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

Lonely Days
—like this better than a fair amount of what landed on Wild Honey; glad to have extended mix | 4.51/5

Honey Get Home
—Nothing really distinguishes this. Of course with work, \who knows. It's jaunty and overall feels like it coulda come from anytime over the previous, where are we now, maybe three years, particularly previous two or so | 2.28/5

 

"Lonely Days" - This is lovely. Obviously, they never finished the lyrics and the vocal, but musically I think this would've fit in well on Wild Honey. 4/5

"Honey Get Home" - Another good one, but it needs more variation, which could've been provided by a vocal. 3.25/5

 

Honey Get Home AI version 4/5. They used the Carl Wild Honey/Made to Love Her voice rather than the Darlin’ voice. Still sounds great and would fit perfectly on the album.

 

Lonely Days: Extended version really helps - which is just how it would have been put together if it had made Wild Honey of course. I like to hear Bruce's voice up front. 3/5

Honey Get Home: One of those where you think there's nothing to it - and then Brian keeps drawing you back. (That simple addition of the guitar line over the change). Which means of course that there IS a lot to it! 4/5

 

Was Our Prayer in it? Because I’m still trying to figure out what doc I first saw that in.

 

Listening again and again...I absolutely love this one, and the shortish length actually fits in with the many other short tracks on Wild Honey.....
I reiterate...
with a strong:
5/5

 

Oh, Lonely Days is definitely a Brian Wilson song. I find it very odd that this is the one instance in the whole catalogue of an 'unknown' writer credit being given because Brian didn't remember it. Brian doesn't remember a lot of things! It's Brian on piano, tambourine and drums, Bruce on 6-string bass and organ. The full structure of the song intended by Brian was verse/chorus/turnaround/verse/chorus/turnaround/fade-chorus (the fade section only being found on Sunshine Tomorrow 2).

Coincidentally, Honey Get Home was recorded on the same day; Brian on piano and drums, Carl on guitars, Bruce on 6-string bass. It had a vocal melody and at least some lyrics written. The official release is a somewhat abridged edit.

 

"Lonely Days" is worth further work, I guess we'll never know what it could have become, but it's pretty good as is. When the archivists are going through the vaults and come across songs like this it must be frustrating and rewarding at the same time. 3.6/5

"Honey Get Home" could have become something great, but there just isn't much there yet. It has a positive happy sound that would have fit right in on Wild Honey (or Friends), it’s surprising that Brian gave up on it, unless it was because the music sounded too simplistic for his standards. 3/5

 

Yes.

 

On tape? If so, I wonder why that wasn't issued on ST or ST2?

 

Our votes for "Lonely Days"
1-1
2-2
3-11
4-4
5-3
Average:3.191

Our votes for "Honey Get Home"
1-0
2-4
3-9
4-3
5-1
Average: 2.89

 

Today Sunshine Tomorrow 1967.

Sunshine Tomorrow 1967 was an archival release that compiled studio tracks, outtakes, backing tracks, and alternate versions of The Beach Boys’ 1967 output: i.e., Smiley Smile and Wild Honey (no SMiLE stuff, per se).

Most importantly it included the first (and to date only) stereo mix of the Wild Honey along with several live songs and many of the Wally Heider Lei’d IN Hawaii tracks. For these reasons it was released in physical form, rather than digital only like many of these Beach Boys archival releases were in the last decade.

