THE BEACH BOYS ANNOUNCE 50TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION, NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

[Ron]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

[18thofMay]

Guess my status has been downgraded to casual listener. Am I allowed to continue reading/posting here?

You will have to fill in a form

[SMiLE Brian]

Guess my status has been downgraded to casual listener. Am I allowed to continue reading/posting here?

Yes, i like your updates on when Carnie is on TV.

[Ron]

Guess my status has been downgraded to casual listener. Am I allowed to continue reading/posting here?

Screw the haters.  You are who you are, I think you should do what you want to do regardless of whether others think you're a fan or not, lol.  All we've deduced is a few people and Webster's dictionary don't think you're a fan.  

[stack-o-tracks]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

Oh yeah. Anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, dorks still get laid sometimes just not as often.  

[b00ts]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

Oh yeah. Anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, dorks still get laid sometimes just not as often.  

What is this 'laid' you speak of? Is it a never-before-heard Beach Boys out-take from KTSA??

[stack-o-tracks]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

Oh yeah. Anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, dorks still get laid sometimes just not as often.  

What is this 'laid' you speak of? Is it a never-before-heard Beach Boys out-take from KTSA??

It's why Mike wanted to get to Kokomo quickly and take his time getting back.

[drbeachboy]

If that's how it is, I'm glad I'm not a fan. The Beach Boys are the best band I've ever heard, sure. But they are also the worst, by a considerable margin. Guess I'm not a fan, huh.

Guess not.

I suppose the alternative is thinking SIP is valuable only because it's by The Beach Boys. If that ever happens to me, my best friend has instructions to chuck me under a 172 bus.

Yes, if you are a fanatic, otherwise no. Honestly, I originally came on these boards to share my love of the band and the music. When I would actually meet fans one on one, most of them shared the same love.  When I attended the conventions, same thing. Here, it is whole different thing. All the fussing, fighting, the hating, it is not what I expected from other FANS. Maybe it is just me and how I define being a FAN. I really do not want to get in a pissing contest about this, but being a part of this forum, as well as Hoffman's has really been an eye opener. I honestly did not expect to read as much hate (if that is the right word), as there is love for the band and the music. I feel a bit disillusioned.

[ArchStanton]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

My wife is pretty hot, if I can brag for a second....  Well, she does think I'm a dork, but she likes the Beach Boys too.  So confused right now.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Got news for ya: Anybody who says they like the beach boys is by definition pretty deep on the 'dork' side.  Don't believe me?  Ask a hot chick.  

Oh yeah. Anybody who thinks otherwise is delusional.

Not that there's anything wrong with that, dorks still get laid sometimes just not as often.  

What is this 'laid' you speak of? Is it a never-before-heard Beach Boys out-take from KTSA??

Duh, he's obviously talking about "Lei'd in Hawaii" and made a typo 

[drbeachboy]

At 54 years old, I couldn't give a flyin' fu*k if people think I'm a dork or the hippest guy on the planet. I like what I like and other people's opinions of it don't mean squat. Most people get past that kind of stuff once they are out of their teens.

[b00ts]

If that's how it is, I'm glad I'm not a fan. The Beach Boys are the best band I've ever heard, sure. But they are also the worst, by a considerable margin. Guess I'm not a fan, huh.

Guess not.

I suppose the alternative is thinking SIP is valuable only because it's by The Beach Boys. If that ever happens to me, my best friend has instructions to chuck me under a 172 bus.

Yes, if you are a fanatic, otherwise no. Honestly, I originally came on these boards to share my love of the band and the music. When I would actually meet fans one on one, most of them shared the same love.  When I attended the conventions, same thing. Here, it is whole different thing. All the fussing, fighting, the hating, it is not what I expected from other FANS. Maybe it is just me and how I define being a FAN. I really do not want to get in a pissing contest about this, but being a part of this forum, as well as Hoffman's has really been an eye opener. I honestly did not expect to read as much hate (if that is the right word), as there is love for the band and the music. I feel a bit disillusioned.

