Produced by Brian Wilson (credited to The Beach Boys)
Recorded February 29 to April 17, 1968
Released June 24, 1968
Capitol Records 2895
January-April 1968 Masters
No Name (Version 2)
I’m Confessin’
My Son
You’re as Cool as Can Be (Version 1)
Time to Get Alone (Version 3)
Rock and Roll Woman
Transcendental Meditation (Version 1)
Transcendental Meditation (Version 2)
Little Bird
Be Still (Version 1)
Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’
You’re as Cool as Can Be (Version 2)
You’re as Cool as Can Be (Version 3)
Friends
When a Man Needs a Woman
Our Happy Home
Passing By
Busy Doin’ Nothin’
Wake the World
Be Here in the Mornin’
Anna Lee, the Healer
Meant for You (Version 1)
Meant for You (Version 2)
Be Still (Version 2)
Be Still (Version 3)
My Little Red Book
Transcendental Meditation (Version 3)
Indian Wisdom
Diamond Head
Notes on the Project
Producers
Friends was the third Beach Boys album to be released with the credit “Produced by The Beach Boys”. This designation varies in its accuracy from project to project. Smiley Smile was an album unequivocally produced by Brian Wilson, who essentially had the credit altered to deflect the spotlight away from himself to the collective puzzlement of his bandmates. The group credit on Wild Honey was a more accurate one – Carl (supported by Bruce and Al) took the lead on two of the tracks, and otherwise consciously acted as Brian’s right hand man throughout the sessions. Friends was a return to an album seen through start to finish by Brian. He arranged (with some help from the musicians) and produced the whole record, even when it came to the songs written by Dennis; the younger Wilson brothers did hold a few of their own sessions around that time which we’ll cover below.
When the touring arm of the group went on the road early April, Brian ended up recording the last few songs in their absence and supervised the mixing and mastering himself. But there’s a twist to all this – with family relationships in a relatively healthy place at the time, Murry Wilson attended many of the sessions. He even sang a little, and in the later stages effectively co-produced certain tracks with Brian, the way it had been back in 1963! We’ve noted all known Murry appearances with a production acknowledgement where warranted.
Studios
The majority of Friends was recorded at Brian’s house on Bellagio Road and at I.D. Sound Studios on North La Brea Avenue. At least one session took place at Western Recorders.
At some point in the first half of 1968, the Beach Boys Recording Studio (as it was usually named) received a major upgrade in the form of proper acoustic treatment, a real control room with a window into the studio, and a new Quad-8 console commissioned by Steve Desper, among other amenities. The revamped setup was designed to be broken down and taken on the road as a live sound system. We don’t know when exactly all of this took place, but the tracking sessions involving larger groups of musicians at home and discussions on tape do imply that some renovating took place pre-Friends – it doesn’t give the impression of a cordoned off room only visible from the mixing desk via a closed-circuit TV. The Quad-8 equipment made its live debut in April.
I.D. Sound was an independent facility in the former Liberty Records building on North La Brea Avenue, opened for business in early 1968 by engineer Ivan Fisher. Being new, it was quiet by Hollywood standards and easy for the Beach Boys to book at short notice. Wally Heider’s grew its clientele after the opening of Studio 3 in the fall of 1967, and Brian had decided he just wasn’t all that sold on the place’s sound, so I.D. took over as his secondary base of operations during the Friends sessions. The group spent a few days there singing, playing, splicing, mixing, and generally taking advantage of the outboard gear and access to more than one 8-track machine. When they left for a tour and took much of the home studio’s equipment with them, Brian relocated to I.D. for the remainder of the sessions.
Engineers & Stereo
Jim Lockert recorded and mixed the album, being the Beach Boys’ stalwart personal engineer who accompanied them everywhere they went. The band’s young road mixer Steve Desper covered for a few days in the pre-album experimental stretch and recalled working alongside Jim on certain vocal sessions. As the owner of I.D. Sound, Ivan Fisher also appears to have been involved sporadically.
This was the first Beach Boys studio album since 1964 to be mixed in true stereo, and the first to only be mixed in stereo. Times were changing. To accommodate Brian’s one working ear, it seems provisions were made for him to monitor the mixdowns in mono while Jim supervised stereo panning as a relative afterthought. Instruments were hard panned left, middle, right, with a universal rule to have all voices in the middle. Really, it’s an album designed to be heard folded to mono that’s splayed out to the left and right. Very little trademark Beach Boys reverb was used across the mixes – maybe subtly in one spot per song, on an odd vocal harmony or an instrument here and there, but that’s all. It was bone dry by design.
Musicians
The earliest sessions in February were handled much like Wild Honey, I.E. the Beach Boys laying down tracks in their own little unit. That ethos flipped with the re-introduction of studio musicians for Little Bird, and recordings to follow in March and April continued in that vein; Brian liked to call Friends their “folky” album, in that he sought after a cohesive musical tone across the project that mostly necessitated using the pros.
Diane Rovell handled all of the session contracting for Brian at the time. She was a sensitive soul to the musical and personal chemistry appropriate for each job – only a few of the classic “Wrecking Crew” names remained in regular circulation in the late ’60s, with her tending to cultivate an ensemble more used to playing jazz and country than rock ‘n’ roll. And people who didn’t mind driving to Bel-Air. The Friends sessions largely involved the following in the rhythm sections:
Keyboards – Jim Ackley
Guitar – Al Vescovo, David Cohen
Bass – Lyle Ritz, Jimmy Bond
Drums/Percussion – Jim Gordon, Norm Jeffries, Alan Estes, Gene Pello
Plus familiar faces Tommy Morgan, Jay Migliori and Jim Horn, and a collection of other horn and string players. Brian, Carl, Al, Bruce and Dennis joined them at times (mostly Brian and Carl), and the band recorded a handful of tracks unaccompanied.
Chronology
Jim Lockert was terrible at writing things down. The tape boxes from this era tell us very little, often not much more than a scrawly title. Sometimes, at random, there’ll be a date and unexpected other details, but it’s a crapshoot. Most of our timeline therefore has to be reconstructed from the AFM contracts, which were typically only filled out when union musicians needed to be paid. The result is that most of the tracks the Beach Boys cut on their own aren’t dated. We’ve done what we can to follow the clues and reconstruct a plausible chronology below, though the order of the productions discussed should not be taken as gospel if exact session dates aren’t specified. This is all open to further discovery and revision if new materials come to light.
COLOUR CODING KEY
green = basic track
blue = overdub(s)
red = erased
purple = ping-ponged tracks
faded = unused participant
TRACK LAYOUT KEY
(b/t) = basic track
(o/d) = overdub
(c) = copied or combined from previous tape generation
(p/p) = ping-ponged from other tracks
(x) = erased
No Name
(Version 2)
(Dennis Wilson)
Music: Dennis Wilson
Arrangement: Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson
Producers: Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Billy Hinsche – electric guitar
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender]
Dennis Wilson – drums
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
January 25, 1968 / Wally Heider Recording – Studio 3
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 39)
1 – drums (b/t)
2
3 – electric guitar (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass (b/t)
6
7
8
The Beach Boys spent a relaxed January 1968 reviewing their tape archive for Stack-o-Tracks, producing songs for Brother Records signee Stephen Kalinich, meditating, and all hanging out together with the Maharishi in New York. A couple of days after returning to L.A., Dennis, Carl, Billy Hinsche, and Jim Lockert turned up at Wally Heider’s Studio 3 to cut a new track for one of Dennis’ untitled songs, previously recorded under the placeholder title No Name (as in, no title) in November 1967. Later, it would evolve into Peaches and You’ve Been Here Before. The only identification given on this date in January was “DENNIS SESSION WITH BILLY AND CARL”.
The formerly raunchy rocker fell away to a simpler, smoother arrangement of guitar, bass and drums, jammed out between the trio over an easy half hour that didn’t yield more than a short basic rhythm track. By the end, they landed on a take of one section lasting under a minute, which was likely intended to be looped once or twice modularly. It did not receive overdubs.
I’m Confessin’
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Steve Desper
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D] / electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R]
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender]
Al Jardine – open back banjo [Gretsch Broadkaster] (off-mic)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa February, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix Engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 4)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2
3 – electric bass, off-mic banjo (o/d)
4
5 – organ (o/d)
6
7
8
Sessions for a new Beach Boys album in 1968 began quietly, off the clock, without a plan. At some point in February, while Mike out flew to the ashram in Rishikesh with the Beatles and the Maharishi, the other five trickled into Brian’s home studio where they began work on a collection of relaxed experiments.
Brian had been composing up a gentle whirlwind of late, and his first forays into the studio that year were a series of demo-like tracks laid down by the group on their own, without immediate pressure to get to the finish line. Young engineer Steve Desper returned to the fold and filled in for Jim for a few days during an illness. I’m Confessin’ (misspelled “I’M CONFESSION” by Steve) was an urgent, Bacharach-esque Wilson original, which Brian started out by recording a basic track on the detuned Chickering grand piano. Structured: Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Verse / Chorus / Verse Fade.
One rough test recording pass at an overdub was made with Brian on the Baldwin organ, Carl on bass, and Al off-mic strumming the strings of a banjo behind the bridge. Steve counted it as a practice take and adjusted levels the whole way through. At the end, Brian decided, “I don’t think we should cut unless we have musicians, y’know? We’ve got two good songs here.” Carl agreed and they parked the track (without identifying on tape the other song Brian planned to record).
By 1968, the group had accrued multiple Fender Precision Bass models, a Fender Mustang Bass in white, and a brand new Fender Telecaster Bass in green, so solid-body 4-string basses might only be listed as “Fender” if we can’t be sure of exactly what they’re using on a track.
My Son
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Steve Desper
Personnel:
Al Jardine – open back banjo [Gretsch Broadkaster] (erased) / open back banjo [Gretsch Broadkaster]
Carl Wilson – acoustic guitar [Martin D-41] (erased) / electric 12-string guitar (w/tremolo) [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] / electric guitar [Gibson ES-330] / electric 6-string bass [Fender VI] (tuning peg slide)
Brian Wilson – electric bass [Fender] / grand piano (detuned w/taped strings) [Chickering 105D]
Dennis Wilson – bongo
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
February 6 or 13 or 20 or 27, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 11)
1 – electric bass, bongo (b/t)
2 – taped grand piano, electric 12-string guitar (o/d 1)
3 – acoustic guitar (b/t) (x) / electric 6-string bass (o/d 2)
4
5 – banjo (b/t) (x) / banjo, electric guitar (o/d 3)
6 – slide electric 6-string bass (o/d 4 outtake) (x) / banjo (o/d 5 outtake)
7 – banjo (o/d 6 outtake)
8 – slide electric guitar, percussion (o/d 7 outtake)
On the tape box containing the reel for this tune and the next, Steve Desper left a note for Jim Lockert reading: “Jim – This is the tape from Tues – Wend, Steve”. It was dated only 2/1968. So, we know this one was recorded on a Tuesday in February 1968, but we don’t know which Tuesday.
My Son was Brian’s original title for the song that eventually became When a Man Needs a Woman, a cosy country shuffle about anticipating fatherhood inspired by Marilyn’s pregnancy. Never mind the possibility that the happy couple might end up with a daughter. Thinking in modular mode, the group recorded a track of only one verse and chorus, intended to be looped several times via tape copies and spliced together. We have nominally listed Brian as the producer, but really, this session was a communal band workshop with input from everyone.
Brian took up the bass (mic’d murkily at some distance), and Carl and Al played arpeggio lines on acoustic guitar and banjo; the folky texture of this song finally gave Al an opportunity to bring out the 1938 Gretsch Broadkaster open back 5-string that he’d bought in Chicago around 1960/61, at the height of his Kingston Trio fandom. Bruce observed and Dennis turned up after a few takes to tap a bongo. Onto the master, they made an odd call to erase the acoustic guitar and banjo parts in favour of other ideas, despite prevalent leakage from them into Brian’s bass mic.
Brian overdubbed a taped piano part in certain breaks, joined by Carl on a tremoloed (and out of tune) 12-string guitar. Carl erased his own acoustic part to overdub two moo-like bass slides played by winding the tuning peg after plucking a note. While Al played a revised banjo part (a new melody line followed by chords), Carl lightly strummed a 6-string electric guitar, mic’d semi-acoustically. Outtake fragments of Al tuning up his banjo are present on a couple of other tracks, plus a momentary try at bottleneck slide bass, and preparation for some kind of Dennis and Brian percussion overdub that didn’t come to pass. All in all a casual affair.
The 2018 mix released under the title “When a Man Needs a Woman (Early Take Basic Track)” doctors up the track a little: Al’s erased banjo line is flown-in from an earlier take, and the guitar/banjo strumming from the second half of the verse is copied to the first portion as well.
You’re as Cool as Can Be
(Version 1)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Steve Desper
Personnel:
Carl Wilson – electric 12-string guitar [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] (erased) / electric 12-string guitar [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] (redo)
Brian Wilson – electric bass [Fender] / electric bass [Fender] (extra) / Chamberlin (vibraphone)
Al Jardine – electric guitar
Dennis Wilson – drums, bongos
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
February 7 or 14 or 21 or 28, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 24)
1 – electric 12-string guitar 1 (b/t) (x) / electric 12-string guitar 1 (o/d 2)
2 – drums, bongos room mic (o/d 2)
3 – electric bass (b/t)
4 – drums, bongos (o/d 3)
5 – electric 12-string guitar 2 (o/d 1) (x) / Chamberlin (o/d 4)
6
7 – electric guitar, electric 6-string bass (o/d 1)
8
The first version of You’re as Cool as Can Be was Brian trying out a unique songwriting experiment: an 8-bar progression modulates up a fourth every time it cycles around, so we travel through the same music in four different keys, constantly on the move. At only one minute long, it’s difficult to tell if this was just a very short song or another intended for modular looping. Per the above note, it was recorded on an unknown Wednesday in February, the day after My Son.
The basic track was laid down by Brian on bass and Carl on 12-string rhythm guitar. The onslaught of chords made this quite an ordeal for Carl to get through without a hitch, rippling into a lot of frustration for Brian. Thankfully, Dennis and Al were on hand to provide encouragement and lift up the brothers’ spirits, even through a snapped string.