The Tracklist: (cut and pasted from discogs)
Wild Honey Stereo

1. Wild Honey 2:45
2. Aren't You Glad 2:16
3. I Was Made To Love Her 2:07
4. Country Air 2:21
5. A Thing Or Two 2:42
6. Darlin' 2:14
7. I'd Love Just Once To See You 1:49
8. Here Comes The Night 2:44
9. Let The Wind Blow 2:23
10. How She Boogalooed It 1:59
11. Mama Says (Original Mono Mix) 1:08
    Wild Honey Sessions September - November 1967, Previously Unreleased
12. Lonely Days (Alternate Version) 1:45
13. Cool Cool Water (Alternate Early Version) 2:08
14. Time To Get Alone (Alternate Early Version) 3:08
15. Can't Wait Too Long (Alternate Early Version) 2:49
16. I'd Love Just Once To See You (Alternate Version) 2:22
17. I Was Made To Love Her (Vocal Insert Session) 1:35
18. I Was Made To Love Her (Long Version) 2:35
19. Hide Go Seek (Backing Track Master Take) 0:51
20. Honey Get Home (Backing Track Master Take) 1:22
21. Wild Honey (Session Highlights) 5:39
22. Aren't You Glad (Session Highlights) 4:12
23. A Thing Or Two (Track And Backing Vocals) 1:01
24. Darlin' (Session Highlights) 4:36
25. Let The Wind Blow (Session Highlights) 4:14
    Wild Honey Live 1967 - 1970 Previously Unreleased
26. Wild Honey (Live) 2:53
27. Country Air (Live) 2:20
28. Darlin' (Live) 2:25
29. How She Boogalooed It (Live) 2:43
30. Aren't You Glad (Live) 3:12
31. Mama Says (Session Highlights) 3:08

Smiley Smile Sessions June - July 1967, Previously Unreleased

1. Heroes And Villains 3:38
2. Vegetables 2:55
3. Fall Breaks And Back To Winter 2:28
4. Wind Chimes (Alternate Tag Section) 0:48
5. Wonderful 2:23
6. With Me Tonight (Alternate Version With Session Intro) 0:51
7. Little Pad (Backing Track) 2:40
8. All Day All Night (Whistle In) (Alternate Version 1) 1:04
9. All Day All Night (Whistle In) (Alternate Version 2) 0:50
10. Untitled (Redwood) (Instrumental Fragment) 0:35
    Lei'd In Hawaii "Live" Album September 1967, Previously Unreleased
11. Fred Vail Intro 0:24
12. The Letter 1:54
13. You're So Good To Me 2:31
14. Help Me, Rhonda 2:24
15. California Girls 2:30
16. Surfer Girl 2:17
17. Sloop John B 2:50
18. With A Little Help From My Friends 2:21
19. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring 2:33
20. God Only Knows 2:45
21. Good Vibrations 4:13
22. Game Of Love 2:11
23. The Letter (Alternate Take) 1:56
24. With A Little Help From My Friends (Stereo Mix) 2:21
    Live In Hawaii August 1967, Previously Unreleased
25. Hawthorne Boulevard (Instrumental) 1:05
26. Surfin' 1:40
27. Gettin' Hungry 3:19
28. Hawaii (Rehearsal Take) 1:11
29. Heroes And Villains (Rehearsal) 4:45
    Thanksgiving Tour 1967 - Live In Washington, D.C. & Boston, Previously Unreleased
30. California Girls (Live) 2:32
31. Graduation Day (Live) 2:56
32. I Get Around (Live) 2:40
33. Surf's Up (1967 Version) 5:19
34. Surfer Girl (1967 A Capella Mix) 2:17

 

3/5

 

Today, also Sunshine Tomorrow 2: The Studio Sessions 1967.

Sunshine Tomorrow 2: The Studio Sessions 1967 was released on digital form only and was a companion, or sequel to Sunshine Tomorrow, containing more studio takes, outtakes, alternate mixes, etc.

The Tracklist:

