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Post by Deleted on Aug 18, 2019 22:49:53 GMT -5
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Post by WillJC on Aug 19, 2019 4:50:00 GMT -5
It's a very short book, only took me an hour to read. I'll summarise the juicy new info:
Don was an aspiring songwriter who met Brian sometime in early 1970. Brian took a liking to him as a sort of apprentice* (*constantly procrastinating on doing something with his songs) and he visited the house a lot over the next few years.
Sweet and Bitter was recorded sometime in 1970 with Brian on piano and organ and Don on guitar. All written by Don, but Brian modified the chorus chords. Murry visited at the end of the session and apparently, on the tape Don still owns, there's about 10 minutes of extra recording with Brian playing organ and singing one of Murry's songs while Marilyn and Audree talk in the background. Mike liked Sweet and Bitter and agreed to sing it (a year after the BBs were in St. Louis - so May 1970?). He changed one of the words from 'fear' to 'fever' and told Don "I'll make it rhyme."
Brian began writing In the Country alone, opening with the line "I can't see me falling in love". Brian wrote the music for the verses and bridge, Don wrote the music for the chorus, Don changed Brian's opening line and contributed most of the other lyrics. He remembers the basic track being recorded with Brian on piano, Don and Carl on acoustic guitars and Ricky on drums, with bass, organ and the guitar intro overdubbed. Brian apparently put off continuing work on it for a long time until Don finally blew up at him, prompting Brian to sort out a date to overdub banjo, steel guitar and strings (Tandyn Almer handled the string arrangement). He says it was a Sunday, which matches the Feb 20th 1972 date. Brian, Tandyn and David Sandler directed the session. Doug Dillard played the banjo part, just like Mess of Help.
Don wanted Carl to sing it, Carl wanted Brian to sing it, and Brian came up with a hair-brained scheme to feature Don singing as a guest on CATP. Vocals were done at Sunset Sound with David Sandler and Brian. Amazingly it seems like everyone was actually going along with this until Bruce hid the tape to stop it from going on the album (yeah, lots of Bruce moments here).
Fading Love Song would've been 1972, not 1973. It wasn't until decades later that Don found out about the slow organ version of Out in the Country (retitled) via bootlegs that he thinks must've been recorded later in Holland (his timelines are a bit muddled but this much is clear - the fast version with Don's lead came first).
There are lots of other fun "weird 70s Brian" anecdotes that I won't talk about here, don't wanna copy up the guy's entire book. A highlight is Brian giving him a copy of Smiley Smile signed "To Don, here lies a dead album - Brian Wilson".
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Post by craigslowinski on Aug 19, 2019 9:31:01 GMT -5
Thanks, Salty!
So with Mike's lyrical change, did "Sweet and Bitter" become "Funky Fever"? Per AFM documentation, a Beach Boys track for the latter title was cut at Ike Turner's Bolic Sound studio on Feb. 28th of '72. And is there any mention of a song called "Body Talk"? Again per AFM documentation, that title was laid down at the same Feb. 17th Bellagio session as the basics for "Out In The Country" and "Marcella".
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Post by WillJC on Aug 19, 2019 10:03:41 GMT -5
Thanks, Salty! So with Mike's lyrical change, did "Sweet and Bitter" become "Funky Fever"? Per AFM documentation, a Beach Boys track for the latter title was cut at Ike Turner's Bolic Sound studio on Feb. 28th of '72. And is there any mention of a song called "Body Talk"? Again per AFM documentation, that title was laid down at the same Feb. 17th Bellagio session as the basics for "Out In The Country" and "Marcella". According to David Sandler Funky Fever is something he wrote, so I'm guessing that's just a coincidence. No mention of Body Talk, Marcella is mentioned but nothing about the recording (Brian actually took him to see Marcella the masseuse!), and there's a Wilson/Sandler song mentioned titled "It's Natural" that I've never heard about before. Sweet and Bitter was apparently recorded with Desper at the house (Desper also said he remembered it in an old forum thread), and no date's given but it sounds like it would've been 1970. Either just before or just after Sunflower came out. In the Country's an odd one, because he says the basic rhythm track was recorded with Ricky and left untouched for a long time before further work, but it couldn't have been that long if Ricky was there and overdubs were early '72. Unless Ricky was around recording the second Flame album? There's a very vivid recollection of the banjo, steel guitar and strings (with 6 string players) being added on a Sunday, which would seem to jive with that Feb 20th session. Do you have documentation for the musicians on that date? I'm wondering if the Feb 17th date was either some overdubbing without Don's knowledge or a case of backdating. He mentions getting paid by Brother Records for the basic track session, and his name wasn't on that one. |
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Post by craigslowinski on Aug 19, 2019 10:34:08 GMT -5
Musicians listed on the Feb. 20th contract:
Brian Wilson
Doug Dillard (banjoist)
Tony Martin Jr. (steel guitarist)
Bonnie Douglas, James Getzoff, Anne Goodman, Armand Kaproff, Nathan Kaproff, Paul Sure, J.(presumably Jacob) Krachmalnick (known string players)
and Jack Pepper (the name of a famous vaudeville dancer and nightclub owner - but maybe there was a session musician by the same name?)
