Sunday, May 4, 2008

hey everyone!

Remember last month when I started that sheet music project? That was WAY too ambitious. I may end up doing some more soon, but I just wanted to say sorry if you were getting excited about it (or angry or something).

Anyway, I'll keep this blog updated as bootlegs or news appear. I also wanted to tell everyone that Wrightfan and I have been working on a new version of smile using his new line up with me doing some production and clean up work. It's going to be really awesome.

Unfortunately now that I have a job (and I'm pretty obsessed with my own recordings for this band I've been working on) things are moving pretty slow. But I assure you it will get done and its going to impress you all!

Hope to hear from some of you!

- eric

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT:



ISN'T THAT GOAT SO CUTE?!

Monday, April 14, 2008

50,000 - Tim's Smile - One Year

Hi again!

Eric here, once again keeping you up to date on all of the creative works of Beach Boys fans, to consistently present you with a unique listening experience of one of the greatest American bands of all time.

This time our friend Tim brings us his own version of SMiLE. To his credit it is a long and completionist version with excellent artwork of the original booklet. However, some static and awkward starts (for instance, the start of Holidays) make for a rather bland listen, but it still contains quite a few rare tracks and a couple of cool, unique mixes. This one is worthy of a true SMiLE collection.

Did I mention it's in .FLAC??!



Click Here To Download In FLAC
alt, alt, alt, alt

Click Here To Download Album Artwork
alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt

...and in case you don't care about FLAC and want it in regular old Itunes compatible .wav format.

Click Here To Download In WAV
alt, alt, alt, alt

--------------------------------------------------------------------

ALBUM NOW AVAILABLE IN 320 KBPS MP3:

http://rapidshare.com/files/127446700/Tim_s_Smile_-_MP3_Part_1.rar.html
http://rapidshare.com/files/127453847/Tim_s_Smile_-_MP3_Part_2.rar.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------

***ALSO! IF ANYONE HAS ANY HIGH QUALITY SCANS OR PHOTOS OF THE ORIGINAL ALBUM BOOKLET COULD YOU PLEASE LET ME KNOW!***

-------------------------------------------------------------------

I also just wanted to say thank you for the 50,000 visits in the year (almost, in 5 more days!) I've been running this blog! I'm so glad I haven't been shut down and that I've been able to share this much stuff with fans from all over the world. I've received hundreds and hundreds of emails from all of you and I truly appreciate it!

I don't plan on giving up this blog anytime soon! And as always please check out my other blog http://thisispopmusic.blogspot.com/. I put a lot of effort into that blog too! So go there and discover some new music.

- eric

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

SMiLE Sheet Music

Hi there everyone!

My next post on this blog is going to be more of a project (similar to the one sentence reviews and how it took me a few days to finish it), but this time I will be posting sheet music from the original SMiLE album (because someone asked me to do it).

Perhaps some of you remember that I was working on a documentary a few months back? Well I gave up on it, mostly because my laptop is not good enough to handle making movies and doesn't have the storage that I need to hold all of those clips and sound bites. I tried, but it ended up near destroying my computer. However, it could still happen in the future if i get bored enough and/or inspired enough!

ANYWAY!

This is going to be a mammoth undertaking to figure out songs, sheet music-ify them, and post them here. (It's a lot of HTML!) So please bear with me for a while. I will be taking the MIDI files from the Project Smile disc and using a program called MidiNotate to notate them to sheet music. Please note, the sheet music is not perfect (for example, piano tracks are limited to either the bass or treble clef only, not both), so for that I apologize. I still hope a lot of you musicians will be able to get something out of this!

NOW TO GET STARTED!

----------------------------------------------------------------------

CABIN ESSENCE

Download and listen to the MIDI


More coming tomorrow, but for now I'm too sleepy. This took 4 hours!

Saturday, April 5, 2008

The Beach Boys, The Devil and Insane Rants

Hey everyone! Eric here!

Now usually I will inform you of some kind of interesting news, or link you to some kind of download. However, that will not happen today! Today I am going to share with you some epic laughs.