1. Heroes And Villains (A Cappella)3:392
2. Vegetables (Track And Background Vocals)2:243
3. She's Going Bald (Track And Background Vocals)2:154
4. Little Pad (A Cappella)2:195
5. With Me Tonight (Session Highlight)3:136
6. Wind Chimes (Track And Background Vocals)2:407
7. Getting Hungry (Track And Background Vocals)2:33
8. Whistle In (Track And Background Vocals)1:209
9. Aren't You Glad (Stereo Single Mix)2:1610
10. I Was Made To Love Her (Track And Background Vocals)1:2111
11. Country Air (Track And Background Vocals)2:3012
12. Darlin (Track And Background Vocals)2:1413
13. I'd Love Just Once To See You (Track And Background Vocals)2:3414
14. Here Comes The Night (A Cappella)2:3615
15. Let The Wind Blow (A Cappella)2:2716
16. How She Boogalooed It (Track And Stereo Last Verse)3:2317
17. Lonely Days (Session Highlight And Track)3:1518
18. Time To Get Alone (Backing Track)3:1519
19. Cool Cool Water (Alternate Mix)2:1020
20. Can't Wait Too Long (Alternative Mix With Tag)2:3821
21. Tune L (Session)3:4522Good News (Outtake)1:1223
22. Surfin ("Lei'd In Hawaii" / Studio Backing Track)1:2724
23. Heroes And Villains ("Lei'd In Hawaii" / Studio Version)2:4525
24. With A Little Help From My Friends (Session Highlight And Track With Background Vocals)3:1926
25. Barbara Ann ("Lei'd In Hawaii" / Studio Backing Track)1:5727
26. California Girls (Lei'd In Hawaii / Studio Stereo Mix)2:3828
27. God Only Knows ("Lei'd In Hawaii" / Studio Stereo Mix)2:4529
28. Surfer Girl ("Lei'd In Hawaii" / Studio Stereo Mix - Alternate Take)

 

ST

Covers a ton of ground in a tidy little package. One of their best archival releases. Only way it could have been better was if they released it as a 6 disc set will all digial stuff included under one roof.

5/5

 

Finally a third entry for today.
Live Sunshine 1967.

Live Sunshine 1967 was a digital only “box set”, that included both Hawaiian shows and a long rehearsal for each one of those; and five more soundboard recordings for The Beach Boys Thanksgiving tour which followed the recording of, but preceded the release of, Wild Honey in mid-to-late December 1967.

These concerts may have been recorded with the intent of culling songs from them from the Lei’d in Hawaii project that was still projected to follow Wild Honey.

The tracklist:

