"In The Back Of My Mind": 70's version?

[Lee Marshall]

So...I went back this morning and listened to the song again.   As you likely deciphered...it's been a long, LONG time since I last did that.  You know what?  Except for the "no man can cling" bit...It's not THAT bad.  Not nearly as bad as I remembered it.  The "I try to run far 'way/I tried to rationalize" bits are a little 'strange'...but maybe I've been a little bit too harsh.  Maybe I was a worse critic back in '65...when I was only 13.

So ya...Most of it, in fact, is kind of decent...or, at the very least better than I remembered it.  The backing track and that sax bit Brian sneaks in under the vocal about 46 seconds in always worked.

Now I'm going to have to upgrade my rating of the album.

[The Shift]

Back of My Mind's nearest relative in the repertoire, to my mind, is Just Once In My Life on 1976's 15BOs. Soulmates.

[adamghost]

Re:  Dennis' vocal and Brian's intentions for it, I distinctly remember an interview with Brian (I'm thinking it may have been one of his late '80s/early '90s interviews with Bill Holdship for BAM, though I have no idea if that's really the case - but I'm pretty sure about the thrust of what he said) where he complained about Dennis screwing up the double tracking on this song.  So it would appear Brian wasn't happy with it either.

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

As much of an unabashed Dennis fan as I am, I was never too keen on his double track on this song, either. Very ragged, and I don't feel it serves to accentuate the emotion of the song. Too bad.

Now, the stereo version on MiC? Blows my mind. Nicely cleaned up. Dennis is still a little off-key in parts, sure, a little behind the beat, but all of it serves the needs of the song more completely, IMO. That's my preferred version.

What I find so interesting-- I've said this before, no one cares-- is that I find Dennis' double-tracking of his own voice later in his career MASTERFUL. Even with that torn, bleeding voice of his, his vocal overdubs settle-in to one another perfectly, shoring up weaknesses in the early takes and "playing off" each other. Almost like he was harmonizing with himself... just in unison.

Haven't heard any live versions of this song. Would love an official release of one of those, or '70s Brian version.

[RONDEMON]

Totally agree w/ the MiC version being the definitive one. The poor double-tracking on the original is distracting.

The instrumental is gorgeous. Especially the bridge. One of Brian's absolute best moments. It reminds me of something John Barry would've done in the late 60s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cuUtWOPzSeE

The pizzicato strings playing the arpeggio of what the guitars are doing in the verses is very, very clever too.
The outro too. Wow!