NOTE: I've been
aware of Capitol Records releasing of
digital-only albums since they began
in 2014. But I viewed (and still
view) these releases as cynical,
corporate-driven releases which have
little to no real merit. They
have no packaging, no notes, just
compressed audio mp3/streaming files
which are solely being released in
order to secure the copyrights on the
tracks. But often these
releases are simply too little, too
late; in many instances, they are
releasing live and studio tracks which
have already been bootlegged numerous
times, and the concerts and studio
tracks which are seeing light for the
first time are barely listenable,
except for those who pour over ever
scrap of music the vault has to
offer. I offer them here only
for completists.
The Beach Boys Live
In Sacramento 1964
Capitol Records, LLC
December 2, 2014
|
Complete first show and
second recorded August 1, 1964 at
The Memorial Auditorium,
Sacramento, California.
|
REVIEW: The Beach Boys
performed two shows in Sacramento,
California on August 1, 1964, which were
edited together to make the 1964 In
Concert album. These
shows had been bootlegged before, as part
of Sea Of Tunes Live In
Sacramento! CDs which were released
as separate discs, with bonus tracks which
included vocal overdubs and radio
announcements. None of those bonus
tracks are here, but you do get the
unedited original tapes of both shows, in
good sound, although it's immediately
clear why overdubs were necessary; there's
vocal drop-outs and forgotten lyrics,
off-key harmonies and little personal
jokes, which seem a bit mean-spirited, but
that was how they interacted. And
despite the Beach Boys having recently
released their incredibly sophisticated All Summer Long
album in July, their playing here sounds
much like it did two years earlier - with
a garage-band chunkiness which simply
can't compete with the polish and
smoothness of The Wrecking Crew, who had
taken point on their studio backing
tracks. For fans who didn't have the
earlier Sea Of Tunes releases,
these are fun to hear - with lots of
energy and youthful drive rumbling through
the set lists, even if it lacks the
sweetening which the final album
presented. There's also lots of
little differences between the two shows,
which rabid fans will have fun comparing -
but it's still a rough and ragged listen;
The Beach Boys would improve vastly over
the next few years as a live touring act.
Keep An Eye On
Summer - The Beach Boys Sessions
1964
Capitol Records, LLC
December 2, 2014
|
Selected session tracks
for various single and album
sessions, including "All Summer
Long" "Beach Boys Christmas"
various singles and a live BBC
recording.
|
REVIEW: Here's
where Capitol Records finally realizes
that even session works have value -
although they had released some session
work before on previous CD's due to
years of pilfering and finally, onerous
copyright laws, Capitol thought it
worthwhile to release behind-the-scenes
session work, and, although it doesn't
merit the same consideration as their
finished product, it's undeniably fun to
hear the interplay between engineer
Chuck Britz and Brian Wilson - brief as they
may be. You get rehearsal
run-through's isolated backing tracks
and stripped vocals and new, brilliant
stereo mixes of several Beach Boys
standards, including "Fun Fun Fun," "Why
Do Fools Fall In Love," "Don't Worry
Baby," Pom Pom Playgirl" and several
more. Does it hold up to repeat
listens? Not really. The
best things are the new stereo mixes,
which are specially mixed for today's
younger audiences, with their headphones
or streaming speakers, lacking the range
of more immersive stereo systems, but
bright and sparkling through my computer
speaker. And listeners can get a
renewed appreciation for Brian's amazing
arrangements as The Wrecking Crew rip
through his thickly layered
productions. There's stuff in his
mixes which simply gets lost as he tried
to ape Phil Spector's 'Wall Of Sound'
but here, it's separated and various
instruments are highlighted, which
showcase just how expertly and deftly
Brian was able to construct his own
masterpieces.
