Showing posts with label The Beach Boys. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Beach Boys. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

The Beach Boys


Before Brian Wilson retreated from the public eye in the late 60's, he and the rest of the Boys had been busy in the studio recording sessions for their new album, SMiLE (or Dumb Angel), which was intended to follow up Pet Sounds (1966). Wilson was pouring himself into writing songs for the album which he called "a teenage symphony to God," but for whatever reason, before the sessions could be mastered and arranged for release, Brian Wilson scrapped the entire project and left the band, taking most of the songs with him. Rumors state that Capitol Records and some of the other Beach Boys disliked the new direction Brian was taking the band, that Brian was addicted to LSD, and even that Brian was crushed after being shown a demo of "A Day in the Life" from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and couldn't imagine ever topping it. Many of the songs from the SMiLE sessions were reworked by Capitol and released on subsequent albums, but the original '66-'67 sessions with Brian Wilson will remain unreleased until this year.
"Heroes and Villains"

"Wonderful"

"Cabinessence"

"Surf's Up"

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

The Beach Boys


...are most immediately known for their unmistakable harmonies, and perhaps especially in the case of the ground-breaking album, Pet Sounds (and Brian Wilson's withdrawl following its successful release). But one of the most ambitious and strikingly "different" songs on Pet Sounds contains none of their signature harmonies, or any voices at all for that matter...
"Let's Go Away For Awhile" from Pet Sounds (1966):