When it comes to the Bee Gee’s 60s catalogue, it has been well served with re-releases in both mono and stereo versions along with alternative mixes and unreleased tracks. A number of these had a Christmas theme so I have put them together as an EP that the band could have released in 1968 instead of the single ‘I Started A Joke’.
The opening song is All My Christmases (Came At Once) which the Gibb brothers had given to The Majority to be used in the film ‘The Mini Mob’, or ‘The Mini Affair’ depending on which market you are looking at. The next two songs were both recorded for a Christmas themed television show called ‘How On Earth’, that was filmed at Liverpool Cathedral. We finish up with a demo of a 1968 song called ‘Come Some Christmas Eve Our Halloween’, which might not have the most festive of lyrics by Robin Gibb, but he would come back to this song for his festive album ’My Favourite Christmas Carols’ in 2006.
Side A
All My Christmas (Came At Once)
Medley – Hark The Herald Angels Sing/Silent Night
Side B
Thank You For Christmas
Come Some Christmas Eve Or Halloween
I could not find a Christmas picture of the group from the late 60s, so I adapted the cover of an unofficial album that shows them performing in a studio. Not very festive, but it does look good.
Following on from our look at The Bee Gees album that never was in our last post, we are now going to have a look at what Robin did in his first attempt at a solo career. Initially, Robin’s solo career started with a bang with his first song ‘Saved By The Bell’ making number 2 in the UK singles charts. This single is thought to be one of the first to have been a hit with a drum machine on it. The drum machine sound might have been something new in 1969, but it has dated the recording on which it was used. After this impressive start, the momentum was lost. ‘One Million Years’, the follow up single was a minor hit and the parent album which was called ‘Robin’s Reign’ did some good business in Germany and Canada but failed to chart in the rest of the world. Unperturbed, Robin continued to record as a solo artist even though he did admit that at this stage he missed the camaraderie of working with his brothers.
The songs on these sessions dispersed with the drum machine and for the most part included orchestral arrangements to flush out the sound. Were these songs meant for a second album? Robin himself was unsure and hinted that he was not really trying to be a solo artist, but doing something to bide the time. The production on these songs would say otherwise considering Robin is backed up with what sounds like a full orchestra. As it was, none of these recording saw the light of day until 2015 when the ‘Saved By The Bell’ compilation was released, which was a collection of Robin Gibb’s solo work between 1968 and 1970. If only the solo works of Maurice and Barry would get this sort of treatment. This second album has been given the name ‘Sing Slowly Sisters’ down the years and using the material included on the aforementioned release, I have put together what could have been his second album, especially if Barry and Maurice had continued to release material as The Bee Gees*. In reality, by June of 1970, he and Maurice were back in the studio and by August, Barry had joined them reuniting The Bee Gees who would keep recording until Maurice passed away in 2003.
Side A
Engines Aeroplanes
I’ve Been Hurt
Return To Austria
Everything Is How You See Me
The Flag I Flew
Anywhere I Hang My Hat
Life
Side B
Sing Slowly Sisters
Loud & Clear
C’est La Vie, Au Revoir
Irons On The Fire
It’s Only Make Believe
All’s Well That End’s Well
Single
Great Caesars Ghost
Sky West & Crooked
‘Great Caesars Ghost’ was talked about as being a single at the time, so if we were to continue with the time line of the second LP, why not have a single to go with it. ‘Sky West & Crooked’ was included as the B-Side because it sounds more like a demo and not the finished, orchestrated material that made up the rest of the album. It just sounded too out of place to be on the album but too good to be forgotten about completley. The front cover of the LP is taken from ‘I Design Album Covers’ website (https://idesignalbumcovers.tumblr.com).
The career of The Bee Gees can be broken down into a number of distinct eras.
There is the pre-fame period. They started playing in bands in 1955 when Barry was nine and the twins Maurice & Robin being six whilst they lived in Manchester, UK. They moved to Australia in 1958 and started their recording career in 1963. They would continue to record in Australia with some success until 1966 when they decided to relocate back the UK.
1967 – 1969 and the first brush with fame. They also were a proper band at this time with the addition of drummer Colin Petersen and guitar player Vince Melouney.
1970 – 1974. The wilderness years and the first solo projects.
1975 -1979. The disco behemoth.
1980 – 1986. More solo records and outside projects.
1987 onwards. A return to the top and becoming a heritage act.
Thinking about it, it amazing how similar in trajectory The Bee Gees career to Fleetwood Mac, especially from 1967 to 1979. Anyway, in this months artists showcase we are going to look at the period between the 1969 and 1970 when The Bee Gees fragmented from a quintet to a duo, and then to nothing at all before reforming with just the Gibb Brothers and hired hands.
Vince Melouney was the first to go, leaving the group because he wanted to play more blues orientated music than the brothers were producing at the time. Melouney does hold the distinction of being the only non Gibb to have a song on a post 1967 Bee Gees album. His parting was on good terms but not all was well within the Bee Gee camp. Matters came to a head after the release of the ‘Odessa’ album. The only single released from this LP was Barry’s ‘First Of May’. Robin felt that his song ‘Lamplight’ should have been chosen instead but had been relegated to the B-Side of the aforementioned ‘First of May’. Robin feeling that their manager Robert Stigwood was pushing Barry towards being the frontman of the group decided to leave the group and strike out on his own.