The Beach Boys’
Party! Uncovered And Unplugged
Capitol Records, LLC
November 20, 2015
|
DESCRIPTION:
Beach Boys' Party! was the tenth
studio album by the Beach Boys
and was mostly cover songs. When
originally recorded, the band
invited friends and family into
the studio for a party. Those
sounds were then layered over
the recorded music for a true
party sound. Uncovered and
unplugged now strips away those
party sounds so that the true
sessions can be heard in their
entirety. This special 2 disc
set pairs the original album
with the newly restored audio,
outtakes and dialog.
For full
track listing click
here.
|
REVIEW: The first thing you
hear out of Brian's mouth as the
sessions begin rolling for what would
eventuallly become the Beach Boys Party!
album is "So... instead of being 'good'
it's gotta be 'entertaining'" - which, I
suppose, is as good a description of the
Party album as any other. Under
the constant crunch of Capitol wanting
to put out new product, Brian found
himself doing things he probably
wouldn't have considered under any other
circumstances, and "Party" falls under
the same umbrella as other similar
projects like Beach Boys Christmas,
Stack-O-Tracks, and probably Smiley
Smile. Sea of Tunes put out
an entire box set (three and half hours)
of Party
Sessions back in the day,
and Capitol Records covers all of the
same ground - please DON'T make me go
and compare the two sets, for that would
be nearly seven hours of my life I could
never get back again. Needless to
say, it's all in-studio run-throughs,
with lots of chatter, some songs which
didn't make the cut ("I Can't Get No
Satisfaction" by the Rolling Stones" and
"Smokey Joe's Cafe" among them) but over
the five sessions which the recording
took place, the songs which made the
final cut are the most 'polished' -
although that's a relative term with
this album. If you love the Party!
album, you'll adore this - but if you
think it's fairly disposable, this
release is triply so.
Live In Chicago 1965
Capitol Records, LLC
December 6, 2015
|
Two shows, recorded live
at the Arie Crown Theater, Chicago
on March 26 & 27, 1965.
|
REVIEW: Although the Beach
Boys had released Concert in
1964, Capitol Records was still
recording Beach Boys shows, probably to
serve as more "filler" albums in case
Brian ran out of new material. But
unlike with their Concert album, no
sweetening sessions were done for either
this Chicago 1965 show, or the Michigan
'66 show which they also recorded.
And boy oh boy, would sweetening be
needed - lots of ragged playing and
vocal problems plague both shows, with
vocals dropping out entirely, and the
playing far under par of what would be
expected by record buyers. The
Beach Boys were also at the height of
their popularity during this time, still
on par with The Beatles, and doing some
of their most stunning studio work with
the Today! and Summer Days
(and Summer Nights!) -
improvements which beggar the question
why the band wasn't showing growth in
their live shows. Granted, this
only months after their 1964 concerts,
but if anything, they sound even more
ragged and unpolished here than they did
then. Brian had actually returned
for these concerts, replacing Bruce
Johnston who had been filling in for an
ailing Brian Wilson - that may have been
the impetus for recording these shows,
but it was clearly a rush job - the
first show was a disaster as far as
sound, and the second show would have
needed a lot of studio work. And
despite Brian's growing songwriting
chops, their song list is is still
relying on "Monster Mash" and "Louie,
Louie" for filler. Mike's vocal
interpolations interrupt many of the
songs, and would have ruined many
possible takes for an album, and the
fooling around, goofing off, and
mistakes may have made for fun times for
their audiences, but as candidates for a
future live album, it's apparent that
these concerts were wisely left in the
can. I'm convinced that the ONLY
reason these recordings are seeing the
light of day is for legal
protections. The second show is
tighter and far more polished than the
first - but the sound still is
compressed and almost sounds as if its
being recorded through a radio speaker
than a soundboard. Fans may love
it, but it's not my idea of a great
Beach Boys release. As a bonus,
four "rehearsal" tracks from the concert
are included, "Louie, Louie," "Surfin'
USA," "Little Honda" and "Wendy."
