Brian Wilson - "Caroline, No" b/w "Summer Means New Love" 7", Vinyl, 45 rpm, Single, 1966 (Capital)

A great song period.  The mystery here for me is why is this specific 45 rpm single of "Caroline, No"   under Brian Wilson's name and not The Beach Boys?    For one, none of the other Beach Boys are on "Caroline, No" and I wonder if Brian was thinking of life outside the Beach Boys?   One thing consistent with Brian Wilson is that he often composed music, even with a happy motif, often sounded sad.  "Pet Sounds" is a very dark album which hints of a troubled life.  The great irony of something like his masterpiece "Smile," which according to stories was a miserable time for him and the band, is very happy as an album.  On the other hand, even though the early songs were about cars/surfing, the melodies strike me as sad, which to my mind, makes the Beach Boys the greatest white blues band ever.  Mike Love likes to present 'his' band as happy-go-lucky lads in search of surf, sun, girls,  and hot wheels, but in fact, there is a desperation behind these recordings.  Beach Boys are one of the few bands that I can't listen to a lot because it really depresses me.

"Caroline, No" is one of those songs that I put on, just to reflect on life, or a meditation of sorts on what went wrong in one's life.   Even the b-side "Summer Means New Love" is not a happy melody. It's looking back at that summer that 'had' promise, but the romance didn't really happen.   I wished Brian Wilson at this time, ditched The Beach Boys and made more music under his name.   His main instrumentation at this time was really the recording studio.  The vocals of the lads are remarkable, but still, it is Brian Wilson all the way.  

The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds" Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Mono, 50th Anniversary, 1966/2016 (Capital)

I have a copy of The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" in Mono, but it's trashed by time and lack of care.  As I was strolling at a local record store in Atwater Village (Jacknife), I found a new copy or edition of this classic in Mono.   I bought it, and in our darkened living room I played the album.  Some records define the time of day, for instance, some recordings work great in the morning, and others in the afternoon. "Pet Sounds" strikes me as a work that is perfect for the late evening.  I'm a firm believer that one should go to, or prepare for bed in a sad state of mind.   "Pet Sounds" is the perfect soundtrack for that mood.

Hearing a fresh new copy is a gift that keeps on giving.  I think one can only listen to The Beach Boys in Mono.  Not only due to Brian Wilson being deaf in one ear, but the aesthetic of the recording needs to come from one direction.   It's a very compressed recording, where you feel the emotion is being put in a tiny room.   Yet the feelings are expansive and vast.  There is lots of tension that runs through the album.  I have written about "Pet Sounds" back in 2013 on this blog.  My feelings are the same, but listening to it last night, strikes me as a very intimate experience.  It's not a record that I'm compelled to share, but to be in a dark room in the middle of the evening - that's the perfect setting for The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds."

The Beach Boys - "Don't Worry Baby" b/w "I Get Around" 45 rpm vinyl single, 1964 (Capital Records)

"Don't Worry Baby" is a great and kind of a sad song as well.  In fact, everything Brian Wilson wrote has that touch of sadness or tainted with failure.  Even the classic Beach Boys rocking tunes has a sense of regret or loss of innocence.  Roger Christian wrote the lyrics to this song, and in its narrative, it's a guy who is going to race his car, but there is a hint of either an accident or even death that may take place.  His girl tells him "Don't Worry Baby, Everything will turn out alright."  Yet, is that true? 

Kenneth Anger had the genius to capture the death aspect of hot rod culture.  A mixture of eros and death are partners in crime with respect to the teenage drag race pop song.   Brian & company were experts or the poets of that genre.   The song works as a beautiful statement regarding faith and believing in love.  Yet there is the flip of the coin where disaster can enter the narrative.  The listener can choose their own narration to "Don't Worry Baby."  Popular music works best when there is that cloud of mystery or the story being not totally clear.  We're invited to put our two-cents into the mix, and that is how the song sticks to the listener. 