1 Heroes And Villains (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 5:21
2 God Only Knows (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:33
3 Good Vibrations (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 8:27
4 The Letter (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:03
5 You're So Good To Me (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:43
6 Hawaii (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 1:24
7 All Day All Night (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:44
8 California Girls (Rehearsal Take 1 / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:39
9 Surfin' (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 5:10
10 Sloop John B (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:20
11 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:33
12 California Girls (Rehearsal Take 2 / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:49
13 The Letter (Rehearsal Take 2 / Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:36
14 Hawaii (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 1:07
15 You're So Good To Me (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 1:47
16 Surfer Girl (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:06
17 Surfin' (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:34
18 Gettin' Hungry (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:11
19 Sloop John B (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:24
20 California Girls (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:38
21 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:14
22 Heroes And Villains (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:49
23 God Only Knows (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 3:29
24 Good Vibrations (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 4:49
25 Barbara Ann (Live In Hawaii / 8/25/67) 2:45
26 The Letter (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 8:39
27 Hawaii (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:30
28 You're So Good To Me (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:45
29 God Only Knows (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 0:49
30 Help Me Rhonda (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 3:42
31 California Girls (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:23
32 Good Vibrations (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 4:35
33 Heroes And Villains (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 5:10
34 Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 8:19
35 The Lord's Prayer (Rehearsal / Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 7:58
36 Hawthorne Boulevard (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 1:12
37 Hawaii (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 1:24
38 You're So Good To Me (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:06
39 Help Me Rhonda (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:34
40 California Girls (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:34
41 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:13
42 Gettin' Hungry (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:40
43 Surfer Girl (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 3:06
44 Surfin' (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:00
45 Sloop John B (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 3:03
46 The Letter (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:21
47 God Only Knows (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:57
48 Good Vibrations (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 4:54
49 Heroes And Villains (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 4:45
50 Barbara Ann (Live In Hawaii / 8/26/67) 2:36
51 Barbara Ann (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 3:07
52 Darlin (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:54
53 Country Air (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:38
54 I Get Around (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:39
55 How She Boogalooed It (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:46
56 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:30
57 God Only Knows (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 3:16
58 California Girls (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 3:53
59 Wild Honey (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:52
60 Graduation Day (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 2:54
61 Good Vibrations (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 4:25
62 Johnny B. Goode (Live In Detroit / 11/17/67) 3:15
63 Barbara Ann (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 3:35
64 Darlin (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 2:47
65 I Get Around (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 2:53
66 Surfer Girl (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 3:00
67 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 2:47
68 God Only Knows (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 3:08
69 California Girls (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 2:41
70 Wild Honey (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 4:01
71 Good Vibrations (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 4:24
72 Graduation Day (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 3:19
73 Johnny B. Goode (Live In Washington, D.C. / 11/19/67) 4:29
74 Help Me Rhonda (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:19
75 Barbara Ann (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:08
76 Darlin (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:55
77 Surfer Girl (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:28
78 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:17
79 God Only Knows (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:39
80 California Girls (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:30
81 Wild Honey (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 2:53
82 Graduation Day (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 3:04
83 Good Vibrations (Live In White Plains, NY / 11/21/67) 4:19
84 Help Me Rhonda (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:19
85 Barbara Ann (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:06
86 I Get Around (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:19
87 Darlin' (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:51
88 Surfer Girl (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:48
89 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:39
90 God Only Knows (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:47
91 California Girls (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:31
92 Wild Honey (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 4:02
93 Good Vibrations (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 4:27
94 Johnny B. Goode (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 2:39
95 Graduation Day (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 3:41
96 Sloop John B (Live In Pittsburgh / 11/22/67) 4:08
97 Help Me Rhonda (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 2:19
98 Barbara Ann (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 2:08
99 Darlin (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:22
100 Surfer Girl (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 2:48
101 Wouldn't It Be Nice (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 2:03
102 God Only Knows (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:09
103 California Girls (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 2:52
104 Wild Honey (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:16
105 Good Vibrations (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 4:11
106 I Get Around (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:13
107 Sloop John B (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:06
108 Graduation Day (Live In Boston / 11/23/67) 3:02
109 Johnny B. Goode (Live In Boston / 11/23/67)

 

Also today and Not For Rating:
"Tune L", written and produced by Dennis Wilson.

Recorded at Western Recorders on December 28th, 1968.

Line Up: (December 1967 version) (“Tune L”)
Dennis Wilson: piano
With
Paul Tanner: electro-theremin,
other personnel unknown

Dennis would return to this composition a few times in the next year and it seems to have become part of a couple of later songs.

Released on Sunshine Tomorrow 2: The Studio Sessions 1967 in 2017.

 

Love this set. So many "Wow!" moments when I first listened to it. 5.0 / 5.0

 

5/5 for both Sunshine Tomorrow and Sunshine Tomorrow 2

Between the relevatory stereo mix, "live" cuts (and actual live cuts), and session highlights/a cappella mixes, these two are a treasure trove. They dispel myths and provide so many little moments of pure bliss and beauty (as do the parent albums). I'm very grateful for their release.

 

Lonely Days

This had much potential. When I first heard it on the Hawthorne comp., I was struck by how clear it sounded, considering it was recorded during the Wild Honey sessions. Bruce always downplays his bass playing but he plays some tasty bass runs here, on a 6-string no less!

4/5

Honey Get Home

A charming instrumental. Hopefully the vocal melody and partial lyrics will be revealed one day.

3/5

 

Sunshine Tomorrow: 5/5 -- great great archival release. One of the best. Digital remix is great.

Sunshine Tomorrow 2: 5/5 -- less essential for casual fans, but still essential for real fans I wish they had included this in the original release!

Live Sunshine 1967: It's all a bit much to take in.