On an overdub, Brian and Al played octave-apart downbeats on bass and guitar while Carl strummed extra upbeats on the 12-string; Carl then went back and re-recorded his original 12-string rhythm guitar part. Dennis played drums interspersed with bongo fills. Finally, Brian wiped out the additional 12-string by overdubbing an eerie vibraphone sample on the Chamberlin (marked “Mellotron” on the track sheet), in one of the instrument’s exceedingly rare appearances on Beach Boys studio productions.
This track was released under the erroneous title “You’re as Cool as Can Be 2” in 2018, but it is the earliest iteration of the tune.
Time to Get Alone
(Version 3)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D]
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender] / electric 12-string guitar [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa February, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix (Abridged) – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 1)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2
3 – electric bass (o/d 1)
4
5 – electric 12-string guitar (o/d 2)
6
7
8
A few months on from shelving the original Time to Get Alone, Brian transposed the chorus to the key of C and composed an all-new long and winding 24-bar verse section to lead into it, plus a semi-new 14-bar bridge based on a variation of the old chords. The rewrite was structured: Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Chorus / Verse Fade.
Sometime in February (with Jim Lockert back behind the board – either before or after Desper’s short takeover), Brian recorded one take of a detuned piano track, onto which Carl overdubbed bass, and an incomplete 12-string guitar part doubling the bass in octaves. This iteration of the song wasn’t taken any further. A significantly shortened edit (fading before the bridge) was released in 2018.
On recording techniques: amplified guitar and bass sounds were very much back in fashion during the Friends sessions; next to nothing was recorded by direct injection.
Rock and Roll Woman
(Stephen Stills)
Music: Stephen Stills
Lyrics: Stephen Stills
Arrangement: Carl Wilson
Producer: Carl Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Carl Wilson – electric 12-string guitar [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] / electric bass [Fender]
Al Jardine – electric guitar
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa February, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 7)
1 – electric 12-string guitar (b/t)
2
3 – electric guitar (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass (o/d) (grand piano in early takes)
6
7
8
Touring with Buffalo Springfield in early February got Carl hooked on Stephen Stills’ Rock and Roll Woman, a number he’d introduce to the Beach Boys’ live set later that year. On the same reel/day as the revised Time to Get Alone, Carl attempted to produce a mellow studio version that similarly didn’t get far off the ground.
On the basic track, Carl played 12-string rhythm guitar and Al played the 6-string harmonised lead riff. Dennis thwacked bongos in one take and tried to play along on piano in another, but Carl asked that he sit out and overdub the part later. Carl then overdubbed a rough bass track onto the rough master take (which is full of talking) and left it there. Discussion seems to imply that this was meant as a demo of sorts, and Carl just wanted to sketch something on tape before considering a re-record with a full band.
An extended edit was released in 2018, looping some parts and flying in Dennis’ piano from an earlier take.
Transcendental Meditation
(Version 1)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D] / electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R] / drums
Carl Wilson – electric 12-string guitar [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] / electric bass [Fender]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa February, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Unreleased
Tracks
(take 5)
1 – electric 12-string guitar (b/t)
2
3 – grand piano (b/t)
4
5 – drums (o/d 1)
6 – organ (o/d 2)
7 – electric bass (o/d 1)
8
“I’d like to try to write a song that reminds me of meditation, of the feeling I get when I just go right through it,” Brian told journalist Jamake Highwater in January. “And I’ve got some ideas, and I’ve got some feelings about it, and I don’t think it’ll be very long now before I come up with a song about meditation. It shouldn’t be more than a month anyway, at the most.” The aptly titled Transcendental Meditation was Brian’s answer, a rollicking miniature suite of contrasting meditation moods: there’s a chant-like verse on one chord, a blissful chorus, and a creeping, mysterious bridge section, imbued with the Wilson interpretation of something halfway between Middle Eastern and Indian music. Mike likened it to one of Maharishi’s lessons about meditating – you have the inner stroke of transcending, and you have the outer stroke of activity. So this is an outer stroke song, a conscious effort to do the last thing you’d expect from a track named after a meditation practice. Brian called it a smash, and he may have been thinking of using it as the group’s next single. The original composition was not at all like the version of Transcendental Meditation that ended up on the Friends album, so that notion may not have been such a crazy commercial prospect.
On the same reel as Time to Get Alone and Rock and Roll Woman (but probably on a different day), Brian and Carl recorded an early attempt that has not been released as of writing, structured: Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Verse / Chorus / Verse Fade.
For a basic track, Brian pounded the Chickering, and Carl played a bass line of sorts (with some strumming) on 12-string guitar. On the first overdub, Brian played drums and Carl more or less doubled his previous figure on bass – between this and Time to Get Alone, Brian evidently got a short fixation on the idea of a bass part in three octaves. He then overdubbed a deep Baldwin organ part, droning throughout with smooth melodic arpeggios on the other manual during the chorus section. A nearly identical version of this whole arrangement was re-recorded and expanded in the days/weeks to follow.
Transcendental Meditation
(Version 2)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Carl Wilson – harmony vocals
Brian Wilson – harmony vocals
Al Jardine – harmony vocals
Bruce Johnston – harmony vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D] / electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R] / drums
Bruce Johnston – electronic organ (w/Leslie speaker) [Baldwin HT2R]
Carl Wilson – electric 12-string guitar (w/tremolo) [Epiphone Riviera E360-TD12] / electric bass [Fender]
Al Jardine – open back banjo [Gretsch Broadkaster]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8):
Circa February or March, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
Circa March, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (8 to 8, vocals)
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix (Abridged) – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Vocal Guide
– harmonies: Bruce>Al>Carl>Carl+Carl+Al+Bruce>Carl+Brian
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 1)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2 – electric bass (o/d 2)
3 – organ 1 (o/d 4)
4 – fuzz electric 6-string bass (o/d 3) (x) / electric 12-string guitar (o/d 7)
5 – drums (o/d 1)
6 – banjo 1 [verse] (o/d 5)
7 – banjo 2 [bridge] (o/d 6)
8 – organ 2 (o/d 5)
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – organ 1 + organ 2 + banjo 1 + banjo 2 (c)
2 – Carl harmony vocal 1 (o/d 3)
3 – electric bass + electric 12-string guitar (c)
4 – Carl harmony vocal 2 (o/d 4)
5 – grand piano (c)
6 – Bruce, Al, Carl high harmony vocals (o/d 1)
7 – drums (c)
8 – Bruce, Al, Brian, Carl low harmony vocals (o/d 2)
The second version of Transcendental Meditation was musically and structurally no different to the first, and almost part-for-part replicated an existing arrangement, but Brian stepped his game up and decided to re-attempt it here with a more refined sonic sheen.
Brian started by putting down a piano track for everything to be built on top of his roadmap. He jumped over to the drums and overdubbed a punchy snare and floor tom backbeat, followed by Carl putting on the bass, and then accenting that with a heavy fuzz bass line that wound up not being kept. Brian fired up the Baldwin organ to add the same part he’d played on the last version, this time using brighter stops – cries of “oh yeah!” and “outtasight!” were had at the end by Bruce and Al. Then it was their turn, playing extra organ (a Leslie’d glissando riff in the verse) and banjo (also a riff in the verse) respectively. Al separately overdubbed banjo in the bridge: an exotic, vaguely Hungarian melody line (a minor scale with a persistent raised 4th) that serves as the main feature of that section. Finally, Carl wiped out the fuzz bass and played a similar 12-string guitar part to his original line, with deep reverb from the amp: bass doubling in verse, tremolo chords in chorus, regular strumming in bridge.
At an unknown time at another studio (probably Western or I.D. Sound, and probably during a session for another song), Jim bounced the production to a second 8-track tape, combining some elements (organs + banjos and bass + guitar) to free up four tracks for vocals. The only additions from here were all in the first chorus: Bruce, Al, Carl and Brian stacked a five-part wordless harmony across two overdubs, and then Carl separately tripled and quadrupled a particular midrange part which had already been given unison emphasis by the group – to whatever end, Brian really wanted those notes to stand out. The vocal stacking suggests a session before Mike’s return to Los Angeles. Because all tracks in that chorus section were filled, it’s possible that Brian intended it to remain a lyric-free passage supported by harmonies.
Anyhow, the track needed to be copied or bounced down again for modular looping and splicing of the chorus, but Brian ended up dropping this version and rewriting Transcendental Meditation into a whole other beast before the project’s end. The bridge section was expanded into its own track under the placeholder title New Song, or fan-created title Indian Wisdom.
A shortened edit missing a verse and chorus (but using the first chorus vocals more than once as intended) was released in 2018, under the (semi-confusing) title “New Song (Transcendental Meditation) – Back Track With Partial Vocals”.
Little Bird
(Dennis Wilson – Stephen Kalinich)
Music: Dennis Wilson, Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Stephen Kalinich, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert, Stephen Desper
Personnel:
(voices)
Dennis Wilson – lead vocal
Brian Wilson – co-lead, harmony & backing vocals
Carl Wilson – co-lead, harmony & backing vocals
Al Jardine – harmony & backing vocals
Bruce Johnston – harmony & backing vocals
(instrumentation)
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar / tenor banjo
Carl Wilson – electric guitar
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Jim Gordon – drums, triangle
Raymond Kelley – cello
Jacqueline Lustgarten – cello
Brian Wilson – reed organ [Packard Orchestral]
Ollie Mitchell – trumpet (incl. solo)
Roy Caton – trumpet
Dick Forrest – trumpet
Tony Terran – trumpet
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8):
February 29, 1968 (2:00pm-7:00pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
March 7, 1968 / Western Recorders – Studio 3 (vocals, 8 to 8, vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ mono & stereo:
March 7, 1968 / Western Recorders – Studio 3 (mono)
Circa March 30 to April 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (stereo)
Initial Release:
1968 Mono Mix – Friends b/w Little Bird 7″ single (1968, Capitol Records)
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Vocal Guide
– verse & bridge lead: Dennis (off-mic cameo: Murry)
– verse ‘na na na’: Al+Bruce>Brian+Carl
– backing to ‘where’s my pretty…’ & ‘dawn, bird’s still gone…’: Brian>Bruce>Al>Carl
– ‘what a day’ lead: Carl+Brian / backing: Brian>Bruce>Carl>Al
– backing to cello break: Brian>Bruce>Al>Carl
– finale ‘little bird up in a tree…’: Brian>Bruce>Al>Carl
– tag ‘little bird looked down and sang…’: Brian>Bruce>Carl>Al
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 13 + pickup take 20)
1 – cellos (b/t)
2 – banjo (o/d 1)
3 – electric guitar, acoustic guitar (b/t)
4 – reed organ (o/d 1)
5 – electric bass, drums (b/t)
6 – group vocals 1 (o/d 5, 7, 9)
7 – trumpets (o/d 2, 3, 4)
8 – group vocals 2 (o/d 6, 8, 10)
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – cellos (c)
2 – banjo (c)
3 – electric guitar, acoustic guitar (c)
4 – reed organ (c)
5 – electric bass, drums (c)
6 – group vocals 1 + 2 (c) / group extra harmony vocals (o/d 1, 2) / group finale vocals 1 (o/d 3)
7 – trumpets (c)
8 – Dennis lead vocal, Carl & Brian co-lead vocal (o/d 5) / group finale vocals 2 (o/d 4)
The tracks for a new album described so far all share one common denominator: they weren’t finished or released. It had all been drifting along without much ambition or a clear direction. In late February, the project snapped into focus with the emergence of a song by Dennis Wilson, ever the most underestimated Beach Boy.
Poet Stephen Kalinich signed to Brother Records in the fall of ’67. He didn’t see a return from that deal as a performer (nor did anyone who signed to Brother, the fakest label in the universe), but the association did lead to him striking up a friendship with each of the Wilson brothers. One evening at Dennis’ house on Sunset Boulevard, Dennis went up to take a long shower, and Kalinich wrote a poem at the piano bench while looking out of the window – an ode to avian and aquatic friends spotted in the yard titled Little Bird. A squeaky-clean Dennis emerged from his wash, found the paper, and set select lines from the poem to chords and a melody. He called Stevie to demonstrate the tune at 3am and sprang his songwriting career right out of the box.
So taken with the Kalinich-Wilson piece was Brian that he gifted the pair an uncredited co-writing assist; Brian composed the song’s bridges and fadeout (including a penultimate segment that repurposes the snare pattern and trumpet line from Child is Father of the Man), penned the lyrics in the first bridge (“where’s my pretty bird…” etc.), added the modulations, made other edits, and produced and arranged the whole record. But he didn’t want his name on it, besides accepting an arranger credit. The result is as much a pocket symphony as any of them, one of the great unheralded Wilson on Wilson collaborations.
The tracking session took place on a leap year day. Brian spared no expense with the production, having Diane Rovell call a micro-orchestra of session players to the house; notably, it was his first time working with pro musicians live in the room (not just stacking overdubs) since Love to Say Da Da the previous May. He knew bassist Lyle Ritz and drummer Jim Gordon well, but jazz guitarist Al Vescovo was a new face to the crew who would become integral to the upcoming album. Cellists Raymond Kelley and Jacqueline Lustgarten bowed a baritone drone and worked collaboratively with Brian to come up with their “solo” – he directed the musicians from out on the studio floor throughout the session, while Dennis sat next to Jim Lockert in the den listening to his song come together. Carl joined the band on electric guitar. Vescovo switched from tenor banjo to acoustic guitar after a few takes and Jimmy Gordon pulled double duty by tinkling on a triangle following the first bridge. There was some uncertainty about the title at this stage: Dennis said it didn’t have one yet, and the AFM contract ran with Little Fish in a Brook. The band took the “what a day” verse to the ending as a pickup section, ultimately spliced when the cello break kicks in.
