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Post by The Cincinnati Kid on Mar 27, 2019 2:14:40 GMT
The Beach Boys' failed 1995 reunion album is something that has fascinated me for a long time. Brian was very active and there is a lot of strong material to come from this time period. Here's my attempt at what it could have looked like:
Malibu Nights 1. Gettin' In Over My Head 2. Don't Fight the Sea 3. Chain Reaction of Love 4. All the Love In Paris 5. They're Only Words 6. Waves of Love 7. Soul Searchin' 8. You're Still A Mystery 9. Dancin' the Night Away 10. This Song Wants to Sleep With You
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 28, 2019 0:16:58 GMT
Keepin' The Summer Alive will always be a woulda/coulda/shoulda album for me. Does the Keepin' The Summer Alive album remind anybody of 20/20? Sunflower? Even Surf's Up? Why not? Five Beach Boys contributed songs to Keepin' The Summer Alive, much like the previous albums I mentioned. It could be considered a team effort. Dennis Wilson, who wasn't on the album, should've contributed...something.
Look at the songs on the Keepin' The Summer Alive album. They really aren't THAT bad, but the album could've been much better, and that's what I set out to accomplish with this alternate Keepin' The Summer Alive album.
When you think of the concept of this 1980 album, an album titled Keepin' The Summer Alive, two subjects come to mind - summer and fun. Unfortunately, the album failed on both fronts. Another missing element, Dennis Wilson, was fairly active with live BB performances in 1979 and 1980. His voice and songwriting should've been represented on the album. And, finally, just ten songs? The boys were scrimping again. How about extending the album to twelve songs!
So, keeping all of that in mind, this is what I set out to do. First, I eliminated a non-summer/non-fun song, "When Girls Get Together". It's not that I don't like the song - I actually do - it just doesn't fit on this album and I have no idea why it was resurrected. Second, replace that song with not one, but two summer/fun rockers - "Goin' To The Beach" and "It's A Beautiful Day". I wish Brian and Mike would've finished "Goin' To The Beach", and I wish the group would've sprung financially to get the rights to put "It's A Beautiful Day" on the album. I think it's a good song that was wasted on a bad movie and buried as a single that nobody heard. Finally, the easiest part, choosing a Dennis Wilson song. The album needed another ballad and Dennis had a perfect one in the can with "Love Remember Me". So here ya go:
The Beach Boys - Keepin' The Summer Alive (1980)
Side 1 01 Keepin' The Summer Alive 02 School Days 03 Some Of Your Love 04 Oh Darlin' 05 Goin' To The Beach 06 Sunshine
Side 2 07 It's A Beautiful Day 08 Santa Ana Winds 09 Love Remember Me 10 Livin' With A Heartache 11 Goin' On 12 Endless Harmony
- I think Side 1 really rocks and is a lot of fun. Side 2 has more "relationship" songs and flows nicely. This alternate album is longer by two songs - more music for your buck. It still doesn't capture that "summer feeling" like its predecessors from the 1960's, but it is an improvement over the original Keepin' The Summer Alive album that was released in 1980. I'd like to think it improves by an entire grade.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 28, 2019 12:24:52 GMT
SJS, I still wouldn’t exactly like KTSA, but that does improve it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 30, 2019 11:49:13 GMT
The Beach Boys Today! - the album which our forum is named after - is a great album. For me and I'm sure many others, it's a Top 5 favorite in The Beach Boys' LP catalogue. But it could've been better. Very simply it could've been better. Below are three easy steps to improve a classic album:
1. Eliminate just one song - "Bull Session With The Big Daddy". I know some fans get a kick out of hearing their favorite rock stars talk. Many Beatles' fans were infatuated by hearing John, Paul, George, and Ringo's Liverpool accent. It was charming. But, frankly, this "talking track" is boring. After you hear it a dozen or so times, who wants to keep hearing it? And the sequencing of it...ugh. Get rid of it.
2. Add two songs - "All Dressed Up For School". Is it a great song? No, probably not. But it's a very good song and it features a rare Carl Wilson lead vocal at that time. You would've had an album with all five Beach Boys featured on lead vocals. "All Dressed Up For School" is a nice concept/theme for the album, and I have a great place for it. See point No. 3. The other song added is "Guess I'm Dumb". If you keep Glen Campbell's lead vocal, then you would have SIX Beach Boys' lead vocals! It's an excellent song, production, and performance, and it fits in with the "relationship" sub-theme of the album.