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Post by WillJC on Aug 19, 2019 10:48:05 GMT -5
So... We're not ruling out a 60 year old vaudeville dancer showing up do some moves in Brian's house while the others played music?
Wait, no, found him, there was apparently a violinist called Jack Pepper. Disappointing.
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Post by George Faulkner on Aug 19, 2019 11:31:55 GMT -5
It's a very short book, only took me an hour to read. I'll summarise the juicy new info: Don was an aspiring songwriter who met Brian sometime in 1969 or early 1970. Brian took a liking to him as a sort of apprentice (AKA constantly procrastinating on doing something with his songs) and he visited the house a lot over the next few years. Sweet and Bitter was recorded sometime probably in the first half of 1970 with Brian on piano and organ and Don on guitar. All written by Don, but Brian rewrote the ending/chorus chords. Murry visited at the end of the session and apparently, on the tape Don still owns, there's about 10 minutes of extra recording with Brian playing organ and singing one of Murry's songs while Marilyn and Audree talk in the background. Mike liked Sweet and Bitter and agreed to sing it (a year after the BBs were in St. Louis - so May 1970?). He changed one of the words from 'fear' to 'fever' and told Don "I'll make it rhyme." Brian began writing In the Country alone, opening with the line "I can't see me falling in love". Brian wrote the music for the verses and bridge, Don wrote the music for the chorus, Don changed Brian's opening line and did most of the other lyrics. He says the basic track was recorded with Brian on piano, Don and Carl on acoustic guitars and Ricky on drums, with bass, organ and the guitar intro overdubbed. Brian apparently put off continuing work on it for a long time until Don finally blew up at him, prompting Brian to actually sort out a date to overdub banjo, steel guitar and strings (Tandyn Almer did the string arrangement). He says it was a Sunday, which matches the Feb 20th 1972 date. Brian, Tandyn and David Sandler directed the session. Doug Dillard played the banjo part, just like Mess of Help. Don wanted Carl to sing it, Carl wanted Brian to sing it, and Brian came up with a hair-brained scheme to feature Don singing as a guest on CATP. Vocals were done at Sunset Sound with David Sandler and Brian. Amazingly it seems like everyone was actually going along with this until Bruce hid the tape to stop it from going on the album (yeah, lots of "Bruce is a dick" moments here). Fading Love Song would've been 1972, not 1973. It wasn't until decades later that Don found out about the slow organ version of Out in the Country (retitled) via bootlegs that he thinks must've been recorded later in Holland (his timelines are a bit muddled but this much is clear - the fast version with Don's lead came first). There are lots of other fun "weird 70s Brian" anecdotes that I won't talk about here, don't wanna copy up the guy's entire book. A highlight is Brian giving him a copy of Smiley Smile signed "To Don, here lies a dead album - Brian Wilson". "there's about 10 minutes of extra recording with Brian playing organ and singing one of Murry's songs while Marilyn and Audree talk in the background" -any indication as to what the title of the song was? |
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Post by WillJC on Aug 19, 2019 11:36:27 GMT -5
"there's about 10 minutes of extra recording with Brian playing organ and singing one of Murry's songs while Marilyn and Audree talk in the background" -any indication as to what the title of the song was? Not a clue. Someone messaged The Don and he says it's not something he can release, sadly. |
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Post by E on Aug 19, 2019 12:23:43 GMT -5
So... We're not ruling out a 60 year old vaudeville dancer showing up do some moves in Brian's house while the others played music? Wait, no, found him, there was apparently a violinist called Jack Pepper. Disappointing. You can laugh but I saw Lou Reed a few years back and the show only got interesting when he introduced his Tai-Chi master to do a few moves on stage. |
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Post by Fall Breaks on Aug 19, 2019 13:48:47 GMT -5
"there's about 10 minutes of extra recording with Brian playing organ and singing one of Murry's songs while Marilyn and Audree talk in the background" -any indication as to what the title of the song was? Not a clue. Someone messaged The Don and he says it's not something he can release, sadly. But he could transcribe the lyrics, couldn't he? (Because he has nothing else to do than please BB fanatics in their neverending quest for minutiae, I'm sure.) |
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Post by Mikie on Aug 19, 2019 14:28:19 GMT -5
Thanks, Salty! Good stuff.
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Post by monolithic on Aug 28, 2019 14:28:02 GMT -5
Interesting to read this thread.