Onto the edited master, Vescovo overdubbed the banjo part he’d attempted earlier, while Brian (continuing to spare no expense) played an antique Packard foot pump organ rented for the occasion from SIR. In the tag, he had Vescovo redo the banjo via punch-in while snapping along for rhythm. Four trumpeters arrived to overdub parts in several sections: high chord voicings played with Harmon mutes in the verses ultimately weren’t used in the final mix; a unison straight mute figure in the first bridge carried shades of Surf’s Up; Ollie Mitchell, the man who played trumpet on Child is Father of the Man back in October 1966, reprised his “crying baby” Harmon mute wah-wah solo in the penultimate section.
The group tentatively positioned Little Bird as their new single and booked time at Western Recorders Studio 3 on March 7 to record the vocals – a rare visit to the old stomping grounds post-’67, especially for having Brian in tow. Jim Lockert (formerly a United-Western guy) came along to engineer, as the group’s travelling personal sound guy, and Steve Desper recalled also working on the vocal session. Down the hall in Studio 1, Elvis happened to be recording A Little Less Conversation with Chuck Britz, Hal Blaine, and a large ensemble of Wrecking Crew type people (from 7pm to 3am) – Al and Bruce walked over for a chat, but nerves overcame Brian, who didn’t feel prepared right there and then to meet the King. Peter Tork of the Monkees also dropped in to visit the Beach Boys.
Mike’s secondment in India left an interesting vacuum in the vocal blend, prompting airy high voice men Brian, Carl, Al, and Bruce to do all of the harmony work here, arranged like a feathery take on the Four Freshmen’s playbook. On the remaining two channels, the quartet double-tracked the verse “na-na-na” parts, the “ohhhh” backing vocals in the first bridge leading into the fourth verse, and the “little bird looked down and sang a so-ong to me” razzle-dazzle tag.
To clear room for the remaining parts, Jim bounced from 8-track to 8-track while combining the existing vocals, freeing up just one further channel with a little space left over on the other if needed. Onto that tape, Dennis overdubbed his lead vocal in the verses and first bridge; Murry (a frequent studio visitor in early ’68) stood murmuring by the mic to guide his phrasing, and Carl and Brian stepped up to sing the “what a day” break in unison. A late punch-out erased the start of Dennis’ line “up at dawn”. The original composer once again exited the picture, and the high quartet double-tracked the “little bird up in a tree” parts over the Child bridge. Lastly, they went back and punched in further (single-tracked) backing harmonies to the “what a day” part and cello break.
Brian, Murry and Jim mixed Little Bird to mono at the close of that session for a prospective A-side. At a motel somewhere in Los Angeles, Stephen Kalinich took a phone call from Al Jardine, who played him his song over the handset directly from the studio. The tune ended up becoming the B-side to the Friends single, mastered at Capitol on March 15. A drier stereo mix for the album was created at I.D. Sound a few weeks down the line.
Be Still
(Version 1)
(Dennis Wilson – Stephen Kalinich)
Music: Dennis Wilson
Arrangement: Dennis Wilson
Producer: Dennis Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Dennis Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D]
Carl Wilson – electric guitar [Gibson ES-330]
Al Jardine – electric bass [Fender]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa early March, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Unreleased
Tracks
(take 12)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2
3 – electric guitar (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass (b/t)
6
7
8
Be Still (And Know You Are) (to use the full title) was a second Beach Boys song to come from Stephen Kalinich poetry, inspired by the Psalm 46 quote “Be still and know that I am God”, set to music by Dennis Wilson. They wrote it together at Stevie’s motel, the place he’d been staying at when he heard a phone call airing of Little Bird for the first time. Unlike that song, Be Still remained purely Dennis’ composition – a short, gentle hymn, probably quite akin to the way Little Bird sounded before Brian stepped in.
There were three different attempts to record Be Still, all undated. The first of them has not been released as of writing; evidence suggests that it was recorded after Little Bird (as Jim mistakenly wrote that title on the box), probably within the first couple of weeks of March.
Recording at Brian’s house without Brian, the trio of Dennis, Carl and Al laid down a backing track of detuned piano, electric guitar and bass respectively. Slow, soft, tranquil. In this iteration, the “now is the time life begins” bridge followed the first verse, structured: Verse / Bridge / Verse / Verse Fade. It wasn’t taken further and didn’t receive overdubs.
Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Carl Wilson – electric guitar [Gibson ES-330]
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Jim Gordon – drums / wood block
Frank Messina – accordion
Jay Migliori – tenor saxophone
Jim Horn – tenor saxophone
Roy Caton – trumpet
Paul Tanner – trombone
Brian Wilson – synthesizer [Ondioline]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
March 6, 1968 (1:00pm-4:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 11)
1 – saxophones, trumpet, trombone (b/t)
2 – wood block (o/d 1)
3 – accordion (b/t)
4
5 – electric guitar, electric bass, drums (b/t)
6
7 – Ondioline (o/d 2)
8
Before identifying this song’s title via an AFM sheet, archive manager Alan Boyd nicknamed the track “Monsieur Hulot Goes to the Supermarket”. Indeed, there’s something inescapably French about this Bacharach-influenced tune from Brian. Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’ is, mostly, a unique piece of music – certain verse and chorus chords are shared with the later waltz rewrite Be Here in the Mornin’ (which is in the same key), but each progression quickly branches off down its own path. Still, you can hear how a 4/4 interpretation of the melody might have once fit over this track, and how its rhythmic ideas also bled into Busy Doin’ Nothin’. It could’ve been a great single. The structure: Intro / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Verse / Chorus / Verse Fade.
The eight-piece band assembled on March 6 broke a new record for most live musicians squeezed into Brian’s studio so far. Carl played guitar, and the rhythm section displayed some unusually virtuosic performances from Lyle Ritz and Jim Gordon on bass and drums, really let off the chain here to invent the details of their own parts. Horns consisted of Jay Migliori and Jim Horn on saxes, Roy Caton on trumpet, and… Paul Tanner himself on the trombone, his original instrument! It must’ve been an interesting scene change for him to be playing something other than Electro-Theremin on a Beach Boys date. Frank Messina ripped a wild accordion solo all through the earliest takes, which Brian progressively toned down with each attempt into an actual arranged part. On the master take, an enthused Brian (conducting in the room) can be heard laughing during the bridge.
After most others had left, Jim Gordon overdubbed a wood block to the verses. Payments indicate that Paul Tanner also stayed for an overdub, but if he did record another part (I.E. a second trombone), it wasn’t kept. Instead, Brian filled out the low end of the horn section with – as unlikely as it might sound – a synthesizer!
The Ondioline was an uncannily early (and versatile) analogue synthesizer developed in France in the 1940s. Later in 1968, Brian was photographed playing one at Wally Heider’s on the Honeys’ Goodnight My Love, so it was around, and presumably available to hire. The Ondioline’s pressure-sensitive keys make it just about the only plausible candidate for the manual manipulations heard in the electronic tones on this overdub (and on another song later in the month). Brian used it to double the trombone part, non-flashily, recorded direct.
Despite French excellence on all fronts, Brian soon abandoned this track and swiped its title for a heavily rewritten, almost brand new composition. The tape box itself has a note reading: “BE HERE IN THE MORNING – DO NOT USE”.
You’re as Cool as Can Be
(Version 2)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – Clavinet [Hohner Clavinet C]
Bruce Johnston – electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R]
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender]
Dennis Wilson – drums
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa March 6 to 12, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix (Abridged) – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 24)
1 – drums (b/t)
2
3 – electric bass (b/t)
4
5 – Clavinet, organ (b/t)
6
7
8
The second incarnation of You’re as Cool as Can Be is really a fusion between the original Cool as Can Be and I’m Confessin’. Brian used the verse progression of I’m Confessin’ as a verse (well, obviously), the central progression of You’re as Cool as Can Be as a chorus, and the chorus progression of I’m Confessin’ as a bridge. The full structure for this essentially new hybrid song was: Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Verse / Chorus / Verse Fade. You may notice that several of Brian’s recent tracks have employed the same basic structure.
Initial takes were recorded onto the reel containing Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’, likely soon after that session. Here we’re introduced to another new keyboard in the Beach Boys’ private arsenal: the Clavinet C, the most recent model of Hohner’s electromechanical equivalent to the clavichord. Our gang and Stevie Wonder both got one at about the same time.
The tight rhythm track for this version of You’re as Cool as Can Be could pass for the work of session musicians, but the Beach Boys cut this track themselves – Brian on Clavinet, Bruce on organ, Carl on bass, and Dennis on drums. The band put a lot of work into finding a perfect groove, and dear old dad Murry Wilson came by the session to offer his input (but mostly let them get on with it). At the end of the reel, they landed on what could’ve been a usable master take, but Jim didn’t leader it and Brian elected to keep going.
A shortened edit of the first reel’s final take was released in 2018, missing a verse and chorus, erroneously titled “I’m Confessin’ / You’re as Cool as Can Be 1”.
You’re as Cool as Can Be
(Version 3)
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – Clavinet [Hohner Clavinet C]
Bruce Johnston – electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R]
Carl Wilson – electric bass
Dennis Wilson – drums
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa March 6 to 12, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Unreleased
Tracks
(revised take 28)
1 – drums (b/t)
2
3 – electric bass (b/t)
4
5 – Clavinet, organ (b/t)
6
7
8
“A new beat, here we go!” Right after listening to a playback, Brian had Jim cue up another reel (he went for the one containing Be Still Version 1) to start working out a rhythmically altered arrangement of You’re as Cool as Can Be with the same instruments, trading the funky shuffle for a swung bounce and upping the tempo. We’re counting this as a new version because of the hard line drawn between takes for each feel. Bruce, Carl and Dennis fell in behind Brian’s jamming and quickly found their places. It’s rare to hear them so switched on as an instrumental unit in the late ’60s!
Murry stayed put in the den with Jim throughout, unusually quiet for his boisterous self. The band recorded several complete passes on this second reel, including the last take, which seems like it was probably considered a master version… but, again, Jim didn’t leader it, and Brian unfortunately abandoned both track approaches. The final attempt from this session has not been released as of writing.
Friends
(Brian Wilson – Dennis Wilson – Carl Wilson – Al Jardine)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Al Jardine
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert, Steve Desper, Ivan Fisher
Personnel:
(voices)
Carl Wilson – lead vocals, harmony vocals
Brian Wilson – harmony & backing vocals
Bruce Johnston – harmony & backing vocals
Al Jardine – harmony & backing vocals
Dennis Wilson – harmony & backing vocals
(instrumentation)
Jim Ackley – Clavinet [Hohner Clavinet C]
Carl Wilson – electric guitar [Gibson ES-330] (rhythm) / electric guitar [Fender Telecaster] (solo)
Jimmy Bond – double bass
Norm Jeffries – drums (w/brushes)
Alan Estes – vibraphone
Tommy Morgan – chromatic harmonica [Hohner Super Chromonica 270], bass harmonica [Hohner Bass Chromatic 265]
Jay Migliori – tenor saxophone
Jim Horn – tenor saxophone
Arnold Belnick – violin (x2)
William Kurasch – violin (x2)
Leonard Malarsky – violin (x2)
Norman Botnick – viola (x2)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
March 13, 1968 (2:30pm-6:00pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
March 14, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (vocals)
April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ mono & stereo:
March 14, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (mono)
April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (revised mono & stereo)
Initial Release:
1968 Mono Mix 2 – Friends b/w Little Bird 7″ single (1968, Capitol Records)
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Vocal Guide
– verse solo: Carl / harmony: starts Brian>Bruce+Al>Carl+Dennis, ends Bruce>Brian>Al>Carl+Dennis
– 2nd verse backing ‘ohh’: Brian+Al+Dennis / ‘bom’: Bruce
– 3rd verse backing ‘ohh’: Brian>Bruce / ‘bom bom’: Bruce, Brian
– bridge ‘ohhhh’: Brian+Al+Bruce+Carl
– bridge 1st & 2nd ‘let’s be friends’: Brian+Al+Carl>Bruce
– bridge 3rd ‘let’s be friends’: Brian>Al>Bruce>Carl
– refrain rising ‘ahhhh’: Bruce>Brian>Carl+Al>Dennis
Tracks
(take 6 + bridge take 10 + tag take 7)
1 – electric guitar 1, double bass, drums (b/t)
2 – violins 1 [high] (o/d 2)
3 – Clavinet, vibraphone (b/t)
4 – group rising ‘ahhh’ vocals 1 (o/d 4) (x) / group lead & BG vocals 1 (o/d 6, 8, 10)
5 – harmonicas, saxophones (b/t)
6 – group rising ‘ahhh’ vocals 1 + 2 (p/p)
7 – violins 2 [low] (o/d 3) / electric guitar 2 [solo] (o/d 1)
8 – group rising ‘ahhh’ vocals 2 (o/d 5) (x) / group lead & BG vocals 2 (o/d 7, 9, 11)
A time of band unity and Brian’s love for waltzes led him to composing the title track and lead single of this album – a cute, tumbling, jazzy romp about friendship, aptly titled Friends.
Eight musicians (including Carl) assembled at Brian’s house on March 13 for one of his more intricate studio arrangements in recent memory, steeped in wistful old Americana à la Cabin Essence just as much as Martin Denny and Bacharach. On the basic track: relative newcomer Norm Jeffries shuffles the band along on brushed drums, Jimmy Bond alternates between busy pizzicato runs and ascending arco lines on upright bass, Carl strums a soft rhythm guitar, new guy Jim Ackley plays Clavinet, Alan Estes (younger brother of Gene) chimes in on vibraphone, Tommy Morgan switches between bass and chromatic harmonicae, and usual reedmen Jay Migliori and Jim Horn weave around him on the stuttering saxophones.
“I like waltzes, but you don’t find too many of them on the radio,” said Brian. “That’s why I changed the tempo from 4/4 time to 3/4, after one take.” The first take on tape is verifiably still a waltz, but it’s possible that the time signature was changed during un-recorded rehearsals. Brian moved between conducting in the studio and mixing in the control room. By this time, Jim Lockert had gotten into a well-oiled system of recording basic tracks across three channels (1, 3, 5), leaving the other five for overdubbed instruments and vocals. This way of working on 8-track wasn’t practically so different to the methodology of 4-track, albeit requiring fewer bounces, so a lot of balancing decisions still had to be locked in live during tracking. Friends was also a modular production; Brian had the musicians play through an uninterrupted series of verses (five total, with four being used), then they recorded the ending section (a descending reversal of the refrain), then they recorded the bridge.
