BITS & PIECES

BITS & PIECES by The Rivals.

I'LL BET HE'S NICE by The Beach Boys.

This week we're featuring a few songs by The Rivals in anticipation of their show at Lakeside Lounge on Wednesday night. The Rivals include two of my best friends plus my brother-in-law, so I can hardly be objective. So I turned over the job of picking the songs to Amy, and Bits & Pieces is one of the three that she wanted me to post.

The first thing about Bits & Pieces in this demo form is heavily Kyle and Corbett do (and should) rely on their voices to carry the song. The highlights of the tune for me are the close harmonies in the chorus and the space chorus in the middle eight. So the voices carry the main element of the song plus the chief adornment. The best thing about good demos is how they convince you that this is how the song should sound, and then it takes a bunch of listens with the full band fully produced to convince you that it wouldn't be better just to keep it stripped down. So I'll be interested to hear how Bits & Pieces sounds on Wednesday night with the full band.

I picked I'll Bet He's Nice as a basis of comparison not just to point out the obvious Beach Boys influence in The Rivals's sound, but also because it's just about my favorite Beach Boys song that not too many people have heard. Beyond that it's not a great fit: I'll Bet He's Nice is a lot milder and more whimsical (though Bits & Pieces also has a somewhat idiosyncratic middle eight). I hope you enjoy both of these tunes and I'll see you Wednesday!

LISTEN to The Rivals.

LISTEN to The Beach Boys.

Photo: Northeast Corridor (1).