Sunday, November 8, 2020

The Lawn Boys - Coda And Temporary Amen

I've been fooling with the covers and titles of the three Beach Boys albums I recently reconfigured. If you import them into your iTunes, they won't clash with the original albums. City Of The Angels is the reconfigured L.A. Light Album - the title references both L.A. and Dennis' song Angel Come Home. The new cover uses fine art/illustration in the established Beach Boys Americana tradition. I pimped the painting and slipped in a couple of details. See what I did there?

Long Promised Road is Surf's Up, reconfigured with new art sourced from three different paintings. The Native American theme is blended with the surf in a kind of peyote vision. The original design is a classic, of course, in a downbeat way. But this ain't a downbeat album.

20/20 Redux is just that, and the cover doesn't show Brian because he's all over the inner gatefold (what I ain't done). This album makes the smooth transition from the minimalist Friends-era to the new phase ushered in by Sunflower. It's both a look back and a look forward. The original art was wretched, and I'm betting the album would have sold more with this more mature and detailed look.

I won't be pimping Sunflower, Holland, or Carl & The Passions from the same period because, for me, they're perfect as they stand, including art.

These reconfigurations have replaced the originals for me, but that's because I invested some enjoyable senior-time into getting them exactly how I want them. Your mileage may well differ. I didn't attempt to load up to CD capacity with everything recorded during the sessions. There are no demos or sketchy-sounding bootleg recordings. There's no filler or "bonus tracks", no own-mixes or edits other than a couple of crossfades. They could all have been legit vinyl albums, and I sweated over getting the sequencing right, which given the variety of musical styles was not always easy.

Click for bigly, and download the retagged albums. Or not! That's it for the Lawn Boys for a while.

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11 comments:

  1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIINovember 8, 2020 at 7:18 AM

    Here ya go:

    https://workupload.com/file/cqr9RCcCc3U


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  2. BillNovember 9, 2020 at 2:21 AM

    Nice covers. But seriously, you think Carl & the passions is perfect? OK. I'll listen to whatcha got.

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    Replies
    1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIINovember 9, 2020 at 5:19 AM

      CATP can't be inproved by adding or subtracting - "it is what it is".

      Delete
    2. One Buck GuyNovember 9, 2020 at 3:48 PM

      That is definitely true, both factually and spritually.

      Factually because as far as I know there are no real outtakes from thsi album, so you can not just cycle stuff in and out even if you wanted to.

      And why would you want to. Yes, "So Tough" is a mess of an album, but a glorious one. The most 'roots' record they cut, a record that dabbles a bit in everything. Not everything works, but most of it just works out fine. The only question mark is the muddled sound/production on some tracks (notably on the first three tracks) but there isn't much we can do about that. And with "Marcella", "All This Is That" and "Cuddle Up" it has three of my all-time favorites. Probably my second most listened to album after "Holland". (Or "Nether Lands" *wink wink*)

      Delete
    3. Farquhar Throckmorton IIINovember 9, 2020 at 6:20 PM

      Nicely put. If it had been released by any other band, it would have been declared a great album. They lost confidence in it (that title! that cover! Identity crisis? What identity crisis?) and packaged it with a re-released Pet Sounds, effectively killing any chances it had. It's a beautiful album, and has been a Constant Companion for decades.

      Delete
    4. One Buck GuyNovember 9, 2020 at 7:43 PM

      I see what you did there.

      The idea to put it out as a double album with "Pet Sounds" of all things is indeed just baffling. Obviously "So Tough" didn't stand a chance, both commercially (why would people want to rebuy PS with a new record?) and critically (critics would point out how much weaker it sounds compared to its direct neighbour).

      I mean my dad picked this up back in the days, but probably only to get "Pet Sounds" as this is his only BB record. So, one customer for whom this tactic worked, though I'm pretty sure he played PS more than CATP-ST. Which is a shame.

      Delete
    5. BillNovember 10, 2020 at 12:07 AM

      I must admit (put down that baseball bat!) that the master of Pet Sounds with SO Tough might be the best sounding (before the box set).

      Delete
  3. BillNovember 9, 2020 at 2:22 AM

    If I lived in that TeePee I'd be worried...

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  4. One Buck GuyNovember 9, 2020 at 3:51 PM

    By the way, these covers are fantastic. You have a real knack for visual design and obviously great command of a software - I'm definitely going to be using the "Long Promised Road" one, it's fabulous. Come to think of it, I did sort of a box set with Beach Boys rarities a couple of years back that's still without a title and cover art. "The Beach Boys: Long Promised Road: 1960-1990). Yeah, that could work.

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    Replies
    1. Farquhar Throckmorton IIINovember 9, 2020 at 6:22 PM

      Thank you. My software is REALLY basic. Free apps. No Photoshop, nothing Adobe.

      Delete

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