Onto the bridge, Carl overdubbed a wonderfully wobbly lead guitar, getting the absolute most out of the Bigsby vibrato tailpiece on his and Al’s new shared custody Telecaster. A string quartet of three violins and a viola were called in to add two overdubs to the verses: at the minor chord change, they played a four-part harmony voiced in two different octaves, and in the rising refrains, they double-tracked the same voicings. After sweetening each section, Jim spliced the full song structure together, slapping the bridge and tag right into the middle of the ever-looping verse cycle. It’s so precise as to be completely unnoticeable.
Vocals were recorded at I.D. Sound Studios the following day. As Mike’s absence struck out Brian’s usual collaborative option, he turned to Dennis, Carl, and Al to fill out whatever lyrics he didn’t have, resulting in their first ever song credited to Wilson-Wilson-Wilson-Jardine. According to Carl, they made up the words in the studio right before singing it. Steve Desper noted that he worked on the vocal session.
The non-India quintet started by singing the four-part “ahhh” harmonies in the refrains, doubled and combined to one track. Leads followed – Carl “spearheaded this cut with a heavy vocal performance” (Brian’s words) in the first half of each verse, trading off to all five for the harmony in the second half, with Brian taking the leading melody in the stack. The second and third verse feature light “ohhh” and “bom” backing during Carl’s lines. In the bridge, Brian, Carl, Al and Bruce start on a huge unison before building to the type of harmony they usually only let you hear in the afterlife. After wrapping up vocals, Brian and Jim (with Ivan Fisher slating the takes) mixed Friends to mono for the A-side of the group’s new single, backed with Little Bird, delivered to Capitol for mastering on March 15.
However, a couple of weeks after mastering, Brian and/or Carl got bugged enough about the performance to feel compelled to re-record a couple of lines. The brothers and Bruce carried out extra revisions at I.D. Sound on April 2, seemingly between different attempts at tracking Meant for You while the rest of the group went for a break. Carl re-sang the opening – a little more subdued and precise on his pitch – where a late punch-out erased the “t” in “turned each other on”. He also dialled it back in the first portion of the third verse, accompanied by Brian and Bruce singing “ahhh” harmonies on one track and a new “bom-bom” play-off on the other. A revised, drier version was remixed to stereo for the album, with a mono fold from that remix substituted to Capitol for the final single release a mere week later. Note the “blip” before the third verse from an erased vocal fragment.
When a Man Needs a Woman
(Brian Wilson – Dennis Wilson – Al Jardine – Steve Korthof – Jon Parks)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Al Jardine, Steve Korthof, Jon Parks
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – lead vocals, backing vocals
Bruce Johnston – backing vocals
Carl Wilson – backing vocals
Dennis Wilson – backing vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D] / electronic organ [Yamaha Electone E-3]
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar
David Cohen – electric guitar (lead)
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Norm Jeffries – drums
Carl Wilson – electric guitar (intro lick)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
March 18, 1968 (2:30pm-5:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
Circa March 18 to 29, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (backing vocals)
Circa March 30 to April 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (lead vocal, organ)
April 17, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (partial new lead vocal)
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
Circa March 30 to April 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (unused mix)
April 17, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (revised mix)
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
2018 Alternate Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Mark Linett (2018)
Vocal Guide
– lead: Brian
– backing: Brian>Bruce>Carl>Dennis
Tracks
(take 23 – slated as 21)
1 – electric bass (b/t)
2 – group BG vocals 1 (o/d 2)
3 – drums (b/t)
4 – group BG vocals 2 (o/d 3)
5 – grand piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar 1 (b/t)
6 – Brian lead vocal (o/d 4, 6)
7 – electric guitar 2 (o/d 1)
8 – organ (o/d 5)
Sometime after the early My Son draft, Brian changed the song’s title, threw some variation into the second verse, wrote a horny bridge, and composed an altered last verse and chorus with new modulations. It took five whole people to write the lyrics for When a Man Needs a Woman, probably owing to unused lines and revisions. As well as Brian, Dennis and Al, cousin/personal assistant Steve Korthof and friend/roadie Jon Parks each receive a credit. It’s not hard to guess which part Dennis probably contributed to.
The tracking session on March 18 was one of the most “normal” Brian supervised in the late ’60s – the more esoteric elements of the earlier arrangement were eschewed for a straight-ahead country track, with the musicians given somewhat loose license to play as they would in their everyday lives. In initial takes, Norm Jeffries played brushed drums, Lyle Ritz played bass (a minimalist line dictated by Brian), Al Vescovo and Carl strummed acoustic and electric rhythm guitars respectively, and ace lead guitarist David Hershel Cohen (not to be confused with the guy from Country Joe and the Fish) improvised licks all throughout. Cohen quickly became one of Brian’s favourite studio hires, and after this session, he’d be recruited to do more of this sort of free-rein country-infused jamming on several other productions.
A number of takes in, Brian swapped out Carl’s rhythm guitar for himself on a somewhat quietly-mixed rhythm piano. Lyle’s bass part gathered more fills, Al adjusted chord voicings, David ironed out his licks, and only on the very last take did Norm switch from brushes to sticks – Brian immediately thought the drum sound gelled and decided that was the one. A tiny fade vamp was improvised by Brian continuing to play piano. Onto the intro, Carl overdubbed a particular guitar lick that he’d actually tried in the very first false start, so it must’ve been saved in the mental piggy bank for later. And that’s almost the whole track!
Double-tracked backing vocals in the choruses were recorded at home (possibly on March 20, per a vague Capitol paperwork note for “2 songs” worked on that day), performed by Brian, Bruce, Carl and Dennis; being Love-less at the time, Dennis took on the bass vocal. “You know, Al Jardine has a rug that we can use for the booth!” Brian announced. Crackling electronic problems on these tracks make it sound as if an invisible synthesizer enters the mix.
Brian overdubbed his lead sometime later at I.D. Sound, including an unused second verse (heard in the 2018 alternate remix), his best cowboy “uh-huh-huh-huh-huh” noises in the bridge, and a last verse that would later be rewritten:
If you ever have a son of your own
Then you’ll know how it feels when he looks in your eyes
And asks you the very same things that you asked your dad
Maybe on another occasion, whilst overdubbing the studio’s Yamaha organ to Passing By with a particularly ice-rink-esque stop, Brian had this reel cued up and also used it on When a Man Needs a Woman, effectively replacing the second verse’s lead vocal with a long organ solo. The organ plays low accents under the bridge, re-enters in the background of the last verse, and vamps over the fadeout.
The song was mixed to stereo (and a compatible mono fold) and placed on the initial April 16 assembly of the Friends album. In that mix, the lead vocal in the second verse (and chorus) was muted entirely in favour of the organ, and in turn the organ in the last verse was buried. But, at the last possible juncture, Brian determined that When a Man Needs a Woman alone of the LP’s roster wasn’t ready to go out.
On April 17, a quick session at I.D. Sound was held to re-record portions of the lead vocal. His singing in the first verse had been flimsy, so Brian tried all of that again and turned in a much better performance – a late punch-out wiped the starting words of the second verse, but he knew those wouldn’t be used. Brian also wrote a revised third verse lyric (with D. Wilson, Jardine, Korthof and Parks all away on tour) and overdubbed a far more effective pass at the whole ending section. Jim remixed the tune to accommodate the new vocals (this time restoring the lead in the second chorus) and swapped it onto the 1/4″ assembly reel before heading over to Capitol for mastering. It was the final piece of work done on the whole album.
Our Happy Home
(Brian Wilson)
Alternate Title: Our New Home
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar
Al Jardine – acoustic guitar [Martin]
Carl Wilson – electric guitar (slide & lead)
David Cohen – electric guitar (lead & rhythm)
Jimmy Bond – double bass
Jim Gordon – drums
Norm Jeffries – vibraphone
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
March 20, 1968 (2:30pm-5:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
Circa March 30 to April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (scrapped 8 to 8 copies)
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix (Abridged) – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 5 + chorus take 7? + tag take 6)
1 – double bass, drums (b/t)
2
3 – vibraphone (b/t)
4
5 – acoustic guitars, electric guitars (b/t)
6
7
8
The tape boxes use the title Our New Home while the AFM contract and Capitol worksheet use the title Our Happy Home. Choose your own. We prefer the alliteration. This song’s verse progression is a waltz-time version of the verse to Our Sweet Love, making it either a progenitor to the tune on Sunflower OR a 3/4 rewrite of a ballad Brian had already started composing in 1966, since the title Our Sweet Love appears on a Smile era list of song ideas jotted down by Van Dyke Parks. We can’t be sure of which version Brian wrote first. In Our New/Happy Home form, it was an ode to domesticity.
There are four sections to the composition: a 16-bar verse, an 8-bar chorus, an 8-bar break consisting of one note (probably meant to back a group vocal arrangement), and a unique fadeout. The intended song structure: Verse / Chorus / Break / Verse / Chorus / Break / Verse / Tag.
The arrangement is sparse, laid-back, playful – an interesting melding between deliberate micro-orchestration and freewheel jamming. The two Jimmys (Gordon and Bond) lay down a broken-up beat on drums and upright bass. Norm Jeffries plunks dry vibraphone chords in the verses (like Friday Night) and soft single notes in the chorus. Then we have the guitarists: four of ’em! Carl Wilson handles the electric slides across his lap in the verses, and plucky single notes in the breaks; Al Jardine strums the flat-top acoustic in the chorus; Al Vescovo plays an archtop acoustic, doubling the bass in the verses and strumming accents in the chorus; David Cohen takes the starring role again, playing the partly-improvised noodling electric lead.
After the second verse of take 5 broke down, Brian decided he liked what they’d cut so far (meaning the first verse and break) and would make tape copies for editing. He had the band re-record the chorus as a pickup, wherein they played a looping vamp for his splicing purposes and gradually whittled the guitar arrangement down to just strumming quarter notes together. The cosy fade section was approached as another pickup, with David Cohen doing the fingerpicking and Carl playing the palm-muted plucking line. The fade master take was spliced directly onto take 5’s verse section. That take’s original chorus was spliced out and leadered at the end of the reel, suggesting Brian perhaps considered using it for the copies instead of pickup versions.
Presumably during a later session at I.D. Sound (with access to two 8-track machines), copies were made for editing together the whole song on a tape marked “OUR NEW HOME 3 VERSES”. For whatever reason, Brian threw the song away and threw out the reel with it; Jim noted “TO BE JUNKED” and placed another blank tape in the box.
The modern edit released in 2018 is comprised of several sections that appear chronologically on the reel. This mix includes:
1. Verse / Chorus / Break (take 2)
2. Verse / Tag (take 5 & pickup 2 take 6)
3. Break (take 5)
4. Chorus (take 5, looped as a fade)
A period-accurate reconstruction of Brian’s plans would be edited:
1. Verse (take 5)
2. Chorus (take 5 or pickup 1 take 7)
3. Break (take 5)
4. Verse (take 5)
5. Chorus (take 5 or pickup 1 take 7)
6. Break (take 5)
7. Verse / Tag (take 5 & pickup 2 take 6)
The lines “pretty things like incense and flowers” and “candlelight, the warmth of a fire” in Our Sweet Love may have been conceived for this version of the song.
Passing By
(Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Tandyn Almer, Stanley Shapiro, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – unison & harmony vocals
Carl Wilson – unison & harmony vocals
Al Jardine – unison & harmony vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A] / synthesizer [Ondioline] / electronic organ [Yamaha Electone E-3] (melody)
Bruce Johnston – electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R] (rhythm)
Al Vescovo – electric 12-string guitar
David Cohen – electric guitar
Lyle Ritz – double bass
Jim Gordon – drums
Norm Jeffries – congas
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8):
March 22, 1968 (2:30pm-6:00pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track, vocals)
Circa March 30 to April 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (8 to 8, edit, organ)
Circa 1971 to 1973 / Billy Elder’s house (demo vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
Circa March 30 to April 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
1970s Demo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Billy Elder (1970s)
Vocal Guide
– unison lead: Brian+Carl+Al
– tag harmony: Brian>Carl>Al
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 27)
1 – electric guitar, double bass, drums, congas (b/t)
2 – trio unison vocals (o/d 1)
3 – electric 12-string guitar (b/t)
4 – trio unison & harmony vocals (o/d 2)
5 – Rock-Si-Chord, Baldwin organ (b/t)
6 – trio harmony vocals (o/d 3)
7 – Ondioline (o/d 4)
8
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – electric guitar, double bass, drums, congas (c)
2 – trio unison vocals (c)
3 – electric 12-string guitar (c)
4 – trio unison & harmony vocals (c)
5 – Rock-Si-Chord, Baldwin organ (c)
6 – trio harmony vocals (c)
7 – Ondioline (c)
8 – Yamaha organ (o/d)
Lyrics weren’t on Brian’s list of requirements for this composition, which went by “INSTRUMENTAL (#1)” before getting the evocative title Passing By. Light, dreamy, the closest thing us humans have to experiencing lounge music from Mars.
The track was recorded at Brian’s house on March 22. The gang were getting into the swing of the album by this time and tackling a new tune just about every other afternoon. Although the melody of Passing By was written for wordless vocals and organ, the musical material itself is… song-y, with a verse, a bridge, and a tag, like any other. The basic track was structured: Intro / Verse / Verse / Bridge / Verse / Bridge / Tag.
This session was the recording debut of another new keyboard instrument: the Rock-Si-Chord, produced by Rocky Mount Instruments. R.M.I. advertised the Roxi as an electronic stand-in for the harpsichord. It generated its sounds via the oscillator technology of a combo organ but had the shortened attack you’d expect from an electric piano. Brian dug it even more than the Clavinet, and his blue model 200A became an important member of the Beach Boys’ musical family for several years.
