The Beach Boys: The Capitol Years, Part Two
From The Smile Shop
Contents |
The Beach Boys: The Capitol Years (Part Two)
By Peter Reum
Changes
Side One
Then I Kissed Her
Kiss Me Baby
Let Him Run Wild
Amusement Parks USA
I'm So Young
Girl Don't Tell Me
Salt Lake City
The Girl From New York City
Sloop John B
1965 was a year of commercial and artistic success for the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson spent his first year off the road, and showed his instincts were correct in his decision to stop touring. The bevy of outstanding records he released in 1965 is perhaps only equaled by 1966, which in sheer numbers of records was not as active a year.
Then I Kissed Her was actually released in the UK in 1967 as a single by an impatient Capitol Records waiting for a new Beach Boy single. Recorded in 1965, it is yet another Beach Boy cover of a Phil Spector produced record. It appeared on 1965's Summer Days album, and was never really intended as a single release. It does not have the depth of Spector's original, yet it does have an energetic aura of its own, and another fine lead vocal by Alan Jardine.
Kiss Me Baby was the "B" side of Help Me Rhonda, and appeared on Today's slow side. It is arranged with lovely counterpoint vocals, saying "kiss a little bit, fight a little bit", with Mike's bass vocal particularly effective. Thematically it fits in with the rest of Today's romantic orientation, and it is a close cousin with Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder) from Pet Sounds.
Let Him Run Wild with its cyclical structure is a fascinating example of Brian's ability to use instruments which one wouldn't expect to hear on a rock record. The song has a big band arrangement with saxes blaring and a pretty contrast between lead and back up vocals. It is the song Dennis Wilson considered to be their first artistic leap forward, and even sounds fresh today. The tracks on these 1965 records were becoming more sophisticated and when one stops to consider that songs like Let Him Run Wild were recorded on three and four track tape recorders, Brian's achievements grow all the more impressive. Brian wrote this song to chastise his father for having an affair. His anger may be heard in the lyrics, and this may be why Brian is not that fond of the song.
Amusement Parks USA is a potpourri of production effects and noises, along with a fast paced "Heroes and Villains" type of vocal arrangement. Reminiscent of Little Egypt, one of its funnier moments is a pun Brian slipped into the mix. As the instruments come up, Hal Blaine, the carnival barker, describes Stella the Snake Dancer as "walking, talking, and having the biggest asp in town." An "A" side in Japan, it went to number two, and should have been a single in the rest of the world.
I'm So Young is another song the Beach Boys covered and made their own, inspired to cut it after hearing a Ronette's version in 1963. Brian gave it the full treatment, and one wouldn't know it's not a Beach Boy original. His obsession with Phil Spector led Brian to a series of records, which established his reputation as a producer, and Spector has always been gracious regarding Brian's use of his techniques.
Brian's intricate instrumental arrangements have often been underplayed because of his unmatched vocal innovations in rock. In the end, all of his musical abilities should be regarded as groundbreaking. Another facet of his musicianship often ignored is his ability to integrate musical styles from widely varied origins into his own style in seemingly effortless fashion, of which Girl Don't Tell Me is an excellent example. A song that combines Beatles' phrasing and instrumentation and Beach Boy arrangement, the record's lyrics have John Lennon's cynical approach to girls in them. Not quite Norwegian Wood, it is nevertheless an interesting experiment in itself and people hearing it don't often recognize it as a Beach Boy song.
Salt Lake City is one of the 1968 Stack-o-Tracks collection, which featured a number of Brian's instrumental backing tracks without the familiar vocals. Oddly, it was karaoke before its time. One was supposed to sing along with the record, and it even had a songbook to learn to strum guitar with while singing. The song reflects some positive experiences the group enjoyed when playing the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, and the concert they played is still legendary among the city's residents. Unfortunately, the Lagoon immortalized in the song was razed by fire in 1969.
The Girl From New York City has a sailing Brian Wilson high vocal that is sufficient qualification for it to be included in this set. Rumor has it the long is about Lesley Gore, who hailed from The Big Apple at that time. Her eyes certainly are distinctive, so perhaps this rumor is based on fact. Also on Summer Days, the song is an all out rocker, as is the entire first side of Summer Days.
