around: The Beach Boys 1967 Rehearsals

"God Only Knows"

Anyone with a more-than-casual interest in the Beach Boys should head over to Aquarium Drunkard ASAP. For the second time in a few years, AD is hosting some quintessential Beach Boys demos, recorded in 1967 during the rehearsal sessions for Pet Sounds. Simple, stripped down versions of Beach Boys classics. A must for collectors, BW obssesors and Mom and Dad. According to AD, the mp3s will be up for two weeks. Do not hesitate. Could not be recommended anymore.

The Beach Boys :: God Only Knows
The Beach Boys :: Surfer Girl
The Beach Boys :: You’re So Good To Me
The Beach Boys :: The Letter
The Beach Boys :: Help Me Rhonda
The Beach Boys :: Heroes & Villains
The Beach Boys :: Their Hearts Were Full of Spring

classick albums: Odessey & Oracle

"A sweet vibration seemed to fill the air"Recorded at Abbey Road in the Summer of '67, Odessey & Oracle was produced during the height of the psychedelic movement in London, and The Zombies were smack dab in the middle of it. As you can probably tell the album cover (above), The Zombies were riding a wave of psychotropics, which when filtered through their novice Brit Invasion crops, conjured a hazy dream world, thick with cloud 9 eccentricities and the stoney sheen of a magically sunny day in the Summer of '67.

Odessey & Oracle opens with the skeletal "A Rose for Emily", which moves from a minimalist piano composition into a soaring breeze of harmonic wonder and back down, before drifting softly into "Maybe After He's Gone," a bass heavy British Invasion jam with thumping jazz drums and carefully constructed "la-la" harmonies wrapped underneath Colin Blunstone's breathy vocals. In a bizarre bit of ancestry, the off kilter clicks of a typewriter during the breakdown in "Maybe After He's Gone" play like an unlikely great-grandfather to the rhythmless glitch tech of IDM.

A bit stoney from the beginning, a feeling of chemical imbalance comes alive on "Hung Up On A Dream",where orchestral sweeps envelope the dreamy song, whose ambiguous lyrics straddle the line between a child's mystical dream and a young man's transcendental trip.

A sweet confusion filled my mind/ Until I woke up only finding everything was just a dream/ A dream unusual of its kind/ That gave me peace and blew my mind/ And now I'm hung up on a dream

The glow only grows from there with "Changes", a loopy flute laden cut with 4 part harmonies swelling in unison over simple hand percussion and extremely minimal piano parts. Like the Beach Boys, The Zombies used harmonies as vehicle for psychedelic experimentation, using layer upon layer of effected vocal to form an ethereal feeling of drifting through space and time, as if everything were a dream.

On the other side of the psyche coin is the rumbling, squeezebox fueled "Butcher's Tale (Western Front 1914)", which would sound fitting on the Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter. Propelled by a fully overdriven organ and lyrics like "My hands won't stop shaking/ My arms won't stop shaking/ My mind won't stop shaking/I want to go home", "Butcher's Tale" is the quintessential bad trip song, in a totally good way. I don't think I have to mention how lovely uber classics like "Time of the Season", "This Will Be Our Year" and "I Want Her (She Wants Me)" are. Y'all already know that.

Unfortunately, by the time the album was released, The Zombies had disbanded. Odessey & Oracle was their last work, their definitive artistic statement, an undeniable masterpiece. While Brian Wilson and Pet Sounds continue to get all the critical nods for influencing the psyche popsters of the moment (Panda Bear, Miracle Fortress, Of Montreal, etc), The Zombies have clearly left a similar influence on Generation X/Y, especially on Panda Bear, who thanks them in the liner notes of Person Pitch (His loopy harmonies are much more comparable to the songs on Odessey & Oracle than the highly orchestrated choral arrangements of Pet Sounds & Holland). Now only if someone from Continuum would do 33 1/3 book on The Zombies master work.

The Zombies- A Rose for Emily
The Zombies- Changes
The Zombies- Hung Up on a Dream

Valentine's Day Mix Up

"Let's Stay Together"

This year we're starting a new tradition. Every Valentine's Day instead of giving out candy hearts and chocolate's, we're gonna share a few songs. Know matter what kind of mood you're in this year, we've got a song for you. Don't believe us. Just take a gander down below.

