THE BEACH BOYS - FEEL FLOWS

By the late 1960s the Beach Boys popularity was at an all-time low due partly to their cultural standing and public image. They were dealing with financial issues caused by two disastrous tours in 1968 and record sales had shown a steady decline since the days of surf, cars and girls. Their current album 20/20, released in February 1969, had sold better than the previous years Friends album but neither matched the success of their earlier albums. Brian Wilson was also suffering from erratic behaviour and had become a recluse, often not leaving his house for months on end. All this affected his reputation within the music business. Of course, there was also Dennis Wilson's friendship with Charles Manson, the Manson Family and the Sharon Tate - LaBianca murders which grabbed unwanted media attention. Their final tour of the year was a dismal affair with crowds often struggling to reach two or three hundred resulting in several cancelled dates. Things needed to change.

Photo (c) Annie Leibovitz

In April 1969 they filed a $2 million lawsuit against Capitol Records for unpaid royalties and production duties and also announced they would revive their Brother Records Label with records to be distributed by Reprise/Warner records.

Sessions for their next album began in January 1969 and would continue, on and off, throughout the year. Over 40 tracks were recorded and early working titles for the new album included Reverberation, Sun Flower, The Fading Rock Group Revival and Add Some Music To Your Day. The sessions were produced by The Beach Boys as a group but also individually by Brian Wilson, Carl Wilson, Bruce Johnston, Al Jardine and Dennis Wilson individually.

The album would go through many changes of track listings as the record was rejected several times. A short while before signing with Reprise the band compiled a 14-track acetate for the label with the title Sun Flower, it was rejected. Renamed Add Some Music (An Album Offering from The Beach Boys) and submitted again it was also rejected. The label felt the album wasn't strong enough. From February through June the band worked on overdubbing and recording new material. Another batch of songs were offered but rejected once again. However, during this time two tracks were selected as single pairing Add Some Music To Your Day with Susie Cincinnati. In July a final master of what would become Sunflower was finally submitted to Reprise and accepted.

Released in the USA in August 1970 and November in the UK it only reached number 151 on the US charts, their worst selling album up to that point, while in the UK it peaked at number 29. Two more singles were released, Tears In The Morning/It's About Time and Cool, Cool Water/Forever, neither charted.

The album included several Dennis Wilson compositions, Slip On Through, Got To Know The Woman and the beautiful Forever while Bruce Johnston provided Deirdre and Tears In The Morning. Other songs, written by combinations of the band members included, Add Some Music To Your Day, All I Wanna Do, Our Sweet Love and At My Window. The closing track, Cool, Cool Water had evolved from the Smile track I Love To Say DaDa and had been attempted several times during sessions in 1967 for the Smiley Smile and Wild Honey albums.

Close to three dozen tracks were never used on the album and  remained in the vaults although over the years several have found a release as we will discover later.

The album cover featured all six members and was taken by Ricci Martin, Dean Martin's son, at a golf course on Dean Martin's Hidden Valley Ranch in Ventura County, California. The inner gatefold sleeve featured more images, this time by photographer Ed Thrasher on the Warner Bros. studio back-lot.

Despite it's poor showing on the chart the album did receive positive reviews. Writing in Rolling Stone, Jim Miller considered the album, "...without doubt the best Beach Boys album in recent memory, a stylistically coherent tour de force." Although he did end by saying, "It makes one wonder though whether anyone still listens to their music, or could give a shit about it."

Robert Christgau, in The Village Voice, felt that, "...as a coming-of-age record from the Beach Boys, Sunflower is far more satisfying, I suspect, than Smile ever would have been."

Regarded by many as the best Beach Boys album since Pet Sounds this was reflected in other reviews. "The strongest album they released post-Pet Sounds." (Pitchfork), "It stands as the definitive post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys album" (Popdose) and "... in many respects their Abbey Road - a lush production that signaled an end to the 1960s, the decade that gave them creative flight." (Paste).

Sunflower has also done well in various polls, In 1997 it was voted number 66 in the '100 Best Albums Ever' by The Guardian and in 2003, number 380 in Rolling Stone's '500 Greatest Ever Albums of All Time'.

Bruce Johnston, talking in the 1970s, named Sunflower as his favourite Beach Boys album and considered it the last true Beach Boys album as it was the last to feature Brian Wilson's input and involvement. 

Back in July 1969 Brian Wilson, along with Mike Love and Bruce Johnston, held an interview with Jack Rieley, who would become the bands manager. During the interview Brian spoke about the band and his feelings saying, "I'm proud of the group and the name but feel the clean American thing has hurt us. And we're really not getting any kind of airplay today." He also felt they hadn't done enough to change their image. With their new album, and input from Rieley, they would write and record a selection of songs which dealt with environmental, social and health issues. It was a plan to restore the bands image and reputation. It would also see Carl Wilson become 'leader' and marking his first major contributions to a Beach Boys album.

After the release of Sunflower, Stephen Desper, the bands engineer, had assembled a selection of tracks, mainly outtakes, for a follow-up which he called Second Brother Album. Rieley hated the tracks and called them "forgettable" and at a meeting with Mo Ostin, a Warner Brothers executive and massive Brian Wilson fan, took one listen and said, "No way."

With the exception of a handful of tracks the new album was recorded at sessions running from January through to July 1971. However, Brian was less involved in the production.

The original planned title of the new album was Landlocked but this changed and it would take it's name from the closing track Surf's Up.

Released in August 1971 on Brother/Reprise Surf's Up was the Beach Boys 17th studio album and the follow-up to Sunflower. In the UK it was issued two-months later.

The album featured two of Carl Wilson's first important solo efforts, Long Promised Road and Feel Flows and was an indication of what was to come from him in the future. Mike Love took the old Leiber & Stoller classic Riot In Cell Block Number 9 and reworked it as Student Demonstration Time, which apparently disgusted Dennis Wilson and embarrassed Carl. Brian felt the lyrics were too intense. Till I Die was a track that Brian had been working on for a few months while Take A Load Off Your Feet was written with Al Jardine, who also contributes Lookin' At Tomorrow (A Welfare Song) and co-wrote A Day In The Life Of A Tree with Rieley and Brian. Bruce Johnston's only composition on the album was Disney Girls, a song he wrote  "...because I saw so many kinds in our audiences being wiped out on drugs" and he wanted to recreate a time when people were more naive and healthier. Brian loved the harmonies on the song.