"I Get Around" is a gang song.  A hot-rod or car culture gang.  One of the best songs about boredom and moving on.  It has that Mike Love swagger, and he's very much an underrated lyricist. He conveys a world /landscape where one has to conquer the others to keep his stance as number one.   It's interesting that he makes the distinction that they are the good guys and not the bad kids in town. Interesting piece of work.  My love for this song is the organ that gets a tad louder toward the end.  It's the little things that give me the greatest pleasure. 

Brian Wilson - "Presents Smile" CD, Album, U.S. 2004 (Nonesuch)

Such an articulate and well-thought album, and incredibly up to the title "Smile," yet the original recording by The Beach Boys was one of complete misery.  The saddest Beach Boy had to dig in a profound psychotic state to produce this masterpiece.  The irony is that this is one of the great 'sunny' albums ever made.  Once over that cultural shock, one is amazed that Brian and company decided to do a re-recorded version of what once thought was a lost masterpiece.  But nothing is lost, and now we have two separate albums.  One is the re-discovered Beach Boys recording and of course, the Brian Wilson re-did version of 2004.   The Beach Boys version in another post.  

Wilson and his co-pilot for this project (and long time band member) Darian Sahanaja did a remarkable job in bringing this album back from the darkness.   Almost a clinical study in how to bring up something dead to life.  Lazarus indeed!   The album touches on exotica but also American theater music.  It reminds me at times of Aaron Copeland's orchestral scores.   The vastness of America on one album.   The album is eccentric in that it paints a big picture of what things should be, and I think the sadness that comes with the album is knowing the story behind it, but alas, an imaginary landscape.  

For those who know the Beach Boys' "Smiley Smile" or the singles "Heroes and Villians" "Surf's Up," and "Good Vibrations" is re-hearing these classics in their rightful place and time.  It's like getting a sketch, but now we have the whole painting.   Everything fits well.   Van Dyke Parks' lyrics are incredible, and it's amazing that he jumped on the Brian Wilson train to fulfill this adventure.   "Smile" as I listen to it, seems like an old-fashioned musical.  There is nothing really avant-garde about it, yet, it is very much a modern work.   Also, it doesn't compare to any other works out there. It's very original in its scope and sound.   A toe tapper! 

Frank Black - "Hang On To Your Ego" Vinyl, 12", 45 rpm, 1993 (4AD)

One of my all time favorite 12" singles ever.  I like it so much that I have it both on vinyl and on the CD format.  First of all, Frank Black couldn't do wrong in this time period of the early 1990s.  I feel that his early solo work is now overlooked, especially compared to the Pixies years.   Black was making art-pop songs that were beautifully written and sonically superb.  His cover of a Beach Boys Pet Sounds classic is full of energy and bounce.  He's a guy who gets it.

The main reason to buy this long playing single is the b-side.   "Surf Epic."   The title says it all.  It's a surf instrumental that lasts for ten minutes.  It's a beautiful melody that keeps on building in layers of intensity and melody. It's a classic piece of music by Black, and it's a shame that it's not more well-known to the world.  There is something very Jack Nietzsche about the work as well.  Probably due to its forceful arrangement.   One doesn't lose interest due to the length.  In fact, when the song is over, I just put the needle at the beginning of the song.   Excellent. 

The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra - "East Meets West" CD remastered album

The Andrew Oldham Orchestra - East Meets West

CD, Album, Reissue, Remastered, Japan, 2013 (originally released in 1965)

Decca

This is a super interesting album due that Andrew Loog Oldham has a fascination with American pop, and here he puts his focus on his love for both The Four Seasons and The Beach Boys.  For me, this is what made the Rolling Stones so noteworthy during the Oldham/Brian Jones years -the mix of R n’ B with the love of contemporary pop.   Keith Richards spoke of the love of the blues, but with the Stones, in this time period, it was the crazy mixture of their original passion and the hit parade of that time.

Oldham was probably one of the first pop people to worship the brain of Brian Wilson, and the whole orchestra idea of his comes from a mixture of Wilson and the classic Phil Spector era, which were happening at the time of these recordings.   Now we get homages to artists or a sound many years after the original recording, but Oldham and company paid their respects almost instantly when these hits were on the pop charts.

