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Post by Mikie on Feb 27, 2019 22:31:13 GMT -5
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Post by AGD on Feb 28, 2019 15:00:43 GMT -5
There's a pic of Brian & Sandler in the home studio during the Spring sessions with an ARP Odessey synth. Thus:
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Post by craigslowinski on Feb 28, 2019 22:01:41 GMT -5
There's a pic of Brian & Sandler in the home studio during the Spring sessions with an ARP Odessey synth. Thus: I thought that was Iowa in '73?
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Post by craigslowinski on Feb 28, 2019 22:03:26 GMT -5
Salty, I would add "cowbell" (as in "Slip On Through" and others), and Fender Rhodes (as in "Nearest Faraway Place" and others).
Also, harmonium was used on "Lady", too.
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Post by AGD on Mar 1, 2019 0:58:13 GMT -5
There's a pic of Brian & Sandler in the home studio during the Spring sessions with an ARP Odessey synth. Thus: I thought that was Iowa in '73? Could very well be - I think the Odessey was introduced in 1972. Also, the cans look wrong (pretty sure they didn't use Sennheiser at 10452), and the wall behind him is the wrong colour.
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petsite
Author/Historian/ Researcher
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Post by petsite on Mar 1, 2019 2:48:03 GMT -5
That photo of Brian is from the sessions in Fort Dodge Iowa at a studio owned by a friend of David's. The used local musicians and Brian enthused bout how much he liked it.
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Post by dant on Mar 1, 2019 15:23:03 GMT -5
What about that “honky tonk” sounding upright piano, which featured on nearly all of the Wild Honey tracks and some Smiley Smile tracks? Has that already been listed somewhere, or is it still to be added? It’s the piano you hear in Darlin’ and Here Comes The Night, if you’re still not sure.
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Post by dant on Mar 1, 2019 18:05:43 GMT -5
That’s funny, I could have sworn it was an upright, I’m sure someone on SmileySmile said that. Bearing in mind, I’m a leading authority on pianos and I know what an upright sounds like right off the bat.
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Post by Mikie on Mar 1, 2019 18:39:40 GMT -5
What about that “honky tonk” sounding upright piano, which featured on nearly all of the Wild Honey tracks and some Smiley Smile tracks? Has that already been listed somewhere, or is it still to be added? It’s the piano you hear in Darlin’ and Here Comes The Night, if you’re still not sure. That's Brian's Chickering grand piano. You sure? According to Desper, the piano Murry gave Brian was the Chickering. The upright was the tack piano, wadinit? The one they used for the Wild Honey and Smiley tracks?
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 1, 2019 18:46:51 GMT -5
The Chickering was the grand in the sandbox in the Smile-writing sessions, right? I don't think that would be the piano you'd use to make a tack piano: isn't that almost always done on uprights or consoles/spinnets?
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 19:11:21 GMT -5
The Chickering was the grand in the sandbox in the Smile-writing sessions, right? I don't think that would be the piano you'd use to make a tack piano: isn't that almost always done on uprights or consoles/spinnets? First, we haven't defined what a 'honky tonk' sounding piano is. The Beach Boys used two different altered pianos. One was detuned (the one we hear on Let The Wind Blow, for instance) and one had tacks on the tips of the felt hammers (the piano we hear on Got To Know The Woman or Mess Of Help).
I have only seen upright tack pianos. The detuned piano is mostly heard on Wild Honey thru 20/20. The tack piano is heard on Sunflower, Carl and The Passions and Surf's Up.
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Post by The Cap'n on Mar 1, 2019 19:17:06 GMT -5
I know I've read the Chickering was detuned, I'm not debating that. (I'm also not saying what's true. Just that I've heard it.) But in terms of the literal tack piano, that was my point: it's usually--and exclusively in my personal experience--not a grand.
Quick detour edit: in the 50s when my dad was a teenager, he decided it was time to make a tack piano at home. It didn't go over well with his mother, who hadn't given him permission to adjust the family upright. (I'm told he also blew the lid off his church on their Hammond every now and again while "rehearsing.")
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Departed
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2019 20:09:02 GMT -5
Ah okay sorry I misread that, I thought you were responding to me on the tack piano thing. Also for whichever piano they had tacked, I think the first use would be mid-late 1970 on HELP and Student Demonstration Time, since Got to Know the Woman was started at Sunset. You're probably right. I took another listen; Got To Know The Woman's piano is not a tack.