Surf's Up bought the album to a close and originally Brian didn't want it included and on giving in insisted Carl sing the lead vocal. When this didn't work they went back to the original 1966 recording and overdubbed a new vocal from Carl. Brian appeared as the session was ending and added the songs final lyrics.

Dennis Wilson had none of his songs on the album and was keeping them for his own solo album which he planned to release in 1971 but the project, to be provisionally titled Poops/Hubba Bubba, was shelved.

Once again there were many songs recorded and left on the shelf including Wouldn't It be Nice (To Live Again), My Solution, H.E.L.P. Is On The Way and an attempt at Seasons In The Sun, a song written by Jacques Brel and Rod McKuel which would become a hit in 1974 for Terry Jacks. Mike Love was quoted as saying their version of the song was so wimpy they had no choice but to throw it away.

The album cover artwork was based on an early 20th-century sculpture 'End Of The Trail' by James Earle Fraser. Located in Waupun, Wisconsin it depicted a weary Native American hanging limp as his tired horse approaches the edge of the Pacific Ocean. It embodied the suffering and exhaustion of people driven from their native lands. It was an appropriate cover image for the album. However, it wasn't the first choice for an album cover. With it's original working title Landlocked a cover was designed featuring white lettering printed over a photograph of a dark field. Thankfully this was discarded in favour of the cover we now know.

Chartwise it performed better than Sunflower, reaching number 29 on the US charts, their highest placing since 1967, and number 15 in the UK.

Two singles were released in America Long Promised Road b/w Deirdre and Surf's Up b/w Don't Go Near The Water the former becoming the bands sixth consecutive US single that failed to chart.

Rolling Stone wrote, "The Beach Boys stage a remarkable comeback. An LP that weds their choral harmonies to progressive pop and which shows youngest Wilson brother Carl stepping into the fore of the venerable outfit." In Time the reviewer described it as, "One of the most imaginatively produced LPs since last fall's All Things Must Pass by George Harrison and Phil Spector." Other reviews praised the album with comments including, "This is a good album, probably as good as Sunflower, which is terrific...It is certainly the most original in that it has contributed something purely its own." and "It won't disappoint anyone at all. They've produced an album which fully backs up all that's recently been written and said about them."

Of course, not everybody was so positive. The Rag felt that all the press furor over the groups reputed comeback was rubbish and the album suffered from horrendous production and engineering and a lack of focus. Writing in The Guardian, Geoffrey Cannon felt the album was inconsistent while Robert Christgau, in The Village Voice, liked Disney Girls and Take A Load Off Your Feet but found most of the other songs forgettable and the album the bands worst since Friends in 1968. He put a lot of the blame on Van Dyke Park and Jack Rieley commenting that, "Van Dyke Park's wacked-out lyricist meandering is matched by the sophomoric spiritual quest of Jack Rieley, and the music drags hither and yon." Fortunately most people disagreed.

Surf's Up has appeared in many polls with New Musical Express ranking it number 96 in their 1974 list of 'Top 100 Albums Of All Time' and in 1993 it had risen to number 46 in their list. In the 2000 book All Time Top 1000 Albums it was ranked at number 230. It was also listed in the book, 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Interestingly Bruce Johnston, who wouldn't work with the group again until the L.A. (Light Album) in 1979, would later criticize Surf's Up saying, "To me, Surf's Up, is and always has been, one hyped-up lie! It was a false reflection of The Beach Boys and one which Jack (Rieley) engineered right from the start. It made it look like Brian Wilson was more than just a visitor at those sessions. Jack made it appear he was there all the time." Although he would also state about Rieley, "All I can say is that at the beginning, I thought that what he was trying to do was absolutely right on the money. He helped the band become aware of what our niche was in pop music."

This all brings us to the latest Beach Boys compilation/release... Feel Flows.

Released in August 2021 this 5-CD set, presented in a 48-page 12" x 10" hard-backed book, is sub-titled, The Sunflower & Surf's Up Sessions 1969 - 1971, and was compiled/produced by Beach Boys archivists Mark Linett and Alan Boyd. It includes 133 tracks with 108 previously unreleased. A mix of live recordings, outtakes, alternate versions, remixes, backing tracks and vocal only tracks which helps the listener understand the creative process which resulted in both Sunflower and Surf's Up.

Released with the full co-operation of the surviving band members it proves that the Beach Boys were not a spent force at this time and shows them at a critical stage of their careers. Every member appears to be overflowing with ideas and with a new sense of liberation. It also marks the return of Brian Wilson as an active member of the group following his physical and mental deterioration following the Smile sessions.

Disc one features the original Sunflower album along with previously unreleased tracks from the period and live recordings. The second disc covers Surf's Up, with the original album supported by more unreleased live recordings and unreleased tracks from the sessions. Discs three and four cover the Sunflower and Surf's Up sessions respectively and also features a number of A Capella tracks. The final disc contains various tracks from 1969-1971 some of which were recorded but eventually dropped from the albums.

Among the unreleased tracks from both album sessions are Susie Cincinnati, Two Can Play, San Miguel, H.E.L.P. Is On The Way, My Solution, Big Sur and Seasons In The Sun. In 1973 a new recording of Big Sur would find a release as part of California Saga on their Holland album.

We get to hear A Capella versions/backing vocals of many of the tracks including Break Away, Add Some Music To Your Day, Cotton Fields, the beautiful Forever, Surf's Up and Long Promised Road. Work in progress recordings gives the listener the opportunity to hear alternate versions of Don't Go Near The Water, Take A Load Of Your Feet along with session highlights including Loop De Loop, At My Window, Cool, Cool Water, Deirdre and much more.

Of particular interest is the wealth of material written by Dennis Wilson and intended for his first solo album, Poops/Hubba Bubba, but never released. Tracks include I'm Goin' Your Way, Old Movie (Cuddle Up), All Of My Love/Ecology, Barbara, Hawaiian Dream, I've Got A Friend and Behold The Night. Many of these were co-written with Daryl Dragon of Captain and Tenille fame who scored hits with Do That To Me One More Time, Muskrat Love and Love Will Keep Us Together.

The set also shows what a dynamic live act they were and on this set we are treated to eleven live recordings covering the period 1970 to 1993. Highlights include Add Some Music To Your Day (1993), Riot In Cell Block Number 9 (1970), Surf's Up (1973), Disney Girls (1982) and Student Demonstration Time (1971).