The Four Seasons was masterminded by member Bob Gaudio and the Season’s record producer Bob Crewe.  Both of these men crafted, wrote and produced the New Jersey aesthetic as it happened.   Oldham’s appreciation sort of goes behind the Wizard’s curtain to look at how they work.  The Andrew Loog Oldham Orchestra is a great deal a tribute to the men behind the sound booth with the engineer.

The music here touches on the greatness of the Beach Boys and The Four Seasons, but the purpose could be meant for various reasons.  Since both artists were popular at the time, it could be seen as a cash-in to what was happening in the charts at the time, but I think a lot of it has to do with Oldham’s love for the medium of pop stardom, pop record making, and the vision of the guy in the studio who conducts and makes the music.   It is also about image, so there is a visual aspect to this narrative as well.

This Japanese issued CD has both mono and stereo mixes, and there are differences between them with respect to sound and even mood.  Again, the best $28 I have spent on a recording.

The Beach Boys - "U.S. Singles Collection: The Capital Years 1962-1965"

The Beach Boys - U.S. Singles Collection: The Capital Years 1962-1965

16 x CD, Compilation, Limited Edition, 2008

Capital Records

The packaging by Tom Recchion is the real star of this Beach Boys collection of early singles.  You almost get the feeling you're buying a collection of E.P.'s but alas, you're not!   They're CD's and it is also in mono and stereo mix.  To be honest this is a great selection of Brian & Company's music.  In many ways the music fits better as a single.  "Little Honda" is a beauty of a song, from the first word 'Go!'  

But by far the most interesting and my favorite of this package is the Christmas songs.  "The Man With All The Toys" (almost sounds like a David Bowie title) is a superb song.  It's Christmas but with a sense of dread.  I can't imagine what Christmas was like at the Wilson household.   I don't need to go there, but I will go to this song on a regular basis and on any day besides Christmas.

The Beach Boys - "The Beach Boys Today!" Vinyl album Mono

The Beach Boys – The Beach Boys Today!

Vinyl Album, Mono, 1965

Capital Records

The Beach Boys Today everyday! At this time they're walking towards their more complex future arrangements, but saying that, one can hear a Ramones type of minimum sound on “Good To My Baby” that has a riff that is so incredible. In fact at this time and earlier the Boys had a remarkable minimal thing going with the guitars, piano, drums, and god knows what else. It is sort of like a wave that comes to the shore and then leaves. If there is rhythm in life, then the same for The Beach Boys. The introduction to “She Knows Me Too Well” goes in and out like a wave.

If you leave out “Bull Session With 'Big Daddy'” you would have a classic Beach Boys album. Why is it on this album? Nevertheless Beach Boys Now is a bridge between the old world to another.... perhaps world?

The Beach Boys - Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) Vinyl LP

The Beach Boys – Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)

Vinyl LP, Reissue, 2010

Capital Records

Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!)reminds me of The Beatles Rubber Soul album or maybe Beatles For Sale, not in the sense of sound but in maturity due to the themes on the album. Also for an odd reason it reminds me of New York City more than Southern California. Beyond their cover of Phil Spector's “Then I Kissed Her” it has that master's touch over these recordings. It is almost if The Beach Boys re-invented themselves as the male Ronettes. This and The Beach Boys Today are my favorite early albums by the mighty five. The songs are between child-like and adult. So maybe this is their most teenage album of them all!

We know the famous cuts here “California Girls” and “Help Me Rhonda,” but my favorite songs are “Girl Don't Tell Me,” “Let Him Run Wild,” and “You're So Good To Me.” Those three songs are masterpieces. For one, the singing on these cuts are incredible and so emotional. Great performances from the studio band, and it is just a beautiful production. But there are no bad cuts on Summer Days, it is basically a perfect album doing what it does best, which is capturing the inner-world of The Beach Boys.

