Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again

[joe_blow]

Good point about the EH and Hathorne compilations. I am surprised how Dennis was able to get both Barbara and All Alone on one disc! If the same type of voting came down on another release such as these, I would hope WIBNTLA would have a good shot and getting released.

When talking about finnacial matters, on a CD that sold similar to that of either of these aforementioned releases, what type of dollar figure would we be talking in terms of royalties/payments sent to the writer for having their song(s) included? In other words, what would it be worth to one member in terms of payments for having or not having one song on a release of say 20 songs (selling for eaxample however many copies EH or Hawtorne may have sold)?

The mechanical royalty rate in the US is 9.1 cents per song per album, though it's possible if the composer and performer are the same person that their contract may stipulate a lower rate. That 9.1 cents would be split between all writers and publishers -- so if it was a song published by an outside publishing company that took 50% (I have no idea what the details of the various band members' contracts have stated at various times, but that's not unreasonable), and there was then a 50/50 split bwteen a composer and lyricist (because surprisingly few Beach Boys songs have a single writer), you're looking at two to three cents per CD sale for a song.

I don't know how much the EH or Hawthorne compilations sold, and Google isn't helping, but it wasn't a huge amount. They didn't chart in the US, and didn't make the top 40 in the UK, so let's say for argument's sake they sold 30,000 copies total to date (about half the first-week sales for the new album -- that doesn't sound totally unreasonable). That would mean that having an extra song on the album would make between $6825 (for a song with a single co-writer where the publishing company takes a 50% cut) and $27300 (for a solo song published by a company owned by the writer).

So taking into account that that's very much a finger-in-the-air estimate with a big fudge factor, you're talking about high four-figure or low five-figure sums for a song on a rarities compilation.

Thanks that was very helpful!

[onkster]

So, does this mean there were "official" alternate running orders for the "Surf's Up" album? If so, anybody have 'em?

[Mark Dillon]

It was intended as the final track after Til I Die.

 Correct, but we can't bump the title tune out of that spot 40 years down the road. I guess the only real context would be as bonus tracks after the album proper.

I always thought it would have made a great leadoff track to that album, just as Dennis's "Slip on Through" opens Sunflower.

[Zach95]

Ruh roh! I think the box set is our last chance for any rarities and unreleased stuff. So, Alan Boyd (or whoever is in charge) please get us some good/interesting stuff! Preferably "(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again", "Where Is She", "California Feelin'" '74, "In the Back of My Mind" '75, "Barnyard Blues", etc!

More more! Walkin'! Carry Me Home! My Solution! We Got Love! Isn't there still unreleased Landlocked/Adult Child stuff? All of that!

Oh, and Surf's Up section 2. You know it's still out there! 

Remember that list posted a few months ago of the secret Alan Boyd stash? Let's thumb through that again.

STEREO COUNTRY AIR! 

[Jim V.]

Ruh roh! I think the box set is our last chance for any rarities and unreleased stuff. So, Alan Boyd (or whoever is in charge) please get us some good/interesting stuff! Preferably "(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again", "Where Is She", "California Feelin'" '74, "In the Back of My Mind" '75, "Barnyard Blues", etc!

More more! Walkin'! Carry Me Home! My Solution! We Got Love! Isn't there still unreleased Landlocked/Adult Child stuff? All of that!

Oh, and Surf's Up section 2. You know it's still out there! 

Remember that list posted a few months ago of the secret Alan Boyd stash? Let's thumb through that again.

What you talking about? What list? You mean when PongHit visited him?

[WWDWD?]

I think I have missed something. Has an actual box set been announced?

[Jim V.]

I think I have missed something. Has an actual box set been announced?

Yeah it was announced last December. However, we have no idea what will be on it.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Ruh roh! I think the box set is our last chance for any rarities and unreleased stuff. So, Alan Boyd (or whoever is in charge) please get us some good/interesting stuff! Preferably "(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again", "Where Is She", "California Feelin'" '74, "In the Back of My Mind" '75, "Barnyard Blues", etc!

More more! Walkin'! Carry Me Home! My Solution! We Got Love! Isn't there still unreleased Landlocked/Adult Child stuff? All of that!

Oh, and Surf's Up section 2. You know it's still out there! 

Remember that list posted a few months ago of the secret Alan Boyd stash? Let's thumb through that again.

What you talking about? What list? You mean when PongHit visited him?

Yes -- I forgot who it was that visited him and had to be really vague. Sorry about that!

