But a fiftieth anniversary is a big deal—just ask the Stones—so only twenty years after their thirtieth anniversary box set, the Beach Boys issued 50 Big Ones on two CDs, and put out a new box set with six CDs, which you’ll notice is one higher than the last one. As they’d recorded precious little material in those two intervening decades, that means the balance is made up of “60 unreleased tracks”. (No points for guessing that this total includes live versions and alternate mixes, some contemporary, some from this century.)
Yet Made In California doesn’t merely inflate the sequence of the previous box. That format has been ignored, they’ve started from scratch, included some songs that weren’t on the first and ignored some that were. So yes, you have to have both, and that’s the law.
The story is still chronological through the first four discs and part of the fifth. Naturally we start with songs about surfing and cars (thanks for “Surfers Rule”, no thanks for “Ballad Of Ole Betsy”), complete with session chatter, and that means Murry Wilson haranguing the kids on how to craft a hit. By the end of the first disc, Brian has started to run the show and write more “mature” music with lyrics to match, and that develops on the disc two; however, the splendor of “California Girls” and “Let Him Run Wild” has to distract from the likes of “Salt Lake City” and “Amusement Parks U.S.A.” Five of the best songs from Pet Sounds set up “Good Vibrations” and a smattering of Smile material, including “Mrs. O’Leary’s Cow”, but using the Smiley Smile version of “Wonderful”.
From there, the value is solely in the ears of the listener, and how one feels about the rest of their career. Disc three starts well with “Darlin’”, to take out the rest of the ‘60s, moving through various album tracks and shoulda-beens unearthed in the ‘90s (“Sail Plane Song”, “Soulful Old Man Sunshine”, f’rinstance) up through “‘Til I Die” and “Surf’s Up”. Disc four covers the ‘70s, and like disc three, also pays more attention to Dennis and Carl than the other box did, but where the hell is “Long Promised Road”?
The first ten tracks on disc five cover 1980 through the present, including two decent outtakes from an unfinished 1995 album and, yes, “Kokomo”. Then it’s a wild stretch through live recordings spanning three decades (nothing from the ‘80s) proving that they could always put on a decent show. And just to stay with the pattern, disc six (“From The Vaults”) offers up even more alternate takes, backing tracks, a cappella mixes, etc. Some of this could be considered historic, like “Where Is She” and the backing track for Glen Campbell’s “Guess I’m Dumb”, and some of it is sad, like “Sherry She Needs Me”, a 1965 backing given an raspy 1976 Brian vocal, or “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling”. And since they amazingly hadn’t exploited it yet, there are even a few BBC sessions.
There are enough “new” things on Made In California to entice the Wilson obsessive, but one wonders whether such a package would be better served as a standalone collection of goodies as opposed to yet another grab-the-newbies-too career-spanning box with all the hits everybody should have already. And if you’re nervous as to what they’ll do for the 75th anniversary, maybe CDs won’t exist in 2038.
The Beach Boys Made In California (2013)—3½
First time around, the inclusion of “Smile” outtakes was enough to get hopeless fanboys like myself to pick up a boxed set. With “The Smile Sessions” having been released just two years earlier than this, there was a lot less incentive to get this one. Random thoughts:
ReplyDeleteLots of new mixes here. I have mixed feelings about some of the stereo mixes here on the early stuff (especially some of the tracks from “Today”). However, some of the songs are greatly improved in the new mixes, most notably “Susie Cincinnati”, “Rock and Roll Music”, “It’s OK”, and “Do it Again”.
It was nice to finally have Dennis’s “Sound of Free”/”Lady” single, even if the best they could do on the former was a needle drop of the 45. Along with the spellbinding “Celebrate the News” and "(Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again”, these tracks are further proof that Dennis was the most significant composer in the group during the early 70’s. There are various reasons given why the latter was shamefully dropped from “Surf’s Up”. According to lyricist Stan Shapiro, the main opposition came from Mike, who also objected to “Until I Die” .
Of all the tracks to be chosen from “Smiley Smile”, WHY that bastardization of “Wonderful” instead of the gorgeous “Smile” version? “Gettin’ Hungry” and “Wind Chimes” would have been more illustrative of what that album was about, including its underlying creepiness.
Speaking of which, “Solar System” was the perfect choice to convey that feeling from “Love You”. From that point, we once again hit rough waters until we get to 2012.
The live stuff plays like a hardcore fan’s random playlist, which isn’t bad if you actually are one. “Summer in Paradise”, thankfully, is the only reminder that the album ever existed, but it must only be there at Mike’s insistence. The alternate lead singers on “Help, Me Rhonda” (Dennis!!), “Wild Honey” (Blondie, with the band jamming it out) and “Sail on Sailor” (Carl, where he should have been in the first place) are very cool. On the other hand – “Vegetables”? The compilers did miss a couple of live rarities – a 1982 take of “Runaway” (again sung by Al) from a promo sample and a mediocre “California Girls” from the B-side of a 1987 single.
Of the rest, only “Barnyard Blues” and "Mona Kana” (Dennis rules again) are worth more than one listen. Overall, the “Good Vibrations” box is a more straightforward collection, even with its disc 5. Since it’s out of print anyway, however, this will probably be a more economical way to go for new fans.