The Beach Boys – Landlocked
(soniclovenoize reconstruction)
Side A:
1. Loop De Loop
2. Susie Cincinnati
3. San Miguel
4. H.E.L.P. Is On
The Way
5. Take A Load Off
Your Feet
6. Carnival
7. I Just Got My Pay
Side B:
8. Good Time
9. Big Sur
10. Fallin’ In Love
11. When Girls Get Together
12. Lookin’ At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song)
13. Til I Die
The third of a four-part Beach Boys upload, this is a
reconstruction of the unreleased 1970 Beach Boys album Landlocked, an early
version of the 1971 album Surf’s Up.
All of the tracks that have been officially released have been compiled
from their best possible sources (spread over six different releases), and the
remaining unreleased tracks were personally remastered from bootlegs for their
best possible soundquality. All tracks
were volume-adjusted with appropriate track leader to create a finished,
cohesive album as a whole—the album that could have been Surf’s Up, as of late
1970.
Reconstructing any unreleased album from this period of The
Beach Boys’ recording history is tricky.
Landlocked (or at least the sequence of songs that have come to be
associated with the title “Landlocked”) is actually one of three different
unreleased Beach Boys albums from the 1969-1970 period; to understand
Landlocked’s context we must examine her older twin sisters. Remember that what we think of as Landlocked
is essentially a tape of nine Sunflower outtakes (of which only one would make
the cut onto Surf’s Up) and four of the songs that The Beach Boys were then
currently working on for the Surf’s Up album (only two of those would make the
cut). Also of note that there has been
a dispute over whether this album ever existed at all! Some say that not only was “Landlocked” never really a serious working
title for the Surf’s Up album, but that this track sequence—which was indeed an
early running order for the album that eventually became Surf’s Up—was never
called Landlocked anyways. I will put
this argument aside for my blog’s purposes; the working title of Landlocked and
this specific tracklist has become linked—erroneously or not—over time. Besides, if Landlocked never really existed,
it would truly be an album that never was!
Landlocked’s genesis essentially came out of the band’s
flurry of studio activity in 1969 while making the Sunflower album. Between January and March The Beach Boys had
recorded nine-or-so songs, just falling short of an album’s worth of
material. Of these initial Sunflower
sessions, Landlocked’s “San Miguel” and “Loop De Loop” were recorded. A second session in July and August yielded
another four songs, with even more sessions resuming in October and continuing
until January 1970. The result was
nearly 30 songs, more than twice needed for an album! The first attempt to compile an album from these sessions, called
Reverberation and meant to complete their contract to Capitol Records, was
rejected for unknown reasons (this sequence contained the two aforementioned
Landlocked tracks recorded during the initial Sunflower sessions as well as an
instrumental “When Girls Get Together”).
The Live In London album instead took Reverberations' place to fulfill
their contract, and the band compiled a completely different sequence of tracks
from the recording sessions as their first offering for Reprise Records. This second unreleased album Add Some Music
contained the eventual Landlocked tracks “When Girls Get Together” (with
vocals), “Susie Cincinnati”, “Fallin’ In Love”, “Carnival”, “I Just Got My
Pay”, “Good Time”, and “Take A Load Off Your Feet” and was eventually rejected
by Reprise for not having an immediately radio-friendly hit single. After a final recording session in July
1970, the strongest songs from the past year and a half of recording were resequenced
into what we know as the Sunflower album, leaving all of the aforementioned
tracks on the cutting room floor. But
what are some labels’ trash are other bands’ treasure, as the Sunflower rejects
became the seeds of The Beach Boys’ next project.
In August 1970, the band began recording their follow-up to
Sunflower, tracking “Lookin’ For
Tomorrow”, “Big Sur”, “Til I Die” and “H.E.L.P. Is On The Way”. By September, a tape was compiled of these
four new songs as well as the aforementioned nine Sunflower outtakes and
submitted to Reprise records (albeit with a Capitol Records letterhead!). While some claim that Landlocked was never
actually an early title for Surf’s Up, documentation connects the title to this
tape submitted to Reprise on this date.
