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Hoping to placate the record company and thereby buy himself valuable time to continue working on Pet Sounds, head Beach Boy Brian Wilson conjured the Party! concept. The band invited a gang of friends to the recording studio, sunk a few beers and proceeded to record the supposedly spontaneous results. In fact, the waggish banter and party atmosphere were overdubbed later. For once, the--admittedly sparse--acoustic instrumentation, is actually provided by the band. With the exception of a medley of their own "I Get Around" and "Little Deuce Coupe", all the tracks are covers. Highlights of this ragged and far from essential set include the surprise hit "Barbara Ann", featuring a harmonising Dean Torrence of Jan And Dean, and a Dennis Wilson-led take on John Lennon's Dylan pastiche, "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away".
Stack-o-Tracks is probably the most bizarre album in the Beach Boys catalogue and frankly, that's quite some achievement. It consists of instrumental backing tracks from 15 of the band's biggest early to mid-60s hits, with the vocals simply erased. Fundamentally, it's an early attempt at karaoke. Indeed, the original release was accompanied by a song booklet, complete with full musical arrangements and lyrics, to aid those wishing to play and sing along. It's most odd. --Chris King
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The second part of this double album, Stack-O-Tracks, comes as something of a disappointment. Released in 1968, it didn't even enter the LP charts. The album is a collection of backing tracks of some of the Beach Boys' most popular songs, and originally came with a song booklet and sheet music, neither, unfortunately, included in the CD version. This is really one for the serious fans, or possibly a karaoke party.
Whilst years ahead of the concept of Karaoke this is a masterpiece on its own. If you know the original song, explore the depth of the supporting instrumental. If you don't know the song, try to work out how a vocal could be added. It's possible to get hooked on these sounds without ever knowing the songs. When first hearing this album you can't help wondering why similar treatment wasn't given to Abba, Beatles and Bee Gees. This isn't SingalongaBeach Boys, its the real thing and you'll find yourself in it. To quote the sleeve notes "Have you ever heard Sloop John B without the vocals?"
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!!
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.
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".
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