Tuesday, March 17, 2009

The Beach Boys - Goodbye Surfing, Hello God! Disc 1

Label: Vigotone, VT-238

Total Time: 58:51
1. "Hi, we're the Beach Boys!" (0:04)
2. Surfin' U.S.A. (home demo) (2:04)
3. Fun, Fun, Fun (Steve Allen) (2:26)
4. Wendy (Ed Sullivan) (2:38)
5. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) (1968 mono mix) (2:11)
6. ID for radio station WBBF (1:04)
7. ID for radio station WTRY (0:40)
8. ID for radio station WPTR (0:22)
9. ID for radio station KENO (0:40)
10. ID for radio station WMCA (0:31)
11. ID for radio station WINS (0:48)
12. ID for radio station KNUZ (0:26)
13. ID for radio station KILT (1:11)
14. ID for radio station KBOX (0:34)
15. ID for radio station CHUM (1:43)
16. ID for radio station KRLA (2:01)
17. Dance, Dance, Dance (backing track) (2:05)
18. Help Me Rhonda (first pass) (0:42)
19. Help Me Rhonda (second pass) (3:02)
20. Help Me Rhonda (third pass) (2:51)
21. Help Me Rhonda (fourth pass) (1:01)
22. Help Me Rhonda (fifth pass) (0:44)
23. Help Me Rhonda (sixth pass) (0:52)
24. Help Me Rhonda (seventh pass) (0:59)
25. Little Cycle (Little Honda) (Andy Williams) (2:16)
26. Banana And Louie (Beagle recording session) (15:51)
27. Wouldn't It Be Nice (alternate mono mix) (2:30)
28. God Only Knows (alternate mono mix) (2:41)
29. I Know There's An Answer (alternate mono mix) (3:17)

1. "Hi, we're the Beach Boys!" (0:04)
Recorded: 10/26/64
A cheery opening for the set, recorded while the Boys were taping promos for radio stations encouraging them to play their new single "Dance, Dance, Dance". More to come.

2. Surfin' U.S.A. (home demo) (2:04)
Recorded: 1/63
Another demo of this track was included on the 1993 box set Good Vibrations, but this is a superior recording with Brain on piano and Dennis on sloppy drums.

3. Fun, Fun, Fun (2:26)
Recorded: Winter 1964
The Beach Boys made many appearances on network television shows during the 60's and 70's, many of which have appeared on other releases in both visual and audio forms. For this release, we have concentrated on performances that have been more difficult to find in this vein. From a 1964 Steve Allen Show appearance in this performance of "Fun, Fun, Fun" that is preceded by a bit of semi-condescending introduction by the man himself. We wouldn't expect anything less from the late Mr. Allen, would we?

4. Wendy (2:38)
Recorded: 9/27/64
Seeing as it happened several months after the Beatles' debut on the program, the Boys' first Ed Sullivan Show appearance was surprisingly late in the game, occurring after they had already enjoyed several hits over the previous two years. However, better late than never, and this performance of "Wendy" from the All Summer Long LP was a great live take on this wonderful track.

5. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man) (2:11)
Recorded: 8/5 & 10/64 Mixed: 7/68
Included here is an unused 1968 mono mix of this 1964 single, emanating from when the Stack O' Tracks LP was being assembled; it includes some vocalizing of a particularly naughty age number at the very end!

ID's for radio stations:
6. WBBF - Rochester, NY (1:04)
7. WTRY - Albany, NY (0:40)
8. WPTR - Albany, NY (0:22)
9. KENO - Las Vegas, NV (0:40)
10. WMCA - New York, NY (0:31)
11. WINS - New York, NY (0:48)
12. KNUZ - Houston, TX (0:26)
13. KILT - Houston, TX (1:11)
14. KBOX - Dallas, TX (0:34)
15. CHUM -Toronto, Canada (1:43)
16. KRLA - Los Angeles, CA (2:01)
Recorded: 10/26/64
17. Dance, Dance, Dance (backing track) (2:05)
Recorded: 10/9/64
A necessary evil for any popular artist is the recording of the dreaded "station promos", where the person or group tapes greetings for a variety of radio stations in the hopes that they will be played along with their new release. In this case, the Beach Boys were recording a huge amount of promos at Western Studios to accompany their new single, "Dance, Dance, Dance". The majority of the promos recorded this day were featured on Seat Of Tunes' Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 12 (1965): Sloop John B Sessions + Radio Spots CD, but they just end before this batch, which wound up the day of taping. By this time, Mike and Brian are the only ones left in the studio with engineers Chuck Britz and they're obviously tired, but still having some R-rated fun.
As a bonus, we've included an instrumental run-through of the track they're promoting, recorded a couple of weeks before the promos.

18. Help Me Rhonda (first pass) (0:42)
19. Help Me Rhonda (second pass) (3:02)
20. Help Me Rhonda (third pass) (2:51)
21. Help Me Rhonda (fourth pass) (1:01)
22. Help Me Rhonda (fifth pass) (0:44)
23. Help Me Rhonda (sixth pass) (0:52)
24. Help Me Rhonda (seventh pass) (0:59)
Recorded: 2/24/65
Some previously unheard guitar, vocal and percussion run-throughs and overdubs on this re-recording of the Beach Boys Today! track for its release as a single in April of 1965.

25. Little Cycle (Little Honda) (2:16)
Recorded: 4/65
Along with renditions of "Help Me Rhonda" and "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring", the Boys (with Brian) sang with Andy Williams on a reconstituted version of their track "Little Honda" on the latter's popular NBC variety show. Reconstituted, because the NBC brass didn't want Honda to benefit from free promotion, thus the lyric change to the more generic "Little Cycle".

26. Banana And Louie (15:51)
Recorded: 3/22/66
Masterpieces don't come easy; certainly, the recording of the "tail end" of the Pet Sounds album was no simple task. Brian brought his two beagles, Banana and Louie, into the studios to provide a few actual pet sounds to wind up the LP. With the assistance of Brian's wife Marilyn and brother Dennis and his son Scott, the dogs were let loose at Western Studios to do their best, which is what we hear for several minutes. However, Brian was a stern taskmaster to the hapless hounds as he was to his musicians. At one point, Brian seems to have learned how to treat his dogs from his father Murray, screaming "Get up there!!" when one of the dogs doesn't want to put its paws up on the keyboards as Brian is demanding. Scott Wilson is treated similarly by his dad, with Dennis threatening not to give him his Batman ring of Scott doesn't provoke the dogs to bark as directed. Marilyn's plea to Brian, "Honey, but they're so tired already" means nothing to the artiste at work. Eventually, Brian got what he wanted, but as this tape shows, it wasn't a lot of fun getting there.

Pet Sounds alternate mono mixes:
27. Wouldn't It Be Nice (2:30)
28. God Only Knows (2:41)
29. I Know There's An Answer (3:17)
Mixed: 3/22/66
While it may seem hard to believe that there could be more mixes of Pet Sounds material that remain unheard to the collecting community, there three make their debut on this set. Mixed on the same day as the above "Banana and Louie" session, all of them contain noticeably different vocal elements than the other available mixes.

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