Search - Beach Boys :: Endless Harmony (Soundtrack)

This one's for the diehards

Greg Brady | Capital City | 03/25/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If the only Beach Boys songs you know are the 10 that get played on "oldies" radio, this collection isn't for you. "Endless Harmony" gathers together a variety of live cuts, demos, unreleased material and alternate versions of some of their most well-known and some of their least-known but critically guarded tunes.



The drawbacks are minimal..The radio concert promos are only interesting to see how "square" promotion for concerts once was. "Brian's Back" appears in good sound but it's really just a pastiche of cliches. "Endless Harmony" is somewhat better at capturing the essence of the sound Brian Wilson put together if still only a middling track. "Loop de Loop" is a bizarre sound collage from Al Jardine that shows him overreaching his grasp artistically.



Outside of these, there's a treasure trove for the Beach Boys connoisseur, and not only the Brian enthusiast. "Soulful Old Man Sunshine", a 1969 outtake Brian co-wrote with the Sunrays Rick Henn, is phenomenal and really leaves you to wonder how they let it languish in the vault. This song is better than a lot of the material they did release in 1969 and some of what ended up on "Sunflower". It's a vocal tour de force with a somewhat jazzy feel. "Help Me Rhonda" is here in an alternate take that ALMOST became the single. It's almost identical to the released version except for a very high "wah wah wah" vocal (I'm guessing from Brian?). It's obvious it still would have been a hit this way but it sounds odd to my ears because I'm used to hearing it differently. Still the "wah wahs" are pretty catchy..hard to say if the "official" version is better or not. You also get a demo of Brian and Van Dyke Parks writing "Heroes and Villains" at the piano that lets you hear a vintage performance of SMiLe section "I'm in Great Shape" and "Barnyard" in their infancy. A rare 1972 live version of "Wonderful" appears as part of a medley with a Flame song (recorded at Carnegie Hall). As a sidenote, Mike intros it by saying it's "from Smile..which should be out this year". Obviously history proved him wrong until 2004. The demo of "Break Away" shows you both how well formed a musical idea was when Brian brought the others into the studio and how much he added to give it extra "oomph" before release. It's OK here..but the final version with the added "Feel the vibrations...and all the sensations" coda make it really sing (regardless of whether others felt Brian "undersold" it..) The early version of "Do it Again" is more spare and would not have been a hit. It doesn't yet have the toned down guitar solo, handclaps on the verses, and the "hey now" part on the bridge that helped make it magical. A fine 1972 live version of Carl's "Long Promised Road" is packed with energy (though it does show how important the 'trombone' part is to the song via its absence here..). Dennis fans will love "All Alone",a fantastic ballad from never released solo album "Bamboo".



BOTTOM LINE: If you own both box sets and the 70s material, you need to have this."

Essential for Beach Boys fans/collectors

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 03/10/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is not a good release for a casual fan or someone exploring the Beach Boys, but for fans and collectors, this is essential material. A compilation of random, scattered unreleased tracks from the Beach Boys' career, the focus is their late '60s/early '70s material.



There's a number of live tracks, alternate mixes, etc., most of which I won't speak of because while they're great, they're not exactly extraordinary-- I'll discuss that stuff.



Opening with the unbelievable "Soulful Old Man Sunshine", filled with jazzy big band-esque arrangement and stunning harmonies, this is an essential lost gem in the Beach Boys catalog finally being released.



Also essential-- a demo of Smile sections! Brian at the piano singing several sections, including the main H&V theme, Barnyard, I'm in Great Shape, this is really essential-- Smile in two and a half minutes!



A couple other pieces that deserve noting-- we get some early versions of "Do It Again" and "Break Away"-- the latter is actually Brian's demo and is really revelatory in terms of his construction of songs, as much so as the Smile demo.



There's also two unreleased Dennis pieces, "Barbara" as a solo piano number and "All Alone", both are brilliant, particularly the former, and an extended mix of "'Til I Die".



All in all, a great value-- collections of unreleased tracks run the risk of being extraneous, but there's precious little here that could qualify in that light, and much of this are incredible finds that any fan will be grateful to hear."