3. The sequencing of The Beach Boys Today! is frustrating. I'm not a big fan of the fast side/slow side concept. I'm more a fan of fitting songs lyrically and by musical flow. Today! is top-loaded with fast, rock and roll songs on Side 1, then starts to drag on Side 2 with one ballad after another (but what great ballads). This album is easy to re-sequence. There are perfect opening songs and closing songs all over the place. Take a look:
The Beach Boys - The Beach Boys Today! (1965)
Side 1 1. All Dressed Up For School 2. Do You Wanna Dance 3. Please Let Me Wonder 4. Good To My Baby 5. Dance, Dance, Dance 6. In The Back Of My Mind 7. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
Side 2
1. I'm So Young 2. Don't Hurt My Little Sister 3. Help Me, Rhonda 4. Guess I'm Dumb
5. Kiss Me Baby 6. She Knows Me Too Well
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 30, 2019 13:28:21 GMT
I did a Jack Rieley era playlist a while back as a kind of intro to "not your father's Beach Boys" sort of music. (I've always had a good time introducing that era as well as some of the later 60s chamber pop--the "Time to Get Alone," "I Went to Sleep," and Friends kind of music--and the synth weirdness of Love You-Adult/Child to non-fan friends to ensure they at least understood the diversity of the group before dismissing me and my silly obsession.)
I don't recall the exact restrictions or parameters I gave myself, but looking at it, I'm thinking that a) I wasn't using material primarily done in earlier eras (e.g., "Surf's Up," "Feet," both of which I love and would otherwise have included); and maybe b) a stab at "seriousness," which also omits "Feet" and maybe "Funky Pretty" or the fairy tale music. I think I was just thinking, what would the best 1973 album have been (assuming the three Rieley albums hadn't come out otherwise)?
You'll have to forgive my relative Dennislessness, but as you must know by now, I'm not such a fan.
1. You Need a Mess of Help (to Stand Alone) 2. Marcella 3. Long Promised Road 4. Hold On Dear Brother 5. Sail on Sailor
6. Wouldn't It Be Nice (To Live Again)
7. California Saga/California 8. Disney Girls (1957) 9. Don't Go Near the Water 10. The Trader 11. California Saga (Beaks of Eagles) 12. A Day in the Life of a Tree 13. Til I Die
14. All This is That
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Post by sebevedomy on Mar 30, 2019 18:54:44 GMT
I do these alot. Here's a consolidation of the first five albums,maybe some other time, I'll post my attempts to sort out the mess of the Brian's Back/Struggle forControl Era of 1976-1980.
Surfin'
1. Surfin' 2. Luau 3. Visions 4. What Is a Young Girl Made Of 5. Lavender 6. Surfin' Safari (the single version)
7. 409 8. The Beginning of the End 9. Barbie 10. Cindy, Oh, Cindy 11. Beach Boys Stomp 12. Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
Surfin USA(Alternate)
1 Surfin' USA 2. Catch a Wave 3. The Surfer Moon 4. Stoked 5. The Lonely Sea 6. Surfers Rule
7. Surfer Girl 8.Noble Surfer 9.Hawaii 10. Surf Jam 11. Your Summer Dream 12 Finders Keepers
Shut Down
1. Shut Down 2. Ballad of Old Betsy 3. Cherry Cherry Coupe 4.Spirit Of America 5. A Young Man Is Gone 6.This Car of Mine
7. Little Deuce Coupe 8. Our Car Club 9.No-Go Showboat 10. Don't Worry Baby 11. Shut Down, Part 2 12. Custom Machine
Fun, Fun, Fun 1. Fun, Fun, Fun 2. Keep an Eye On Summer 3. In the Parkin' Lot 4.Farmer's Daughter 5. Gonna Hustle You 6. The Warmth of the Sun
7. Why Do Fools Fall IN Love? 8. Pamela Jean 9.Pom Pom Play Girl 10. Be True To Your School 11. After the Game 12. I Do
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 31, 2019 19:36:52 GMT
Inspired by sebevedomy combining the Surfin' U.S.A. and Surfer Girls albums, I'm going to combine Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe albums. It seems like a natural - Surfer Girl was released on September 16, 1963 and Little Deuce Coupe followed on October 7, 1963. Two new albums released just three weeks apart, and a few songs on both albums! WTF? This is the album that could've been released had they been a little more patient.
