The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - V. The Fading Rock Group Revival

 By Santa's beard, welcome back, one and all ...

... to the fifth musical installment (sixth overall) of my Beach Boys retrospective, 'Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-'71'. This one covers the gap between albums '20/20' and 'Sunflower'. Some of my personal favorites are included here and most of them would remains unheard for decades after their original recordings and/or releases. Anyway, without further ado, let's get right into this one.

The Beach Boys: Turn That Frown Upside Down, 1967-71 - V. The Fading Rock Group Revival

The Beach Boys, c. 1971

    The gap between the Beach Boys albums '20/20' and 'Sunflower' would be the longest of their career up to that point. Prior to that, there had been a 16-month gap between the releases of 'Pet Sounds' (16 May 1966) and 'Smiley Smile' (18 September 1967), but this had been filled by the release of 'Best of the Beach Boys' (US 8; UK 2) and 'Best of the Beach Boys, Vol. 2' (US 50; UK 3) in July1966 (November in the UK) and July 1967 respectively. (The failure of the second hits collection in the US coincided with the group's decision to drop out of the Monterey International Pop Festival held the previous month.)

Well over a year and half, however, would pass between '20/20' (released 10 February 1969) and 'Sunflower' (31 August 1970). This had not been for a lack of effort on the band's part entirely as the entered the studio--as they frequently had--shortly before the previous album's release. They began recording in January, a month before '20/20' was released to the public, with a May deadline to complete the album for Capitol Records. However, the label had already chosen to drop the Beach Boys in February, with the option to re-sign the band on the contingency that would deliver the new album by 1 May. Add to this already complex situation, the band's decision to sue Capitol in April for unpaid royalties and production costs; it would have seemed like an obvious decision for the Beach Boys to cut ties with the label rather than put in the effort to complete a new studio album. 

Compounding their troubles, when the Beach Boys sued Capitol, the record company deleted their back catalogue which at the time meant cutting off the revenue stream that would have accrued through royalties. By the end of April, Brian claimed in an interview that the they were on the verge of bankruptcy, though the group's manager Nick Grillo denied this. Unfortunately for the Beach Boys, Brian's reclusiveness and eccentric behavior, coupled with the group's declining popularity and financial difficulties made getting a new contract with another label nearly impossible. It was a difficult time, but the group was buoyed by the release of a new single that suggested that Brian was back in the game.

23. Break Away (B. Wilson/Reggie Dunbar)    3:05
    - released as a single 16 June 1969 (US 63; UK 6)

    Recorded over the month the April and released while the Beach Boys were on tour, the song did well in Europe but failed to make much of an impression stateside. (Their previous single "I Can Hear Music" reached 24 in the US with their last single to break the top twenty having been "Darlin'" released almost two years earlier.) The song is a unique one, however, in the Beach Boys canon for one significant reason.

    Reggie Dunbar was a pseudonym used by the Wilsons' father Murry, who also co-produced the song with Brian. Inspired by the phrase used by Joey Bishop to cut to commercial in his short-lived late night talk show, Murry took the idea to Brian and they worked out the song together. It's generally believed that Murry wrote the lyrics and Brian the music, but it's also very possible that they worked on both of these aspects simultaneously. What's most interesting about the song in my opinion is that the lyrics could very well be taken as Murry trying to communicate with Brian. Brian had been going through a lot of personal difficulties including a stay in a sanatorium the previous year, and the song was very possibly Murry's way of trying to encourage and motivate Brian. Murry--and the Beach Boys themselves--had an unfortunate tendency to undermine any progress made with later bad decisions. For a moment, however, Brian and the Beach Boys sounded as if they were in a good place.

    The song itself is both a bit retro--with its Four Seasons-inspired backing vocals--and contemporary with its funky guitar breaks and heavier drum sound. The chord progression is not Brian's most unusual, though the transition from G-minor in the verses to C-major in the chorus (a tonic minor to the sub-dominant, similar to the Beatles' "Penny Lane", for example) is one of its unusual harmonic features. Personally though, I think it's a charming song--the melody is beautifully sung by Carl and Al, with an assist by Mike; the backing vocals are rich and full throughout; and the instrumentation was likewise given significant thought and craft. The horns give it a fairly pop sound, not unusual for the time but by no means edgy either. So "Break Away" was by no means a ground-breaking song, but it's a good one and still holds up as an under appreciated gem in Beach Boys canon.

    (For a fascinating comparison, check out this version produced by Murry Wilson for a singing group he put together called Snow--It's ... interesting. It should also be mentioned that the version linked above also includes Brian's vocals from his original guide vocal, particularly in the first verse, which was also sung by Carl in the original 1969 single release.)

