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Post by Kapitan on Jan 6, 2022 18:20:50 GMT
This just occurred to me, and while I don't think it needs a thread, it could certain fit here.
Has anyone ever considered, and does it surprise anyone, that the Beach Boys didn't ever do a full covers album, and perhaps more specifically a rock & roll oldies cover album right around this time frame, 1981-82? Before anybody corrects me, clearly I am aware they did Party! and 15 Big Ones, both of which had their fair share of covers of oldies.
Obviously early rock & roll had a revival in those latter 70s and early 80s, ranging from the group's own Endless Summer to American Graffiti to the Stray Cats to Happy Days. Second, the band itself was almost inarguably having better success with its own older music or nostalgic-feeling music since roughly 1976 (e.g., "Rock and Roll Music" being a far bigger hit than many of their more contemporary sounding singles, and of course "Come Go With Me" being a decent hit in 1981).
One could say they had more or less just done what I'm proposing with 15 Big Ones, but that's 5-6 years before by this point, and it's not as if this band or many others were averse to risk beating a dead horse. (How many greatest hits albums did they churn out after Endless Summer was a hit? How quickly?)
One could say they were barely a band at this point, so recording would have been a challenge. But therein lies the beauty! Even if they wanted to work with existing unreleased material, there were over an album's worth of unreleased, nearly complete songs to choose from: looking at the wiki page dedicated to the group's unreleased material, you could have "Be My Baby," "Calendar Girl," "I Ran (All the Way Home)," "River Deep, Mountain High," "Greenback Dollar," "Johnny B Goode," "Stranded in the Jungle," "Jamaica Farewell," "Little Girl," "Drip Drop," "Gimme Some Lovin," "Game of Love," "Seasons in the Sun," "On Broadway," "Ruby Baby," "Mony Mony," "Workin in the Coal Mine," "Sea Cruise" (admittedly had been on a comp in 1981), "With a Little Help From My Friends," "The Letter," "Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love," "Da Doo Ron Ron," and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin."
That is more than one album's worth, and it would have been a relatively simple thing to put together considering the complete or near-complete status of the majority of these songs. Had they preferred, they could also have reused some of their previously released oldies to flesh out the album. Depending on the timing, it even could have drawn from Carl's covers that ended up on his second solo album or other newly recorded covers that were brewing. (It's a little early for "California Dreamin," unfortunately.) It could have given all the guys a little time in the spotlight, as well, with various people singing leads and producing the material.
While this isn't something I'd have been excited about, I think it's safe to say the public actually might have been at least moderately interested--certainly more interested than they were about things like Keepin the Summer Alive or LA.
What do you think? I'm not sure I recall any previous BB board discussions about this after-the-fact possibility. While any success it would have had probably would have pushed them even further down the road to full-on nostalgia, it also might have sold some albums at a time when they weren't particularly prolific with their own songs (at least not taking them to completion with the group).
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Post by kds on Jan 6, 2022 19:19:11 GMT
I think a covers album probably would've been successful for the band, but unfortunately, they seemed to be unraveling a bit at the time. Carl left the group for a bit, and since he often griped about the BB becoming a travelling jukebox, I'm not sure how receptive he'd have been to the idea (even if he did record a cover of Youngblood). Brian and Dennis were also pretty unreliable at the time. Who knows, maybe even with Mike, Al, and Bruce, and limited participation from the Wilson Brothers, they could've cobbled something together and had a couple of hits.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 6, 2022 20:26:28 GMT
Who knows, maybe even with Mike, Al, and Bruce, and limited participation from the Wilson Brothers, they could've cobbled something together and had a couple of hits. That's honestly what I was envisioning: those guys making a Beach Boys album using what they (mostly) already had lying around. Pretty easy, as far as a new studio album goes. And maybe Brian would have had some degree of interest, considering his love of some of those kinds of songs. After all, he was involved in some of those right around that period. He might have found that more enjoyable (and, let's be honest, easier) than presenting new songs to the group.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 6, 2022 22:20:32 GMT
1. I think 1981-82 was still too close to 15 Big Ones - which I think gave the group a sour taste in their mouth - and they hadn't quite gotten rid of it yet.
2. Carl was on his "kick" about the group being...better...and I think he would've viewed a rock & roll covers album as a step backward.
3. Obviously Dennis could not have contributed, though he might've been able to contribute to a "new material" album in the way of songwriting (even with a song already in the can).
4. The record company was still/always looking for the next big, um, genius thing from Brian Wilson. Oldies or a covers album was not at the top of their list, though I'm sure they appreciated the success of "The Beach Boys Medley" and "Come Go With Me" as one-offs.
Was there an early rock & roll revival in the early 1980's? I think of that period as the beginning of the MTV years which meant "new sounds" and even more-removed production values from rock & roll (i.e synthesizers, drum machines, dance/techno). Now, am I surprised that somewhere down the road some record company didn't package a bunch of Beach Boys' (rock & roll) covers into a comp? Yes, absolutely I am. And, I also think in the last twenty years, sadly after Carl and Dennis passed, it would've been a good opportunity for the band (including Brian Wilson and David Marks) to give a rock & roll covers album a shot. Actually, that would work right now.
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Post by lonelysummer on Jan 7, 2022 2:51:12 GMT
What I remember about the 80's is a revival of interest in rockabilly music- and not strictly as a nostalgia thing. There were new groups recording new rockabilly style songs, occasionally a group like Stray Cats or Los Lobos would break through with a hit record. I can't really see the Beach Boys adding that style to their sound, though.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 7, 2022 13:23:22 GMT
1. I think 1981-82 was still too close to 15 Big Ones - which I think gave the group a sour taste in their mouth - and they hadn't quite gotten rid of it yet.