Through searching the web I ran across a website run by a religious fanatic named David J. Stewart. He continually rants about the Beach Boys supposed connection to the devil and the evils of rock and roll music in general (did this guy ever see Foot Loose?).

You can read the entire article HERE, but if you don't have enough time to read through all that nonsense, please read some of these very humorous quotes.

"Everyone reading this article needs to be warned about the evil music of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys. Obviously, Wilson is NOT a born again Christian; but, rather, is a child of Satan (Ephesians 2:2)"



"SMiLE was the result of Wilson's LSD (lysergic acid diethylamide) ,"acid," drug highs. Interestingly, the modern word for "Pharmaceutical" comes from the same Old Testament Hebrew word "sorcery." Drugs have been used by the Devil's crowd for thousands of years as a medium for demonic influence"



"In 1966, the Beach Boys came out with their album, Pet Sounds. Please notice the goats which they are feeding. This is no coincidence, the goat represents Satan"



"Oh listen friend, you have absolutely no idea how much Satan has infiltrated commercial music (including rock, rap, country, etc). Dolly Parton recently sang and re-popularized one of the most demonic songs ever written, Led Zeppelin's, Stairway to Heaven. How evil and demonic!"



"Brian Wilson and his music are of the Devil."





AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
After such an informal read I'll be sure to keep my eyes peeled for those pesky demons infesting my Good Vibrations.




brianwilsondemonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwilson
demonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbeachb
oysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbeachboysdevilsat
anbrianwilsondemonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwils
ondemonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbeac
hboysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbeachboysdevils
atanbrianwilsondemonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwi
lsondemonbeachboysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbe
achboysdevilsatanbrianwilsondemonbeachboysdevi

Friday, March 28, 2008

Alternate Brian Wilson Presents Smile

A great version of Smile presented in 3 movements. This one is particularly great for having plenty of studio talking in it (mixed perfectly and appropriately of course), humor and mixing songs of the same key into each other creating a mix of smile that is far more creative than any I've heard before. He also took a note from Stephen Newcombe's cover of Surf's Up (you'll hear what I mean). I know you'll love this version of Smile, so go ahead and download it.

Also, you can view Alternate Brian Wilson's myspace here.

Click Here To Download
alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt, alt

Thursday, March 27, 2008

Carl Wilson Solo Albums

Released in 1981 on Caribou Records, the Self titled album Carl Wilson is filled with all good songs and amazing singing from the voice of the man who sang God Only Knows. However, most of this albums sounds like it is straight from 1970's Top 40 radio, with songs that all sound like unreleased tracks from the archives of Chicago or Peter Frampton.

In my opinion, Carl Wilson's first album is a perfect soft rock album with a bit of an edge, but very monotonous to listen to at times. I would recommend this if you like that style of music, but the stand out track on the album, Heaven, is so gorgeous I could listen to it all month; it's a tremendous song and a huge tear jerker. The entire album is EASILY worth that one song.



1. "Hold Me" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:03
2. "Bright Lights" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 3:47
3. "What You Gonna Do About Me?" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:25
4. "The Right Lane" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 5:13
5. "Hurry Love" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:44
6. "Heaven" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith/Michael Sun) – 4:23
7. "The Grammy" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 3:04
8. "Seems So Long Ago" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:56


Click Here To Download
alt, alt, alt
___________________________________________________________

Released 2 years later, Youngblood is Carl's second and final solo album. It has a heavier sound on most of the tracks than the previous album, but still sounds a lot like Chicago (just the 80s Chicago as opposed to the 70s Chicago). Youngblood is better than Carl's previous album though; it is much more diverse, with songs ranging from pure Rockers to acoustic ballads and even touching on Country music and 80s style synths. My personal favorite song is the fairy tale-esque One More Night Alone.

I've also included 4 bonus tracks. The 4 extra songs include 2 unreleased tracks from the first and second Carl Wilson album, a track from Carl's "supergroup" he formed with Robert Lamm of Chicago and Gerry Backley of America and one amazing demo song "An Angel's voice". I really like all 4 of these bonus tracks, especially An Angel's Voice. It has great chords and is very touching - I just wish he had released it with harmonies and a good prodcution.



