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Post by Kapitan on Mar 23, 2023 14:57:10 GMT
OK, the thread title is stupid. But hey, I'm sick of lingering winter, I'm sick of waiting for new BBs related content, I'm sick of work (OK, that's really unrelated), so humor me: I didn't want to think of an actually correct "math equation" version of this idea.
But my point is this. We've talked a lot about how various albums might have been better, in our own opinions. And yes, I know some people find that a waste of time. If you're one of those, feel free to sit this out. It's hypothetical, blah blah, of course. But it's a game. It's intended to pass the time or to listen to music again, maybe in new ways.
What Beach Boys album do you think could have been the most improved (or I suppose a new one created) by the incorporation of Beach Boys' solo material from that same year or so? Much like during the Feel Flows box set's release, we were thinking about the best possible Sunflowers or Surf's Ups using unreleased material, the idea here is to expand it primarily using released solo material--though unreleased solo or band material from the same year(s) is also fair game.
Unfortunately most of the solo albums were released after the band's real life as a recording entity were over. You could say those were:
Going Public (Bruce Johnston, 1977) Pacific Ocean Blue (Dennis Wilson, 1977) Carl Wilson (Carl Wilson, 1981) Looking Back With Love (Mike Love, 1981) Youngblood (Carl Wilson, 1983) Brian Wilson (Brian Wilson, 1988)
But there is a plethora of unreleased (but largely completed or even fully completed) solo material that still fits into that era: Bambu, Country Love, First Love, Sweet Insanity. Dennis's early '70s intended solo material. Or there are the arguably "close enough" things like Celebration's music. There are the Flame's Brother material, or Blondie Chaplin's '77 self-titled album.
And there are even later moments along the way, though they tend to lack actual Beach Boys albums into which to blend the solo material. Brian of course has had plenty of releases from the late '90s onward; Mike has had several; Al has had one repeatedly rereleased album; Blondie has another one; David Marks has some; etc.
Feel free to play around with it to make the best possible album. My only real "requirement" (to use the term loosely) is to keep it relatively contemporaneous, not full of much-older material; and to use relatively or fully complete material, not the sort of material that is so unfinished that you can imagine it to be perfect in some mythically completed state.
In case this has all just been confusing and convoluted, the point is this: Imagine in 1977 instead of Love You, the Beach Boys release an album comprising the best material from Love You, Going Public, Blondie Chaplin, and Pacific Ocean Blue. What's the track list? That's the point of it all. Do that, but with whatever year/albums you want.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 23, 2023 19:27:33 GMT
The Beach Boys' album I am choosing to improve is 15 Big Ones, but I really have to take you up on your invitation to "play around with it to make it the best possible album". I incorporated solo tracks from a few Beach Boys instead of just one solo album. However, the origin or genesis of the songs used are from the same period, and the overall album sounds like it's assembled from the same - or close - time frame. The Beach Boys recorded together at Caribou Ranch in 1974, but after that and up until the 15 Big Ones' sessions in 1976, the guys were back to writing (and somewhat recording) their own songs much like they did in the early 1970s. If all of The Beach Boys - especially Dennis - would've had their (solo) songs represented on 15 Big Ones, and several of the oldies deleted, the album might've sounded something like this:
The Beach Boys - California Feelin' (1976)
Side 1 1. Back Home 2. Had To Phone Ya 3. It's OK 4. Susie Cincinnati 5. Palisades Park 6. Rock And Roll Music 7. Everyone's In Love With You
Side 2 1. California Feelin' 2. River Song
3. Pacific Ocean Blues 4. Don't Fight The Sea
5. My Love Lives On 6. That Same Song 7. Good Timin'
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Post by lonelysummer on Mar 25, 2023 2:12:51 GMT
The 1988 Album - this one is easy.
Love and Mercy Walkin' the Line Melt Away Baby Let Your Hair Grow Long Little Children One for the Boys There's So Many
Kokomo Let it Shine Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight Rio Grande
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 25, 2023 13:13:25 GMT
I'd like to borrow lonelysummer's idea. I was eventually going to get around to it.