I think what it is, is that passions run deep. You sometimes have very nerdy (for want of a better word) obsessive fans, which correlates with higher intelligence, which sometimes correlates with personality defects. Add the anonymity of communicating this way, and there you go.

I have noticed an increase in negativity around here since The Smile Sessions release. The thread about getting Blondie and Ricky back in the band shocked me because I would never have imagined that people who are Beach Boys fans, and who like Blondie and Ricky, would be against it. It is a civil thread and people can disagree politely (not that I always do), but generally, there is a lot of knee-jerk naysaying around here. That's the nature of obsessive fans.

The Beach Boys have a catalogue that is larger than most groups. They had a changing lineup and changes of leadership multiple times throughout their history.
They also had salaciously scandalous personal lives, bitter feuds, and wildly varying levels of quality, even within their own albums. The boys have had many aborted albums, solo projects, et. al. and lots of ephemera that was left off the albums, including outtakes, alternate versions, and demos.

They have been a live act since the 1960s, and they have two polar opposites as their de facto frontmen: Brian Wilson is an immensely talented songwriter and producer, he's pretty shy and not the stablest person mentally. Mike is the quintessential outgoing, hard-working frontman for the live group, he has been consistently delivering since the 60s, he is happy to be the focal point of the group, and he would never be accused of being a sensitive soul.

All this to say, The Beach Boys have a perfect combination of factors to make for naysaying, infighting, and general negativity and shittiness among the fan base. There has been a noticeable upswing in this negativity around here since The Smile Sessions and now the reunion announcement; perhaps people stick together more when times are tough.

However, The Beach Boys also have a perfect combination of factors conducive to bright, articulate individuals dedicating a lot of time to posting on this board. Andrew G. Doe alone is an infinitely useful fountain of knowledge for The Beach Boys, and he seems like a pretty good guy. There's scores more where that came from, and lots of great fans on here. There is always something new to discover with The Beach Boys, and there is no in-depth Beach Boys community like Smileysmile.net.

So in the end, you have the awesomeness of the reunion, the scholarly experts who post here, all the cool-as-sh*t fans with interesting insights, the moderators, and of course the insanely beautiful music. Put all of that up against the few douche-bags and the admittedly larger number of negative nancys, and I think smileysmile.net comes out on top.

On the topic of "Summer in Paradise," I am not a fan of the album, but one of the great things about The Beach Boys is that there's something for everyone... and on the topic of the reunion, it's going to be fucking great.

[drbeachboy]

Well said, b00ts! I think you nailed it, perfectly.

[SMiLE Brian]

The reunion is going to be awesome because it is going to help make up for the subpar music made from 1980-1995 in my opinion. I bought all the albums except SIP, so i have listened to make a decision

[Shady]

I'm guessing the "worldwide" part of the tour equates to something like ....

Germany - Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt

2 confirmed German dates so far:

Aug. 3, Berlin, o2 World
Aug. 4, Stuttgart, Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle

wow, dates already..

Shouldn't be too long now before the rest of Europe is announced

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Wait a second. I'm not denying the brilliance of the "Sunflower" & "Surf's Up" albums, or that "Holland" has some fine vocals. The uneven(and sometimes bad) stuff comes after the group's 3 year hiatus from releasing studio material(reportedly because Reprise Records wouldn't accept recordings with no Brian Wilson involvement). Brian's voice starts to show damage from substance abuse, the touring members increasingly become an oldies band(particularly after the unexpected success of Capitol's compilations of 1962-65 material), and the group starts recording some particularly bad cover versions(especially the cover versions that didn't get released). With Brian only occasionally participating, the production craftsmanship suffers when he's not there.
                             I'm not saying that there aren't occasional good tracks on the post-1974 albums, but it is obvious that the group's heyday was on the recordings made between 1962 & 1972.

