Fact #82620
When:
Short story:
Jan And Dean record Surf City, co-written by Jan Berry with Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys, for Liberty Records in Los Angeles, California, USA. The session is held at Western Recorders and Someday (You'll Go Walking By) is recorded at the same date.
Full article:
Brian Wilson(Beach Boys) : I thought Jan was a genius in the studio, and watching him cut records was a righteous trip. He knew exactly what he needed and how to get it done. His records were clean, like The Four Seasons' records, but what I admired most was the way he mapped out everything that needed to be done in his head before he started.
Bones Howe (record producer) : 'Lank' (Harold 'Lanky' Linstrot) did the Surf City record. At least the basic track and the first round of vocals. I came in somewhere in the middle of that album and began working with Jan.
Glen Campbell, (session guitarist) : Jan wrote everything out for us, and he'd put my part down in front of me, with a chord chart . . . 'cause he wanted that type of sound, man. And then you would hear the finished product, and it was just awesome.
Carol Kaye (session bassist) : He (Jan Berry) was strong on the dates, very self-composed, knew what he wanted, and was absolutely up front with everything. Jan was wise enough to get the right guys for the job. He had very good ears. He knew what was great for a hit recording, and was respectful of the elite musicians he hired. Just those two things alone put him heads above the rest, who either didn't know much on how to cut a hit record, or weren't that respectful of studio musicians. Jan was, and we admired his intelligence.
Hal Blaine (session drummer) : There were always two drummers. Earl Palmer and myself. And what we would do is make a drum part, and write them so that any fills that we did were played identically.
Jan always knew what he was doing, knew what he was going after. Jan would always call me into the booth. If a song felt good (in those days we were going for a good feel), if it felt good we had the record. Jan was brilliant.
Brian Wilson: Jan asked me, he said, 'Will you sing with me on the lead part?' So I doubled with him, but he was louder than I was. Ya know, he didn't wanna make me louder than him on a Jan And Dean record! Can you imagine that? Brian And Dean!
Dean Torrence (Jan And Dean] : rian's all over the place on those songs, and Brian and I doubled almost al the vocal parts.
Brian, being a writer, looked at our association a lot differently than the other guys in the group. If Brian was writing or co-writing something with us, he'd get paid for it. He was economically tied to our recordings, but the other guys weren't. We just became competition but, all in all, it worked out.
Once Brian's name appeared on our records, it all changed. Then we had a writer. We had omeone we could bounce ideas off who was relatively the same age.
(Source : Steve Kolanjian's sleve notes to the 1990 CD compilation Surf City – The Best Of Jan And Dean]
Bones Howe : Lou (Adler) was there a lot in the beginning. Almost all the time, when they were recording. It was a sort of supervisory thing. He just dropped back a lot. Lou backed away and let Jan have his head. Jan was very strong. I mean, he was a very, very, headstrong guy. He was a major controller.
(Source : not known)
Tweet this Fact
Bones Howe (record producer) : 'Lank' (Harold 'Lanky' Linstrot) did the Surf City record. At least the basic track and the first round of vocals. I came in somewhere in the middle of that album and began working with Jan.
Glen Campbell, (session guitarist) : Jan wrote everything out for us, and he'd put my part down in front of me, with a chord chart . . . 'cause he wanted that type of sound, man. And then you would hear the finished product, and it was just awesome.
Carol Kaye (session bassist) : He (Jan Berry) was strong on the dates, very self-composed, knew what he wanted, and was absolutely up front with everything. Jan was wise enough to get the right guys for the job. He had very good ears. He knew what was great for a hit recording, and was respectful of the elite musicians he hired. Just those two things alone put him heads above the rest, who either didn't know much on how to cut a hit record, or weren't that respectful of studio musicians. Jan was, and we admired his intelligence.
Hal Blaine (session drummer) : There were always two drummers. Earl Palmer and myself. And what we would do is make a drum part, and write them so that any fills that we did were played identically.
Jan always knew what he was doing, knew what he was going after. Jan would always call me into the booth. If a song felt good (in those days we were going for a good feel), if it felt good we had the record. Jan was brilliant.
Brian Wilson: Jan asked me, he said, 'Will you sing with me on the lead part?' So I doubled with him, but he was louder than I was. Ya know, he didn't wanna make me louder than him on a Jan And Dean record! Can you imagine that? Brian And Dean!
Dean Torrence (Jan And Dean] : rian's all over the place on those songs, and Brian and I doubled almost al the vocal parts.
Brian, being a writer, looked at our association a lot differently than the other guys in the group. If Brian was writing or co-writing something with us, he'd get paid for it. He was economically tied to our recordings, but the other guys weren't. We just became competition but, all in all, it worked out.
Once Brian's name appeared on our records, it all changed. Then we had a writer. We had omeone we could bounce ideas off who was relatively the same age.
(Source : Steve Kolanjian's sleve notes to the 1990 CD compilation Surf City – The Best Of Jan And Dean]
Bones Howe : Lou (Adler) was there a lot in the beginning. Almost all the time, when they were recording. It was a sort of supervisory thing. He just dropped back a lot. Lou backed away and let Jan have his head. Jan was very strong. I mean, he was a very, very, headstrong guy. He was a major controller.
(Source : not known)