AGD And The Keeper of the Tapes - A Beach Boys Stomp Story

Over the past couple of years, myself and a handful of friends have been compiling an archive of Beach Boys fanzine issues. Foremost among them is our collection of Beach Boys Stomp fanzines. Mostly spanning the 1980s and early 1990s, so far we have amassed 55 issues in total. These 20 page tomes are all but forgotten among the modern generation of fans, but reading through any one of them reveals a treasure trove. Some issues contain obscure facts, rare interviews, exclusive photos. However, they are also valuable as a window into the past. To see a snapshot of the Beach Boys fandom as it existed 30 or 40 years ago. To see people raving about bootlegs that we take for granted nowadays. To read rumours of recordings that we know well (or in some cases, that we didn't know about at all). To see what the popular consensus was at the time. 

As you can tell, I have a particular fondness for these little booklets and the treasures within. That is why I (and others) have spent so much time and money to buy and scan them. To preserve these nuggets of fandom from the pre-internet age. Of course, what use are 50 pdfs on a private drive? I am not in control of the archive itself, but I will try and spread the word by transcribing and posting some of the most unique and interesting pieces from these pages.

Before I get into the first article, I want to say two things.

One: I am doing this without permission from the initial authors or publisher. My assumption is that since these magazines have been out of print for decades, any details within are considered fair game. However, should the original copyright holders or any of the contributors whose work I feature request so, I will remove this post.

Two: This is perhaps ironic following point 1, but this archival project is an ongoing one. If anybody reading this would like to contribute, a full list of missing issues is provided on the home page.

So without further ado, here is the first in a series of blasts from the past. Picture a world where 'Loop De Loop' and 'We Gotta Groove' were but rumours circulating among an elite circle of collectors. Before the internet made getting any bootleg as easy as typing in a search bar. When you relied on chance encounters of fan meetups. That is where our story starts. Andrew G Doe, no doubt a familiar name to all Beach Boys fans, has been sent out to California and has set up a meeting with an unnamed figure only known as 'The Keeper of the Tapes.' Mysterious....

Brand New Old Friends 

AGD’s Visit With ‘The Keeper of the Tapes’ - Taken From Beach Boys Stomp Issue 28, published December 1981

For just the briefest moment, as the Keeper of the Tapes shuffled his precious charges into some order, I was struck by a shaft of doubt; supposing all my dire predictions were correct and that the material I was about to hear was mostly poor to average – how could I then justify the expenditure of thousands of dollars and tens of thousands of miles in their pursuit? Conversely, if the songs were good, how could I reconcile this with my past theories and utterances on the subject? I pondered and came to this conclusion; if I didn’t think I could wriggle out somehow, would I be here? 

Eventually, the Keeper turned to face me; “I was going to go through them by year, but I reckon it’s better just to dip in”. So saying, he pressed the key – and for the next few hours, my view of the Beach Boys canon took on a different aspect. 

“Stark naked in front of my mirror” is a pretty riveting opening line from anyone, let alone the Beach Boys in 1970! Thus opened “HELP is on the Way”, a Sunflower reject resembling Add Some Music on it’s delicate feel, tinkling trac – banjo, marxophone – and superb group harmonies. For good measure, the song takes in “enemas and stomach pumps” and “yummy carrot cookies” before winding up with a plug for the Radiant Radish. A vintage early ‘70s cut which, when exhumed for “Adult Child”, was slightly remixed – to it’s detriment, sadly. 

Next up came a batch of songs, intended for the aforementioned “Adult Child”, which impressed me as “Love You” out-takes and were most definitely Wilson Brothers as opposed to BB cuts. “Lines” was a classic BW ‘slice-of-life’ opus about going to the movies, much in the mould of “Airplane” with a rocking second segment. “Everybody’s Gotta Live” solved a question we’ve all been asking since 1977 – just how do you fit “A cigarette butt when you flip it in the water/goes ‘Pff’/but the trick is you shouldn’t laugh” to music? If you’re Bri, it’s easy and the result is a delight (if you liked “BBLY”), keyboard every-where and a great organ tag. Of this group, the best was “It’s Tryin’ To Say” or “Baseball’s On” with Dennis in great (for him) vocal form, dumb but likeable lyric (“Batter swings and the ball goes sailin’ out in the crowd”) and an ascending chorus which I never thought he’d make. A tantalising glimpse at what might have been. 

