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Part 4 - The Beach Boys - Diamond Head and Do It Again
THE BEACH BOYS - DIAMOND HEAD (1968)
View attachment 543397
Side One
Can't Wait Too Long
Little Bird
With Me Tonight
I Believe In Miracles
Be Still
Cool Cool Water [1]
Side Two
Little Pad
Mona Kana
On A Holiday
Oʻahu [2]
Cool Cool Cool Water [3]
"People talk about Smile, but for me making Diamond Head was the best time to be a Beach Boy. Smile was finished in a burst of inspiration and we started Wild Honey thinking Smile had been a bust. The energy was all nervous energy, y'know? On Diamond Head, Brian was mellow, but fast at the same time. People call that album the sequel to Smile, but on Smile, we were trying to get everything down on tape, like it was our last chance. In early 1968 we had time. And as brothers, it was the best time, the last time we were all on the same page. Dennis was all over Diamond Head and I think Brian had decided I was the right guy to work on singles. A lot of that work ended up being the Do It Again album. Don't get me wrong, we all still love each other, but…we went through 1968 without arguing."
- Carl Wilson
"With this album, The Beach Boys continued the pattern they started in 1967, an arty album in the first half of the year and a more pop album for the second half. This collection sat nicely between 1967's Wild Honey and Fall 1968's Do It Again. The second side seemed to wind up the "Element Music" idea that had been kicking around since Smile (where a proposed suite had been whittled down to just one element as the group rushed to finish the album). While Wild Honey was seen by fans to contain earth and air music in places, Diamond Head was a showcase for water inspired pieces. The album is also notable for three pieces by Dennis Wilson, who was coming into his own as a writer and producer."
- Andrew Barbicane - The Beach Boys: A Comprehensive Overview [4]
While everyone's still recovering from the mind blowing sounds on Diamond Head, Brian Wilson has revealed the next Beach Boys album will be called Friends.
(New Musical Express, July 1968)
A new Beach Boys album comes out next month. It will be called Do It Again and not Friends as previously reported.
(New Musical Express, October 1968)
THE BEACH BOYS - DO IT AGAIN (1968)
View attachment 543399
Side One
Do It Again
We're Together Again
Be Here In The Morning
Transcendental Meditation
All I Want To Do
Be With Me
Side Two
I Can Hear Music
Rock And Roll Woman
The Letter
Bluebirds Over The Mountain
Cotton Fields
Walk On By
"There isn't a quote-unquote Friends album. Brian didn't get finished with it. It's very sweet, peaceful music. But it wasn't what we should have been doing. Brian was getting…distracted. He was a father and…[long pause] I think that easy listening music he was making was like him trying to be a version of our dad. He was going to be a good dad who wrote that kind of Lawrence Welk stuff. That way, he could be the dad to baby David that he wanted our dad to be to us. [long pause] I dunno.
"The Valium was beginning to be a problem. The doctors had been careful with his dosages, but it wasn't a wonder drug. Brian had gone from being calm to distant an then from distant to being…numb. Then he started getting confused. The doctors weaned him off it but for a while after that, he just seemed tired all the time. Do It Again is what we could pull together and I think it holds together pretty well."
- Carl Wilson
[1] This version owes a lot to Love To Say Dada, it's tight and orchestrated
[2] There are going to be some tracks (or titles anyway) that don't exist IOTL
[3] This reprise is more like the Cool Cool Water from the end of Sunflower
[4] Original character. I have two friends who've written books on The Beach Boys and they're both called Andrew. Rather than put words in their mouths, I've conjured up another one.
View attachment 543397
Side One
Can't Wait Too Long
Little Bird
With Me Tonight
I Believe In Miracles
Be Still
Cool Cool Water [1]
Side Two
Little Pad
Mona Kana
On A Holiday
Oʻahu [2]
Cool Cool Cool Water [3]
"People talk about Smile, but for me making Diamond Head was the best time to be a Beach Boy. Smile was finished in a burst of inspiration and we started Wild Honey thinking Smile had been a bust. The energy was all nervous energy, y'know? On Diamond Head, Brian was mellow, but fast at the same time. People call that album the sequel to Smile, but on Smile, we were trying to get everything down on tape, like it was our last chance. In early 1968 we had time. And as brothers, it was the best time, the last time we were all on the same page. Dennis was all over Diamond Head and I think Brian had decided I was the right guy to work on singles. A lot of that work ended up being the Do It Again album. Don't get me wrong, we all still love each other, but…we went through 1968 without arguing."
- Carl Wilson
"With this album, The Beach Boys continued the pattern they started in 1967, an arty album in the first half of the year and a more pop album for the second half. This collection sat nicely between 1967's Wild Honey and Fall 1968's Do It Again. The second side seemed to wind up the "Element Music" idea that had been kicking around since Smile (where a proposed suite had been whittled down to just one element as the group rushed to finish the album). While Wild Honey was seen by fans to contain earth and air music in places, Diamond Head was a showcase for water inspired pieces. The album is also notable for three pieces by Dennis Wilson, who was coming into his own as a writer and producer."
- Andrew Barbicane - The Beach Boys: A Comprehensive Overview [4]
While everyone's still recovering from the mind blowing sounds on Diamond Head, Brian Wilson has revealed the next Beach Boys album will be called Friends.
(New Musical Express, July 1968)
A new Beach Boys album comes out next month. It will be called Do It Again and not Friends as previously reported.
(New Musical Express, October 1968)
THE BEACH BOYS - DO IT AGAIN (1968)
View attachment 543399
Side One
Do It Again
We're Together Again
Be Here In The Morning
Transcendental Meditation
All I Want To Do
Be With Me
Side Two
I Can Hear Music
Rock And Roll Woman
The Letter
Bluebirds Over The Mountain
Cotton Fields
Walk On By
"There isn't a quote-unquote Friends album. Brian didn't get finished with it. It's very sweet, peaceful music. But it wasn't what we should have been doing. Brian was getting…distracted. He was a father and…[long pause] I think that easy listening music he was making was like him trying to be a version of our dad. He was going to be a good dad who wrote that kind of Lawrence Welk stuff. That way, he could be the dad to baby David that he wanted our dad to be to us. [long pause] I dunno.
"The Valium was beginning to be a problem. The doctors had been careful with his dosages, but it wasn't a wonder drug. Brian had gone from being calm to distant an then from distant to being…numb. Then he started getting confused. The doctors weaned him off it but for a while after that, he just seemed tired all the time. Do It Again is what we could pull together and I think it holds together pretty well."
- Carl Wilson
[1] This version owes a lot to Love To Say Dada, it's tight and orchestrated
[2] There are going to be some tracks (or titles anyway) that don't exist IOTL
[3] This reprise is more like the Cool Cool Water from the end of Sunflower
[4] Original character. I have two friends who've written books on The Beach Boys and they're both called Andrew. Rather than put words in their mouths, I've conjured up another one.
- Guajolote
- Word Count: 700