In 1988, the stars were aligning for Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys...again. This was nothing new, and unfortunately, in the past, things didn't exactly turn out as planned or as hoped. In late 1966, Brian was coming off Pets Sounds and "Good Vibrations". The sky was the limit. We got Smiley Smile. In 1975, the band was riding a wave of popularity with the success of the compilations, Endless Summer and Spirit Of America. Both Beach Boys' fans and music fans were looking forward to a new Beach Boys' album. We got 15 Big Ones. Now it's 1988, and Brian Wilson is...back again. He looked great, had a bunch of new songs to record, and had a record company to release them. And The Beach Boys? Oh, they had a #1 single, were still touring constantly, and were recently inducted into The Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame. It was that time again, time for a new album to capitalize on the success of "Kokomo". Would this be deja vu all over again? Simply, yes, it was. Just like Smiley Smile and 15 Big Ones before it, Still Cruisin' sold. But also like those previous albums, there would be consequences. We all know what happened. While Still Cruisin' was a commercial success (mostly riding "Kokomo"'s coattails), it was a disappointment. And it was felt by many, especially Beach Boys' fans, that it was another missed opportunity.
But, what if Brian Wilson - and his Landy team - would've somehow agreed to record Brian's new batch of songs with The Beach Boys? Around that time, Brian was associating with some quality music people including Seymour Stein, Russ Titelman, Lenny Waronker, Lindsey Buckingham, Jeff Lynne, and Andy Paley. And The Beach Boys? They were being produced by Terry Melcher. What's wrong with this picture? A lot. If only both sides - and that's what it had become, sides - could've gotten together and pooled their resources, something special might've happened, surely a strong(er) Beach Boys' album.
What I am presenting below is a combination of Brian's 1987-88 songs and The Beach Boys' songs from roughly the same period. Use your imagination and insert the Beach Boys' voices into Brian's solo songs. Use Mike, Carl, and Al as lead vocalists on some of the tracks, and change the background vocals/harmonies from Stack O' Brians to the timeless Beach Boys' blend. It seems so simple, a no-brainer even. But, as usual, things were crazy in The Beach Boys' world and even moreso in Brian Wilson's life in 1988. Frustrating. Oh, well, I guess we can dream...
The Beach Boys - Still Cruisin' (1988 or 1989)
Side 1 1. One For The Boys 2. Still Cruisin' 3. In My Car 4. Melt Away 5. Walkin' The Line 6. Kokomo
Side 2 1. Love And Mercy 2. Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight 3. There's So Many 4. California Dreamin' 5. Somewhere Near Japan 6. Let It Shine
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 25, 2023 14:13:36 GMT
Liking the albums, here. And I'm going to do (at least) one, myself, sooner or later. But as I hinted earlier, this thread idea is actually going to send me off on a tangent. That's coming first, almost certainly today.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 25, 2023 16:55:42 GMT
In all honesty, this post belongs in the more general "create your own album/playlist" thread, but since this is the one that's newer and active, and it's the one that got me thinking, it's going here.
As I said in the "Questions, Questions, Questions" thread, when investigating the potential for an improvement on 1977's Love You (knowing there was plenty of solo material from that year), I couldn't help but think Blondie Chaplin and Dennis Wilson really complemented one another musically. However, I was struggling to shoehorn that material into Love You: they're just too different in production values. However, there were a few things from Adult/Child that made sense to greater or lesser degrees. "Lines," "It's Over Now," and "Still I Dream Of It" each made my cut.
What's more, Ron Altbach's and Ed Tujela's "Go And Get That Girl," recorded in late '77 with a Carl Wilson lead vocal, made sense. So did Carl's co-write with Ricci Martin on "Everybody Knows My Name." While Carl and Dennis both performed on Martin's release (including in prominent background vocals), sadly it only includes Martin's lead vocal--even though you can easily imagine Carl singing it.
But what about Al and Mike? Believe me, I put some thought into this. But in the end, this album more or less assumes the band actually did split into its lifestyle factions, and sadly there is neither Mike nor Al. (Mike is represented on his POB cowrites.) It's a Beach Boys built around Blondie, Carl, and Dennis, with Brian in his typical half-in/half-out role, and with instrumental tracks fleshed out by the typical universe of Beach Boys associates and sidemen.