The next cut brought me back to the harsh realities of the BB camp. Just as Mike parades his cousin onstage these days, so he paraded his ‘concern’ for him when he composed “Brian’s Back”. Reducing Brian’s personal and professional traumas to “Well I know he’s had his ups and downs”, referring to the Lp he initially hated as “a sensation” and “ol’ ‘Pet Sounds’” and the piecemeal lifting of the tag from “You Still Believe In Me” immediately alienated me from this song (which is a different mix from the one aired on the radio), even though, in itself, it’s not so bad, though an instrumental middle-eight kills it stone dead. I could’nt[sic] live with this song, were I Mike and had a conscience… 

Sensing the effect the song had on me, the Keeper dipped way back to 1969, perhaps earlier, and played “Two Can Play (Games)”, a marriage of “Busy Doin’ Nothin’” lyrically and “How She Boogalooed It” melodically. Sparse acoustic, organ and snare backing left plenty of space for some genuine BB one-take vocals. Back then, Bri could poke fun at himself – “I’m fat as a cow/Oh how’d I ever get this way?” – whilst hinting how things really were; “In the morning people are so happy/That’s the time when I’m the Mr. Businessman”. Under two minutes of instant sunshine. 

A spate of alternate (read ‘original’) mixes followed; a much, much rougher “Shortenin’ Bread” left me wondering howcum[sic] Carl didn’t do himself an injury, gettin’ down so much! The much discussed long mix of “Rock & Roll Music”, again rougher with extra guitar licks and all the verses of the Berry original, was followed by a sumptuous version of “Big Sur” from 1970 – a different temp, lush Bri production and an extra couplet at the end – and a mix of “Hey Little Tomboy” with a sparser backing track and a hilarious spoken section during the middle eight, guaranteed to have the women’s libbers up in arms; “Fine little thing…. Take her out a time or two”. Finally, in this segment, the long mix of “’Til I Die”; that’s right, the one I said was a fake – only I was 100% wrong and I admit it. Hearing this song on a very good quality tape negates all my reservations; this is a genuine Brian Wilson song and a very good one at that. 

The Keeper switched tapes and suddenly and airplane engine burst from the speakers, splicing into a honky-tonk piano overlaid with crowd effects and insane cackles from Brian. Before I could ask what the hell was going on, Mike bounced in with a bass line which explained it all; “Loop de loop, flip flop, flying in an airplane”. Before I could draw breath, the rest of the Boys jumped in behind him and the air was thick with voices and effects (swannee whistles?); a verse emerged from the cacophony and was gone almost before I could register who’d sung it (Brian the first time, Al the next two) ; more effects (a dive-bombed rooster?!) and always the song moved up and on, a higher key and more noise; an acapella section, a false fade and it was done. I checked my watch. Under three minutes. Incredible. A circus, a Mack Sennett Keystone Kops chase on disc. I felt drained. God help us if the fifteen-minute version ever gets loose. 

Sensing the need for a period of recuperation, the Keeper switched tapes again, observing cryptically, “Don’t pre-judge these”. All was soon clear as the dulcet tones of His Loveship wafted from the speakers and I realised I was listening to selections from “First Love”. The title cut slid down with very little fuss, nicely anonymous, but the next, “Little Lela” forced me to admit that the man wasn’t all bad, as did a simpler version of “Sumahama” (no Japanese lyric) whilst “The Right Kind of Love” swung between ballad and rocker with great dexterity. But it was “Viggie” – pronounced vid-gie – which really took my fancy; a cross between “Wonderful” and King Harvest’s “Vaea”, with a sweet ocarina hook line, the only way to describe this song is Nice. From the snippets I heard – “Brian’s Back” aside – I venture we’ve missed out with the non-release of “First Love”. (Hey, did I really write that?) 

Nicely rested from the exertions of “Loop”, the Keeper next played a selection of BB covers, leading of with “Carnival”, a non-lyrical rendition of the old standard “The Loveliest Night of the Year” lasting less than a minute. Hot on it’s heels came “Seasons in the Sun”, not strictly a cover as Terry Jacks did his version four years later…. But not strictly a BB song either; the feeling was missing, the production accomplished but sterile. Jacks’ 1974 hit was almost a carbon copy of his arrangement of it here. 

