING.... or the ADATS on the 1993 Unplugged show in Atlanta.... or any of the missing SMILE tapes.... or the original master for THE SECOND WARNER BROTHERS ALBUM (AKA LANDLOCKED).... the list goes on.  And on.

[punkinhead]

could they have been the great fire of 1974 in the (what i think) Caribou studios with battle Hymn, good timin, Clangin', etc.?

[Alan Boyd]

Actually, Battle Hymn, Ding Dang, and Good Timin' are all safe and sound, and are living happily in the Brother Records' tape collection.... We've never quite been able to ascertain just what reels might have gone up in that fire. 

[Surfer Joe]

Alan, was anything in the vaults ever labelled as (or more likely archived as) "Do It Again '66"?

[Emdeeh]

And yes - there is a website under construction!  This is going to be THE official Beach Boys/Brother Records site, with all sorts of special features in the works.... including exclusive releases of material from The Beach Boys' archives.

Alan, what format will these releases be in? Will we be able to buy hard copy CDs, as opposed to/in addition to downloadable music?

I'm a hard-copy person myself. I want something that's archival, if at all possible. I'd much rather buy a disk than download.

[Bicyclerider]

Could this be an avenue for the 5.1 DVD-A of Surf's Up to be released?  Also, Brian's mono mixes of Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, Little Deuce Coupe, Shut Down Vol 2, All Summer Long, and the Christmas album? 

I'd also love to see a complete Capitol singles release - all the original mono mixes, A and B sides, in order of release.  We have a lot but not all of that on the Beach Boys Greatest Hits vols 1 and 2.  Maybe do a singles box ala Beatles and Rolling Stones, with CD singles reproducing the picture sleeves, and throw in a few unreleased singles/unreleased mixes as extras?

[NimrodsSon]

Mr. Boyd, on the forthcoming website, will we be able to download songs in FLAC or some other LOSSLESS format? I love the idea of this website, but I, and I'm sure many others as well, absolutely refuse to pay for mp3's, even high bitrate ones, under any circumstances.

[GoofyJeff]

I'm hoping for lossless and/or "official bootlegs" via mail order.....

[I. Spaceman]

absolutely refuse to pay for mp3's, even high bitrate ones, under any circumstances.

 

[Jason Penick]

Hi Alan... the version of "Things We Did Last Summer" on the box set-- has a definitive recording date ever been verified?  It sounds like it was arranged by someone other than Brian (Dick Reynolds?), and maybe the boys were brought in just to add their vocals.  Was this one intended for a movie or something?

Also curious if you've pinpointed an exact date for Brian's demos "Gonna Hustle You" and "Thank Him for Our Love".  Not much in the way of available information about the latter in particular.

[Jon Stebbins]

Hi Alan... the version of "Things We Did Last Summer" on the box set-- has a definitive recording date ever been verified?  It sounds like it was arranged by someone other than Brian (Dick Reynolds?), and maybe the boys were brought in just to add their vocals.  Was this one intended for a movie or something?

Also curious if you've pinpointed an exact date for Brian's demos "Gonna Hustle You" and "Thank Him for Our Love".  Not much in the way of available information about the latter in particular.

Hi Jason...I'm not Alan...but if its the same "Things We Did Last Summer" that I'm thinking of...it was recorded for the BB's appearance on the Red Skelton show in '63...and only features Brian, Carl and Mike. At least that's the way Dave Marks remembers it. He has a recollection of that being recorded on the CBS soundstage or studio with the house orchestra...while he and Dennis goofed off somewhere...then the whole band lip shyched it for the show. If Alan has info to debunk that ...then never mind.

[Mark Kidd]

Could you recommend any books to serve as references to the kinds of recording techniques and equipment that would have been available in studios during the 60s and 70s? When Stephen Desper recovers I intend to purchase a copy of his book, but where else would I be able to glean a better understanding of what was going on in the recording industry, particularly at the beginning of the Beach Boys' recording career? I feel like a lot of times (particularly in the Desper and Linett threads) the level of discourse is a little too high for me to participate in with what I currently know.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Mark:  It's not easy to get the information you're asking about.  There are books that will allude to certain things, and then there are books like "recording the Beatles" that are specific to one band, but there's really not a good "survey of recording techniques over the 60s and 70s as they evolved".  I've had to go bit by bit and piece by piece. 

If you have any specific questions, I can try to answer them for you from what I've gleaned from Mark, Steve, and various other sources.  Otherwise, just google stuff until you find something, which is what I did.  And still do.

[humanoidboogie]

I'm hoping for lossless and/or "official bootlegs" via mail order.....

I really, really, REALLY hope there will be "real" silver CD's for sale through the web site, just like Experience Hendrix/Dagger Records. A couple of releases each year. That would be fantastic!

[MBE]

I know this is even more remote but I would love to see some arhive 180 gram vinyl. Simply vinyl Sundazed etc do a terrific job and imho it sounds excellent.

[SG7]

Hey Alan hope you had a good time at Hodad fest. It was nice seeing you and the band 

[Rocker]

Hi Alan,
is there already a date when the new website will open? You guys should take the intro from "Warmth of the sun" as intro to the site imho.... 

[Alan Boyd]

We're working on it.

We want to go online with a solid, this-is-it first product to announce. 

Stay tuned....

AB

[Emdeeh]

You guys should take the intro from "Warmth of the sun" as intro to the site imho....

Please, no. As passionately as I love the Beach Boys and their music, I'd rather not have any music playing immediately as I enter a website. Why?? Because I almost always have something playing on my computer -- either net radio, iTunes, or a CD -- and music playing over other music sounds irritating at best! The thing I dislike the most about MySpace is having to locate the music player on the page to stop the cacaphony of overlapping tunes. Please grant us the option to play it ourselves on the new site.

One other request to Alan -- I hope the site will use html instead of Flash for navigation. I seldom return to Flash-based sites, and beachboyscentral is a site I'd like to visit again and again and again.

Thanks!

[Rocker]

You guys should take the intro from "Warmth of the sun" as intro to the site imho....

Please, no. As passionately as I love the Beach Boys and their music, I'd rather not have any music playing immediately as I enter a website. Why?? Because I almost always have something playing on my computer -- either net radio, iTunes, or a CD -- and music playing over other music sounds irritating at best! The thing I dislike the most about MySpace is having to locate the music player on the page to stop the cacaphony of overlapping tunes. Please grant us the option to play it ourselves on the new site.

You're right, I have the same problem. I wasn't that serious about that.

[Alan Boyd]

Actually, we do plan for a couple of very short musical tidbits to play when opening the pages.... but not enough to drive one to distraction.  Just a little 4 second "fanfare" as they say....

[Paul R.]

Hopefully, snippets of the vocal sessions from "Look."
:-)

[GoofyJeff]

Actually, we do plan for a couple of very short musical tidbits to play when opening the pages.... but not enough to drive one to distraction.  Just a little 4 second "fanfare" as they say....

I assume snippets very similar to what you used on the Endless Harmony doc, a capella little "aaahs" from familiar songs but take 100 listens to say "oh yeah that bit's from California Girls!!"   

[Aegir]

Like the Beach Boys Band site that has the moan right before the chorus in Good Vibrations on the main page?