For the innocent Virgin couple celebrating their first Valentine's Day->The Beach Boys- Forever
Also, for Full House fans who remember Uncle Jesse rocking this Denny Wilson classic (Stamos' favorite B.B's song) out with an elderly version of the Beach Boys.


For someone still in love with their Ex-> The Magnetic Fields- I Don't Wanna Get Over You
"I don't wanna get over love/I could listen to my therapists/Pretend you don't exist/And not have to think of what I think of...Or I could make a career of being blue/I could dress in black/And read Camut/Smoke Clove Cigarettes/And Drink Vermouth/When I was 17/ That would be the scream/But I don't wanna get over you." A 69 Love Songs classic.


For the soul mama who loves his her funky daddy-> Aretha Franklin- Baby I Love You
Ain't nothing wrong with that.


For the lustful cougar who just signed up for Facebook -> The Chromatics- I Want Your Love
Something wrong with that.


For people who practice kissing their hand late at night-> Cat Power- Where Is My Love?
If you're gonna pretend to make out with someone, Chan Marshall's a good pick.


For those seeking closure-> LCD Soundsystem- Someone Great
Who knew James Murphy was so human? We were convinced analog wires ran through his veins.


For sexual philosophers-> Silver Jews- How Can I Love You (If You Wont Lie Down)?
David Berman never sounded so enlightened. Come to think of it, he always sounds the same.


For thirteen year old mall rats & drunken 19 year old celeb-utants->Uffie- First Love
What middle school dances are all about.


For the sappy, hopeless romantic->Jens Lekman- Someone To Share My Life With
Sometimes he goes a little overboard with the melodrama...Take that back, never enough melodrama.

For the heartbroken drunk->Tom Waits- I Hope That I Don't Fall In Love With You
Nobody knows whiskey and women better than Ole Mista Waits.


For Sexual Deviants-> R. Kelly- Sex Planet
"Girl I Promise This Will Be Painless(Painless)/We'll Take A Trip 2 Planet Uranus(Anus)."


For making love on crushed velvet-> Barry White- Ecstasy When You're Next To Me
You know that voice does you mmm mmmm good...Ok, that was nasty.


For "Schmooopies"-> The Explorers Club- Forever
Yes it has the same name as the aforementioned Beach Boy's song. And yes it sounds just like the Wilson's and Friends. And yes, you're the schmooooooopie.

For anyone with a heart-> Joy Division- Love Will Tear Us Apart Again


And we'll end with our collective favorite Valentine's Day Jam-> Silk- Freak Me
It's hard picking a particular lyrics to associate with this song, but we're gonna go with this one. "You, you, you, you/Oh you/You, you, you, you/Let me freak you/ You, you, you, you/ All of you/ I want it, I want it/ You, you, you, you/ Oh you/ You, you, you, you/ Let me do you/ Cuz tonight baby, I wanna get freaky with you"

lost & found: Pacific Ocean Blue

"Let It Shine On You"

I've been a major proponent of reissueing Dennis Wilson's out-of-print classic Pacific Ocean Blue since it found it's way into my psyche a few years ago. Lately I've been yearning for more than my digital copy which I found on the royal pink OINK. While OINK was totally illegal, it's celebrated archives were so vast that it made it near essential for music obsessives scouring for obscure tracks and forgotten gems. If it weren't for OINK I never would have found Pacific Ocean Blue.

Dennis' first solo effort, the first by any Beach Boy, is a golden slice of '70s Angelino extravagance. Released in 1977, the record plays well alongside the Beach Boy's Holland and Fleetwood Mac's self-titled. This makes sense as Dennis had a long, tumultuous love affair with Fleetwood songstress Christine McVie. A sailor at heart, Pacific Ocean Blue invokes Wilson's love of the sea in song and in tone. Ironically, Dennis hated Pacific Ocean Blue, claiming it had no substance.