The set ends with two tracks which would eventually be recorded for the 1972 album Carl And The Passions - "So Tough", You Need A Mess Of Help To Stand Alone and Marcella.

My only complaint about the set is the book which is mainly a collection of old quotes from band members taken from various interviews supported with some basic text. A set like this deserved a more informative liner note detailing the recordings etc along with studio shots, memorabilia and sleeves. A minor point that doesn't distract from the quality of the music.

Feel Flows is proof, if any was needed, that the Beach Boys never stopped creating great music. Sit back, relax, turn the lights down and Add Some Music To Your Day.

SEEING RED

The history of the London Underground has always interested me and in this latest article I am going to look back at the life of Leslie Green, the English architect who was responsible for the design of iconic stations with the distinctive ox blood tiling. I'll also look at the stations I have visited so far and give a brief history.

Leslie Green (Photographer Unknown)

Leslie William Green was born in Maida Vale, London on 6 February 1875 and educated at Dover College and South Kensington School of Art.

In 1897 he established his own architect practice working from his father's offices before moving to Haymarket in 1900 and finally Adam Street, close to The Strand. He had been made an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 1898 and a year later a member of RIBA.

His early work included many shops and homes across London but it was his work for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) for which he will be best remembered.

It was in 1903 that he was appointed as architect for the Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL) to design the stations for the Great Northern, Piccadilly and Brompton Railway (GNP&BR), the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway (BS&WR) and the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR) all of which were under construction. Today the lines are known as the Piccadilly Line, Bakerloo Line and Northern Line.

Green was tasked with designing fifty new stations. Not only the exteriors but also the fixtures and fittings internally. He had developed a modern style for the ground-level stations with each adapted to suit their locality. Constructed as two-storey structures with steel frames, an idea that had originated in America, they provided large internal areas for ticket halls and lift shafts

The exteriors were clad in ox-blood (sang-de-boeuf) red glazed tiles. They were manufactured by the Burmantofts Pottery based in Leeds which, in 1889, merged with other companies to become the Leeds Fireclay Company.

Covent Garden Station

Built with separate entrances and exits the stations were noticeable by not only the red tiling but the arched windows at first floor level.They had flat roofs which would allow office building above.

The idea of tiling continued in the booking halls and platform levels with green and white tiles while, on the platforms, the station names and direction signs were also made using tiles. It created a unified theme and was easy to maintain.

The three lines were due to open in 1906 and 1907 and in June of 1907 Green was told his contract would end at the end of the year. Green died in August 1908 and many of his original buildings have survived even though the interiors have been modernised. Many are Grade II listed buildings. 

The following is a list of the relevant stations on each of the three lines...

Bakerloo Line: Edgware Road, Great Central, Baker Street, Regent's Park, Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Embankment, Waterloo, Kennington Road and Elephant & Castle.

Piccadilly Line: Gillespie Road, Holloway Road, Caledonian Road, York Road, King's Cross, Russell Square, Holborn, Strand, Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Picadilly Circus, Dover Street, Down Street, Hyde Park Corner, Knightsbridge, Brompton Road, South Kensington and Gloucester Road.

Northern Line: Highgate, Tufnell Park, Kentish Town, South Kentish Town, Golders Green, Hampstead, Belsize Park, Chalk Farm, Camden Town, Mornington Crescent, Euston, Euston Road, Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Street, Leicester Square and Charing Cross.

Note: Many of these have been demolished or are due for demolition, closed, never had a station building or have been renamed.

What follows is a brief history of four of the Leslie Green designed station buildings that I have visited and photographed. I am planning more London trips and will be seeking out more of the stations and photographing them and hope to add to this article in the future.

Covent Garden

Situated on the Piccadilly Line between Leicester Square and Holborn it serves the Covent Garden area and is located on the corner of Long Acre and Janes Street. In 1929, with the extension of the Piccadilly Line, the station was earmarked for closure based on the fact that the closing of less-busy stations in the central London area would improve the reliability of the service and journey times. Fortunately the closure never took place and the station building remains and is now a Grade II listed building.

York Road

Located on the corner of York Road (now York Way) and Bingfield Street the station was on the Piccadilly Line between King's Cross and Caledonian Road. The station opened in 1906 but due to low volume of passengers it closed in 1932.

York Road Underground

It was unusual due to the fact that, unlike most underground stations on the line where the lifts stopped at a level above the platforms and so passengers had to descend a final flight of stairs to catch their train, the lifts at York Road went right down to the platform level. This meant that the platforms had to be further apart than normal and so the interconnecting passageways were much longer than normal. The station building still exists although for how much longer, who knows.

Euston

There were three underground stations built to serve Euston mainline station and two of these were built by two different companies, City & South London Railway (C&SLR) and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway (CCE&HR). The London & North Western Railway (L&NWR) owned the land and had given their permission to both companies as long as there were separate stations and entrances to both from within the main station. They opened in 1907 and closed in 1914 leaving just the entrance in the mainline station in use.

Euston (on Melton Street)

The CCE&HR underground station was located on Melton Street just west of the mainline station. After its closure it housed the ventilation equipment for the Victoria Line. Another Leslie Green designed station that should have Grade II listed building status but is unfortunately being demolished (or has already been) to make way for the construction of the HS2 rail line. I was fortunate to visit the site recently and capture this image. The other station was located east of the mainline station at the junction of Eversholt Street and Drummond Street but has long since been demolished.

Aldwych/Strand

Aldwych station was opened in 1907 with the name Strand after the street on which it was located. It was the terminus of the short branch line from Holborn on the Piccadilly Line. Several reasons have been given for the existence of the short bit of line. One is a Parlimentary condition that the line be built. Another is the idea to extend the line south of the river, an idea that is more likely as plans were apparently made.

Strand (Aldwych) Station

It changed its name to Aldwych in 1915 as the nearby Charing Cross Underground Station was also called Strand at the time. It changed it's name back to Charing Cross in 1979. Confusing or what! Never a busy station it was considered for closure many times and in 1962 only weekday peak hour trains ran and by 1994 the station was closed The station building is on the corner of Strand and Surrey Street and if you go around the corner into Surrey Street you will find another entrance to the station.

Strand (Aldwych) Station entrance on Surrey Street

During the Second World War the station was used as an air raid shelter and the unused tunnels as storage for rare and priceless treasures from the British Museum. Today it is maintained by the London Underground as a museum piece and often used as a location for TV and films.

For further reading on the London Underground, it's history and visiting some of the sites I recommend the following books.

