A few posts ago, I mentioned that I’d recorded a version of the Beach Boys‘ “Hold On Dear Brother,” which was also included in the most recent Contrarian’s Corner podcast. Well, I finally got around to mixing it.

The song was penned by then-Beach Boy Blondie Chaplin, who, in the early ’70s, joined the group with his songwriting partner Ricky Fataar. The two were previously in rock ‘n’ soul act The Flames, but put that band on hold to merge with the fading surf legends. The tune has always been a favorite of mine, although it sounds nothing like the rest of the Beach Boys’ music.

I tried to keep true to the original spirit of the song, which is decidedly C&W. All of the instruments were played by yours truly. The track includes my debut performance behind a drum set. I think I held my own.

The vocals are mixed too high. Whoops.

Do let me know what you think.

The Contrarian —”Hold On Dear Brother”

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Casey Rea was the Seven Days music editor from 2004 until 2007. He won the 2005 John D. Donoghue award for arts criticism from the Vermont Press Association.

6 replies on “Hold On Dear Brother”

  3. sounds good. I listened to it through the headphones and on the laptop speakers and the vocals sound just about right. Good singing. Generally, people tend to think their own vocals are too loud. I do. Are you rockin’ the V-drums on that one?

  4. Indeed those are V-Drums; the urban apartment dweller’s choice. I had to do some serious EQ tweaking and other secret alchemy to get them to sound *real.* Still, I prefer banging on something to the endless hours of micro-editing programmed patterns. For this kind of thing, anyway.This is the most straightforward song I’ve recorded in some time. I banged it out in less than a day, and left it alone for a while. I had the BB version in my head for our entire trip to DC, so I figured I oughtta mix it when I got home. Now I can forget about it and go back to the more painstaking works-in-progress. Which will be finished someday. Probably. Maybe I’ll post some versions here. If I can get over my Kevin Shields syndrome, that is.

  5. It took a few days for the song to grab me but now I’m enjoying it. I love the organ. Can it be brought up a little more? I’d love to hear more of it.

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