As anticipation mounts for news around the Beach Boys new album and 50th anniversary tour, it seems that now, more than ever, we should reflect on the tremendous talents of Brian Wilson’s younger brothers Dennis and Carl, who were – on stage – drummer and guitarist respectively. But as history has shown us, they were so much more.
The question of what constitutes the first rock'n'roll record is controversial and highly emotive. It takes in serious issues about attitudes to race in 1940s America and interminable nitpicking internet arguments about snare drum accents and eight-to-the-bar boogie-woogie rhythms. It began decades ago, when Sam Phillips announced he had discovered the sound that changed the world years before Elvis Presley had fetched up in Sun Studio, offering Jackie Brenston's admittedly amazing 1952 single Rocket 88 as evidence. It's rumbled on ever since.
CD 1:
1. The Camp Meeting Jubilee – Unknown
2. My Man Rocks Me - Trixie Smith
3. Kansas City Blues - Jim Jackson
4. Going To Move To Alabama - Charley Patton
5. Move It On Over - Hank Williams
6. It's Tight Like That - Tampa Red
7. Pinetops's Boogie Woogie - Clarence Pine Top Smith
8. Jimmy Blues - Jimmy Blythe
9. Crazy About My Baby - Blind Roosevelt Graves
10. Tiger Rag - Washboard Rhythm Kings
11. Rock And Roll - Boswell Sisters
12. Get Rhythm In Your Feet - Benny Goodman Orchestra And Helen Ward
13. Oh Red! - Harlem Hamfats
14. Skippy Whippy - Mississippi Jook Band
15. Cross Road Blues - Robert Johnson
16. Sing! Sing! Sing! (With a Swing) - Benny Good-man And Gene Krupa
17. Rock It For Me - Ella Fitzgerald
18. Rock Me - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
19. Roll 'Em Pete - Big Joe Turner
20. Ida Red - Bob Wills
21. Rockin' Rollin' Mama - Buddy Jones
22. New Early In The Morning - John Lee Williamson
23. Down The Road A Piece - Will Bradley
24. Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy - The Andrews Sisters
25. Lullaby (Rock A Bye Baby) - Virginia O'Brien
Rockin' Roots playlist (for 99% based upon cd 1)
CD2 :
1. Flying Home - Lionel Hampton And His Orchestra
2. Blues, Pt. 2 - Illinois Jacquet
3. Mean Old World - T-Bone Walker
4. The Joint Is Really Jumpin' Down At Carnegie Hall - Judy Garland
5. Rockin' The Town - Gertrude Niesen
6. Straighten Up And Fly Right - Nat "King" Cole
7. Strange Things Happening Every Day - Sister Rosetta Tharpe
8. Be Baba Leba - Helen Humes
9. Honeydripper - Joe Liggins
10. Guitar Boogie - Arthur Smith
11. That's All Right (Mama) - Arthur "Big Boy" Crudup
12. Let The Good Times Roll - Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five
13. House Of Blue Lights - Ella Mae Morse And Freddie Slack
14. Hillbilly Boogie - The Delmore Brothers
15. Ten Gallon Boogie (Original) - Pee Wee King
16. Good Rocking Tonight - Wynonie Harris
17. We're Gonna Rock, We're Gonna Roll - Wild Bill Moore
18. I Can't Be Satisfied - Muddy Waters
19. Chicken Shack Boogie - Amos Milburn
20. Rovin' Eyes - Bill Haley
21. Its Too Soon To Know - The Orioles
22. Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee - Stick McGhee
23. Rock And Roll Blues - Erline 'Rock 'n' Roll' Harris
24. Rock the Joint - Jimmy Preston
25. Saturday Night Fish Fry - Louis Jordan And His Tympany Five
26. The Fat Man - Fats Domino
27. Rock A While - Goree Carter
CD3:
1. Gonna Dance All Night - Hardrock Gunter
2. Hot Rod Race - Arkie Shibley And His Mountain Dew Boys
3. 60 Minute Man - The Dominoes
4. How High The Moon - Les Paul And Mary Ford
5. Rocket '88' - Jackie Brenston And His Delta Cats
6. Boogie Woogie Blues - Charli Gracie
7. Hound Dog - Big Mama Thornton
8. Rockin' An' Rollin' - Charli Gracie
9. Lawdy Miss Clawdy - Lloyd Price
10. Have Mercy Baby - The Dominoes
11. One Mint Julep - The Clovers
12. Gee - The Crows
13. Crazy Man, Crazy - Bill Haley And His Comets
14. Mess Around - Ray Charles
15. Money Honey - Clyde McPhatter And The Drifters
16. Honey Hush - Joe Turner
17. Shake, Rattle And Roll - Big Joe Turner
18. Sh-Boom - The Chords
19. Rock Around The Clock - Sunny Dae And The Knights
20. I've Got A Woman - Ray Charles
21. Work With Me, Annie - Hank Ballard And The Midnighters
22. Riot In Cell Block Num-ber Nine - The Robins
23. Tweedle Dee - LaVern Baker
24. Bo Diddley - Bo Diddley
25. Maybellene - Chuck Berry
26. Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
27. Blue Suede Shoes - Carl Perkins
28. That's Alright Mama - Elvis Presley
29. Rock Around The Clock - Bill Haley And His Comets
30. Heartbreak Hotel - Elvis Presley
Download only bonus tracks :
1. Open the Door Richard - Jack McVea
2. Tomorrow Night - Lonnie Johnson
3. Boogie Children - John Lee Hooker
4. Madi Gras In New Orleans - Prof Long-hair
5. Rollin' And Tumblin' Part 1 - Muddy Waters
6. Birmingham Bounce - Hardrock Gunter
7. I'm Movin' On - Hank Snow
8. Teardrops From My Eyes - Ruth Brown
9. Cry - Johnnie Ray
10. Rock the Joint - Bill Haley
11. Kaw-Liga - Hank Williams
12. Earth Angel – Penguins
13. Pledging My Love - Johnny Ace
- a very insightful interview by Ken Sharp from 2000 (4 pages!) -
Let me ask you about your role with the Beach Boys.
Carl and I were the anchors in the back.
Did you want more recognition?
No. No way. I was happy. We locked, our harmonies locked, that's all I cared about. Carl and I had a really good blend.
Eric Carmen (*?) once described the Beach Boys' voice as each being an instrument: "I think Brian was a French horn, Carl was a flute, Al Jardine a trumpet, Dennis a trombone, and Mike a baritone sax before their present incarnation as the Beach Boys."
Yeah, that's a good point. That's kind of how we saw ourselves too. In fact, "Heroes And Villains," at the start, was one of the first things we ever did, really early on, even before we recorded "Surfin'." We were working on that song way back in '61. We all became instruments for Brian's barber shop concept. He said, "Let's all do this, let's sing this idea." Carl would be one instrument, I'd be another. Mike would be another instrument.
So the idea of "Heroes And Villains" was born back in '61.
Yeah, the idea, not the song. We started singing a capella first because we didn't play instruments. With none of us really being players, we would just scat in the car going to a show or something or going to school, anywhere.
Was it pretty natural where each member would find his place singing harmonies?
Instantly. And Brian had this wonderful gift for remembering lines off of records. He'd pick up harmonies off of Four Freshmen records and he'd just feed them right back to us. We'd go, "Woah!" and like a sponge, we'd just absorbed it.
---
(*?)NOTE I remember reading in a book (by Tobler or Preiss?) that it was not from Eric Carmen, but a description from Brian Wilson
You know our original (force?) was vocal, of course.
And then, from there, I began to learn the art of production and the art of making background music, which became kind of settling around in 1964 and all of the sudden I found my self in the studio taking hours and hours just going through, you know, track experiences, you know, and all of the sudden the two (things?) you know came together, the vocal and the track and all, and all of the sudden I began to realise that it was all just one art, it was all one thing you know?
And I didn't seperate voices and instruments anymore, and I no longer thought of, well, track and vocals, it was just one thing, you know, and now, god it's come so far, I don't know what to say about it, you know?, I don't know where it's come to, with me, musically, in fact I think I've run out of ideas, believe it or not.
He also stated somewhere in the interview that religion should be substituted by meditation. "Meditation is the new religion"
Brian mentions Nelson Riddle as a great arranger, and his own arranging skills are full realised on Pet Sounds.
Note: the interview is from Jan 11th, 1968, the photo must be somewhere between summer 1969 and summer 1970, the period of time when Brian was owner of the Radian Radish shop.
Against all odds, The Beach Boys have put aside their legal and creative differences this past year, releasing the lauded Smile in November to rave reviews. That news was first announced exclusively in this column last February in an interview with Al Jardine.
When December rolled around, a 50th anniversary tour was announced, reuniting Brian Wilson with Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks. Johnston even had an appropriately ironic name for the tour – "When Surf Freezes Over."
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