BEACH BOYS CLASSICS REVAMPED FOR 'SUMMER LOVE SONGS' COLLECTION

By Howie Edelson

Beach Boys fans are eagerly awaiting the new mixes of two classic 1964 tracks which were recently recovered from a fan who was holding on to the songs' multitracks for decades. Biographer Jon Stebbins mediated the return of the masters to the Beach Boys' team, which is head up by Grammy Award winning engineer Mark Linett and the band's official archivist Alan Boyd. Two of the songs from that tape, "Don't Worry Baby" and the band's version of Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers' "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" appear in crystal-clear newly mixed stereo takes -- with "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" featuring it's first-ever stereo mix. For years, the only stereo take available of "Don't Worry Baby" featured a drastic split in the stereo picture, with vocals and instrumentation pushed to the furthest corners of the mix.

Mark Linett, who is the man responsible for not only for engineering Brian Wilson Presents Smile, producing and mixing the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds box set, and overhauling the band's entire catalogue over the past 20 years, was able to take the master tapes of "Don't Worry Baby" and finally free the track from it's 1960's technical limitations: "The fact that we acquired the new tapes that had the backing vocals on two separate tracks, we were able to do a new stereo mix where it's Brian's leads and the track in the center, and the two backgrounds spread out to the side. Which is a much more modern, and I think, pleasing stereo mix. Otherwise, y'know before this, I've always preferred the mono (mix), 'cause it's one of those Beach Boys records where the stereo mix was so jarring that it was kinda tough to listen to."

Alan Boyd, who has methodically listened to and archived every tape in the band's voluminous private vaults, says that the new version of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" showcases a discarded, but brilliant musical idea from Brian Wilson, who was utilizing L.A.'s famed session players dubbed the "Wrecking Crew" for the first time at a Beach Boys session: "'Why Do Fools Fall In Love' is very interesting. The new intro that's on there -- or the old intro that was never used in the first place -- it's very dramatic. It's almost overwrought. Very Phil Spector-esque and listening to the studio chatter, it appears to be Leon Russell playing a very dramatic almost pretentious piano opening, that's absolutely fantastic. It probably wouldn't have worked for a single in 1964, y'know, 'cause it's fairly long, but it gives the album one heck of an opening."

Summer Love Songs, which will be released on May 19th, kicks off with the new mixes of "Don't Worry Baby" and "Why Do Fools Fall In Love." Both songs were originally featured on the Beach Boys' 1964 album Shut Down Vol. 2. "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" was featured as the B-side to the band's "Fun, Fun, Fun" single, with "Don't Worry Baby" appearing as the B-side to the group's "I Get Around" 45.

The full tracklisting to Summer Love Songs is: "Don't Worry Baby" (new stereo mix), "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" (new stereo mix), "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "God Only Knows," "Surfer Girl," "California Girls," "Please Let Me Wonder," "In The Parkin' Lot," "Your Summer Dream," "Kiss Me, Baby," "Hushabye" (new stereo mix), "I'm So Young" (new stereo mix), "Good To My Baby" (new stereo mix), "Fallin' In Love" (new stereo mix of Dennis Wilson solo track)," "Time To Get Alone" (new stereo mix), "Our Sweet Love," "Help Me, Rhonda," "Keep An Eye On Summer," "Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)," and "Girls On The Beach."

Linett and Boyd have collaborated on such recent Beach Boys collections as Endless Harmony, Hawthorne, CA, Good Timin': Live At Knebworth England 1980, The Warmth Of The Sun, and The Original U.S. Singles Collection The Capitol Years 1962-1965.

Jon Stebbins wrote the definitive Dennis Wilson biography The Real Beach Boy, and later collaborated with Beach Boys co-founder David Marks to write his life story The Lost Beach Boy.

Definitely getting this one!