Customer Reviews

Party / Stack-O-Tracks

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The "Party" album is a lot of fun, especially if you already know the cover songs before hearing the Beach Boys tackle them at this "party." My favorite is "Mountain of Love" which Johnny Rivers had a big hit with. It's really funny when the other party-goers come in with the backing vocals and Mike Love sort of laughs. The finale to "Barbara Ann" also sticks out in my mind, it's really zany. My one caveat is that it's not in STEREO. Why the heck did Murray have to beat Brian over the head and make him deaf in one ear?

As for "Stack o' Tracks", that's for big fans only - like me. I really enjoyed it because you don't realize how much stuff is going on with all those dense instrumental tracks. The only thing is, they did a ratty job with the tracks. I'm not sure that "Little Honda" is the correct take. I'm not hearing some familiar drum fills at the end. Other songs fade out early. And half of the backing tracks aren't in stereo. However, I'm so glad they tacked on "California Girls" and "Help Me Rhonda" as bonus tracks. One thing though, the 12-string guitar solo for "Help Me, Rhonda" is missing!!!

On a final mixing note, what with the success of the "Pet Sounds" box set and STEREO REMIX, they really ought to release more Beach Boys songs such as "Good Vibrations" and "Heroes And Villains" in stereo for the first time. Some people have been waiting for 30+ years to hear it. To hear it now, you either you have to do synch mixes or else buy bootlegs!!

This is one of the stranger Beach Boys CDs--- which is saying a lot.

It combines "Beach Boys Party" which is a self-mocking unplugged type album with "Stack O Tracks" which is a collection of instrumental tracks of familiar hits from "Pet Sounds" and earlier.

The "Party" album includes a lot of annoying background chatter, clapping, etc., allegedly added after the original sessions. It would be nice if the Beach Boys could reissue the original tracks someday without the background noise. But it's an interesting album anyway, featuring the guys with all acoustic instruments aside from a bass guitar. It includes the hit single "Baba Ram"---errr, I mean "Babara Ann".

It is unsettling hearing the familiar tracks on "Stack O Tracks" without the lushly layered vocals. A lot of the songs sound remarkably different: e.g., "Our Car Club" sounds like the theme from a Quintin Tarantino film without the vocals, and "Surfer Girl" sounds like the slow movement of a Bach cantata. "Stack O Tracks" was the first album with Bruce Johnston included in the band photos, although as far as I know he didn't play any of the instruments. But (aside from a couple of older tunes) the other Beach Boys, aside from Brian, didn't play any of the instruments on these tracks either.

In late 1965, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was working on his masterpiece, Pet Sounds. Capitol Records was pressuring him for a new Beach Boys album in time for Christmas, but Brian wasn't about to rush to finish Pet Sounds. So, a compromise of sorts was reached. The Beach Boys went into the recording studio and quickly banged out the Party album. It features the boys playing acoustic instruments and singing cover versions of some of their favorite songs. No new songs were written for the album. The performances are pretty sloppy, with forgotten lyrics, missed notes and lots of clowning around. The band's wives, girlfriends, relatives and friends were brought in to hang out and talk in the background, to make it sound like a real party was going on. In fact, friend of the band Dean Torrence shares lead vocals with Brian on the hit "Barbara Ann". It's a fun album, but not really one of the band's best.

Stack-O-Tracks featured just the instrumental tracks to 15 Beach Boys songs. That's right, a Beach Boys album without the Beach Boys on it! Well, I suppose that's not technically true, because they did play some of the instruments on their albums, but most of the instruments were played by session musicians. Anyway, hearing just the instruments theoretically allows Beach Boys fans to study how Brian Wilson put together the backing tracks to some of the bands classic songs. It's somewhat interesting to hear, but the songs definitely sound better with the vocals. The CD adds three bonus track instrumental backgrounds, the hits "Help Me Rhonda" and "California Girls", and the obscure "Our Car Club".

These two discs have to be the oddest twins in the Beach Boys catalogue, so it seems appropriate that they are packaged together.

The first album, "Beach Boy's Party," is the first Unplugged album ever recorded. Yes, the Beach Boys were the first group to ever record such an album. This album was a quickie to cover the gap made by the intense studio work of "Pet Sounds," but, knowing this, you see the off-hand brilliance of the whole group. This disc is a monument to their abilities as entertainers. All of the tracks are unrehearsed. Everything is spontaneous. And throughout it all, is good, clean musical fun.

All the tracks are covers, or acoustic versions of the Beach Boys Classics. And, yes, you did read the label right, those are three Beatles songs. It is quite the ear candy to hear these Lennon-McCartney classics done in quartet and quintet over an acoustic guitar and bongos.

There are a couple of oldies, like "Alley Oop," and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow," which was one of their concert staples. We see the hippie in Al Jardine come out as he sings "These Times Are A Changing."

The two best tracks are "Barbara Ann," which was an accident since Jan and Dean happened to be in the studio, and they had some tape left. It is quite appropriate since Brian Wilson gave them their (and possibly the Beach Boys') first number one hit, "Surf City."

The second track is the sweet "Devoted to You," which I wish they had played in their concerts.

This is a fun album. You hear Mike Love's concert nonsense and sophomoric banter better than any of their three concert albums. You also have the weird background noise that gives this disc a nightclub feel. All of the performances are spontaneous, and the weird Wilson humor comes out in the self-defacing version of "I Get Around."