The Beach Boys, Pacific Ocean Blue (Dec. 1977)
Side One (22 minutes) 1. River Song (D. Wilson/C. Wilson, lead vocal D. Wilson) 2. Be My Love (B. Chaplin) 3. Everybody Knows My Name (C. Wilson/R. Martin, imaginary lead vocal C. Wilson) 4. Time (D. Wilson/K. Lamm-Wilson, lead vocal D. Wilson) 5. Lines (B. Wilson, lead vocal B. Wilson and C. Wilson) 6. Pacific Ocean Blues (D. Wilson/M. Love, led vocal by D. Wilson) 7. Gimme More Rock 'n' Roll (B. Chaplin)
Side Two (20 minutes) 8. Go and Get That Girl (R. Altbach/E. Tujela, lead vocal by C. Wilson) 9. Rainbows (D. Wilson/C. Wilson/S. Kalinich, lead vocal by D. Wilson) 10. Bye Bye Babe (B. Chaplin) 11. It's Over Now (B. Wilson, lead vocal by C. Wilson, B. Wilson, and M. Wilson) 12. For Your Love (B. Chaplin) 13. What's Wrong (D. Wilson/G. Jakobson/M. Horn, lead vocal by D. Wilson) 14. Still I Dream of It (B. Wilson)
I couldn't quite make a Spotify playlist, as Spotify doesn't have the GV box version of "Still I Dream of It" or the unreleased "Go and Get That Girl." It doesn't have the original "Lines," either, though I subbed in the passable Duglas T. Stewart version from Caroline Now. All in all, I think this album rocks, and it's good in a way that is quite apart from either the quirky synth-driven Brian Wilson or the retro Love/Jardine Beach Boys music of the era. It's almost more a continuation of the Holland era, though less progressive and more rock and roll.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 25, 2023 22:45:01 GMT
But what about Al and Mike? Believe me, I put some thought into this. But in the end, this album more or less assumes the band actually did split into its lifestyle factions, and sadly there is neither Mike nor Al. (Mike is represented on his POB cowrites.) It's a Beach Boys built around Blondie, Carl, and Dennis, with Brian in his typical half-in/half-out role, and with instrumental tracks fleshed out by the typical universe of Beach Boys associates and sidemen. What's interesting about this premise is that, as we know, the two key songwriters of this configuration - Dennis and Brian - were pretty much done after this. Dennis was wasted and Brian slowly but surely declined until Dr. Landy came back into the picture...and Brian was never really a full-time member of The Beach Boys again. So, this probably would've been a once-and-done lineup, albeit an interesting one. It's fun to speculate - that's what we do - but I have to think Mike and Al's expulsion would've been a temporary one, maybe for another year or two. Say what you will about Mike and Al, but they provided something that Brian and Dennis no longer or never really could - you could always depend on them (Mike and Al) to be there.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 25, 2023 23:01:12 GMT
To be sure, this is a hypothetical 1977 album, not a business plan for going forward.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 25, 2023 23:01:47 GMT
To be sure, this is a hypothetical 1977 album, not a business plan for going forward. Got it.
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 29, 2023 14:36:07 GMT
I am finally getting down to my attempt to improve L.A. (Light Album) by using solo material--with Dennis's Bambu the obvious source for the bulk of the improvements. There are two sore thumbs in particular that I think a lot of people would consider lopping off: "Here Comes the Night" and "Shortenin' Bread." That is more or less where I began. But I haven't finished yet, and I will tell you my problems. First, most of the material on the actual album and from which to draw replacements is mid-to downtempo, too. Second, LA was already pretty Dennis-and-Carl heavy, so adding a handful more mostly Dennis songs makes it unrealistic, to say the least. (While Brian may well have been happy to sit back and see Dennis own half an album, it's hard to imagine Mike, in particular, being thrilled.) It doesn't help that of the other tunes, Mike's "Sumahama" (hey Sheriff John Stone, I spelled it right on the first try! ) is the one I would most like to cut of those remaining... That said, I'm just trying to make an album I prefer to the original. I don't have to sell it to the label or the band members. So we'll see how it turns out...
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 29, 2023 16:57:28 GMT
OK, done. I still don't love this album--there's only so much you can do--but I think it beats the original. Songs not from the released LA have their sources indicated.
The Beach Boys, L.A. (Under the Moonlight) (1979)
Side One (22 minutes) 1. Good Timin 2. Under the Moonlight (Bambu sessions) 3. Lady Lynda 4. Sumahama 5. Baby Blue 6. Angel Come Home
Side Two (23 minutes) 7. Constant Companion (Bambu sessions) 8. Goin' South 9. Santa Ana Winds (LA sessions, later released in different version on KTSA) 10. Full Sail 11. All Alone (Bambu sessions) 12. Love Surrounds Me 13. California Feelin' (LA sessions, later released on Made in California)
You can hear something like it on this Spotify playlist. I had to use the KTSA "Santa Ana Winds" both because it's higher quality sound, but also because the unreleased version obviously isn't on Spotify. You better believe I'd have excised that spoken intro, though!)