Graduation Day 1966:
Live At The University Of Michigan
Capitol Records, LLC
December 9, 2016
 |
Two shows recorded on
Oct. 22, 1966 in Ann Arbor,
Michigan with a bonus radio spot
and studio rendition of "Row Your
Boat" by The Honeys.
|
REVIEW: Released without any
fanfare, this second live recording,
done a few months after the Chicago
shows, are notable for a couple of
reasons. First - although Brian is
pictured on the cover, he wasn't on
stage with the band for most of the
performances; Bruce Johnston was back,
although Brian did fly down with the
band and hold an all-day rehearsal with
them, mainly to make certain that they
were up to performing "Good Vibrations"
up to snuff. Also, there's a
significant change in their concert
lineup; their surf/drag songs have been
mashed into a medley, while Pet
Sounds and Today tracks
have begun to take a larger cut of the
pie. The concerts are also a MUCH
more somber affair than they were
eighteen months previously, with Carl
clearly the leader on the road, the
audiences much less present (the college
crowd probably accounts for that) and
the intersong patter is more
subdued. Sonically, it would have
made a better album, but the energy is
down - the band sounds a little nervous
playing the new songs, and Mike makes
several off-hand remarks about the new
direction the band is taking which give
large hints about how he feels about
having to perform "God Only Knows,"
"Good Vibrations" "Wouldn't It Be Nice"
and "Sloop John B" instead of his usual
'Monster Mash". Dennis premieres
"You've Got To Hide Your Love Away"
which was only a couple of weeks old at
that point, and he's a high point.
Brian does show up for a belated encore
number, "Johnny B. Goode" and receives
one of the biggest ovations, but even at
this point, he's showing a marked
aversion to the limelight. The
entire mood of the concert is a little
off - much more subdued and lacking the
energy which their earlier concerts had,
showcasing just how unsure the band was
of where music was heading. The
radio spot is brief, but interesting,
while The Honey's "live" rendition of
"Row Your Boat" is a bore.
1967
- Sunshine Tomorrow
Capitol Records [CD/MP3]
Release Date: June 30, 2017
 |
The Beach Boys have
announced they will offer new
archival release, 1967 – Sunshine
Tomorrow, on June 30 via
Capitol/UMe. The collection will
include the first-ever stereo
recording of Wild Honey, along
with over 50 previously
unreleased studio and live
recording from that year.
The release celebrates the 50th
anniversary of Wild Honey and
the 1967 studio sessions for
that album along with Smiley
Smile and the surrounding live
dates around the US from which Sunshine
Tomorrow draws.
See the
complete track listing here. |
REVIEW: Ah, 1967...
what must Beach Boys fans must have been
going through that year - 1966 had brought
the glories of Pet Sounds and the
omnipresent teasings of Smile, the album
that was to catapult the band into
Beatles-like stratospheres. Instead,
here came two albums which threw out
nearly everything fans loved about them,
and presented a stripped-down, intensely
psychedelic Smiley Smile followed by the
blindingly white soul of Wild Honey.
Now, on 1967:
Sunshine tomorrow, Capitol
continues it's series of
copyright-protecting releases by releasing
the original Wild Honey in it's glorious,
first-ever stereo mix, along with Smiley
Smile outtakes, live and studio "concert"
performances, and odds and ends, which,
belying its title, reach into 1970.
First of all, is it worth
purchasing? Oh, yeah. This is
where things start to get reallllly
interesting with the Beach Boys. If
the band had splinted during the
combustion of Smile, The Beach Boys would
have secured their place as one of the
great bands of all time, but with the
weirdness of 1967 foisted upon the public,
they became much more - they became
fascinating; you don't know what's going
to come next - a musical mystery who's
chameleon-like gyrations wouldn't subside
until 1974's Endless Summer reinstated
their surf/car/girls default setting in
the public's eyes. But for several
years, during Brian's increasing
withdrawal and the Beach Boys desperation
to remain relevant, the band became their
most experimental, their most daring, and
their most raw. Carl Wilson stepped
in to become the ad hoc leader, and and
both he and Dennis Wilson began to stretch
their compositional wings. This
music isn't the stuff of commercial
success - it seems that the band isn't
even trying to write a hit single at this
point - they're simply in the birthing
metamorphosis stage - and musically, it's
the beginning of one of the most
interesting phases of their career.