Barry & Maurice soldiered on as The Bee Gees and even showed a doctors note for nervous exhaustion on the ‘Happening For Lulu’ show to explain Robin’s absence. Barry & Maurice decided to produce a film and album under the name of ‘Cucumber Castle’, which had been a song on their 1967 ‘1st’ album. The film consists of Barry and Maurice playing two Princess who have their father’s Kingdom divided up so one if the King of Cucumber, and the other is the King of Jelly. The plot , if it can be described as one, is non sensical. It is essentially a mix of sketches with a curious mix of Medieval imagery combined with scenes with guns that are not exactly from the Middle Ages. The cast includes Frankie Howard, Vincent Price and Spike Milligan.
These sketches were interspersed with musical numbers from not only The Bee Gees themselves (which on the whole are excellent), but Lulu (who covers Simon & Garfunkel’s Mrs Robinson whilst cleaning the castle) and live footage of Blind Faith from their gig in Hyde Park in 1969. That footage is not Medieval at all either. The film was screen on 26th December 1970 by which time, both Blind Faith and The Bee Gees had split up with the latter actually having the time to reform. This did receive a limited release on VHS back in the day but has not seen the light since. It has also been described as one of the rarest VHS releases of all time.
You can actually watch the whole thing here, as long as it hasn’t been blocked on removed from YouTube. Apart form the music, it is pretty bad. You have been warned.
On the music front, both Barry and Maurice well very busy. There was even talk of replacing Robin with a singer called Peter Mason. Though he may have helped on the recording of the song ‘Don’t Forget To Remember’, Mason did not end up as a Bee Gee with one theory stating that Stigwood was against the idea as he was hoping the three Gibb Brothers would reunite. Barry would also do some production work for P.P. Arnold with Maurice working with Australian band Tin Tin. These bouts of production would be fitted in work on the next Bee Gees album. Recordings on the ‘Cucumber Castle’ concluded in October 1969 but would not see the light of day until April the following year. You would think that an album by a major recording artist of the late 60’s would want their album out in time for the Christmas market, but this did not happen because on 1st December 1969, Barry announced he was leaving the Bee Gee’s.
Maurice and Barry would start the new decade recording material for solo albums with both releasing singles. Barry with ‘I’ll Kiss Your Memory’ and Maurice with ‘The Loner’. With Robin also making recordings as a solo artist, 1970 look like a year of Bee Gees overkill. As it was, neither Maurice’s or Barry’s solo records appeared. In June, Maurice and Robin started to work together again and announced that they would reform as The Bee Gees, with or without Barry. Their elder brother came back into the fold and in November, they would release their ‘2 Years On’ album.
But what if the ‘Cucumber Castle’ album had seen the light of day in December of 1969, and that Barry and Maurice decided to keep working as The Bee Gees? That would leave a gap in 1970 for another Bee Gees album to be released but what material would it consist of. Robin was still out of the picture at this point so we will have to use the songs that were recorded for the still unreleased solo records by Maurice and Barry. There was enough material from those solo recording to make two solo albums so reducing them down to one shouldn’t be too difficult should it?
Well, the production on the songs is as good as you would expect it to be. However, without the others contributing ideas, the songs themselves are not up to the standards you would expect from this period in the band’s career. They lack the spark and harmonies that having brothers singing together can bring. I have kept the songs from the two singles Maurice and Barry released separate from the album and what we have is a good album, but not a classic. It would have been obvious to all that if this had happened, the Gibb Brothers really needed each other to produce the classic material that they are known for. Apart from the singles, very few of these songs have seen the light of day. ‘One Bad Thing’ was covered by a few artists in 1971 and ‘The Loner’ was used in the film Bloomfield.
Side A
Journey To The Misty Mountains (Maurice Gibb)
The Loner (Maurice Gibb)
Please Lock Me Away (Maurice Gibb)
The Day You Eyes Met Mine (Barry Gibb)
Happiness (Barry Gibb)
Silly Little Girl (Maurice Gibb)
I Just Wanna Take Care Of You (Barry Gibb)
Side B
One Bad Thing (Barry Gibb)
The Victim (Barry Gibb)
Peace In My Mind (Barry Gibb)
Mando Bay (Barry Gibb)
Soldier Johnny (Maurice Gibb)
She’s The One You Love (Maurice Gibb)
Singles
Railroad (Maurice Gibb)
I’ve Come Back (Maurice Gibb)
I’ll Kiss Your Memory (Barry Gibb)
This Time (Barry Gibb)
Finding a picture of the two man Bee Gees is not easy, so I took the picture sleeved for the Belgium edition of the I.O.I.O. single. I could edit out the title of the A-Side but the B-Side of Sweet Heart was a bit beyond my skills. The song may have appeared on the Cucumber Castle album, but this would not be the first time the Bee Gees took an album title from a song from a previous LP. I replaced the pink Polydor logo of the original release with the traditional red one, and the catalogue number was the one used by John Hunt at the ‘I Design Album Covers’ site for the unreleased solo albums these songs were taken from.
As a side note, the ‘Cucumber Castle’ film and album would also be the last time drummer Colin Petersen was involved in a Bee Gees project. He was fired for not turning up to recording sessions and not taking an interest in filming, which is odd as Petersen had been a child actor. Petersen himself put it down the fact that he argued with Robert Stigwood over his role with the band. Stigwood not only managed the band but was their producer, the music publisher and owned the recordings.
Well, we’ve already had one fake soundtrack album this month, so how about another. This one is taken from a film that has never been officially released because it is a fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back. Now, fan edits are a a curious beast. They are commercially released films that have been modified by an editor to add or remove scenes, re-order the film or even edit multiple films together to make something wholly original.