2. Carl was on his "kick" about the group being...better...and I think he would've viewed a rock & roll covers album as a step backward.
3. Obviously Dennis could not have contributed, though he might've been able to contribute to a "new material" album in the way of songwriting (even with a song already in the can).
4. The record company was still/always looking for the next big, um, genius thing from Brian Wilson. Oldies or a covers album was not at the top of their list, though I'm sure they appreciated the success of "The Beach Boys Medley" and "Come Go With Me" as one-offs.
Was there an early rock & roll revival in the early 1980's? I think of that period as the beginning of the MTV years which meant "new sounds" and even more-removed production values from rock & roll (i.e synthesizers, drum machines, dance/techno). Now, am I surprised that somewhere down the road some record company didn't package a bunch of Beach Boys' (rock & roll) covers into a comp? Yes, absolutely I am. And, I also think in the last twenty years, sadly after Carl and Dennis passed, it would've been a good opportunity for the band (including Brian Wilson and David Marks) to give a rock & roll covers album a shot. Actually, that would work right now. I just want to respond to this by saying I certainly wasn't arguing for that idea as any sort of silver bullet. I'm actually taking several of your points against as being reasons it would have worked. Minimal Wilson involvement would have been a given, but that is why pulling these unused oldies would be so easy a solution. The record company wanting Brian Wilson? Great, he was highly involved in these! Sour taste in their mouths after 15BO? Good thing Al, Mike, and Bruce could tinker with the tapes to get a more polished product.
Considering the success of their oldies in recent years, while I hadn't thought of it before, I am now surprised it didn't happen.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Jan 7, 2022 13:39:25 GMT
1. I think 1981-82 was still too close to 15 Big Ones - which I think gave the group a sour taste in their mouth - and they hadn't quite gotten rid of it yet.
2. Carl was on his "kick" about the group being...better...and I think he would've viewed a rock & roll covers album as a step backward.
3. Obviously Dennis could not have contributed, though he might've been able to contribute to a "new material" album in the way of songwriting (even with a song already in the can).
4. The record company was still/always looking for the next big, um, genius thing from Brian Wilson. Oldies or a covers album was not at the top of their list, though I'm sure they appreciated the success of "The Beach Boys Medley" and "Come Go With Me" as one-offs.
Was there an early rock & roll revival in the early 1980's? I think of that period as the beginning of the MTV years which meant "new sounds" and even more-removed production values from rock & roll (i.e synthesizers, drum machines, dance/techno). Now, am I surprised that somewhere down the road some record company didn't package a bunch of Beach Boys' (rock & roll) covers into a comp? Yes, absolutely I am. And, I also think in the last twenty years, sadly after Carl and Dennis passed, it would've been a good opportunity for the band (including Brian Wilson and David Marks) to give a rock & roll covers album a shot. Actually, that would work right now. I just want to respond to this by saying I certainly wasn't arguing for that idea as any sort of silver bullet. I'm actually taking several of your points against as being reasons it would have worked. Minimal Wilson involvement would have been a given, but that is why pulling these unused oldies would be so easy a solution. The record company wanting Brian Wilson? Great, he was highly involved in these! Sour taste in their mouths after 15BO? Good thing Al, Mike, and Bruce could tinker with the tapes to get a more polished product.
Considering the success of their oldies in recent years, while I hadn't thought of it before, I am now surprised it didn't happen.
I think in those days, yes, the group was very aware that they were functioning with a troubled (to say the least) and less-productive Brian, a mostly absent Dennis, and a Carl Wilson who was dangling demands in front of them and pursuing a solo career. But it was still kind of a secret to the public. Of course they didn't want fans, writers, and maybe even the record company to know just how f---ed up they were. Hey, this was still the Beach Boys with the genius Brian Wilson, the good-looking drummer Denny Wilson, and the angelic and quiet Carl Wilson. Right? Things would be OK...shortly. And, I think both the group, and most importantly the record company, were still in that frame of mind or planning phase that they were gonna deliver something new, something "today", and something competitive with the changing market/competition. I just don't think that particular time - the early 1980's - was the right time for more oldies/covers. Now, I do concede that later, unfortunately after Dennis and Carl passed - and when they were more desperate and more creatively bankrupt - that an oldies cover album would be more attractive...and practical.
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Post by kds on Jan 7, 2022 16:57:52 GMT
What I remember about the 80's is a revival of interest in rockabilly music- and not strictly as a nostalgia thing. There were new groups recording new rockabilly style songs, occasionally a group like Stray Cats or Los Lobos would break through with a hit record. I can't really see the Beach Boys adding that style to their sound, though. They tried a little bit of prog rock, Country, disco, 80s pop, and even rap later on. I wouldn't have put it past them to make an attempt at some sort of rockabilly, as amusing and awkward as the results would've likely been.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 9, 2022 12:52:05 GMT
Just a reminder that today is the final day to vote on "Come Go With Me" b/w "Don't Go Near the Water." Please be sure to get your vote counted, if you're interested.
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Post by Kapitan on Jan 10, 2022 12:08:40 GMT
Eight voters rated "Come Go With Me" backed with "Don't Go Near the Water" an average of 6.3. I'll update the ratings thread, and we will proceed shortly with our next single.
Thanks for participating.
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