To paraphrase Spock: Keep tapes long and prosper.
On Aug 28, 3:58 pm, "C.R. Domino" <[email protected]> wrote:
> As Spock would say... "Fascinating"
>
> On Aug 27, 12:54 pm, Eidem <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>
>
> > THE REEL DEAL
> > Lost Beach Boys tapes surface in SLO County
>
> > BY GLEN STARKEY
>
> > The Beach Boys have had more Top 40 singles than any other American
> > band and are the best selling American band ever, yet their career is
> > marred by drug abuse, the untimely deaths of Dennis and Carl Wilson,
> > the very public mental breakdown of chief songwriter and singer Brian
> > Wilson, and a relentless history of litigation and acrimony among the
> > surviving members (Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, and Mike Love all tour
> > separately, though Love now owns the Beach Boys name after a
> > protracted legal battle). Theirs is the story of unparalleled triumphs
> > and soul-searing tragedies. Yet the popularity of the nearly five-
> > decades-old act remains undiminished, which is why SLO County resident
> > Lance Robison was able to leverage some 45-year-old, reel-to-reel
> > tapes into a five-figure deal that funded his dream project, a new CD
> > called Codependance Beach.
>
> > THE TAPES
>
> > What Lance sold to Capitol Records were three reel-to-reel “work”
> > tapes from the Beach Boys’ 1964 recording session for Shut Down Vol.
> > 2. These tapes contained the multi-tracks from which the original mono
> > recordings were mixed. The mono masters from that 1964 album have
> > since been lost or misplaced, and even if they were found, they don’t
> > contain the various tracks from which to create stereo recordings. In
> > other words, the only reason Beach Boys fans now have stereo versions
> > of “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” is because a
> > then-13-year-old kid named Lance Robison came into possession of these
> > work tapes and held onto them for 43 years.
>
> > One day back in 1966, when Robison’s family lived in Southern
> > California, his brother John came home with three tape boxes marked
> > “Sea of Tunes Beach Boys.” Needing money, John sold half-interest in
> > the tapes to Lance for $15, making Lance caretaker of the tapes.
>
> > The story of how John came to possess the tapes is murky at best.
> > Apparently “a guy he knew” had them, and not just these three, but
> > perhaps as many as nine reels. John had a friend he went to school
> > with in Torrance who knew a guy who lived near the Wilsons in
> > Hawthorne. Somehow the boxes of tapes traveled from one teenager to
> > another, eventually landing in Lance’s hands. One thing is certain:
> > They weren’t stolen from Capitol Records.
>
> > “My best guess is that these reels were probably junked, or were
> > intended to be junked, after the album project was finished back in
> > 1964,” explained Alan Boyd, Beach Boys archivist for Brother Records,
> > Inc., which in conjunction with Capitol Records recently released the
> > Beach Boys’ collection Summer Love Songs, which contains newly re-
> > mastered stereo recordings of two songs from Lance’s tapes. “It was
> > highly unusual for the labels and artists to hold onto the work tapes
> > and session reels once the tracks were finished and released. In fact,
> > it wasn’t at all unusual for session tapes to be left behind at the
> > recording studios themselves—to this day we’re still finding session
> > tapes that have been quietly sitting unnoticed on old studio shelves
> > for over 40 years.”
>
> > Lance stored the reels all these years, never playing them. They’d be
> > sitting in his closet still if it weren’t for a New Times article I
> > wrote about local author and Beach Boys expert Jon Stebbins, who had
> > written a book about Dennis Wilson. After seeing the story, Lance
> > contacted me and said he had some old Beach Boys tapes and wanted to
> > talk to Stebbins about them. I put the two in contact.
>
> > "Lance had three tape boxes, vintage Ampex 1/2-inch reels circa the
> > early 1960s, and the sight of them made my eyes nearly pop out of my
> > head,” recalled Stebbins, who in addition to his book on Dennis Wilson
> > also authored The Lost Beach Boy, about early member David Marks.
>
> > “From the attached paperwork I knew immediately that these were
> > original Beach Boys master reels from early 1964. I could see they
> > were multi-tracks, and I suspected that these were session tapes the
> > Beach Boys themselves had been missing for many decades, including the
> > first generation master reels for ‘Don’t Worry Baby,’ one of Brian
> > Wilson’s greatest songs of all time.”
>
> > Over the years, Lance didn’t copy or sell the tapes. As a long-time
> > Beach Boys fan, he wanted to see them preserved and returned to
> > Capitol Records, the only entity who could legally reproduce the songs
> > for sale. On the other hand, what Lance had was potentially very
> > precious to both Capitol Records and Beach Boys fans, and as someone
> > who had rescued and preserved the tapes for more than four decades, he
> > felt some recompense was due.