24. Celebrate the News (D. Wilson/Gregg Jakobson)    2:37

    This Dennis Wilson-penned track (in one of his frequent collaborations with Gregg Jakobson) served as the B-side to "Break Away" and is one of my many favorites by the dark horse of the group. Dennis's songs would have special favor on their follow-up album because their new record label felt that his songs had a more contemporary sound. I would have to agree. This song, apart from the vocals, sounds like nothing the Beach Boys had done up to that point; even then, Dennis is really pushing himself as a vocalist, using a higher register than was typical for him. (He typically sang parts just above Mike who, of course, sang the group's bass parts when he wasn't himself singing lead.) Additionally, the song has odd time signatures--switching between duple and triple time--and an unusual rhythm, though it's pretty clear that most, if not all, of the Beach Boys were involved. Mike and Al have clear parts in the song (the alternating "bad luck" and "no more" respectively) and it's likely that Carl sings the harmony with Dennis, though I can't be sure it isn't Dennis harmonizing with himself in which case he's really pushing the upper limits of his vocal range! The accompanying "oohs" are most likely Brian and Bruce, though I'm not certain about that either. 

    The song structure is likewise atypical for most pop songs of the day, though not unusual for Dennis, in that it doesn't repeat or return to a previous section but simply builds continuously from one part to the next. The beginning of the song reminds me initially of the Band, whose 'Music from Big Pink' had been released the previous July; the opening sound of the acoustic guitar and the electric guitar played with a slide gives it a bit of country rock feel, which as was mentioned with "Cotton Fields" had been an influence on that song as well.

    Unfortunately, there's little information available about the song, such as who plays what instruments, but there's likewise little to no information about who played on "Break Away" either. It does seem that the whole group was making a unified effort to make the best out of both songs (though Al and Bruce would later comment that they felt Brian underproduced the end of "Break Away"). While "Break Away" could be interpreted as an encouragement to Brian, "Celebrate the News" could be seen as a reference to Dennis freeing himself of Charles Manson and the Family; both songs are decidedly upbeat and optimistic in the face of previous troubles, which the Beach Boys had certainly had a fair share of up to that point. 

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After the release of the "Break Away/Celebrate the News" single, Brian retreated once again from band activities, instead preferring to put his energy into opening a health food store named the Radiant Radish. He would only make sporadic appearances in the recording studio until August of 1969 when he would produce an album for Stephen Kalinich, with whom Dennis had also previously collaborated. Together they recorded 'A World of Peace Must Come', a mostly spoken word album but with some musical atmosphere provided by Brian. It was a very loose and minimally produced work, probably most notable for an exteneded version of the lyrics to "Be Still" which Dennis had set to music on the 'Friends' album. 'A World of Peace Must Come' would remain unreleased until 2008. 

    As the summer began, the Beach Boys sans Brian went on tour once again. Meanwhile, their contract with Capitol would expire at the end of June and their back catalogue (post 1965) was deleted; these records being rendered unavailable for sale, the group thus lost a valuable revenue stream at a time when finances were already strained. Capitol offered to resign the Beach Boys if they could deliver a new album that September; however, by then, the Beach Boys were disappointed by the label's treatment and lack of support for the group's  desire to move beyond surfing and cars.

    An event that would have a much more significant and lasting effect on the Beach Boys, and Dennis especially, occurred that August: the Tate-LaBianca murders. Manson and his Family were quickly and widely believed to be responsible for the murders. The group's ties to Manson were also well-known and furthered contributed to their status as pariahs, which likely contributed to the poor sales of their next album 'Sunflower'--but that's for the next part of this series. In any case, though I suggest that "Celebrate the News" may have been written in the hopes that ties with Manson had been completely severed, this was not to be the case. Even in the wake of the murders, Manson reportedly approached Dennis demanding money and Dennis consented to give it to him.

    August also saw Carl Wilson dealing once again with his decision to choose "conscientious objector" status rather than be drafted and sent to Vietnam, a saga which also began around the time of the 'SMiLE' sessions and contributed in part to their dropping out of the Monterey Pop Festival. These two events kept the Beach Boys off the road until September. Dennis in particular was so fearful of reprisals from the Manson Family that he took his adopted son Scott on the road with him for a while. (This fascinating bit of information I discovered on this website, www.beachboysgigs.com --operated, I assume, by Ian Rusten-- which has compiled a chronological archive of the groups touring history with related photos and articles from the period as well as providing a wealth of historical context such as the information above.) 