But Phil, so you are saying you wouldn't be interested in outtakes from Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl & The Passions "So Tough", or Holland? Or even some material from the 1974 Caribou sessions?  The 1974 "California Feelin'"? Or possibly material Brian worked on randomly in the "fallow" years, like the re-recording of "In the Back of My Mind"? That all sounds VERY interesting to me. And guess what, even though they did end up having some embarrassing material after 1976, they also had a lot of good, interesting stuff, especially from Brian and Dennis, so I think there is quite a lot that they should still release.

Yes, I WOULD be interested in outtakes from "Sunflower", "Surf's Up" & "Holland". But outtakes from "15 Big Ones"? I'll pass.

REAL fans want them all.  It's all part of the fascination and intrigue.  An evolutionary scientist wouldn't skip the Paleozoic Era.

That's complete bullsh*t. A REAL fan would have the balls to like and dislike whatever part of the band's catalog they so choose.

I guess I'm not a REAL fan since I think most of the stuff released post-Love You is garbage and could care less about songs that weren't good enough to be on sub-par albums.

Fan, it is short for fanatic. Please look it up, because you do not fit the description. You like some of their music, but by definition you are not a fan-atic. Just being REAL.

Bingo!  But I think I shouldn't have used the word fan.  Many fans go see the BBs in concert and don't know there's only one original guy in the band.

Most people on this board are fanatics. Yes, SIP sucks as does a lot of the after 80's stuff.  But even stack-o-tracks wants at-least to hear it, and then decide it sucks.
My point was real fans/fanatics 'have the balls' to want to hear the 15 BO out takes and decide for themselves.

stack-o-tracks - aren't you the least bit curious on hearing unreleased post 1980's stuff?  Granted, most of it will be crap but that's the fun of it.
"Don't Fight the Sea" was unreleased and now we know it's a pretty damm good song (by Al standards).

[b00ts]

Wait a second. I'm not denying the brilliance of the "Sunflower" & "Surf's Up" albums, or that "Holland" has some fine vocals. The uneven(and sometimes bad) stuff comes after the group's 3 year hiatus from releasing studio material(reportedly because Reprise Records wouldn't accept recordings with no Brian Wilson involvement). Brian's voice starts to show damage from substance abuse, the touring members increasingly become an oldies band(particularly after the unexpected success of Capitol's compilations of 1962-65 material), and the group starts recording some particularly bad cover versions(especially the cover versions that didn't get released). With Brian only occasionally participating, the production craftsmanship suffers when he's not there.
                             I'm not saying that there aren't occasional good tracks on the post-1974 albums, but it is obvious that the group's heyday was on the recordings made between 1962 & 1972.

But Phil, so you are saying you wouldn't be interested in outtakes from Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl & The Passions "So Tough", or Holland? Or even some material from the 1974 Caribou sessions?  The 1974 "California Feelin'"? Or possibly material Brian worked on randomly in the "fallow" years, like the re-recording of "In the Back of My Mind"? That all sounds VERY interesting to me. And guess what, even though they did end up having some embarrassing material after 1976, they also had a lot of good, interesting stuff, especially from Brian and Dennis, so I think there is quite a lot that they should still release.

Yes, I WOULD be interested in outtakes from "Sunflower", "Surf's Up" & "Holland". But outtakes from "15 Big Ones"? I'll pass.

REAL fans want them all.  It's all part of the fascination and intrigue.  An evolutionary scientist wouldn't skip the Paleozoic Era.

That's complete bullsh*t. A REAL fan would have the balls to like and dislike whatever part of the band's catalog they so choose.

I guess I'm not a REAL fan since I think most of the stuff released post-Love You is garbage and could care less about songs that weren't good enough to be on sub-par albums.

Fan, it is short for fanatic. Please look it up, because you do not fit the description. You like some of their music, but by definition you are not a fan-atic. Just being REAL.

