A Cork on the Ocean: Beach Boys and Wilson Brothers song-by-song

Johnny Goode
Enthusiastic faithful cover but nothing to write home about
Rating 2

 

"Long Tall Texan" is annoying, though the audience clearly enjoys it as a piece of goofy fluff and Mike really hams it up. A bit annoying listened to at home, but the audience of children who made up rock and roll listeners in 1963 obviously loved it. In those days, rock didn't take it self so ponderously as it would a few years later.

However, I just really don't like the song itself, (nor do I like The Kinks' "Long Tall Shorty", which is literally the same song with different lyrics) but the band sound all right and like they're having a good time. Better than ""Sonny" vs "Cassius"".

2.1/5

"Johnny B Good" always rocks. The Beach Boys always performed it really fast, like a punk band.

I think later versions by The Beach Boys have better sound than the 1963 version, with more thunderous drumming. (Turn the sound way up.) I love Dennis as a live drummer, when he's able to keep time, that is.

I definitely prefer the mono mix of the 1963 version, as it accentuates the rockingness! Again, could have fit on any pre-All Summer Long album better than the "talky" tracks.

3.2/5

Taken together, (and with the other live songs released from this show) they are evidence that The Beach Boys were definitely a competent live band with a fairly wide range of songs and sounds by the end of 1963.

 

Johnny B. pretty darn rockin' but Long Tall Texan is puerile putz rock.

 

Of course if you think of it as 'Long, Tall Texan' then it takes on a whole different meaning.

 

Long Tall Texan

A okay cover of an okay song.

2/5

Johnny B. Goode

A disposable cover of an indispensable song. Agree with @Lance LaSalle that the later versions are better.

2/5

 

Long Tall Texan - this is sung by Mike as a comedy number and it hasn’t aged well. The band sounds good though.
1/5

Johnny B Goode - the 63 live version rocks pretty hard but I really dislike the dual lead vocal. Just let Mike or Carl sing it - or alternate verses or something. The double vocal saps some of the energy out of the song.

Out of the others the Chicago is best but the playing is sloppy. The 66 and 68 are at a slower tempo and are actually boring - no excitement at all. I guess I differ from Lance here, the first version is best.

63 Johnny B Goode - 2/5

 

Texan is awful: 1/5.

Johnny is a faithful cover of a great song: 3/5.

 

Was not really in a position to fairly comment on/had much of a opinion on either of yesterday's discussion pieces...today:

Long Tall Texan

This one isn't that bad really a enjoyable novelty track that was probably a hoot during a live show though loses some of it's charm when listened to at home

3/5

Johnny B. Goode

Probably going to be drawn and quartered for this but I am not a particular fan of this song by anyone so I am probably not the best judge but as far as renditions of this song I have heard the BB version is fine? got a nice youthful energy to it.

2.5/5

 

maybe the Berry cover at the Arie Crown is the most worth rating of any of these

 

I don't have much to say about this. I just want to point out that this was the version that theirs was based on:



It only made it to #51 nationally, but got a lot of airplay in Los Angeles. Mike even tries to duplicate the saxophone playing at the end.

 

Long Tall Texan -- this probably went over better in that era, an era chock full of movie and TV westerns everywhere you looked. I've alway found it to be kind of a waste of time:

2/5

Johnny B. Goode -- I like the earlier versions better for their punky speed, but I never thought these were very good, especially for the reason @lou pointed out above -- this requires a single vocalist to sound right. Not terrible, but still another waste of time.

2/5

 

Texan - must have seemed a laugh in concert, but it's not for me. Noweher near as bad as the version on Stars and Stripes, however. 1
Johnny B. Goode. Such a staple for many bands. The Concert version is pretty punky and had it been an English band doing it in ther late 70s, it would've been wow. 3.5

 

'Long Tall Texan' - I only made it halfway through this, knowing there was another song to consider perhaps adding to my impatience... Well, it was probably entertaining at the time and in that environment...maybe. 1/5

'Johnny B Goode' - possibly benefits from not being the former track, goes at a pace and we know that the boys are familiar with their Chuck riffs! However, it's still a version of a song that is over familiar to most now, so difficult not to feel a bit jaded about it...blah, 2.5/5.

