landlocked

sibling jellyfish, by michael melford, 2007.

land•locked
adjective
(esp. of a country) almost or entirely surrounded by land; having no coastline or seaport : a midget state landlocked in the mountains.
• (of a lake) enclosed by land and having no navigable route to the sea.
• (of a fish, esp. a North American salmon) cut off from the sea in the past and now confined to fresh water.

You will of course be familiar with the version of this song from 1971's excellent "Surf's Up", released on the Wilsons' own Brother label. In 1968, the Beach Boys were still under contractual obligation to Capitol, and the tensions created by the "Smile" debacle were acute, palpable and insurmountable.

An album with the working title, "Landlocked" was submitted and promptly rejected on the basis that nothing contained therein was deemed commercial enough to worry the hit parade.

"Where is the f@cking single ?" Capitol demanded.

"Where is the f@cking single ?" Warner Brothers demanded, three years farther down the line.

Exhausted by years of constant wrangling and bickering, the Beach Boys simply shelved "Landlocked" and went back to the studio to begin work on a completely new album in June, '68, the recording sessions drifting over into late November with Brian Wilson continually perfecting new material. The result, "20/20" was eventually released in February of the following year and their "Break Away" 45 - harvested from those same sessions, I believe, but not included on the LP - was an early summer hit.



This version differs greatly from both the original "Landlocked" mix and the one held over until 1971. Remixed by engineer, Steve Desper, for his own listening pleasure, it also resurfaced on the soundtrack to the 1999 "Endless Harmony" documentary by Alan Boyd. The unreleased sessions were ultimately released as a bootleg of superior fidelity on the Invasion label.

▼ THE BEACH BOYS: 'TIL I DIE (STEVE DESPER MIX) from "Landlocked" Bootleg (Invasion) 1968 / 1971 (US)