I can't recall just where this version of the Beach Boys' classic comes from, but I do love it. There's something about the instrumental vibe that I find a bit melancholy, a feeling I don't get when listening to the familiar version on "Holland." Also, depending on my frame of my mind, I can also picture a horrible pre-date, "let's try on clothes" montage featuring Katherine Heigl with this as the soundtrack. I prefer the melancholy.
SAIL ON SAILOR
12 comments:
That is so cool. Thanks!!!
BTW, I used to do this song in a garage band with a bunch of high school pals. We still meet weekly to record in a home studio, and I can guarantee we're gonna try to put vocals on this.
I won't inflict it on you, I promise, but it'll be fun!!!!
Please. Inflict.
I think that was first released on the "Hawthorne" compilation of outtakes, rare live stuff, etc that came out in like '02 or 03. It is a killer track, and it's amazing to me that the instruments-only version feels just as revelatory as the vocals-only tag (not sure if there's a vocals-only mix somewhere out in the piratical world). But this mix in particular feels more live and dense than the 'Hawthorne' one. Or maybe that's b/c i just listened to it on my headphones?
Yes! One of my favorite Beach Boys songs. First heard this one (with vocals, of course) in the classic surf movie Seven Stories.
When I was a kid I had a double-live album called, I believe, Beach Boys in Concert. I recall a really good version of this song being on that. This was the latter-day Boys with Rutle-to-be Ricky Fataar onboard.
He didn't really fit in, aesthetically, but sounded fine.
Great song, absolutely one of my favorites from that band, and much appreciate having this version.
Noam, you should revisit "In Concert." Some great stuff on it, including an absolute killer "Leaving This Town."
One of the greatest discoveries in rock would be if the cassette of the original piano writing demo of this tune by Brian and Van Dyke ever emerged. I shudder to think how it might have been carelessly erased/discarded with a bunch of other cassettes at some time or other. This was the demo submitted to Lenny Waronker (I think) that convinced him to back another Beach Boys album, as long as there was at least one new BW classic on it. VDP tells a great story (in Carlin's Catch a Wave, perhaps elsewhere too) of basically forcing Brian to man up and sit down and write it with him. The song was apparently radically transformed in the long, convoluted process before its completion. It sure would be amazing to hear it in its embryonic stage -- still apparently brilliant enough in that form to salvage the BB's recording career... at least for a while.
Thanks, Sal, I'm gonna do just that.
Let me second the recommendation that Noam revisit the In Concert album. With the addition of Blondie and Ricky, the touring band, finally, could deliver the goods instrumentally as well as vocally. I got to see them on this tour at an acoustically-splendid, 6,000 seat theater, and it was transformative. The set list was superb and the material, old and new (including such "Holland" high points as "Sail On Sailor," "The Trader," and "Funky Pretty"), took on new life.
In Concert is a wonderful document (touched up, as it may be) of this tour. Even with Mike Love doing his worst to scuttle the old surf-and-car material.
Even if this one isn't from "Hawthorne," it makes me regret that set going out of print.
And I'd like to echo Sal: please, Steve Simels, inflict your "Sail On Sailor" on we loyal wood burners!
"In Concert" sounds even better in the remix that came out a couple of years back. They really dove in and worked some wonders with the sound -- there's more power in the low end and more vibrancy in the guitars, and the singing just sparkles.
For me the real spellbinder here, perhaps the absolute high point of all live Beach Boys recordings, is Carl's performance of "Let the Wind Blow," which emerges from the stiff shell of the "Wild Honey" version to this shimmering, passionate reading. Blows me away every time. Also in the remix: a fix that re-connects the one-two punch of "Darlin'" and "Marcella," which had played in the shows without a real pause between them. And again, the sharper sting of the guitars sets it ablaze.
Sal, your post got me on a "Sail On, Sailor" kick (not hard to do). Do you have any interest in a live version from 1985 by Blondie Chaplin with Gene Clark's Byrd's Tribute band? I'd be happy to send it, if so.
Sure James. Never heard it.
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