Sloop John B was a concession to Alan Jardine's desire to cut a folk song. Rather than be topical, the group chose to be tropical, selecting an old Bahamian Carl Sandburg/Kingston Trio chestnut (Al is a huge Kingston Trio fan). The song was released as a single almost concurrently with Caroline, No. Both tracks later surfaced on Pet Sounds, although the inclusion of Sloop John B is believed to have been against Brian's wishes. The track is unusual in its use of a bass guitar as the lead guitar carrying the melody, something rarely done in rock, until Pet Sounds. Its dense production is close to Pet Sounds in its coloring, and close attention to Glen Campbell's Rhinestone Cowboy will reveal a similarity in arrangement. Campbell's love for Brian's music is well known, demonstrated by the fact that he has covered and performed live several Beach Boy songs over the years, and is always a big booster of their music in interviews.
Side Two
Here Today
Caroline, No
I'm Waiting For the Day
You Still Believe In Me
I Know There's An Answer
Wouldn't It Be Nice
God Only Knows
I Just Wasn't Made For These Times
Pet Sounds has been praised for its groundbreaking qualities by literally hundreds of writers and musicians. Brian Wilson has called it "my first solo album, a chance to step outside the group and shine." It is very much an album to sit down and absorb. Each listening will reveal new facets, much like repeated readings of a favorite book. It was not teenage good time music, however, and it songs bared a kaleidoscope of emotions which a typical adolescent would rather not think about. The album's lyrics, arranged in a song cycle, follow a love affair from its exuberant beginnings to a shattered finish. The arrangements of the album's songs are orchestral, though in a rock sense. A variety of instruments appear in contexts to accentuate shades of feeling that are never overbearing, but are often turbulent. Two instrumentals are showcased on the album. Brian pulled out all stops to emphasize the tranquility of love in bloom in Let's Go Away For Awhile. And the razoredge of an affair ending in Pet Sounds.
Side Two of Changes highlights some of Pet Sounds' songs and the abrupt contrast to what you have heard on previous albums of this set is not as great as it might appear. Thematically, Pet Sounds could be called a mature step forward from the Today! Album, and musically, several Beach Boy songs from earlier periods foreshadowed the lush arrangements of Pet Sounds. Perhaps one way to put Pet Sounds in perspective is to say that it is the first album the Beach Boys recorded as an album. That could be considered a step forward.
Plagued by consistent resistance from several directions, Brian's thoughts on popularity and its fickle nature can be pointed out in two songs from Pet Sounds: Here Today and I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. Musically, they pit ascending vocals against descending instrumental tracks, the theramin heard soaring in I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is probably the first use of an electronic instrument on a rock record. Brian has often stated that I Just Wasn't Made For These Times is one of his most autobiographical songs. Here Today's almost bitter lyrics serve as the souring of the love affair in the Pet Sounds song cycle. The song's warning of troubled times ahead seems almost prophetic concerning the Beach Boys' career. A careful listening reveals Brian shouting directions to studio musicians during organ and rhythm guitar solos. These may have been left in deliberately as instruments in themselves. I Just Wasn't Made For These Times foreshadows the immense vacuum left when Brian's Smile era friends had all departed after showering him with attention for months. Brian's yearning for artistic fulfillment was to burst into full bloom in the Pet Sounds-Smile era, only to cave in on him, much like the collapse of the protagonist's love affair in Caroline, No-leaving him devastated.
Caroline, No is Brian's finest moment as a composer of love songs. Its mood is established by a reverberating polystyrene water jug by Hal Blaine beat on, to which Brian added echo. The consistent beat sounds like an exploding heartbeat, and Brian's pained vocal over it is wrenching. The version appearing on Changes is the original single version, which Brian released under his own name in March of 1966.
I'm Waiting For The Day was actually first recorded in 1964, but was set aside for a year and a half, finally finding its way to Pet Sounds. Along with You Still Believe In Me, it is part of what could be called the optimistic side of Pet Sounds. A rocker, I'm Waiting For the Day's lyrics were written by Mike Love, and are among his finest. The song runs very closely in theme to Wouldn't It Be Nice, looking to a brighter day in a relationship, and its daydreaming quality runs throughout the positive side of Pet Sounds. The oboe that follows the intricate lead vocals is both delicate and loving, as would express the song's feelings without vocals.
