Q for Alan Boyd regarding Dennis Wilson song

[Dutchie]

called Woulnt be Nice to live again. I have been playing this song over and over on my cd player. Adam Marsland and band did a great performance.

My question is:
will the beach boys release this song. If not, maybe why.
I never understand why they didnt released it when it was recorded. Thanks for taking the time for answering.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm not Alan, but...

The reason for its non-release on Surf's Up in 1971 is down to Carl & Dennis having a showdown over the sequencing of the album, the upshot of which was Dennis pulling both his tracks (the other being "4th Of July").

As for the track's prospects for a future release... currently politics dictate, I believe. Which is a huge, huge shame, as the BB version is just magnificent.

[Dutchie]

thanks for your answer AGD. I havent heard the BB version yet but i can imagion how it sounds. I also think 4th of july is a great song as is Carry me Home from Blondie and Dennis.

[Rich Panteluk]

Yes, I would love for a release of The Beach Boys version of Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again also.

Though I have purchased and listened to Adam Marsland and The Chaos Band great Carl and Dennis tribute cd I still haven't heard their version of the song.  I'm sure it is great like the rest of the cd but I want to hear the Beach Boys version first (fingers crossed).  I ripped all of the songs on that cd EXCEPT WIBNTLA to my ipod.

Hope it does happen (and soon - but I am not holding my breath).

[Dutchie]

Well keep our fingers crossed and hope they relase a Hawtorne California vol 2 expanding the 70's and 80's 

[punkinhead]

Man, Dennis in the early 70s was a fantastic writer and I feel they (BB) underrated his music...Think of Surf's Up had Lady, or Sound of Free, or It's a New Day, I'm going Your Way; a lot more interesting than half the stuff on that album

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I'm not Alan, but...

The reason for its non-release on Surf's Up in 1971 is down to Carl & Dennis having a showdown over the sequencing of the album, the upshot of which was Dennis pulling both his tracks (the other being "4th Of July").

If Denny's two cuts went onto the album which two cuts would have been dropped?

[Alex]

I'm not Alan, but...

The reason for its non-release on Surf's Up in 1971 is down to Carl & Dennis having a showdown over the sequencing of the album, the upshot of which was Dennis pulling both his tracks (the other being "4th Of July").

If Denny's two cuts went onto the album which two cuts would have been dropped?

SDT and Disney Girls! No, actually I'm not sure. Surf's Up is a short enough album they could've just tacked Dennis' songs onto it without cutting anything.

[BJL]

I don't know this for a fact, but if I had to guess, it would have been Student Demonstration Time and Take a Load Off your Feet.  The reason for this suspicion is that it wasn't a matter of adding Denny's songs (unless I'm mistaken) but of dropping Denny's songs, after which they would have had to come up with two replacements, and since Feet and SDT both date back to previous sessions, they might have grabbed two tracks that they already had more or less 'in the can,' despite recognizing that they didn't quite fit?

[MBE]

I'm not Alan, but...

The reason for its non-release on Surf's Up in 1971 is down to Carl & Dennis having a showdown over the sequencing of the album, the upshot of which was Dennis pulling both his tracks (the other being "4th Of July").

If Denny's two cuts went onto the album which two cuts would have been dropped?

SDT and Disney Girls! No, actually I'm not sure. Surf's Up is a short enough album they could've just tacked Dennis' songs onto it without cutting anything.

It would have been 12 tracks. They simply didn't replace his.

[The Shift]

I often wished they'd pulled SDT anyway. There isn't a BBs' album it would sit comfortably on, though a live version might have sat not too uncomfortably on the double album In Concert. Whenever I play SU, I always skip SDT.

[punkinhead]

As for Mike Love's SDT, he certainly wrote a better song in this era than that crap cover....his early take of Big Sur is soooo good, it's one of my favorite Mike recordings. I'm not a huge fan of the version on Holland, but I'll take it.

[Roger Ryan]

The story I heard was that Dennis wanted WIBNTLA as the concluding track following "'Til I Die" which he thought would be interesting thematically. When if was determined that  a cobbled together version of "Surf's Up" would conclude the album, Dennis was miffed and pulled both tracks he was working on.

[Chris Brown]

The story I heard was that Dennis wanted WIBNTLA as the concluding track following "'Til I Die" which he thought would be interesting thematically. When if was determined that  a cobbled together version of "Surf's Up" would conclude the album, Dennis was miffed and pulled both tracks he was working on.

If that story is true, it doesn't really make a ton of sense to me.  We can deduce from contemporary press that Dennis was a big supporter of Brian and SMiLE.  I would think he would be happy that his brother's SMiLE masterpiece was finally going to be released in some form, and not be as concerned about where his songs were sequenced on the album.

