The Alan Boyd Thread

[Cabana Boy]

Question for Alan Boyd, or anyone who remembers the post to which I'm about to refer.
On a 'Poops / Hubba Hubba' thread a while back, Alan wound up making a post that roughly detailed when the following tunes were tracked, plus some accompanying info. I'd just like to have my memory refreshed on that, if it's no bother.

They were:
- 'I'm Going Your Way / California Slide'
- 'It's A New Day'

Any info on when the tune 'Hard Times' was done would be groovy, too.
And 'Carry Me Home'? I always assumed, supposedly being the first piece of studio work Blondie and Ricky took part in, that this would have been cut in the latter part of '71. Someone else once alluded to knowing - without doubt - that it was done sometime early in '72. But I'm the distrustful, hunch-following type. Anyone know fer sure?

Ta,
xxmoixx

[c-man]

Any info on when the tune 'Hard Times' was done would be groovy, too.
And 'Carry Me Home'? I always assumed, supposedly being the first piece of studio work Blondie and Ricky took part in, that this would have been cut in the latter part of '71. Someone else once alluded to knowing - without doubt - that it was done sometime early in '72. But I'm the distrustful, hunch-following type. Anyone know fer sure?

Ta,
xxmoixx

"Carry Me Home" is a "Holland" outtake, written by Dennis (and maybe Gregg Jakobsen).

C-Man

[Jeff Mason]

Alan, can you comment on this?

http://www.musictap.net/Archives/Posts/Posts06/ArchivalPosts2006Feb01218.html#021706

Scroll to the very bottom.  This is the first semiofficial word of looks like it might be the long-awaited-and-hoped-for GV sessions set.  Can you give us any scoop, or are your hands tied?

[Mitchell]

"Capitol will push The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations - 40th Anniversary from April 18 to the new perch of August 15."

[Emdeeh]

It could also be a 40th anniversary-branded hits anthology.

[Ken.W]

.. can't see that myself

[Andrew G. Doe]

Maybe someone got "GV" confussed with a certain 1966 LP.

[petsite]

It's marking the aniversary of the release of GV? Is it the long awaited GV box we were hoping for in 1997?

Nah.............we couldn't get that lucky.

Bob

[GoofyJeff]

I'm still waiting for the Rarities set promised in 1994 (see the 30 Years box set liners)...

oh and the SMiLE set that keeps getting promised.  Remember "The Smile Era" that was to have come out in the mid 90s I think?

[petsite]

Word on the street is that Brian is letting his version stand as the finished SMILE project and does not want any of the outtakes released as a set.

[Jeff Mason]

It could also be a 40th anniversary-branded hits anthology.

40th anniversary of what though?  Why make a GH in honor of one song?  Especially given that the project has been proposed for going on 10 years now?

Maybe someone got "GV" confussed with a certain 1966 LP.

I could actually see that, esp. since there is supposedly a 40th anniversary of PS due out according to rumors.  But we can hope for the other one...

[XY]

"Capitol will push The Beach Boys' Good Vibrations - 40th Anniversary from April 18 to the new perch of August 15."

Maybe it's a re-release of the 30 years GV boxset with 2 new unreleased tracks, so we all have to buy it again!

[buddhahat]

Word on the street is that Brian is letting his version stand as the finished SMILE project and does not want any of the outtakes released as a set.

Is this since David Leaf announced (with Brian present) that a Smile sessions box was likely in the coming year or two? I am really hoping that this Smile box is going to turn up in 40th anniversary style in 2007 (I don't know when the exact 40th anniversary would be though - perhaps the missed January 67 release date would be the least arbitary choice). If Brian doesn't want it out then you have to respect that but it would be a downer to say the least.

Alan - this must be a question you get tired of but what are your thoughts on the likelihood of a Smile box in the near future? Thanks

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Alan, over on the thread about the "best mono Pet Sounds" we've been discussing exactly what's going on with the "missing elements" issue.  IE Brian's Bridge vocal on Wouldn't It Be Nice vs. Mike's.

Mark's original technical liner notes indicate that the vocals in question were simply taped over, but it's been suggested there might have been an later multitrack that is missing that contains the vocals appearing on the final LP.

We'd love to have you weigh in.

[Alan Boyd]

I think Mike's part was taped over, and then an older mixdown of that part of the song was used when Brian mixed it to mono (there are lots of alternate mixes of that song, almost all of which feature Mike on the bridge).  There's a slightly klunky edit as the moono version heads into that section of the song.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I'd love to know why Brian taped over that stuff after it was all mixed down and "finished."

Anyway, Alan I brought this up after the cotton fields discussion on Steve's thread, you mentioned that the Single version of CF was cut onto 16-track, I wondered if that was the first Beach Boys production cut directly onto 16-track?

[Jonas]

Probably because he figured he didnt need it anymore, and if he kept it he'd keep lookin back like 'maybe I should do this, or that'...once its recorded over, theres nothing he can do.

thats what I do sometimes :/

[Alan Boyd]

Cotton Fields just might be the first 16 track recording, at least as far as the basic track is concerned.  They later finished it on 8 track.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Well, Al certainly put all 22 total tracks to extremely, extremely good use.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Alan, another question originating from a discussion in another thread:

Joe Osborn was credited with "fuzz bass" on an early session for "Got To Know the Woman."

Is there any indication of a fuzz bass that was left out of the final mix?  This is particularly interesting for me because somehow Joe managed to avoid working with the Beach Boys, except for this time, which seems to have gone unheard.

[Alan Boyd]

There appearrs to be an unused take with a listing for "fuzz guitar," separate from a bass track....

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Very interesting.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Alan, impossibly detailed and involved question here which you of course are under no obligation to answer:

Of the songs recorded during the Sunflower/Surf's up era, I'm interested in how many feature just two tracks of drums on the final multi-track.  That is, how many final mixdowns were working with only stereo drums, as opposed to three or four tracks?

And of the songs that were sourced from multiple generations of tapes, did any first generation tapes feature 3 or four tracks of drums, say, only to be mixed to stereo for the final multi-track?

Basically what I'm trying to get at is this:

On modern recordings, of course, Drums often occupy anywhere from 10-15 tracks at mixdown.  Steve has expressed his preference for more minimal techniues for mic-ing and recording drums, and I share his views.

So I'm interested if there is any "paper trail" of Steve's use of more than two tracks for drums.  I'm sure he did this, and I'm sure most records of this are lost due to bounce downs from within the same tape, but I'm interested just the same.

[Alan Boyd]

A quick lopok at the surviving tracks heets indicates that on almost all of these 1969-1970 tracks, there are simply DRUMS LEFT and DRUMS RIGHT.

There are a couple of exceptions.... GOOD TIME seems to have extra snare and hi hat track assignments, overdubs after the basic track had been laid down.... TEARS IN THE MORNING has a separate track labeled KICK BASS... but for the most part it appears to be drums left and right.

We don't have complete track sheets on all of these songs, though - there may be other exceptions.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

That works.  Thanks.  I love learning about this stuff!