London's Disused Underground Stations (J. E. Connor)

Do Not Alight Here (Ben Pedroche)

BEACH MOVIES

In this latest article I will be looking back at the history of the beach movie genre, a brief look at the careers of two of it's greatest stars, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon, and an in-depth look at the four beach movies they starred in together.

In 1957 author Frederick Kohner created a fictional character based on his teenage daughter Kathy and wrote the book Gidget, The Little Girl With Big Ideas. The book, later published with the shorter title Gidget, followed the adventures of a teenage girl and her surfer friends on the beach in Malibu. The name was a combination of 'girl' and 'midget.' In the years that followed Kohner wrote sequels including The Affairs Of Gidget (1963), Gidget In Love (1965), Gidget Goes Parisienne (1966) and Gidget Goes New York (1968).

He sold the rights to Columbia Pictures for $50,000 and the character Gidget was adapted into three movies directed by Paul Wendkos. The first, Gidget, released in 1959, found Sandra Dee playing the role of the title character. It also starred a young Yvonne Craig, who would go on to find success as Batgirl in the final season of Batman. Subsequent films, Gidget Goes Hawaiian (1961) and Gidget Goes To Rome (1963), saw Deborah Walley and Cindy Carol in the title role. 

Both Yvonne Craig and Deborah Walley starred in movies with Elvis Presley, although none fall into the category of beach movies. Craig appeared in two films with him, It Happened At The Worlds Fair (1963) and Kissin' Cousins (1964) while Walley appeared alongside him in Spinout (1966). Elvis did make a few movies with a beach connection including Blue Hawaii (1961) and Girl Happy (1965) although neither really fit into the beach movie genre as covered by this article.

While both the Columbia 'Gidget' films were seen as the forerunner of the beach movie genre and introduced surfing into mainstream America it was actually American International Pictures (AIP) that established the typical style with their films released between 1963 and 1968.

However, prior to the release of the first AIP beach movie there were a number of films that followed the tried and true formula of a current trend mixed with romance and music. Released in 1958 Hot Rod Gang and it's 1959 sequel Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow were both made by AIP while Where The Boys Are was released in 1960 by MGM and 1961's Love In A Goldfish Bowl appeared courtesy of Paramount Pictures.

The first beach movie that was made by AIP was Beach Party with a script written by Lou Rusoff who had written scripts for both the aforementioned Hot Rod Gang and Ghost Of Dragstrip Hollow. Released in August 1963 it was a major hit with a first-week gross higher than any of its competition.

The important elements of the AIP films included groups of teenage/college characters who were the protagonists, adults in the role of antagonists, simple and often silly storylines, teen interests like surfing, dancing, cars and finally, music, either background but more often original songs often performed by artists of the day.

In this article we are concentrating on the beach movie genre although later AIP films moved away from the beach and surfing while still keeping many of the elements listed above.

Surprisingly, for the time, advertising for the films was quite suggestive promising much more than what would actually appear in the film. "It's what happens when 10,000 kids meet on 5,000 beach blankets!" (Beach Party) and "When 10,000 biceps go around 5,000 bikinis, you know what's going to happen!" (Muscle Beach Party) are just two examples that teased the audience. While both the male and female cast wore revealing swimwear for the time none of the films included any sex or nudity.

AIP co-founder Samuel Z. Arkoff had already cast the adult characters but needed leading teenagers. He already had a good working relationship with singer Frankie Avalon who was a natural choice for the leading male character. He then made a deal with a former Mouseketeer, Annette Funicello, whose contract permitted her to appear in non-Disney films subject to approval of the legal team. However, there was one caveat... she could not appear in a bikini!

Frankie Avalon had scored 31 chart hits including Venus and Why, both of which reached number one in 1959, Just Ask Your Heart, Bobby Sox To Stockings, A Boy Without A Girl and many more. His first film appearance was a brief cameo in 1957's Jamboree where he played a trumpet and sang Teacher's Pet.

Annette Funicello began her career as a 12-year old child performer. She was one of the most popular Disney Mouseketeers in the original Mickey Mouse Club and went on to have a successful career in film and music. Among her hits were Pineapple Princess, O Dio Mio and First Name Initial.

Cinema Editor summed up the pairing of Avalon and Funicello, "In Frankie and Annette, teenagers now had their own version of Rock Hudson and Doris Day as the 'bedroom farce' was moved to the beach and made a little younger, a little dumber, and stuffed full of wild music."

So it's off to the beach and a look at the four films they made together...

Beach Party (Released: 7 August 1963)

Professor Robert Sutwell (Bob Cummings) is secretly studying the 'mating habits' of the local teenagers who spend their time at the beach in California. Eric von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck), the leader of The Rats, a local motorcycle gang, is temporarily paralyzed by Sutwell after he was making advances on Dolores (Annette Funicello). She develops a crush on the Professor and her boyfriend Frankie (Frankie Avalon) gets jealous. He starts flirting with Ava (Eva Six), an Hungarian waitress. To complicate matters Sutwell's assistant, Marianne (Dorothy Malone) also has eyes on the Professor. Von Zipper and his gang mates plan to bring Sutwell down but are defeated by the surfing teenagers.

The film was shot throughout March 1963 in Newport, Balboa, Laguna, Paradise Cove and Malibu Beach. Avalon recalled they were constantly filming while Funicello felt constant pressure throughout filming to show her navel to which she refused. Despite earlier conditions by Disney she did wear a pink two-piece bikini in the film and in future films she would show her navel and continue to wear a bikini.

Music was written especially for the film and Gary Usher & Roger Christian, who also worked with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys, wrote three songs, the title track performed by Avalon and Funicello, Swingin' And Surfin and Secret Surfin' Spot, both performed by Dick Dale, who also starred in the film as himself. Other songs included Don't Stop Now, Treat Him Nicely and Promise Me Anything (But Give Me Love).

Reviews were mixed. The New York Times wrote, "The real trouble is that almost the entire cast emerges as the dullest bunch ever, with the old folks even sillier than the kids." Variety were kinder in their review, "A bouncy bit of lightweight fluff... the kind of direct, simple-minded cheeriness which should prove well nigh irresistible to those teenagers who have no desire to escape the emptiness of their lives."

Annette Funicello would later say that Beach Party was her favourite of the series.