Brian led the band on Rock-Si-Chord rhythm, closely accompanied by Bruce playing a vibrato-y vamp on the Baldwin organ. Carl and Al appeared on the AFM contract but in reality just listened in. Other musicians were all returning figures in the Friends crew: Al Vescovo played 12-string electric guitar (a harmony and counterpoint to the melody line in the verse, 16ths and chords in the chorus), David Cohen twanged a 6-string electric guitar with its lowest string tuned all the way down to G (functioning like an extra bass), Lyle Ritz played double bass, and Jim Gordon and Norm Jeffries thrummed drums and congas respectively (with a bridge pattern lifted straight from Guess I’m Dumb). Brian and Vescovo kick off the intro together on keys and guitar.
This was another tracking session on a quest for absolute perfectionism – little to no arrangement changes made once tape got rolling, but a whole lot of chasing after the right performance. To an even greater extent than his famously driven work on Pet Sounds and the rest, while making Friends, Brian didn’t let up until every moment felt right.
Brian, Carl and Al overdubbed vocals right after cutting the basic track, seeing as nobody needed to write any lyrics before getting down to business (the AFM contract indicates the Beach Boys all worked longer than the other musicians). On the first channel, they sang the verse and fade melody in a warbly unison trio; on the next pass, they doubled the verse melody and sang a three-part harmony in the fade; lastly, they doubled the fade harmonies. Brian then overdubbed a low sustained buzzing tone, which has presented a bit of a mystery for those attempting to identify the album’s sounds. All mechanical considerations point to this being another appearance of the rentable Ondioline synthesizer – NOT a bass harmonica, and also not a large bee that crashed the studio. See Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’. The part on Passing By is an amplified keyboard instrument, and manual rhythmic vibrato and pressure fluctuations are essentially only explainable by the Ondioline’s unique construction. Months later, Brian used the Ondioline to play a near-identical buzz tone on Goodnight My Love.
Passing By was wrapped up during a later undated session at I.D. Sound, possibly after the other Beach Boys had departed L.A. on tour. Jim dubbed two copies to a second 8-track reel and created an edit with Brian’s preferred passages repeated:
1. Intro / Verse 1 / Verse 2 / Chorus 1
2. Verse 1 / Verse 2 / Chorus 1
3. Tag
This actually extended the song by a verse in the process. For the bridge melody, Brian overdubbed a part on the studio’s Yamaha Electone organ with comparable warble to the vocals; he used the same stops (and mic setup) on When a Man Needs a Woman, probably during the same session. The stereo mix holds back the buzzing Ondioline to the latter half of the song and ducks the tag harmonies quite subtly.
Jump forward to the early 1970s: Murry Wilson instigated a lyric re-writing project to bolster the usefulness of the Sea of Tunes catalogue he’d sold to Irving Almo Music in 1969, ostensibly to make some of the Beach Boys’ songs more viable for cover versions. While the full reach of this effort is unclear, we do know that Brian’s friends Tandyn Almer and Stan Shapiro penned words for Passing By, fitted to the existing vocal/organ melody line. At some unknown point circa ’71-’73, at engineer Billy Elder’s house in Laurel Canyon, Brian overdubbed a doubled demo vocal on top of the original Friends mix, which had been roughly copied onto a 4-track tape and extended. We have no reliable estimate for the date of this work, however, a spring 1973 magazine article did note that Brian and Tandyn had been working at an obscure studio in the Hollywood hills. A stereo cassette dub of the lyric demo was released in 2018.
Busy Doin’ Nothin’
(Brian Wilson)
Working Title 1: Even Steven
Working Title 2: Even Time
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – lead vocals
Marilyn Wilson – unison vocals
Diane Rovell – unison vocals
Audree Wilson – backing vocals
Murry Wilson – backing vocals
(instrumentation – original track)
Jim Ackley – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A]
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar
Lyle Ritz – double bass
Gene Pello – drums
Alan Estes – triangle, maraca (unused)
Don Englert – alto flute
Tom Scott – alto flute
David Sherr – alto flute
Jay Migliori – bass clarinet
(instrumentation – revised bridge track)
Jim Ackley – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A]
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar
Lyle Ritz – double bass
Brian Wilson, Jim Ackley, Al Vescovo, Lyle Ritz – maraca, shaker, claves, finger cymbals (unused)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8 to 8):
March 26, 1968 (1:30pm-4:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
March 30, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (8 to 8, edit)
Circa March 30 to April 10, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (vocals)
April 11, 1968 (2:00pm-5:30pm) / I.D. Sound Studios (new track, 8 to 8, edit, vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 11, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
2018 Stereo Alternate Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Mark Linett (2018)
Vocal Guide
– lead: Brian
– verse backing: Audree>Murry (raspberry: Murry)
– 2nd bridge unison lines: Brian+Marilyn+Diane
Tracks – Main 1st Gen
(take 30 + tag pickup take 4)
1 – acoustic guitar, double bass, drums, triangle, maraca (b/t)
2
3 – Rock-Si-Chord (b/t)
4
5 – alto flutes, bass clarinet (b/t)
6
7
8
Tracks – Main 2nd Gen
1 – acoustic guitar, double bass, drums, triangle, maraca (c)
2 – Brian lead vocal 2 (o/d 2)
3 – Rock-Si-Chord (c)
4
5 – alto flutes, bass clarinet (c)
6
7 – Brian lead vocal 1 (o/d 1)
8
Tracks – Pickup 1st Gen
(take 12)
1 – acoustic guitar, double bass (b/t)
2 – maraca, shaker, claves, finger cymbals (o/d)
3 – Rock-Si-Chord (b/t)
4
5
6
7
8
Tracks – Main 3rd Gen & Pickup 2nd Gen Edit
1 – acoustic guitar, double bass, drums, triangle (c) / acoustic guitar, double bass (c)
2 – maraca, shaker, claves, finger cymbals (c)
3 – Rock-Si-Chord (c) / Rock-Si-Chord (c)
4 – Brian lead vocal 1 (o/d 1)
5 – alto flutes, bass clarinet (c)
6 – Brian, Marilyn, Diane unison vocals 2 (o/d 4)
7 – Audree, Murry BG vocals (o/d 5)
8 – Brian lead vocal 2 (o/d 2) / Brian, Marilyn, Diane unison vocals 1 (o/d 3)
According to Steve Desper, the nickname on the scene for this song was Bel-Air Bossa Nova. At the first tracking session it went by working title Even Steven, and then Even Time, and then when a lyric appeared, it became Busy Doin’ Nothin’: Brian’s authentic crack at the bossa nova genre in rhythm and harmony, set to a stream-of-consciousness peek behind the curtain into his life in that secluded Spanish mansion.
Even Steven began its recording history like any other song, but through a convoluted series of edit refinements, the track transformed into the absolute apotheosis of Brian’s love affair with the splicing blade. Good Vibrations trembles at the complexity of its modular construction. But that came later.
In the early afternoon of March 26, young reed player David Sherr (who’d been recommended for the job by friend and mentor Plas Johnson) arrived at Bellagio Road on the dot for the session, only to discover that Brian wasn’t yet awake. Nine musicians hung around the pool table for at least an hour getting paid, whilst the producer materialised from his slumber, ate breakfast, and took the time to meditate before walking downstairs into the studio to make music.
Diane hired the right people for a bossa nova tune. The rhythm section consisted of usual suspects Jim Ackley (of the Friends date) on Rock-Si-Chord, Al Vescovo on acoustic guitar, Lyle Ritz on double bass, Gene Pello (of Time to Get Alone) on drums, and Alan Estes switching between a triangle (called “the binger” by Brian) and a shaker. Horn-wise, this gets Pet Sounds-y: David Sherr, Tom Scott (you might know him!), Don Englert, and Jay Migliori selected their lines from a four-part chorale chart written out by Brian in C (which needed to be transposed), settling on a trio of alto flutes and a bass clarinet. Murry dropped by, muttered something to the band about Laurence Welk, counted off the rehearsals, and left.
The song was structured: Intro / Verse / Bridge / Turnaround / Verse / Bridge / Turnaround / Tag. Its arrangement never changed throughout the many, many takes laid down, save for Vescovo varying his guitar licks and Estes at one point trying a cabasa. After finally reaching (most of) a perfect groove, Brian had them re-record the fade as a pickup section.
On March 30, Brian brought his tapes to I.D. Sound and got to work making very selective edits before proceeding to vocals. He’d been around the splicing station long enough to know that certain groovy verses and licks didn’t have to be bound to single occurrences – the good bits could be all of the bits! His second construction of the song now titled Even Time therefore consisted of the following joins:
1. Intro / Verse 1 / Bridge 1
2. Turnaround 2
3. Verse 1
4. Bridge 2 / Turnaround 2
5. Fade
This was a new thing for Brian, tracking full-length songs and replacing select passages of them with copies of his favourite sections. He also did it for Wake the World, Be Here in the Mornin’, Anna Lee the Healer, and Passing By. At some point, probably in early April, he wrote lyrics (a solo effort), gave it the title Busy Doin’ Nothin’, overdubbed a lead vocal, and double-tracked himself in the bridges. The first half of the tale concerns Brian’s hot, sticky, scrambled day, and a friend’s invite to casa de Wilson in the cool evening air – with real directions to 10452 Bellagio Road, provided you know where to start! The second half meanders into an anticlimax where Brian tries to recall another friend’s phone number, can’t get an answer, and so writes a letter instead. Glorious.
Busy Doin’ Nothin’ could’ve been considered a finished article right then, a Brian Wilson solo record in all but name. (A mix from this second-generation tape was released in 2018.) But it didn’t quite click for him – mainly, tempo-wise. It was too hurried. It sounded like Busy Doin’ Somethin’. So on April 11, he held another session at I.D. Sound to overhaul the production.
The backing track was bounced 8 to 8 again, but slowed down by a semitone from speedy A to lazy A-flat, and subjected to even more edit looping. In the adjusted tempo and key, Brian had original players Jim Ackley, Al Vescovo and Lyle Ritz cut a new drum-free Roxi/guitar/bass bridge track, which he planned to splice together with the old version. Brian stood out in the room directing, conducting, and snapping. Vescovo tried a flat top acoustic for a while before going back to the archtop. By this point, live musicians were basically treated like raw sampling material for Brian; he instructed them to play a looping vamp of the 8-bar progression (which occurs twice in each bridge) that he’d review and grab his preferred rounds from later. Onto a long, formless master take, the four men added a percussion overdub of shakers, castanets and finger cymbals, ultimately not used in the mix.
After tracking another untitled piece of music that we tend to call Indian Wisdom, Brian and Jim made numerous 8 to 8 copies of the new Busy’ Doin’ Nothin’ section and spliced together a (frankly unhinged) final edit of the track, including the following splices:
1. Turnaround 2 (slowed)
2. Verse 1 (slowed)
3. New Bridge (bars 9 to 12)
4. New Bridge (bars 5 to 12)
5. New Bridge (bars 5 to 8)
6. Turnaround 2 (slowed)
7. Verse 1 (slowed)
8. New Bridge (bars 9 to 12)
9. New Bridge (bars 5 to 12)
10. New Bridge (bars 5 to 8)
11. Turnaround 2 (slowed)
12. Tag (slowed)
The opening guitar lick from Vescovo is the same every time it’s heard. Note that Brian assembled that one hyper-specific reconstruction of the bridge twice, out of fragments from four copies.
Brian overdubbed a lead vocal onto the master, conversationally, with the adjusted mood of the track best exemplified by his lyric change from “don’t waste a minute more, it’s the perfect night” to “take all the time you need, it’s a lovely night”. Brian also switched a driving direction from right to left, ensuring fans wouldn’t actually be able to find his house. Double-tracking of the bridges followed (with an opening verse double discarded). However, during the first portion of the second bridge up to “slowly it came to me”, Marilyn and Diane made a quirky cameo singing every other line in unison, with Brian tripling himself in places as they all performed the interplay on two tracks. Why? Who knows, but it adds flavour and it’s good to hear them.
The best cameo was saved ’til last: Papa Murry and Mama Audree in the flesh overdubbed loose descending “ahhh” backing vocals in the verses, buried in the mix but just audible at the edge of hearing. During the first bridge, Murry blows a raspberry, and it’s out there on the album! The song was finalised and mixed to stereo at the end of the session. A special Beach Boys record, for obvious reasons.
Wake the World
(Brian Wilson – Al Jardine)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Al Jardine, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert, Steve Desper
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – verse & chorus lead vocals, harmony vocals
Mike Love – chorus lead vocals, harmony vocals
Carl Wilson – co-lead & harmony vocals
Al Jardine – harmony vocals
Murry Wilson – harmony vocals
two unknowns – harmony vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D] / metal scrape
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar (w/Leslie speaker)
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Norm Jeffries – drums, tambourine, guiro
Tommy Morgan – chromatic harmonica (w/fuzz) [Hohner Super Chromonica 270]
Dick Hyde – euphonium / euphonium
Arnold Belnick – violin (x2)
John DeVoogt – violin (x2)
Bonnie Douglas – violin (x2)
Jay Rosen – violin (x2)
Ralph Schaeffer – violin (x2)
Paul Shure – violin (x2)
Norman Botnick – viola (x2)
David Burk – viola (x2)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8):
March 28, 1968 (2:00pm-7:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track, alt vocals)
March 30, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (8 to 8, edit, vocals)
March 31, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 1, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
2018 Stereo Alternate Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Mark Linett (2018)
Vocal Guide (early version)
– verse lead: Brian+Carl+Al
– chorus lead: Brian>Carl+Al
Vocal Guide (final version)
– verse lead: Brian
– chorus lead: Brian>Mike
– 1st chorus ‘making my life’: Carl / ‘so much brighter now’: Brian>Carl>Al>unknowns>Carl>Al>Murry
– 2nd chorus ‘I’ll be there’: Carl / ‘when you’re calling me’: Brian>Carl>Al>Mike
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 14 of 22)
1 – electric bass, drums, tambourine, guiro (b/t)
2 – violins, violas 1 (o/d 4)
3 – euphonium 1 (b/t)
4 – violins, violas 2 (o/d 5)
5 – grand piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica (b/t)
6 – Brian, Carl, Al vocals 1 (o/d 2)
7 – euphonium 2 (o/d 1)
8 – Brian, Carl, Al vocals 2 (o/d 3)
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – electric bass, drums, tambourine, guiro (c)
2 – Brian verse lead vocal (o/d 1)
3 – violins, violas 1 + 2 (c)
4 – Brian, Al chorus lead vocals 1 (o/d 2) (x) / Brian, Mike chorus lead vocals 1 (o/d 8)
5 – euphonium 1 + 2 (c)
6 – Carl & group 1st chorus end low vocals (o/d 4) / Carl & group 2nd chorus end vocals 1 (o/d 6)
7 – grand piano, acoustic guitar, harmonica (c)
8 – metal scrape (o/d 10) / Brian, Al chorus lead vocals 1 (o/d 3) (x) / Brian, Mike chorus lead vocals 2 (o/d 9) / group 1st chorus end high vocals (o/d 5) / group 2nd chorus end vocals 2 (o/d 7)
Wake the World was the first one-on-one writing collaboration between Brian Wilson and Al Jardine. They had before worked in a team – not just in 1968, but all the way back to South Bay Surfer – however this was the earliest instance of Brian inviting Al exclusively to sit at the piano and help him pen the words to a song, firing up another unique writing partnership within the Beach Boys that bloomed alongside their friendship over the next two years.