One of my favourites as well as one of the most original was the fan edit of The Empire Strikes Back which was made to look as though it had been directed by Quentin Tarantino. That means it incorporates some of the tropes the director is famous for, such as telling the story in a non liner style, incorporating animation for some sequences and most importantly for us, the soundtrack was reworked. Gone is the classical score of John Williams. In its place is a mix of songs taken from Tarantino films, as well as some that were taken from his favoured era of the 60s and 70s.
This edit is truly awesome and if you can find, I recommend you give it a watch. The soundtrack is also brilliant and that is why I was inspired to create a version of it. If you can find a copy of the film, it is well worth checking out. If you can’t just enjoy the awesome music that has been edited in. In fact, there was so much good stuff that I found that it needed to be a double to do the amount of good music justice.
Side A
Space Oddity – David Bowie
Baby, It’s You – Smith
The Lonely Surfer – Jack Nitzche
Mind Power – James Brown
Side B
Run Fay Run – Isaac Hayes
Cissy Strut – The Meters
Down in Mexico – The Coasters
Summertime Killer – Luis Bacalov
Good Love, Bad Love – Eddie Floyd
Strawberry Letter 23 – Brothers Johnson
The Grand Duel (Parte Prima) – Luis Enrique Bacalov
Side C
A Silhouette Of Doom – Ennio Morricone
Slaughter – Billy Preston
Riot In Thunder Alley – Eddie Beram
The Last Race – Jack Nitzche
The Green Leaves Of Summer – Nick Perito
Both Sides Now – Joni Mitchell
The Lonely Shepherd – Zamfir
Disc 4
I Can’t Sleep / They Can’t Touch Her (Betsey’s Theme) – Bernard Herrmann
Old Man – Neil Young
The Chase – Alan Reeves, Phil Steele & Philip Bringham
The Love You Save (May Be Your Own) – Joe Tex
Across 110th Street – Bobby Womack
The Ecstasy Of Gold – Ennio Morricone
The Flower Of Carnage – Meiko Kaji
The cover is an adaptation of one of the DVD sleeve that was produced for anyone who was able to download a copy and burn to a disc.
Remember, fan edits are not to be sold and only download them if you own the original film.
As I have posted one alternative history LP for Pink Floyd this month, how about another. Zabriskie Point is a film that is most probably more famous for its soundtrack album than the film itself. Directed by Michelangelo Antonioni and produced by MGM, this was the movie studios attempt at a counter culture film which was thoroughly ignored by the people it was meant to appeal to. From a budget of $7million (not a small amount in the late 60s), the film grossed about $1million in return. It is noticeable for an appearance by a young Harrison Ford. Infamously, leading man Mark Frechette took part in a bank robbery three years after the film came out and died in prison from an accident with some weights.
However, the soundtrack lived on as it included tracks by the Grateful Dead, Kaleidoscope and songs unavailable anywhere else (at the time) from Pink Floyd. It was because of the Pink Floyd connection that I bought a vinyl copy of this record myself back in the dim distant past. Floyd had spent 1969 producing ‘Ummagumma’ and another soundtrack for the film ‘More’. They had done reasonably well with their LP sales, but this was the first year that the band had not released a single in the UK because, as Roger Waters once noted, without founder Syd Barrett, they just weren’t very good at it. It was because of a recording on their last single of the 1960s that Antonioni came a-calling.
That recording was that single’s B-Side, ’Careful With That Axe, Eugene’. Antonioni was so impressed with the track that not only did he ask the band to re-record it (under the title of Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up) but to score the entire film. This the band did, but as has already been noted, the director decided against using the majority of their material for the film. This is a shame as there are some nice instrumental pieces here, as well as a couple of actual songs. Out of the actual songs, only ‘Crumbling Land’ made the soundtrack album as well as two instrumental pieces, ‘Heart Beat, Pig Meat’ and the aforementioned ‘Come in Number 51 (etc)’. The rest were consigned to the archive.
What I have tried to do here is to present a soundtrack to Zabriskie Point that is made up of only Floyd music.
Love Scene – there were numerous version of this instrumental track, because Antonioni could not make up his mind what he wanted. Floyd produced at least seven variations, three of which have been included here.
Aeroplane – one of many heavy rock pieces Floyd produced for the soundtrack.
Unknown Song – initially released on the 1997 version of the soundtrack album, this contains melodies that were reused in ‘Atom Heart Mother’ as well as being a signal to what was to come from the band. The acoustic 12 string playing is reminiscent of ‘A Pillow of Winds’ from ‘Meddle.
Crumbling Land – Pink Floyd do an Americana style song, which David Gilmour later noted, could have been performed better by any number of American bands.
Auto Scene – A variation (and instrumental version) of ‘Country Song’.
Heart Beat, Pig Meat – This would sometimes make an appearance with another Floyd project which never saw the light of day as an official released at the time. This was part of ‘The Man & The Journey’ under title of ‘Doing It’.
The Riot Scene – Most probably the most famous un-released track from these sessions. this piano track was later taken from the archives, given some lyrics and called ‘Us & Them’. It would be included on the classic ‘Dark Side of the Moon’ LP.
Country Song – the second song to contain lyrics, this would ultimately not appear in the film.
Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up – The afore mentioned reworking of ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, this would take centre stage at the conclusion of the film.