Bingo!  But I think I shouldn't have used the word fan.  Many fans go see the BBs in concert and don't know there's only one original guy in the band.

Most people on this board are fanatics. Yes, SIP sucks as does a lot of the after 80's stuff.  But even stack-o-tracks wants at-least to hear it, and then decide it sucks.
My point was real fans/fanatics 'have the balls' to want to hear the 15 BO out takes and decide for themselves.

stack-o-tracks - aren't you the least bit curious on hearing unreleased post 1980's stuff?  Granted, most of it will be crap but that's the fun of it.
"Don't Fight the Sea" was unreleased and now we know it's a pretty damm good song (by Al standards).

Of course, one of the defning characteristics of the post-1970 Beach Boys is their inability to separate the wheat from the chaff. This means there could be some mighty fine material out there.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Wait a second. I'm not denying the brilliance of the "Sunflower" & "Surf's Up" albums, or that "Holland" has some fine vocals. The uneven(and sometimes bad) stuff comes after the group's 3 year hiatus from releasing studio material(reportedly because Reprise Records wouldn't accept recordings with no Brian Wilson involvement). Brian's voice starts to show damage from substance abuse, the touring members increasingly become an oldies band(particularly after the unexpected success of Capitol's compilations of 1962-65 material), and the group starts recording some particularly bad cover versions(especially the cover versions that didn't get released). With Brian only occasionally participating, the production craftsmanship suffers when he's not there.
                             I'm not saying that there aren't occasional good tracks on the post-1974 albums, but it is obvious that the group's heyday was on the recordings made between 1962 & 1972.

But Phil, so you are saying you wouldn't be interested in outtakes from Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl & The Passions "So Tough", or Holland? Or even some material from the 1974 Caribou sessions?  The 1974 "California Feelin'"? Or possibly material Brian worked on randomly in the "fallow" years, like the re-recording of "In the Back of My Mind"? That all sounds VERY interesting to me. And guess what, even though they did end up having some embarrassing material after 1976, they also had a lot of good, interesting stuff, especially from Brian and Dennis, so I think there is quite a lot that they should still release.

Yes, I WOULD be interested in outtakes from "Sunflower", "Surf's Up" & "Holland". But outtakes from "15 Big Ones"? I'll pass.

REAL fans want them all.  It's all part of the fascination and intrigue.  An evolutionary scientist wouldn't skip the Paleozoic Era.

That's complete bullsh*t. A REAL fan would have the balls to like and dislike whatever part of the band's catalog they so choose.

I guess I'm not a REAL fan since I think most of the stuff released post-Love You is garbage and could care less about songs that weren't good enough to be on sub-par albums.

Fan, it is short for fanatic. Please look it up, because you do not fit the description. You like some of their music, but by definition you are not a fan-atic. Just being REAL.

Bingo!  But I think I shouldn't have used the word fan.  Many fans go see the BBs in concert and don't know there's only one original guy in the band.

Most people on this board are fanatics. Yes, SIP sucks as does a lot of the after 80's stuff.  But even stack-o-tracks wants at-least to hear it, and then decide it sucks.
My point was real fans/fanatics 'have the balls' to want to hear the 15 BO out takes and decide for themselves.

stack-o-tracks - aren't you the least bit curious on hearing unreleased post 1980's stuff?  Granted, most of it will be crap but that's the fun of it.
"Don't Fight the Sea" was unreleased and now we know it's a pretty damm good song (by Al standards).

Of course, one of the defning characteristics of the post-1970 Beach Boys is their inability to separate the wheat from the chaff. This means there could be some mighty fine material out there.

Definitely!