Brian had already composed the music before getting together with Al at the den’s piano beneath the stained glass window. This wonderfully cyclical little pocket symphony deals with the change from day to night, and night to day, and day to night again. There are three components: a 4-bar “transition” verse, an 8-bar “day” chorus, and an 8-bar instrumental “night” bridge (based on minor substitutions of the chorus chords). Brian didn’t seem to know how long the song should be – beyond his most interesting structural gambit of placing the bridge right after the opening verse, it would just repeat itself until finding a stopping point. He cut the basic track with a whopping seven verses and five choruses, ordered: Verse / Bridge / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Verse. That’s a lot! There was no distinct ending, only another verse that he’d fade quickly before it hit the next chorus.
The tracking session took place at home on March 28. Texturally, this is one of the most unique arrangements of the project. The starry night-time atmosphere seemed to beg for Brian to play his detuned Chickering piano, rarely heard on the Friends album itself (only making it to two songs). Norm Jeffries drummed with a stick in one hand and a brush in the other; a tambourine and a guiro (scraped before the chorus) were attached to different areas of his kit. Lyle Ritz played the reliable P-bass. Of special note are the re-amplification techniques: Al Vescovo’s archtop acoustic guitar was mic’d and sent through a Leslie speaker on slow rotation, giving it a ghostly, phasing tone that blends right into the piano; Tommy Morgan’s droning harmonica ran through a guitar amp, and in each chorus he would flick the switch on a fuzz pedal to transform it into a gnarly wasp. Multi-brassist Dick Hyde wielded a euphonium, of the tuba family, apparently after trying a flugelhorn in rehearsals.
During the takes, Lyle’s bass line underwent adjustments, Norm introduced the guiro, and Brian decided to reserve Dick’s moving line in the chorus for an overdub, since it was so physically exerting for him to keep playing. The band got all the way to take 22, but Brian ultimately went back to use take 14 as the master. Dick overdubbed the rest of his tuba part on another channel. Right after cutting the track, Brian, Carl and Al overdubbed quick vocals before more musicians got to the house. The trio sang the verses in unison, single-tracked, and in the choruses broke to a two-part harmony with Brian on the top line and Carl and Al below, double-tracked. Only lyrics for three verses and two choruses had been written, so beyond that point, they just repeated lines until petering out. A string octet arrived for overdubs in the evening, consisting of six violins and two violas: shimmering tremolante lines in the bridge, whimsical flourishes in the chorus, and sustained chords in the subsequent verses, all double-tracked (only to be buried right down in the mix). An alternate mix from this first-generation tape was created in 2018, abridged to a more palatable length with a looping verse fade.
On March 29, Brian tracked Be Here in the Mornin’ (almost the song’s Part Two), and on March 30 took both masters to I.D. Sound for bouncing and splicing. Wake the World was dubbed several times to another 8-track, combining the euphonium and string parts and ditching the vocals, where it was surgically reassembled out of looped sections:
1. Verse 1 / Bridge / Verse 2 / Chorus 1 / Verse 3*
2. Chorus 1*
3. Verse 2 / Chorus 1
4. Verse 2 / Chorus 1 (cut off)
(*sections unused and spliced out of the final mix)
Brian, Carl, Al, and an assortment of friends and family went about overdubbing brand new vocals onto that edit. The unison idea was scrapped; Brian sang a solo lead in the verses (including an extra “moon shines bright” verse that wasn’t used), and Brian and Al initially double-tracked the chorus in harmony. Lyrics were written for the endings of the two choruses at this point, with Carl taking a lead for “making my life” and “I’ll be there” followed by a group harmony for “so much brighter now” and “when you’re calling me”. Carl, Al, and a cameoing Murry Wilson(!) sang a low three-part harmony after the solo lines. On another channel, Brian, Carl, Al, and two unidentified male friends (perhaps some combo of Steve Desper/Korthof/Kalinich) sang a higher four-part harmony, followed by “oooh” and “ahhh” backing vocals in the quick verse-fade.
The group most likely returned to Wake the World on March 31, deciding to re-record several elements after receiving a Mike-Love-shaped package from India. In the second chorus’ ending, Carl re-sang his line, and the stacked seven-part harmony on “when you’re calling me” was replaced by Brian, Carl, Al and Mike double-tracking the same four higher voices; unfortunately, the fade harmonies were erased in the process. The old Brian and Al chorus leads were then wiped out, and Brian and Mike sang a replacement duet. For a finishing touch, Brian overdubbed some sort of metal scraping sound at the end of the bridge, as if to simulate blinds being drawn. The tune was mixed to stereo on April 1 with its spare verse and chorus removed.
Be Here in the Mornin’
(Brian Wilson – Dennis Wilson – Carl Wilson – Mike Love – Al Jardine)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert, Steve Desper
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – intro lead vocal, harmony vocals
Al Jardine – verse lead vocal, harmony vocals
Carl Wilson – chorus lead vocal, harmony vocals
Dennis Wilson – tag lead vocal, harmony vocals
Mike Love – harmony vocals
Bruce Johnston – harmony vocals
Marilyn Wilson – harmony vocals
Diane Rovell – harmony vocals
Murry Wilson – harmony vocals
(instrumentation)
Jim Ackley – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A]
Al Vescovo – archtop acoustic guitar / pedal steel guitar
Carl Wilson – acoustic guitar (w/Leslie speaker)
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision] / tenor ukulele [Gibson TU-1 custom]
Norm Jeffries – drums
Brian Wilson – tambourine / electric organ [Hammond B-3] (bass pedals solo)
Alan Estes – tubular bells
David Sherr – oboe
Recorded to 1″ 8-track (8 to 8):
March 29, 1968 (2:00pm-5:30pm) / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio (track)
March 30, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (8 to 8, edit, organ, vocals)
March 31, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (vocals)
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 1, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Vocal Guide
– intro lead: Brian
– verse lead: Al / 2nd verse harmony: Brian
– verse group harmony: Brian>Bruce>Carl+Al>Dennis>Mike
– 1st & 3rd chorus lead: Carl, then Brian>Carl / ‘ahh-ha’ backing: Carl
– 2nd chorus lead: Carl (w/Leslie speaker) / ‘ahh-ha’ backing: Brian+Carl+Al
– chorus ‘full’ harmony: Diane>Brian>Marilyn>Al>Carl>Murry>Murry
– tag lead: Dennis / backing: Bruce>Al>Brian>Mike
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 22)
1 – drums, tambourine (b/t)
2 – pedal steel guitar (o/d 1)
3 – electric bass (b/t)
4
5 – Rock-Si-Chord, acoustic guitars, tubular bells, oboe (b/t)
6
7 – ukulele (o/d 2)
8
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – drums, tambourine (c)
2 – Al Leslie’d verse lead vocal (o/d 1) (x) / Al, Brian verse lead vocals (o/d) / group chorus ‘full’ vocals 3 (o/d 6)
3 – pedal steel guitar + ukulele (c) / group chorus ‘full’ vocals 2 (o/d 5)
4 – group verse harmony vocals (o/d) / Carl chorus BG vocal (o/d) / Brian, Carl, Al chorus BG vocals (o/d 3) / group tag BG vocals (o/d)
5 – electric bass (c)
6 – Brian intro vocal (o/d) / Carl, Brian chorus lead vocals (o/d) / Carl Leslie’d chorus lead vocal (o/d 2) / Dennis tag vocal (o/d)
7 – Rock-Si-Chord, acoustic guitars, tubular bells, oboe (c) / organ (b/t)
8 – group chorus ‘full’ vocals 1 (o/d 4)
Like Friends before it, Be Here in the Mornin’ is another swung jazz waltz. Brian took the beginnings of the verse and chorus from Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’, switched to 3/4, substituted certain chords, followed the changes down whacko alternative sequences, wrote a new intro and bridge, restructured the song, and ultimately ended up with a composition that shared very little in common with its predecessor, despite inheriting a title.
Be Here in the Mornin’ has the distinction of being the first and only song in the catalogue credited to all five original Beach Boys. Our Favorite Recording Sessions and Bull Session do not count. Somehow, Brian, Dennis, Carl, Al, and Mike each got a lyric in there, and there are only nine distinct lines in the whole song!
But before that, the track was recorded at Brian’s house on March 29. A special gloopy chordal instrument combination drives the arrangement: Jim Ackley returns on the Rock-Si-Chord, Al Vescovo strums a dry archtop acoustic, and this time Carl Wilson plays an acoustic guitar sent through the Leslie speaker, set to a fast rotation. Lyle and Norm are back on bass and drums respectively, and the chorus features a pretty wedding-like interplay between David Sherr on oboe and Alan Estes on orchestra bells.
The track was recorded with a complete song structure all the way through: Intro / Verse / Chorus / Verse / Chorus / Bridge / Intro Reprise / Half-Chorus / Tag (with a full ending). Numerous pickups were attempted for take 11 before deciding to start over from the top; Brian joined the band on a tambourine to help the rhythm. They also tried pickups for take 19, but again opted to just give the whole song another try, and finally landed a full master without edits on take 22. Two fellas stayed for overdubs: Al Vescovo added pedal steel guitar slides (played Hawaiian-style) to the intro and its returning sections, and Lyle Ritz strummed a ukulele in the same places, plus the bridge.
The track was dubbed 8 to 8 at I.D. Sound on March 30 (alongside Wake the World and Busy Doin’ Nothin’), combining the steel guitar and uke during the bounce. Brian and Jim made an edit with a looped opening verse and chorus. Vocals seem to have been recorded across two days: March 30, with only three Beach Boys and other helpers present, and March 31, with all of the Beach Boys singing (though five were documented in attendance for both days – Capitol’s vocal session paperwork is often vague, unreliable, and light on detail, beyond revealing studio time and sometimes getting a title in the right place).
First, Brian decided to completely replace the 8-bar bridge, which had originally been a break for bass and ukulele. He recorded an independent fragment by getting on the floor and punching the bass pedals of the B-3 organ with his hands; the organ bass solo was spliced directly into the middle of the track, resulting in the following edit:
1. Intro / Verse 1 / Chorus 1
2. Verse 1 / Chorus 1
3. Revised Bridge
4. Intro Reprise / Half-Chorus / Tag
Then onto verses. Al sang a rare high-up lead in the verses through a Leslie speaker, an effect Brian had last utilised on She Rides With Me in 1964. Following that, Carl also performed the chorus lead Leslie’d (spot his “alright” in the second verse and whistling over the organ break). Brian, Carl and Al overdubbed a unison “ahha-ha” response part in the choruses, as nasal and nasty as they could get it, and for the “full” in “be here and make my life full”, things turned interesting: Brian got the Rovell sisters and big daddy Murry Wilson to join in on a harmony for that one word, high-to-low stacked Diane, Brian, Marilyn, Al, Carl, Murry (all the way from A4 to D2). They doubled it, then Diane, Brian and Al tripled their parts, with Murry moving to a higher bass note, resulting in a seven-part harmony of 16 voices. Full indeed. It was only recorded in one chorus for copying during the mixdown.
The second, more extensive round of overdubbing work probably took place on March 31, when Capitol formally documented a Be Here in the Mornin’ vocal session in their files. After leaving Rishikesh, Mike spent some time in London before flying to L.A. – he didn’t officially appear on Capitol’s head count until April 1, but evidently, he must’ve turned up at some point during the previous evening to pen a few words and sing.
Al re-recorded his high lead vocal in the verses, dry, sounding every bit the beautiful woman he was always capable of becoming (it kept making him laugh) – Brian joined for a harmony on “I only hope that you come here alone.” Carl also re-recorded his lead vocal in the first and third choruses dryly, joined by Brian above for a two-part harmony; Carl also re-recorded smoother solo “ahha-ha” responses in the same sections. The original second chorus vocals were left intact for variety. Brian sang the wordless lead in the intro, and Dennis sang the same wordless lead part in the two reprises of that section following the bridge and last chorus.
Mike’s writing involvement probably came about through two answer lines in the verses where he makes an appearance – look out for Steve Korthof, Jon Parks, and business manager Nick Grillo each getting a namecheck. Those group responses and the“wah-ahh” were performed by all six Beach Boys in a five-part harmony, notable for being the only instance on the whole album where they all sing together! Bruce, Al, Brian and Mike added wordless harmonies surrounding Dennis’ part over the ending. A production imbued with all of the complexity of a single to far weirder ends.
Be Here in the Mornin’ was mixed to stereo on April 1; this required some additional copying and splicing steps, as the one-off “wah-ahh” and “full” harmonies both needed to be repeated to the second verse and chorus. Catch a splice where Carl’s voice suddenly loses the Leslie effect on the word “life”.