• I think the Hawaiian shows and rehearsals are super interesting and at times great, at times terrible, but interesting. Screaming kids in abundance.
• The Thanksgiving shows are mostly great (except for too much horseplay in Philadelphia.) Mike gets annoying at times (makes the same jokes as he did in '66), but the music sounds really great. They are such an underrated live band. One of the shows (can't remember which) has crackly sound.
• Detroit has something ilke four Wild Honey songss -- it was recorded before Wild Honey even came out. The rest of them shrink that to just "Wild Honey" and "Darlin'".
• Carl sounds better on "Wild Honey" here than on the record and he sounds amazing on everything else, too.
• Detroit is the best show, for me.
• The best way to hear this is just to separate each show out in a separate playlist and listen to one of them once in a blue moon. They are mostly too samey to listen to as a long extended listen.

Hard to rate. As a listening experience, it needs to be approached in a certain way. (A culled 14 or 15 song album would have been more listenable, but I can make that playlist yourself if I want -- take Detroit and add any songs that were on other concerts but not on that.)

I give it a 4.5/5.

Mark Linnett said recently there were a similar amount of concerts recorded for 1973 (and I guess for some other years as well) but they hadn't been digitalized -- no one wants to invest in it. I wish they would, release it all! Digital dump is all right for me. Let us choose what we like.

 

Sunshine Tomorrow 1&2

I had this stuff playing in my car for about 4 months straight. I keep going back to it. I have not yet listened to all of the shows on Live Sunshine. I listen to Hawaii and I find it fascinating and worthwhile if not great. I've also listened to Detroit. I had to hear 'em in Detroit. It's the motor city...

5

 

Tomorrow, I’m going to start holding up songs from Friends, The Beach Boys 14th studio album.


As soon as the Wild Honey album was finished, the Beach Boys (without Brian, of course) went back out on the road for their annual Thanksgiving tour. The British press had complained about their now-unstylish striped shirts in 1967, and so for this tour they finally had gotten rid of them in favor of matching white suits and ascots.

Bassist Ron Brown, who had played on their last tour accompanied them once again, and he was joined by a second sideman, Darryl Dragon, on keyboards.


Darryl Dragon, or “The Captain” as Mike began calling him, was one of Bruce’s contacts. Dragon had met Bruce back in the fifties, when he witnessed the latter, still a teenager, playing piano at a nightclub, surrounded by adoring young women. The two struck up a musical friendship and played gigs together in the late fifties and early sixties, at the dawn of both of their careers. When auditioning for The Beach Boys, Bruce gave Dragon a tip: he told him not to worry about being technically perfect, but to “beat the piano to death". Dragon did, and Carl hired him. Within a year Dragon would become a de facto Beach Boy and a very important player on several of their albums and he would in particular help to bring Dennis’s budding songwriting career to flower.

The four-day tour was well-attended, with audiences of up to six thousand per show but the nature of the audiences was definitely changing, with fewer screaming children and more reserved, polite audiences of young adults. The concerts were recorded, with the hopes of culling songs for the Lei’d In Hawaii live album, which was still projected as the next release after Wild Honey.

I think it was during this tour that Steve Desper, who Brian had fired on the advice of a psychic and who was working as a roadie became their live band engineer when their soundman (who was a cousin of Mike's fell ill) and Desper took over. Carl liked the sound he got so much that he became their permanent sound man for several years.

In December, they took a break. Dennis celebrated his 23rd birthday and recorded some sessions of songs he had written, but otherwise, the band was largely dormant. On December 15th, The Beach Boys (minus Brian) flew to Paris, with Ron and Darryl, and played a concert for UNICEF, a huge star-studded event that was attended by the likes of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and Marlon Brando, who had breakfast with the Beach Boys after a riotous night out.

After the show, the band flew to London to make arrangements for a tour there later in 1968 but Dennis stayed behind. In Paris, Dennis came across Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who persuaded Dennis to call the rest of the The Beach Boys back to Paris to attend a private lecture and lesson on his technique of transcendental meditation.