You Still Believe In Me is a beautiful song expressing apologetic affection to a girl who has apparently endured great indiscretions because of her boyfriend's riving eye. Perhaps Brian was expressing himself to Marilyn for some perceived slight, or maybe it is simply the evergreen gesture that men make to their unhappy but loving women. The gorgeous introduction was recorded by having Tony Asher pluck strings inside the piano one by one by hand repeatedly until the correct pattern was captured on tape.
Hang On To Your Ego was I Know There's An Answer's original title, discarded after immense resistance from Mike Love, who did not like the lyrics. Brian's answer to that resistance can be heard in the lyrics to I Know There's An Answer. The song is co-written by Brian and Terry Sachen, a one-time road manager for the group, and is one of the few on Pet Sounds whose lyrics are not by Tony Asher.
Asher's lyrical abilities were untested prior to Pet Sounds as he was an advertising agency writer by trade. He took a leave of absence to write lyrics with Brian, with a view to his helping to create more mature lyrical themes on Beach Boy records, as Brian has always felt his own lyrics were not sufficiently sophisticated for the music he composes. Asher's finest hour as a lyricist on Pet Sounds comes on the great Wouldn't It Be Nice/God Only Knows single. These tracks are presented on Changes back to back to spotlight what is probably one of the best rock singles ever released.
Wouldn't It Be Nice was the "A" side in America, and God Only Knows was the "A" side in the UK. Both went top ten in their respective countries. God Only Knows rivals Caroline, No for its poignancy and simple expressions of emotion. Its circular ending is one of the most beautiful moments on a Beach Boy record, and Carl delivers one of his greatest vocal performances. Paul McCartney called it "the best song ever written" and that remark, along with an accolade concerning Surfs Up by Leonard Bernstein went a long way towards fortifying Brian's self-deprecatory nature. Wouldn't It Be Nice has been covered by several artists, and its uptempo, innocent desire for security served as an excellent foil when it was used in Warren Beatty's Shampoo, a tale of a Hollywood bon vivant, who upon finally deciding to settle down, can't seem to work out the logistics.
Pet Sounds' commercial potential was crippled by several misunderstandings between many parties concerned with the record. It was nonetheless one of the top ten selling rock albums of 1966 in America, and was a runaway best seller in the UK, contrary to published accounts that say the record flopped. Its sales were not on the level of the hugely successful Summer Days or Party albums, al least initially. Brian had hoped for a blockbuster in terms of sales after all the work he had put into Pet Sounds. In 1966, this was not to be, but Brian was to be vindicated, at least temporarily by Good Vibrations, which in 1966 became the Beach Boys' first gold single. (They already had had several gold albums under their belt.) Good Vibrations and Smile, the album on which it was originally scheduled to appear, remain a period of mystery, tragedy, and unfulfilled promise for the Beach Boys.
Timeless
Side One
Good Vibrations
Wind Chimes
Cabinessence
Vegetables
Wonderful
Our Prayer
Heroes and Villains
Good Vibrations is a song which Brian Wilson called "The biggest production of our lives." Musically the song is like most of Brian's songs-deceptively simple, uncomplicated, and melodically catchy. The production is what makes it special. Unusual vocal arrangements and strange instrumentation give parts of the record an ethereal quality. A single rhythmic cello playing triplets provides the base for the rest of the record's instruments. The high pitched wailing siren is a theramin, another innovative use of electronics very early in rock. The breathy lead vocal by Carl is complimented by cascading waterfalls of harmony. Six months in the making, recorded in three different studios, Brian had now fully assimilated Spector's influence and had given it the spaciousness which Spector's records did not have. One still got the feeling of a grandiose sound, as on Spector's records, but there was more-perhaps the feeling one gets upon walking into an immense cathedral.
A number one hit on both sides of the Atlantic, Good Vibrations captured the imagination of rock's fledgling young artisans and writers. Brian was proclaimed a genius, a tag that he began to rue almost the day it was coined. Several people passed in and out of Brian's life in 1966 and 1967, but two were of major consequence. Van Dyke Parks became Brian's collaborator, and later close personal friend. David Anderle headed the Beach Boys' own record company, Brother Records, which predated Apple Corps by over a year. Anderle, for many years an executive with A&M records after leaving Brother, was Van Dyke's personal manager at the time and was asked by Brian to coordinate all Beach Boy media projects: film; record; and television. Anderle's love for Brian and his reminiscences with Paul Williams in Crawdaddy Magazine in late 1967 and early 1968 became much of the base of the legend concerning Brian's musical creations between June 1966 and May 1967. The music at this period has been written about in such volume that to say much more here is difficult.
