Adult/Child - The Beach Boys (1977 - unreleased)

 


Adult/Child came at the end of  the "Brian's Back" era,  two-year stint where Brian Wilson briefly became very active after mainly taking a couple of years off due to deep depression. 

 The Brian's Back era was an interesting era. Brian was furiously busy, recording three albums in about 18 months, but would sink back into depression when he separated from his wife of 13 years, Marilyn Rovell (who allegedly left Brian when she witnessed him offering heroin to their ten-year old daughter, Carnie.) 

The album was meant to follow up the brilliant, but rather odd,  Beach Boys Love You, which was released early in 1977, and is rather.a hodge-podge of different tracks from different sessions. Esentially you can divide the songs up into four quarters: 

  • One quarter, new songs recorded with Frank Sinatra arranger Dick Reynolds, and recorded with a large swing orchestra of horns, strings etc, recorded in early 1977.
  • One quarter, new songs recorded early in 1977 in The Beach Boys' Brother Records Studio in L.A.: minimalist ragged things featuring only Brian Wilson and his two brothers, Carl and Dennis on all the vocals and instruments instruments.
  • One quarter, Outtakes from the two previous albums, 15 Big Ones and Love You,  recorded mainly in 1976.
  • One quarter Outtakes recorded from 1969-1971 in The Beach Boys' studio at Brian's home in L.A.
This sounds as hodge-podgy as you might think, but what is mildly interesting is that there does seem to be a thematic coherence: The songs concern three main themes that concerned Brian at the time: lost love, and perhaps Brian's failing marriage; psychological and physical health; and what I call "slice-of-life songs". There may be an overarching theme of youthful enthusiasm giving way to elderly doldrums, which might be how Brian justified having the earlier outtakes included (he sounded VERY different in 1969 than he did in 1977 -- like a completely different singer. )

The tracklist was:
  1. Life Is For The Living (Brian Wilson) lead vocals: Carl and Brian
  2. Hey Little Tomboy (Brian Wilson) lead vocals: whole group
  3. Deep Purple (Peter Derose, Mitchell Parish) lead vocal: Brian
  4. H.E.L.P. Is On the Way (Wilson) lead vocal; Mike
  5. It's Over Now (Wilson) lead vocal, Carl, Brian and Marilyn Wilson (on middle eight)
  6. Everybody Wants to Live (Wilson) - lead vocal: Brian, with Dennis on chorus
  7. Shortenin' Bread (trad., arr by Wilson) lead vocal Carl and Brian
  8. Lines (Wilson) - lead vocal: Brian and Carl
  9. On Broadway (Barry Mann, Cynthia Weill, Jerry Leiber, Mike Stoller) Lead vocal: Al
  10. Games Two Can Play (Wilson) lead vocal: Brian 
  11. It's Trying to Say (Baseball's On) (Wilson) lead vocal: Dennis and Brian
  12. Still I Dream Of It (Wilson) lead vocal: Brian
A master of the above album was made and presented to Reprise, who had been The Beach Boys record company since 1970. Reprise, however, rejected the album, which, coupled with his failing marriage, and the fact that The Beach Boys laid off his doctor/counselor who was assisting him, sent Brian into a downward spiral. 

The Beach Boys went back to the drawing board and Brian was kind of self-sidelined for the rest of their career, though he'd contribute on nearly all Beach Boys album, only as one member among many. 

How do I feel about Adult/Child.? Well, I don't think it's a very good album. The "red" songs sound completely out of place: obviously recorded during a different time frame in a different studio; I'm not a fan of "H.E.L.P. Is On the Way" at all, though it's kind of quirkily amusing: a country pop song about eating healthy, it includes this lyrical line for the ages: doughy lumps, stomach pumps, enemas too/that's what you'll get when you eat this way.  

The orchestrated songs (the "orange" ones) are pretty good, especially the originals: "Still I Dream Of It" was arguably Brian's last great song for at least a decade, and possibly even until "Midnight's Another Day" in 2998. "Deep Purple" is a litlte morbidly depressing, but that's OK.

