I generally agree with Brian Wilson that...

[halblaineisgood]

i

[c-man]

I generally agree with YOU that Hal Blaine is good.
He's not God, but he is good.

[c-man]

BTW, there's vibes on "California Girls".  For the full listing of instruments, musicians, and a description of the recording, check out my website:  www.beachboysarchives.com and go to page 80 of the 98-page essay.  Enjoy. 

[Pretty Funky]

I generally agree with Brian Wilson that Be my baby is one of the greatest, if not the greatest pop single ever, and that California Girls is the beach boys greatest track. I often hear people saying Good vibrations was the greatest mono single of all time....I think that honor goes to California Girls(I suppose it's in a two way tie with "be my Baby for me)Now speaking of California girls, I think it's a notch above even Good Vibrations. I sort of think good vibrations hasn't dated quite as well as California girls. When I'm tired of Good vibrations, I usually think to myself "hmm some of those production tricks , although impressive, are a little gimmicky,I hear good vibrations and I think " groovy man, 60's,  etc.......but, I hear California Girls I think "this could've been recorded yesterday" I think California Girls is the most ahead of its time production I've ever heard. The sound of the organ and the triple tracked vocals is so futuristic sounding I litterally often get images of space and spaceships when listening, I imagine it perfect music for a moon colony. And, Btw, I think the triple tracked vocals sound much better on the original mono. they just sound cooler, more stacked....more cohesive.....I think California Girls is one of the best Hal blaine/Carol Kaye performances on a beach boys track.....the shuffle groove is so tight, but so loose.....really groovy in a good way....Now, please everybody, I'm not knocking the precious Good vibrations, and Brian Wilson has far more talent in his pinky toe , than I have in my pinky toe.....I'm just saying I think California girls is superior....Yea, I like to cover my ass..........also, speaking of the mono mix I think hearing it in mono is more fun becuase, you get to hear it in the context of its time.....although, when I get tired of the mono I do occasion the stereo mix to refresh my senses..I'm no "mono nazi"....... btw...could anybody come up with a basic list of everything thats on the arrangement for california girls ala aeijtzsche's post on WIBN.....do I hear bells, or is that the organ.....Im curious..........oh I also generally agree with Brian Wilson that steak is a fine food to eat, I also agree with him that doing silly hand motions  whilst singing "rock rock roll plymouth rock roll over...." is a fun thing to do to get the lead out.....

....having a little party Hal?

[Ron]

I don't know if it's the greatest but it's certainly up there.  The drums (uh, I imagine played by Hal, right?) are out of sight.  I'm no expert on that kind of thing, but there's almost a syncopation going on with 2 or 3 different 'beats' in the song, one played by the organ/bass groove, and then Hal's kind of got a backbeat thing going on, and then Brian's harmonys in the background have a 'oooh wahh, oooh wahh' rythym going on that's a little different than the others too.  I mean I know it's all in 4/4 but the grooves are all different.  The backup vocals in the second verse too sound like waves touching the beach or palm trees swaying or something. 

Singing "GIRLS, grrrrrls, GIRLS!, YEAH!! I Dig THA GIRLS, grrrrrrrls, GIRLS!" is also one of the coolest harmony vocals of all time.

On top of all that, they basically wrote a song about a girl in a bikini that stands up with some of the finest songs ever written.  Totally effortlessy inspired, in my opinion. 

[c-man]

Here's the complete musician lineup for "California Girls":

12-string electric lead/rhythm guitars: Carl Wilson (Intro) and Jerry Cole (Intro)
Electric rhythm guitar: Howard Roberts
Electric bass guitar: Carol Kaye
Acoustic upright sting bass: Lyle Ritz
Acoustic grand piano: Leon Russell
Hammond B-3 organ: Al de Lory (Solo)
Vibraphone: Frank Capp
Drums: Hal Blaine
Tambourine: Billy Strange
Trumpet: Roy Caton
Tenor saxophone: Steve Douglas
Baritone saxophone: Jay Migliori
Bass saxophone: Jack Nimitz

Carl and Jerry Cole play the guitar intro together, and Al de Lory's organ solo is the little bell-like break toward the end.  Guitarist Billy Strange plays tambourine here, as he does on several "Summer Days" songs. 

[Bill Tobelman]

Brian claims that Mike's vocal is off on the "California Girls" single. The timing is off.

[Daniel S.]