Anna Lee, the Healer
(Mike Love – Brian Wilson)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Mike Love
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Murry Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert, Steve Desper
Personnel:
(voices)
Mike Love – lead vocal, harmony vocals
Brian Wilson – harmony & backing vocals
Carl Wilson – harmony & backing vocals
Al Jardine – harmony & backing vocals
Bruce Johnston – harmony & backing vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – upright piano
Bruce Johnston – electric organ [Hammond B-3]
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Dennis Wilson – congas
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
April 1, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 1, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (unused mix)
Circa April 2 to 16, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios (revised mix)
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Vocal Guide
– chorus main harmony: Brian>Al>Bruce>Carl>Mike
– chorus ending harmony: Brian>Bruce>Carl>Mike
– verse lead: Mike / backing: Brian>Al+Bruce>Carl
– ending harmony: Brian>Al>Bruce>Carl>Mike
Tracks – 1st Gen
(take 37)
1 – upright piano (b/t)
2
3 – congas (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass (b/t)
6
7 – organ (b/t)
8
Tracks – 2nd Gen
1 – upright piano (c) / upright piano (b/t)
2 – group chorus main vocals 1 (o/d 1)
3 – congas (c)
4 – group chorus main vocals 2 (o/d 2)
5 – electric bass (c)
6 – group chorus ending vocals 1 (o/d 3) / Mike verse lead vocal (o/d 5)
7 – organ (c)
8 – group chorus ending vocals 2 (o/d 4) / group verse BG vocals (o/d 6)
No, it’s not an innuendo. Anneliese Braun was a real healer, meditator, and escapee from Germany during the Second World War, whose kindness and skill brought health and help to all at the ashram in Rishikesh in 1968. Reportedly, she aided Mike Love with a foot problem. Upon his return to Los Angeles at the end of March, Mike proposed the concept of a song about Anna Lee the healer to Brian, for which he was honoured by the inverted credit Love-Wilson on the album’s sleeve (although Mike’s own account and the copyright split indicate Brian wrote all of the music).
Capitol’s files document a session for Meant for You on April 1, followed by a session for Anna Lee, the Healer on April 2 (accompanied by an AFM contract). However, the chronology of the songs’ appearances on various tapes indicate that they were actually recorded the other way around. The Beach Boys had been working fast to wrap up the album at I.D. Sound Studios and tracked the entirety of Anna Lee there, probably within a day of it being written, working on their own without session musicians. The length of each section and the number of sections were still being decided upon during the recording process. While cutting the basic track, they went for a long structure of four choruses and three verses.
A light, poppy track arrangement initially consisted of Brian on piano, Carl clunking the bass, Dennis drumming on a conga with sticks, Bruce playing Hammond organ riffs, and Al strumming acoustic guitar. Murry was a vocal presence on the talkback mic, reassuming his old role of control room co-producer on best behaviour. After a few takes, Al dropped out (as he was wont to do), Bruce’s organ part was pared back, and Brian reconfigured the verses to a sparse duo of just piano and bass playing the same line (no chords). Weariness set in through numerous false starts, prompting Brian to express that they just might not be able to cut the track that night. After a good beginning to a take that broke down during the second verse, he announced that they’d make tape copies.
After bouncing across several copies to another 8-track reel, Brian decided to make the first verse an even sparser affair – just piano on its own. But Jim couldn’t simply mute the bass in that section because of prevalent mic bleed, so Brian recorded a new isolated verse piano track and spliced it into the master. The edit was structured:
1. Refrain 1 / Chorus 1
2. Revised Verse 1
3. Refrain 2
4. Chorus 1 / Verse 1 / Refrain 2
5. Chorus 1 / Verse 1 / Refrain 2 / Chorus 2
The final verse and chorus wouldn’t be overdubbed, nor would the last 4 bars of each chorus section (a repeat of the “you’d love to feel those healing hands of Anna Lee” vamp). Mike probably finished writing the words right there and then. After whittling down the song’s length, Brian, Al, Bruce, Carl and Mike double-tracked the four-and-five-part harmony vocals to the choruses; they added the final line of each chorus on two other tracks, without Al, and for an ending sang a different rhythmically staggered part on each track, with Al, trailing off into “the healer, the healer, the healer” – the instrumental track continued underneath and needed to be muted to create an a cappella moment. Mike overdubbed his happy solo lead to the verses, and the others backed him with a three-part “ahhh” harmony.
At the end of the session, Wake the World, Be Here in the Mornin’, and Anna Lee, the Healer were all mixed to stereo by Jim, Brian and Murry. The unused last part of each chorus was spliced out of the 2-track tape. This Anna Lee mix featured a slightly more prominent organ, quieter conga, and didn’t quite mute the track all the way during the a cappella ending. At an unknown later date, Brian remixed it to resolve that ending problem.
Meant for You
(Version 1)
(Brian Wilson – Mike Love)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Mike Love, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Murry Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – lead vocal, electric organ [Hammond B-3]
Carl Wilson – refrain & scat vocals
Mike Love – refrain & scat vocals
Al Jardine – refrain & scat vocals
Bruce Johnston – refrain & scat vocals
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
2012 Hybrid Stereo Mix – Made in California (2013, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Vocal Guide
– intro refrain: Brian+Bruce>Al>Carl>Mike
– scat ‘do do’: Carl>Bruce then Bruce>Carl (alternating) / ‘duh duh’: Al>Mike
– verse lead: Brian
Tracks
(no master – 2013 edit uses take 26 + take 9)
1 – Al, Mike vocals (b/t)
2
3 – organ (b/t)
4
5 – Carl, Bruce vocals (b/t)
6
7 – Brian vocal (b/t)
8
The other Wilson-Love song introduced post-India was Meant for You, a gentle organ lullaby about meditation and familial dedication that brought together the emotional worlds of Brian and Mike in early 1968. There were three components to the composition: a 1-bar group “meant for…” refrain, a 12-bar verse of scat vocals over which Brian would take a lead, and a 6-and-a-half-bar bridge that Mike would sing. All recordings were structured: Refrain / Verse / Bridge / Refrain / Verse. This musical material could’ve kept cycling, but after the first take Brian decided to leave it as a short song, fading on a lyric-free second verse.
There were two distinct attempts to record Meant for You at I.D. Sound. Murry joined them in the studio that day and gave performance feedback from the booth. In the first try, everyone sang live while Brian played the Hammond organ; Carl and Bruce were on one mic, Mike and Al were on another, and Brian had his own. All sang the four-part harmony in the refrains, and each duo had their own distinct scat harmony rhythms in the verses to support Brian’s couplet: “Have you ever seen a pony run alongside of his mother? And have you ever seen a puppy-dog layin’ his head on his brother?” (Note that Carl and Bruce swap their harmony parts back and forth every bar.) Mike’s bridge lead would be overdubbed. The earliest takes included some beautiful wordless backing vocals in the bridge, but Brian decided to overdub those later as well – he became highly concerned about the timing of that section, tried a “dum dum” bass vocal to map it out, then eventually just counted.
By the end, every take became take 22. (Brian: “This is the one. You know, 22 is like, the biggest fuckin’ number in the whole world. It’s a great number. Numerological. It’s the biggest number.” Mike: “23 must be bigger.” Brian: “22 is the biggest number in the world.”) So they got a good one on take… 22. However on review, Brian still wasn’t rhythmically satisfied by the execution.
While Mike and Al went for a break (phew, it’s time for them to meditate), Carl and Bruce stayed in the control room watching Brian attempt to put down a solid quarter note human click track. He tried clapping, patting the piano bench, and playing bass notes on the organ, but nothing stuck. As this was happening, Carl listened to the Friends reel in the booth, probably concluded that he could sing a few lines better, and the trio briefly moved their attention over to that song.
More info on the release history of this version below.
Meant for You
(Version 2)
(Brian Wilson – Mike Love)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Mike Love, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Murry Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Mike Love – lead vocal, refrain & scat vocals
Carl Wilson – refrain & scat vocals
Al Jardine – refrain & scat vocals
Bruce Johnston – refrain & scat vocals
(instrumentation)
Brian Wilson – electronic organ [Yamaha Electone E-3]
Bruce Johnston – upright piano
Carl Wilson – hand claps (unused guide)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
2012 Hybrid Stereo Mix – Made in California (2013, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Mark Linett (2012)
Vocal Guide
– intro refrain: Bruce>Al>Carl>Mike
– scat ‘do do’: Carl>Bruce then Bruce>Carl (alternating) / ‘duh duh’: Al>Mike
– bridge lead: Mike
Tracks
(take 4)
1 – hand claps (b/t)
2 – group vocals (o/d 1)
3 – organ close (b/t)
4 – Mike lead vocal (o/d 2)
5 – upright piano (b/t)
6 – Mike lead vocal alternate (o/d 3)
7 – organ far (b/t)
8
Another reel was pulled up for a revised approach to Meant for You, continuing right where they left off. Brian, Bruce and Carl concocted a timing solution that would allow them to put down a backing track first: Brian manned an organ as usual (switching over to the warmer electronic Yamaha), Bruce played a supporting piano (bass notes under Brian’s verse, pretty arpeggios under Mike’s bridge), and Carl clapped guiding quarter notes the whole way through to be muted in the mix. Brian also added a two-bar intro of organ chords prior to the refrain. In this configuration, it didn’t take long at all to get a track down.
Onto the new master, Carl, Bruce, Al and Mike overdubbed their established vocal parts, this time all onto one track – during the bridge, Mike sang a loose guide pass at his lead part. The bridge backing vocals weren’t revisited. Mike subsequently overdubbed a proper lead, chosen as the master, and a gentler unused alternate take, where he changed the words to “yes, these feelings…”
Right then, Brian realised Meant for You had the potential to work as an even shorter piece – the entire intro and opening verse consequently bit the dust, and Brian didn’t end up overdubbing his own voice at all. Strange happenstance leaves us with one version lacking Mike’s lyrics and one version lacking Brian’s.
In the mixdown, the group vocals were muted prior to the ending refrain to be followed by a quick fadeout. Jim spliced the tape to begin a bar before Mike’s entrance. The result: a song that’s 38 seconds long! An appropriately understated sermon to relax listeners into this album.
The extended “Alternate Version” released on Made in California in 2013 is a hybrid between the two versions which reimagines the song to behave as if the album cut continued past the fade. To break down the components of this edit:
1. Version 2 Take 4 – Bridge (starting right off with Mike’s voice)
2. Version 1 Take 26 – Refrain & Verse 1 (with Brian’s live lead)
3. Version 1 Take 9 – Bridge (live backing vocals, with the second half of Mike’s lead from Version 2 flown-in and subtly double-tracked using an alternate overdub)
4. Version 1 Take 26 – Refrain & Verse 2 (fade)
Be Still
(Version 2)
(Dennis Wilson – Stephen Kalinich)
Music: Dennis Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Dennis Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – upright piano
Al Jardine – electric guitar
Bruce Johnston – electric bass [Fender]
Carl Wilson – drums (w/brushes)
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Circa March 14 to April 2, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 27 + tag take 2)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2
3 – electric guitar (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass, drums (b/t)
6
7
8
The second version of Be Still (And Know You Are) was recorded in a spare half hour while the group were working at I.D. Sound, probably during a session for vocals on another tune. It might’ve been cut alongside Friends on March 14, or it could’ve occurred during the final rush of group activity from March 30 to April 2. Jim unfortunately left few notes. This track attempt upped the tempo, brightened the sound, moved the “life begins” bridge to after the second verse, and used a full ending rather than a fade.
In the earliest takes, Dennis played piano with Al on guitar and Bruce on bass. From take 6, Brian took over the piano (and session), and Carl played brushed drums while Dennis listened from the booth. The band ended up cutting a fairly conventional rhythm track this time, maybe not quite befitting of the song’s character. A two-chord full ending was recorded as a pickup section but not spliced onto the master (restored in the 2018 mix).
Be Still
(Version 3)
(Dennis Wilson – Stephen Kalinich)
Music: Dennis Wilson
Lyrics: Stephen Kalinich
Arrangement: Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Dennis Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Dennis Wilson – lead vocal
Brian Wilson – electronic organ [Baldwin HT2R]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Possibly March, 1968 or April 3, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
Circa April, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Tracks
(take 3)
1 – organ (b/t)
2
3 – Dennis vocal (b/t)
4
5
6
7
8
Dissatisfied by both band tracks, the brothers discussed an appropriate alternative way to present Be Still, and came up with this: a humble live-in-studio performance with Dennis singing and Brian accompanying him at the Baldwin organ. In style and approach it’s a rara avis among Beach Boys productions.
The date of the session at Brian’s home studio was, once again, undocumented, but Jim did record onto the reel containing both generations of Transcendental Meditation Version 2. The AFM contract wasn’t filled in and paid until early 1969, clearly as a result of someone noticing the title’s absence from union records and drawing something up to cover their tracks. Whoever typed it chose the impossible date April 13, 1968 (2pm-4pm), set a day after the latest union-documented Friends session, listing Dennis as the only performer despite him being on tour in Florida that day. We’re left with two plausible possibilities for the real date: a session sometime in the middle of March, or a (coincidentally 10 days off) session on April 3, the day before the group flew to Nashville. The latter point in the timeline may be lent weight by a similar live track and vocal approach to Meant for You.
It only took about four minutes to record a master. Dennis’ matured singing voice blossoms into full view here, a croaked whisper full of romance and fragility so unlike his bandmates. Brian added a little walk-up bass riff between sections and the two of them decided to lengthen the song’s structure, adding a fourth verse that repeats the opening and ends on “you know you know you are God”.
In the stereo mix (basically mono with a touch of reverb in the bridge), the last verse was faded down before the full ending, possibly out of concern for controversy.
Stephen Kalinich revisited the titular phrase and wrote a new poem around it for his A World of Peace Must Come album in late 1969 or early 1970. Brian improvised an organ accompaniment in the background of Steve’s recitation, preceded by the two of them staging a short skit before the take, referencing back to the Friends version.
Brian: “Hi Steve. Oh, ‘Be Still (And Know You Are)’. Wasn’t that a cut on… that was a cut on our album wasn’t it? Friends album.”
Steve: “It was a cut on the Friends album – Beach Boys Friends album.”
Brian: “Dennis sang the lead, didn’t he?”