Muscle Beach Party (Released: 25 March 1964)

It is a year later and Dee Dee (Funicello) and Frankie (Avalon) along with their beach party gang head to Malibu Beach for another summer of fun and surfing. When they arrive they are shocked to discover their secret surfing spot under threat by a bunch of body builders led by coach Jack Fanny (Don Rickles). It is not long before Juliana Giotto-Borgini (Luciana Paluzzi), a bored Italian Countess starts flirting with Frankie and he seems quite happy to go along with it. She plans on turning him into a teen pop idol. His surfing mates and wealthy S. Z. Matts (Buddy Hackett) convince him he is making a mistake and seeing the error of his ways Frankie goes back to his beach bunny Dee Dee.

Filming took place at various locations including Paradise Cove.

Funicello reprised her character from Beach Party but in Muscle Beach Party, and subsequent films, she is known as Dee Dee, as opposed to Dolores. 

Like Beach Party the original score was composed by Les Baxter while Gary Usher & Roger Christian wrote six songs with the help of Brian Wilson. Surfer's Holiday was performed by Avalon, Funicello and the cast while Runnin' Wild was just Avalon. Donna Loren sang Muscle Bustle backed by Dick Dale who along with his Del-Tones, performed My First Love, Muscle Beach Party. The a cappella number Surfin' Woodie was performed by Dale and the cast.

The Los Angeles Times described the film as, "... a romantic, slightly satirical film comedy with songs which should prove popular with members of the two younger sets it concerns - surfers and musclemen - and with oldsters who don't mind the juvenile antics." Variety weren't as impressed with the second film when they wrote, "... the novelty of surfing has worn off, leaving in its wake little more than a conventional teenage-geared romantic farce with songs." Even harsher was The Monthly Film Bulletin who felt, "...this is an excruciatingly unfunny and unattractive sequel to Beach Party. William Asher's direction remains quite bright, but that is about all that can be said for the film."

Annette Funicello was nominated for The Golden Laurel by trade magazine Motion Picture Exhibitor for 'Best Female Musical Performance.'

Bikini Beach (Released: 22 July 1964)

School's out and the teenagers are off to the beach once more. All seems to be going well until millionaire Harvey Huntington Honeywagon III (Keenan Wyn), convinced that the beach goers are obsessed with sex and their mentality is less than that of a chimp. He plans to turn the beach into a retirement home which demoralizes the teenagers. Meanwhile a British rocker and drag racer, Peter Royce Bentley, known as 'The Potato Bug' (played by Avalon in a dual role) takes up residence in the area. It is not long before Dee Dee (Funicello), fed up of Frankie (Avalon) and his reluctance to further their relationship towards marriage, is drawn to Potato Bug's advances. Frankie, in a jealous rage, confronts Potato Bug and challenges him to a drag race in the hope of winning Dee Dee back.

Auto Club raceway in Pomona, California was used as a location during filming.

Director William Asher, in a 2004 interview, claimed that the script was originally written for the Beatles and they had agreed to star but dropped out when their fame grew following the Ed Sullivan Show. Asher reworked the script with Avalon's dual role as Potato Bug created to replace The Beatles in the story. This was all very unlikely as The Beatles had signed a three-movie deal with United Artists back in 1963.

AIP did a survey after the first two movies as they wanted to find out how much surfing should be featured in the films. Of course it wasn't the surfing that was the main attraction, it was the fun and love between Avalon and Funicello.

Once again the score was by Les Baxter with songs written by Guy Hemric and Jerry Styner including Bikini Beach (performed by the cast), Love's A Secret Weapon (Donna Loren), This Time It's Love (Funicello) and Because You're You (Avalon and Funicello). Two songs written by Gary Usher & Roger Christian, Record Run and the instrumental Bikini Drag, an instrumental, were both performed in the movie by The Pyramids.

Reviews were mixed. "A horrible juvenile comedy," wrote Eugene Archer in The New York Times while Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times felt the film added up to, "... two hours of mindless relaxation at theatres and drive-ins everywhere." Variety commented, "Introduction of some first-rate satire is so overloaded with coatings of slapstick that the satire will be lost on the great mass of youngsters who will provide the film's major support but it does make Bikini Beach more palatable for parents or pseudo-sophisticates among the teenagers who find themselves viewing it."

Beach Blanket Bingo (Released: 14 April 1965)

Singer Sugar Kane (Linda Evans) is unwittingly being used for publicity stunts including faking a sky diving stunt, by her agent Bullets (Paul Lynde) to help promote her latest album. Meanwhile, Frankie (Avalon) is duped into believing he rescued Kane and is prompted to take up sky diving by Bonnie (Deborah Walley), who is trying to make her boyfriend Steve (John Ashley) jealous. Not one to be left out Dee Dee (Funicello) also tries free-falling. Eric Von Zipper (Harvey Lembeck) and his gang show up and he falls madly in love with Kane. Meanwhile Bonehead (Jody Mcrea) has fallen in love with a mermaid named Lorelei (Marta Kristen). The film draws to a close with a kidnap attempt when the evil South Dakota Slim (Timothy Carey) ties Kane to a buzz-saw.

Filming took place at various locations including Surfrider Beach, Leo Carrillo Beach and Paradise Cove during November and December 1964.

Beach Blanket Bingo was the last of the movies featuring both Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon. The role of Sugar Kane was intended for Nancy Sinatra but she dropped out as the plot involved a kidnapping, something too close to home as her brother Frank Sinatra Jr. had been kidnapped a few months earlier.

As previously the films score and songs were from the same composer, Les Baxter, and song writers, Guy Hemric, Jerry Styner, Gary Usher and Roger Christian. There were ten songs featured including Beach Blanket Bingo (performed by Avalon and Funicello), These Are Good Times (Avalon), It Only Hurts When I Cry (Donna Loren), the instrumental Freeway (The Hondells) and I'll Never Change Him (Funicello). The latter was in initial prints of the movie but removed when the film had a wider release when the decision was made to use the song, retitled We'll Never Change, in a future AIP film, Ski Party.

Reviews were even more scathing for Beach Blanket Bingo with The New York Times writing, "We simply can't believe, no matter what the reports say, that the teenagers buy such junk. It's for morons." Variety were not impressed either, "No one can blame Nicholson and Arkoff for continuing a pattern that has made them money, but this is ridiculous. Are teenagers responding to such drivel as good natured satire of themselves rather than identifying with it? Let's hope so."

