Carol Kaye...

[halblaineisgood]

Actually this is more about Ray Pohlman. Does anybody know which beach boys tracks featured Ray on bass? I can't find any information on the man at all, when he died, or anything...The internet is oversaturated with Carol Kaye

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

I thought you'd never ask.

Ray died in the early 90s, I think.  Very sad.

I think that Ray was a far more important contributor to the Beach Boys' bass legacy than Carol was, no fault of hers, but Ray just played on more stuff over a longer period of time.  This will be incomplete and not official, but here is a fairly comprehensive list of what Ray played on.

The Surfer Moon (completely speculative opinion)
Fun, Fun, Fun
Warmth of the Sun (probably, documentation is vague)
Why do Fools Fall in Love?
I Get Around (speculative)
Probably at least 3 other tracks on All Summer Long
Good to my Baby
Don't Hurt My Little Sister
Ronda
Dance Dance Dance
Kiss Me Baby
Girl from New York City
Wouldn't it be Nice
I'm Waiting for the Day
God Only Knows
I Know there's an Answer
Here Today
I Just Wasn't Made for these Times
Good Vibrations
Look
A few sessions for Vegetables, didn't likely make a record
One of the "I Love to Say Da Da" sessions

This is where it gets sketchy for a while, Ray very likely played bass on at least a couple of Wild Honey tracks, according to the vague documentation we have.  Probably not much on Friends, though it's possible.  That was more of a Lyle Ritz album, bass wise.  20/20, he probably doesn't show up at all.

When Girls Get Together
This Whole World
Tears in the Morning
Palisades Park
Blueberry Hill

I think that's about all that's documented, but I'm sure there's more.  I tend to think he played more on Sunflower than is documented, maybe on Deirdre, and All I Wanna Do sounds like him too.

Also, keep in mind that on many of the dates, he's not the only bass player and Carol might have been there too, or another bassist.


I would love to know more about Ray.  Apparently he was a bit of an inventor and helped design some cool stuff, like a good Bass DI box and other recording equipment.  I hope I stumble across somebody that knew Ray and is willing to share some stories.

[Andrew G. Doe]

For once, I'm not dissing Badman for printing the SS numbers: M. Ray Pohlman died November 1990, aged 60.

Other BW sessions he played included:

Hide Go Seek [Honeys]
Pray For Surf [Honeys]
I Do [? Castells]
She Rides With Me [Paul Petersen]
He's A Doll [Honeys]
I Can See Right Through You (= Go Away Boy) [Honeys]
Endless Sleep [larry denton]
Don't Back Down
We'll Run Away
Help Me, Rhonda (45 version)
Teeter-Totter Love [Jasper Dailey]
America, I Know You [Steve Kalinich]

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Isn't the 45 version of Rhonda missing an AFM sheet?  Therefore it's slightly speculative, and of course you have Carol and Larry Knechtel claiming credit on bass for that too...

[Andrew G. Doe]

re: "R(h)onda" - you're right, it's the first version. Duh !

Interesting that the track is spelt "Rhonda" on the AFM sheet, but lost the 'h' on the album sleeve.

Or not, of course... 

[Mark A. Moore]

Ray Pohlman also played on the November 14, 1963, session for "Dead Man's Curve" . . . Jan Berry's production for Jan & Dean.

They kept the basic track when Jan beefed up the song for single release in 1964 . . . so Ray would most likely be on the hit version, too.

M.

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Yeah, Dead Man's Curve is a great example of the classic Pohlman sound, I think.  With Jimmy Bond and Bill Pitman tripling the line on String Bass and Dano Bass, right Mark?

[Mark A. Moore]

Yep . . . Bond & Pitman were on the DMC session. I think Pitman usually did the Dano stuff.

M.

[halblaineisgood]

t

[halblaineisgood]

and what's this ....

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Yeah, never discount Carol's contributions to the Beach Boys or West Coast recording.  They were immense and she is terribly important.

Larry's Rhonda claim comes in the Pet Sounds Box booklet, but I have a feeling he's confused about that.

[c-man]

Larry played bass on the Rip Chord's unreleased version of "Rhonda", according to the AFM sheet.
He MAY have played electric keyboard on the Boys' second version of "Rhonda", which might explain his confusion decades later.  I quote from my essay on the topic (www.beachboysarchives.com):

"Larry Knechtel, normally a keyboard player, comments that "the one time" he played bass for Brian was on "Help Me, Rhonda", but goes on to say "I don't even know if I made the record".  Of course, we know that Knechtel played bass for Brian on both "Do You Wanna Dance?" and "Guess I'm Dumb".  The fact that he's not sure if he ended up on the released version of "Rhonda" could mean that he's confusing his one memory of playing bass for Brian with the unreleased Rip Chords version of "Rhonda" that he did play bass on (see below), and that he might possibly have played the other electric keyboard on this Beach Boys version."

[c-man]

Also regarding Ray, bear in mind that he sometimes played guitar on BW/BBs sessions rather than bass.   A good example is "Don't Hurt My Little Sister", where I'm pretty sure he's strumming a baritone rhythm guitar while Al Jardine plays Fender bass.  There were times where Ray played Dano bass (essentially the same instrument as a baritone guitar, just strung with a heavier-gauge string and tuned differently).  So, starting with the "Today!" album, if both Carol and Ray were there, Carol would be playing Fender bass and Ray would be playing either guitar or Dano-bass (this is certainly true on "Pet Sounds").  Bill Pitman played a lot of Dano bass for Brian, but he wasn't on every session, and was only on one cut of "Pet Sounds" if memory serves.  Also, Carol played the Dano bass on at least one cut ("Caroline, No", and I think that was an overdub).

Carol claims that in the early BW sessions, she played guitar while Ray handled the bass...I've yet to see any documentation or hear any tapes that provide evidence of that, which is not to say it didn't happen.  Since Carol says that one of the early hits was done with this lineup, the most likely candidate would be the single version of "Be True To Your School", since it has the "Spector" sound and no AFM sheet or session tape has surfaced.