>
> > What Lance, a longtime singer-songwriter, was most interested in was
> > producing an album of his own songs with top-notch musicians in a top-
> > notch studio. He asked Stebbins if he thought he could leverage the
> > tapes so he could record his dream album, giving Stebbins some rough
> > demos of his original material to preview.
>
> > “I was skeptical about Lance’s original material because I hear a lot
> > of mediocre music by people who think they have talent,” confided
> > Stebbins. “But his stuff was so well developed; some of the songs were
> > written 20 or more years ago. The style was vintage singer-songwriter.
> > It had patina and reminded me of James Taylor, a little Boz Scaggs, a
> > little Jimmy Buffett with bits of Dylan and Lennon too. His voice was
> > pure, and the songs were good; they grew on me. Some of them are
> > absolute gems.”
>
> > On July 3, 2008, Stebbins contacted his most direct connection to the
> > Beach Boys’ corporate entity, Brother Records Inc.’s Alan Boyd.
>
> > “When I described the long-lost Beach Boys tapes that Lance was in
> > possession of to Alan Boyd, he nearly melted down,” boasted Stebbins.
> > “I e-mailed jpegs of the tape boxes so he knew I wasn’t kidding. The
> > subject line of my e-mail was ‘This Is Real!’”
>
> > Boyd set up an appointment at Mark Linett’s recording studio, Your
> > Place or Mine, in Glendale, California, so that he and Linett could
> > evaluate the tapes. Linett, a Grammy-winning recording engineer and
> > producer, has recorded nearly every Brian Wilson release since the
> > 1980s, including his acclaimed 2004 Smile epic. Linett has also been
> > responsible for remixing some of the Beach Boys’ most celebrated
> > reissues, including the very first stereo mix of Pet Sounds in 1997.
> > His non-Beach Boys credits are equally impressive, including Red Hot
> > Chili Peppers, Jimmy Buffett, Jane’s Addiction, Ricky Lee Jones, and
> > Randy Newman.
>
> > Linett, Boyd, Stebbins, and Robison met at Your Place or Mine on July
> > 15, and using Linett’s vintage equipment, together they listened to
> > the tapes for the first time in 45 years. The reaction in the room was
> > utter astonishment. As Stebbins suspected, what Robison had were three
> > of eight missing reels from the Beach Boys classic 1964 Shut Down Vol.
> > 2 album. The tapes included the backing tracks, vocals, and overdub
> > sessions for six songs, including “Don’t Worry Baby” and “Why Do Fools
> > Fall In Love” (with a previously unheard intro-section). The latter
> > had never been heard in stereo until these tapes surfaced. Robison’s
> > tapes were first generation, the very tapes the Beach Boys had
> > recorded in January and February of 1964 at Western Recorders and Gold
> > Star Studios in Hollywood.
>
> > Now that all parties agreed that what Lance had was the real deal,
> > negotiations started with Robison and Stebbins facing off against
> > Brother Records, Inc. and Capitol/EMI. While the tapes were probably
> > worth three times the five-figure deal Lance eventually struck with
> > Capitol Records, all he really wanted was enough money and access to
> > have Linett cut his album.
>
> > Linett ball-parked a recording budget for Robison’s proposed album of
> > his own material, but the negotiation process was long and sometimes
> > arduous. The Capitol legal department didn’t see why they should have
> > to pay Robison for tapes that the Beach Boys owned the intellectual
> > property rights to. But the physical tapes had been in Robison’s
> > possession for so long they were clearly his property—no one disputed
> > that. Capitol eventually realized that intellectual property rights
> > are absolutely worthless without possession of the only tapes
> > containing that property. Lance’s tapes were the only multi-track
> > versions in existence of six classic Beach Boys songs. If Brother
> > Records, Inc. and Capitol wanted to present a new stereo remix of any
> > of these songs, these tapes were their only chance.
>
> > Historically they’re extremely important as well, and their excellent
> > condition, not to mention the wealth of outtake material and
> > fascinating studio chatter, make them a rare look into the very
> > private world of early Beach Boys recording sessions.
>
> > At one point, Robison basically issued an ultimatum, telling Capitol
> > he’d rather just hang onto the tapes rather than give up his dream of
> > recording his own album. Negotiations slogged on for another eight
> > months. Independent offers were considered, but Robison truly wanted
> > the tapes to return to Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ archive. By
> > holding firm in his request for a recording budget, Capitol blinked
> > and he eventually got what he wanted … and apparently so did Brother
> > Records and Capitol.
>
> > On March 20 of this year, Capitol/EMI executive Jane Ventom presented
> > Robison with a check in the Capitol Tower in Hollywood. Robison
> > arranged to use the money to
>
> ...
>
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>
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