The Brian Wilson of this era was at a peak of his creative powers. Ideas were spawned almost daily, and a flood of outside influences was translated into music. Dozens of people met, impressed, and were impressed by Brian Wilson. Leonard Bernstein perhaps cemented this era's legend by insisting that David Oppenheim film Brian singing a song he had written with Van Dyke Parks. "Poetic, beautiful, even in its obscurity" Oppenheim's narration of the footage called Surfs Up. The film screen on CBS as a part of the Inside Pop documentary. Surfs Up's lyrics reflected Parks' brilliant command of the English language, and were filled with puns, satires, scenarios, and lovely sentiments. Brian's track for the song surfaced on 1971's Surfs Up album, a stunningly beautiful arrangement of French horns, piano, bells, and unusual percussion. The song was to have been part of an album scheduled for release in late 1966 entitled Smile.
The album was never released. Speculation on reasons why are too numerous to mention. Smile became The Great Lost Beach Boys' Album. It would be fair to say that several album ideas were conceived and a better way to refer to the music from this period would be the "Smile Era" instead of the "Smile Album."
This side of Timeless consists of music written during the "Smile Era." Some of it surfaced in a form fairly close to Brian's original intentions during the "Smile Era", and some of it was finished later without Brian's full participation. The Capitol Smile material found its way mainly to two albums, Smiley Smile and 20/20. The former was a simplified surrogate of Smile released in late 1967. The latter was a collection of singles not yet released on albums as of early 1969, and "cold tracks", which had been recorded for, but not included in earlier albums.
1967's most anticipated single was Heroes and Villains. Record of the Year in France in 1967, it lived up to its advanced raves, despite several ridiculous writers' moans that "it just doesn't rock." Versions of this song reportedly ranged from three and a half up to six minutes. It was at one point almost released in two parts by Capitol in early 1967. Borrowing Phil Spector's River Deep Mountain High bassline, Brian built a fascinating series of descending chords around it, along with several unusual stops and starts. Its organ provided an interesting contrast to Brian's intricate vocal arrangement, and his lead vocal is among the best he has ever cut.
Heroes and Villains stood in stark contrast with Good Vibrations on Smiley Smile to the material Brian had cut after abandoning complex production techniques to "mellow out." Collected from Smiley Smile, not necessarily in their original Smile forms, are three songs whose simple "good humor' perhaps fit Brian's first concept of a light, melodic album designed to bring "smiles" much more easily than the original more elaborate productions.
Brian had wanted to frame the concept of humor into a musical context that would bring joy to its listeners. His humor concept ran antithetically to his own dazzling production abilities, as most of his songs produced that way tend to leave the listener awed, overwhelmed, and breathless. Heroes and Villains, and its Smile counterpart, Cabinessence, in its released Beach Boy form are good examples of this.
Brian perhaps realized this, and for this reason, among others, he chose to release as Carl put it, "a bunt instead of a grand slam." Smiley Smile was recorded partly over a three week period at Brian's new Bellagio Road home studio, which he began building after encountering incredible resistance from Los Angeles's numerous conventional recording studios.
Again, Brian had been ahead of his time. The spare, earthy feeling of Wind Chimes, Vegetables, and Wonderful are partially due to the makeshift nature of the studio, which at the time was very new and untested.
Wind Chimes is a vignette recorded because of a mesmerizing experience Brian had with some wind chimes one breezy afternoon. Mike's "Yogi Bear" bass vocal at the end of the choruses stands in contrast to Brian's high and mantric lead. Just as one lulls off into a somnambulant state, Brian's Hawthorne humor rears up and provides a fuzz tone that jolts the senses back to reality. A great deal of circular, mantric music was recorded in the "Smile Era", but Wind Chimes and the humorous You're Welcome, also on Timeless, are among the few examples released.