On The Highway – A shorter version of ‘Crumbling Land’
Side A
Love Scene (Version1)
Aeroplane
Unknown Song (Take 1)
Crumbling Land
Love Scene (Version 7)
Auto Scene (Version 2)
Side B
Heart Beat, Pig Meat
The Riot Scene
Love Scene (Version 4)
Country Song
Come In Number 51, Your Time Is Up
On The Highway
This is not the best Pink Floyd album by any stretch of the imagination, but it still has its merits. It showcases the band as being able to tackle many genres as well as working to a schedule, something that would go out of the window after the success of ‘Dark Side of the Moon’. I think there is a more constant feel to this album, compared to ‘More’ and the two vocal tracks (not including ‘On The Highway’ here) were really good. This though is a nice bridge between the first phase of Floyd and the beginnings of their soon to be world domination period.
I do like a bit of Pink Floyd, especially in their more experimental days before ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ came out. They were bursting with ideas but they were struggling to find their sound. However, Pink Floyd entered 1969 in reasonable shape sales wise, but there was still some debate as to the direction the band would take. The band’s early material and their hits had been written by Syd Barrett, but due to reasons documented in numerous other places, he had left the band by April 1968. The band had already recruited Barrett’s friend David Gilmour to help take the heavy lifting of live work and so was already in place when Barrett left/was asked to leave. The bands second album, ‘A Saucerful of Secrets’ had been released in June 1968 and was a mixed bag of psychedelic jams, first album outtakes, Barrett knock offs as well as one Barrett original. The album is, as drummer Nick Mason described it, a cross-fade between one era and the next. I’ve not seen a more apt description of that album anywhere else.
With Barrett gone and the psychedelic era drawing to a close, the band were looking for a new direction. A way of keeping themselves busy as well as earning some money, the band took on commissions to write soundtracks. This included the films ‘Speak’ by John Latham, ‘More’ by Barbet Schroeder, ‘The Committee’ by Peter Sykes and there was some contributions to TV shows such as Tomorrows World. They would finish off the 60s by realising the half live, half studio album ‘Ummagumma’. 1969 was quite a productive year, but that does not mean that the music they were producing was as memorable as the work that had proceeded it or what was to come. This was a band treading water and wondering what to do next and listening to the studio set on ‘Ummagumma’ shows this. However, when listening to the material that band put out in 1969, I wondered if there was enough songs to make a stand alone album as a true follow up to ‘Saucerful of Secrets’. Well, this is what I came up.
All of the songs needed to come from the last months of 1968, which means that the ‘Point Me At The Sky’ single would still be part of this timeline. I changed the B-Side from ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’ to ‘Ibiza Bar’ from ‘More’. I quite like ‘Ibiza Bar’ as it borders on a hard rock sound Pink Floyd did not attempt very often. However, one of their other attempts was ‘The Nile Song’ from the same album was also in a similar style and sound very much alike as well. I did not like the idea of having two songs that sounded pretty much the same so I relegated one to a single B-Side. ‘Cirrus Minor’ also appeared on the ‘More’ and it could be argued that it is a strange choice as the opening track. It is a very mellow songs and not the bombastic here were are opening you’d expect on an album. It was the opening track on the original album and to my ears, this was the best place for it. I edited the introduction to ‘Grantchester Meadows’ over the end of ‘Cirrus Minor’ as we moved to a more folk orientated tune and it works quite nicely. We then get to ‘Careful With That Axe, Eugene’, which is presented here in a stereo mix. The original single version was mono, but as this album would have been released in stereo only as all new Pink Floyd albums have been since 1969; that is the reason why this mix was included. This song was wasted on the B-Side of ‘Point Me At The Sky’. Side A finishes with ‘The Narrow Way (Part 3)’, the first Pink Floyd song with lyrics by Gilmour. Parts 1 & 2 were instrumental tracks and have been edited out, as they would have meant this side of the album would be too long. This record is meant to be more song based so having all of the instrumental noodling would detract from the record.
Side B starts with a bang and the aforementioned ‘Nile Song’. We then go back to the more folky side of Floyd with the beautiful ‘Green Is The Colour’. The pace picks up again with ‘Biding My Time’ which was one of the few genuine Pink Floyd rarities to get an official release during the 70s, when the band put out the ‘Relics’ album. Cymbaline, one of the more beautiful songs from ‘More’ and like ‘Green Is The Colour’, was wasted on a soundtrack album. What follows is another rarity from the era in the form of the song ‘Embryo’. Only recorded as a demo in late 1968, it slipped out on the Harvest label sampler LP ‘A Breath of Fresh Air’. The song was never finished by the band but it did become a concert staple between 1970 and 71. We finish off with another song from ‘More’ with ‘Crying Song’.
Playing through this compilation whilst writing this entry, it reminded me that even at this early stage, the band were capable of writing some quality material and this would have been a very good album, if a little eclectic with the amount of styles presented within the grooves. Granted, they were still trying to find the direction they were going to go in but this would have lead nicely into ‘Atom Heart Mother’, the studio album that followed in 1970. It was interesting to note that a lot of these songs were being performed by the band at this time as ‘The Man & The Journey’ show, which I also looked at back in April of 2022.
Side A
Cirrus Minor – More
Granchester Meadows – Ummagumma
Careful With That Axe, Eugene (Stereo Mix) – Relics
The Narrow Way (Part 3) – Ummagumma
Side B
The Nile Song – More
Green Is The Colour – More
Biding My Time – Relics
Cymbaline – More
Embryo – Picnic – A Breath Of Fresh Air
Crying Song – More
Single
Point Me At The Sky – Single A-Side
Ibiza Bar – More
The name of the album comes from the name given to some of the shows they played in 1969 which would also be known as ‘The Man & The Journey’.