The 15 Big Ones and Love You "blue" outtakes are pretty good (though Hey Little Tomboy is exceedingly creepy: I suppose Brian meant for that to recall youthful bloom of sexual attraction, contrasted with the elderly gloom of  the next track "Deep Purple", but it is pretty creepy --almost hilariously wrong -- catchy as hell though! I adore the weird, quirky "slice of life "grey" songs". Some of the weirdest stuff I've ever heard. 

But the red songs are so out of place and the sequencing so wack that it all sounds like a compilation, which it basically is. I like nearly all  of the songs, but I have very little respect for Adult/Child as an album. 

3/5

I have an alternate tracklist which ditches the "red" songs and replaces them with more 76-77 outtakes, which makes for a much more cohesive listening experiences and still mostly preserves the themes of Brian's album, although it leans a little more heavily on the "failing relationships songs." 

My version looks like this:
  1. Life Is For The Living (source: digital bootleg)
  2. Hey Little Tomboy (source: M.I.U. Album, 1978)
  3. Marilyn Rovell (source: digital bootleg)
  4. Ruby Baby (source: digital bootleg)
  5. Everybody Wants To Live (source: digital bootleg)
  6. Shortnin' Bread (source: digital bootleg)
  7. Sherry She Needs Me (source: Made In California, 2012)
  8. It's Trying To Say (source: digital bootleg)
  9. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling (source: Made In California, 2012)
  10. Deep Purple (source: digital bootleg)
  11. My Diane (source; M.I.U. Album, 1978)
  12. Lines (source: digital bootleg)
  13. Still I Dream Of It (Source: Good Vibrations: 30 Years of The Beach Boys, 1993)
I give this quirky playlist above a 4.5/5. 


I can't link to this album because it was never officially released...but I will link to this 1976 demo of "Still I Dream Of It", which was released in 1995. It's pretty stark, piano and ragged vocal, but it has an eerie psychological power that stunned me the first time I heard it. 


I downloaded this from the Internet about ten years ago. Some of the songs have been officially released on archival releases or subsequent albums. Being an internet sourced bootleg, some of the sound is pretty dodgy, particularly "Life Is For the Living" has tape warbles and drop outs. 

Coming Up:


A.M. Wilco

A.T.O.M. - Carbon Silicon

ABBA - ABBA 

ABBA Gold: Greatest Hits

Abbey Road - The Beatles

Achtung, Baby! U2

Actually - Pet Shop Boys

Adult/Child- The Beach Boys

Aerosmith's Greatest Hits

After The Gold Rush - Neil Young

Afterglow - Crowded House

Aftermath (UK Version) - The Rolling Stones

Against The Odds: 1974-1982 Blondie (three disc version)

Aimee Mann Live at St. Ann's Warehouse

Aiming For Your Head - Betchadupa

The Album -- ABBA

The Album That Never Was - The Kinks

All Four One - The Motels

All Over the Place - The Bangles

All Summer Long -- The Beach Boys

All the Great Hits -- Diana Ross

All Things Must Pass -- George Harrison

All This Useless Beauty -- Elvis Costello & the Attractions

All-Time Greatest Hits - Neil Diamond

Alluvium -- Eddie Rayner

Almost Blue -- Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Almost Summer - Celebration

Alpha Mike Foxtrot -- Wilco

The Alphabetchadupa - Betchadupa

Altitude - ALT

American Idiot Green Day

American Prayer -- The Doors

Amnesiac Radiohead

And I Feel Fine...The Best of the IRS years (1982-1987) - R.E.M.

Animals - Pink Floyd

Anodyne - Uncle Tupelo

Another Life - Another Life

Another Music in Another Kitchen: The Buzzcocks

Another Side of Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan

Anthology: Diana Ross & The Supremes

Anthology: Smokey Robinson & The Beatles

Anthology 1: The Beatles

Anthology 2: The Beatles

Anthology 3 The Beatles

Anthology: North South, East West - Tim Finn

Apple Venus: Volume One -- XTC

Apollo 18 - They Might Be Giants

The ArchAndroid: Janelle Monae

Are Well-Respected Men - The Kinks

Armed Forces -Elvis Costello & The Attractions

Around the World in a Day - Prince

Arthur (or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) - The Kinks

At My Piano - Brian Wilson

Autoamerican - Blondie

Automatic for the People - R.E.M.



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