But saying that there is one song here that is extremely disturbing, now that we know the facts between the Wilson boys and their father. That of course is “I'm Bugged At My Ol' Man.” Humorous till you realize that they must be singing about their grand ol' dad. The Beach Boys biography is a very sad one. When you come to think of it, it's amazing that Brian Wilson is still with us, and still working!

The Beach Boys - "Smile Sessions" 2 x vinyl LP

The Beach Boys – Smile Sessions

2 x vinyl LP 180 Gram, 2011

Capital Records

For an album that caused so much anxiety, madness, and a world being torn apart, is ironically so happy sounding. I would even call it happy-go-lucky. But the truth is it is anything but happy – at least life outside this vinyl or music. But when I put the needle on the record I am transformed into a weird landscape that is for sure America, but America that is transformed into a combination of Walt Disney, psychedelia, and the brash corny humor of “Hee Haw.”

This vinyl set as well as the Smile box set is the official release of this remarkable album. First of all it is hard to grasp all of this after so many years of hearing the bootlegs of these recordings. I have heard so many different versions of this work, that it is sort of like Kenneth Anger, who have consistently tinkered with his films over the years. But what's amazing is that the different mixes, the out-takes, and even the banter while recording the album is equally fascinating. The only people I know who likes Smile are people who have all the bootlegs or just huge fans of Brian Wilson and the boys.

Nevertheless the new (and final?) version is sort of a musical theater placed in one's head. Way more abstract than Pet Sounds which is basically straight forward pop songs, Smile deals with the enjoyment and love of everyday objects and things. “Wind Chimes,” “Vega-Tables,” and even “Good Vibrations” deal with pleasure either through objects, food or spirituality. The lyricist Van Dyke Parks really gets into Brian's head. I know on paper and probably work wise, Parks was a big part of the foundation for these series of songs. But still, I feel it expresses the inner-world of Wilson, a man-child tasting the vegetable for the first time and listening to the wind chimes – and putting on a focus on that act of appreciation. Its really unique in that sense.

Also there is this tension between being healthy and sort of losing it. Almost a hyper attention to getting it together, but of course the sanity of it all is in question. Smile to me is not a downer, but it does expose the dark tinge of disappointment or UN-fulfillment of dreams. But every dark cloud still has that hope attached to it, and Smile is very much a positive outlook on life and how one leads that life.

Smile is very much a set-piece and it has its own narrative, so it's important to hear it from beginning to end. The ambition and scope of this album is pretty grand, and I miss the days when artists went all out to achieve that type of work.    

The Beach Boys - "Pet Sounds" Vinyl Album Mono

The Beach Boys – Pet Sounds

Vinyl LP Mono

Capital Records

The mature masterpiece from The Beach Boys, or one should say Brian Wilson. While the band toured the world, Wilson slaved in a studio with the top L.A. Session players in making a work that is both emotional with that 'gee-wizz how great is that' type of feeling. If there was ever a white blues sound from the suburbs , Brian Wilson should have patented it, because the angst has never felt so dreamily personal and one-so-of-a-kind.

What works and totally fascinating to hear is the many layers and parts that's this record. On one level you have the great melodies, and on another is the arrangements that seem to be complicated but effortlessly done, and third, the brilliant and beautiful voices of The Beach Boys. What we have here is perfection which is technical but has a lot of feeling and tenderness. Very rarely does one hear a sound that is technically perfect in an aurally sense, but the emotion behind it is just a wow. The only thing I can compare it to is Bach. For the reason that Bach seems to add layers, and each layer builds and builds. Or supports another layer. Brian Wilson does that with this album.

For those who are obsessed with the sound of this album there is the Pet Sounds box-set which obsessively documents each take or layer that is put on this LP. Never boring because each piece itself is beautiful. So listening to it is very enjoyable.

Everyone should at least hear this album from the beginning to the end. Hating it is not a sin, but not to acknowledge its greatness is weird to me. It is like seeing a beautiful work of architecture and admiring the structure and how one feels inside that environment. That's Pet Sounds in a nutshell. 