This is one of the greatest singles of all time. It takes me places. I wish they would use the same technology to remaster the mono version the same way they remastered the Good Vibrations in 24 bit. The mono is superior to the stereo. However, there are two stereo versions and one is complete sh*t. The stereo California Girls on Sounds of Summer is incredibly awesome. I like to drench my ears in it. The stereo version on Endless Summer sounds terrible and the vocals are out of sync with backing track.

[Ron]

Brian also once said that Phil Spector was trying to kill him.  I think this Brian might be on to something about the vocals, I'm gonna go see. 

[Roger Ryan]

However, there are two stereo versions and one is complete merda. The stereo California Girls on Sounds of Summer is incredibly awesome. I like to drench my ears in it. The stereo version on Endless Harmony (title corrected - RR) sounds terrible and the vocals are out of sync with backing track.

The stereo mix of "California Girls" on "Endless Harmony" was initially done by Andrew Sandoval as were the other new stereo mixes on that album. As I remember it, certain members of the Beach Boys felt that Mark Linett was too partial to Brian and wanted someone new to handle the remixes for EH. But as it turned out, no one was happy with the album when it was released (in some instances the wrong tracks were used) and Mark Linett was asked to redo much of the work. EH was then issued again using the correct tracks and improved stereo mixes. I believe this second issue of the album contains the same "California Girls" stereo mix that appears on "The Sounds Of Summer".

The first issue of the EH CD (the one with the orange cover) was rushed out to captialize on the TV premiere of the EH documentary. The second issue (with the white cover) was released in conjunction with the DVD of EH.

[Mahalo]

As much as people may hate this song, it is instantly recognizable, and just about everyone this side of the galaxy knows the chorus..."I wish they all could be California Girls!!"  BRILLIANT!!!

[Guy]

The first issue of the EH CD (the one with the orange cover) was rushed out to captialize on the TV premiere of the EH documentary. The second issue (with the white cover) was released in conjunction with the DVD of EH.

Are you sure that the CD with the orange cover is the old one with not-so-good stereo mixes? Because that's the one I own and love. I would feel terribly silly if that would turn out to be the bad sounding one...

[Roger Ryan]

Yep, the one with the orange cover (the boys all lined up behind the fence) was the first "inferior" issue. Personally, I didn't think the stereo remixes sounded too bad, but agree that Linett's redos were an improvement. The biggest difference is in the presentation of the "Do It Again" demo: the EQ on the first issue sounded horrible; Linett really improved the sound of that cut. Also, he extended the "Heroes & Villains" demo to include a few more seconds of music and chat. A couple of the radio promos were also replaced with completely different ones.

Because it's now a rarity and contains material not found on the second issue, I'd hold onto the first one. The second issue (white cover with the boys in the vintage car) is worth it to get the correct versions.

[GoofyJeff]

Actually there are 2 issues of the orange cover EH...  the original one has the "inferior" mixes, the other one replaced those mixes with the Mark Linnet versions, and also corrected one of the radio promos to match the liner notes. 

As far as I know, and it's been a while since I compared all 3 copies I own, the 2nd orange cover is identical to the white cover.

[Daniel S.]

I have the Endless Harmony with the white cover, and stereo mix of California Girls is not the same as the one on Sounds of Summer.

By the way, does anyone know when Warmth of the Sun is going to be released? It has a bunch of all new first time stereo mixes.

[HighOnLife]

It was released today. I picked it up at Wal*Mart for $13.99.

My favorite stereo remixes are 'Then I Kissed Her' and 'Please Let Me Wonder'.

I like the running order of the CD. The Lovester did a good job.

[Roger Ryan]

I have the Endless Harmony with the white cover, and stereo mix of California Girls is not the same as the one on Sounds of Summer.

Then I have to assume that "California Girls" was remixed for stereo yet again for SOS or possibly for the "Brian Wilson Presents Classics" comp - I have the latter; I'll have to compare it to the second Endless Harmony mix.

[Guy]

Actually there are 2 issues of the orange cover EH...  the original one has the "inferior" mixes, the other one replaced those mixes with the Mark Linnet versions, and also corrected one of the radio promos to match the liner notes. 

As far as I know, and it's been a while since I compared all 3 copies I own, the 2nd orange cover is identical to the white cover.

How can I see if I have the corrected version of EH with the orange cover or not? Any subtle differences in artwork or cat. no's?