The Beach Boys - Surf & Turf (1963)
Side 1 01 Surfer Girl 02 Catch A Wave 03 Hawaii 04 The Surfer Moon 05 Car Crazy Cutie 06 Cherry, Cherry Coupe 07 Your Summer Dream
Side 2
08 Little Deuce Coupe
09 Custom Machine 10 Our Car Club 11 Ballad Of Ole' Betsy 12 Surfers Rule
13 Be True to Your School
14 In My Room
- I hate to sacrifice "Spirit Of America". I might've used it instead of "Ballad Of Ole' Betsy" but "Betsy" has been re-born in its later years. I also had to cut "No-Go Showboat" because I considered it the weakest of the car songs. Would anybody flip "In My Room" and "Your Summer Dream"?
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Post by sebevedomy on Apr 1, 2019 10:34:49 GMT
I think I would. I think that "IN My Room" has all these hints of ambiguity around its edges; while "Your Summer Dream" just lacks that. But I think "Your Summer Dream" makes a better album closer: ending it with "In My Room" seems like a very late sixties choice. I do like "In My Room" as the closer for Side 1 though.
And regarding my own playlists, I'm scrapping "Farmer's Daughter"and replacing it with "In My Room", don't know what I was thinking. "Farmer's Daughter" gets relegated to the b-side pile that all the other outtakes are in, eventually compiled on something. I like the song
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Post by sebevedomy on Apr 2, 2019 8:52:04 GMT
The main idea behind these four is just to get all the songs that are finished enough onto manageable bite-sized playlists, so I didn't get too creative.
20/20 Alternate:
1.Do It Again (MIC stereo) 2. I Can Hear Music 3. Bluebirds Over the Mountan sans guitar 4. Be With Me 5. All I Want To Do (Dennis vocal) 6. The Nearest Faraway Place
7.We're Together Again 8. Old Man River a capella-Oldfolks At Home/Old Man River (from twofer) 9. I went To Sleep 10. Time To Get Alone 11. Never Learn Not to Love You 12. Can't Wait Too Long a capella intro 13. Been Way Too Long (sections, the long version from last year)
Reverberation
1. Soulful Old Man Sunshine 2. Cotton Fields 3. A Time To Live In Dreams 4. Sail Plane Song 5. Where Is She 6.Celebrate the News
7. Break Away (probably the alternate version) 8. Back Home 9. Well You Know I Know 10. Walk On By 11. Walkin' 12. MonaKana
OK, this one above kind of sucks at the end, but whatever.
Landlocked is pretty much the standard version. (Yes, Andrew, I know there was no Landlocked for reals.)
Surf's Up alternative:
1. 4th of July 2. Student Demonstration Time 3. Long Promised Road 4. Disney Girls 6. Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again
7. Sound of Free 8. Feel Flows 9. Lookin' at Tomorrow 10. A Day In the Life Of A Tree 11. 'Til I Die
Carl and the Passions, etc:
1. You Need a Mess... 2. Here She Comes 3. It's a New Day 4. He Come Down 5. Marcella
6.Hold On Dear Brother 7. Won't You Tell Me? 8. Make It Good 9. All This Is That 10. Cuddle Up
Holland: 1. Sail On Sailor 2. Steamboat 3. The Trader 4. WE Got Love
5-7. California Saga 8. Carry Me Home
9. Hard Times 10.Leaving This Town 11. Only With YOu 12. Funky Pretty
(side 4: Mt. Vernon & Fairway)
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Post by sebevedomy on Apr 2, 2019 9:22:30 GMT
Good Timin'/15 Big Ones
1. Good Timin'. 2. Don't You Just Know It (BW and Dean Torrence) 3. Barnyard Blues 4. It's OK 5. Had to Phone Ya 6. Why Do Fools Fall In Love (that non-Beach Boys version, I know, I know, but otherwise I have to go with "Battle Hymn of the Republic")
7. TM Song 8. Everyone's In Love With You 9.That Same Song 10. Short Skirts 11. My Love Lives On 12. Back Home
13. Rock And Roll Music 14. Come Go With Me 15. Runnin' Bear 16. Peggy Sue 17. Sea Cruise 18. Chapel of Love 19. Talk To me/Talahassee Lassie 20. In the Back of My Mind (demo)
20. Shake Rattle and Roll 21. Palisades Park 22. Mony Mony 23. A Casual Look 24. Blue Berry Hill 25. In the Still Of the Night 26. Just Once In My Life
Adult/Child
1. (New England Waltz)-Life is For the Living 2. Marilyn rovell 3. Deep Purple 4. Ruby Baby 5. Hey Little Tomboy (MIU version) 6. Sherry She Needs Me 7. It's Over Now