1. "What More Can I Say" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 3:26
2. "She's Mine" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 3:04
3. "Givin' You Up" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith/Jerry Schilling) – 4:41
4. "One More Night Alone" (Billy Hinsche) – 3:05
5. "Rockin' All over the World" (J.C Fogerty) – 3:00
6. "What You Do To Me" (John Hall/Johanna Hall) – 3:56
7. "Young Blood" (Jerry Leiber/Mike Stoller/Doc Pomus) – 2:42
8. "Of the Times" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:07
9. "Too Early to Tell" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith/John Daly) – 2:51
10. "If I Could Talk to Love" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 4:10
11. "Time" (Carl Wilson/Myrna Smith) – 3:00
*B1: "An Angel's Voice" (Carl Wilson) - 1:09
*B2: "I Wish For You" (Carl Wilson) - 3:01
*B3: "Like A Brother" (Carl Wilson/Phil Galdston) - 4:43
*B4: "Where We Are" (Carl Wilson) - 2:21


Click Here To Download
alt, alt, alt, alt

Tuesday, March 25, 2008

One Sentence Album Reviews

"Is Love You really worth buying?"
"Which is better Wild Honey or Smiley Smile?"
"Do you really think Smile could have topped Sgt. Peppers?"


I've been asked these kinds of questions so many times I decided I would write some quick one sentence reviews of every Beach Boys album. I intend to answer at least 2 or those 3 questions and hopefully encourage newer fans to go out and buy some of the less known Beach Boys greats, or maybe you'll just like to know what I think of all these albums! Either way, I have way too much time on my hands so enjoy yourself!



(1962) Pretty good for a first album at the time; lots of fun classic early Beach Boys songs - my favorite being County Fair.

5/10


listen @ last.fm

(1963) The follow up wasn't quite as fun as the original and is filled with way too many instrumental tracks, but some gems like Lonely Sea, Shut Down and Cindy, Oh Cindy make this one enjoyable...sometimes.

4.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1963) Another album of filler material with more than a quarter of the titles having the word surfer in it, but it also has some great songs including Hawaii, Your Summer Dream and In My Room.

5.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1963) I love the car era of the Beach Boys and this album had all the hits like Little Deuce Coupe and 409, but also a few incredible secrets like Custom Machine and Car Crazy Cutie.

7/10
listen @ last.fm

(1964) As Brian's production skills improved it resulted in great ballads like The Warmth of the Sun and Don't Worry Baby and more hits like Fun, Fun, Fun that still make this album a winner.

6.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1964) I love this album because I think it was the first album where every single song was actually really GOOD; every song was catchy and it was really one of the first true "Pop" albums - A must listen.

8.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1964) The first Beach Boys concert album is a bit of a let down because of Post Production tricks and a slew of silly songs like Long, Tall Texan, but is still redeeming for its "live" versions of some early Beach Boy hits.

4/10
listen @ last.fm
(1964) Less than a month after the concert album, the Christmas album had some good songs on it including Little Saint Nick, but is probably destined to sit in basements for 364 days a year.

5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1965) Today is a landmark Beach Boys album with one side of happy songs and another side of heart wrenching ballads, Today is a must own album (and Kiss Me Baby is incredible).

9/10
listen @ last.fm

(1965) Summer Days is another great album filled with complex instrumental tracks and vocals that show off Brian's increasing maturity and is one of my favorite albums, despite I'm Bugged At My Old Man.

8.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1965) Party is still a huge departure from earlier Beach Boys albums, with quick covers that just don't have the care that you expect from Brian Wilson, the best thing about this album is what followed it.

5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1966) Every Beach Boys fan loves this album because of how easy it is to relate to, how advanced the music is and the story behind it; You must hear Pet Sounds before you die.

10/10
listen @ last.fm

(1966) I found this on vinyl at my Grandmother's house because she was misled in the 60s to buy this evil record along with thousands of other fans who could have bought Pet Sounds instead.

1/10
read @ wiki
(1967) Smile is beautiful, mysterious and there are a million different versions of it, but no one knows how it would have sounded; you too will be obsessed.