[Mark Dillon]

It was intended as the final track after Til I Die.

 Correct, but we can't bump the title tune out of that spot 40 years down the road. I guess the only real context would be as bonus tracks after the album proper.

I always thought it would have made a great leadoff track to that album, just as Dennis's "Slip on Through" opens Sunflower.

Just to clarify: I'm talking about "4th of July" as the perfect Surf's Up leadoff track...

[Chocolate Shake Man]

Just to clarify: I'm talking about "4th of July" as the perfect Surf's Up leadoff track...

I completely agree.

[pixletwin]

I have tried to reposition 4th of July and the only way it works for me is in between LPR and DG(1957).

[anazgnos]

It was intended as the final track after Til I Die.

 Correct, but we can't bump the title tune out of that spot 40 years down the road. I guess the only real context would be as bonus tracks after the album proper.

I always thought it would have made a great leadoff track to that album, just as Dennis's "Slip on Through" opens Sunflower.

Just to clarify: I'm talking about "4th of July" as the perfect Surf's Up leadoff track...

Always thought "Surf's Up" could just as easily go at the end of side 1.  When this thing finally drops I think my playlist will look something like...

4th of July
Don't Go Near the Water
Disney Girls (1957)
Long Promised Road
Surf's Up
    
Feel Flows
Lady
A Day in the Life of a Tree
'Til I Die
Wouldn't it Be Nice to Live Again

[pixletwin]

Yay lists!

This is how my track order would go:

Don't Go Near the Water
Long Promised Road
4th of July
Disney Girls (1957)
Fallin' in Love
Feel Flows
Lookin' at Tomorrow
A Day in the Life of a Tree
'Til I Die
Wouldn't It Be Nice to Live Again

with Take a Load Off Your Feet, Student Demonstration Time, and Surf's Up (1971) as bonus tracks...

Yup and I would rename it Landlocked! 

[DonnyL]

I think 'Fourth of July' was supposed to segue into 'Long Promised Road'.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

If WIBNTLA isn't included in any anniversary release(s) this year then i'm sorry but the only - the only - conclusion to draw from that is that certain members of the band voted down it's inclusion because they still remain jealous/disgruntled by Dennis' song writing abilities. Even after all this time it's still an issue for them. Which is staggeringly pathetic. Surely the band and those involved with the group can not possibly be unaware of the enthusiasm amongst the dedicated fanbase regarding Dennis' unreleased works, and in particular this one song. So again, if WIBNTLA is once again passed up for release - pathetic.

(Of course if the song is released i will admit i was completely and utterly wrong and will happily retract the above statement).

[Aegir]

In the same perfect world where WIBNTLA was released on Surf's Up, that album wouldn't be called Surf's Up because the title track would've been released in 1967 on a little album called Smile.

[anazgnos]

That must be the same universe which in 1978 saw the simultaneous release of Dennis' fourth untitled solo album and Brian's It's A Beach Boys Stockhausen Disco Party!, which consisted of a continuous 40-minute synthesizer version of "Shortenin' Bread".

[ontor pertawst]

Produced by Eno with Devo as his backing band.

"We wanted to make this Brian's equivalent of Kraftwerk's Autobahn, a continuous sound suite that tells a story -- in this case, one about momma's little chillun," admitted Eno in a candid telephone interview.

[37!ws]

If they leave off WIBNTLA because of jealously and disgruntlage of Dennis, then I don't think I'd want anything to do with the Beach Boys. The guy's been freaking dead for nearly thirty years, and they'd need to get over themselves.

I doubt that'd be the case, though, or else we wouldn't have had "4th of July," "A Time To Live In Dreams," "Barbara," "All Alone," and the second of only two released instances of "San Miguel." Not to mention "I Don't Know" on TSS -- which is primarily a Brian project; certainly if they still held a grudge, they wouldn't have let Dennis's tune infiltrate a Smile compilation.

My guess: they're just saving it, that's all...after all, it WAS planned for a DVD release, but the entire project was scrapped.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

This is why we were all enraged when the reissued Brothers records came out without bonus tracks in 2000 or so. Could have been great. But maybe they wouldn't have had the space to fit all those Landlocked/unreleased tracks on the Sunflower/Surf's Up two-fer anyway.

[Disney Boy (1985)]

If they leave off WIBNTLA because of jealously and disgruntlage of Dennis, then I don't think I'd want anything to do with the Beach Boys. The guy's been freaking dead for nearly thirty years, and they'd need to get over themselves.