The cover has been adapted from https://www.reddit.com/r/pinkfloyd/comments/avlk6k/pink_floyd_the_man_and_the_journey_hypothetical/
When it comes to these what-if records, Smashing Pumpkins really are the band that just keep on giving, especially when it come to the period between their formation in 1988 and initial breakup in 2000. The scale of the material that the band recorded and did not release must be akin to Bob Dylan, in that the could have quite easily released a number of Bootleg Series style releases, but instead, they focused on placing this material on the deluxe editions of their original albums. The first two, ‘Gish’ and ‘Siamese Dream’ only hinted at what was to come. Maybe main songwriter Billy Corgan felt that the best of the outtakes had already been released on their ‘Pisces Iscariot’ album. With that record also being released in a deluxe edition, it would seem not. As has been mentioned in previous posts on the Pumpkins, Corgan shared a lot of material via his website in the early 2000, some of which have not see an official release either.
It was with the deluxe editions of ‘Mellon Collie & The Infinite Sadness’ and ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ that the true depth of material that the band had in the archive become clear. These rereleases included so much music it was impossible to sit through them in one sitting. I already tackled what ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ would have sounded like if it had been released as a single album in the same manor as ‘Pisces Iscariot’, but what about ‘Adore’?
‘Adore’ came out at a challenging time for the band. Not only was Corgan finding the pressure to produce a record that matched ‘Mellon Collie’, but the band was reeling from the sacking of drummer Jimmy Chamberlin due to drug issues. Band relations were also at a low point with Corgan latter summing up these sessions as the work of a group falling apart. Corgan was also having to contend with the death of his mother as well as going through a divorce. Considering we got anything at all was a minor miracle.
There were clues as to what was coming with ‘Adore’ with their previous releases. The song ‘1979’ included electronic elements as well as stand alone singles ‘Eye’ and ‘The End Is The Beginning Is The End’. ‘Adore’ would not only include the use of drum machines (harking back to the earliest days of the band when they did not have a drummer) but more acoustic guitar and piano. Corgan felt that he was no longer making music for teenagers, but to everyone. Judging by the number of albums sold (which by most peoples standards were quite good), the album lost the band a lot of fans instead of gaining them. Sales were down significantly on ‘Mellon Collie’ and was the first time a Pumpkins album had sold less than the preceding one.
In preparation for ‘Adore’, the band recorded around 30 songs and at one point of its production, it was going to be a double album. As it was, the album was so long that it was decided that the vinyl version would need to use two discs, even though side 4 was left blank. For this, I was tempted to have a go at putting together a double, but I thought it would be better to have a look at what a record of sessions outtakes would sound like, especially as this was the first album since ‘Siamese Dream’ not to have a compilation of sessions material released after it. There wasn’t exactly a shortage of songs on the ‘Adore’ reissue to choose from.
The album itself is based on a vinyl format, so I was limited to about 24 minutes per side. The opening song of the compilation is ‘Let Me Give The World To You’, which was almost on the parent album until Corgan got wind that the record label were keen to release this as the first single. Corgan was adamant that this would not be a single, but the only way to prevent that would be to take the song off of ‘Adore’, which is what he ended up doing. The song was rerecorded for the ‘Machina’ project. It did see a limited release on the ‘Machina II’ album in 2000. As an opening song for this collection, it is a good place to start.
For the rest of the record, I focused on the songs that used minimal electronics. The collection focuses on the acoustic and more mellow of the songs. The more electronic music was relegated to the B-Sides of the single. I would also have the band release one single from this, which would be an alternative version of ‘Do You Close Your Eyes?’. As this was also the era where two CDsingles would come out per release with different B-Sides, there are four extra tracks from the sessions that could have been released.
For the title of the album, I chose ‘Adhor’ as this is the opposite of ‘Adore’ I also used a picture taken by Yalena Yemchuk who took the picture for the original album as well.
As a whole, it works well and once again shows how much quality material Corgan was writing at this time, and how much of it was forgotten about as he moved on to the next project.
Side A
Let Me Give The World To You (Adore Outtake)
Valentine (Sadlands Demo)
Sparrow (Sadlands Demo)
My Mistake (Take 1/CRC Demo)
Chewing Gum (CRC Demo)
Czarina (Take 1/Adore Outtake)
Side B
Do You Close Your Eyes When You Kiss Me? (CRC Demo)
I feel that in the past, I have been a little bit harsh on The Beach Boys with my ‘Endless Bummer’ compilations. Some of the songs they have released are timeless classics. Their story is also one of the great soap operas in music with family feuds, drug abuse, mental health problems and Mike Love. Their story begins in the late 1950’s when a 16 year old Brian Wilson has been soaking up the piano playing of his father, Murray Wilson and the vocal harmony group, the Four Freshman. Brian would teach his family members how to sing the background harmonies, gaining experience for what he would do in the recording studio. In 1958, he received a reel-to-reel tape recorder which he used to overdub his voice along with the aforementioned family.
When his youngest brother Carl received a guitar for Christmas, the pair of them (along with Carl’s friend David Marks) would start playing together. Brian also started to write songs and other people who would become part of The Beach Boys family started to appear on the scene. These were Mike Love, cousin to the Wilson’s and Al Jardine who was a classmate of Brian. Brian suggested that he, Carl, Love and Jardine should team up as a group which was given the name, The Pendletones, a pun on Pendelton which was a style of shirt that was the fashion at the time.