Steve: “Yeah, and Dennis wrote it, didn’t he?”
Brian: “You wrote a poem on that, didn’t you?”
Steve: “Yeah, I wrote a poem called ‘Be Still is a Thought to Live By’. I thought it was such a meaningful song that I just didn’t want to let it stop at a song, I wanted to turn it into something.”
Brian: “Do you want me to play some organ on it or do you wanna do guitar?”
Steve: “Yeah, why don’t you, uh…”
Brian: “I’ll play you some organ. You wanna do it now?”
Steve: “Play the organ now, okay.”
My Little Red Book
(Burt Bacharach – Hal David)
Music: Burt Bacharach
Lyrics: Hal David
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Brian Wilson – lead vocal, grand piano (detuned) [Chickering 105D]
Carl Wilson – electric bass [Fender]
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
Possibly March, 1968 or April 3, 1968 / Beach Boys’ Recording Studio
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 3)
1 – grand piano (b/t)
2
3 – Brian vocal (b/t)
4
5 – electric bass (b/t)
6
7
8
Brian’s cover of the 1965 Manfred Mann tune My Little Red Book was recorded in the same quick session as Be Still, and in that vein, it was also approached as a live-in-studio performance. Brian played piano while singing and Carl followed along on bass.
As before, they only spent a few minutes knocking out a take. Brian couldn’t remember all of the lyrics and improvised. He sings in a lounge singer drawl that’s just as silly as it is impassioned, a real homespun glimpse into the covers he’d entertain himself and friends with in casual settings. We don’t know if he just recorded this for fun or if he had serious thoughts of putting it on the album. Either way, it should be obvious by now that in 1968, Brian was riding on a major Bacharach-David kick.
Transcendental Meditation
(Version 3)
(Brian Wilson – Mike Love – Al Jardine)
Music: Brian Wilson
Lyrics: Mike Love, Al Jardine
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Co-Producer: Murry Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(voices)
Brian Wilson – lead & harmony vocals
(instrumentation)
Lyle Ritz – electric bass [Fender Precision]
Jim Gordon – drums
Tom Scott – mezzo-soprano saxophone
Jim Horn – tenor saxophone (incl. solo)
Don Englert – tenor saxophone
Bill Green – tenor saxophone
Ken Jensen – tenor saxophone
Bob Jung – tenor saxophone
David Sherr – tenor saxophone
Meyer Hirsch – baritone saxophone
Jay Migliori – baritone saxophone
Bill Perkins – bass saxophone
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
April 4, 1968 (2:00pm-5:00pm) / I.D. Sound Studios
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 4, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol)
Mix engineer: Jim Lockert
Vocal Guide
– lead harmony: Brian>Brian>Brian
– ‘it’s cool’: Brian
Tracks
(take 7)
1 – electric bass (b/t)
2 – Brian low vocal (o/d 1)
3 – drums (b/t)
4 – Brian middle vocal (o/d 2)
5 – baritone & bass saxophones (b/t)
6 – Brian high vocal (o/d 3)
7 – mezzo-soprano & tenor saxophones (b/t)
8
The quick stopover at home allowed Mike and Al just enough time to write the (minimal) lyrics to Transcendental Meditation, then it was back on a plane for a major tour down south with Buffalo Springfield and the Strawberry Alarm Clock. A plan was drawn up for Brian to complete the song and album on his own – the way it had been for Summer Days and Pet Sounds – so on April 4, while most of the Beach Boys and their entourage gathered at the airport, Brian took himself to the studio.
Since the house’s equipment had been packed up for the road, all sessions from here on took place at I.D. Sound. Brian didn’t intend to finish the existing version of Transcendental Meditation. He threw out some of the music, added new parts, and hatched a mad plan to go even more brazenly “outer stroke” by re-recording the tune as a big band swing, arranged for bass, drums, and a veritable armada of saxophones, sounding quite like something off Four Freshmen and Five Saxes on steroids.
Alongside Lyle Ritz and Jimmy Gordon, ten woodwind players turned up at the studio that afternoon, filling the room to the brim with optional instruments as nobody forewarned them about what they might be asked to play. While waiting, Tom Scott brought out his latest rare acquisition, a mezzo-soprano saxophone in F, which the intrigued reedmen all queued up to try… except for Bill Green, who made numerous offers to buy it. Brian arrived typically late and announced that he’d forgotten the horn arrangements. No matter, it’s Brian Wilson! After kicking around thoughts with the musicians, he settled on a sax ensemble of six tenors, two baritones, a bass at the suggestion of Bill Perkins (who didn’t bring a bari), and Tom Scott’s fancy mezzo-soprano.
This version of Transcendental Meditation moved the key from G to Ab. The 7-bar verse material was kept, albeit arranged with all of the saxophones and the bass droning one note in octaves; all upper harmonic information would come from the vocals. Brian dropped the chorus, bridge, and transitional sections, and added a new 5-bar B section where he’d hoot and holler “it’s cool”, backed by wildly dissonant eight-voice horn chords. Spicy stuff. The song became an uncomplicated affair in its structure, rotating back and forth ABABABABAB until fading. The third verse would be wordless, the fourth verse would feature a tenor sax solo from Jim Horn (improvised live each take), and the fifth verse would repeat the opening lyric.
“I used a lot of horns on it, and put these chords to it that were not Beach Boys chords at all,” said Brian. “I felt funny about that for a while, and said, ‘I shouldn’t have done that,’ because it was too much of a departure from the original Beach Boys sound.” We’ll have to disagree with him there. (Record Collector, 1995)
Murry was again an active co-producing presence at this session, encouraging Lyle to “put a couple tasty runs in there, Brian won’t get mad at either of us” – probably having a blast. Finally, a tune with a beat! Onto the master, Brian overdubbed all of the vocals himself: a three-part harmony in the verses, and the prescribed hooting and hollering in the other sections, nasal and demented.
In the final stereo master, a splice between two mixes results in half a beat being skipped jazzily at the start of the third verse. Another noticeable splice occurs at “feelin’ grand” just as the track begins to fade.
Indian Wisdom
(Brian Wilson)
Logged Title: New Song
Music: Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineers: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
Jim Ackley – electric organ [Hammond B-3]
Lyle Ritz – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A]
Al Vescovo – acoustic guitar
Brian Wilson – double bass
Recorded to 1″ 8-track:
April 11, 1968 (2:00pm-5:00pm) / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
2018 Stereo Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineer: Mark Linett
Tracks
(take 4)
1 – double bass (b/t)
2
3 – acoustic guitar (b/t)
4
5 – Rock-Si-Chord (b/t)
6
7 – organ (b/t)
8
The final Friends sessions turned into a Brian Wilson solo endeavour. A late crunch before the group’s next two back-to-back U.S. tours hadn’t resulted in enough completed tracks to form an album, but with Capitol breathing down their necks for product and almost two months of consecutive concerts booked ahead, they didn’t have the luxury of waiting until everyone had time off for more recording. Brian just took care of it himself. He finished up Transcendental Meditation on his own, bringing the count to 11 songs. However, they were short songs, so he probably couldn’t get away with handing in an LP that flew by quicker than Wild Honey. There were other usable tracks laying around – namely Be Here in the Mornin’ Darlin’, You’re as Cool as Can Be, Our Happy Home, and a plethora of outtakes from 1967 – but as we all know, it was the curse of Brian Wilson’s brain to keep moving forward, only forward. So he felt he needed to come up with one more cut.
On April 11, session men Lyle Ritz, Al Vescovo and Jim Ackley were enlisted for the primary objective of giving Busy Doin’ Nothin’ a makeover. After they’d tracked a pickup section for that song, Brian wanted to get another idea on tape. The recent reimagining of Transcendental Meditation had ejected the old version’s spooky minor key bridge passage, so here he repurposed that bridge into a standalone piece of music, titled only New Song on the box. Bootleggers in later decades tended to nickname the piece Indian Wisdom, drawn from the message on the back of the Smiley Smile album – a different India in mind there, but it’s a title befitting of the mood and origin, so we’ll informally run with that for the sake of avoiding confusion. We’re going rogue. There are a lot of New Songs.
There’s not much to the musical material: a 4-bar melodic phrase in B minor with three chords, cycled as a round eight times before falling away. Jim supplied the sustained B-3 organ pad, Al strummed an acoustic guitar (ramping up into tremolo at the fourth round), and in an odd twist, Lyle played the melody line on the Rock-Si-Chord while Brian manned Lyle’s upright bass. Beyond the opening slide up, he only needed to worry about two notes! They got a master take down within a few minutes and may have improvised the ending arrangement.
Sadly, Brian didn’t add any overdubs or decide to include the piece on the album, where it might have worked brilliantly as a prelude or epilogue to its parent song as-is. Instead, he returned to the studio a day later with another idea for an instrumental piece: Honolulu, Waikiki, do you wanna come along with me?
Diamond Head
(Al Vescovo – Lyle Ritz – Jim Ackley – Brian Wilson)
Music: Al Vescovo, Lyle Ritz, Jim Ackley, Brian Wilson
Arrangement: Al Vescovo, Lyle Ritz, Jim Ackley, Brian Wilson
Producer: Brian Wilson
Engineer: Jim Lockert
Personnel:
(instrumentation)
Al Vescovo – pedal steel guitar
Lyle Ritz – tenor ukulele [Gibson TU-1 custom] / pu’ili
Jim Ackley – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A] / ‘ili’ili
Brian Wilson – congas, bongo
(sound effects #1)
Al Vescovo – spring reverb unit (drips)
Brian Wilson – spring reverb unit (eruption)
(sound effects #2)
Al Vescovo – pedal steel guitar
Jim Ackley – electronic piano [RMI Rock-Si-Chord 200A]
Lyle Ritz – conga
Brian Wilson – rocks
(sound effects #3)
Brian Wilson – sloshing water
Recorded to 1″ 8-track and 1/4″ mono:
April 12, 1968 (12:00pm-3:00pm) / I.D. Sound Studios
Mixed to 1/4″ stereo:
April 12, 1968 / I.D. Sound Studios
Initial Release:
1968 Stereo Mix – Friends (1968, Capitol Records)
2018 Stereo Alternate Mix – Wake the World: The Friends Sessions (2018, Capitol Records)
Mix engineers: Jim Lockert (1968), Mark Linett (2018)
Tracks
(take 3)
1 – congas, bongo (b/t)
2
3 – ukulele (b/t)
4 – pu’ili (o/d)
5 – pedal steel guitar (b/t)
6 – ‘ili’ili (o/d)
7 – Rock-Si-Chord (b/t)
8
The quandary of finding one last cut for the LP resulted in a fluke idea that stands alone in the Beach Boys’ recording history: Why not just get the session musicians to write a song?
As the recent run of album sessions had gone on, mostly using a similar pool of studio players, Brian built up a particularly comfortable rapport with guitarist Al Vescovo, keyboardist Jim Ackley, and bassist/ukeaholic Lyle Ritz (a longtime recording pal). On April 11, the three of them were summoned to I.D. Sound to reprise their original March 26 parts on a stripped-down pickup section for Busy Doin’ Nothin’. The session (which also produced Indian Wisdom) gave off good vibrations, and the creative chemistry in that small unit was a proven thing, so the following day, Diane brought them all back for a special wrap-up project.
At noon on April 12, Brian got his crew together and explained that he’d like them to create a Hawaiian-style instrumental piece evoking the mood of the islands. He named it Diamond Head after the volcanic cone on O’ahu. Al Vescovo took the lead on spontaneously making up something, for which he received 40% of the copyright share opposed to everyone else’s 20%, but the track that fluttered into existence was by and large a collaborative effort between all four in the room. Al played a C6 pedal steel guitar (mostly without the pedals, mimicking a Hawaiian lap steel), Lyle joyfully took out his tenor uke, Jim got on the Rock-Si-Chord, and Brian assumed the role of percussionist at two congas and a bongo (played with sticks).
Most of their rehearsing happened before tape rolled. The first take started with three rounds of jamming on a lazy, SpongeBob-esque 12-bar progression, transitioned (loosely) into a psychedelic steel guitar break, and returned to the original pattern until trailing off. Brian sunk his way into a groove that involved sequentially clunking the higher conga, the lower conga, the bongo, and the rim of the bongo. He called for the Roxi’s tone to be softened and took a break to ponder refinements.
The second, much tighter take (numbered 3 after a false start) became the master. It began with a percussion intro, featured a tidier two rounds of the opening progression, finessed smoother segues to and from the steel guitar break, and culminated in a new up-tempo third section spearheaded by Lyle on the ukulele.
In another unique move for a Wilson production, from there Jim cued up a separate 1/4″ mono reel to record various sound effects that would be flown-in during the mixdown. For the track’s introduction, Al “played” a spring reverb unit to produce the bouncy drips, while Brian stirred up another into a frenzy to create the effect of a volcanic eruption (and/or rain and thunder). All got in on sounds for the middle section – Al plucked bird-like squeaks on steel guitar, Jim played discordant Roxi glissandos, Brian banged rocks together, and Lyle patted on a conga. Brian then signalled to go back to the 8-track for a percussion overdub.
Authentic Hawaiian percussion instruments were introduced at that juncture: hollow bamboo pu’ili rattles, seemingly handled by Lyle (as they follow his ukulele rhythm), and ‘ili’ili, a.k.a. river rocks, pairs of smooth stones clicked like castanets by Jim. The group had previously auditioned these for general sound effects and expressed disappointment over not having access to a conch. After supervising the in-sync overdub, Brian came out of the booth and recorded the ambience of lapping waves onto another (missing) 1/4″ sfx reel, done by filling a tub with water and sloshing it about.
The complicated mixdown process involved feeding the 1″ 8-track tape to 1/4″ stereo, cueing up a second 1/4″ mono machine in the right spots for the intro and break sound effects, and somebody having their hands on a third 1/4″ machine for the water sounds. Four tape machines in action! It probably required additional arms to execute. The steel guitar squeaks also show up a little in the first and last sections.
In the album’s original April 16 running order, Diamond Head closed side 1 and Passing By was the penultimate track on side 2. A day after the first assembly, Brian swapped them around into the order we know.
