That's sounds cool! This, I take it, is the album that was rejected by the label -- before Van Dyke remembered the great unfinished song he and Brian were working on -- Sail On, Sailor (all according to the Steven Gaines book). I'm still dying to hear the original piano demo with Van and Brian -- which everyone agreed was BETTER than the finished track. Top of my "wants" list. Since Sail On is one of my all-time favs, I can't leave it off, so I might have made the above "Side 2." It sounds like a nice "stoney" suite of music.
I can't believe they were going to have "Steamboat" as the album opener. Here's the tracklist that I think works best: Side 1 (19:30) 1. Sail On Sailor 2.-4. California Saga 5. We Got Love Side 2 (22:30) 1. Trader 2. Leaving This Town 3. Steamboat 4. Funky Pretty 5. Only With You bonus track: Fairy Tale Music
Ok, so the original order was Side 1 (20:53) 1 Steamboat 2-4 California Saga 5 We Got Love Side 2 (18:01) 1 Trader 2 Leaving this town 3 Only with you 4 Funky Pretty I really like this. I'm digging this album now more than I think I ever have. Even "The Saga!" Because it doesn't tease me with the great Sail On, Sailor opener. In this original order, it starts swampy and mysterious and stays that way. More consistent and chill. Very cool. Trippy Beach Boys! Like I said the other day -- nice and "stoney." And Sail On, Sailor works great as the opener to Side 2. It even can be the album closer, since I always find myself needing a little something more after Funky Pretty. It always seemed to end abruptly to me -- like something groovy was just getting started and it just goes quiet. Not cool. Anyone else feel that way? Since Sailor was a last minute "save" or "tack-on" it makes sense to put it here, too -- without fussing the original groove planned by the Beach Boys in their hair-brained, half-baked Holland scheme. Don't @#$% with the formula, as they say!! Plus by making Sailor the closer, you do get to keep that cool Side 2 "Hi" opener with The Trader. Either way -- lead off or closer -- by moving Sailor to side 2, it brings the side up to a more balanced 21:21. And shouldn't this album be about "BALANCE?" (lights incense and spins The Beach Boys - Holland, again).
I think they made the right choice. We Got Love is a good song, but Sail On Sailor is a great song and it improves the entire record. I think it's perfect as is, and it's one of my favorite Beach Boys albums. One thing it has is a sense of unity. The record sounds like it all goes together, Whereas every Beach Boys album back to 20/20 sounds like a little bit of this and a little bit of that (with So Tough being the culmination of haphazardness).
I hear you, but...... I really love this album order: Side 1 (19:30) 1. Sail On Sailor 2.-4. California Saga 5. We Got Love Side 2 (22:30) 1. Trader 2. Leaving This Town 3. Steamboat 4. Funky Pretty 5. Only With You
That looks good too. I've probably tinkered with the tracklist of these Reprise albums more than any other Beach Boys albums, except for SMiLE. I spent a good bit of time recently trying to assemble "a masterpiece" between Carl And The Passions and Holland (with a sprinkling of Fairytale Music dust). I eventually default back to what is and was, but there is some mojo to the original Holland line-up. I'm digging it for now.
The Beach Boys were the kings of the haphazard/lopsided LP. Summer Days, Summer Nights. Shut Down, Volume 2 (the name of that one alone!) It's one amazing nugget of pop music, next to a super-sized McFiller sandwich. A Pop Classic. A Happy Meal toy. I think more than anything, it's this exact reason that motivated Brian to make Pet Sounds. He was driven not so much by any particular concept or vision, but more to just have a complete concept, a record that wasn't lopsided and slapped together. That was essentially the main goal. "An album of all good stuff," or some similar quote from that time. And then SMiLE was the exponential leap to where the individual concepts were now infinitely important to the overall concept. And each individual song was made up of several overlapping micro-concepts. Mind blown.
As owner of all the Pastmasters,dcc,mfsl CDs Going through a lot of pages I get the feeling that Surfer Girl & Holland are the sacds to seek out of these? Am I missing anything worth upgrading?
The Pet Sounds SACD is essential - the stereo mix sounds amazing on this edition, great subtle seperations on some of the instruments and textures.
I think the MFSL twofer of Surfer Girl rivals the SACD, so that wouldn't be a priority for me. However, Sunflower and Surf's Up are essential because of the surround mix, even if it is not as S. Desper intended. Yes, Pet Sounds is amazing but if I had the DCC and or the MFSL SACD, I could be content with those.
INFORMATION ABOUT HOLLAND FROM HOLLAND.... I would like to add some information here about the treble anomalies on a portion of the Saga on the Holland album. The treble anomalies are there on NEARLY all releases, reel, cassette, LP, CD and so on. I myself am unable to hear them as I am 64 and my hearing has gone in the region above 10 kHz. But a friend can hear them clearly and I can make them visible in the spectrogram of audio editing software. His analyses correspond with 100 per cent reliability against what I am seeing. But here comes the news: Early test pressings of Holland had the songs in a different order. Sail On Sailor was not on the album and We Got Love was. I have personally owned and tested Dutch and English test pressings with this configuration. I still own a notorious German Reprise label release which mistakenly retains this song order. All of these had NO TREBLE ISSUES on the Saga. That means it is not a master tape problem. What I suspect happened is that the treble issues appeared during the re-sequencing of the album late 1972 after the Warner bosses refused to release it as it was. I suspect that the retained tracks on side one were tape-duped and THAT'S where the treble issues crept in. To create a new reissue today without treble issues, one would need to reassemble the album from first generation masters which are clean and not resort to using second generation dupes. Finally, a 5.1 channel surround mix of Sail On Sailor exists on the Surf's Up compilation DVD released by Silverline. I own this. Since this exists, it is reasonable to suppose that all multi's for the album still exist and a remix can be made either in stereo or surround. You are all welcome to ask me anything. Best wishes Bas
I'm not sure a surround mix from Silverline indicates much of anything about the multitracks. As a label they were known for sometimes faking surround mixes from stereo sources or creating spurious mixes from less than discrete parts. However, I don't have that DVD.
A 5.1 mix of Sail On Sailor (amongst other tracks) was prepared by Mark Linett and Ken Caillat and included on the (official) Endless Harmony DVD - the Silverline presentation likely sources this mix.
I understand you well. Most other tracks on that DVD are definitely very phasey fake surround, bending your ears. But Sail On Sailor truly sounds discrete to my ears. Cheers Bas
Is the Analogue Productions mono/stereo SACD mastering of Smiley Smile any different to the mono/stereo CD of 2012 (Capitol 50999 404432 25)?
Thanks. One of my favourite albums. I better investigate. I have the Pastmasters CD, and the Stereo/Mono Capital, but I want the best stereo CD too.