He did, and the Beach Boys dutifully flew back to attend the lectures. The Beach Boys were all impressed by the meditation lecture and became adherents — but none more than Mike Love. Mike had previously attended a TM lecture in LA before flying out, and Brian had taken lessons in L.A. too. But when Carl, Mike, Dennis and Al (and their wives) learned to meditate at the feet of the charismatic guru, Mike became passionately convinced that Transcendental Meditation was the key to solving his emotional turmoil, anger management issues and developing alcohol problem.

Not only that: he fervently believed that TM was the salvation of of the entire human race.

Afterwards, the Beach Boys flew to England to arrange the tour and attended a costume party thrown by The Beatles to celebrate the upcoming TV premier of The Magical Mystery Tour film. It was an eventful trip and Carl celebrated his 21st birthday soon afterwards.

Back in LA, Brian and Marilyn were awaiting the birth of their firstborn and were in cosy nest-making mode. Hearing the others gush about the lectures in Paris, they flew to the East coast and the whole band was photographed with the Maharishi. Brian had already had some lessons in L.A. in late 1967, but hadn’t taken them seriously, but he did so now.


The meditation technique seemed to quell Brian's inner turbulence to some extent and even helped to quiet the mocking, threatening voices in his head — at least for a time — what’s more it inspired him.

The Beach Boys took January off, for the most part. By now, the Lei’d In Hawaii project was probably dead in the water, and Brian began preparing for an upcoming album called Stack-o-Tracks, which was a suggestion from a Capitol executive — a way to deliver a contractually-obligated album without having to record a new album from scratch. Before that came about though ,Brian, inspired by their upcoming baby, his peaceful homelife and the meditative technique, began writing songs, and the Stack-o-Tracks project was put on the back burner. And after a brief and very successful (in one day alone the Beach Boys made $26,000) tour of the rainy Pacific Northwest, the rest of the band returned to the sun in LA to rest out the rest of the winter, as was their custom; and not long afterwards, they started recording new songs written by Brian, only without Mike — who had flown to India for the Maharishi’s famed TM retreat in Rishikesh with The Beatles, Donovan and other high profile acolytes of the Maharishi.


Early sessions for Friends were recorded at The Beach Boys’ now quite comfortable and well-equipped 8 track studio in Brian’s house, with The Beach Boys themselves on instruments. These sessions were laid back and productive, and an overall sense of peace and harmony prevailed at the sessions; Al Jardine has said that his friendship with Brian grew stronger during this time as he and the others all collaborated with Brian on the songs. But soon enough Brian’s ambition would lead to him going back to hiring session musicians and working with them both at home and at ID Sound Studios to realize his songs the way he heard them in his head.

Curiously Brian seems to have avoided his favored studios, Gold Star and Western Recorders, from earlier in his career; and of the Wrecking Crew members he had worked with so much in previous years, only a handful would play on this album — the rest of the musicians were more likely to be found on jazz or easy listening records than the hot pop songs of the day.

And that might have been intentional on Brian’s part, as Friends, had a much loungier, jazz vibe than his previous records. The expertise and musicianship of the session players helped shape the music into something that was somewhat new for Brian, yet grounded in an older method.

For most of the songs on Friends, Brian abandoned the overdubbing method of recording that had characterised Wild Honey and Smiley Smile and recorded instead like he had in 1966: that is, he would recording an ensemble of musicians playing in a room, adding just a few overdubs to a track that was basically recorded live.

However, he continued to record and build tracks in modular fashion, recording say a chorus, a verse and bridge or connecting section and then copying them and taping them together — in fact it was the late '66 SMiLE style of recording rather than the early ’66 Pet Sounds way; but this time the seams of the edits hardly showed at all.

Assisting him in this was Jim Lockert as engineer, who wasassisted by Stephen Desper on some tracks. Desper had been fired by Brian the year before for some superstitious reason, and had worked as a roadie for the band, whose sound recording was run by one of Mike’s cousins. When the cousin took ill, Desper took over and Carl liked his work so much that he was hired as the main soundman for Beach Boys gigs.