Although no actual soundtracks are available on CD, there are a few that feature some of the music from the films. Muscle Beach Party/Beach Party and Bikini Beach/Golden Surf brings together four of Annette Funicello's albums on two CDs  while Summer Beach Party is a compilation that features 'Songs From The Classic Beach Movies Of The '60s' by artists including Avalon, Funicello, Dick Dale, Jan & Dean, Donna Loren and The Kingsmen.

Many of the AIP films have been released on DVD or Blu-Ray although a blu-ray box set featuring at least the four movies covered in this article along with extras like trailers, a photo gallery and movie posters, lobby cards and memorabilia would be welcome. 

Summer is here, the weather is hot so time to watch the girls (and boys) on the beach.

HURT - THE SONG AND THE VIDEO

Trent Reznor had written the song Hurt and recorded it with his band Nine Inch Nails and it was Rick Rubin who suggested that Cash should record the song for his next album. In this article, originally published in issue #53 of The Man in Black, we look back at the recording of the song, the critically acclaimed video and the awards bestowed on both the song and video in the months following its release.

Throughout 2001-2002 Johnny Cash and Rick Rubin were working on songs for his next album. Like their previous collaborations several cover versions were attempted including Bridge Over Troubled Water, In My Life, Desperado and Personal Jesus. However the standout track on what would become American IV: The Man Comes Around would be his cover of the Nine Inch Nails song Hurt.

Cash’s version became one of the most talked about songs of 2003 and there is no doubt that it stands as one of the greatest cover versions of his entire career. However, it was nearly never recorded.

As had happened with Rusty Cage a few years earlier Cash was unsure about the song. When he first heard it, and especially the tune itself, he told Rubin, “I can’t do that song, it’s not my style.” Rubin suggested trying it a different way and laid down a track which Cash felt would work.

It is interesting to note that, at first, Rubin did not want to suggest the song to Cash due to the the original lyrics in one line – ‘I wear my crown of shit.’ On Cash’s version they substituted the word ‘thorns’ instead.

The song was recorded at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville and Akademie Mathematique of Philosophical Sound Research in Los Angeles. Mike Campbell and Smokey Hormel played acoustic guitar while the piano, organ and mellotron parts were handled by Benmont Tench.

On it’s release American IV: The Man Comes Around became Cash’s most successful album in over three decades while Hurt would also be successful, as we shall see later.

The songs composer had his doubts about Cash’s version but after seeing the video his opinion changed, “I heard it and I didn’t quite get it. It felt invasive a little bit, felt like it was my song – y’know that was a real personal song of mine – it felt funny hearing his big voice on it. And then shortly thereafter I got the video in the mail, and that’s when it really hit home, that knocked me over. I couldn’t believe how powerful that track had become juxtaposed into his life.”

The praise that the song Hurt received was nothing compared to what happened next – the music video.

Chicago born Mark Romanek had directed music videos for a diverse range of artists including David Bowie, Michael Jackson, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Madonna, Nine Inch Nails and many more. His videos have resulted in over twenty MTV awards along with three Grammys, a CMA award and three Billboard awards.
Romanek was also a massive Cash fan and for years had begged Rubin to let him make a video of his hero.

Rubin had played him some tracks before the albums release and Romanek said, “Look, I’m making a video for Hurt ok? Let’s just make this work. I’ll do it for free, I’ll do it for a real reasonable budget.”

The original concept for the video was to film Cash on a Los Angeles soundstage surrounded by memorabilia covering the singer’s career. Items would slowly disappear until, at the end of the song, Cash would appear alone.

Unfortunately Cash’s health prevented him from making the trip to Los Angeles so Romanek brought his crew to his Hendersonville home instead. He was not sure what he would find but one stroke of luck was finding the closed and shuttered House of Cash, now in a state of disrepair, and just a few minutes drive from Cash’s lakeside home.

He told Mark Binelli of Rolling Stone magazine, “It had been closed for a long time, the place was in such a state of dereliction. That’s when I got the idea that maybe we could be extremely candid about the state of Johnny’s health – as candid as Johnny has always been in his songs.”

Part of the new concept, filmed at Cash’s home, was to have a piano silhouetted against the window and the dining room with a banquet spread out before him.

The video was shot over three days and after the video was completed Romanek spoke about the video shoot, and he had an interesting story about one particular moment. “I said to John, ‘This is the last take. So if you want to get angry or smash something up, this is your last chance.’” Cash misinterpreted what he had said and thought he meant this would be the final shot in his life, so he had better make it good. Cash was not one to surrender to defeatism. “I hope it’s not the last take,” he said in that familiar baritone growl.

Filming was followed by two weeks of archival search. Romanek recalled in an interview, “We spent two weeks looking at literally hundreds of hours of film, we were just kind of looking for very graphic close-ups and things that would read in the fast cutting of a music video and just had some sort of poignancy or connection to the music in some way.”

June Carter makes a brief appearance in the video and Romanek told Entertainment Weekly how her part came about, “As we were shooting the first set-up of John, June stood on the stairs and looked at her husband with such a complex expression of pride, love, sadness, and nervousness, that I asked her son, John Carter, if she might like to appear in the video. I wanted to capture that look on film. I think June was very flattered to be asked.”

In between filming Cash’s sense of humour showed through. Not more so than when Romanek had asked June if she would appear in the video to which Cash joked, “Yeah, honey, why don’t you dance naked on the piano here while I’m playing?”

Cash was also extremely generous and after filming was completed he autographed over thirty vinyl copies of his latest album and handed them out to the crew as a parting gift.

The video begins significantly enough with a close-up shot of a baroque ornament from the singer’s own collection, but it’s the next frame as the camera fixes on Cash’s face, that the story really begins. The intensely moving scenes of the frail 71-year-old are juxtaposed with archive shots of a younger Cash. At the moment in the video where Cash sings “Everyone I know goes away in the end”, the camera cuts to a framed photo of his mother on the wall.

Cash said that Hurt was the best anti-drug song he’d ever heard and the rage you see when he pours the wine on the table or starts to weep is a direct result of having lost people to addictions.

The final scene repeats an image from the opening seconds with Cash gently closing the lid of the piano, his thick fingers gently following the contours.

There can be no doubt that Romanek’s direction played a major part in the videos success but credit must also go to others involved in the project – Aris McGarry (producer), Sheira Rees-Davies (executive producer), Jamie Amos (production manager), Jean Yves Escoffier (director of photography), Ruby Guidara (art direction) and Robert Duffy (editor).

Of all the videos that Romanek had made over an eleven year period Hurt got the most reaction and attention of any of them.