8. Everybody Wants to Live 9. My Diane 10.. Shortenin' Bread 11. Lines 12. You've Lost That Loving Feeling 13.It's Tryin' to Say 14. Still I Dream Of It
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 2, 2019 13:06:58 GMT
Piggybacking on Kapitan's Jack Rieley era playlist, I came up with a more specific Jack Rieley compilation - songs that include Jack Rieley's lyrics. Regardless of what you think of Rieley's lyrics, the music and songs that came out of this era were very creative and...different. To many Beach Boys' diehards, this period (1970-1973) is a favorite. I posted this comp months ago on another forum, but I can't remember the exact sequence. So upon further review, I'll go with this:
The Beach Boys - The House That Jack Built
01 Feel Flows 02 4th Of July 03 Marcella 04 Funky Pretty 05 Sail On Sailor 06 Steamboat 07 The Trader 08 Long Promised Road 09 You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone 10 A Day In The Life Of A Tree
Mount Vernon And Fairway (A Fairy Tale) 11 Mount Vernon And Fairway - Theme 12 I'm The Pied Piper - Instrumental 13 Better Get Back In Bed 14 Magic Transistor Radio 15 I'm The Pied Piper 16 Radio King Dom
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 6, 2019 0:52:08 GMT
OK, this one is inspired by kds's suggestion to combine the best of the Still Cruisin' and Summer In Paradise albums along with a couple of loose ends from that period.
Where do you start? Well, I first decided to stick to a particular sound, in this case the Terry Melcher production sound, to make it a more cohesive sounding comp. That pretty much eliminated "Chasin' The Sky", which wasn't written by a Beach Boy or produced by Terry Melcher. I also discarded "Happy Endings", which WAS produced by Terry Melcher, but is such a terrible song that I didn't include it.
I chose "Rock And Roll To The Rescue" as a starting point; it's a decent song, a bit of a rarity, and it contains a much needed Brian Wilson vocal. "California Dreamin'" is a welcome addition, a nice cover, and one of Melcher's better productions. So, if you own the Made In U.S.A. CD, dig it out!
Moving on to the Still Cruisin' album, I omitted all of the oldies of course, and included every new song for this comp. While all of these new songs aren't exactly classics, they're all decent, respectable tracks. The Summer In Paradise album presented a more difficult challenge. First, I deleted every oldie except "Hot Fun In The Summertime". They just aren't strong enough recordings, although "Remember Walking In The Sand" almost made the cut. I also scrapped "Summer Of Love", "Surfin'", and "Island Fever" (because I already had "Island Girl" and "Kokomo"). I don't think there are any objections there.
Frankly, I didn't know what to do with "Problem Child", so I left it out. I do kinda like parts of it, though. I had a tough decision to make about "Crocodile Rock". I like the song but it wasn't produced by Terry Melcher, and I just didn't think it fit. I considered it after "Rock And Roll To The Rescue" as the rock show, or after "California Dreamin'" as a reminiscing song. What do you think? Should I include it?
The sequencing went fairly easily. The hardest song to sequence was "Hot Fun In The Summertime". The lyrics "end of the spring and here she comes back" can throw you. You could use it at the beginning of the comp as a summer STARTING song ("and we're out of school"). But if you put emphasis on the lyrics "here she comes back", it could easily be used as a reuniting song after a breakup. I almost put it after "California Dreamin'" as the girl coming back. "Rock And Roll To The Rescue" was another tough one to sequence. None of the songs led to needing "a rescue". Again, possibly after "California Dreamin", we're back in California at a rock & roll show, and it does have a retrospective lyric. I chose to use it earlier than later, mostly swayed by "I saw some surfer girls in West L.A.". We were still in the partying phase before we "went away".