1967 - Sunshine
Tomorrow 2 - The Studio Sessions
Capitol Records, LLC
December 29, 2017
|
1967 –
Sunshine Tomorrow 2: The Studio
Sessions includes 29 studio
session recordings.
Highlights from the Studio
Sessions set include an a cappella
version of "Heroes and Villains,"
the previously unreleased "Tune L"
and outtake "Good News."
For complete track listing click here.
|
REVIEW: It's the end of
another year, and that signals another
catalog-clearing release from The Beach
Boys vaults in order to protect their
copyrights! Heartwarming, I
know. And unlike the physical
release which Sunshine Tomorrow merited,
these next two releases apparently rate
much lower on The Beach Boys
opinion-scale, since they have only
digital and streaming platform releases,
with all their compressed audio and lack
of notation to frustrate you. That
said, this is actually a pretty fun
release; The Beach Boys were forced into
a highly-experimental state with Brian's
slow withdrawal, but that doesn't mean
that what's here is not worthwhile - the
Beach Boys are vocally at their peak
here, and Brian's weird-out
experimentation is absolutely
fascinating, from the polished vocal
miniatures to stripped-down versions of
SMiLE songs, the chance to peek behind
the scenes of these controversial
sessions is both enlightening on how
unified they sound in the studio, and
how, removed from the acid-trip that is
Smiley Smile or the white soul freak-out
that is Wild Honey, how truly lovely
these fragments are. The Beach
Boys could SING, gosh-darn it - and
anyone who doubts it should listen to
the gorgeous harmonies on display here
in "With Me Tonight" or peek into the
backing tracks and vocals for "I Was
Made To Love Her" and "Darlin'."
In my opinion, Capitol was remiss in not
including this as a bonus disc on the
previous Sunshine Tomorrow set, since
everything here is worth hearing, and
fascinating in its own right. As a
bonus, two unreleased tracks, the jam
session "Tune L" and the short fragment
"Good News" receive their first outing
here.
1967 - Live
Sunshine
Capitol Records, LLC
December 29, 2017
|
On August 25 and 26,
1967, The Beach Boys (absent Bruce
Johnston, but with Brian Wilson on
organ for his first concert
appearances with the band in more
than two years) recorded two
concerts and rehearsals in
Honolulu for a prospective live
album to be titled Lei'd In
Hawaii, applying a new Smiley
Smile-inspired aesthetic to the
performances. Just over two weeks
later, the band (with both Brian
and Bruce participating) began
re-recording the live set
in-studio at Brian's house and at
Wally Heider Recording in
Hollywood, after the Honolulu
concert tapes were deemed
unusable. Although completed and
mixed, the final planned audio
element of a canned concert
audience was not added and the
Lei'd In Hawaii project was
canceled. Those live, in-studio
performances morphed into sessions
for the Wild Honey album,
primarily comprised of original
Brian Wilson/Mike Love
compositions. For a complete
track listing, click
here
|
REVIEW: OKaaaaaay. And
so, here we go - in the latest dump of
copyright-dodging releases, which should
both please and infuriate fans, Capitol
Records has released this 109-track
behemoth, consisting of the
multi-bootlegged "Lei'd In Hawaii"
rehearsals and concert, which, for
reasons which become instantly apparent,
were shelved for good reason.
Brian Wilson, who by this time was
taking everything LO-fi, decided to do
this concert the same way, making every
song sound threadbare, and slightly
"off" on tempos (meaning slow).