The second disc is "Stack O' Tracks," which is just the backing tracks to several of their albums. You hear Magic Wilson's studio magic come out from behind their rightly complimented vocal intricacies. "God Only Knows" has become a whole new song since I can finally hear the instrumentation. I never knew there was a banjo underneath the round at the end of the song.
Is has a good cross sampling of their early and later songs. We are more concerned with the "Today" and "Summer Days and Nights" tracks, were Wilson perfected the then-popular pop sound. He could only upward to "Pet Sounds," as your ears will tell you.

This second half is great background music for work, sleep, or meditation, as you try and find the lively summer nights in the dead of winter.

The Stack-O-Tracks part is missing the music booklet so I had to order the reissue of the original album on eBay in order to get it. They explain the size was the reason in the new booklet but any Beach Boys fan devoted enough to want to get these albums is going to be a little pissed when they realize it's not in there. Party is kind of interesting but there are about 2-3 songs on it that are really good. Barbara-Ann being the only hit. But singing along to to Stack-O-Tracks is a lot of fun and great vocal practice- especially if you love the Beach Boys!

NOTE: I own the 1990 version of this twofer not the later remaster, so I'll comment on the songs rather than sound quality. Some others have said that the first edition transfers sound better because of the NoNoise processing used but I haven't been able to compare the two yet.

It was June 1965. Capitol was becoming worried that too much time was going by as they waited for Brian to wrap up what would become "Pet Sounds" and they were pressuring him for a new album. Brian's answer was to gather a bunch of friends together in the studio as an "audience" and record stripped back covers of some of their favorite songs. It's not a "great" record, but it is a fun record and Brian succeeds in creating a party atmosphere. It also can be seen as pointing the way toward the "unplugged" records of the 90s and on.

The album it's paired with is definitely for obsessive armchair quarterbacks and intrepid karaoke enthusiasts only, though. "Stack-O-Tracks" consisted of only the musical backing to Beach Boys hits and was released by Capitol in 1968 after sales they were less than happy with of "Smiley Smile" and "Wild Honey". "Stack-O-Tracks" was the only 60s era BB album that failed to dent the album charts.

HIGHLIGHTS:
Spirited versions of 50s party faves "Hully Gully" and "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" stand out, Dennis turns in a tender rendition of the Fab's "You've Got to Hide Your Love Away", a close harmony from Brian and Mike on the Everlys' "Devoted to You", a cover of the Regents' 1961 hit "Barbara Ann" (with an assist from Dean Torrence of Jan and Dean) became a left field smash for the band.

Among the instrumentals from "Stack-O-Tracks", it's nice to be able to hear the intricacy of the bass part for "Sloop John B.". In the "do my lying and my sighing" portion of "In my Room" you can pick out what sounds almost like a church organ following the melody that isn't easy to pick out in the final version. "Wild Honey" sounds almost avant garde by itself with odd organ stabs here and there. It makes you more aware of how perfectly placed everything in a Brian arrangement is to make it cohesive when it's all put together.

LOW SPOTS:
A loose version of "I Should Have Known Better" fares poorly, Mike's sense of humour was weak at best much of the time..(witness his "reworked" lyrics for "I Get Around/Little Deuce Coupe") and did anyone really WANT a "Stack-O-Tracks" version of "Our Car Club" to analyze in detail??

BOTTOM LINE:
If you find it cheaply, you may enjoy having the "Party!" tracks but unless you're a fanatic about the BB music, you probably don't need "Stack-O-Tracks". Let your level of enthusiasm for their music be your guide....

If you are a huge fan of The Beach Boys this would be a great compact disc to buy. This is live music at a party that Brian, Carl, and Dennis threw along with their cousin Mike Love and friend Al Jardine.
This revised album has music on it that you are not going to find anywhere else.
If you like the 1960's,you like something a little out of the ordinary, and you like The Beach Boys this is for you.

It really is hard to understand either of these recordings. I realize they were released on vinyl many years ago, but I didn't understand them at that time either. I know that Beach Boys Party was a stop-gap effort that Brian came up with to appease Capitol Records while he had time to work on more important stuff, but Stack O' Tracks really escapes me.
It's widely known by any Beach Boys fan that the Beach Boys rarely played on the albums. They were mainly a vocal group. So when you listen to Stack O' Tracks, you're not hearing the Beach Boys, you're hearing session musicians. Why is this important?

Looooooooooooooooooooooove it! Such a fun album!!! I feel so good listening it! Free-style beautiful 60s harmonies, great acoustic strumming, love the party-like background chatter. Really was the first unplugged album, except it was fun, not all serious. This is a "party" album. It's meant for fun. This is not the outstanding album Pet Sounds. This is the have-a-good-time Party album. I think of good times and 60s southern california even though I wasn't even born yet.

Stack-O-Tracks has to be one of the first karaoke albums. Just instrumentals and I have a much greater appreciation for the breadth of musicianship either by the beach boys or the session musicians of the time who were abundant and outstanding at the same time. In fact some songs I prefer the instrumental to the actual songs.

The Beach Boys' Party album is an aptly titled album as it is a live album recorded in the studio with friends like Jan & Dean. The album is made up of cover songs with the exception of a medley of "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe". "Barbara Ann" is an old song that the band made their own with some glass shatteringly high vocals. They do fun takes on "Papa Oom Mow Mow" and "Mountain Of Love". Most interesting are covers of The Beatles' "I Should Have Known Better", "Tell Me Why" and "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" and Bob Dylan's "The Times They Are-A-Changin'". Party isn't one of the band's best works, but it is good fun to listen to. Stax-O-Tracks is a kareoke album before there were such things. The album is made up of popular Beach Boys songs with the just the backing tracks so you can sing along. This album is only notable for the fact that it was always a hard to find album and an original vinyl copy is valuable among collectors.