I am using this sequence for my Landlocked reconstruction as it was not
only historically accurate to the rough sequences at the time, but it simply
sounds great! Unfortunately, Reprise
Records disagreed; they rejected the album and new Beach Boys manager Jack
Rieley urged the band to restructure the album into a more commercial and
“socially relevant” album. The entire
Landlocked sequence bit the dust (save for “Lookin For Tomorrow” and “Til I
Die”) with their replacements recorded between April and May 1971. Included was the newly-finished SMiLE
outtake “Surf’s Up” which became the title track for the album’s release in
August 1971. But what of
Landlocked, the Surf’s Up that never was?
Half the songs staggered out as b-sides and as exclusive tracks on
anthology releases, with another handful appearing only on bootlegs. Two were even rerecorded for later releases
(“Big Sur” and “When Girls Get Together”) and another found it’s way onto yet
another unreleased Beach Boys album (“H.E.L.P. Is On The Way” on Adult/Child,
which I will tackle shortly). Here we
can re-essemble what The Beach Boys really had in mind to follow-up their
Sunflower album before big-business pressures squeezed all of the fun out of
being landlocked.
Side A of my Landlocked reconstruction—the silly side—begins
with “Loop De Loop”, a song that Al Jardine had been tinkering on for some
time, even up until it’s release in 1998 on the Endless Harmony
soundtrack. But presented here is its
original 1969 mix, remastered from a bootleg to match the EQ of the final
version. “Loop De Loop” runs directly
into the original single mix of the upbeat rocker “Susie Cincinnati”, taken
from the 2000 compilation Greatest Hits Volume 3: The Brother Years. Note the modern remix found on the 2013 Made
In California box set was not used here because the mixing did not match the
aesthetics of the rest of the songs.
The original mix of “San Miguel” follows, taken from the 1993 Good
Vibrations box set. Also from that box
is the transparent jingle “HELP Is On The Way” edited to match the original
Landlocked version (as noted on the September 1970 tape box). The goofy yet adorable “Take A Load Off Your
Feet” is culled from the most recent remaster of the Surf’s Up album and is
followed by the dizzying unreleased “Carnival”, again reEQ’d to match the rest
of my reconstruction. The side
concludes with “I Just Got My Pay” from the God Vibrations box set.
Side B—the serious side—opens with my own remaster of the
up-until-recently unreleased “Good Time”; the newly remixed version from Made
In California again omitted here because it frankly sounded better than the
rest of the songs, as well as a little light on backing vocals, in my
opinion. Following is my own remaster
of the unreleased original 1970 recording of “Big Sur”, particularly reEQd to un-muddy
the mix and bring out the missing highs and lows. Next, the modern remix of Dennis's “Fallin’ In Love”,
taken from the 2009 compilation Summer Love Songs, is re-edited to match the
original 1969 version. After my own
remaster of the unreleased original 1969 version of the equally brilliant
(musically) and inane (lyrically) “When Girls Get Together” is “Lookin’ For
Tomorrow”. This version is taken from
Surf’s Up as the overly flanged version seemed to fit the neo-psychedelic vibe
of the rest of the songs. Concluding
Landlocked is my one instance of creative license, the longer Steve Desper mix
of “Til I Die” found on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack. Although Landlocked would have actually
included a version of similar length to what was released on Surf’s Up, I felt
Desper’s longer version was more appropriate to end the album.
With the addition of a less-gruesome cover image to match
the carnival-on-acid vibe of the album, our reconstruction is complete. But how does our resulting Landlocked
compare to Surf’s Up and even Sunflower?
