The Beach Boys "Soulful Old Man Sunshine"- what's up with the sound?

It's not that I can't listen to the song, the vocals are incredible. But, it sounds like some odd phasing thing going on. It's almost as if it shifts in and out at times, very odd. Has anyone noticed this? It can be distracting at times.

 

Yeah, there were some fidelity issues with the master tapes. I notice that it kind of disintegrates to near-mono in spots, and I think they futzed with the phase for portions of the mix. I don't think all the multitracks exist, so putting it back together properly is hopeless. I'm glad for what we have -- it's an incredibly great, stunning song.

I just listened to it again, and a lot of Carl's lead vocals on the verses are just totally out of phase, then it goes back to phantom center for the chorus. Bizarre. For all we know, it was just very, very bad creative choices 40+ years ago.

For those who haven't heard it, listen to the weird phase discrepancies for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBOP86qT_g

 

The multi-tracks were not available for the Endless Harmony songtrack, and I'm not certain if they exist. Rick Henn supplied the mixdown tape for the CD.

If not for Carl's vocal flub, it probably would've been considered a finished master. I can't see it on Sunflower, but who knows?

 

Great song! A real what-if for me. I think it could have been a hit.

 

Easy way to describe it:

Chorus parts = Stereo.
Verses = Fake Stereo.

It's an odd sort of phasing effect which spreads it from mono to stereo, yet when you sum it to mono, you hear no effects (like you would with a Duophonic mix).

The "stereo" mix of the 'hit' version of "Heroes & Villians" uses this same technique for one bit, and I'm guessing it was for the same reason (missing multi-tracks).

To me, anyway, goin back and forth is a jarring effect. I'd rather listen to it in mono than the half & half stereo/fake mix. No matter, though, I whole heartedly agree with Vidiot: it's a STUNNING piece of music.

 

Thank you Viditot for the link. And thanks to all for the feedback. So, folding to mono is the solution. I haven't tried it. It's certainly a strange mix to say the least.

 

Very strange mix -- but a great song. I'm still puzzled as to why it was never commercially released in the late 1960s. Maybe it was just too eclectic, almost like a pop/jazz/rock hybrid, a drastic change from what was on the radio in late 1968. If SMiLE had been like this, I would've really loved the whole thing.

 

Well, a couple of points about that. One is that the song was actually a Sunflower outtake, so technically it was recorded somewhere towards the tail end of 1969 (don't have my notes on hand), and for a band that was then fighting an uphill battle to be taken seriously and not just as a bunch of "Surfing Doris Days", this was just not the right song for the time, as brilliant as it is.

Also the song was written by Rick Henn, and with the exception of a small handful of cover versions on 20/20, their albums from 1968-1973 consisted of all original material.

I'm curious about your statement regarding Smile. "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" is a great track in its own right, but to me it's clearly The Beach Boys attempting to emulate someone else's sound, rather than the wholly original brilliance of their lost '67 masterpiece. But maybe you can persuade me otherwise, and it's all good regardless!

 

Credited to Brian Wilson and Rick Henn. You're absolutely right, it was recorded in the summer of 1969 (not 1968) at Brian's home studio, according to the liner notes. I think the melody sounds a little bit like Keith's late-1966 hit "98.6", but it's still a weird, quirky song that's kind of undefinable, because of the jazzy big-band arrangement.

 

Credited to Brian Wilson and Rick Henn. Technically the vocals were recorded in the summer of 1969 (not 1969) at Brian's home studio, and the instrumentation at Sunset Sound, according to the liner notes. I think the melody sounds a little bit like Keith's late-1966 hit "98.6", but it's still a weird, quirky song that's kind of undefinable, because of the big-band arrangement.

 

Good call, I forgot Brian had a hand in it.

 

I just listened to this track from the youtube clip on my laptop speakers and the weird phase stuff made me dizzy for a second. Extremely weird sounding record! I actually have this cd but have not played it in a long time.

 

Sorry for the late response. Just noticed the post.

COMMENT: It is not a phasing thing at all. If it were out-of-phase, you would not hear anything in mono. Such is not the case, but you can still hear when the unit is switched in and out of use. I think one click of the switch was one note early.

Remember that all the vocal sound on this 8 track had to be recorded on the remaining five tracks left from the pre-mix of Sunset Sound's instruments taking up three tracks. What you hear are some mono vocal tracks Orbanized using the Orban stereo comb filter. This device broadends the stereo image from being a point source to a wider sound. There was so much going on with the support vocals that a broader lead image blended best with the BGs. It was applied to Carl's vocal during the verses and to some of the BG tracks overall. This was done to get the wall-of-sound Brian wanted. If you resolve the Master through the playback matrix it sounds right. But in the early history of its use, and not knowing that the record company would not use the matrix resolved, rather used an un-resolved mix for the LP, what you hear sounding strange in stereo is quite normal sounding when resolved through the matrix. One of these days I'll do a study-video of this song and offer more explaination.