The Beach Boys - Strange Things Happen (1986-1992)
01 Still Cruisin' 02 In My Car 03 Wipe Out 04 Hot Fun In The Summertime
05 Still Surfin' 06 Rock And Roll To The Rescue 07 Slow Summer Dancin' (One Summer Night) 08 Kokomo 09 Island Girl 10 Strange Things Happen 11 Under The Boardwalk
12 Lahaina Aloha 13 Forever 14 Make It Big 15 Somewhere Near Japan 16 California Dreamin' 17 Summer In Paradise
Does anybody still burn CDs? I guess most of you put the songs on your phone. Well, I think this is a good, fun, and interesting comp from a relatively strange time in The Beach Boys' career. I think all of these songs have some merit and deserve to be heard. Most of them weren't. This comp clocks in at 1:04 - a solid hour of later period Beach Boys' music. It features all five surviving Beach Boys on lead vocals, along with a guest vocalist for the one they lost. I'm interested in your feedback. Is this something you would enjoy just sitting and listening to? In your car? Any songs you would've included that I didn't? Any you would've skipped over? Thank you.
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Post by sebevedomy on Apr 6, 2019 16:50:22 GMT
I make playlists on my iPod. I tend to go for 30-45 minutes personally, much longer than that and I get bored. The nineties trend of really long CDs was one of the worst things to happen to music.
With this stuff I combine mid-80s stuff with Beach Boys 85, and put Still Cruisin'/Summer in paradise songs separately. Together there's a...well better album than either.
There's a good argument for a Melcher playlist: I also do playlists according to songwriter partner like you all did with Rieley.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Apr 6, 2019 17:41:15 GMT
I make playlists on my iPod. I tend to go for 30-45 minutes personally, much longer than that and I get bored. The nineties trend of really long CDs was one of the worst things to happen to music. With this stuff I combine mid-80s stuff with Beach Boys 85, and put Still Cruisin'/Summer in paradise songs separately. Together there's a...well better album than either. There's a good argument for a Melcher playlist: I also do playlists according to songwriter partner like you all did with Rieley. I'm kinda split. I do like to make 30-45 minute alternate albums just for the sake of improving them (in my opinion, of course) and to change things up. Many of the albums I choose are ones that Ive been listening to for decades, so sometimes there's also a boredom factor that I'm addressing. But I am admittedly obsessed with the sequencing of albums. I feel it's an important element in the enjoyment of an album, and one that has not been taken seriously enough. I'm convinced that most if not all the great bands of the 1960's and 1970's did not devote enough time to that aspect of their albums. I also recognize that the record companies had their say in the way things would come out, too.
I also am consistently making CDs for the car and for friends, relatives, and co-workers. So, most of the time I will utilize the full 80 minutes of a blank CD. I consider these comps as little works of art , better than a record company could ever do, and I take them very seriously, probably too seriously. I'm always trying to give the person, sometimes me, a fulfilling and occasionally mind-blowing listening experience. Most of the time I'm trying to "open someone's eyes/ears and trying to convert them. It's fun!
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Post by sebevedomy on Apr 6, 2019 17:44:10 GMT
MIU 1. She's Got Rhythm 2. Almost Summer 3. Sad, Sad Summer 4. Won'tcha Come Out Tonight? 5. School Girl 6. Cruisin' 7. Time For Bed 8. Sweet Sunday Kinda Love 9. Our Team 10. Pitter Patter 11. Matchpoint Of Our Love 12. Tug Of Love..
LA Light Album 1. Brian's Back 2. Constant Companion 3. Lady Lynda 4. Full Sail 5. Sumahama 6. Love Surrounds Me
7.Angel Come Home 8. Baby Blue 9. California Feeling 10. Lookin at the Coast 11. Santa Ana Winds 12. Goin' South 13.Mexico
Keepin' The Summer Alive:
1.It's a Beautiful Day 2. Sunshine 3. How's About a Little Bit
4. Goin' to the Beach 5. Oh, Darlin' 6. Keepin' The Summer Alive
7.Some of Your Love 8. I Write the Songs 9. Here Comes the Night 10. Pipeline
Endless Harmony: 1. Endless Harmony 2. Livin' With a Heartache 3. It's Not Too Late 4. Why Don't They Let Us Fall In Love 5. Be My Baby 6. Are You Real
7. Cocktails 8. Stevie 9. She's Just Out To Get You 10. Common 11. Da Doo Ron Ron 12. Im Beggin' You Please 13. All Alone 14. Country Pie Some of this is almost comically incompatible, but the idea was that this was a band in a state of dissolution.
Holy Man 1. Hold Me 2. Bright Lights 3. Love Remember Me 4. What You Gonna Do About Me? 5. Album Tag Song
6. I Love you 7. Hurry Love 8. Heaven 9. Seems So Long Ago 10. Holy Man
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