    Charles Manson and several members of the Family would be apprehended in November. Dennis Wilson refused to testify, admitting to being fearful for the safety of himself and his family. Prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi interviewed him privately and deemed his testimony unnecessary, especially as Dennis's songwriting collaborator Gregg Jakobson agreed to testify. Beach Boys associate Terry Melcher would later make the assertion that Dennis was having "a hard time separating reality from fantasy" and that prosecutors believed him unreliable. Regardless of Dennis's refusal to testify, he would continue to receive death threats from Family members and his association with Manson would continue to haunt him. Possibly feeling responsible for having introduced Manson to many people in the Hollywood community, biographer Mike Dillon suggested that the association resulted in Dennis Wilson's subsequent increased drug use and eventual drowning death in 1983. 

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    Despite the continued setbacks, the Beach Boys soldiered on and would perhaps find some solace in making music together in the ensuing months. Around this time, patriarch Murry Wilson sold the group's publishing catalog, Sea of Tunes, dealing another blow to the group, and Brian in particular, in a stunning display of doubt that the band had a future. Basically, Murry was signaling that the Beach Boys were effectively finished, their best days behind them, and that he should get whatever value he could from the group's publishing rights while he could. Having relinquished his rights a couple years earlier--after having been brow-beaten into it by Murry--Brian had little recourse at the time. The debacle would plant the seeds of future litigation that would extend into the 90s when Mike Love would sue Brian Wilson for a greater share of the royalties following Brian's reacquisition of his rights following an earlier lawsuit that determined the original sale had been made in bad faith. The debate about Love's contributions to the group's early music continues to this day. I have made several comments about it myself over these pages, suffice to say while Love's contributions to the group were undeniable, I think his contributions to the music and especially the lyrics have been overstated.

    In any case, the band would regroup with Brian for what would be their most prolific period. Track lists for their next album would be rejected no less than three times before their new label, Warner Bros. Reprise Records, would be satisfied, but more on that later. The group would record more than enough material for another album in this period with several songs being released on later albums, the last being "When Girls Get Together" on 1980's 'Keepin' the Summer Alive'--not their best work but better than much of the material recorded for that album. The following two songs are a couple of my favorites from the period.

25. (Games) Two Can Play (B. Wilson)    2:06

    One of the fourteen tracks included on the Beach Boys' first proposed track list for their new label and one of the few on which Brian sang the entire lead,"Games Two Can Play" would remain unreleased until its inclusion on their 1993 box set 'Good Vibrations'. Why it remained unreleased for so long is a bit of a mystery as it's a great track; it's one that I could easily have imagined a 90s indie pop band recording. I can only think it simply got squeezed out by the stronger material that would eventually be released on 'Sunflower' and it didn't fit tonally on the following album 'Surf's Up' either.

    It's still a track very much worth hearing, a relatively obscure gem that showed Brian could still write solid pop tunes with harmonic twists. It even has a spoken word bit that perhaps presages his later foray into hip-hop "Smart Girls", a much derided track that is nonetheless a fascinating part of his oeuvre. However, if that track leaves a bad taste in your brain, perhaps Joe South's "Games People Play" will help alleviate that. If it doesn't, I'm pretty sure this next track will.

26. Lady (Fallin' in Love) (D. Wilson)    2:21
    - released 4 December 1970, B-side to "Sound of Free" 

    This beautiful song by Dennis was originally included on the first two rejected track lists for the group's follow up to '20/20' for Reprise. Instead, it would be released as the B-side to "Sound of Free" single albeit under the name Dennis Wilson & Rumbo; it was only released in the UK by Reprise's subsidiary label, Stateside, though it failed to chart and would remain unreleased again until as part of the Beach Boys' 2013 box set 'Made in Califonia'.

    "Rumbo" was a pseudonym for then frequent Beach Boys collaborator and touring musician, Daryl Dragon, more commonly known as the Captian of the eponymous Captain & Tennile. (His future wife, Toni Tennile, was the first Beach Girl to tour with the group in 1972 when their partnership was in its nascent stages.) Dragon's arranging skills add enormously to this brief and simple but powerful song; I'd argue that it stands up to anything today, which is all the more reason it's a shame the song was left unreleased until 2005 when it was released not on a Beach Boys compilation but as part of the Super Furry Animals curated collection 'Under the Influence'. An extended mix of the song would be subsequently released in 2009 on the Beach Boys' 'Summer Love Songs'. Although not originally released as a Beach Boys track, both Carl Wilson and Al Jardine contributed guitar parts to the track along with additional vocals by Carl (only audible on the extended mix); it was also performed on the David Frost Show, where Dennis states that it was inspired by his then-wife Barbara Charren, in February 1971 and possibly while the group was on tour.

    Most significantly, the single would be Dennis Wilson's first official solo release and signal the beginning of his efforts to release the first official solo album by a member of the Beach Boys. Dennis's strengths as songwriter were blossoming at the time and, according to engineer Stephen Desper, "ninety percent of [the solo album] was ninety percent done" by the time the Beach Boys released 'Surf's Up'. It's not unlikely that Dennis and the group's associations with Manson in the wake of the Tate-LaBianca murders contributed to derailing Dennis's momentum.