For one thing, it is decidingly more psychedelic, goofier and more,
well, fun. The tracks don’t seem to be
concerned with commercial potential: just songs for their own sake. While Sunflower and much of Surf’s Up seem
overly serious, Landlocked seems whimsical and certainly doesn’t take itself
too seriously. We also have a sound
more reminiscent of the SMiLE era, although lacking the poetics of Van Dyke
Parks or any conceptual or sonic envelope pushing. But at the same time, one can surely see why Landlocked was never
released: it was not the correct album for The Beach Boys in the early
70s. If Sunflower and Surf’s Up were
the engines that drove the band for that decade, Landlocked was merely the dining
car, filled with libations and merriment, but unable carry the weight of the
whole train. But with that said, I’d
much rather be having a drink than shoveling coal…
Sources used:
Endless Harmony Soundtrack (1998)
Good Vibrations: 30 Years of The Beach Boys (1993)
Greatest Hits Volume 3: The Brother Years (2000)
Landlocked: The Last Capitol Album (bootleg, 1994 Invasion Unlimited)
Summer Love Songs (2009)
Surf’s Up (2012 remaster)
flac --> wav --> editing in SONAR, Audacity &
Goldwave --> flac encoding via TLH lv8
*md5, artwork and tracknotes included
Thank you for this and all the time and effort in making this and all your other posts available to us all.
ReplyDeletethank's for your information and i like your post
ReplyDeleteThank you very much. All your Beach Boys posts are truly appreciated. The thought and care in assembling these pieces of would-be history are wonderful.
ReplyDeletewhat were the other 2 uploads?
ReplyDeleteSMiLE '67 and SMiLE '04
DeleteJust fantastic, job well done. Thanks
ReplyDeleteAmazing! Really looking forward to Adult/Child! :D
ReplyDeleteInteresting project. Will you try compiling the lost "Reverberations" and "Add Some Music" albums?
ReplyDeleteThat is a good question, and the answer is that I will not. The reason is because there was too much overlap between those two and this, it would seem redundant.
DeleteWhat I did was I made a quick "rough cut" of all three albums, and decided to go with the one I enjoyed the most. Of the three, Landlocked was my favorite, and so I did that one. It is also the most far-removed from it's officially released counterpart ( it's only about 1/4th of Surf's Up), as opposed to the other two (both Reverberation and Add Some Music is about 1/2 Sunflower, if this makes any sense).
BUT anticipating this very question, here is my suggested tracklist to reconstruct both albums, but they end up replacing both Sunflower and Landlocked, without overlapping tracks:
REVERBERATION
Cotton Fields
Loop de Loop
All I Wanna Do
Got To Know The Woman
Slip On Through
Break Away
San Miguel
Celebrate The News
Dierdre
Soulful Old Man Sunshine
Forever
ADD SOME MUSIC
Susie Cincinnati
Good Time
Our Sweet Love
Tears In The Morning
When Girls Get Together
Back Home
Add Some Music To Your Day
Take A Load Off Your Feet
This Whole World
I Just Got My Pay
At My Window
Fallin In Love
Landlocked would still exist, using the Surf's Up tracklist of course!
DeleteDon't Go Near The Water
Long Promised Road
Disney Girls
Fourth Of July
Student Demonstration Time
Feel Flows
Lookin' At Tommorrow
A Day In The Life Of A Tree
'Till I Die
(Wouldn't It Be Nice) To Live Again
I would like to request an alternate universe type scenario for a "Wild Honey" album released in the wake of "Smile" in 1967, as opposed to the bunt, "Smiley Smile." I won't get into the details of this alternate timeline but if you're interested many folks have pontificated this on the smileysmile message board. I've made a playlist with a tentative track listing: You're Welcome, Lonely Days, Little Pad, Fall Breaks and Back To Winter, He Gives Speeches/She's Goin' Bald, With Me Tonight, Can't Wait Too Long (SS/WH "two-fer" mix '67), Cool, Cool Water ('67 mix), Gettin' Hungry, Wild Honey, The Letter, Darlin, I'd Love Just Once To See You, With A Little Help From My Friends, Their Hearts Were Full of Spring ('67 mix), Whistle-In...
ReplyDeleteJust throwin' it out there.
Love all the mixes, man. Keep'em comin'.