Also curiously, as will be seen, Brian recorded many songs with more elaborate arrangements that recalled the jazzy sophistication of his 1966 work; but then seemed to inevitably re-record them, with pared down, simpler, more “homey”, Americana-flavored arrangements.

Over the next five or six weeks, Brian and The Beach Boys would record most of Friends , as well as assorted outtakes, in about 27 sessions.

With Mike in India, Brian turned mostly to his other bandmates to help him complete the lyrics to the songs, though he was still writing the music and arrangements. The songs were mostly songs that celebrated the quiet joys of Brian’s home life and blossoming young family: the poetry of the everyday, capturing the sense of the inner peace that Brian and his bandmates had found, however fleetingly it would prove to be, through Transcendental Meditation.

Additionally, it seems that in this time Brian and Murry may have had something of a reconciliation and Murry was present at some of the sessions and co-produced some of the vocal sessions.

Importantly, it is also on Friends that Dennis debuted as a songwriter (not counting “Dennis's Drums”, from 1964), with Brian’s not inconsiderable help.

Mike, celebrated his 27th birthday abroad with The Beatles.



He returned in late March and helped Brian finish a few songs with lyrics and vocals.)

Immediately afterwards, The Beach Boys (without Brian) went on a short tour of the American South with Buffalo Springfield opening for them.

Before he had left India, The Maharishi had advised Mike to stay in India for a while, telling him it would be better for him to stay. And perhaps he was right: the tour, which was largely self-promoted and produced by The Beach Boys themselves, turned out to be a real problem. On the same day that they landed in Memphis, at almost the same time that they got off the plane, the news broke that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. had been assassinated. Their concert that night was cancelled. Over the next few days, as riots broke out all over the south and cities imposed curfews and imposed martial law on their citizens, several other shows were cancelled or postponed to later on in the month.

The tour was gruelling and stressful and expensive. Ron Brown was gone, but Darryl Dragon remained, and his younger brother Dennis Dragon joined on percussion, and backup drummer if Dennis wandered off stage during a show, which at this point wasn’t happening too often (shows were still quite short). Dennis would also be important to The Beach Boys over the next few years, but not as important as Darryl.



In addition to those musicians, The Beach Boys also toured with an 8-piece backing band of horns and cello.

In order to make up for the cancelled shows at the beginning of April, the band played two or even three shows per day: they now had two sound systems.

Whiz-kid engineer Stephen Desper, who mixed and recorded the shows, would have his crew fly to the next venue to set things up while he mixed one show; then he and the band would arrive at the next venue while the previous system was dismantled and set up at the venue after that and so on. This was exhausting and behind the scenes there was the usual scenes of rock and roll excess and madness. The stress of the tour led band members’ health to decline — Daryll Dragon fell ill and was temporarily replaced by his older brother Doug on piano. Buffalo Springfield guitarist Neil Young suffered from multiple epileptic seizures brought on by the gruelling schedule.

Some shows were poorly attended, with parents not allowing their children to leave home at night in the chaos. At one show in Florida only 25 people turned up —to see The Beach Boys and Buffalo Springfield!—and the group generously reimbursed some money to the venue owner; another show saw the resourceful Desper running the sound system on two car batteries after the electricity cut out. It seems in the end, the tour ended up just avoiding losing money, after the band had paid off their opening acts.

In L.A., in the quiet pre-natal calm of his home, cocooned away from the chaos that was wracking the rest of the country, Brian quietly finished or re-recorded the last three songs for Friends by himself. A few weeks after Friends’s completion, Brian and Marilyn’s daughter Carnie was born on April 29th. Brian panicked, telling his wife Marilyn that he wouldn’t be able to help Marilyn out with the his daughter’s upbringing: he was convinced he would “do her wrong”, just as he had been damaged by Murry.


