With another year rapidly drawing to a close, many fans were wondering if 2014 would bring another round of “copyright extension collections,” i.e. releases designed to circumvent recent European Union copyright law. The answer, of course, is “yes.” To greatly simplify, E.U. law now holds that a recording is protected for 75 years under copyright in the E.U. (the period previously was 50 years) but only if that recording has been released. As a result of this change in law, the past couple of years have seen collections issuing rarities from Bob Dylan, The Beatles, the Motown family of artists and The Beach Boys, simply to keep these recordings in copyright. Last year, Capitol issued The Big Beat 1963 with a number of Brian Wilson/Beach Boys titles. Following suit, the label has today released two more Beach Boys titles. 1964: Keep an Eye on Summer has 46 session highlight and rarities – many of which have never even been bootlegged – while Live in Sacramento 1964 has the two full shows from which the original Beach Boys Concert LP was culled.
Mark Linett and Alan Boyd have produced these two new (and alas, digital-only) releases, and Linett has remastered all tracks. Capitol/Brother Records has happily provided detailed liner notes, including comprehensive track-by-track annotations, at The Beach Boys’ official website. Boyd writes, in part, that “This new collection, made possible by the fact that the Beach Boys, starting in 1964, made a point of holding onto their work reels (and greatly enhanced by the recent recovery of some long lost tapes from the Shut Down Vol. 2 album sessions) shows the Beach Boys at their zenith, offering glimpses of the camaraderie, optimism and high spirits behind the creation of these timeless records, and highlighting the incredible vocal arrangements, compositional skills, and rapidly evolving production techniques that placed the Beach Boys and Brian Wilson at the forefront of pop music in 1964 and for all time.”
Linett adds, “On this set we’ve presented highlights from many of the group’s sessions during 1964, mostly previously unreleased (even on those ‘unofficial’ discs often found at record shows). As someone who has been listening to, archiving and mixing the group’s recordings for nearly thirty years, it was exciting for me to hear these newly discovered sessions for the first time. They fully demonstrate that the Beach Boys were great musicians as well as singers and that, contrary to popular opinion, they played on most of their records, with the occasional addition of members of the ‘wrecking crew.’”
After the jump, we have more details and the complete track listings for both titles!
On Keep an Eye on Summer, you’ll hear session highlights, a cappella tracks and various mixes of songs like “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “Don’t Worry, Baby,” “I Get Around” and “All Summer Long.” Dick Reynolds’ original orchestrations also been unearthed for “Jingle Bells” and “Christmas Eve,” both recorded but unused for The Beach Boys’ Christmas Album, and other highlights include Larry Denton’s “Endless Sleep,” produced by Brian, a true stereo version of the “Drive-In” version of “Little Saint Nick,” a new mix of an early Nashville recording of “Dance, Dance, Dance,” and a handful of live-at-the-BBC tracks from November 1964. A few of these tracks have previously appeared on collections like the Made in California box set. The concert release features two complete shows from Sacramento’s Memorial Auditorium plus a couple of rehearsal tracks.
Both of these collector-aimed Beach Boys releases are available now on iTunes. Although iTunes does not have a digital booklet, liner notes and sessionography can be found at TheBeachBoys.com. See below for full track listings!
The Beach Boys, The Beach Boys 1964: Keep an Eye on Summer (Capitol/Brother, 2014) (iTunes)
- Fun Fun Fun (Session Highlights and Stereo Mix) (7:39)
- Fun Fun Fun (A Capella) (2:23)
- Fun, Fun, Fun (2013 Stereo Mix) (2:14)
- Why Do Fools Fall In Love (Session Highlights and Stereo Mix) (4:59)
- Why Do Fools Fall In Love (New Stereo Mix) (2:09)
- Don’t Worry Baby (Session Highlights and Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (4:42)
- Don’t Worry, Baby (2009 Stereo Mix) (2:50)
- In The Parkin’ Lot (Session Highlight and A Capella Mix) (4:38)
- Warmth of the Sun (Session Highlights and Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (5:09)
- Warmth of the Sun (2012 Stereo Mix) (3:03)
- Pom Pom Play Girl (Session Highlights and Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (4:54)
- Pom Pom Play Girl (New Stereo Mix) (1:33)
- Denny’s Drums (Session Highlight and Alternate Take) (3:23)
- Keep An Eye On Summer (Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (2:28)