From 1977 came “Deep Purple”, one of Brian’s few musical errors. The Dick Reynolds arranged backing track was immaculate in it’s layered textures and swirls, but Brian’s voice just wasn’t up to it; I winced all the way through. Going back one more year, Alan delivered his customary excellent vocal recounting the life “On Broadway”, buoyed up by a very good production from Brian and some great sax from Steve Douglas. The next song, quite simply, blew me away; ever since I heard of it’s existence, I’d mentally filed “Michael Rowed the Boat Ashore” alongside “Ding Dang” as a BW musical joke. Wrong, wrong, totally wrong; this track is simply magnificent. In one song, Brian pulled together all the elements he’d used during the preceeding[sic] 15 years (with an especial nod to “Sloop John B”), given it his best production and arrangement of the 1970s and created the ultimate Beach Boys song. I guarantee you could play this to an illiterate Eskimo and he’d say “Ah, Beach Boys!”. If I seem to be going over the top, it’s because I can’t begin to convey how outstanding this cut is; everything, from Mike’d[sic] doubled lead to the steel drums, is just perfect. The reason why this never made it onto “15 Big Ones” is self-evident; it would’ve made the rest of the LP stink. 

To calm me a little, the Keeper next aired some old friends of mine, and after all the years it was a great joy to hear “San Miguel”, “I Just Got My Pay”, “Good Time” original mix and “Lady” in high quality stereo. 

I seem to remember a STOMP some time back when Mike Grant bemoaned the lack of a new Xmas Album and asked for the release of the 1977 Xmas sessions. Well Michael, the material I heard from those sessions was mostly uninspired and on occasions, downright bad. “Christmas Day” was the worst offender, with a Mike Love vocal so bad I wondered if this wasn’t perhaps just a scratch attempt. Carl’s attempt at “Go & Get That Girl” was almost as bad, the song seemingly in the wrong key and, compared to the Celebration cover, badly arranged – I can’t believe Brian had anything to do with these cuts. On the other hand, his own “Winter Symphony” was very fine, with the added bonus of a good BW lead vocal (duetting with himself). A stronk hook and “Penny Lane” – type horn arrangement elevate this above the rest of the sessions… bar one. Dennis’ “Morning Xmas”, with it’s dense textures, shifting tempos and sparse lyric, imparted a very special Christmas feeling, even in early fall with the sun streaming through the windows. Finally, a remixed and partially re-recorded “Child of Winter” struck me as tired and not as much fun as the 1974 version.

Moving up a year or so, the Keeper next offered “Our Team”, an “MIU” out-take, though for the life of me I can’t see why. It’s a fun-if-dumb song about team spirit – “You’ll never lose it/With us you’re still number one” – with some nice flute riffs from Charles Lloyd. To follow, the remix of “School Days” intended for 45 issue; a looser version, with the drums pushed up front, less sterile than the “KTSA” cut. 

To close this almost-unbelievable session of archive material (by now I was suffering from severe overload and having trouble correlating all I’d heard), the Keeper turned to me with an amused expression and said; “I’m told you don’t believe these are any good as they’ve not been released yet. Well..” And for the third time that afternoon, I was proved wrong. “It’s Over Now” and “Still I Dream of It” are both very fine songs, song by Brian Wilson about Brian Wilson. “It’s Over Now” utilised progressions and chords unusual in even a BW song, and Carl and Brian (with help from Marilyn) adopt such unusual phrasing that at first, it sounded completely out of key but on a second run-through, it all fitted, and the sense of loss and desolation was almost too intense. “Still I Dream of It” went further yet; a totally Brian solo (the Reynolds arranged backing aside – he also did “It’s Over Now”), it went beyond the loss; to realisation – “I made mistakes today/Will I never learn the lessons that all come my way” – through wry humour – “When I was younger/My mother told me Jesus loved the world/And if that’s true then/Why hasn’t he helped me to find a girl?” – and finally, optimism; “Someday I’ll find my world…” Sadly, Brian never found his world (rather, it was denied him) and we are poorer for it.

The Keeper saw me to the door and, as I mumbled my inadequate thanks, smiled and left me with a parting remark which still has me wondering; “Always leave them wanting more… keep them guessing”