Jan & Dean: Official Message Board for Jan Berry

I agree. I don't know who holds the current ownership of Jan and Dean's music but the success of the Liberty singles and Mark's brilliant books surely suggests there is a market for this.
I still think a box set would be great.
There are loads of bootlegs with studio outtakes - the best of which, cleaned up, would show Jan's studio genius.

I really enjoyed the Park for Surf interviews. More than just an overview of the biography, an additional take o things.

I was especially intrigued by the "jan and anybody' sections.

Dean is a great guy, a talented artist, and his humour was integral to the Jan and Dean personna. That said, his 'audible' contribution to many of the best tracks is minimal or non existent. He has a distinctive voice - good and bad - and I can see why Jan sometimes wanted a purer falsetto. Listening to the Little Old Lady outtakes confirms this for me.

Jan's brilliance was in creating a rich studio sound instrumentally and vocally and my reading is that Dean wasn't always the right sound. I accept that Jan's voice too had some limits but multi tracking and writing songs for that range made him a stand out singer for me. His lead vocals were important in turning me on to their sound at the start. To find that he wrote, arranged and produced etc etc makes hime undoubtedly the one defining presence in the band. I was always disappointed that live and on TV, Jan did not bother (Is that too strong?) to replicate the studio sound.

For me, Jan and Dean on record are Jan and others (not anybody but a carefully chosen group of musicians). Reading Mark's books has strengthened this belief.

Thanks Mark

Yes me too.

I just worry that Jan's great work is so often crowded out by other stuff.

I Found a Girl is a strange one. When I first heard it, I was surprised that the track seemed quite 'muddy' compared with Jan's very "clean" productions. It has transpired over time that there are several mixes of the song. The UK release was not the same as the US. I first heard it on Folk n Roll - UK release - and this seems to have yet another take.
I was listening to the mon version on the Liberty singles album and the track is so much better. Remember Liberty put out the wrong Dead Mans Curve version on Golden Hits. Quality control was terrible.
If nothing else, the various versions of IFAG show that even at the end, disillusioned with the record label, Jan went over and above to get the sound he wanted. Just a shame there was no agreement of which version would hit the shops!

Etsy are selling at ridiculous cost Jan and Dean 12 inch versions of Such a good night for dreaming - Palisades park, featuring vintage pin ups. They look terrible and a strange choice of songs. Does anyone know who is doing them and why?

Brilliant news and thanks

My concern with Dean's rerecordings is that those of us advocating for Jan and Dean do so on the basis of Jan's arrangements and productions - the original multi-layered versions. Our case is diluted at best with the inferior remakes that are all over the place. The casual listener is too easily taken to these. I came to Jan and Dean initially through the singles and was blown away when I discovered the richness of the albums.I can't imagine taking the time to do that based on Dean's reworking.
I strongly contend that Jan's expertise in the studio and his use of the Wrecking Crew was a huge influence on Brian Wilson. Impossible to prove this via the remakes.
I know Dean wasn't alone in this but the versions he gave us are so inferior to the originals. I think Jan's voice - multi-tracked - is often overlooked. His phrasing and the 'punch' of his voice gives further depth to the songs.

PS Can't wait for the new book.