- Endless Sleep (Larry Denton Vocal) (2:32)
- I Get Around (Session Highlight and Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (5:34)
- I Get Around (A Capella) (2:16)
- All Summer Long (Session Highlights and Stereo Mix) (4:46)
- All Summer Long (A Capella) (2:19)
- All Summer Long (2007 Stereo Mix) (2:09)
- Hushabye (Instrumental Mix with Backing Vocals) (2:42)
- Girls On The Beach (Alternate Vocal Session Highlights and Master A Capella Mix) (5:27)
- Wendy (Vocal Session Highlights and A Capella Mix) (4:40)
- Don’t Back Down (Alternate Version Session Highlight and New Stereo Mix) (2:04)
- Little Saint Nick (Drive In) (Vocal Session Highlights and New Stereo Mix) (3:21)
- Untitled Jam/Let’s Live Before We Die (Session Highlights and Instrumental) (3:24)
- Little Honda (Alternate Version Session Highlight and New Stereo Mix) (2:46)
- Little Honda (Unreleased Single Mix) (1:52)
- She Knows Me Too Well (Vocal Session Highlight and Track with Backing Vocals) (2:43)
- She Knows Me Too Well (A Capella) (2:46)
- Don’t Hurt My Little Sister (Session Highlight and A Capella Mix) (2:36)
- Christmas Eve (Instrumental Mix) (3:09)
- Jingle Bells (Instrumental Mix) (2:33)
- When I Grow Up (A Capella) (2:11)
- Fun Fun Fun (Live) (2:17)
- I Get Around (Live) (2:16)
- I’m So Young (Alternate Version Session Highlight and New Stereo Mix) (4:02)
- All Dressed Up For School (Session Highlights and New Stereo Mix) (3:47)
- Dance Dance Dance (Alternate Version New Stereo Mix) (2:05)
- Dance Dance Dance (Session Highlights and Instrumental Mix) (4:44)
- Dance Dance Dance (A Capella) (2:06)
- I Get Around (Live BBC 1964) (2:02)
- The Little Old Lady From Pasadena (Live BBC 1964) (3:07)
- Graduation Day (Live BBC 1964) (2:14)
- Surfin’ USA (Live BBC 1964) (2:24)
- Johnny B Goode (Live Single Mix) (1:52)
The Beach Boys, Live in Sacramento 1964 (Capitol/Brother, 2014) (iTunes)
First Show:
- Little Honda
- Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow
- The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
- Hushabye
- Hawaii
- Let’s Go Trippin’
- The Wanderer
- Surfer Girl
- Monster Mash
- Be True to Your School
- Graduation Day
- Surfin’ USA
- Don’t Back Down
- Don’t Worry Baby
- Wendy
- I Get Around
- Fun, Fun, Fun
Second Show:
- Concert Intro
- Little Honda
- Fun, Fun, Fun
- The Little Old Lady from Pasadena
- Hushabye
- Hawaii
- Let’s Go Trippin’
- The Wanderer
- Wendy
- Monster Mash
- Surfer Girl
- Be True to Your School
- Graduation Day
- Surfin’ USA
- Don’t Back Down
- Don’t Worry Baby
- I Get Around
- Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow (Encore)
- Little Honda (Rehearsal)
- Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow (Rehearsal)
The Weekend Stream: May 25, 2024
Still on the Line: Ace Collects Glen Campbell and Jimmy Webb Collaborations, Glen's "Ghost on the Canvas" Revisited with All-Star Duets
Made For These Times: The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" Arrives in Dolby Atmos, Mixed by Giles Martin
The Weekend Stream: May 20, 2023
Why no physical release?????
Same as the 1963 set, sadly no cd versions unless you wait for the bootleggers to do it.
Why did the reverse the live photo!?!?! They're not all left handed!!!!!! Man, I hate when they do that!
I'd buy these with no hesitation if there was a physical release. Not too jazzed about 'digital downloads'.
Of course I'll need to log a little grumble about the sub-FLAC, digital-only properties, but with that out of the way... Hey! It's Linett-Boyd and it's another Christmas stocking of vintage Beach Boys, and I'll aver these all sound better than my low-grade mp3s of some oft-traded grey market memorabilia. As recently as last decade these may have been issued as physical releases. But the reissue market's been larded with physical archival BB, and the odds against more coming so quickly are steep, particularly when they're as inclusive as these appear to be. I for one am awfully glad they exist as of today, and not at a king's ransom. I'll make do with this project and wear a broad smile at the goodies within.
I could have waited a week or so, and obtained "Keep An Eye on Summer" for free from some unofficial site, but, due to impatience, I went to the iTunes store and bought the download. I rarely buy from the iTunes store, unless they offer exclusive music, and, as on two occasions when I bought one of iTunes' exclusive Motown compilations, the files downloaded incomplete, leaving me one song short of the complete album. Luckily, for the Motown sets, Amazon also offered the recordings, and on each occasion, I had a credit for a free downloaded song from amazon, So I got the missing song there. It was easier than hassling with iTunes customer service.