10/10
this is the right place to be if you want to hear SMiLE

(1967) Released after Brian had shelved the Smile project, this compilation stinks as much as the first (great songs, horrible idea).

1/10

read @wiki

(1967) Filled with radical reworkings of Smile songs, Smiley Smile is another high point in the Beach Boys career for both its creativity and bravery, not to mention sheer enjoyableness.

9/10
listen @ last.fm
(1967) Precisely 3 months later Wild Honey was released and is chocked full of great Rhythm and Blues style songs that always make me smile when I hear those incredible vocal harmonies.

9/10
listen @ last.fm
(1968) The third masterpiece from Brian Wilson (and Dennis!) is the most relaxing Beach Boys album and the simplified production at Brian's house makes every second of this album perfect. *My favorite*

10/10
listen @ last.fm
(1968) This third hastily made best of album can only be described as the best of album that did to Friends what "Best of Volume 1" did to Pet Sounds.

1/10


read @wiki
(1968) With seemingly all bad ideas used up by Capitol Records they surprised everyone and pulled together an album of all instrumentals for kids to sing along to, with sheet music and all; its a neat novelty.

4/10
listen @ last.fm
(1969) The last album for Capitol Records, 20/20 is disappointing compared to the previous and following album; it generally lacks direction and has quite a few covers and old songs on it.

8/10
listen @ last.fm
(1970) Sunflower is one of the very best Beach Boys records, filled with winners from every member of the band including the Brian Wilson classic This Whole World and Dennis' ballad Forever.

8.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1971) Surf's Up was another change for the Beach Boys with songs designed to increase the Boys' hip appeal; the album worked in a big way and has lots of great songs including the extremely sad 'Til I Die.

8.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1972) Carl and the Passions - "So Tough" is a good album that I have learned to like a lot; most of the songs are pretty RnB, but it also has some extremely sweet moments like the Dennis Wilson classic Cuddle Up.

7/10
listen @ last.fm
(1973) I personally don't like Holland very much because it just doesn't feel like an album; part fairy tale, part ode to California, even the song Sail On, Sailor just doesn't do it for me.

3/10
listen @ last.fm
(1973) The second live album from the Beach Boys is a double disc LP released when the band had some awesome songs, played them well, and was much more refined than their earlier live album.

7.5/10
read @wiki
(1976) More like 3 Big Ones, 15 Big Ones is a rushed album released during another Beach Boys come back, this time with Brian, although his contributions were pretty minimal; It's not so good.

3.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1977) A huge improvement over 15 Big Ones, Love You is definitely the last inspired Beach Boys album and features a lot of awesome songs all written by Brian Wilson. (I love Mona and The Night Was So Young!)

9/10
listen @ last.fm
(1978) Man, I don't dig this album - it sounds fake, uncreative, and boring; you can really tell that the Beach Boys were at a real low point with this album.


3/10
listen @ last.fm
(1979) This album is just as bogus as M.I.U. and also has the audacity to have a disco remake of the song Here Comes The Night (from the Wild Honey album).


3.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1980) "Wait, what album is this?" is usually what you say when someone mentions "Keepin' The Summer Alive", mostly because of how extremely forgettable this dead on arrival album is.

1.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1985) 10 years ago the Beach Boys were saying they Love You, I guess by this point they really hated everyone because this self titled album is painful, synth infested garbage that belongs in the 80s.

1/10
listen @ last.fm
(1989) They cruised straight to being a Nostalgia act, but despite all this it is slightly better than their earlier album as they held off on the synths a little; Kokomo was their big hit from this album.

3/10
listen @ last.fm
(1992) Hearing this album is like spending an eternity in Hell as opposed to a Summer In Paradise; fake drums, horrible singing, awful attempts at nostalgia and Uncle Jesse make this album a real floater.

.5/10
listen @ last.fm
(1996) An album of country covers of Beach Boys standards that is so bad, I threw up in my mouth a little bit when I first heard it and believe me when you hear Toby Keith sing Be True To Your School, you may too.

0/10
read @ wiki



There have been at least 2 dozen Best of and Greatest Hits compilations released as well that I didn't bother reviewing (simply because I reviewed all of their sources here already), so I hope you dig all of this.

- eric