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    Meanwhile, another significant and much more beneficial relationship for the Beach Boys began in July of 1969 (according to therockasteria.blogspot.com) while the group was on tour in the UK. This was their introduction to the South African band, the Flames--later changed to the Flame--consisting of brothers(?) Steve, Brother and Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin. Al Jardine would first catch them at Blaise's, a nightclub in London, and brought Carl Wilson with him the next night. Carl was so impressed that he signed the band to their Brothers Records label, which had recently been revived as part of their contract with Reprise, and brought the Flames to LA. Sessions for the Flames' first album in the US would begin in October of 1969, though the album itself would not be released until the following October a year later. It's unfortunate that the Flames didn't find more success in the US, because the album is a solid effort from start to finish with some truly eclectic and progressive songwriting coupled with excellent musicianship. Their first single, "See the Light", saw modest success but the album sold poorly and the follow-up single "Another Day Like Heaven" failed to chart.

    The Flame would tour as the support act for the Beach Boys over the next couple years and Blondie in particular became an in-demand session player. The group would record a second album in April and May of 1971, but it remains unreleased to this day, though I've read Stephen Desper is in possession of the master tapes. Regardless, Steve and Brother Fataar would both leave the US and the group disbanded. Ricky, who later would star as one of the Rutles, and Blondie would subsequently become the first new official members of the Beach Boys since Bruce Johnston in 1972.

27. It's a New Day (D. Wilson/D. Dragon/Stanley Shapiro)     2:20

    Another song that likely would have been credited to Dennis Wilson & Rumbo or intended for Dennis's solo album, this would be one of the first recordings by a member of the Beach Boys to feature Blondie Chaplin who shares the lead vocals with Dennis. The song was apparently recorded for either a soap or shampoo commercial, though there is otherwise scant information available about the song. It's possible that in addition to vocals, Blondie plays guitar; perhaps other members of the Flames contributed as well. It's unknown even when the song was recorded though it's unlikely to be earlier than 1970 and possibly as late as 1971.

    "It's a New Day" is certainly a joyful song, written either in hopes that troubles were over or as an encouragement to persevere through current ones. Like "Lady", it may have also been inspired by Dennis's relationship with his then-wife. Regardless, it's Blondie's vocals that really sell this song; his vocals are incredibly passionate and powerful. Again, it's incredible that such a great track should never have gotten the appreciation it deserved at the time of recording or been given a wider release. It seems it was only finally released as part of 2021's 'Feel Flows' compilation.

28. Where is She? (B. Wilson)

    Another track that would only be released with 2013's 'Made in California' box set, "Where is She?" is another song not only written entirely by Brian but on which Brian plays all the instruments including the guitars and drums. The melody springs in part from the Beatles' "She's Leaving Home", but the resemblance ends there. It's a very spare, yearning song, very simple in its arrangement and very rough around the edges, which in my opinion adds to its charm.

    According to sources such as biographer Peter Carlin and journalist Timothy White, the band produced about three dozen songs that were left off of 'Sunflower' and while it may be no surprise that many of the above songs would have been either earmarked for Dennis's own album or held back for future albums, it is incredible that so many songs of remarkable quality should have been left in the can for so long. It seems a shame likewise that "Where is She?" should have been left unreleased for so long, though it is very clearly a Brian Wilson solo effort and intensely personal in its tone--as much of Brian's work had become at that point. 

    Again, it was clearly a failing of the Beach Boys to make space for each other, to take each other's mental health into consideration and find ways of getting the best out of each member, but it's important to remember just how young they were. By the end of 1970, Brian was 27; Mike, 28; Al, 27; Dennis, just turned 26; and Carl, an even more recent 24. These were young men growing up in extreme circumstances of constant touring, attention and scrutiny, creative and financial pressures, to say nothing of drugs, alcohol and money. It should come as no surprise that the Beach Boys were coming apart at the seams through much of this period. But despite all of that, they would continue to make some of their best music and today 'Sunflower', released in the summer of 1970, is now regarded as one of their best.

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And there you have it! I really have little more to say about this chapter as much of it is simply continues the various sagas of their various troubles in one way or another, but it was a prolific time which almost saw the Beach Boys regroup. I really believe that had they been able to continue to make music as they had in this period, they would have returned to a place of both artistic and cultural respectability. However, things just never settled long enough for the Beach Boys to take a break and take stock of their situation, and they had little to no guidance from anyone who could help them properly steer the ship. They would find such guidance, albeit briefly, in the near future and--again--would almost get their mojo back. Almost ... but not quite.

Until next time!

- DH