But, this time, iTunes actually has an exclusive on this Beach Boys compilation. I can't go elsewhere to get the missing song. The iTunes system shows the song as "purchased", so I'm not permitted to buy it again, even if I'm willing to pay another $1.29 to have it. I've e-mailed the iTunes Store, and I await their response. When downloading this Beach Boys collection, downloading totally halted at one point, though there was no problem with my internet connection. So, I quit and restarted iTunes. Downloading resumed(including redundant downloading of a pair of Steve Miller albums that I bought a few years ago). After a long wait for that redundant downloading to finish, downloading of The Beach Boys material resumed, but omitting track 33 ("Jingle Bells")
I'm through buying from the iTunes Store, no matter what kind of exclusive "copyright extension" collections that they offer. The iTunes downloads are ridiculously slow and provide less-than-CD sound quality. Unofficial downloads of full fidelity FLAC files take much less time despite the larger size of the files.
Capitol Records & its new parent company Universal Music have spent money to mix and master this Beach Boys material, so would it torture them so much to press up a few thousand 2-CD sets of this material, spare people like me from this iTunes bummer, and let us have the music with full fidelity? If iTunes doesn't put things right for me, I'm sure that within a few weeks, I'll be able to get the missing song at some unofficial site.
That is likely now my only possible way of getting the missing song.
...and, in the end, I discovered that I had the "Jingle Bells" backing track on an unofficial 1997 3-CD set "Unsurpassed Masters-Christmas Sessions", and I inserted the song from there to replace the track that failed to come through from iTunes.
I had trouble with the Jim Croce "Lost Time In A Bottle" iTunes download just last night. I called them after 4 tracks wouldn't download and they had no clue on what to do about it. Amazon's downloads are an even bigger pain in the butt.
You should be able to go into your "purchased music" section on itunes and redownload this song and any others you have previously bought.
I hope this helps.
No, it's not there. And though iTunes customer service acknowledged (via an automated reply) that they received my e-mail, customer service never got back to me. Bye Bye iTunes.
I will wait for the bootleggers to put these on CD !
You won't have a very long wait!
I've found the liner notes at thebeachboys.com, but I'm going crazy trying to find the sessionography! Is there a direct link?
The track-by-track liner notes and sessionography seem to have disappeared from the website. Stay tuned...we'll try to find more information.
Here's a site that has the track notes posted: http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.com/2014/12/the-beach-boys-1964-keep-eye-on-summer.html
Thanks!
Very disappointed that cd's are not available...
Great deal at twelve bucks for all of this, particularly after the bloated, defective, overpriced mess that is Made in California. Kudos to The Boys and Capitol for getting this so right. Stop your whining, download it, burn it to a disc and print out the notes.
"Made in California" was indeed overpriced, but Capitol did manufacture a corrected "Disc 3". "Made in California" could have been better. There's almost nothing further in the vaults from the 1960's, but there's plenty of vault material from the 1970's, but not much of it is included in "Made in California".
What was the issue with disc 3? This is new to me. Thanks
The first pressing of Disc 3 of "Made in California" had a 2 second silence at the start of each track.
Well, as it turned out, the backing track take of "Jingle Bells" heard on the 1997 unofficial release is "Take 4", versus the previously unheard "Take 1" on this iTunes collection. The piano playing is markedly different on the two takes. In the end, iTunes customer service never responded to my request for the track which was missing from my iTunes download(when the download was disrupted by iTunes itself). Luckily, 3 days after the release on iTunes, the "Keep an Eye on Summer" collection was posted onto unofficial download sites, and so I finally got the missing track. As for iTunes, if they don't want to stand behind their download "product", I say "screw 'em". I can't take the risk of further purchases from them.
1. Go into iTunes preferences-->store and make sure the box marked "show iTunes in the cloud purchases" is ticked.
2. Delete the files on your computer using iTunes, not Windows Explorer. [Highlight the tracks in "My Music" in iTunes, right click, and select "Delete Files"] Say "yes" when iTunes tells you it will also delete the same files on any synced iPhone. Tell it to move the files to the recycle bin if it asks. Do not say "yes" if it asks you if you want to hide the files in iCloud.
3. You should now see a cloud icon next to the file name
4. Right-click on the file and select Download
5. Invest in a newer computer and/or faster internet connection
You are making certain assumptions that are not correct. I don't use the cloud, and I don't own a smartphone. The only Apple products that I own are an iMac & an iPOD Classic. I looked in my iTunes media folder, specifically for this album, and track 33 was not there. Eventually, after 5 days, iTunes customer service did belatedly respond, and they have now posted the missing song to my account, so it now will be amongst my "available downloads". However, 3 days before iTunes customer service responded, I found the missing song at an unofficial download site, where the entirety of this Beach Boys compilation had been uploaded verbatim with each AAC 256kbps having the artwork....exactly as it was on iTunes.
The situation was this: at the two-thirds point in downloading the album, the downloading froze(at the final stage of downloading tracks 31,32 & 33). When downloading resumed, downloading of track 33 didn't resume, because the Apple system incorrectly believed that the downloading of track 33 was complete. My internet connection had not been disrupted during this problem.
All's well that ends well, but I have reason to be wary of the iTunes store.