Part of the "Smile Era" was concerned with being open to new influences, whatever they might be. But instead of dwelling on the inner mind, like many other groups, Brian and the Beach Boys also recognized a need for nature and things natural. This included keeping in condition, and being careful and attentive with one's body. They recorded two songs with this theme-I'm In Great Shape and Vegetables. The former was never released by the Beach Boys, the latter became an important part of the Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks collaboration.
Vegetables, with its single heartbeat bass note and its enthusiastic munching, pouring, and shouting, was years ahead of its time in its health food/organic food theme. Someone should have kidnapped it for use in school childrens' "eat correctly" campaigns. It's an interesting combination of Smile and Smiley Smile fragments. The unusual reverse scales at the end of the song, along with its Stephen Foster based "favorite vegetable" chorus, are from an earlier version of the song, not recorded at the Bellagio home studio. It is rumored that Paul McCartney co-produced the song. While he did contribute some munching on an unused take, he did not co-produce Vegetables.
Wonderful is a song that originated in the Van Dyke Parks/Brian Wilson Smile sessions, and then went through some changes in its Smiley Smile form. Brian's prolific experimentation with different recorded segments of music meant Wonderful went through several permutations before seeing release on Smiley Smile. The most revolutionary aspect of the Smiley Smile version of Wonderful is its bridge, an a cappella mixture of wordless syllables, giggling, and strange unintelligible phrases that vaguely resemble a verbal disagreement. "Don't think your God-Vibrations" is one of the phrases; "trying to be a cool guy" is another. Anyone who wishes to sort it out is a brave person indeed.
As the years went by, Smile fragments surfaced on many albums, some of which are probably unidentified as such. Our Prayer and Cabinessence are two that have been identified.
Looking for some first-rate material to close 20/20, the group decided on using several fragments of Brian's Smile material. Our Prayer is a wordless piece of harmony that perfectly illustrates Brian's post Good Vibrations production techniques. The track is a vocal "Wall of Sound" that literally soars with an almost three-dimensional effect upon the listener. Verily, it indeed conveys impressions of a cathedral. Today, it is sung by choirs at St. Peter's Cathedral in Rome.
Cabinessence is a synthesis of three fragments from "Smile Era" Brian music. The original "Cabin-Essence" fragment, with its plunking banjo and ""doyng-doyng" vocals, leads off the track, followed by the Who Ran The Iron Horse chorus fragment. Then the Cabin-Essence lyrics return, followed again by the Who Ran The Iron Horse theme, finally followed by a fragment with a Grand Coulee Dam reference. This piece has been referred to by several different names, but what's important is its unearthly vocal scales in tandem with a bending banjo and fuzz bass guitar. One of the most beautiful pieces of music Brian has ever created, it is perhaps the Smile fragment besides Surfs Up that gives justification to the endless speculation as to what the Beach Boys' Smile album might have sounded and the impact on music it might have had in 1967. What we do have is tantalizing, but Beach Boy music did not end with Smile. Great music came out after Smile albeit with the credit "produced by the Beach Boys" instead of "produced by Brian Wilson."
Side Two
Darlin'
Getting' Hungry
Here Comes The Night
With Me Tonight
Wake The World
Country Air
Well, You're Welcome
I'd Love Just Once To See You
Wild Honey
The story of Beach Boy music after Smile was a story of four extremely diverse albums, as different from each other as night and day. Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, and 20/20 were produced collectively but their producers' eclecticism surfaces only on 20/20. The other three albums are remarkably uniform in musical intention within themselves.
This side of Timeless focuses on the more uptempo, funky songs from the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey albums. Two exceptions are You're Welcome, never on an album before Timeless, and Wake The World from the Friends album.
You're Welcome is a charming little chant, recorded in a hurry when a "B" side was needed for Heroes and Villains. A close relative of Ding Dang, Whistle In, and Mama Says, from other albums, the song is something Brian probably cut alone, and gives a brief impression of his working methods while cutting music in the "Smile Era."