Besides making music, Dennis led a rather bizarre existence.Full of heart and love, Dennis's vulnerability often got the best of him. His innocence is what solidified his relationship to Charles Manson, who frequently stayed at Wilson's home. The two also played music together. Charlies really wanted to be a pop star. In a magazine interview, Dennis once referred to Manson as "The Wizard." After the murders, Wilson rarely spoke on the Manson connection, although he hinted that he knew what provoked the murders and said one day he would publish it in a book. However, addiction took its toll on Wilson, who lived a remarkably self-destructive lifestyle in late '70s Los Angeles (He was said to have crashed Christine McVie's Rolls Royce twelve times!). In a a stroke of tragedy, Denny drowned while drunkenly swimming in Marina Del Ray in 1983. He was quoted earlier that day as saying "I'm lonesome. I'm lonesome all the time."

But we shall Rejoice! Rejoice! because Wilson's masterpiece is finally getting the remastered, re-issued treatment it deserves. Out of print since 1991, copies of the album on record go for up to $300, while CD's are at upwards of $120. Now thanks to Legacy Recordings and Sundazed, who will release a 180-gram vinyl mini-box re-issue, the public will finally be able to bask in the light of the Dreamer.

If you would like to know more about the fascinating life of Dennis Wilson, check out this great documentary, Dennis Wilson Forever on Flasher. It's free.

Pacific Ocean Blue hits stores again on 4/18/2008

under rated: Holland

"Have You Ever Been Up Salinas Way?"

It's hard to deny that the Beach Boys hit their stride on masterful Pet Sounds, but I'd like to argue that that peak merely plateaued around Pet Sounds, breeding the lovely Sunflower & Surfs Up and the majestic Holland, which was recorded in Baambrugge, The Netherlands. In a classic case of the record industry making ludicrous financial decisions, Warner Brothers allowed the Beach Boys to build a new "Clover Systems custom quadrophonic console: 30 input channels, 1000 position patch bay, 20 Dolby noise reduction units," a wide variety of microphones, custom monitoring system and a boat load of custom JBL speakers. "All equipment was designed specifically for this project by Brother Records (The Beach Boys label) in Los Angeles, then flown to Holland for this recording." Must've been sweet to be a rockstar in the '70s, when rock stars still existed.

Technically, Holland is one and a half long playing records, as Brian Wilson's bewildered "Mount Vernon and Fairway: A Fairy Tale" is included as a 7" record separate from the 12" LP. Why? Probably because Warner Bros. was freaked out by Brian's monotone spoken word about a magical transistor radio that comes alive at night and awakens teenage rock fans. The 7" is weird, and I say this as someone who eats weird for breakfast, and comes with instructions: "Please listen in the dark." Needless to say, it's a stoner's delight and one of the most fascinating, albeit bizarre, Wilson compositions.

Holland kicks off with the funky, piano driven "Sail On Sailor", a Brian Wilson/Van Dyke Parks collaboration with lyrics by Jack Rieley and Ray Kennedy, a bit of a departure from the usual BB's penned tunes. (You may know the song from Martin Scorcese's "The Departed".) While "Sail On Sailor" is all harmonies and pop and everything you've come to love and respect about the Boys, the real highlight here is Mike Love's mini-opera "The California Saga" made up of "Big Sur", "The Beak of Eages" and "California." It's the type of mini-epic you can't really explain, so take a listen below and enjoy the wonder that is post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys.

The Beach Boys- Big Sur (Part 1 of The California Saga)
The Beach Boys- The Beak of Eagles (Part 2 of The California Saga)
The Beach Boys- California (Part 3 of The California Saga)

Bullion- Pet Sounds: In The Key of Dee

"I Remember How You Used To Say/ It's Fantastic"