The Beach Boys don't just sound
dis-engaged, they sound slightly stoned,
which is a huge pity, since vocally,
there would rarely sound this good
again. Brian is present, and in
control, Bruce Johnston is elsewhere,
and the band noodles around, and Mike
continues to "entertain" the crowd
between numbers as only he can. A
couple of months later, another concert
in Detroit was captured, which featured
the band's first live performance of
"Darlin'," "Country Air," and "How She
Boogalood It" - which, as you can
imagine, didn't exactly set the
audiences on fire. It's amazing
how amateur they sound here; for a band
that has topped the charts several
times, they have a raggedness and
immaturity that sounds like a college
band at times. Carl Wilson sounds
on fire, however. Two nights
later, they had dropped each of those
songs in a White Plains, New York date,
sticking mostly with the tried-and-true,
with only "Wild Honey" and "Darlin'"
remaining in the set list. The
album closes with a Boston show, which
is almost identical to the White Plains
show. Honestly, there are bright
spots throughout the set for true fans,
but it's a chore to get through the
whole set, and with lots of repetition,
and the performances rarely rising above
the competent, I think this release is a
low priority purchase.
I Can Hear Music:
The 20/20 Sessions
Capitol Records, LLC
December 7, 2018
|
On December 7, 2018,
Capitol released I Can Hear Music:
The 20/20 Sessions, a digital-only
compilation. Included are session
highlights, outtakes, and
alternate versions of 20/20
tracks, as well as some unreleased
material by Dennis Wilson. It was
released in conjunction with Wake
the World: The Friends
Sessions.
For complete track list - click
here.
|
REVIEW: By the time The
Beach Boys got around to recording
20/20, they were trying to reform around
both new leadership within the group,
with Carl taking point, and also they
were struggling to be relevant in a
musical landscape that had shifted
underneath their feet. They were
able to drag a song out of Brian that
recalled their glory years in the form
of "Do It Again," but it was a look
backward, and on these sessions you can
hear them struggling to fill the large
shoes of both writing and production
which they relied on Brian exclusively
for previous to his "Smile"
meltdown. Songs which they
attempted, but didn't include on the
final album are documented here: "Walk
On By," "Sail Plane Song," "Old Man
River/Old Folks At Home," "Walkin',"
Dennis Wilson's initial songwriting
attempts "Well You Know I Knew," "Love
Affair," and "Peaches," "Mona
Kana," "A Time To Live In Dreams," and
"Oh Yeah" being fragments which you'll
find here. It shows that the band
was trying the 'spaghetti' approach to
record production, throwing anything
they had at the wall and seeing if it
would stick. Their harmonic skills
were still powerful, even if Brian
wasn't arranging them - and Bruce
Johnston, Dennis Wilson, and Al Jardine
were coming more to the fore, albeit in
sometimes horrific ways, such as Dennis
Wilson bringing in Charles Manson's
"Never Learn Not To Love" to the
band. Highlights include a funkier
"Bluebirds Over The Mountain" (which I
prefer to the original) and isolated
vocal tracks. But the most
interesting curiosity for me is the
final track, where the Wilson's mother
Audree is captured singing "Is It True
What They Say About Dixie?" in a lovely,
fragile soprano - proof that Brian's
Carl's and Dennis' singing talent may
have come from her.
