Jan & Dean’s original comedy opus, available for the first time in unedited form!
So The Beatles released Rubber Soul in 1965. Jan and I rushed out to our local record store (remember those?) and bought two copies. It was a great album—the music was awesome, and the production was brilliant. But there was something that was missing: we didn’t discover the meaning of the so-very-cool title Rubber Soul. Such a cool title must have some very deep meaning that was right up there with discovering The Meaning of Life or The Theory of Relativity, for God’s sake. So how did we miss it? Traveling in the car, we talked about this whole Rubber Soul thing, and it got us thinking… what kinda soul did Jan & Dean have? And it was perfectly obvious to us that Jan & Dean had “Filet of Soul.” Let’s eat!—Excerpt from Dean Torrence’s liner notes
In 1965, Jan (Berry) & Dean (Torrence), the California Sound pop-duo from Los Angeles, had outgrown its small independent record company and was striving to obtain more control over its career, including adding more comedy to their act. Having charted five Top 10 records in the past two years (including the anthem defining surf classic “Surf City”), the successful duo was now reaching for the silver screen and more. They would be starring in their own movie (Easy Come Easy Go) and would soon have their own television show, to be produced by William Asher (Bewitched). But they owed their label one more record and really didn’t want to waste any of the “good material” with them. Enter the idea of a live album… unfortunately the suits were not that interested as Jan & Dean had previously released one in early ’65, so the duo, who had been fine tuning their wise-ass shtick since high school, delivered a “live” album with comedy… label execs were appalled and rejected the album.
Sadly, on April 12, 1966, Jan Berry was involved in a tragic automobile accident that more or less derailed the duo’s career. Berry was miraculously alive but in a coma. Soon thereafter, the “suits” now saw an opportunity to exploit the Jan & Dean story all over again and deconstructed the original Filet Of Soul into another live album titled Filet Of Soul – A “Live” One.
Now, 50 years after their original vision was rejected, Omnivore Recordings is proud to release Filet Of Soul Redux: The Rejected Master Recordings, as it was originally intended… a live cutting-edge comedy album with great music interspersed with sound effects, studio skits and comic banter. Torrence, along with Endless Summer Quarterly publisher David Beard supply informative liners and studio ephemera from the sessions.
Listen to what the fuss was all about… HA HA HA! HA CHOO!!
Prelude / Honolulu Lulu Boys Down At The Plant / Cathy’s Clown / Pigeon Joke Brass Section Introductions / Dead Man’s Curve Beatle Part Of Our Portion / Rhythm Section Introduction / Michelle / Whistling Dixie We Want Jan & Dean / Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) 1-2-3 Lightnin’ Strikes You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away And Now Back To The Show / Let’s Hang On Introduciton Hang On Sloopy / Jan & Dean, They’ll Be Back