I doubt that'd be the case, though, or else we wouldn't have had "4th of July," "A Time To Live In Dreams," "Barbara," "All Alone," and the second of only two released instances of "San Miguel." Not to mention "I Don't Know" on TSS -- which is primarily a Brian project; certainly if they still held a grudge, they wouldn't have let Dennis's tune infiltrate a Smile compilation.

My guess: they're just saving it, that's all...after all, it WAS planned for a DVD release, but the entire project was scrapped.

As i say, if WIBNTLA surfaces this year i'll admit i was wrong, but i sure wouldn't bet money on it... But, you know, that's not an enormous number of songs you've listed above there - there's still so many more top quality Dennis tracks still languishing in the vaults: I'm Going Your Way, Carry Me Home, Mona Kani, the aformentioned WIBNTLA, etc. And the Smile Sessions I Don't Know argument is odd - including a Dennis demo amongst a 150+ track boxset does not disprove my theory.

But your 'the guy's been dead for 30 freakin' years, get over yourselves' comment? Nicely put.

[Dove Nested Towers]

If they leave off WIBNTLA because of jealously and disgruntlage of Dennis, then I don't think I'd want anything to do with the Beach Boys. The guy's been freaking dead for nearly thirty years, and they'd need to get over themselves.

I doubt that'd be the case, though, or else we wouldn't have had "4th of July," "A Time To Live In Dreams," "Barbara," "All Alone," and the second of only two released instances of "San Miguel." Not to mention "I Don't Know" on TSS -- which is primarily a Brian project; certainly if they still held a grudge, they wouldn't have let Dennis's tune infiltrate a Smile compilation.

My guess: they're just saving it, that's all...after all, it WAS planned for a DVD release, but the entire project was scrapped.

As i say, if WIBNTLA surfaces this year i'll admit i was wrong, but i sure wouldn't bet money on it... But, you know, that's not an enormous number of songs you've listed above there - there's still so many more top quality Dennis tracks still languishing in the vaults: I'm Going Your Way, Carry Me Home, Mona Kani, the aformentioned WIBNTLA, etc. And the Smile Sessions I Don't Know argument is odd - including a Dennis demo amongst a 150+ track boxset does not disprove my theory.

But your 'the guy's been dead for 30 freakin' years, get over yourselves' comment? Nicely put.

This song's's extraordinary high quality stands out from the rest of Dennis's unreleased material left in the vault, and, while they could have snuck it in as a bonus track on the SU reissue, there might be some reluctance to let it be the most conspicuous, noteworthy inclusion in the kind of high-profile commemorative release that this year will hopefully see. That would be awful indeed. It would be a perfect capper to all the events of the last year, and hopefully the prospect of increased sales will overcome any pride or ego issues that could be involved. The circumstances were different around the inclusion of the other unreleased DW tracks on EH and Hawthorne, CA. The excitement that would be generated by this song's release (+ the '74 California Feeling demo and the "I've Got A Friend" track) would be huge, and if anyone in power is reading this, please do the right thing!

[Cabinessenceking]

It was intended as the final track after Til I Die.

 Correct, but we can't bump the title tune out of that spot 40 years down the road. I guess the only real context would be as bonus tracks after the album proper.

I always thought it would have made a great leadoff track to that album, just as Dennis's "Slip on Through" opens Sunflower.

Just to clarify: I'm talking about "4th of July" as the perfect Surf's Up leadoff track...

Always thought "Surf's Up" could just as easily go at the end of side 1.  When this thing finally drops I think my playlist will look something like...

4th of July
Don't Go Near the Water
Disney Girls (1957)
Long Promised Road
Surf's Up
    
Feel Flows
Lady
A Day in the Life of a Tree
'Til I Die
Wouldn't it Be Nice to Live Again

Holy cow, that tracklist is nothing but a masterpiece, it would've gathered more acclaim than perhaps even Sunflower. I cannot believe that this was never the case. Oh God why did Carl have to be so damned dogmatic about having SU at the end. This is nothing but a tragedy close to Smile. All the music was ready, yet instead of that great tracklist we ended up wih SDT, Looking at tomorrow, and TALOYF. All of these are worse than any of the Dennis songs... Oh the tragedy!

[Cabinessenceking]

When the time comes that the remaining Boys are no longer with us, Capitol will surely release a flood of tracks, maybe redo SU completely and remixes of many albums (including many mono ones into stereo from the 1965-67 period). We can only wait and see.

[Ziggy Stardust]

We can only wait and see.

Hey..