Friends was released on June 24th, 1968, not long after Brian’s 26th birthday, and over two months after the opening single had been released. Finished and assembled in mid-April, it was Brian’s third album in ten months — and the last truly Brian-dominated album until the Brian’s Back era of 1976-1977.

Reviews of Friends were equivocal and in some cases were published long after the release; but they seemed to have been mainly positive. Nevertheless Friends debuted in the carts at a dismal 179, peaking a few weeks later at #126 — their lowest charting album to date. It did chart better in the UK, but at #13, it was the lowest charting album they’d released there since 1963.

As of 2012, Friends had sold 175,000 copies in the US, their 28th highest selling non-compilation album (tied with L.A. (Light Album)) and their 42nd highest selling album overall (tied with L.A., and The Greatest Hits Volume 3 - Best Of The Brother Years. )

A 1974 twofer of Smiley Smile & Friends sold an additional 75000, and the 1990/2001 Friends/20/20 CD twofer sold 10,000. In the end, it probably made a profit, but a very small one, for Capitol and The Beach Boys.

However low the sales might have been, time has been kind to Friends with many retrospective reviews noting its charms; and it’s been noted as an influential album on many softer indie pop groups of the 90s and ‘00s. Brian Wilson himself accounts Friends as one of his top ten all-time favourite albums of all time. Friends was included in Philip Larkin’s list/book 1000 Albums to Hear Before You Die at #662. It is also very highly ranked among many hardcore fans, particularly fans of Brian Wilson.

Brian Wilson has called Friends his favorite album by The Beach Boys (along with Summer Days, Wild Honey and Love You). Mike has praised it as a meditative, personal album that marked a “turning point philosophically and artistically” for The Beach Boys, Al had said that it included the band's “most interesting music”; Bruce, on the other hand, has called it “too wimpy” and “Not one of his top ten thousand albums."

The tracklist was:

1. Meant For You (Brian Wilson, Mike Love)
2. Friends (B. Wilson, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine)
3. Wake The World (B. Wilson, Jardine)
4. Be Here in the Mornin’ (B. Wilson, C. Wilson, D. Wilson, Love, Jardine)
5. When a Man Needs a Woman (B. Wilson, D. Wilson, C. Wilson, Jardine, Steve Korthoff, Jon Parks)
6. Passing By (B. Wilson)
7. Anna Lee, the Healer (B. Wilson, Love)
8. Little Bird (D. Wilson, Steve Kalinich)
9. Be Still (D. Wilson, Kalinich)
10. Busy Doin’ Nothin’(B. Wilson)
11. Diamond Head (Al Vescovo, Lyle Ritz, Jim Ackley, B. Wilson)
12. Transcendental Meditation (B. Wilson, Love, Jardine)

In addition to the above I plan to go over the following outtakes:

• My Little Red Book [demo] (Burt Bacharach, Hal David) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Away (D. Wilson, Billy Hinsche) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• I’m Confessin’/You’re as Cool as Can Be (take 1) (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• You’re as Cool as Can Be (take 2) (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Be Here in the Morning Darling (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Our New Home (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• New Song (B. Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}

The above 7 tracks will be covered in 4 days. Then…

• Stack-o-Tracks (one day)
• Is It True What They Say About Dixie? (Irving Caesar, Sammy Lerner and Gerald Marks) -Audree Wilson {recorded circa 1967-1968, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Wake The World: The Friends Sessions 1968 Live In London (one day for above two)
• Live in London
• On Tour 1968 (one day for above two)

NFR:

• Untitled 1/25/68 (Dennis Wilson) ) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Time To Get Alone [Version 2 track] (Brian Wilson) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}
• Rock and Roll Woman (Steven Stills) {outtake, released on Wake The World 1968 in 2018}

By my calculation, I should start holding up songs from 20/20 on May 21st.

 

Sunshine Tomorrow & Sunshine Tomorrow 2

Both sets elevated my appreciation for Smiley Smile and Wild Honey.

5/5

Live Sunshine

I listen to the rehearsals and live rarities. The rest I find tiresome.

3/5

 

3/5