 

Tomorrow, I’m going to start holding up songs from Shut Down, Volume 2 II.



David was out and Al was in as an official member of the band. Brian was back in as touring bassist, as well, putting an extra burden on him as the main songwriter, arranger and producer. For now, though, The Beach Boys largely rested and recuperated from the massive tours earlier in the year and would play only fifteen or sixteen shows for the remainder of 1963, all but three of them in the local area, or at least, in California (which, as we know, is bigger than many countries.).

In 1963, Brian and/or The Beach Boys had recorded nearly seventy songs, and nearly sixty of them had been originals. And yet they had barely managed to fulfil their contract with Capitol, which apparently had stipulated four albums between October ’62 and the end of their contract in October 1963.

For 1964, Brian, Murry and the band put together a plan that would see three albums recorded in the first six months on 1964, leaving room in second half of 1964 for another set of intense and grueling (though better planned and more luxurious) tours.

Having a relatively low amount of live gigs to do in late 1963, meant Brian had the time to write songs for the next albums, record demos and work on his various side projects with The Honeys, Sharon Marie, Jan & Dean, Larry Denton, Gary Usher and The Survivors. The success of 1963 also meant that The Beach Boys had greater leverage to sign a new contract with Capitol for a higher royalty and advance rate— all the Beach Boys would have to do to secure that was continue to supply Capitol with three albums per calendar year until a 20 album quota had been reached. Easy peasy.

Not long after Little Deuce Coupe was released, Brian, inspired by Phil Spector’s upcoming Christmas record that he had briefly played a part in, got The Beach Boys together and recorded a Christmas single, Little Deuce Coupe/The Lord’s Prayer, which I’ll hold up later, around Christmas with the rest of the Beach Boys Christmas songs.

In November, the assassination of John F. Kennedy brought a sombre pall down upon the nation that would signify the beginning of the end of the innocent era that The Beach Boys had found their initial success in. But Brian continued writing and recording and the kids that came to see their shows were as enthusiastic as ever. It was also around this time that Brian, Gary Usher and Roger Christian co-wrote, in a single session at the Rovell family home, a half-dozen songs or so that would feature in the stellar five-star classic film Muscle Beach Party the following summer.


In December, Brian and Mike wrote and recorded the backing track for Sharon Marie’s second single, but it was put on hold as Sharon, still in school, seems to have been unable to make it to LA at a time that did not conflict with The Beach Boys’ schedule.

Dennis turned 19 in December and Carl turned 17. On Carl’s 17th birthday, The Beach Boys played a show in Sacramento, California that was recorded as a potential live album — an idea of Fred Vail’s, the teenage promoter who was now the band’s tour manager.


Brian decided not to release the live album though, as he was dissatisfied with the sound of some of the songs. Some of the songs did eventually see release on Beach Boys' Concert, released over a year later, and more came out on Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of The Beach Boys, released nearly thirty years later.

The Beach Boys played a New Year’s Eve concert in San Bernardino, California and were done before midnight and the next morning, on January 1st, 1964 entered the studio to record their fifth album, Shut Down Volume 2. The rather odd title came about due to the band’s ire at Capitol having included, without their permission, their car-themed songs “Shut Down” and “409” on a Various Artists compilation called Shut Down. But otherwise the title had little do do with the contents of the album.


Meanwhile, behind the scenes and throughout the next several months, Murry was embroiled in a battle with Capitol records, who had shifted the accounts to charge The Beach Boys for sessions they had not recorded and were under-reporting sales in order to avoid paying royalties. This struggle by the band to obtain the royalties owed to them would continue for years, and eventually develop into a lawsuit; it would also sour the record label even further on the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson, who had already broken company rules by insisting on producing his own records and refusing to record in Capitol’s own studios.

Seven songs for Shut Down, Volume 2 were recorded in five sessions the first two weeks of January. The first two weeks would also see some songs by Paul Peterson and The Honeys recorded. But the the band were forced to break off recording sessions for an intense and already-scheduled tour of Australasia, opening for Roy Orbison. Brian did not want to tour but had little choice but to go.

