Beach
Boys Smile Sessions: The fabled lost Beach Boys "psychedelic doo-wop"
album by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys. The original recordings for the Smile
LP, the planned follow-up to Pet Sounds (a masterpiece
that inspired the Beatles' instrumentation on Sgt. Pepper)
was nearly finished when Paul McCartney paid a visit with an acetate to Sgt.
Pepper. Brian went into seclusion shortly afterward, and Smile
was never released, although some of the songs (and some with different arrangements)
appeared on subsequent Beach Boys albums. Recently Brian Wilson started working
on a new version of Smile, based on a live presentation in Feb.
2004 at the Royal Festival Hall in London, UK. Read all about Smile...
The Beatles Time Capsule: Our favorite anecdotes,
culled from a lifetime of listening to the Fab Four, reading the various Beatle-related
books, providing research for a Beatle book author, and collecting the rare
CDs and vinyls. Also, our version of what happened when the Beatles didn't
split up -- the "Red Album"! We've even been to
Liverpool.
My
Back Pages: Bob Dylan in 1966: The story of Bob Dylan's European tour
in 1966, his first with an electric backup band (the Hawks, a.k.a. The Band).
The Live in 1966 CD is a milestone in rock music history, as Dylan played
his new rock songs while the folk purists in the audience heckled. These recordings
mark the first appearance of The Band's sound and of Dylan's new direction.
Grateful
Dead : "Come and join the party every day," sang Jerry Garcia and his
band. Over its career spanning three decades, the Dead would extend its repertoire
to include many different musical idioms, and would bring its wild carnival
and entourage to cities across America and Europe, but throughout it all,
the band's music would remain rooted in what was eventually called the "San
Francisco Sound". Included is a special video interview of the Grateful Dead
in 1967 at their house, 710 Ashbury, in the Haight-Ashbury. Illustrated with
original collages by Alton Kelley.
Haight-Ashbury:
About the hippie community of 1966-69 -- the Haight-Ashbury section of San
Francisco -- where acid rock was born. Featuring video clips and music excerpts
(from the Haight-Ashbury CD-ROM) by the Grateful Dead, and notes on Jefferson
Airplane, Quicksilver, Big Brother & the Holding Company with Janis Joplin,
the original Charlatans, and more, with original collages by Alton Kelley.