[c-man]

Actually there are 2 issues of the orange cover EH...  the original one has the "inferior" mixes, the other one replaced those mixes with the Mark Linnet versions, and also corrected one of the radio promos to match the liner notes. 

As far as I know, and it's been a while since I compared all 3 copies I own, the 2nd orange cover is identical to the white cover.

How can I see if I have the corrected version of EH with the orange cover or not? Any subtle differences in artwork or cat. no's?

About 10 seconds into the intro of "California Girls" there is a "click".  It's there on the mono mix and the very first stereo mix (on the original edition of "Endless Harmony"), but was surgically removed from later stereo mixes, including the one on later editions of "Endless Harmony").

[c-man]

Actually there are 2 issues of the orange cover EH...  the original one has the "inferior" mixes, the other one replaced those mixes with the Mark Linnet versions, and also corrected one of the radio promos to match the liner notes. 

As far as I know, and it's been a while since I compared all 3 copies I own, the 2nd orange cover is identical to the white cover.

There were definitely two versions of the WHITE cover as well...here are two helpful posts from the year before last:

Re(5): ENDLESS HARMONY CD.(OTHER VERSION)THANKS FOLKS
Posted on 2/23/2005 at 22:11:21 by Hurdy Gurdy

Let me be a little more specific.

FIRST. the CD in the USA, came out with the Orange cover, which features the photo of the 6 Beach Boys behind the fence.

The original version(Version ONE), had some problems, and some of the "stereo" tracks were remixed, and changed, plus the change AGD mentioned.

So, using the same cover (ie Orange with "fence" photo), and same serial number USA: 72434 96391-2-6 as taken from the spine of the CD, they remixed some of the stereo tracks, made the change AGD mentioned, and issued it again ie VERSION TWO.

Later on, Capitol decided to change the artwork.

So they used the photo of the six Beach Boys sitting in Mike's MG, and colorized it. The cover has a WHITE border, so this is why I refered to it as "white". When they changed to this white cover, they used VERSION TWO of the CD (as mentioned above). The artwork also included Brad Elliot's liner notes, and credits based on what Brad and Capitol apparantly wrote.
The serial number in the USA: 72435 24002-2-5 as taken from the spine of the CD.

(I think I mentioned three different serial numbers. I am wrong, only two).

Next, more changes were decided. First, Capitol removed the Binaural Mix of "Surfer Girl" and replaced it with the "Vocals Only" version of "Surfer Girl". This change was made on the back cover, where the tracks are listed. It lists: track 5. SURFER GIRL (Vocals) [before it has said track 5. SURFER GIRL (Binaural Mix) ]. As far as I know, nothing else was changed on the CD. As for the liner notes, Brad Elliot's notes for each track were still used, but the CREDITS were completely changed, different names were mentioned in the "thanks you", and different people (and most the same as well) were listed and given credit as needed. And in doing this, Capitol used the same WHITE artwork, and the same WHITE serial number for this "revamped" version.

I assume, that you're all completely confused. And Alyn, sorry if you're so confused.

In summary:

1. Orange Cover, with Version ONE of CD. Original Serial number (includes Binaural "Surfer Girl")
2. Orange Cover, with Version TWO of CD ie remixes, and correct dialog track, but SAME Serial Number. (includes Binaural "Surfer Girl")
3. White Cover, With Version TWO of the CD. New artwork, New Serial Number. (includes Binaural "Surfer Girl")
4. White Cover, with Version THREE of the CD, --MEANING-- Binaural "Surfer Girl" is REPLACED with VOCALS "Surfer Girl", and credits are revised, even though liner notes by Brad Elliot are essentially the same (As they are in ALL FOUR ISSUES). Same serial number as number 3 issue.

ENDLESS HARMONY - the truth is out there...
Posted on 2/24/2005 at 07:48:12 by AGD

OK, been in touch with someone who wouild really know about this kind of thing - turns out we're both kind of right. Thus.

Version #1 - Orange 'gate' booklet, wrong radio promo. Released August 1998.

Version #2 - same booklet, correct promo. Released September 1998

Version #3 - white 'car' booklet, remixed stereo tracks and other tweaks, remastered CD, original liners (bar a few minor changes) and credits. Released March 2000 (the budget for the remixing wasn't approved until late 1999)

Version #3A - as above but with revised credits, same audio.

Version #3A.1 - correct packaging, but the music actually on the CD is a Ravi Shankar album !