Caine's Blog: Stop at the Radiant Radish!

NOTE: The following is a review I wrote for Endless Summer Quarterly, published July 1993. I've made a few small corrections along the way.

GOOD VIBRATIONS: 30 YEARS OF THE BEACH BOYS

This five-CD boxed set represents the most lavish compilation yet of archival Beach Boys material, but it is of necessity a compromise, an attempt to please both casual fans, who don't wish to purchase the entire range of their album reissues on CD, and dyed-in-the-wool collectors, who are all ears for stuff from their vast store of unreleased recordings. At about six hours, the Good Vibration box collection runs broad and deep enough to succeed on both counts. For the non-specialist, it provides the best coverage yet of the absolute cream of the Beach Boys' output, even including some surprises among the parade of hits, such as versions of "Surfin' Safari" and "409" remastered without fadeouts, as they were first heard as demos by the executives at Capitol Records. All of the early '60s material, moreover, is presented here in mono, which atones somewhat for Capitol's sole inclusion of stereo masters among its album reissue series three years ago.

At the other end of the fan spectrum, over two hours of music previously unreleased, most of it not even in bootleg form, has made its way onto these discs, thanks to David Leaf and all those long-suffering folks who have spent years bugging Capitol to put out something besides yet another mere greatest hits repackage. My one kick against this set is the fact that it was not released ten years ago, as it could have been with the exception of just two tracks. While nothing can be done about that, I still have to wonder whether this release will do the band any good; as a long-overdue token of respect for the Boys, it may have indeed arrived too late.

Be that as it may, here are some impressions of the heretofore unreleased material distributed among the five discs.

DISC 1, covering the period 1961-1965, includes a judicious and revealing selection from the group's heyday. The program violates chronology somewhat by kicking of with Brian's 1963 demo of "Surfin' USA, accompanying himself on piano. (It has been written that Brian performed this tune in much the same manner for Jan Berry, who begged him to let Jan & Dean record it. Instead, Brian gave Jan "Surf City" to play around with.) The demo differs from the hit record a little in its lyrics and, more importantly, in the absence of the crucial instrumental break, but the unreleased blues instrumental "Punchline," included on this disc, was compressed into a single 12-bar chorus and inserted before the tag on "Surfin' USA" to build the perfect climax and release, that uncanny sense of form that is present on all the great Beach Boys records.

From about the same time comes a fragment of another demo, the ballad "Little Surfer Girl," a little more developed in its instrumentation but too tantalizingly brief to gain much of an impression of the complete song. Then the program jumps back to the beginning with part of a living-room rehearsal of "Surfin'" done in September 1961, an a cappella rendition that apparently predates even the Hite Morgan audition included on the Lost and Found CD. This song, too, was to undergo some important formal changes, straightening out the awkward rhythm at the end of the chorus. Some of the chatter at the beginning shows another of the group's hallmarks: bickering with each other.

One of the nicest surprises in this collection is the inclusion of the version of "Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" tacked on to the 1962 demo tape that signed the Beach Boys to Capitol Records, again underlining both the skill of the group in handling complex vocal arrangements and their vast debt to the Four Freshmen. As an added treat, the booklet included with this release shows the tape box which contained the original reel of these demos: listed, in addition to "Their Hearts," are two versions of "Surf & Safari" (is one of them an alternate take? a stereo master?), "Lonely Sea," and "Four-oh-nine." Apparently, "Their Hearts" was thrown in as an afterthought, with manager Murry Wilson at its conclusion, bragging about his boys to Nick Venet at Capitol.

"Their Hearts Were Full of Spring" (1980, Washington DC)

Further along in the Freshmen mode, Disc 1 offers several delightful radio spots and the previously unreleased "Things We Did Last Summer," a Jules Styne-Sammy Cahn evergreen arranged and conducted by Dick Reynolds for a television performance in 1963. (It is not generally known among Beach Boys fans the degree to which Reynolds contributed to the success of the Four Freshmen, providing not only orchestrations, but also vocal arrangements for many of their best-known recordings.) It may very well be that Reynolds, uncredited, did the vocal charts for the Beach Boys in this particular project.

The final track on the first disc features "Hushabye," the beginning of a selection of outtakes from the 1964 Beach Boys Concert album, with the rest ("Surfin' USA,""Surfer Girl," and "Be True to Your School") oddly presented on the final disc. However, the greatest surprise, which almost got by me completely, is the unlisted appearance at the very end of a scratchy acetate recording of a multi-tracked Brian Wilson singing "Happy Birthday" to the Freshmen, done in the Freshmen's style, of course. Unlike everything else in this set, it sounds as if it could have been recorded in a do-it-yourself booth. But what a gas to end the disc on this note!