Wake The World is Country Air's reappearance on the Friends album. Both songs have a freshness and early morning as their themes. Similar riffs accompany each song, and they are perfect examples of the modest and unassuming nature of most of the late Sixties' Beach Boy music. A grunting tuba on Wake the World and lovely strings accompany the track, but the two songs were probably written within a few weeks of each other. The singing, humming, and whistling on Country Air would make even a morning loather enjoy the early hours. Country Air's lone rooster crow serves as a pleasantly mild reminder of more hectic Beach Boy productions in years gone by. They had learned a lesson that had come hard to many groups-that the "big" production treadmill was not necessarily the way to pop progress. Bob Dylan later reinforced this idea with his John Wesley Harding and Nashville Skyline albums, both with country and simplicity as their themes.
With Me Tonight was recorded at Brian's home studio very soon after it was assembled. His return to less complex and preconceived production is illustrated by this anecdote concerning why the deep voiced "good" is heard just before the first chorus in the song. Brian told Jack Reynolds "That was a guy named Arny Geller... it was an accident, but it worked out just right. He was in the booth and said 'good'... and so we left it in."
Much of Smiley Smile was recorded "dry" (without studio effects) because of the primitive nature of the equipment and unfinished state of the home studio. Wild Honey was recorded that way because of a desire to get a funky sound without any of the qualities for which the Beach Boys were getting criticized at the time by the so-called "hip" San Francisco rock press. Europe and The United Kingdom knew better and devoured the new music as readily as the earlier music.
Gettin' Hungry with its data processing organ was released as a single under the name "Brian and Mike." Like most other songs from the period, it could have been interpreted in a variety of other styles. Mike Love and his solo group Celebration did a reggae style version of the song on their second album in 1979. Like much of Smiley Smile, there was no drum track on the 1967 record, only percussive effects, in this case wood blocks.
Darlin' was recorded in its original form as Thinkin' Bout You Baby by Sharon Marie, a record Brian produced for Capitol in 1964, which appears on the Brian Wilson Productions album in this set. Brian sped up the tempo, Mike wrote new lyrics, and a fantastic rhythm and blues track was born. Perhaps the grittiest Brian Wilson song the Beach Boys have ever done, it was written for the Redwoods, who were to have recorded for Brother Records. In one of the great business follies of his career, Brian let the Redwoods go to another label because he felt they couldn't seem to sing on key. They became better known as Three Dog Night.
Here Comes The Night and I'd Love Just Once To See You concern a theme that runs throughout Wild Honey, that of sexy women and men's' relationship to them. Actually, I'd Love Just Once To See You can be applied to either gender. A charming acoustic guitar piece, one is treated to a person's private thoughts directed at their rather disinterested spouse. The song circles around its quarry, pleading, cajoling, hinting, and finally shooting right between the eyes. Certainly the song is one of the Beach Boys' finest late Sixties accomplishments.
Here Comes the Night examines the other side of the coin. The song's protagonist is a young man, presumably the same gentleman who also discusses his Wild Honey in the song of the same name. Singing the praises of his lady, no words are spared to let her know how much she turns him on. As with many Wild Honey songs, Brian's terrific rhythm piano takes the place of a rhythm guitar. His keyboard abilities, always underrated, are in particularly fine form on the Wild Honey album. The song was recut in 1979 on the Beach Boys' L.A. Light Album, but the original Capitol version with all its charming flaws seems to still hold its own as the definitive version of the song.
Concluding Timeless is the great title track to the Wild Honey album. With an organ and theramin providing the base to a very uptempo record, the song is an unabashed tribute to Motown, and certainly is one of the best of the late Sixties' uptempo numbers the Beach Boys recorded. A single in both America and the UK, it only had mixed results. It also gave rise to one of the great quotes concerning all Beach Boys' music after California Girls-"That's the Beach Boys??? It sure doesn't sound like the Beach Boys!"
Break Away
Side One
Do It Again
Little Bird
Let The Wind Blow
Busy Doin' Nothin'
Passing By
Time To Get Alone
Be Here In The Morning
Friends
The Beach Boys decided to do something that "sounded like the Beach Boys". Hence, Do It Again, their 1968 "Summer Single" was born. With its chugging rhythm, nasal Mike Love lead vocal, and bass saxophone, Do It Again was a conscious effort to regain lost chart status in America. It was successful, as it went to number 20 in Billboard, their highest charting single since Heroes and Villains. In the UK, this song was a smash, going to top spot in the charts. The song's coda is a very small fragment of Smile music, with Brian shouting "No Clem, No!" a reference to Carl's nickname inside the group.