Wake The World: The
Friends Sessions
Capitol Records, LLC
December 7, 2018
|
1. Meant For You
(Alternate Version With Session
Intro) 2:17
2. Friends (Backing Track)
2:38
3. Friends (A Cappella)
2:20
4. Wake The World (Alternate
Version) 2:11
5. Be Here In The Morning (Back
Track) 2:20
6. When A Man Needs A Woman (Early
Take Basic Track)
0:50
7. When A Man Needs A Woman
(Alternate Version)
2:08
8. Passing By (Alternate Verson)
1:43
9. Anna Lee The Healer (Session
Excerpt) 1:21
10. Anna Lee The Healer (A
Cappella) 1:53
11. Little Bird (Back Track)
2:00
12. Little Bird (A Cappella)
2:04
13. Be Still (Alternate Take With
Session Excerpt)
2:08
14. Even Steven (Early Version Of
Busy Doin' Nothin')
2:52
15. Diamond Head (Alternate
Version With Session Excerpt)
4:33
16. New Song (Transcendental
Meditation) (Back Track With
Partial Vocals)
1:51
17. Transcendental Meditation
(Back Track With Session Excerpt)
2:21
18. Transcendental Meditation (A
Cappella) 1:51
19. My Little Red Book
2:45
20. Away 0:56
21. I'm Confessin' (Demo)
2:17
22. I'm Confessin'/ You're As Cool
As Can Be 1 1:37
23. You're As Cool As Can Be 2
1:14
24. Be Here In The Morning Darling
3:29
25. Our New Home
2:01
26. New Song
1:26
27. Be Still (Alternate Track)
1:03
28. Rock And Roll Woman
2:18
29. Time To Get Alone (Alternate
Version Demo)
2:03
30. Untitled 1/25/68
1:06
31. Passing By (Demo)
2:33
32. Child Is Father Of The Man
(Original 1966 Track Mix) 3:36
|
REVIEW: Wake The World:
The Friends Sessions follows much
the same pattern and the previous
digital editions, with backing tracks,
isolated vocal tracks, and the
occasional alternate or unreleased
takes, but this release is a good deal
more genial and easy to listen to, due
to the laid-back nature of the project,
as well as some truly spine-tingling
moments (the vocal-only "Friends" track
is astounding). It's hard to know
what Brian and the band were aiming for
with this album, since none of the
tracks seemed aimed at the popular
market, or even for radio - the Friends
album seemed to be dipping its toe into
the waters of folk and country music,
with lyrical forays into more Brian
Wilson freak-outs like the song to his
masseuse, "Anna Lee The Healer" (the
funky Session Excerpt points towards
"Wild Honey") and head-scratchers like
"When A Man Needs A Woman". But
the Beach Boys, still willing to go
along with anything Brian was willing to
do, gamely added stunning harmonies to
these tracks - but clearly they are just
flailing around for a 'new' sound.
Dennis Wilson scores his first album
track with "Little Bird" and "Be Still"
- the former has a curious backing track
filled with Brian-like touches of muted
trumpets and banjo picking, and reveals
just how adventurous and jazzy the
backing harmonies are. But
then... things get weird - Brian
does one of his "I don't care/joke
tracks" on "My Little Red Book" followed
by the lazy "Away" "I'm
Confessin'/You're As Cool As Can Be" "Be
Here In The Morning Darlin'" "New Song"
"Our New Home" "Rock and Roll Woman" and
"Untitled" - some of which are finished
backing tracks, some of which are just
basic demos, but all were abandoned
without any vocals being added. It
testifies at how splintered and
unfocused Brian had become - how quickly
he lost interest in things during this
era, and just how much damage the drugs
had done to his psyche. The
digital album closes out with The Beach
Boys again digging out a Smile-era track
with the backing track to "Child Is
Father To The Man" receiving a new
mix. There are a few interesting
things to hear on this release, but it
descends into such a morass of missed
opportunities that it feels bleak by the
end.
The Beach Boys On
Tour: 1968 (Live)
Capitol Records, LLC
December 14, 2018
|
Seven full concerts
from 1968 making 114 tracks:
Chicago, IL
Fargo, ND
Waterloo, IA
Lincoln, NE
Phoenix, AZ
London Palladium, London
Finsbury Park Astoria, London
For complete tracklist: click
here
|
REVIEW: Seven different
venues, one-hundred and fourteen tracks,
and fifty-six bucks (and change) to
purchase, Beach Boys Concert On Tour:
1968 is a mammoth release from Capitol's
vaults as the band was desperately
trying to fill their album quota which
they had fallen behind on during Brian's
post-Smile meltdown. After their
two previous attempts to record live
concerts had been un-releasable, it
appears that the band decided to record
a whole swath of shows in a desperate
effort to cobble together something
ANYTHING that could fill the gap.