On DISC 2, the set moves into the territory bounded by "California Girls" (1965) and "With Me Tonight" (1967), a short slice of time that showcases Brian's phenomenal artistic growth. Before getting to the meat of things, we hear "Ruby Baby," an outtake from the Party! album, replete with harmony riff and "oink-oink" chorus. Another radio spot brings us to a selection of seven tunes from Pet Sounds. (Here the casual fan loses out somewhat: more than any other Beach Boys' album, this one suffers from not being heard in its entirety.) Appended to this is a "new" version of "Hang On to Your Ego," with Mike (believe it!) leading off and an entirely fresh backing vocal on the chorus.

The disc (and the set, for my money) comes to its climax with the long-awaited release of Smile-- well, sort of. In the first place, it should be apparent by now that there is not, nor can there ever be, a definitive issue of the Beach Boys' lost masterpiece, the making of which involved more than sixty sessions spread over eight months, not including the making of the smash single "Good Vibrations." What eluded Brian in the end was the selection and sequencing of the music to match the broad sweep of his conception, precisely the problem of this box set's compilers.

Still, it would be hard to improve upon the logical presentation offered here. "Our Prayer," unadorned by the overdubs that graced the 20/ 20 version, leads off the set as a short, spiritual introduction before we plunge into the great American saga with "Heroes and Villains" (identical to the version ("At threescore and five, I'm very much alive") first released as a bonus track on the Smiley Smile/ Wild Honey CD). This is followed by a "Sections" episode, likely from the "Bag of Tricks" tape reel pictured in the booklet, which kicks off with a thrilling rendition of "Bicycle Rider" and continues into a series of chants and variations on the theme. The closing verses are identical to what has been erroneously named "Barnyard." Then spirituality returns with "Wonderful" (how wonderful to hear this version in release at last!) and coalesces brilliantly with the homespun Americana suite "Cabinessence," in its 20/ 20 guise.

Most of the remaining Smile tracks are arranged to simulate the "Elements' suite proposed originally, but inexplicably "Fire" (aka "Mrs. O'Leary's Cow") is not included-- really a pity, because it would have given a sense of completeness to the whole thing. Having not come up with anything else to serve as "Air," the set makes do with the sparkling, marimba-clad "Wind Chimes," dropping off unexpectedly into a riff that would later be used on "Can't Wait Too Long." The "Heroes and Villains" motif is reintroduced with a marvelous cacophony, before dissolving into the harpsichord theme that would become "Cool, Cool Water" is next. "Surf's Up," featuring Brian accompanying himself on piano, provides the perfect finale.

While not all of Smile has surfaced, within the limitations I've noted, it's fair to say that the long-lost album is finally available to us all, like the Children of Israel receiving the Ten Commandments. I feel confident that Smile one day will receive the attention and recognition it deserves.

Can't Wait Too Long"

"H.E.L.P. Is On The Way"

DISC 3 surveys the territory between 1967 and 1971 with selections from the last Capitol albums and the early releases on Warner Bros/ Brother Records. A handful of novelties stud this segment, including a short version of "Can't Wait Too Long." This variant contains studio chatter in which Brian can be heard running down the lyrics of an entire verse, and the concluding segment is in stereo, with Carl's lead vocal isolated on one channel. "Cool, Cool Water" is presented in a version originally slated for Wild Honey; it comprises the "Love to Say Da Da" theme only and lacks the super production values accorded the expanded version on Sunflower. From the 20/ 20/ Sunflower cusp, we get the first releases of "Games People Play," "I Just Got My Pay," and "H.E.L.P." (which ends with Brian's invitation to visit the Radiant Radish, his health food store in L.A.) In addition there is "Fourth of July." Composed by Dennis with Jack Rieley's lyrics, it seems to reflect the contemporary furor surrounding the government's attempt to prevent publication of the Pentagon Papers. The Boys were never particularly convincing as social prophets-- at least not since the recorded "Pom Pom Play Girl," and this tune sinks under the ponderous weight of its message.

DISC 4 might be considered the set's biggest weakness; attempting to cover the seventeen years between "Sail On Sailor" and "Kokomo," almost twice the span of the first three discs combined, it barely manages to skim the highlights. While the music of the '60s must predominate in a set like this, one cannot help but feel that the Beach Boys' output from the '70s and'80s has been slighted. Unreleased material gets especially short shrift here, consisting of four tracks only, all from the mid-'70s: a delightfully remastered "Fairy Tale Music" suite from Holland, crystal clear without Rieley's voice-over narration; "It's Over Now" and "Still I Dream of It," a pair of lovely, Dick Reynolds-arranged ballads from Brian's unreleased Adult Child; and "Our Team," an outtake from the M.I.U. Album enhanced by the presence of Marilyn Wilson and Diane Rovell. But many gems equally worthy have been bypassed to make room for album cuts that sometimes seem mediocre in comparison.