This is where the third Wilson brother comes in to the picture. Middle brother Dennis was the only surfer in the group and it was on his suggestion that the group should write songs about the sport and the lifestyle it inspired. From this came the songs ‘Surfin’ and ‘ Surfin’ Safari’. Murray Wilson had had some experience of the music business and most importantly, some contacts. He introduced The Pendletones to publisher Hite Morgan which lead to the group recording a demo of ‘Surfin’. Murray shopped the demo to Herb Newman who owned the Candix Record label. Candix would release the song (backed with ‘Luau’) but had changed the name of the group to The Beach Boys because the labels promotion man felt it would associate them more directly with the surf-music genre. By the end of 1961, ‘Surfin’ had sold 40,000 copies.
Morgan asked some of The Beach Boys to add some vocals to some backing tracks he had recorded previously with some other musicians. These became the single credited to Kenny & The Cadets’ with Brian on lead vocals, backed with Carl and Jardine along with the Wilsons’ mother, Audree. Another member of Kenny & The Cadets was Val Polite who I believe was a member of the LA based vocal group, The Jaguars. Jardine would leave The Beach Boys to study dentistry and was replaced by David Marks. However, Candix had always struggled with cash flow problems and having a successful single actually didn’t help. Candix would go bankrupt and Murray Wilson tried to find the band a new label. Considering they had had a national hit, be it a small one (‘Surfin’ made number 75 in the Billboard top 100), labels such as Dot and Liberty turned them down feeling that the band where a one minor hit wonder.
Capitol Records eventually signed the group to a seven year contract and work began on their debut album, ‘Surfin’ Safari’ and it because that album is 60 years old this month that I have put together this collection. This project originally started out as deluxe edition of that album. The Beach Boys have been one of the few bands (in my opinion) that in recent years, have served their fans well by opening up the vaults to the gold contained within. However, what they did not do very often was focus on one album releasing session and live tracks for the period. This would have been the first of those deluxe editions but when it came to it, this actually proved to be a bit tricker than it would be for other bands. That is because The Beach Boys put out so much product in a relatively short time, even by the standards of the 1960s. Just to put this into context, they released ten albums between 1962 and 1965. That does not include the single only tracks and the work Brian completed with other artists. He was a very busy man for the majority of the 60s. No wonder he had a break down at the end of the ‘Smile’ sessions.
So instead of a deluxe edition of the albums, what I have put together instead is a collection that looks at a particular year, except with this first collection that covers the first three from their first home demos until the start of the sessions for their second album, ‘Surfin’ U.S.A.’. I have looked to include as many variations of a song that I could find. This includes demos, false takes and rehearsals. I took inspiration for these collections on the mighty fine compilation, ‘Becoming The Beach Boys – The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions’. This would take a song and have all of the versions of it before moving on to the next one. Granted, it does make it a bit of a heavy listen after the fifth breakdown of a take.
I would also not normally include any songs that had the hand of Brian Wilson in it that wasn’t released under The Beach Boys name but on this one occasion, I have included those Kenny & The Cadet recordings here. Therefore, all of the other Brian Wilson solo recordings and outside productions are not included here as I think they should have a box set all to themselves. These tracks have also not been presented in the order in which they were recorded. I have followed the running order of the parent albums and added songs that were unreleased at the time where there was space.
Disc 1 – 1960 Home Recordings
The first CD is a collection of home demos showing Brian getting use to working with the tape recorder as well as working out how to get the best performances out of the group. As a final note, it is interesting that there is a version of ‘Sloop John B’ on these early recordings as The Beach Boys would resist this around the time of their masterpiece ‘Pet Sounds’ LP.
All of the songs on this disc were taken from ‘The Garage Tapes’ bootleg, except for track 2 which came from the ‘Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy’ compilation and track 11 which comes from the ‘Rarities 1962-1968’ bootleg. Even though the years on that bootleg are later than the music contained on this disc, track 11 sounds like the other home demos the band recorded so it goes here instead of later.
Vocal Rehearsal
Happy Birthday Four Freshmen
Surfin #1
Surfin #2
Surfin #3
Surfin #4
Surfin #5
Surfin #6
Surfin #7
Surfin #8
Surfin (Rehearsal)
Bermuda Shorts #1
Bermuda Shorts #2
Sloop John B
Good News
Holly Gully
Happy Birthday
Dream
To Spend One Night With You
Brian At The Piano
July 18th Celebration
White Christmas
Murray Directs Brian At The Organ
Disc 2
Discs 2 & 3 are from the ‘Becoming The Beach Boys – The Complete Hite & Dorinda Morgan Sessions’ with a couple of extra tracks from the earlier compilation ‘Studio Session 61-62*’ which included a couple of takes that were unavailable anywhere else. An alternative version of ‘Barbie’ is taken from the rare Japanese only compilation ‘Still I Dream Of You: Rare Works of Brian Wilson” from 1993 where it was listed at Take 2.