Let The Wind Blow and Time To Get Alone are gentle ballads from Brian from the Wild Honey and 20/20 albums respectively. Let The Wind Blow is a pretty love song primarily written by Mike with music added by Brian. One of the nicest of the late Sixties' ballads cut by the Beach Boys, it shares with Time To Get Alone an affection for the outdoors, and romance inspired by being outdoors. Carl's lead vocal is effective, with background vocals and swirling violins combined so closely that it is often hard to tell which is which. The "deep and wide" echo added to the last verse of the song is reminiscent of Friends, as is the ¾ time signature. Written by Brian for the Redwoods, this is another song the Beach Boys took for their use.
Little Bird is the debut of Dennis Wilson music on Beach Boy records. His relatively clear and touching vocal is an interesting contrast to the Joe Cocker like vocal style 1977 solo album. The odd, muted trumpet heard in the last chorus is from Smile, and the tune is arranged by Brian. It would be fair to say that one of the major trends of a positive nature was the development of Dennis as a songwriter and musician in the Seventies.
Busy Doin' Nothin' is Brian's first entrance into the world of the samba, as popularized by Jobim in the mid Sixties. The song is a lovely mixture of clarinet, shuffling percussion, and Brian's own gentle lead vocal. It's also somewhat autobiographical. Brian was relishing life outside the Rat Race, something John Lennon wasn't able to do until 1975. The song describes a rather mundane existence, but in musical terms which reinforce that lifestyle.
The samba arrangement coupled with Diamond Head's tropical island instrumental effect (not on Break Away) are designed to communicate the same feelings that Bob Dylan sang about in Nashville Skyline's Country Pie.
Passing By is Brian's "Let's Go Away For Awhile" on the Friends album. After writing lyrics for the song, Brian decided he'd rather just sing the song without words. Perhaps lyrics would have been more effective, but the vocal is affecting as it stands, and is a warm closing to the first side of the original Friends album, the Beach Boys' most warm and loving unified work.
Be Here In The Morning and Friends share ¾ time signatures, along with a concentration on soaring vocals and interesting instrumentation. Friends has probably the most innovative use of the harmonica on a Beach Boy record, interwoven with what sounds like a very primitive synthesizer, but what may be another harmonica in a lower register. Be Here In The Morning has that wonderful organ that keeps popping up in Beach Boy records expressing love and friendship. Wordless codas end each song, with Brian's music again expressing emotions that would never need lyrics. Perhaps the organ recalls days gone by of singing, while gathered around the Wilson's organ at home in Hawthorne. Whatever it is, it is a thread that along with the Beach Boys' always beautiful vocals, runs through the Friends album, giving continuity. Murry Wilson contributes the bass vocal "full" in Be Here In The Morning's verse. Knowing Brian's aversion to arguments and family infighting, it is easy to see why Friends is often cited as his favorite album recorded with the Beach Boys.
Side 2
I Can Hear Music
Never Learn Not To Love
Cottonfields
I Went To Sleep
Bluebirds Over The Mountain
Celebrate The News
Be With Me
Breakaway
By 1969, when most of the music on this side of Break Away was originally released, the Beach Boys were ending an eight year association with Capitol. The music was infinitely more complex, yet also maintained a dignity that comes with years of success. The Beach Boys did not bow to pressures and go back to surf music, and in fact for some time were averse to even playing much of it live. Locked into a stereotype by the rock press, and also by American fans, the Beach Boys chose to do the only thing they could do under the circumstances; they ignored America for almost two years and toured where they were appreciated. Except for a few gigs, they did not play in Los Angeles for the 1969 -1970 period. They did an important date in 1970 at the Whisky-a-Go-Go, but they were hardly a California band.
Ronnie Spector says the Beach Boy version of I Can Hear Music is the definitive version. A higher compliment could not be offered unless it came from Phil himself. Produced by Carl Wilson, this single was top thirty in America, which was a big late Sixties' achievement for the Beach Boys. Its almost a cappella vocal break has been lauded by Pete Townshend as one of the most beautiful moments he's heard on a rock record. Brian Wilson heard the record and decided that the guys could make a record quite well without him. What it did signify was Carl's arrival as an extremely talented producer. Another in the long string of Spector songs the Beach Boys have recorded, it is important to note that Spector did not produce the Ronette's original single.