And yes, I suspect Dr. Love would be very, very upset that Carli Munoz had 3x the songwriting credits he did, to say nothing of Dennis's prominence. But Love just didn't have a lot at the time, and most of what he had wasn't very good or didn't fit well into this more grown-up album. I would consider a couple things from the 1979 Celebration album--"She's Just Out to Get You" and especially (since there is a Beach Boys version) "How's About a Little Bit"--but without high quality versions of them either in my iTunes or on Spotify, I skipped them. In fact, I'd probably include both and omit "Sumahama" if I had good versions.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 30, 2023 17:46:53 GMT
The Kapitan tried it above - combining L.A. (Light Album) with Bambu - and I gave it a lot of thought, too. I just couldn't pull it off to my satisfaction. Too much Dennis, and a Dennis that was leaking some serious oil. I feel the weakest parts of L.A. (Light Album), other than the too long "Here Comes The Night" and the totally out-of-place "Shortenin' Bread", are the boring Carl Wilson songs and the raspy Dennis Wilson vocals. For this exercise, I'm going to keep most of them, however, I'm not going to add to them! More Mike Love is needed, and along with Mike usually comes some much needed energy. So, my goal was to turn L.A. (Light Album) from a snoozefest into a funner (yes, sorry), real Beach Boys' album that most fans - and the record company - could appreciate. Again, I'm going to tweak Kapitan's thread rules a little bit. He mentioned the 1979 Celebration album (not exactly a solo album) above, and that's exactly where I'm headed. There I'll find Mike Love, fun, girls...and some life! I'll also find Ron Altbach there. Yes, the group should've taken more advantage of his talents while he was affiliated with the band. L.A. (Light Album) has "Lady Lynda", but Celebration is full of his songs and arrangements. But before I do that, there's just a few tweaks to L.A. (Light Album). First, I'm keeping "Here Comes The Night", but I'm using the much shorter single version. Second, I'm giving the disastrous choice and inferior version of "Shortenin' Bread" the boot. The third tweak is a controversial one. I think L.A. (Light Album) is mired in too many slow songs, and I'm going to eliminate one. I'm sorry but "Goin' South" is also being deleted. There's enough other Carl Wilson lead vocals on the album to compensate. So, after some strategic sequencing, here's what I came up with:
The Beach Boys - Good Timin' (1979)
Side 1 1. Good Timin' 2. She's Just Out To Get You 3. How's About A Little Bit 4. Full Sail 5. Sumahama 6. Love Surrounds Me
Side 2 1. Here Comes The Night 2. Baby Blue 3. Angel Come Home 4. Go And Get That Girl 5. Lady Lynda 6. Country Pie
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 30, 2023 17:53:41 GMT
I definitely gave that angle some thought, too. As I said, part of my issue there was just not having good copies of those Celebration songs, and I really like actually making my playlists so I can get a feel for them.
But the other part was how disjointed I thought it would feel. Yes, some more upbeat stuff would REALLY help LA (both the real one and my version). But these Love songs just feel so bizarre alongside "Love Surrounds Me" and "Baby Blue" and the like. I don't need concept albums or any strict unity, but I do think a certain kind of unity--maybe of production values, even--helps an album make sense. (I still don't much like 20/20 as an album for that reason, even though I like a lot of the material on it.)
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Mar 30, 2023 18:13:04 GMT
I definitely gave that angle some thought, too. As I said, part of my issue there was just not having good copies of those Celebration songs, and I really like actually making my playlists so I can get a feel for them. But the other part was how disjointed I thought it would feel. Yes, some more upbeat stuff would REALLY help LA (both the real one and my version). But these Love songs just feel so bizarre alongside "Love Surrounds Me" and "Baby Blue" and the like. I don't need concept albums or any strict unity, but I do think a certain kind of unity--maybe of production values, even--helps an album make sense. (I still don't much like 20/20 as an album for that reason, even though I like a lot of the material on it.) For me, L.A. (Light Album) ranks as one of, if not the most disappointing Beach Boys' album. With a new record contract and Brian singing (and IMO writing) so well on the M.I.U. Album and the single "Good Timin'"...I was expecting big things. As it turned out - no Brian (I didn't know he was ill for most of the sessions), little Mike and Al, and soooooo boring. It was huge mistake by the band, and to think James Guercio was involved.
Yeah, I shoehorned Mike in there. It was finally my chance to correct some wrongs. For anyone interested, here's the full Celebration album from YouTube:
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Post by Kapitan on Mar 30, 2023 18:22:09 GMT
I wish Celebration were on Spotify or even available on iTunes for purchase. I don't necessarily want to own it all, but I would like to own, or at least be able to use in Spotify playlists, a few of the tracks (for purposes like these).
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