Thursday, February 09, 2012

Instrumental Backing Tracks of the Gods (An Occasional Series): Nah, Brian Wilson Isn't a Genius Edition

From April 2, 1964 -- The Beach Boys' "I Get Around."

Sans vocals, as it was heard from behind the console where Brian Wilson was producing it.




How the f**k did he know how the vocals -- which weren't recorded till quite a few days later -- were going to line up with the instrumental track?

Words fail me.

8 comments:

dave™© said...

I have similar feelings about the instrumental version of "Help Me Rhonda" and "Surf's Up" (there's an early instrumental take that's much more jaunty than the version that is normally heard). And let's not forget the two "instrumentals" on "Pet Sounds"...

J. Loslo said...

Wow. That just became one of my favorite surf instrumentals, and I've got a fair collection of surf instrumentals.

steve simels said...

Do you have RARE SURF: VOLUME 1 The South Beach Bands?
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1528&bih=833&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=bzSF8n-8G2CPGM:&imgrefurl=http://www.raucousrecords.com/surf-instrumental-cds_23/rare-surf-volume-1-cd_6578.aspx&docid=FNe09J70hwO41M&imgurl=http://www.raucousrecords.com/products/300px/rare-surf-volume-1-cd.jpg&w=300&h=300&ei=XwI0T-dkofPSAeXEiZgC&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=183&vpy=142&dur=151&hovh=225&hovw=225&tx=148&ty=137&sig=103137074035421319741&page=1&tbnh=150&tbnw=150&start=0&ndsp=32&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

Because if you do, let's talk....

J. Loslo said...

Okay, maybe not THAT big a collection of surf instrumentals.

steve simels said...

Well, if anybody's got it, let me know.


I lost my promo copy some years ago, and it's currently going for some ridiculously inflated price over at Amazon.

And it's fucking great and I want it. Seriously -- it's not so much surf music, but a kind of surprisingly sophisticated instro-rock that was getting really interesting before the genre got wiped out by the British Invasion.

Brooklyn Girl said...

No wonder Brian Wilson and the Beatles were members of the Mutual Admiration Society.

Anonymous said...

What an arrangement.

Question: Is this Wrecking Crew guys?

Not that that demystifies the brilliance of the arrangement. This kind of genius defies explanation.

AP

Unknown said...

I love the guitar mistake at 1:20. I don't know if that particular backing track is the one that ended up in the final version of the song, but if it is then I've not noticed those momentarily wayward guitars all this time. Sometimes you need to get rid of some angelic voices to find hidden surprises in a song.