Ten Years Of Harmony

Vale - good taste in music!  I wore out the vinyl of Ten Years of Harmony. I gave  Ten Years of Harmony a 10! 

7.5. Some curious choices for sure (She's Got Rhythm? Really?) but for a retrospective of the Brother period to that point, it does the job. The Good Vibrations box set and to a lesser extent Made in California are a better overall anthology of this era.

From the old ADD SOME MUSIC fanzine. There was a lot of back and forth in the group about what to include. Everything with the group was always a battle.


Sifting Sands: Ten Years Of Harmony

Brad Elliott

For most Beach Boys fans the recent CBS compilation, Ten Years Of Harmony, was a welcome addition to their collection. The handsomely packaged set included not only several single mixes and edits previously unavailable in album format, but also a previously unreleased single mix ("School Days"), and two tracks which had never seen the light of day in any form ("San Miguel" and "Sea Cruise").

The assembling of Ten Years Of Harmony however, proved to be no easy task. CBS executives spent more than a year working to release the package. In the course of that year the album underwent several major revisions and countless minor changes. To some of those involved, the final package was a severe disappointment.

The idea of a compilation album was first proposed in the fall of 1980. As originally planned, Ten Years’ Harmony, an original title, would have been only one disc. The target release date was January, 1981. Early on, CBS pegged "Come Go With Me" as the album's first single. Also scheduled for inclusion were "San Miguel", the vetoed mix of "School Days" and, at Bruce Johnston's insistence, "The Lord's Prayer". ("That's gonna go in the compilation album", Bruce said last February. "We're gonna lease that from Capitol. Lease it back and put it on, because it's never been on an album").

Before a track lineup could be formed, however, the album's release was postponed to May and then to September.

Among the group members, Bruce at least was thinking about the track lineup. "The compilation album, if we get it out, will be, on the fan level, the best album they've ever had. Because it's gonna cover all the period from, say, ‘68, ‘69 on. It's gonna get the best of everything, like "Til I Die," "Disney Girls," "Sail On Sailor," "San Miguel".

Bruce’s most ambitious thoughts concerned the Smile tapes. "We're gonna collage the Smile album in this compilation. We're gonna go through the Smile album and just take little, sections of the tunes we have and put it out as a kind of sampler of the Smile album. We're just going to skim the Smile tapes and make a beautiful six minute collage". He was quick to add, "Brian doesn't know this".

CBS kept the compilation album on its list of projected September releases, and in July received from Caribou records a master for the record:

Side One: "The Trader", "Deidre", "Long Promised Road", "The Night Was So Young", "Sail On Sailor", "Come Go With Me".

Side Two: "Marcella", "Surf's Up", "Cool Cool Water", "Don't Go Near The Water", "Talk To Me", "Til I Die".

CBS executives were dumbfounded. This was not the record they had expected.

Within a few short weeks, CBS' questions were answered. A CBS promotion man mentioned the tape to Bruce Johnston, who expressed complete surprise at the existence of a track lineup. The Beach Boys, Bruce insisted, had made no such thing. It quickly became evident that Caribou president James William Guercio had thrown the tape together, reportedly because the Beach Boys had seemed in no hurry to assemble a lineup.

In a subsequent conference telephone call, Bruce, Mike Love, Alan Jardine, and CBS’ two in-house Beach Boy fans brainstormed a rough lineup for a two-record set. Agreed upon were:

"Add Some Music", "Roller Skating Child", "Disney Girls", "It's A Beautiful Day", "California Saga: California", "Marcella", "Rock And Roll Music", "Goin' On", "It's OK", "Cool Cool Water", "San Miguel", "Good Timin’", "Sail On Sailor", either "Wouldn't It Be Nice"(live) or "Darlin’" (live), "Lady Lynda", "The Trader", "Come Go With Me", "Deidre", "Mona", "Don't Go Near The Water", "Surf's Up", "She's Got Rhythm", "Honkin’ Down The Highway", "’Til I Die", "Long Promised Road", and either "River Song", or "You And I" (both from Dennis' Pacific Ocean Blue).

Suggested by the CBS executives, but vetoed by the three Beach Boys, were the studio version of "We Got Love", "Child Of Winter", and the unreleased single mix of "School Days".

However, the Beach Boys suggested several ‘bonus’ tracks which they would be interested in including. If the tapes could be found, they suggested including a song from the encore (with Elton John) of the group's June 3, 1972 London concert, and "Jumpin’ Jack Flash" from the Washington, D.C. show of the 1975 Beachago tour. There was also talk of the group making a quick trip into the studio to cut "Back In The USSR".

By late September the contents were firming up. The tentative lineup at that time was:

Side One: "Add Some Music To Your Day", "Roller Skating Child", "Disney Girls", "It's A Beautiful Day", "California Saga: California" (preferably the single version, if the master tape could be found), "Marcella".

