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I have a copy of the California Project "Papa Do Run Run" CD.
This group is a throw back(maybe they never left) from the Beach
Boy era.
The music on this CD is BEACH BOY to the last note.
This is a DDD CD and the quality is just great!
The California Project music is very polished. Their harmony is
really quite good. These folks have excellent, schooled voices.
So the harmony is not exactly like the somewhat rough style of the
Beach Boys. The instrumentals are quite good. Real drums! NO synthetic
music here.
As a person who grew up during the Beach Boy era, danced, romanced
to their music, I have really enjoyed this CD.
Now that I know there is a remake of the actual Beach Boys on CD
I will have to get that too.
By the way the California Project CD has a great "In My Room" and
several other "ladies choice" favorites.
Rich.
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| Re: Smile
Brian Wilsons labor of love in the 60's was a record called SMILE.
Given Brians state of mind (drugs and all) and his quest for perfection
the SMILE sessions went on and on and on. There are reportedly
HUNDREDS of different versions of GOOD VIBRATIONS one of which can
be heard on their rarities lp. Anyway, Capitol said enough already
and Brian for reasons still unknown canned this "concept" album
which was a year prior to SGT PEPPER and was rumoured to be more
brilliant then that Beatles album (hard as it is to believe).
SMILEY SMILE was what came out instead which was apparently a quick
attempt to get something to Capitol to make them happy. Not everything
on SMILEY SMILE was on SMILE and not everything on SMILE has been
released though most of it has in differernt incarnations, ie; SURFS
UP. Most of what's on SMILEY SMILE are not the versions originally
recorded by Brian for SMILE as the originals were erased or misplaced
or ??? I guess there were so many takes and bits of songs that
would flow into the next song (ala side 2 ABBEY ROAD) and different
versions of the same song with same versions of different songs
leading into the next song and same versions used with....... nobody
could figure out what was what and Brians not been the same since.
_stew-
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| Brian Wilson was very much into using the studio as another
instrument. During the period of the SMILE sessions, which
included the most expensive single ever recorded, Good Vibrations,
he was into taking small bits of tape and splicing them together
with other small bits of tape to make up the complete production.
He was also into chants at the time. Given the fact that he was
into drugs rather heavily during this period the chants were more
of the psychedelic variety. An example of this is found in the
bridge section of the song Cool Water that is found on the Sunflower
LP. Actually, that chant was part of another work that was to be
included on the Smile LP.
Among many of the 'events' that took place during the production of
SMILE project was one incident which helped to solidify Brian's
resolve to abandon the project. Brian was recording the Elements
Suite at the time and was working on the section called Fire.
To gain the right ambience he had all of the musicians wear fireman's
helmuts and he had buckets of burning wood placed around the studio.
Later, after the session he heard that a real fire had taken place
not to far from the studio and in his drug warped mind decided that
the psychic vibrations from that session had started the fire.
He immediately discontinued any more work on that piece.
Another thing that led to the demise of the project was more band
related. Mike Love was still into the fun/sun/girls_on_the_beach
stuff while Brian had warped light years ahead of that. Van Dyke
Parks who had been collaborating with Brian at the time was writting
some very uncharacteristic lyrics which were more in tune with the
times. This caused some major friction in the band because Mike
Love did not unterstand the lyrics and wanted to know how they
related to T-Birds, surf boards and Fun, Fun, Fun. While Brian
certainly had some very strong musical ideas he was not a strong
political force. He was instead extremly introverted and affected
strongly by the criticism leveled at him. When he could no longer
take all of the crap he ran away from the project. Capitol was
quite distraught. They had already printed up album covers. The
Beach Boys were left to complete the project on their own with no
idea at all of what Brian had intended. Capitol was on their case
to finish it and so they took the snipets of tape Brian had accumulated
and put together SMILEY SMILE which, with the exception of Heroes
and Villians, Good Vibrations, and Vegetables has nothing to do
with Brians original conception.
It is rumored that had Brian been allowed to finish the project
and release it that not only would it have been a milestone in their
own carrers but would have beaten the Beatles to the punch by more
than a year of their own milestone creation, Sgt Pepper.
Anyway, Brians influence over the Beach Boys and their productions
following the SMILE project was never the same. And the Beach Boys
took a permanant back seat in Rock and Roll music history.
=ken
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