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Post by Mikie on Mar 1, 2019 21:07:22 GMT -5
You're probably right. I took another listen; Got To Know The Woman's piano is not a tack. In the same posts Desper seemed to confirm Brian's Chickering was a full concert grand. Yes. Desper stated that at a Beach Boys convention in the late 80's - it's on a bootleg tape that's been circulating since then. I saw the Steinway in the living room of Brian's house (10452). The piano bench had either the intro to Cali Girls or Surfer girl embroidered in it.
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Post by AGD on Mar 2, 2019 1:35:23 GMT -5
"Surfer Girl". I've parked my butt on that stool, played on that piano.
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Post by craigslowinski on Mar 3, 2019 10:24:52 GMT -5
Ah okay sorry I misread that, I thought you were responding to me on the tack piano thing. Also for whichever piano they had tacked, I think the first use would be mid-late 1970 on HELP and Student Demonstration Time, since Got to Know the Woman was started at Sunset. You're probably right. I took another listen; Got To Know The Woman's piano is not a tack. Got To Know The Woman was definitely recorded at Sunset Sound (at least the basic track and, next day, the female backup vocals - I'm sure the Mike and Al background parts were added at the house studio). All three Dragon brothers were employed for the initial tracking session, meaning there were two keyboardists there besides Dennis W. Early takes included an organ which was wiped and replaced by Dennis' lead vocal. Track sheet notations from an unused take would seem to indicate what was present before any wiping and replacing occurred, and there are notations for three keyboard parts on three separate tracks: piano, tack piano, and organ - meaning, both piano parts are from Sunset. My best guess would be that the "regular" piano was Dennis, the tack piano was Daryl Dragon, and the organ was Doug Dragon. And to my ears, its a tack piano playing those honky-tonk riffs. EDIT: furthermore, the engineer on the tracking session was Sunset Sound's own Bill Lazarus, not Desper.
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Post by craigslowinski on Mar 3, 2019 10:31:49 GMT -5
Ah okay sorry I misread that, I thought you were responding to me on the tack piano thing. Also for whichever piano they had tacked, I think the first use would be mid-late 1970 on HELP and Student Demonstration Time, since Got to Know the Woman was started at Sunset. Per track sheet notations, the piano on It's About Time is a tack (it was played by Daryl), and that was cut in July 1970. Unless I'm forgetting something, that would likely be the first usage of a tack piano at the house studio.
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Post by craigslowinski on Mar 3, 2019 10:36:48 GMT -5
Oh, and for what it's worth, Bruce told me that the "Wild Honey" piano was definitely a grand, not an upright (I don't think I remembered to ask him if it was a concert or a baby grand - I would tend to think a baby, as a concert would require a bigger sandbox).
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Post by Mikie on Mar 3, 2019 13:56:08 GMT -5
"Surfer Girl". I've parked my butt on that stool, played on that piano. You sat on this bench and played the piano? I'd like to know when and where.
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Post by AGD on Mar 3, 2019 15:27:04 GMT -5
October 1986, at Marilyn's house in Encino. Took that photo, too.
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Post by Mikie on Mar 3, 2019 15:45:32 GMT -5
October 1986, at Marilyn's house in Encino. Took that photo, too. Cool! I saw it June 1976, at Marilyn's house in Bel Air.
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Post by jay on Mar 4, 2019 0:49:26 GMT -5
I wonder if the piano still exists? I hope so. By the way, does that say "'74" on the bottom right corner?
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Post by AGD on Mar 4, 2019 1:43:04 GMT -5
Indeed it does: that's the year she stitched it.
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Post by sneakypete77 on Mar 4, 2019 11:13:57 GMT -5
Mikie, you may wish to add this to your list. Carl Wilson's 1959 Harmony Sunburst Acoustic/Electric guitar, one of the first he ever owned. As of last year it was still hanging over the bar area in the Hard Rock Cafe, St Julian's , Malta.
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Post by Mikie on Mar 4, 2019 12:40:54 GMT -5
Mikie, you may wish to add this to your list. Carl Wilson's 1959 Harmony Sunburst Acoustic/Electric guitar, one of the first he ever owned. As of last year it was still hanging over the bar area in the Hard Rock Cafe, St Julian's , Malta. Done. Thanks, Pete!
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