Ever been given a mix tape with no tracklisting? It's great, i wish all mixtapes had no clues as to what yr hearing and just nice home made covers instead. Ok it can be a bit irritating, asking the maker 'whats the song that goes de de dada oooooweeeeeoooo' or whatever, only for them to have no idea what yr on about AND they've already forgotten what they put on it in the first place, but when, years later, you come across one of the songs from the comp and you finally realize who it's by it can be a pretty awesome and sometimes mind blowing experience.
This has happened to me quite a bit but never have i been so freaked out as when i bought the Carl & The Passions / Holland twofer by The Beach Boys a couple years back. Contained within were 2 songs from a summer themed tape given to me by a friend. I would have never in a million years guessed that these songs came from the same band who released Pet Sounds or that other classic twofer Sunflower / Surfs Up. My guesses? First track maybe The Band? probably not The Band but definitely one of their followers, guys who wanted to get back to basics after their brains had been fried by psychedelia. The second track I thought could have been Lou Reed gone country (shamer). That would never happen.
The Beach Boys obsession which grips a lot of nerdy indie kids at some stage had been and gone with me but I'd never bothered to investigate past Surfs Up, C&TP had one of the worst album covers I'd ever seen, neither album featured many tracks written or produced by Brian Wilson in fact they'd brought in some new guys to help out with the writing and what's worse is these dude's were South African and I'm mad racist against South Africans. How foolish I was. The first song, written by newbies Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar, is an absolute gem, dusty brown canyon music, pedal steel, waltzing under the stars and an anguished, yearning lead vocal from Chaplin makes this not just one of The 'Boys best late period songs but one of their best songs period.
The Beach Boys - Hold on Dear Brother mp3
The second, though not as heart pummelingly beautiful, is the real anomaly here: a great Mike Love song! It's like 'Student Demonstration Time' never happened. Another waltz, this takes us on a sprightly jaunt through some Californian utopia and for 2 minutes & 56 seconds Mike Love seems like a pretty cool guy. He's not.
The Beach Boys - California Saga - Big Sur mp3
I know, for a lot of Beach Boys superfans this'll be old news but if the thought of buying Carl & The Passions / Holland never crossed yr mind, hopefully this might change all that.
Oh and thanks Robbie!
- RV.
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