~Stephen W. Desper

 

Why they didn't release this when it was recorded is a real mystery. Could it have to do with the writing credits? If so, really short-sighted!

 

Thank you!

 

Do you really think that "Soulful Old Man Sunshine" would have flown as a single at the dawn of the 70's? Don't get me wrong, I enjoy it, but I imagine it would have gone over rather like "Breakaway", another fun throwback that flopped. But then what do I know about popular tastes? I'm still puzzled as to why "Slip On Through"/"This Whole World" stiffed. Sadly, the Beach Boys just weren't made for those times, I guess, but the work endures.

 

I do, particularly if it was released in May. Could have been more of a game-changer than calculated topical crap like Student Demonstration Time or Rieley's hippie mumbo-jumbo nonsensical lyrics. It was great MUSIC.

 

COMMENT: I think one big factor that perhaps you over look is the Henn factor, the Rick Henn factor. Rick came to Brian and the group by way of the father. Rich is a good producer. He did some work for Murry Wilson and his record company or production company or whatever it was. Murry liked his work. It was through association with Murry that Brian and Henn became connected. (Through the years after this era Rich Henn continued to work with Murry.) I'm sure you are familiar with Brian's relationship to his father in the "70's. Brian was trying to distance himself from his father's influence. They could not work together. Period. So along comes Rick with father Murry's blessings and recommendations. To keep family peace Brian works with Rick on a song of Rick's conception and they agree to split the credits. This keeps the family peace and produces a surprisingly good song. But you see, Brian didn't agree to release the song; only to record it. Why should Brian wish to release a song in which he will have to split the royal income and the writer income? He has his own songs to release and for his labors, to produce as much income for his family as possible. So it was one excuse after another, delay after delay, until the song was overshadowed by newer events and releases. Eventually the record company got into the act and wanted a return on their recording investment. By the time SOMS was released, Brian was into other things.

Remember, it's more than music -- it's the business of music. Yes, these guys were all the best of musicians, but since this was their income they were each mindful of how to pay their bills. Brian's loss of future income was challanged enough by his brother's releasing their own songs. What he didn't need was one more co-producer. So SOMS sat in the fault for some time. I wonder and ask this question . . . did SOMS come out after Murry's death? ~swd

 

Thanks for your insight, but the non-release still seems short sighted to me. What makes more business sense: selling 15,000 copies of Cool Cool Water with all the income or 1,000,000 of Soulful, albeit with only half the income? Particularly for a group with eroding sales, fresh from the Smile debacle, I'd think getting a hit should have been a priority, ego aside. Then again, these guys made some mind-boggling career decisions, IMO. As for Murry, Soulful came out 25 years after his passing, but didn't he get a credit for Breakaway about the time Soulful was recorded?
It's an honor to be trading posts with you.

 

Hadn't heard this in a while. I get a real Fifth Dimension "Up Up and Away" vibe from it. Great track!


Dan

 

Not a bad song, but doesn't at all sound like a single to me.

 

We'll never know if it could have been a hit; as nosticker notes, the Fifth Dimension had hits with a similar sound, but, to me it's a very strong song with a lot of commercial potential. It's hard to believe it wasn't released at the time.

 

COMMENT: You speak from the advantage of hind-sight. No one knew the sale numbers you cite. In the "now" of that time it looked a lot different. Sunflower had to be released when it was released -- it was in the contract -- a single was not. Albums are good for concerts and that is how most of their income was generated. but with this song, it was not the business, rational decision-making that you believe went on. There was an emotional element in play. Emotions can be strong. The praise the song received when previewed by everyone was contaminated for Brian by the split production credits together with the involvement of Murry. If the song was to become a hit, Brian would be sharing the spotlight with someone else -- Murry's friend. Emotionally, Brian was at odds with the song -- sort of -- or at least with releasing it to the public. Carl and Brian are close brothers. Carl makes a "mistake" in the lead and this holds up the release for years. You figure it out. ~swd

 

This could've been a hit in 1969. Lots of stuff with brass arrangements in the charts at that point. It would've been perfect.

 

Thanks, Stephen. That was really fascinating.
(Proud owner of no. 560 of Recording the Beach Boys!)