Al Jardine EP

[MBE]

Keep hope alive! Now go put on Under The Red Sky and re-listen to it with an open mind - and another glass of wine...

Hey I like that album.

[lance]

I  like the Don't Fight the Sea song. The rest of the songs are pleasant filler. Production no bother to me on this one, I think it suits.

[Bedroom Tapes]

WOW!  I Love Don't Fight the Sea!  As someone posted earlier, it really should be released as a Beach Boys single.  I would love to hear that on mainstream radio.  I also really like Al's rendition of California.  Now I'm really looking forward to his solo album release, go AL!!

[runnersdialzero]

I think the difference between "Don't Fight the Sea" and Imagination, production-wise, is that the former still has a fair amount of balls while the latter has absolutely none. Both a bit cheesy, yes, but there's still some punch in the drums and the vocals don't sound like they were recorded triple tracked with the other instruments inside of a cave.

[Dancing Bear]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

[The Shift]

Can't say that I can see any point in comparing the various factions of the band now. I prefer just to judge any new songs on their own merit and I am pleasantly surprised by what Al's come up with (as I was with Mike's Cool Head, Warm Heart).

Don't Fight The Sea is a genuinely good recording imo with excellent vocals and a strong production.

Tidepool Interlude is pleasant musically and I never really mind the spoken word stuff that the band does. If it's a mistake, then at least it's the mistake of overreaching. The line, 'majesty moves through me majestically' is a shocker though.

Campfire Scene is a nice short lead up to California Saga.

Which is a decent cover and fits well with the other 3 tracks.

Bottom line for me is that as the band members haven't released that many good songs since Holland, so I'm happy to enjoy any that come along.

Very nicely put. And yes, I hadn't spotted the "majestic majesty" line (thematic link to Brian's "Hello Queenie" comment at the Queen's jubilee gig?); just been absorbing the atmosphere of the piece really. Awkward slip.

[Foster's Freeze]

I think Al's production sounds great with a sense of "space" in it.

Thank god it isn't that Spectorish wall of noise sh*t.  Let it breathe baby!

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

Although it's not cutting edge, I would argue for the production quality on Don't Fight The Sea. The track was apparently started in 1978, and it certainly doesn't feel quite that old to me. The music has a quality to me that fits into the later period Beach Boys recordings from the 80s, but without the horrible digital reverb that was so overused at the time. Is it totally new; no. But in a way, it helps it fit in if you were going to make a compilation of later period Beach Boys recordings. I'm a fan of this tune.

[the captain]

I don't totally hate it. But the wave sounds, the whale (?) sound, the intro keyboard sound, the echo on Carl's vocal (1:45) and the reverse echo on the vox (section beginning at 2:58). All those things strike me as gimmicky and sure-to-be-dated (actually dated already). The rest of it, I'm actually fine with. Sounds good.

[ESQ Editor]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

Mike Love doesn't appear on this version. Al sings the baritone parts.

[TdHabib]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

Mike Love doesn't appear on this version. Al sings the baritone parts.

Really? Well so much for the "they harmonize so well today" argument: it's just an old (1980s?) Carl and Brian and tons of new Al's.

[Matt H]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

Mike Love doesn't appear on this version. Al sings the baritone parts.

Do we know if Mike will be on the Album version?

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

Mike Love doesn't appear on this version. Al sings the baritone parts.

Do we know if Mike will be on the Album version?

I hope so. I listened carefully for him, and the voice that could have been Mike's part was only present for a few bars. I certainly think Mike could add something.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Don't Fight the Sea is a good song. Not as good as California, but as good as Santa Ana Winds. And that's a good thing. Ok, the production is cheesy and screams '80's Starship' in places, but it's good to hear Al, Carl, Brian and Mike in the same track after all these years. California is charming, and if the CD is supposed to be - and I think it should be more clearly - Al's songbook, it works well in that vein.

Oh, now I get it. DFtS sounds like Moody Blues in the 80s. 

Mike Love doesn't appear on this version. Al sings the baritone parts.

Can you share the details of the track?  Who's on it, who sings what and when was it all done? 

And if Mike isn't no this version, what's the plan for the Mike Love vocals recorded last year?

[ESQ Editor]

The "impression" I get is no, but Al is notorious for changing his mind as much as he changes his socks. So we'll see.

[Stegibo]

I can hear Mike clearly on DFTS.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I can hear Mike clearly on DFTS.

Mike's contribution was recorded in an hotel room on Scott Totten's laptop - I would be exceedingly surprised if they were technically up to par.

[Stegibo]

Mmh, for me, it sounds very similar to his voice.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Mmh, for me, it sounds very similar to his voice.

Agree - I thought it was him too, but I'm very reliably informed it isn't.

[TdHabib]

AGD, correct me if I'm wrong as I really don't know, but weren't Brian's demo vocals (and, so, that means some of the ones that made the final product) for TLOS recorded onto Scott's computer? Or was it a real studio setup?

And, while I'm at it, am I wrong in this chronology of the TLOS project:
Summer 2006-Brian and Scott write and record the basic tracks (keyboards, percussion etc.) and vocals for their new songs in a demo setting at Scott's studio
Summer 2007-Scott and Darian sequence the piece in L.A. while Brian and company tour Europe, Scott records a few new things like the vocal for "Southern California" that made the rounds
Spring 2008-Brian and band record the backing tracks and some new lead and all backing vocals for the final release.

Or were Brian's demo vocals from Summer 2007?

Just always wanted to know...

[the captain]

An extremely large percentage of modern pop music--especially of the "indie" (horrible and inaccurate term) variety--is recorded on laptops or home setups. The "in a hotel" part would be what is more likely to have made it inferior quality.

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

Personally, I don't entirely buy that. If you know what you're doing, you can record a nice sounding performance pretty much anywhere. The legendary Robert Johnson tapes were made with him singing into a wall of a hotel room; obviously not the same idea at all, but doesn't mean a hotel room is going to ruin the sound.

[Aegir]

I think it was a particularly noisy hotel room with a cheap omnidirectional mic.

[Matt H]

Personally, I don't entirely buy that. If you know what you're doing, you can record a nice sounding performance pretty much anywhere. The legendary Robert Johnson tapes were made with him singing into a wall of a hotel room; obviously not the same idea at all, but doesn't mean a hotel room is going to ruin the sound.

Lindsey Buckingham recorded a lot of his "Under The Skin" album in hotel rooms while on tour, and the sound is good.

[the captain]

Of course this is the guy who needed thirty-odd years to make sure the sound of "Loop de Loop" was just so...