In Australia, the band was greeted at the airport by an almost shocking amount of young excited fans in scenes that would eerily presage The Beatles’ own coming to American shores the following month. They played sixteen sold out gigs in 18 days, some them up to three performances per day, including in some cases matinées added at the last minute to appease the massive demand.

However, Murry, who toured with them, made sure that there would be no need for penicillin shots on this tour as he sat guard in the corridor outside their hotel rooms to keep them from mingling with members of the opposite sex, a move which annoyed Brian and Al and enraged Mike, all of whom were, after all, over 21. (Mike still managed to strike up a romance with a local girl, and even proposed marriage to her before he left, though nothing seems to have ever come of it.)

On returning to LA, The Beach Boys found themselves in the midst of the most intense marketing blitz ever concocted for a rock and roll band: The Beatles Are Coming!


While the production-focused Brian had initially dismissed The Beatles’ breakthrough single “I Want to Hold Your Hand”, Dennis and Carl had become instant fans, with Carl putting up a poster of the Moptops in his bedroom, which led to Murry calling him a "traitor". By the time The Beatles made their legendary appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in February, Brian had realized that he had misjudged the band. Legend has it that as the Wilsons watched the audience shrieking at the Beatles’ dynamic performance, Murry looked at Brian and said “Do you know what this means? It means you’re yesterday’s news, that’s what it means.”

Brian, already locked into a self-created production competition with his hero Phil Spector, was eager to meet the fray head on and The Beach Boys finished Shut Down Volume 2 in the last two sessions of a five session blitzkrieg that would also see Brian recording songs by The Honeys, the Castells and Jan & Dean.

However, and very significantly, for this last set of sessions Brian and the Beach Boys banned Murry from the studio, making these songs the first Beach Boys songs recorded without Murry’s co-production. Murry remained as their manager for the time being but his days were numbered.

In the middle of all this, on February 4th, Al Jardine quietly married his girlfriend, Lynda Sperry.


Once the album was finished, it was pressed and released in only ten days!

It seems Brian, though cognizant of the fact that Shut Down Volume 2 did have filler on it that marred its quality, just couldn’t wait to test his powers against the awesome power of The Beatles and pushed Capitol for a rush release.

Of course Brian or The Beach Boys would never be able to compete commercially at the phenomenal level of The Beatles (Meet The Beatles, the compilation album of The Beatles' first and second UK albums and fifth UK single would go on to sell 5,000,000 copies in the US — not all at once, of course, but still a jaw-dropping number for a rock album from 1964, as the highest-selling albums in the early sixties tended to be aimed at the adult market). But most of the band were pleased to find that they were not in fact, “yesterday’s news”, and that they were capable of holding their own at the very height of Beatlemania. In fact, on the singles chart, 1964 would prove to be The Beach Boys’ most successful year.

And, in time, the bands became fans and even friends , or as friendly as two very successful ambitious groups living on different continents and living in a mad non-stop circus of interviews, photo shoots, studio sessions, TV appearances, bus trips, plane trips, concerts, groupies, angry boyfriends, drag races and parties could be.

Shut Down Volume 2 was released in both mono and stereo on March 2nd, 1964 just shy of a year since the release of Surfin’ U.S.A.

Shut Down Volume 2 charted at #13 in the U.S.A., a rather disappointing number, but stayed in the Top 20 for nearly four months, eventually going gold. As of 2013, Shut Down Volume 2 had sold 590,000 copies in the U.S. alone. It is their 12th highest selling non-compilation album in the US and their 20th overall.

Bizarrely, Capitol promoted Shut Down Volume 2 as another “hot rod” album even though only four songs are connected to car culture and three of them only tenuously.

Most of the Shut Down Volume 2 sessions tracks were lost for decades, (as most of the multi-tracks for Surfer Girl and Little Deuce Coupe still apparently are) and thus have not been bootlegged. However, they were discovered in someone’s closet in the mid ‘00s, and given to author Jon Stebbins, who turned them over to BRI and Linnett and Boyd.