Side Two: "Rock And Roll Music", "Goin’ On", "It's OK", "Cool Cool Water" (the single edit, hopefully), "San Miguel", "Good Timin’", "Sail On Sailor".

Side Three: "Darlin’" (live), "Lady Lynda", "Sea Cruise", "The Trader", "Mona", "Don't Go Near The Water" (or possibly "Feel Flows"), "Surf's Up".

Side Four: "Come Go With Me", "Deidre" (or maybe "This Whole World"), "She's Got Rhythm", "River Song", "Long Promised Road", "Honkin’ Down The Highway", "Til I Die".

As the cover art was worked up and liner notes drafted, David Leaf, author of The Beach Boys And The California Myth was asked for his advice. He submitted another track proposal:

Side One: "Surf's Up", "Cool Cool Water" (45 edit), "This Whole World", "Add Some Music To Your Day", "Disney Girls", "Feel Flows", "’Til I Die".

Side Two: "Long Promised Road", "San Miguel", "Marcella", "Sail On Sailor", "The Trader", "California Saga: California" -(45 mix).

Side Three: "Good Timin’", "Goin’ On", "Sweet Sunday Kind Of Love", "Matchpoint Of Our Love", "The Night Was So Young", "Baby Blue", "Lady Lynda".

Side Four: "Come Go With Me", "It's OK", "Rock And Roll Music", "It's A Beautiful Day", "Sea Cruise", "She's Got Rhythm", "Roller Skating Child".

Although Leaf's grouping of tracks somewhat chronologically and by tempo was not adopted, his efforts were directly responsible for the inclusion, on the next CBS lineup, of "This Whole World" and "Feel Flows" instead of "Mona" and "Honkin' Down The Highway". Also added, at the insistence of CBS, was the single mix of "School Days".

Approximately a month before the album's release, Carl Wilson went into the group's tape library to find the master tapes for the twenty eight songs. Luck was with him and all the masters were located, including those for the "California Saga" and "Cool Cool Water" singles. Also, it was at that time that the compilation's last track, "Wontcha Come Out Tonight" was added, bringing the number of included songs to twenty nine, and finalizing the track lineup.

One last problem remained: the inner gatefold. The photo of the group, taken backstage at the 1977 Central Park concert, already had been selected. At issue was a proposal to “doctor” Bruce into it. Carl put his foot down. Bruce was not a Beach Boy on a par with the others, and should not be included in the main photo. If Bruce wanted his photo on the album, Carl stated, he could have a small 'mug' shot. Bruce decided that if he wasn't wanted in the main photo, he didn't want to be pictured on the album. He is not.

Carl also insisted that individual production credits be given, prompting a few minor squabbles in places (most notably whether Brian would be credited for tracks from the MIU album: he is on only "Wontcha Come Out Tonight," which he wrote and sang. At about the same time, the planned liner notes were shelved and replaced by the song lyrics. That decision was probably CBS’. The record was due for release immediately, and another squabble, which the liner notes likely would have generated, might have caused further delay.

Despite the many problems in assembling and releasing Ten Years Of Harmony, CBS is pleased with the package, and already is considering a one-record Ten Years Of Harmony, Vol. 2. for release next fall.

Hi resroc62! Would you please go over here and introduce yourself?  Thanks!

endlessharmony.boards.net/board/26/new-member-introductions

Sadly, this UHQ release has now been cancelled as I first feared it would.

It's why I play my EU version of the CD.

I found it interesting that in 1983, CBS down under released an edited version of TYOH in a budget line format.

Wrrrrrong!!! LOL

Apparently the compilation was given a "UHQCD" remaster that came out in Japan this year. Does anyone know anything about this?


Ten Years Of Harmony (Paper Sleeve / UHQCD / MQA - 24bit Remaster) www.amazon.com/dp/B08CPDLSHK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apan_glt_fabc_P1530CXCHQ6QARR1C0NT

This is one of those irritating compilations. Completists have to buy it because it has a couple of rarities. But if you’re a big fan like me, you never listen to the album, because, at least in my case, I’d prefer to hear the original albums like “Sunflower” and “Surf’s Up” all the way through. New fans who want to sample the best of an artist’s work might wonder why inferior tracks are chosen, when obvious better songs were available for a compilation, or don’t even know or care that a non-album or rare mix was used. I guess it’s a one size fits all approach that The Beach Boys have done a lot - bloating my Beach Boys collection with so much duplication.

To add to my irritation, I had to shell out twice to buy both the local and European imported versions when upgrading my collection from vinyl to CD. That's because the US record company had the arrogance to substitute album versions for rare mixes in some cases. I say arrogance because at least in one case, “California Saga,” they acknowledged that they did so deliberately because they felt that the single mix master tape was not as high a recording recording quality as the LP mix.

So I’m the guy who rated this a two.