[78-L] Beach Boys 78s

[David Lewis]

Mr. Lennick asked:


Were any Beach Boys recordings ever actually mixed in real stereo?



>>> 
Yes, certainly. After 1971, Brian Wilson's contact with the band in the studio becomes more of an intermittent thing, and Bruce Johnston and Mike Love step up more from the songwriting and production end, with mixed results, I feel. But all of those recordings, including the very late "Kokomo" -- made in 1988 -- are true stereo recordings. The mono orientation of earlier Beach Boys recordings was partly to accommodate Brian's disability, but remember that even The Beatles were mixing mainly to mono first, at least through 1968, as it really was the standard for pop singles in that time. The stereo mixes of Beatles material were afterthoughts, looked at as mere obligation by the band itself, and Capitol didn't even use them, preferring to send the mono tapes through Duophonic or some other artificial stereo process. And Brian Wilson's musical world was one conceived in mono.


Cary Ginnell wrote:

Beach Boys records are better in mono - Brian Wilson was savvy enough to mix them so that they could be best received on an automobile AM radio. The stereo mixes I've heard have all the voices on one side and instruments on the other. Yecch.



>>>


I don't know how ANYONE can stand to listen to the stereo mix of "Barbara Ann." It sounds like it's coming through a corrugated metal tube, whereas the mono version is natural sounding.


T wrote:


As to The Beach Boys being the next biggest thing that EMI has  to 
the Beatles -- poo -- for the purpose of issuing a 78 they could 
have/ should have gone to the catalogues of Gene Vincent (Capitol), 
Eddie Cochrane (Liberty), or Fats Domino (Imperial) -- all owned by them.     


>>>
In all due respect, the Beach Boys really are "the next biggest thing that EMI has  to the Beatles." Apart from that they're an American Institution, the creativity displayed by the group in 1965-67 is like nothing else. As a songwriter, Brian Wilson is the true heir to guys like Cole Porter and the Gershwins, and he had the support and opportunity in that short time frame to realize his concepts EXACTLY as he heard them, using the best studio musicians Los Angeles had to offer. If there's any doubt, please refer to this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofByti7A4uM


Did this, or could this, last? No. Internal conflict about such material -- which Mike Love called "Brian's ego music" -- began to take him apart; his drug problems and mental illness took him the rest of the way. But this, "Kokomo" and some of the early material, is what we think of when The Beach Boys come to mind, not Love's "Student Demonstration Time" or other sidebars, and it's well worth appreciating. While Cochran and Vincent were both outstanding artists, they are figures that flamed out in the 50s and, along with Domino, their work was made available on 78. The Beach Boys just missed the format by virtue of not recording until 1961, and if the new 78 had been by Fats Domino as a collector I frankly wouldn't have cared. Just my thoughts, and for the record I'm delighted by the whole trend of new 78 rpm records. 
 
 
Uncle Dave Lewis
uncledavelewis at hotmail.com