Surfin’ (Demo)
Surfin’ (Takes 1 & 2)
Surfin’ (Take 3)
Surfin’ (Take 4)
Surfin’ (Take 5)
Surfin’ (Take 6)
Surfin’ (Take 7)
Surfin’ (Take 8)
Surfin’ (Master)
Luau (Demo Take 1)
Luau (Demo Take 2)
Luau (Demo Take 3)
Luau (Takes 1 & 2)
Luau (Takes 3, 5 & 6)
Luau (Take 7)
Luau (Takes 8, 9, 10 & 11)
Luau (Take 12)
Luau (Master)
Lavender (Demo)*
Lavender (Rehearsal Take 1)
Lavender (Rehearsal Take 2)
Lavender (Rehearsal Take 3)
Surfin’ Safari (Takes 3 & 4)
Surfin’ Safari (Takes 5 & 6)
Surfin’ Safari (Take 10)
Surfin’ Safari (Overdub Take 1 On Take 6)
Surfin’ Safari (Overdub Take 2 On Take 10)
Surfin’ Safari (Master)
Surfin’ Safari (Stereo Overdub)
Disc 3
Surfer Girl (Take 1)
Surfer Girl (Take 2)
Surfer Girl (Take 3)
Surfer Girl (Take 4)
Surfer Girl (Take 5)
Surfer Girl (Take 6)
Surfer Girl (Master)
Surfer Girl (Overdub Lead Vocal)
Judy (Take 1)
Judy (Take 2)
Judy (Overdub Takes 1 & 2)
Judy (Overdub Take 4)
Judy (Master)
Judy (Demo – April 1962 Guitar Solo)
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Take 1)
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Rehearsal Take 2)
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Overdub Take 1 On Take 1)
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Overdub Take 2 On Take 1)
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Candix Session)*
Beach Boys Stomp (A.K.A. Karate) (Master)
Barbie (Overdub Take 1) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Overdub Take 2, 3 & 4) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Overdub Take 5) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Overdub Take 7) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Mono Single Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Mono Album Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Alt. Version) – Kenny & The Cadets
Barbie (Stereo) – Kenny & The Cadets*
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Demo) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 1) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 3) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Takes 4 & 5) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 6) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Overdub Take 7) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Mono Master) – Kenny & The Cadets
What Is A Young Girl Made Of (Stereo) – Kenny & The Cadets*
Disc 4
Discs 4 & 5 cover the sessions for the ‘Surfin’ Safari’ along with any other song that was recorded in 1962. This does include some versions of songs that would appear on the album that came out the following year. This includes both the mono and duophonic mixes of the album.
** Surfin’ Safari
*** Surfin’ Safari (1990 Reissue)
****Surfer Girl
***** Little Deuce Coupe
^ Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (Box Set)
^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.1 (Bootleg)
^^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.3 (Bootleg)
^^^^ In The Beginning (Bootleg)
Surfin’ Safari (Mono)**
Surfin’ Safari (Duophonic)**
Surfin Sarafi (2021 Stereo Mix)+++
Country Fair (Instrumental)^^
Country Fair (Overdub 2, Take 13)^^
Country Fair (Mono)**
Country Fair (Duophonic)**
Ten Little Indians (Mono)**
Ten Little Indians (Duophonic)**
Chug-A-Lug (Mono)**
Chug-A-Lug (Duophonic)**
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 1 & 2)^^
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 & 8)^^
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Takes 9, 10, 11 & 12)^^
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Take 13)^^
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Instrumental Take 15)^^
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Mono)**
Little Girl (You’re My Miss America) (Duophonic)**
409 (Mono)**
409 (Duophonic)***
Land Ahoy (Instrumental Take 1)^^
Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Takes 2 & 3)^^
Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Take 4)^^
Land Ahoy (Overdub 1, Take 5)^^
Land Ahoy****
The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 1)^^
The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 2)^^
The Surfer Moon (Instrumental Take 3)^^
The Surfer Moon (Vocal Overdub, Take 19)^^^^
The Surfer Moon (1st Stereo Mix, Vocal Take)^^^
The Surfer Moon (2nd Stereo Mix, Vocal Take)^^^
The Surfer Moon (Mono)****
The Surfer Moon (Stereo)****
Their Hearts Were Full Off Spring (Demo)^
Disc 5
** Surfin’ Safari
*** Surfin’ Safari (1990 Reissue)
****Surfer Girl
***** Little Deuce Coupe
+ Made In California (Box Set)
++ Hawthorne, CA: Birthplace Of A Musical Legacy
+++Sounds Of Summer: The Best Of The Beach Boys (Expanded Super Deluxe)
^ Good Vibrations: Thirty Years Of The Beach Boys (Box Set)
^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.1 (Bootleg)
^^^ Unsurpassed Masters Vol.3 (Bootleg)
^^^^ In The Beginning (Bootleg) Surfin’ (Mono)**
Surfin’ (Duophonic)**
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 13)^^
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 14, 15 & 16)^^
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Overdub 1, Take 17)^^
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Mono)**
Heads You Win, Tails I Lose (Duophonic)**
Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Takes 1 & 2)^^
Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Take 3)^^
Summertime Blues (Instrumental, Take 4)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 5)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Takes 6 & 7)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 8)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 9)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 10)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 11)^^
Summertime Blues (Overdub, Take 12)^^
Summertime Blues (Mono)**
Summertime Blues (Duophonic)**
Cuckoo Clock (Instrumental)^^
Cuckoo Clock (Overdub 2, Take 12)^^
Cuckoo Clock (Mono)**
Cuckoo Clock (Duophonic)**
The Shift (Mono)**
The Shift (Duophonic)**
Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Take 1)^^
Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Takes 2, 3 & 4)^^
Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, 5, 6 & 7)^^
Cindy, Oh Cindy (Instrumental, Take 8)^^
Cindy, Oh Cindy (Vocal Take)^^
Cindy, Oh Cindy***
Lonely Sea (Mono)**
Lonely Sea (Stereo)**
Lonely Sea (Original Long Mono Version)+
Surfin’ U.S.A. (Demo With Drums)++
The cover image was taken at the same photo session that produced the shot used for ‘Surfin’ Safari’ LP sleeve.
Even though the first series of ‘The Boys’ came out in 2019, this was another one of those shows that I did not see until lockdown. Based upon a comic book, ‘The Boys’ is set in a world where superheroes are seen as heroes by the general public but in the background, they are arrogant and/or corrupt. I am not going to say too much more because if you have not seen it, it is well worth a watch.