To be perfectly honest I can't believe we haven't posted about this yet, but hey, we're busy doing other stuff like..uh.. Ok there is no "real" reason we haven't sung the praise of Bullion's sample magic, Pet Sounds: In The Key of Dee. As you can tell from the lovely photoshopped album art, this mix pits the effervescent harmonies and orchestrated acid pop of the Beach Boy's Pet Sounds against samples from the late, great J. Dilla's monstrous catalog (RIP). The mastermind behind the ingenious pairing is Acton, England's Bullion, who refuses to let people label ...In the Key of Dee as a mash up. You see, while Bullion has blended samples from Pet Sounds and the Dilla ouevre, he didn't borrow any of Dilla's drums. And the drums on this mix are a thing of beauty. They feel like drums; tight and smooth like ?uestlove and thick like B-More bangers. Making great use of the massive Pet Sounds box set, Bullion boils Brian Wilson's sonic masterpiece into 24:38 of head bobbing hip-hop, cooled out with the Beach Boy's trademark So-Cal surf style. Not just an incredible mix, but also a damn good reminder that no one should be without the Beach Boy's classic and a sampling of Dilla's greatest hits. Download a .zip file of Pet Sounds: In the Key of D down below. As a bonus there's also a link to a tight mix Bullion did for the british website Shhhh, Mixed Up In Love, which features everyone from A Tribe Called Quest to Arthur Russell to J. Davey and, of course, J. Dilla.

Bullion-Pet Sounds: In the Key of Dee
Bullion-Mixed Up In Love

CMJ preview: Miracle Fortress

"And Maybe When Its Colder You Can Come To Stay"

As CMJ gets closer (and more chaotic) I'm getting excited to know that I've secured a spot to see Montreal's Miracle Fortress at least once. The psychedelic rainbow harmonies of Five Roses have been on my mind since KEXP enlightened me last spring. Miracle Fortress should bring to mind fellow hazy Montreal rockers The Besnard Lakes and the equally Canadian, Caribou(formerly Manitoba). The harmonies on "Maybe Lately" are so fucking Beach Boys and while yes we say that alot, and yes its 2k7's indie rock key word (Wilson-esque), there's no need to deny its looping, whirling seaside goodness. Come check them out with us 10/16 at the Bowery Ballroom in NYC with the Rosebuds, The Most Serene Republic and a slew of others.

Miracle Fortress- Maybe Lately
Miracle Fortress-This Thing About You

I Think John Berryman Was Right

"I'd Like to Start This One off By Saying Live & Love"

On a frigid January morning in Minneapolis in 1972 John Berryman, confessional poet and University of Minnesota professor, waved to morning commuters on the Washington Avenue Bridge and hurled himself into the wind. While poetry and suicide go together like PB & J, Berryman's case is interesting as it resonates with artists today. Last year Minnesota natives The Hold Steady immortalized Berryman (and Kerouac) in "Stuck Between Stations":

The Devil and John Berryman took a walk together
They ended up on Washington talking to the river
He said "I surrounded myself with doctors and deep thinkers
But big heads with soft bodies make for lousy lovers".
There was that night that we thought that John Berryman could fly.
But he didn't so he died.
She said "you're pretty good with words but words won't save your life"
And they didn't so he died

More recently Okkervil River, whose singer/songwriter Will Sheff spent his college years at Macalester in Minneapolis, conclude The Stage Names with "John Allyn Smith Sails," a confessional about Berryman's plight into the next world, that incorporates the Beach Boys "Sloop John B" in its cadence. After the band's last tour, Sheff found himself in Minneapolis after a freewheelin' road trip. He had this to say about his experience:

I wanted to go to the Washington Avenue Bridge, which is the bridge John Berryman jumped off of. I went there and I was standing in that same place where he was and I was thinking a lot about him. It was a really bitterly cold day, and it had been a really bitterly cold day when he killed himself in January 1972. And I went to the library where all of his books and a lot of his effects are stored. I was thinking a lot about that and it was, though it sounds corny, a very moving experience for me. After that I was listening to music and thinking about John Berryman and thinking about a lot of different things….There's a part of A Night of Serious Drinking where he talks about the inescapable velocity of the suicide, or something like that, where you might think halfway down, "Wait a second, I've made a bad decision."

No doubt Berryman's legacy haunts some of the most profound, poetic lyricist of our time. Evidence below.

R.I.P John.

The Hold Steady- Stuck Between Stations
Okkervil River- John Allyn Smith Sails