Of course, he may have agreed with Brian's thinking that the song should not have been resurrected in the first place, and was ticked when he found that it was going to close the record.

Either way, it really is a shame.  A Surf's Up album with Denny's 2 contributions and without "Student Demonstration Time" would have been a stone-cold classic, in my opinion (I don't mean to imply that its not still a wonderful album). 

[Goin’Bald]

In hindsight I would say they never should have put SDT on the record. But at the time, it was a topic song and Jack Rieley wanted it a "modern" album. It was a hit single in Europe back then, so yes, they were right in putting SDT on the album. And it was the closer of side 1. We didn't have CD's in those times, so it didn't matter putting the track there. But when Surf's Up was released on CD it became a disturbing track. I wasn't too keen on Looking At Tomorrow either back then and I still find it a mediocre track. If we had known back then that WIBNTLA and 4thOJ were dropped in favor of those two.........
Still, some years ago I heard a rumour that they were going to release the album Surf's Up as a DVD-A, but with extra tracks like WIBNTLA. But nothing happened. As a matter of fact, I believe they prepared the project, only no release.

[mikeyj]

Still, some years ago I heard a rumour that they were going to release the album Surf's Up as a DVD-A, but with extra tracks like WIBNTLA. But nothing happened. As a matter of fact, I believe they prepared the project, only no release.

Yep that's what I remember reading too and I've heard it was completely finished... don't know how true it is but that's what I remember anyway.

[mikeyj]

Of course, he may have agreed with Brian's thinking that the song should not have been resurrected in the first place, and was ticked when he found that it was going to close the record.

I believe that is the case Chris... at least from what I've read.

[c-man]

Still, some years ago I heard a rumour that they were going to release the album Surf's Up as a DVD-A, but with extra tracks like WIBNTLA. But nothing happened. As a matter of fact, I believe they prepared the project, only no release.

Yep that's what I remember reading too and I've heard it was completely finished... don't know how true it is but that's what I remember anyway.

Alan Boyd or Mark Linett could answer this, but my undestanding is that the DVD-A format had pretty much been abandoned by consumers and manufacturers by the time this project had been approved by all interested parties, and so Capitol decided it wouldn't be a sound investment. 

[Sheriff John Stone]

While I'm assuming "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" is a fantastic track (although I never heard it), the biggest surprise isn't that it wasn't on Surf's Up (there was weird stuff going on with final track lists in those early 70's days), but that it didn't appear on the subsequent CATP or Holland, OR, Pacific Ocean Blue. Why leaved it buried?

[c-man]

While I'm assuming "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" is a fantastic track (although I never heard it), the biggest surprise isn't that it wasn't on Surf's Up (there was weird stuff going on with final track lists in those early 70's days), but that it didn't appear on the subsequent CATP or Holland, OR, Pacific Ocean Blue. Why leaved it buried?

Dennis liked to move on to new things. 

[Dancing Bear]

While I'm assuming "Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again" is a fantastic track (although I never heard it), the biggest surprise isn't that it wasn't on Surf's Up (there was weird stuff going on with final track lists in those early 70's days), but that it didn't appear on the subsequent CATP or Holland, OR, Pacific Ocean Blue. Why leaved it buried?

Dennis liked to move on to new things. 

For CATP and Holland, notice that they weren't using Sunflower-Landlocked-Surf's Up leftovers, with (maybe) the exception of Sail on Sailor, and that was a last moment resolution. Big Sur was an old song but it was rerecorded from scratch.

But it's weird that Dennis chose to revisit "Only with You" in his solo sessions and forgot about all the other shelved songs from his Beach Boys days. Oh Dennis.

[punkinhead]

when was Sail on Sailor originally concieved? I thought it was a post-Holland song

[Andrew G. Doe]

According to Steve Desper, he recorded a version with Brian in late 1971, which was used for the foundation of the released version. Best guess is that it was written summer that year.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Andrew,

If this is not too sensitive a question, IS there a longer demo version with more verses
in existance, with or without the "hypnotize me Van Dyke, make me believe I'm not crazy" conversational snippet, that you know of?

[Alan Boyd]

For what it's worth, the November 1972 recording of SAIL ON SAILOR appears to have been an all-new recording.  We have the original basic tracking session reels from that date, and there's nothing on those tapes to indicate that they were using a previously-existing master.

We've looked for an earlier version of that song (the original lyrics exist in the Brother Publishing files) but so far we haven't been able to find any traces of it.

As far as a release of Dennis' pre-Caribou material is concerned - It's been proposed and suggested and requested.