Rosanne Cash had been told by her sister that the video may be hard to watch and, despite having a copy, had avoided watching it. During a visit to her father in Tennessee he asked if she had seen it. Rosanne Cash recalled this in an interview, “I watched it with him and June and I was weeping and weeping through the whole thing, my dad was completely clear-eyed and focused on the merits of the video, which is so much like him. He’s able to focus on the most awful truths with an artist’s eye.”

Although Cash was clear-eyed when he watched the video with Rosanne he was at first taken aback and it was only when his family encouraged him that he agreed to its release. In an interview Kathy Cash said, “He wasn’t sure he liked it at first, then he kept watching it and he said, ‘You know, that is a good video.’”

Talking about the video Rick Rubin said, “It made me cry. It feels so personal, exposed, and pure, and real, in a way I haven’t seen a music video before. If you could get that much emotion into a two-hour movie you’ve accomplished something. Mark did it in four minutes. It resonates so strongly with people because it’s a reality we all face. This is about all of our lives.”

The Hurt video was nominated for six awards – Video Of The Year, Best Male Video, Best Direction In A Video, Best Art Direction In A Video, Best Editing In A Video and Best Cinematography In A Video.

When the nominations were announced, Cash said, “I am overwhelmed by this great honor. I thank you all for thinking of me.’’

Cash was hoping to attend the MTV Video Music Awards in New York but health problems prevented him from attending.

On hearing that the video had been nominated Romanek said, “We never expected anyone to play this video, we really didn’t, and now it has six nominations.”

Although the video was up against some tough competition it was hard to believe that it only managed to win the Best Cinematography award!

This was something that Justin Timberlake, who was also up for several awards, would not let go without making a comment. Timberlake took the honours for Best Male Video and during his acceptance speech paid tribute to Cash – “This is a travesty! I demand a recount. My grandfather raised me on Johnny Cash, and I think he deserves this more than any of us in here tonight.”

The video may have been overlooked at the MTV Awards but both video and song walked away with the honours at several other ceremonies during 2003. At the Country Music Association Awards Hurt took the honours for Single Of The Year and Music Video Of The Year and John Carter-Cash accepted the awards.

Talking about Hurt he said, “My father could take any song it seemed, and he could look at it and he could know if it would work for him or not. When he recorded that in the studio, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. He would be grateful.”

At the Americana Music Awards it took the award for Song Of The Year and at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards it won the Best Short Form Music Video category. Hurt also topped Country Music Television’s Top 20 Countdown.

The success of the single also helped American IV: The Man Comes Around become Cash’s first gold record in thirty-two years with sales of over 500,000 copies and it eventually went on to qualify for a platinum award for sales in excess of 1,000,000.

Success wasn’t confined to just America as the single reached the top forty in the UK Chart and the album also charted.

MOJO, the UK music magazine, held several polls in which Cash appeared. In their 2003 Readers Poll he featured in eight out of the twelve categories including Song Of The Year with Hurt. The song was also listed in the 100 Most Miserable Songs Of All Time at number seventeen in the Lonesome Country category! ‘Q’ magazine gave the video the recognition it deserved when they voted it number one in its 50 Best Videos Ever poll.

What started out as a morbid junkies lament composed by Trent Reznor and recorded by Nine Inch Nails, had been turned into a bold and sympathetic interpretation that embraces the universal themes of loss and human frailty by Cash. The song, and the video, stand as milestones in Cash’s long career.

"I enjoyed doing the Hurt video because I felt we were doing something worthwhile, that it was something kind of special. I was there right in the middle of the thing. So after it was put together, I watched with a critical eye to see what I could find wrong with it. And I didn’t find much wrong with it." — Johnny Cash

REMEMBERING LOU ROBIN

So sad to hear that Lou Robin has passed away in California a few days before his 91st birthday. For more than thirty years he managed the career of Johnny Cash and continued looking after Cash's legacy following his death in 2003.

Lou was always kind and supportive of my work on the Fanzine, in which I interviewed him, and also my book, for which he wrote the foreword to the first edition and is reproduced below. He was always there to answer my constant email requests and when I gave up the Fanzine a few years ago he wrote a lovely email thanking me for my work.

I only met him once, in Nashville back in 2003, during my stay when I attended the Memorial Show. He organised my visit and ticket for the show.

I will be forever grateful to have known this kind man who will be missed by everyone who knew him. He is now reunited with his lovely wife Karen. R.I.P. Lou

Lou and Karen (Photo: Mark Stielper)

Foreword by Lou Robin

 
I began working with Johnny Cash and June Carter in 1969 as a concert promoter and in 1972 I became their personal manager and remain so to date. My career in the music business started in 1957 and I have worked with such stars as The Beatles, Judy Garland, The Rolling Stones, Bill Cosby and many more. In all these years I have never shared any relationship with an artist as emotionally rewarding as the one I share with Johnny and June. The Cash Family, musicians, the road crew and office staff have all worked together to help make life on the road, over 100 days each year, as comfortable as it could be.
 
It is said that artists are unique and different because of their talent. I believe that the real superstars in music, theatre and art have maximized their God-given talents to accomplish true greatness. Johnny Cash is certainly one of those people.
 
Johnny rose from humble beginnings to become an internationally acclaimed songwriter, singer, poet, actor and author. In so doing he became a role model to those who have slipped and fallen and even to those who did not slip in their travels through life. Johnny’s example has enabled so many people to pick themselves up and keep heading toward their life’s goals.
 
This book is the only published chronicle of Johnny’s quest to bring his words and music to the world and to hopefully create happiness and encourage social awareness for millions of people for decades past and future.
 
My associate Allen Tinkley and I remember being on the road with Johnny in some unusual places. We were once in the middle of Finland playing in a warehouse to thousands of fans who had come by special train from Helsinki.
 
Then there was the first of four concerts in Prague, Czechoslovakia where 44,000 tickets had been sold. Just before he was about to walk on stage, Johnny turned to me and wondered aloud if the audience would understand the lyrics to his songs. Johnny was very touched when thousands who knew and understood every word began to sing along.
 
Another time we were in Gdansk, Poland at a folk festival while the country was still under communist control. Freedom supporters had arranged a secret meeting between Johnny and Lech Walesa at a church on the Sunday we were scheduled to leave the country. When the government learned of the meeting, it was cancelled due to “security problems.”
 
I remember the day that Johnny and Mohammed Ali exchanged poetry they composed off the top of their heads while sitting in Ali’s hotel room prior to a championship fight in New Orleans.
 
