Endless Harmony Soundtrack is an anthology album of previously unheard material by The Beach Boys, originally released by Capitol Records in August 1998. Named for Bruce Johnston's song on the 1980 album Keepin' the Summer Alive, it was designed as a tie-in with the band's biographical documentary of the same name. The soundtrack was re-issued in March 2000 with some remixing and different artwork (European pressings retained the original mixes), while the original 1998 edition (with the orange/yellow cover) went out of print shortly thereafter.
Background
The Endless Harmony project was undertaken shortly after the death of founding member Carl Wilson, who died of lung cancer in February 1998. At this point, Brian Wilson decided that the band was officially finished and disassociated himself from any further group activity. At odds with Mike Love for continuing after Carl's passing, Al Jardine did the same. Both Love and Bruce Johnston (with their accompanying concert act) continued to perform live as The Beach Boys until all five surviving members reunited for their 50th anniversary in 2012.
The Endless Harmony Soundtrack itself is patterned like The Beatles' Anthology albums, with alternate versions and live renditions of songs, as well as previously unreleased ones. Spanning from a stereo remix of 1963's "Surfer Girl" to the completion of the unreleased 1969 recording "Loop de Loop (Flip Flop Flyin' in an Aeroplane)", the album also includes a brief snippet of both Brian Wilson and Van Dyke Parks routining three Smile songs in 1966.
Endless Harmony Soundtrack never charted in the U.S. or the UK. Although the album was not a commercial success, it did encourage Capitol Records to issue a more comprehensive archival package in Hawthorne, CA, released in May 2001.
Track listing
All tracks written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love, unless otherwise noted.
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Personnel
Partial credits from liner notes. (insert citation for albumlinernotes.com here)
The Beach Boys
- Brian Wilson - vocals, keyboards, bass, piano on "Sail Plane Song"
- Mike Love - vocals; Electro-Theremin on "Good Vibrations"
- Al Jardine - vocals, rhythm guitar
- Carl Wilson - vocals, lead guitar, bass on "Sail Plane Song"
- Dennis Wilson - vocals, drums, piano on "Barbara", percussion and ARP String Ensemble on "All Alone"
- David Marks - vocals, rhythm guitar (David Marks is only on "Surfer Girl")
- Bruce Johnston - vocals, bass, keyboards, organ on "Sail Plane Song"
- Blondie Chaplin - vocals, guitar, possible bass (Blondie is only on "Heroes and Villains (Live)", "Wonderful/Don't Worry Bill (Live)", and "Long Promised Road (Live)")
- Ricky Fataar - vocals, drums (Ricky is only on "Heroes and Villains (Live)", "Wonderful/Don't Worry Bill (Live)", and "Long Promised Road (Live)")
;Additional musicians
- Van Dyke Parks - animal sounds on "Heroes and Villains (Demo)"
- Paul Fauerso, Ron Altbach, David Sommerville - vocals on "Brian's Back"
- Jerry Donahue - guitar on "Brian's Back"
- Dave Hessler - guitar and bass on "All Alone"
- Rick Henn - piano on "Soulful Old Man Sunshine (Demo)"
- Daryl Dragon - piano on "Barbara"
- Carlos Munox - piano on "All Alone"
- Sterling Smith - keyboards on "All Alone"
- Bobby Figueroa - drums on "All Alone"
- Steve Heger - additional overdubbed drums on "Loop de Loop (Flip-Flop-Flyin' in an Airplane)" (added in 1998)
- Tommy Smith - percussion on "All Alone"
- Joel Peskin - saxophone on "All Alone"
;Production and technical staff
- Brian Wilson - producer
- Rick Henn - producer ("Soulful Old Man Sunshine (demo)" and "Soulful Old Man Sunshine")
- The Beach Boys - producer
- Bruce Johnston - producer
- Carl Wilson - producer
- Murry Wilson - producer ("Break Away")
- Al Jardine - producer ("Loop de Loop (Flip-Flop-Flyin' in an Airplane)")
- Dennis Wilson - producer ("Barbara")
- Carlos Munoz - producer ("All Alone")
- Paul Fauerso - producer ("Brian's Back")
- Stephen Desper - engineer (""Loop de Loop (Flip-Flop-Flyin' in an Airplane)", "Barbara", "'Til I Die")
- Tom Murphy - engineer ("All Alone")
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Sources
- Endless Harmony Soundtrack CD booklet notes, Brad Elliott, c. 2000.
- Allmusic