The Beach Boys - "Love You" CD Album

The Beach Boys – Love You

CD Album, remastered, 1991

Caribou Records/Brother Records

Recorded at the height of the “Brian is Back” publicity campaign when Brian was clearly not back at all. But what is amazing is that he could write, record, and perform this album. Love You came out in 1977, and at the time Brian Wilson was fat, demented, and sort of forced out of his self-retirement by his band mates/management to work on this album. The record before Love You was another odd album that was forced upon the band due that it was their 15^th Anniversary. By law anything with a zero or a 5 at the end of that number, you must acknowledge it.

What is sad, now looking back, is that Brian Wilson was a very ill man, and he was sort of forced to get back to work, which may or may not been good for his mental health. But saying that we have 14 really odd Beach Boys songs. Not great songs, but songs of genius. It amazes me how an album like this can get made. There must be a 'genius' button inside Brian's system, that automatically goes on.

The album's sound has a flatness, and even though its in stereo, the aesthetic is very much mono. On one level most of these songs are not good, but somehow filtered through the Beach Boys sound, and the eccentric lyrical aspect of the tunes, makes this a wonderful curious piece of work. Songs like “Airplane” and “Johnny Carson” captures a moment or is more likely a meditation on its subject matter. It sounds stupid, but its really smart. The one masterpiece song is “Honkin' Down The Highway,” which has a beautiful melody. Al Jardine's lead vocals is perfect and it conveys a pictorial narrative in my head that is 1950's Broadway musical. Brian sings lead in lot of songs here, and his voice his gruff, as well as Dennis Wilson. But their roughness adds charm, especially when it is combined with the perfection of the other voices in the mix.

The Beach Boys' Love You may not be their best album, but I think it's a work that many loves dearly. And I really really like it.

The Beach Boys - "Cabin Essence"/"Wonderful" 7" vinyl single

The Beach Boys – Cabin Essence/Wonderful

7” vinyl single, clear yellow, given free with an issue of Mojo, 2011

Mojo/Capital Records

One of the insane cuts from a great album Smile by The Beach Boys. Bach like with melody on top of another melody, which strange enough now reminds me of Associates' “Kitchen Sink,” As in everything in the kitchen sink, and this is one dense noise that is beautiful. Both songs. The flip side “Wonderful” is a gorgeous melody and with the layers of vocals and that beautiful piano that traces the song so wonderfully. Brian Wilson's orchestration couldn't be better. For an album that was troubled, it is amazing how it turned out. Total joy, like these two choice cuts from the album.

Also getting this single from Mojo, was a very nice touch.

The Beach Boys - "All Summer Long" Vinyl Mono LP

The Beach Boys – All Summer Long

Vinyl LP, Mono, 1964

Capital Records

All Summer Long lasts 12 months in the world of The Beach Boys. But the seasons to The Beach Boys are different from other folks. The cold despair of Winter is actually their summer. The wishfulness of Brian Wilson songs seduces one into a calm, but in actuality the music is like the ocean in a hurricane. It sucks you up, and then throws you on the pavement.

In 1964 the first thought when one hears the three words of The Beach Boys is 'surf.' All Summer Long is without a doubt not a surf album. Although there is one song “Don't Back Down” is perhaps their last stance on the sand and surf board. “Little Honda” is the only car song on the album, and now listening to it, the sexuality of the song brings up Kenneth Anger's fetish of the machine as a sex toy. Mike Love may or may not have other meaning for that song, but the urgency of the song is fantastic. Have the word “Go” brought such sensuality?

Without a doubt “Pet Sounds” and “Smile” are masterpieces, but for me The Beach Boys made incredible recordings between the early surf era and their progressive stance in later albums. Here, they are in a twilight age, where they see the 7” single as a brilliant medium. Some of the songs are total toss-offs (“Do You Remember?”) and “Our Favorite Recording Sessions” is....what is it?

On the other hand “Girls on the Beach” to me is pure sensual beauty. Sexuality never have been expressed so effortlessly, so easy, and enticing. But their happiness is fading quickly.