What I didn’t realise until earlier this month was that there was a spin off series that came out between seasons 2 and 3. It was called ‘The Boys Present: Diabolical’. This series was made up of eight episodes all on a different theme and using a different animation style for each. When looking on line, the only soundtrack I found was based upon the original music created for the series. I wanted one that included all of the songs used in this series so this is it. Unlike the majority of my playlists, this one is not designed to be replicated on vinyl.
Arirang – Hyesu Wiedmann
Kimokawaii – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson
Laser Baby’s Day Out – Julie Bernstein & Steven Bernstein
Only Wanna Be With You – Hootie & The Blowfish
Pusher Man – Curtis Mayfield
Boyd In 3d – Sherri Chung
Queso – Pell
An Animated Short Where Pissed-Off Supes Kill Their Parents – Ryan Elder
Levitating – Dua Lipa
I’m Your Pusher – Christopher Lennertz & Matt Bowen
Gimmie – All Talk
Bffs – Leo Birenberg & Zach Robinson
Take My Picture – Five Knives
Nubian Vs. Nubian – Dara Taylor
Augenbling – Speed
John & Sun Her – Hyesu Widmann
Old Town Road – Lil Has X (ft. Billy Ray Cyrus)
One Plus One Equals Two – Christopher Lennertz & Matt Bowen
Frog Quest 2 – Nervy Talkie
The artwork is taken from the official soundtrack cover.
In October 2020, I put together a couple of Smashing Pumpkins playlists. What this lead to was playing through their back catalogue from Gish to Adore and all points in between. Apart from the stylistic differences between the records (no doubt down increased budgets and Billy Corgan’s ego), the band hit a real purple patch around the recording of the ‘Mellon Collie & the Infinite Sadness’ album. I say band and not just Corgan because this was the last period where they actually were a band. James Iha contributed a good number of tunes during this period, he and D’Arcy actually contributed musically (instead of having any parts they played replayed by Corgan) and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin even contributed vocals to the song ‘Farewell & Goodnight’. The band dynamic would never be the same after Chamberlin was fired from the band during the Mellon Collie tour after he and touring keyboard player Jonathan Melvoin both suffered a drugs overdose. Melvin died but Chamberlin, who had struggling with substance abuse for a fews years before this time was given his marching orders to ostensibly protect his health.
Corgan, and the rest of the band to a lesser extent, must have lived in rehearsal rooms and the studio, laying down numerous takes of what feels like 100 tunes before settling on the 28 that made up the original ‘Mellon Collie’ album. With so many musical outtakes left in the can, the Pumpkins ended up releasing many of them at the time as B-Sides to the ‘Mellon Collie’ singles which would be collected into a box set called ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’. I remember seeing this release before hearing about it and its presentation was what drew me in to begin with. The five singles had been collected in a box that look liked the carry cases used to transport 7 inch singles in, included a handle.
The box set also contained some exclusive recordings of cover songs which were included on the ‘Bullet With Butterfly Wings’ single. When I initially played it, I found it impenetrable. There were 33 songs on it and the ‘Pastichio Medley’ seemed to take an eternity to finish. Come to think of it, that first play through of this box set might be the only time I have listened to that track all the way through. This set was not something to play all the way through, but to dip a toe into once in a while to take in the delights that could be unlocked and what delights they were to behold. This is not just some collection of third rate outtakes put out to fleece the fans of their hard earned cash. It proved to be full of A-Grade material that showcased a different dimension to the band and so I come to this collection.
Whilst playing it again recently, I wondered what this set would sound like if it was complied as an album in the style of ‘Pisces Iscariot’. The band’s record label had had a go themselves at this by releasing a 12 track promo album from the box set back in 1996, but when playing the track in that order did not do the parent release justice. I thought that following the template of ‘Pisces Iscariot’ would allow for more songs as that contained 14 tracks. What I didn’t release until putting this compilation together was how long ‘Pisces Iscariot’ was, clocking in 57 minutes. That must have been a strain on the LP version, which as far as I can tell was not edited down.
My version of ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ clocks in at 51 minutes but is still based on the LP format. Therefore, both sides should match up in terms of side length, because back in the day, you had to take into consideration the cassette buying fans. Like ‘Pisces Iscariot’, there are 14 songs on the record, one written by James Iha (and includes guest vocals from Nina Gordon of Veruca Salt), a bonus 7 inch single (for those lucky enough to get hold of an early copy) and two cover versions. The biggest difference between this and ‘Pisces Iscariot’ is that the bonus single contain the cover versions.
This version does include one song that was released on the LP version of ‘Mellon Collie’ but as this only ever released in the UK back in 1996 and in very limited numbers, this would have been new to most listeners.
What was evident from listening back to the deluxe editions of ‘Mellon Collie’ and ‘The Aeroplane Flies High’ is that Billy Corgan had great musical ideas to burn. If this album had been released instead of the box set, this would have been seen as more than just a spiritual successor to ‘Pisces Iscariot’ and been as big a hit as the box set had been (well, in the USA anyway).
Side A
Blank
Transformer
Set The Ray To Jerry
Marquis In Spades
The Aeroplane Flies High (Turns Left, Looks Right)
Medellia Of The Grey Skies
Side B
…Said Sadly
Mouths Of Babes
Cherry
Jupiter’s Lament
Meladori Magpie
Pennies
The Last Song
Tonite Reprise
Bonus 7” Single
Clones (We’re All)
You’re All I’ve Got Tonight
The front cover has been adapted from The Aeroplane Flies High Promo CD release.