A more thorough treatment of these years will have to await another release down the line. Many fans, I'm sure, would be gratified to hear the original version of "Sail On Sailor" with Brian's lead vocal, or Dennis in concert performing the beautiful "Barbara," or Al's fanciful production of "Loop De Loop." The rare 1974 single "Child of Winter" has yet to appear on CD, and many of its companion songs from the abortive second Christmas album a few years later deserve hearing, for they show the continuing vitality and creativity of the Beach Boys at a time when they operated on the margins of a pop culture grown repetitious and stultifying.

As if to make amends, DISC 5 compiles over an hour of odds and ends with the avid collector in mind. Indeed, some of it seems to have been created specifically for inclusion in this release, such as the stereo versions which completely separate the vocal tracks from the instruments. These, added to the backing tracks for I Get Around," "Dance, Dance, Dance," "Good Vibrations," "Heroes and Villains," "Surf's Up," and "Cabinessence," enable one to assemble a truly formidable extension of the 1968 Stack-O-Tracks release.

Besides these curiosities, the disc includes the demo for "In My Room," quite different in texture from the finished record, and lengthy excerpts from studio sessions for Pet Sounds and "Good Vibrations." The "God Only Knows" segment is particularly welcome, because it culminates with an alternate version with Brian singing lead and a completely unexpected, thrilling tag, done a cappella. Although I must admit my preference for the originally released version, how difficult it must have been to reject this one!

The remaining tracks are all live in concert recordings or rehearsals. In addition to the 1964 titles already mentioned, there is the first public performance of "Good Vibrations" at Michigan State University in October, 1966, and a rehearsal of a newly-arranged "Surfer Girl" in Hawaii, 1967. Can a Lei'd in Hawaii CD be in the offing?

All in all, Beach Boys fans have not received a treat like this in recent memory. As their new releases in the '90s grow ever more formulaic and uninspired, it's nice to know that Capitol Records has awakened to the potential of their vast catalogue of unreleased performances, both in and out of the studio. After more than twenty years of questionable releases and ill-conceived reissues, maybe there is yet reason to hope for something better.

IN MY ROTATION:

Fred Neil, Bleecker &MacDougal (Elektra, 1965)

Except for Neil's album with Vince Martin, Tear Down the Walls, this is his first album under his own name. It's an all-acoustic set with Neil and Pete Childs on guitar, John Sebastian on harmonica, and either Felix Pappalardi or Douglas H'atelid on bass. All tunes but one were penned by Neil, the exception being "Water Is Wide," which to me is the album's centerpiece. The tracks also include the title tune, the famous "Other Side to This Life," "Little Bit of Rain" (which became the title of an LP reissue), "Travelin' Shoes," "Yonder Comes the Blues" ("dressed in high-heel shoes"), the languorous "Handful of Gimme" ("... and a mouthful of much obliged"), "Gone Again," and a song covered by Roy Orbison, "Candy Man." This album is perhaps not Neil's best, but it's nonetheless excellent, especially considering how thin his discography is.

LIGHTLY & POLITELY

Bud Powell, Jazz at Massey Hall-Vol, 2(Debut/ OJC, 1953)

Bud Powell, The Classic Recordings, 1949-1956; The Classic Recordings, 1957-1959 (Enlightenment, 2016 release)

For beginners and devotees alike, these two sets are a bonanza, sixteen Powell albums on eight CDs covering more than a decade of his recording career. Apart from my usual complaints against Enlightenment sets, no session dates or personnel-- in these collections, no label information, either-- something is problematic about order of presentation, by album release dates rather than session dates. The first set, indeed, encompasses recordings from 1949, but they appear on Disc 2 instead of at the beginning. Powell's very first recordings under his own name date from 1947, but you won't hear it until the first disc of the second set.

The Blue Note sides collected in the first set (The Amazing Bud Powell, Volumes 1 and 2) present a particular problem, in that when they were first compiled on ten-inch, and later twelve-inch vinyl LPs, they threw together music recorded in three separate sessions from 1949, 1951, and 1953, with differing personnel. Much better here to have the Blue Note CD reissues, which organize the material in a more logical way.

For material originating from the mid-'50s forward, there is no such problem, as it was released at the time it was recorded; so the first set begins with music recorded in 1956, and continues in this way for all but Disc 2 to the end of the first set of four CDs. Likewise, except for the first disc in the second set (released on the Roulette label as Bud Powell Trio), the music is presented in the order it was recorded, up through 1959. The other music in the set first appeared, except for two albums on RCA, on the Blue Note and Norman Grand's Mercury, Norgran, and Verve labels.

The biggest gaffe, however, appears on the 1949-56 set, at the beginning of Disc 4, we hear the all-star quintet (Bird, Diz, Bud, Mingus, Max) portion of the 1953 Toronto concert, instead of the essential Bud Powell trio set that preceded it.

Exceptional value, though. I wish these collections had been available forty years ago.