Never Learn Not To Love in a primitive form is a relative of Celebrate The News, the "B" side of Breakaway. Both the circular mantric songs reveal Dennis's frame of mind in the late Sixties. Both have unusual arrangements, with Celebrate the News offering pounding tympani, screaming penny whistles, and pretty flute surrounding Dennis's lead vocal. The song is easily the closest sounding Capitol recording of Dennis's to his 1977 solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue. Celebrate The News appears for the first time on an album on Break Away in this set. It is a good example of Dennis's production talent. It was becoming obvious that Brian was not the only production heavyweight in the band. In later years, the Wilson brothers' studio abilities saved the band during Brian's long periods of inactivity.
Be With Me is another powerful Dennis Wilson song that surfaced on the 20/20 album. It is an odd love song, with Dennis's intensity burning throughout. His material on 20/20 shows a man in turmoil, perhaps at war with himself. His pleading vocal in Be With Me resolves itself with a shriek at the end of the song. A bending cello and subtle string charts emphasize Dennis's Wagnerian influences, again showing him as the most classically oriented of the Beach Boys.
20/20 eclecticism shines through on no cut more distinctly than Bluebirds Over The Mountain. Produced by Bruce Johnston and Carl Wilson, the song is a strange amalgam of classic Fifties' rock and roll which it originally was, and Late Sixties' self-consciousness. The version offered on Break Away is an alternate mix taken from the original Dutch issue of the single. It is livelier and tighter than its more common counterpart and contains a percussion overlay mistakenly mixed higher than conventional versions of the song. Ed Carter's guitar solo is somewhat out of place on a Beach Boys' record, but at this time the group was trying numerous approaches to regain their American popularity. The single hit the top 100, but didn't go top 50. It was basically forgotten by the group after its drop from the charts.
Cottonfields was released in two forms. The one presented on Break Away is the single version, more energetic than that, which appeared on the 20/20 album. The pumping pedal steel guitar and the more highly mixed drum track makes this version another Beach boy folk music tour de force. Alan Jardine sweetened the track after he and Brian recorded the original version on 20/20 some months before. Appropriately enough, the sweetening was done at Capitol Studios, which seems only right since this was the last record done for Capitol. As in 1962, the Capitol Studios hosted The Beach Boys one last time. The record went to number one in several countries around the world, but fell on deaf ears in America.
I Went To Sleep is a beautiful outtake from the Friends album. Actually released on 20/20, the song would have been a far more appropriate closing song for the Friends than Transcendental Meditation, which did close the album. I Went To Sleep is a postcard from a very domestic Brian, ensconced in the thrill of a new baby, and fatherhood.
Breakaway was written with commercial success in mind. It has all the ingredients of a classic Beach Boy song. Brian Wilson wrote it with his dad, Murry, who got his first and only writer's credit on a Beach Boy record as "Reggie Dunbar." Brian had called a press conference in Los Angeles while the group was touring England, and announced that the Beach Boys were going broke. He then mentioned his plans for Breakaway, saying that he was going to "cut one like the old days." Whether or not the press conference was a promotional ploy or whether the Beach Boys were really hurting financially is unknown. A chagrined Mike Love upon being asked about Brian's remarks said "Brian's panicking again, he must be down to his last million." Breakaway, whatever the situation, is all that Brian promised. A summary of The Capitol Years in one record, it has intensely personal lyrics, Spectorian castanets, early Sixties harmonies, and a taste of late Sixties gentility in the acoustic guitar strumming throughout. The Beach Boys went on to newer pastures, but their Capitol Years music will serve as a fresh sound to generations yet to come. Perhaps the reason the music has endured is that the Beach Boys endured themselves.
Boxed Set Credits:
Compiled by Roy Gudge and Mike Grant with the help of many Beach Boys Fans around the world
Booklet Notes by Peter Reum
Tapes Compiled at EMI's Abbey Road Studios, London
Coordinators: Bryan Tyrrell and June Pengelly
Graphic Concept : Robert Norton
Design: Frank Watkins (Out of Town Creatve)
Originally issued by World Records, United Kingdom, 1980