To sweeten up their sound, they
incorporated a brass section, and
arrangements by Daryl Dragon.
Remarkably, the band supposedly didn't
authorized the release of the subsequent
Beach
Boys '69/Live In London
album, despite having all of these
recording sessions in the can. The
first three-quarters of this release are
from numerous American dates: Chicago,
IL, Fargo, ND, Waterloo, IA, Lincoln,
NE, and Phoenix, AZ. Immediately
you can tell how much the band has
evolved from their earlier live concerts
- their sound is more refined, their
harmonies more careful, and their set
list has changed almost seismically from
their "Louie, Louie"/"Monster Mash"
raves of the mid-Sixties: "Wake The
World," "Darlin'," "Good Vibrations,"
"Friends," "God Only Knows," "Sloop John
B," and "Do It Again" are now staples of
the tour, while their early hits are
mostly mashed up into the surf/drag
medley. But also their on-stage
banter and musicianship are notably
improved - under Carl's leadership the
Beach Boys sound stellar live - all in
the space of a short year, after the
disastrous Lei'd In Hawaii
concert. Dennis is premiering
"Little Bird" in concert, and he sounds
like a frontman with amazing support
from the rest of the band, sad that
these performances didn't make the
initial album release. But The
Beach Boys' popularity was tanking in
the USA, while at the same time, it was
starting to peak in the UK, which may be
why only the UK sessions (which
consisted of recordings made at the
London Palladium and Finsbury Park
Astoria) were ultimately compiled into
the Live In London album,
but the earlier recordings are just as
good - and worth hearing. It may
be a little much to dump on fans in one
hearing, but there's lots to admire from
these recordings.
The Beach Boys 1969:
I'm Going Your Way
Capitol Records, LLC
December 27, 2019
 |
1. I'm Going Your Way
(Alternate Vocal Take) 2:37
2. Slip On Through (Early Version)
3:09
3. Carnival (Over The Waves) 2:43
|
REVIEW: Beach Boys fans have
been having a digital party with all of
the releases which came from 1968.
Hundreds and hundreds of tracks, both
from live and in-studio sessions have
made their way online through official
streaming services. But according
to this in-depth interview with
producers Mark Linnett and Alan Boyd,
there's no live material from 1969 at
all, and this three-track release is
only the proverbial tip-of-the-iceberg,
since The Beach Boys began laying down
tracks for their upcoming Brother
Records debut, including material which
would show up on Sunflower.
And if this release is supposed to whet
fans' appetites, welllllll.... it's
going to be an interesting 2020 (as if
it wasn't already). The first two
tracks are pure Dennis Wilson: by this
time, he was nearing the peak of his
compositional powers in The Beach Boys,
writing and producing tracks which were
much more modern and slinky than
anything the rest of the band was able
to create, including Brian. "I'm
Going Your Way" has a hard rock ethos,
with a heavy infusion of blues, with
Dennis' already growling voice
alternating between tender interplay and
a rough howl - and the 'pick-up' lyric
is heavily saturated with his natural
sex appeal. If drugs and his
inability to reign in his impulses
hadn't taken him over, it would be easy
to see him and Carl easily taking over
the Beach Boys with a new sounds and
direction which would have been perfect
for the Seventies. Next, an early,
track-only version of "Slip On Through"
give an interesting peek at this
work-in-progress song which is given
splashy drums and slide guitar with lots
of Brian-like horns grumbling
underneath. It's a busy track,
loaded with layers of instruments which
shows just how avid a student Dennis was
of his older brother. The final
track is a complete throw-away, with the
Beach Boys goofing their way
through Mexican composer Juventino
Rosas's "Carnival (Over The Waves)"
which is so laconic and time-wasting, it
sounds as if the Beach Boys were again
at a loss as to what to do with their
sound. So - one great song, one
interesting backing track, and one
head-scratcher.
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