This enabled new stereo mixes of most of the songs to be made (and first-time stereo mixes for at least one) that were dribbled out on various releases between 2009 and 2014) as well as some session tracks that have been released.

The track list was:

1. Fun, Fun, Fun (Brian Wilson, Mike Love)
2. Don’t Worry Baby (B. Wilson, Roger Christian)
3. In the Parkin’ Lot (B. Wilson, Christian)
4. “Cassius” Love vs. “Sonny” Wilson (B. Wilson, Love)
5. The Warmth of the Sun (B. Wilson, Love)
6. This Car of Mine (B. Wilson, Love)
7. Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Frankie Lymon, George Goldner)
8. Pom Pom Play Girl (B. Wilson, Gary Usher)
9. Keep an Eye on Summer (B. Wilson, Bob Norberg)
10. Shut Down Part Two (Carl Wilson)
11. Louie, Louie (Richard Berry)
12. Denny’s Drums (Dennis Wilson)

In addition to the above, I will hold up the following extra-album tracks:

• She Rides with Me - Paul Petersen (B. Wilson, Christian) {A-side, 1964}
• New Girl In School - (B. Wilson, Norberg, Berry, Christian) Jan & Dean{B-side, Dead Man’s Curve/The New Girl In School, 1964}
  • Gonna Hustle You (B. Wilson, Norberg)
  • Get a Chance with You (B. Wilson, Norberg, Berry)
• Ride the Wild Surf - Jan & Dean (B. Wilson, Berry, Christian) {from Ride The Wild Surf, 1964}
• Surfin’ Wild - Jan & Dean (B. Wilson, Berry, Christian) {from Ride The Wild Surf, 1964}
• Move out Little Mustang (B. Wilson, Christian) - The Rally Packs
• Sacramento - Gary Usher (Gary Usher, B. Wilson) {A-side, 1964}
• That’s the Way I Feel (Usher) {B-side, 1964}
• My First Love (Usher, Christian, Wilson) - The Super Stocks {from Surf Route 101, 1964}
• Move out Little Mustang (B. Wilson, Christian) - The Rally Packs
• Running’ Wild (Usher, Christian, Wilson)- Frankie Avalon
• Muscle Beach Party (Usher, Wilson, Christian) - Annette {from Muscle Beach Party, 1964}
• Surfer’s Holiday (Usher Wilson, Christian) - Annette {from Muscle Beach Party, 1964}
• Muscle Bustle (Usher Wilson, Christian) - Annette {from Muscle Beach Party, 1964}
• Malibu Sunset (Wilson, Usher, Christian) —{demo}?
• Endless Sleep (Dolores Nance, Jody Reynolds - Larry Denton {outtake, released on Keep an Eye On Summer, 2014}
• The Lost Concert {March 15th, 1964, released 1998}

On November 28th, I should begin holding up songs from All Summer Long.

 

She's a lady

 

I mean Little Saint Nick/The Lord's Prayer, of course.

 

Not if certain Dennis related rumors are to be believed.

 

By all accounts, Dennis had his way with all of their multiple wives!

 

Long Tall Texan

I don’t get the appeal. . I would love to know what was happening on stage to provoke those screams from the audience at various points in the song.

2.25/5


Johnny B. Goode

Wow, this is fast! I like this more than most versions I’ve heard of this song. The fast pace suits it. See above regarding screaming at odd times.

3.25/5

 

"Long Tall Texan"

Even hearing this, when I was a teenager I didn't care for it.
I always wondered why oh why did they cover this song.
As Lance said it was a big hit in L.A., there were kids at their
Concerts, Westerns were popular (Bonanza was the #1 TV show in 1964), and Mike got to act up on stage. A comedy change of pace for the show.

Given all that, a prefer "Monster Mash"

1.5/5

"Johnny Be Goode"

A great concert closer in those days. Not my favourite Chuck Berry song , but it will do.
After "Fun, Fun,Fun" they had their own concert raver closer. They do an almost fast punk version, and send the crowd home happy.