[stack-o-tracks]

Wait a second. I'm not denying the brilliance of the "Sunflower" & "Surf's Up" albums, or that "Holland" has some fine vocals. The uneven(and sometimes bad) stuff comes after the group's 3 year hiatus from releasing studio material(reportedly because Reprise Records wouldn't accept recordings with no Brian Wilson involvement). Brian's voice starts to show damage from substance abuse, the touring members increasingly become an oldies band(particularly after the unexpected success of Capitol's compilations of 1962-65 material), and the group starts recording some particularly bad cover versions(especially the cover versions that didn't get released). With Brian only occasionally participating, the production craftsmanship suffers when he's not there.
                             I'm not saying that there aren't occasional good tracks on the post-1974 albums, but it is obvious that the group's heyday was on the recordings made between 1962 & 1972.

But Phil, so you are saying you wouldn't be interested in outtakes from Sunflower, Surf's Up, Carl & The Passions "So Tough", or Holland? Or even some material from the 1974 Caribou sessions?  The 1974 "California Feelin'"? Or possibly material Brian worked on randomly in the "fallow" years, like the re-recording of "In the Back of My Mind"? That all sounds VERY interesting to me. And guess what, even though they did end up having some embarrassing material after 1976, they also had a lot of good, interesting stuff, especially from Brian and Dennis, so I think there is quite a lot that they should still release.

Yes, I WOULD be interested in outtakes from "Sunflower", "Surf's Up" & "Holland". But outtakes from "15 Big Ones"? I'll pass.

REAL fans want them all.  It's all part of the fascination and intrigue.  An evolutionary scientist wouldn't skip the Paleozoic Era.

That's complete bullsh*t. A REAL fan would have the balls to like and dislike whatever part of the band's catalog they so choose.

I guess I'm not a REAL fan since I think most of the stuff released post-Love You is garbage and could care less about songs that weren't good enough to be on sub-par albums.

Fan, it is short for fanatic. Please look it up, because you do not fit the description. You like some of their music, but by definition you are not a fan-atic. Just being REAL.

Bingo!  But I think I shouldn't have used the word fan.  Many fans go see the BBs in concert and don't know there's only one original guy in the band.

Most people on this board are fanatics. Yes, SIP sucks as does a lot of the after 80's stuff.  But even stack-o-tracks wants at-least to hear it, and then decide it sucks.
My point was real fans/fanatics 'have the balls' to want to hear the 15 BO out takes and decide for themselves.

stack-o-tracks - aren't you the least bit curious on hearing unreleased post 1980's stuff?  Granted, most of it will be crap but that's the fun of it.
"Don't Fight the Sea" was unreleased and now we know it's a pretty damm good song (by Al standards).

Of course I will give a listen to everything I can but. I find a lot of the stuff on the second "Get The Boot" boot to be mediocre to flat out bad.

The Beach Boys definitely have a good mix of songs that work and songs that don't.

Not a huge fan of Don't Fight The Sea but I quite liked the b-side. 

[drbeachboy]

That is kind of the point when listening to boots; not everything is gonna be very good. That is why it wasn't released proper in the first place.

[hypehat]

If that's how it is, I'm glad I'm not a fan. The Beach Boys are the best band I've ever heard, sure. But they are also the worst, by a considerable margin. Guess I'm not a fan, huh.

Guess not.

I suppose the alternative is thinking SIP is valuable only because it's by The Beach Boys. If that ever happens to me, my best friend has instructions to chuck me under a 172 bus.

Yes, if you are a fanatic, otherwise no. Honestly, I originally came on these boards to share my love of the band and the music. When I would actually meet fans one on one, most of them shared the same love.  When I attended the conventions, same thing. Here, it is whole different thing. All the fussing, fighting, the hating, it is not what I expected from other FANS. Maybe it is just me and how I define being a FAN. I really do not want to get in a pissing contest about this, but being a part of this forum, as well as Hoffman's has really been an eye opener. I honestly did not expect to read as much hate (if that is the right word), as there is love for the band and the music. I feel a bit disillusioned.

Well, I may be a pretty big 'fan' of the Beach Boys, but I'm not stupid and don't feel obliged to listen to terrible music they've done just because they are also responsible for my favourite records ever. I love The Beach Boys, of course I do, but I'm not blind to their failures as musicians.

