News

Following the release of The Beach Boys Today! and Summer Days (And Summer Nights!!) earlier in the year, Capitol Records was eager to make yet more Beach Boys music available for the 1965 holiday season.  The label urged Brian and the Boys into the studio to record Beach Boys’ Party!, an album filled with loose versions of familiar favorites, complete with laughter and background talk.  Now, that LP filled with freewheeling good vibrations is getting a surprise 2-CD deluxe, expanded edition to mark its 50th anniversary.  Beach Boys’ Party!  Uncovered and Unplugged is set for release from Capitol on November 20.  It features a whopping 81 tracks – remixed, remastered and expanded from the original sessions before overdubs were added for party ambiance.

During the Party sessions held at Western Recorders in August and September 1965, the group tore through Beatles songs (“I Should Have Known Better,” “Tell Me Why,” You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away”), Phil Spector classics (“There’s No Other (Like My Baby)”), goofy novelties (“Alley-Oop,” “Hully Gully,” “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow”), a Bob Dylan standard (“The Times They Are A-Changin'”) and even their own songs (a goofy romp through “I Get Around/Little Deuce Coupe”).  But the standout was Fred Fassert’s old Regents hit “Barbara Ann,” featuring a moonlighting Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean on vocals.  It was plucked as a single and quickly became another Beach Boys staple.  Armed with just acoustic guitars, bass, bongos, harmonica and tambourine, the Beach Boys created an album unlike any other in their catalogue.

“The Party! album was a result of the pressure Capitol Records was putting on us for another album,” Mike Love recalls in Capitol’s press release. “And we didn’t really have time to develop the type of album we wanted to develop, which Brian was working on, called Pet Sounds… So we said, ‘Well, what can we do quickly and easily?’ And we decided to do this party album.”  Brian Wilson remembers, “Mike was saying, why not a party album and we can act like we are [at a party], and just be ourselves on tape, you know?’ And that’s what happened. It was a very spontaneous album.”  After sessions had been completed, the Beach Boys returned to the studio for a three-hour session to add “party sounds” and dialogue to the album.  These overdubs have been excised from this release.

The true stereo mix of the original Beach Boys’ Party! made its first appearance in 2012; this 2-CD reissue  goes much further.   The first disc features the original album as remixed in pre-overdubbed form and then chronologically begins an account of all five sessions as the band runs through the familiar tracks as well as ones that didn’t make the cut including The Rolling Stones’ “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction,” Leiber and Stoller’s “Ruby Baby” and “Riot in Cell Block No. 9,” The Beatles’ “Ticket to Ride” and more. Dialogue from the sessions has also been included.  The total is 81 tracks over two CDs.

This 2-CD and digital album also includes photos from the sessions, essays by Beach Boys historians Alan Boyd and Craig Slowinski, and notes by producer Mark Linett. A vinyl LP edition of the Party album’s original 12 tracks in their remixed, stripped-down form, will follow on December 11.  You can peruse the track listing and pre-order Beach Boys’ Party!  Uncovered and Unplugged below!  It will arrive from Capitol Records on November 20.

The Beach Boys, Beach Boys’ Party! Uncovered and Unplugged (Capitol Records/UMe, 2015)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Vinyl (Disc 1, Tracks 1-12 only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. TBD

Disc 1

The Album (Original album released on Capitol Records MAS-2398, 1965)

1. Hully Gully [Session #2 – 9/8/65]- Lead Vocal: Mike
2. I Should Have Known Better [Session #3 – 9/14/65]- Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
3. Tell Me Why [Session #2 – 9/8/65] – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
4. Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow [Session #3 – 9/14/65] – Lead Vocal: Brian
5. Mountain Of Love [Session #3 – 9/14/65] – Lead Vocal: Mike
6. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away [Session #5 – 9/23/65] – Lead Vocal: Dennis
7. Devoted To You [Session #3 – 9/14/65] – Duet Vocals: Brian & Mike
8. Alley Oop [Session #3 – 9/14/65] – Lead Vocal: Mike
9. There’s No Other (Like My Baby) [Session #3 – 9/14/65] – Lead Vocal: Brian
10. I Get Around / Little Deuce Coupe [Session #4 – 9/15/65] – Lead Vocal: Mike
11. The Times They Are A-Changin’ [Session #5 – 9/23/65] – Solo Vocal: Al
12. Barbara Ann [Session #5 – 9/23/65] – Lead Vocals: Brian & Dean