3/5

 

Long Tall Texan

It may have been good at concerts but not so great as recorded. 1/5

Johny be Good

I don't think Chuck would have approved entirely, but not too bad, imo. 2/5

 

Long Tall Texan
Ugh...
1/5

Johnny B. Goode
No song I want to hear from The Beach Boys
1.5/5

 

Looks like Al Jardine and pet cat influenced Pet Sounds more than we ever imagined.

 

Extras:

Spoiler

The One You Can’t Have (Brian Wilson) - The Honeys (A-side 1963) = 4
Growing Up Is Hard To Do - Ginger & The Snaps = 4
The One You Can’t Have (Backing Track) = 4
Note: Another backing track that’s better than most of the instrumentals they actually released. = 4
The One You Can’t Have (Vocals Only) - The Honeys = 5
Look Of Love - Leslie Gore = 4
Summertime (George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin) - Sharon Marie (B-side 1964) = 5
Peter Gunn Theme - Duane Eddy = 5
After The Game (Wilson) - The Survivors (B-side, 1964) = 3
Drag City (Jan Berry, Roger Christian, Wilson) (A-side, 1963) = 4
Surf Route 101 (Berry, Christian, Wilson) (Drag City, 1963) = 4
Black Denim Trousers - The Cheers = 4
Dead Man’s Curve (Berry, Christian, Art Kornfeld, Wilson) (A-side, 1964) = 5
Dead Man’s Curve (Berry, Christian, Art Kornfeld, Wilson) (Ron Furnamek's 1996 stereo remix of the 1964 hit version) = 5
Dead Man’s Curve (Berry, Christian, Art Kornfeld, Wilson) (Drag City 1963) = 5
I'm Dying To Give My Love To You - The Pixies = 3
Molly - Bobby Goldsboro = 4
Note: This is so Over-The-Top it’s hilarious!
Dead Man's Curve - Nash The Slash = 4
I Do (Wilson,Christian) The Beach Boys (from Surfer Girl/Shut Down Vol. 2 twofer, 1990) = 5
I Do - The Castells = 5
To The Aisle - The Five Satins = 5

Stay Awhile - Dusty Springfield = 5
If It Can’t Be You (aka I’ll Never Love Again) (Wilson) - Gary Usher or Larry Denton (outtake, released on The Big Beat 1963) = ?
The Big Beat 1963 (2013) = ?
If Not For You - George Harrison = 5
Long Tall Texan (Henry Strzlecki) (recorded December 21st, 1963, released October 19th, 1964 on Beach Boys Concert) = 5
Note: I have always loved this! Fun and goofy.
Long Tall Texan (The Lost Concert) = 5
Note: Sounds the same as the first one, even looks like they are lip syncing to it. Still fun and goofy.
Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry) (recorded December 21st, 1963, released October 19th 1964 on Beach Boys Concert) = 5
Johnny B. Goode (Live At The University Of Michigan 1966) = 4
Note: Need the visual version of this one to see the Mick Jagger maneuver!
Johnny B. Goode (Concert On Tour 1968) = 5
Johnny B. Goode (Live In Chicago 1965) = 4
Long Tall Texan - Murry Kellum = 5



Shut Down (1963)
A1: Shut Down - The Beach Boys
A2: Chicken - The Cheers
A3: Wide Track - The Super Stocks
A4: Brontosaurus Stomp - The Piltdown Men
A5: Four On The Floor - The Super Stocks
A6: Black Denim Trousers And Motorcycle Boots - The Cheers
B1: 409 - The Beach Boys
B2: Street Machine - The Super Stocks
B3: The Ballad Of Thunder Road - Robert Mitchum
B4: Hot Rod Race - Jimmy Dolan
B5: Car Trouble - The Eligibles
B6: Cheater Slicks - The Super Stocks

In my “Legendary 1960s Various Artist Collections Song-By-Song Thread” I covered Shut Down starting on Page 19 Post #463
Legendary 1960s Various Artist Collections Song-By-Song Thread
I just checked and all the songs are still there if anybody is interested in hearing the other songs.
It’s a collection of (mostly) single sides and I included all the flipsides that weren’t included on the original LP.