Surf School Dropouts - Summer is a State of Mind

The Surf School Dropouts are a surf pop band from Denmark who have released a new album called "Summer is a State of Mind". The band has 4 members, Andreas Jacobsen: vocals, keyboard, guitar, bass and drums; Christian Bendix: vocals, guitar and bass; Jari Nielsen: vocals; Martin Jensen; vocals.

The album is heavily inspired by 60s surf groups like Jan and Dean, the Sun Rays and the Beach Boys from 1962 after being visited by the Beach Boys from 2012.

The Dropouts are committed to trying to recapture the sound that the Beach Boys invented in 1961 and perfected until 1965, only to abandon it in 1966. They are trapped in that 5 years between 1961-1966, but the only problem is that it is 2012 and they are from Denmark and not California. Having said that, the musicianship on the album is purely fantastic, but the vocals, despite being always completely in key are often underwhelming.

Bands that rely on vocal harmonies like Queen, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Explorers Club or The Carpenters would overdub their vocals sometimes up to 80 times to create a very thick and lush sound, but it appears like the Dropouts are lacking in the vocal department on this album. They hit all the right notes, but the vocals just appear "thin". Despite this one drawback, the album is a nostalgic trip and picks up where Shut Down Volume 2 left off.



The album begins with the epic "Summer is a State of Mind". The song sounds almost exactly like "Don't Worry Baby" in the first couple seconds with clean guitar strumming, mid tempo drums and 4 part vocal harmonies before shifting into something more unique. The song has a typical verse-chorus-verse-chorus beginning but gets very interesting in the middle of the song with an organ breakdown with wood blocks serving as percussion. This middle section has great vocals and has a very interesting shift back into the chorus before finally ending with an A Cappella coda. This first song sets the mood for what the rest of the album will deliver.



Key standouts on the album are Follow The Sun, with its harpsichord background and Turtles-esque vocals, Beach Bound, with its ukelele chords and busy vocal harmonies and The Road Ahead of Me, a heart-felt ballad with a great theremin riff in it.

I would highly recommend this album if you want to hear the Beach Boys from 1962 after meeting the Beach Boys from 2012.

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Wouldn't It Be Nice BBC Documentary

In 2004 the BBC did a documentary about the Beach Boys called Wouldn't It Be Nice. This one is particularly eye opening. You can download it as an .AVI file and play with VLC player.

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Brian Wilon Live From Abbey Road

The twelfth, and final, episode of Season Two of Live from Abbey Road (Sundance Channel) featured Brian Wilson. This is the entire interview and performance. Great quality, highly recommended.

Available as an .ISO. You can play this video file with VLC player.

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The Pet Sounds/Sgt. Pepper Connection

This is mostly a short video that tries to correlate the famous Beach Boys and Beatles album.

Servers UP

My servers are working again, so you can download once more!

Sunshine - Volume 1

My friend Jakob has made a collection of Beach Boys rarities called Sunshine - Volume 1. Some highlights of this are Your Imagination (A Cappella), Cottonfield (A Cappella) and the Spanish version of Kokomo.

01. Then I Kissed Her (stereo)
02. Problem Child (Radio Edit)
03. It's Tryin' To Say
04. Sherry She Needs Me
05. Be My Baby - Brian Wilson
06. Rock And Roll To The Rescue (remix)
07. Go And Get That Girl
08. Winds Of Change (alt mix)
09. Runaway (live)
10. Kokomo (del Sol Spanish Version)
11. Good Vibrations (hit version with long fade)
12. Michael, Row The Boat Ashore
13. Jamaica, Farewell
14. Your Imagination (A Cappella)
15. Forever (CHR-Mix)
16. Deep Purple
17 .Calendar Girl
18. San Miguel
19. California Dreamin' (album version)
20. Lady
21. On Broadway
22. Cottonfields (A Cappella)

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Servers Down

Hey guys, My servers are down right now so my links aren't working. I will update when the servers are working again.

"The Album That Never Was" Series - Remember the Zoo repost

Read the original entry HERE

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PROJECT SMILE

Project SMiLE is a collection of every known piece of music recorded for the SMiLE album in 1966-67. There are some very rare tracks in here: studio banter, Brian's Smog rant, Little Red Book, Tones and many more unreleased tracks. There is also a timeline of events for the SMiLE album, tons of photos, previews of Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE, video clips and tons more.

This is a REQUIRED download.

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Linkedin

Does anyone have Linkedin? Want to connect with me? http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=181100667

Brian Wilson Documentary

'Brian Wilson Songwriter 1962 - 1969' is a documentary film in which the rich tapestry of music written and produced by this brilliant 20th century composer is investigated and reviewed. With the main feature running at over three hours in length across two discs, the songs Brian wrote for and recorded with The Beach Boys during the 1960s are here put under the microscope to quite startling effect.
Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12, Part 13, Part 14, Part 15, Part 16, Part 17, Part 18, Part 19, Part 20

Loving Mike Love

You know, way too many people like to villainize Mike Love by calling him the bad guy of the group, a suppressor of Brian Wilson's creativity and sometimes far worse... but I have to admit I have always had a soft spot for him. I want everyone to watch this video and rethink your stance about Mike Love. He is a a very human guy who loves his family and his band.

New DVD

‘THE BEACH BOYS: DOIN’ IT AGAIN’

DVD due out August 28

This is a new live DVD celebrating the band's 50th anniversary and included live performances from their 2012 tour plus interviews and in-studio footage.

“If they’d told me back in the ‘60s that we’d be doing this in 2012 I would’ve said, ‘You’re crazy.’ There’s a special chemistry between the five of us. We love each other, and it comes out in our music, in our harmonies.”
--Brian Wilson

“Being in Southern California, with the fantastic potential of the environment, with the surfing and the cars, combined with the way we’re each individually capable of sounding, created a bit of a miracle sonically, and it’s the kind of thing which will last longer than we will.”
-- Mike Love

To commemorate their 50th anniversary as one of America’s most beloved and chart-topping bands, THE BEACH BOYS launched a triumphant 2012 reunion that has earned them massive critical accolades. Now with the August 28 release of The Beach Boys: Doin’ It Again DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BLAST MUSIC), music lovers will have a behind- the-scenes look at the reunion as well as pivotal moments in the band’s history.

Surviving members Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, David Marks and Bruce Johnston gathered earlier this year for an emotional reunion in Los Angeles to record their first album of new material in 20 years, to reflect on their remarkable history, and to kick off a worldwide tour. These moments and more are captured on The Beach Boys: Doin’ It Again.

The hour-long DVD features exclusive 2012 interviews with The Beach Boys, live performances from the band’s 2012 world tour, never-before-seen footage from the 1966 “Good Vibrations” recording sessions, moving tributes to founding members Carl and Dennis Wilson and behind-the-scenes footage from the recording sessions for their new That’s Why God Made The Radio CD.

A preview of The Beach Boys: Doin’ It Again, can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KB4FcUHecUo.

This DVD is being released by a new company called BlastMusic. You can pre-order the DVD on Amazon HERE.

A visual history of Cooper Black

I just received an interesting image made by someone named Melody at Fibers.com. It is a visual history of the font "Cooper Black" which was used on the cover of the Pet Sounds album, as well as one of my albums.


(Right click, View Image to view full size)