If the idea really was to have Don singing the song on CATP, then well done to Bruce for hiding the tapes. They already had two songs that sound completely unlike anything they'd done before (the Blondie/Ricky songs) and including another would have been madness.
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Post by George Faulkner on Aug 28, 2019 17:28:01 GMT -5
Don, if you are listening, I'd be happy to come to a studio near you and have the tape transferred with you present, just to be able to get a transcription of the Murry song. I don't need a recording, just sheets. About half the songs Murry wrote in his lifetime have been lost, and I'm trying to find and resurrect/preserve as many as I can.
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Post by raretomcat on Sept 3, 2019 15:40:07 GMT -5
I got Dons book the Lost song. I really enjoyed it!
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Post by Mikie on Sept 3, 2019 16:01:21 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Jul 10, 2022 12:46:13 GMT -5
I had the distinct pleasure of meeting Don last night with his band Surf's Up. What a gracious and kind man they're performing with his son and his grandchildren all the Beach Boy Hits. I really recommend this band Surf's Up which is a beach boy tribute band. And I had a nice few minutes discussion with Don and he gave me a copy of his book. I had bought the Kindle version but he's such a gentleman he wanted me to have the printed one. Really absolutely loving his song on feel flows which his grandson announced to the audience. I was completely unaware until this happened and then of course everything kicked in based on the information here about feel flows and all the different study contributed by all of you.
In short I very much recommended this elegant heartfelt book and I absolutely love the song Sweet and bitter and just wanted to share this information with all of you. What a fine gentleman from and a great musical family and keeping the Beach Boys Spirit Alive.
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Post by tomtomplayboy on Jul 10, 2022 13:25:50 GMT -5
Will have to give this book a read. Mike's lead vocal on Sweet and Bitter is absolutely bloody great. One of his early '70s best.
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Post by dauber on Jul 11, 2022 14:39:50 GMT -5
I'm guessing the mystery Murry song is "Won't You Tell Me."
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Post by gerry on Jul 18, 2022 12:13:12 GMT -5
What a great ,matter of fact insight into the life of Brian Wilson in the late'60's- early '70's. Funny and sad
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2022 15:24:18 GMT -5
The book is really fantastic in that you're arranging all around Southern California going back and forth between LA and Orange County, a trip I know really well, and you're meeting all sorts of people from the monkeys and Nielsen and all of the Beach Boys of course and you're just stopping by Brian's house and talking to him and seeing him make some changes to the chorus of your song by adding some new chords.
So Don is really being an avatar for all fans throughout history who would like to be able to stop by Brian's house and play him the song and have it recorded.
The book has a one-page addendum on a separate sheet that indicates that sweet and bitter was finally put on the feel flows album and Don told me that another song, maybe it's the same song with him singing it I don't know? is going to be on the next Carl and the Passions compilation. Is that the same song do you think or would that be the other song that he recorded with Brian called in the country?. That's the one that Bruce had hidden so that it wouldn't wind up going on one of the albums?. I was trying to assimilate everything Don was telling me as I was in the audience talking to him up on the stage after the show and I couldn't consolidate everything in my brain clearly but certainly another cut of his is going to appear on that compilation according to his work with Alan and Mark. Can anybody straighten that out?
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Post by E on Jul 18, 2022 16:33:21 GMT -5
I'd like to see both versions (that I'm familiar with) of Out in the Country on the next box. And if there's a third... hell, yeah.
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Post by Deleted on Jul 18, 2022 22:30:05 GMT -5
Is out in the country on an album somewhere or available? Is it just private bootlegs that people have? If it's something public or accessible please let me know. Really just learning about Don and this whole history. Thank you Ed I'd like to see both versions (that I'm familiar with) of Out in the Country on the next box. And if there's a third... hell, yeah. |
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Post by gigantiskpyjamas on Jul 19, 2022 0:40:28 GMT -5
Is out in the country on an album somewhere or available? Is it just private bootlegs that people have? If it's something public or accessible please let me know. Really just learning about Don and this whole history. Thank you Ed I'd like to see both versions (that I'm familiar with) of Out in the Country on the next box. And if there's a third... hell, yeah. |
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Post by E on Jul 19, 2022 3:35:05 GMT -5
Is out in the country on an album somewhere or available? Is it just private bootlegs that people have? If it's something public or accessible please let me know. Really just learning about Don and this whole history. Thank you Ed Yeah, that's one version, then there's the one with Goldberg on lead; there's a third which seems to be the one above with pieces edited in from an earlier run at that one to make it last longer |
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Post by gigantiskpyjamas on Jul 19, 2022 4:13:51 GMT -5
Yeah, that's one version, then there's the one with Goldberg on lead; there's a third which seems to be the one above with pieces edited in from an earlier run at that one to make it last longer Sorry, from reading theprofessor’s post I assumed he/she just wanted to hear the song and AFAIK this is the only version available as of now. 😭 |
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