I certainly agree with the concept here. With a bit more ambition, Wild Honey could have gone a long way to erasing the memory of Smiley Smile. The main omission in your mix I feel is "I was made to love her", I feel that this is just an outstanding track - drenched in sun-tanned groove, it feels like it's one of the last tracks Brain actually enjoyed playing on.
DeleteOf all of the collections that erroneously trade under the title of 'Landlocked'
ReplyDeletethis has to be the best I've heard. A great selection. The sheer volume of
tracks that this band left unissued (even discounting SMiLE) is just staggering.
Loop-De-Loop itself is better than some bands entire career output.
Thank you deeply for all of the hard work put into this, it is a brilliant effort.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed what you did with this one and it really blows away the bootlegs I had of this. Keep up the great work.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your hard work on this Sonic. One thing though, I'm getting an md5 checksum error on Susie Cincinnati using Traders Little helper. (Tried several different downloads just to make sure).
ReplyDeleteThank you very very much!
ReplyDeleteI really appreciate this post and I like this very much. I am waiting for new post here and Please keep it up in future.
ReplyDeleteDigital Asset Management Software
I've used your version of Landlocked as a jumping-off point for my own version. With mine, I've not used any songs which made the Surf's Up LP, but have added other tracks from the 1969-71 era to make a 14-song album that accompanies Sunflower and Surf's Up. Tracklisting:-
ReplyDelete1. Loop De Loop
2. Susie Cincinnati
3. San Miguel
4. HELP Is On The Way
5. Soulful Old Man Sunshine
6. I Just Got My Pay
7. (Wouldn't It Be Nice To) Live Again
8. Good Time
9. Big Sur
10. Fallin' In Love
11. When Girls Get Together
12. Games Two Can Play
13. Back Home
14. 4th Of July
It hangs together pretty well.
Jules
Yet another great effort! These ATNW that you make are bringing a lot of pleasure to people in the real world. "H.E.L.P" (and Dennis' "4th of July") have long been part of 'my' own copy of "Surf's Up", so hearing it here was a little odd, but this reconstruction works well and is a worthy successor to "Friends" in its overall balance and appeal. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much!
ReplyDeleteHi, I really need to know which of these songs Brian was involved with. Was he involved with Big sur and carnival?
ReplyDeleteDö YOU like to surf?
ReplyDeleteThanks for uploading this CD...I enjoy it very much!
ReplyDeleteThis here is for you Beach Boys fans, but mostly to you SLN: http://www.demonoid.pw/files/details/3403776/28713084/
ReplyDeleteI am a massive beach boy fan going back 55 years.thank you so much for all your efforts.really fantastic
ReplyDeleteWow, thanks so much for all your hard work in compiling this and making it available. And in FLAC too!
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for putting this together! Great to hear.
ReplyDeleteHello,
ReplyDeleteCould you please make this one available for download on mega?
Hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks very much,
Please, please reup
ReplyDeletePretty sure Landlocked WAS going to have the Steve Desper mix of "Til I Die". The most common LP bootleg (Brother label) has a version that starts with an alternate mix of the Surf's Up version without the lead vox and drum track, then leads right into that version. Pretty sure this is the matching mix: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeGVxcBiBac
ReplyDeleteWould it be possible to reup this? Thanks in advance
ReplyDeleteRe-up? :D :) :)
ReplyDeleteThe Steve Desper mix is appropriate given it's the closing track.
ReplyDelete"Concluding Landlocked is my one instance of creative license, the longer Steve Desper mix of “Til I Die” found on the 1998 Endless Harmony Soundtrack. Although Landlocked would have actually included a version of similar length to what was released on Surf’s Up, I felt Desper’s longer version was more appropriate to end the album."
Any chance of an upgraded version after the Feel Flows boxset is released?
ReplyDeleteYep. Like the Dream Factory reconstruction, it'll be a multi-disc set with Landlocked, Reverberation and Add Some Music.
Deletebest news!
Deleteexcellent as always u are awesome
ReplyDelete