The Sessions

1. Let’s Get This Party Rolling [Session #2 – 9/8/65]

Session #1 [8/23/65]

1. I Should Have Known Better #1 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
2. Ruby Baby #1 – Lead Vocal: Brian
3. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction #1 – Group Vocals: Brian, Carl, Dennis, Al, Mike
4. Hully Gully #1 – Lead Vocal: Brian
5. Blowin’ In The Wind – Solo Vocal: Al
6. Dialog: “The Sunrays”

Session #2 [9/8/65]

1. Ruby Baby #2 – Lead Vocal: Brian
2. Dialog: “The Masked Phantom”
3. Hully Gully #2 – Lead Vocal: Mike
4. Dialog: “Carl, Go Get Your Bass”
5. Hully Gully #3 – Lead Vocal: Mike
6. (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction #2 – Group Vocals: Brian, Carl, Dennis, Al, Mike
7. Dialog: “That’s A Bad Guitar” – Piano: Brian
8. Ruby Baby #3 – Lead Vocal: Brian
9. Dialog: “What’s The Matter, Carl”
10. Ruby Baby #4 – Lead Vocal: Brian
11. Dialog: “Carl’s Tires”
12. I Should’ve Known Better #2 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
13. I Should’ve Known Better #3 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
14. Dialog: “Wasn’t That Great Folks?”
15. Tell Me Why #1 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
16. Don’t Worry Baby – 12-String Acoustic Guitar: Carl
17. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away #1 – Lead Vocal: Dennis
18. Little Deuce Coupe #1 – Lead Vocal: Mike
19. California Girls -Lead Vocal: Mike

Disc 2

Session #2 [9/8/65], Continued

1. She Belongs To Me/The Artist (Laugh At Me) #1 – Lead Vocal: Mike
2. Fooling Around: Hang On Sloopy/You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’/Twist And Shout – Lead Vocal: Mike
3. Riot In Cellblock No.9 #1 – Lead Vocal: Mike
4. Fooling Around: The Diary – Lead Vocal: Bruce
5. Dialog: “I Think We Better Do This Next Week” – Piano: Brian

Session #3 [9/14/65]

1. Dialog: “Let’s Cook Now And Eat Later”
2. Tell Me Why #2 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
3. I Should Have Known Better #4 – Lead Vocals: Carl & Al
4. Dialog: “What I Want To Do”
5. Dialog: “Are We Still In The Party?”
6. Mountain Of Love #1 – Lead Vocal: Mike
7. Dialog: “Where’s Denny?”
8. Devoted To You #1 – Duet Vocals: Brian & Mike
9. Dialog: “What Are You Doing Now”
10. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away #2 – Lead Vocal: Dennis
11. Dialog: “This Phony Party” / Ticket To Ride – Lead Vocal: Al
12. Alley Oop #1 – Lead Vocal: Mike
13. Alley Oop #2 – Lead Vocal: Mike
14. Dialog: “Tune It Like It Is”
15. There’s No Other (Like My Baby) #1 – Lead Vocal: Brian
16. There’s No Other (Like My Baby) #2 – Lead Vocal: Brian
17. Dialog: “Do The Splits”
18. Devoted To You #2 – Duet Vocals: Brian & Mike
19. Devoted To You #3 – Duet Vocals: Brian & Mike

Session #4 [9/15/65]

1. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away #3 – Lead Vocal: Dennis
2. I Get Around – Lead Vocal: Mike
3. Little Deuce Coupe #2 – Lead Vocal: Mike
4. Mountain Of Love #2 – Lead Vocals: Mike & Brian
5. Ticket To Ride #2
6. Riot In Cell Block No. #2 – Lead Vocal: Mike
7. The Artist (Laugh At Me) #2 – Solo Vocal: Mike
8. One Kiss Led To Another – Lead Vocal: Mike

Session #5 [9/23/65]

1. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away #4 – Solo Vocal: Dennis
2. You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away #5 – Lead Vocal: Dennis
3. Dialog: “What Did You Stop Us For Chuck?”
4. The Times They Are A Changin’ – Lead Vocal: Al
5. Fooling Around: Heart And Soul/Long Tall Sally
6. Fooling Around: The Boy From Nyc
7. Smokey Joe’s Café – Lead Vocal: Mike
8. Dialog: “I Got One More”
9. Barbara Ann #1 – Lead Vocal: Brian
10. Barbara Ann #2 – Lead Vocals: Brian & Dean
11. Barbara Ann #3 – Lead Vocals: Brian & Dean