album Smile, which had been shelved since 1967. Smile was never delivered; Leaf writes that the purpose of the latter announcement may have been to mislead Reprise into allowing the group more time to prepare the album that became Carl and the Passions. Bruce Johnston, who had joined the group in 1965, left the Beach Boys in April 1972 due to creative differences between him and his bandmates. Production Sessions for the Beach Boys' third Reprise album lasted from December 4, 1971 to April 13, 1972, and were held largely at the band's private studio. Most of the basic tracks were recorded in December 1971, with the remainder of the album finished during the following April. The members worked in three separate factions: Carl, Fataar, and Chaplin; Love and Jardine; and Dennis with touring musician Daryl Dragon. Fataar stated, "It was just all done very piecemeal. Somebody would be cutting a track over at Village Recorders and somebody else would be recording at Sunset [...] It was an 'in between touring' kind of an album. [...] We kept changing studios all the time. Perhaps that's why it sounds so bad." During this time, Brian Wilson, who had reduced his contributions to the group, was largely preoccupied with hanging out with Tandyn Almer. Wilson was absent for most of the sessions, and was more involved with producing the 1972 self-titled debut album by Spring, a collaboration with David Sandler. Chaplin stated, "We recorded some tracks in the studio at Brian's home. But most of the time he was up in his bedroom while we were working downstairs." In an interview held shortly after the release of Carl and the Passions, Johnston said: "I spoke to Brian a couple of weeks ago and he told me that he really didn't have too much to do with this album. [...] I don't hear his voice very much on this album." Songs and outtakes Brian's three song contributions were "You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone" (co-written with Rieley and co-produced with Carl), "Marcella" (co-written with Rieley and Almer), and "He Come Down" (co-written with Al Jardine and Love). "Marcella" was written about a masseuse from the Circus Maximus, a Santa Monica Boulevard massage parlor that Brian had frequented. "You Need a Mess of Help to Stand Alone" was originally written with Almer as "Beatrice from Baltimore" before the lyrics were revised