Another fun evening was at a private party in Hong Kong held at a deserted British military base a couple of miles from the Chinese border. The guest of honor had hired Johnny, Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings, better known together as the “Highwaymen” to perform for his special evening. Johnny, Willie, Kris and Waylon stood on stage and performed requests shouted at them by the 180 or so guests in attendance.
 
One cold winter night we played a concert in Belfast, Northern Ireland at a church. The political factions were heavy into the fighting. Somehow the promoter quietly got a truce declared until noon the following day when we would be gone. This way the people would not be going to the sold-out, double shows dodging explosions!
 
We also gave tickets on opposite sides of the Church to each faction. So they were all in the same room together for the first time enjoying an event of common interest. The next morning we went to the currency exchange to make a bank transfer to the U.S. before we left for Dublin on our tour bus. Later that same day we heard that the currency exchange had been blown up that afternoon!
 
These stories could go on forever but in summary I want to say that Johnny Cash has been able to go anywhere in the world to entertain. His music has cleared all language barriers and I believe his remarkable talent will prevail forever.
 
Enjoy the journey that Peter Lewry has so painstakingly recreated for you.
 

Lou Robin

Westlake Village, California

30 August 2001

WORKING CLASS HERO

Released on Apple Records in December 1970, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band, was Lennon's debut solo album. The same day Yoko Ono released an album with the same title. They had already released three experimental albums, Unfinished Music 1, Two Virgins (1968), Unfinished Music 2, Life With The Lions (1969) and Wedding Album (1970) along with the 1969 live album, Live Peace In Toronto.

On his debut album the Plastic Ono Band included Klaus Voormann (bass guitar), Ringo Starr (drums) and Billy Preston (piano). Lennon played electric and acoustic guitars, piano and organ.

Produced by Lennon, Ono and Phil Spector the album with its raw production, was heavily influenced by Lennon's recent primal scream therapy. It reflected his personal issues with themes including abandonment and psychological suffering.

Recorded during sessions in September and October 1970 at Abbey Road, it featured eleven tracks including, Mother, I Found Out, Working Class Hero, Love, Look At Me and God.

The cover image, taken by actor Dan Richter on an instamatic camera at Lennon's Tittenhurst Park home, featured Lennon lying in Yoko Ono's arms under a tree, identical in every way to Ono's album except the roles are reversed and she is lying in his arms. The original did not have any title or artist name on the front although the first CD release did list both. It reverted back to the original cover on future releases.

The original release had no track listing on the back, just a picture of a young Lennon. It did include an insert with lyrics on one side. Surprisingly, Capitol Records in America, who had issues over some of the lyrics in both I Found Out and Working Class Hero, chose to print the lyrics uncensored. However, in the UK every mention of the word 'fucking' in Working Class Hero was replaced with astericks!

In the United Kingdom it peaked at #8 while it managed to reach #6 in America. Regarded as one of his best solo releases it was voted #4 in a 1987 Rolling Stone list of 'The 100 Best Albums of the Last Twenty Years' and in 2012 was ranked at number 23 in their '500 Greatest Albums of All Time.'

Remixed and re-released in 2000, with two extra tracks, Power To The People and Do The Oz, it has finally been given the ultimate release with the 6 CD and 2 Blu-ray Ultimate Collection box set. Also available as a single CD, 2-CD, vinyl and download it is the Ultimate Collection I will be reviewing here.

There is over eleven hours (on the Blu-ray discs) of audio in hi-res stereo, 5.1 surround and Dolby Atmos all remixed from the original multitrack session tapes. The two Blu-ray discs feature all the material on the six CDs along with more than twenty-five extra tracks. Of course, this is not great for those without a Blu-ray player but, as I seem to be collecting more and more Blu-ray audio discs I recently treated myself to a player.

The first CD features the original eleven track album with three extra tracks that were released as singles around the same time... Give Peace A Chance, Cold Turkey and Instant Karma (We All Shine On).

Out-takes of all the tracks appear on the second CD while the third features the Elements Mixes. These isolate certain elements of each recording giving deeper levels of clarity and detail.

The raw studio mixes on CD#4 gives the listener the opportunity to hear the songs before any effects were added, tape delay, reverb etc. It is like being in the studio when the songs were recorded... raw and live. There are also three out-takes in the same format.

The fifth CD is the Evolution Mix on which each track is presented as an audio montage detailing the evolution of each song from demo to finished master with instructions, studio chatter, rehearsals and much more.

With all the other CDs featuring the same fourteen tracks (albeit in different formats) the final CD is a pleasant departure featuring a number of jams that find John and the band having fun between takes. They jam on rock 'n' roll classics and early versions of other Lennon songs.. Among the twenty-two tracks are Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, Fats Domino's Ain't That A Shame, Little Richard's Send Me Some Lovin and Carl Perkin's Matchbox. A medley of Elvis Presley's Don't Be Cruel, Hound Dog and When I'm Over You finds Lennon sending up Elvis and apparently showing his love of early rock 'n' roll. I'm not sure about this medley though. There is also an early version of I Don't Want To Be A Soldier Mama I Don't Want To Die, a Lennon original that would appear on his next album, Imagine.

This final CD also includes demos of all the album tracks and the three singles. These are either from recordings made at home on cassette or early studio rehearsals. It is interesting to note when listening to these demos how close to the finished recordings these were before they even bought them to the studio.

Besides giving the listener the opportunity to hear all the tracks in surround sound and hi-res stereo, the Blu-ray discs also include several songs not included on the CDs.

Having enjoyed the set up to this point it was a shock to hear the Yoko Ono tracks on the second Blu-ray disc. I don't know who told her she could sing or had any talent but, and I'm sorry if I offend anyone, her wailing and screaming sounds like a demented cat being strangled! I only played a few minutes from a handful of tracks, which was more than enough, and I certainly won't be playing them again.

The 132-page book is a delight. There is background to the Plastic Ono Band, full details on the three singles included, track-by-track details for the album with full recording information and informative text, lyrics, details on the various mixes, demos, jams and much more. Fully illustrated with photos, rare memorabilia, album and single sleeves and, of interest to me, tape boxes and recording sheets. The set also includes two postcards and a 'War Is Over' poster.

I enjoyed this release, despite the Yoko Ono tracks, and it sits nicely alongside the Imagine (Ultimate Collection) and the Gimme Some Truth set.