Building a better Wild Honey

I've long been of the theory (posted here somewheres) that Wild Honey was always in the back of B Wilson's mind, even as he labored over Smile. Brian was a savvy enough trend-watcher that I'm sure he would have been ready to dig back into his rock roots at roughly the same time as everyone else, i.e that other 'B' band with their Lady Madonna. I believe that trajectory would have been 1) psychedelic styling via Smile, 2) a stripped-down and spiritualized revisit to other BBs hits at Monterey Pop (the Heider rehearsals hint at this direction) and finally, 3) A Mike Lovin' formula rockin' R&B blast with Wild Honey.

With "Do It Again" so soon to follow, the trajectory would be complete: the BBs would have/ could have been as effective as their competition in representing all sides of mid- to late-sixties pop exploration if internal squabbling and bad habits hadn't thrown off their momentum so fully. Of course the version of Wild Honey we have, while showing lots of promise, has some duds; it certainly is no grand slam itself. So I've been trying to build a better album, but I lack information for what other tracks were truly in play at that time, and could have been included. I put it out to the Hoffman scholars here to help me perfect "Wild Honey".

I tried to eliminate the Stevie Wonder cover but find I miss it every time. And don't talk to me about How She Boogaloo'd It. I've fudged history here and there, but am open to suggestion. This is what I have come up with so far.

1
Wild Honey
Aren't You Glad
I Was Made To Love Her
Here Comes The Night
I'd Love Just Once To See You
Let The Wind Blow

2
Darlin'
Country Air
A Thing Or Two
Meant For You (long version)
Sail Plane Song (2012 stereo mix)
Cool Cool Water (Sunflower complete)

 

I like "Wild Honey" as it is, sorry.

 

To start, I think "Can't Wait Too Long" would be an essential addition - choose whatever version you want.
On the Hawthorne, CA compilation, you can find a nice, but seemingly unfinished song (cuz it's pretty short) titled "Lonely Days". I like it.
On the Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys box set, you'll find the "Cool, Cool Water" they were working on during Wild Honey. It's also quite short, but great. It was expanded upon for Sunflower.
On the Rarities comp, you can find their version of "The Letter", which was being worked on during Wild Honey. Plus, you can also find their cover of "With a Little Help from My Friends" that they recorded around the same time as their "Wild Honey" single.
There's also a song titled "Game of Love" that I don't believe has ever been released. I'm not sure what "Honey Come Home" is.

Additionally, there's this early tracklisting (the reason for the change is unknown):
"Wild Honey"
"Here Comes the Night"
"Let the Wind Blow"
"I Was Made to Love Her"
"The Letter"
"Darlin'"
"A Thing or Two"
"Aren't You Glad"
"Cool, Cool Water"
"Game of Love"
"Lonely Days"
"Honey Get Home"

But, as someone else said, I love it just as it is.

 

Always heard this as a BB misfit.

 

I hear it as one of their best albums.

 

Never sounded good either - me a Day 1 Fan too

 

For me potentially one of their best, but only in context with Smile. At the time - whoa -.

 

Would the delicious version of 'Time to Get Alone' from Hawthorne, Ca. be in play? That was based on the Redwood version which was recorded around the time of the album sessions, wasn't it?

I love Wild Honey, but it could certainly be improved upon and bulked up to normal album length.

 

I have to agree with this sentiment and the same is true of its successor. By '68, they really shouldn't have been putting out such skimpy albums, particularly when they had so much good material in the can. But I think the OP errs by including "Meant for You" (which clearly belongs with Friends) and "Sail Plane Song" (another Friends era outtake). I would also go with the Wild Honey era take of "Cool Cool Water" (or some assemblage from the Smile box) instead of the later Sunflower version. Bubbly Waves had some other good suggestions: "Lonely Days" (brief though it is), "The Letter", and maybe "Can't Wait Too Long", though this one might also fit in better on an expanded Friends (Didn't he work on it off and on from late '67 thru '68? ). I'd love to see deluxe editions of these albums, but it's easy enough to assemble your own if you have all the compilations.

 

Wild Honey came out only months after Smiley Smile, and Friends came out only six months later, so they were putting out albums pretty fast. Let's not forget that the Beatles followed up Pepper with an EP that was stretched out to album length for the American market. Or that Dylan's Nashville Skyline was only 27 minutes long. Wild Honey is perfect at the length it is: not every album needs to be an epic statement.

 

Nobody's perfect.

 

I imagine they were under pressure to make up for lost time after Smile, but Wild Honey and Friends just feel a bit thin and slight to me, particularly when they were tacking on throwaways like "Mama Says". I know that a lot of fans treasure these releases and I do enjoy a lot of the material from this period, but as stand alone albums, they fall short for me. Releasing them as two-fers with the bonus tracks certainly makes the CDs more satisfying.

 

I see where you're coming from, and there are few things about them I would tweak if I could go back and change history: "I Went To Sleep" sure sounds like it would fit in well on Friends, for example, but the albums are what they are. Also, the more heavily I get into vinyl, the less inclined I am to want to tweak albums the way you can with CDs or iTunes playlists: you put the record on the turntable, and what is on the record is what is on the record.

 

I would like this post 1,000 times if I could.

 

One of my two favorite Beach Boys albums, along with "Today"

 

Leave it as it is!

 

Take out How she Boogalooed It, add in Cool Cool Water with water chant, The Letter, and Been Way Too Long. That would make a great album greater.

 

This thread is silly. Wild Honey is just fine as it stands. Ditto your Smiley Smile thread on the other board.

 

I like most of Wild Honey as it is. However if i was re-compiling it given what was available to the band it would look like this.

Wild Funny
side 1. Prayer / Do You Like Worms / Cabin Essence / Surfs Up / I Wanna Be Around-Friday Night / Look
side 2. The Elements / The Old Master Painter / I'm In Great Shape / Holidays / Can't Wait Too Long / Child Is Father Of The Man

That looks pretty awesome to me. If you need a non-LP single - Heroes and Villains Part 2 backed with When I Get Mad I Just Play My Drums. It's sure to sell a million units.

 

The Beach Boys released a lot of misfit albums, albums that don't fit in neatly with their other albums. This is a big part of their charm to me.

 

Do not disagree - this one just too far afield for me, a worthy effort nonetheless.

 

I agree. Sometimes an album's brevity is part of its charm. I do believe that "I Went to Sleep" from 20/20 would have fit perfectly into the Friends album (if the track existed at the time;it may have). On the other hand, I've always felt that albums should have been priced according to their duration. If I paid $15.00 for a CD that clocked in at around 25 minutes, I'd feel a bit ripped off. Still, a short, solid album is better than a long album that's padded out with filler.

 

The timing of Friends feels perfect...

 

Fromt he 1983 rarities cd:

With a Little Help from My Friends -- an outtake from the "Wild Honey" sessions
The Letter -- Although the liner notes state that it's another "Wild Honey" outtake, this studio track was actually fromt the post-Lei'd In Hawaii studio touch-up sessions @ Wally Heider studios....part of the original tracklist.
I Was Made to Love Her -- this longer version of the "Wild Honey" track has a great doo-wopping tag that was stupidly lopped off of the final version. Really good stuff.

 

Maybe too obvious, but if you replace the filler tracks (in my opinion) "How She Boogalooed" and "Mama Says" with "Cool Cool Water" and "Been Way Too Long", and you add the lovely "Lonely Days" you get an album that is as strong or stronger than Sunflower or Today!.