I'm really not trying to contribute to any negative vibe on this board, but I am quitting smoking over christmas so i can make no promises 

[SMiLE Brian]

If that's how it is, I'm glad I'm not a fan. The Beach Boys are the best band I've ever heard, sure. But they are also the worst, by a considerable margin. Guess I'm not a fan, huh.

Guess not.

I suppose the alternative is thinking SIP is valuable only because it's by The Beach Boys. If that ever happens to me, my best friend has instructions to chuck me under a 172 bus.

Yes, if you are a fanatic, otherwise no. Honestly, I originally came on these boards to share my love of the band and the music. When I would actually meet fans one on one, most of them shared the same love.  When I attended the conventions, same thing. Here, it is whole different thing. All the fussing, fighting, the hating, it is not what I expected from other FANS. Maybe it is just me and how I define being a FAN. I really do not want to get in a pissing contest about this, but being a part of this forum, as well as Hoffman's has really been an eye opener. I honestly did not expect to read as much hate (if that is the right word), as there is love for the band and the music. I feel a bit disillusioned.

Well, I may be a pretty big 'fan' of the Beach Boys, but I'm not stupid and don't feel obliged to listen to terrible music they've done just because they are also responsible for my favourite records ever. I love The Beach Boys, of course I do, but I'm not blind to their failures as musicians.

I'm really not trying to contribute to any negative vibe on this board, but I am quitting smoking over christmas so i can make no promises  

I'm not trying to be negative either, I just bought stuff like KTSA and can't listen to it at all because its the band at its worst. Good luck and godspeed Hypehat with breaking the habit.

[Rocker]

If that's how it is, I'm glad I'm not a fan. The Beach Boys are the best band I've ever heard, sure. But they are also the worst, by a considerable margin. Guess I'm not a fan, huh.

Guess not.

I suppose the alternative is thinking SIP is valuable only because it's by The Beach Boys. If that ever happens to me, my best friend has instructions to chuck me under a 172 bus.

Yes, if you are a fanatic, otherwise no. Honestly, I originally came on these boards to share my love of the band and the music. When I would actually meet fans one on one, most of them shared the same love.  When I attended the conventions, same thing. Here, it is whole different thing. All the fussing, fighting, the hating, it is not what I expected from other FANS. Maybe it is just me and how I define being a FAN. I really do not want to get in a pissing contest about this, but being a part of this forum, as well as Hoffman's has really been an eye opener. I honestly did not expect to read as much hate (if that is the right word), as there is love for the band and the music. I feel a bit disillusioned.

Well, I may be a pretty big 'fan' of the Beach Boys, but I'm not stupid and don't feel obliged to listen to terrible music they've done just because they are also responsible for my favourite records ever. I love The Beach Boys, of course I do, but I'm not blind to their failures as musicians.

I'm really not trying to contribute to any negative vibe on this board, but I am quitting smoking over christmas so i can make no promises 

As the great Jerry Reed said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTVMuIPGZxQ

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm really not trying to contribute to any negative vibe on this board, but I am quitting smoking over christmas so i can make no promises 

Best thing you'll ever do. Should the resolve weaken, calculate how much money you've been (literally) burning every year when you smoked. Then think what else you could have done with that. If that doesn't work, nothing will. 

[Heysaboda]

So in the end, you have the awesomeness of the reunion, the scholarly experts who post here, all the cool-as-sh*t fans with interesting insights, the moderators, and of course the insanely beautiful music. Put all of that up against the few douche-bags and the admittedly larger number of negative nancys, and I think smileysmile.net comes out on top.

On the topic of "Summer in Paradise," I am not a fan of the album, but one of the great things about The Beach Boys is that there's something for everyone... and on the topic of the reunion, it's going to be f*cking great.

What b00ts said, times 1,000!

(Andrew, you're not the only one who knows how to highlight in yellow....!)