Reminder: Beach Boys on Fallon Tonight - May 7th, 2012

[LetHimRun]

When Jimmy said the guys had last been in the studio in 1968, was he referring to The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson?

Yes.

[guitarfool2002]

Reminder to listen to those clips with headphones, the separation and overall mix is so good...

[Awesoman]

Indeed a few shaky moments in both of the last two songs, but it's to be expected - that's live performance. I missed "In My Room", didn't know it would air as it did. They sounded great on the last couple songs, though. Any "shaky"ness was welcomed, as the mix was pretty good (and on a f*cking late night TV show, of all places!) and I heard nothing remotely artificial going on.

"In My Room" was played at the very top of the show--even before the opening credits.  So the Beach Boys got three songs in that night plus an interview.  

[Jaspy]

they've had a lot of shaky moments when they do TWGMTR live too.  It's tough to do that much harmony on a song like that.  Foskett reaaally has to anchor it

Sure, it was not perfect, but if you ask me, real live vocals just give the performances a natural energy, autotuning destroys that feeling.

Is the interview online?

[Wirestone]

They had shaky, flat vocal moments even in 1964.

+111111

The band has always used the studio as a kind of super-megaphone for the voices. And as you say, the live performances have always been different. And we can see that in a three song live set, where Brian essentially sings lead on two of the three tunes, they were able to do a respectable job with well over 50 percent (sometimes up to 90 percent) of the vocal weight being carried by the five main guys. This is far better than Brian usually does with his own band on TV appearances!

[I. Spaceman]

They had shaky, flat vocal moments even in 1964.

+111111

The band has always used the studio as a kind of super-megaphone for the voices. And as you say, the live performances have always been different. And we can see that in a three song live set, where Brian essentially sings lead on two of the three tunes, they were able to do a respectable job with well over 50 percent (sometimes up to 90 percent) of the vocal weight being carried by the five main guys. This is far better than Brian usually does with his own band on TV appearances!

Yeah, I could tell there that Brian actually cared about what he was singing and how the band were coming off.

[guitarfool2002]

This topic must be hot, I just saw the 3rd or 4th quick reply to the Johnny Carson question 

[18thofMay]

I can't get over how good this is! I love Jimmy Fallon for doing this

[jeremylr]

Al got some really good close-ups on Radio & Wouldn't It Be Nice.  Also funny to hear him yell out "Yee-hoo!" at the end of Radio. Brian was really hunching his shoulders up during Radio, too. Looks like Bruce & David wore the same shirts they wore in St. Augustine when the show was filmed.

And thanks for the Johnny Carson info. Sad that the footage is probably lost.

[monicker]

Man, i wish the studio recording of TWGMTR sounded like it did tonight on the show--rawer and even a little pitchy. Much better bass tone too. And why on earth, when it goes into the tag, couldn’t they use a drum hit like they had tonight, rather than that cavernous 80s Joe Thomas sh*t? The whole song just sounded so much better than the recording, sheesh. Give me rough, unprocessed vocals any day over processed gloss.

WIBN, on the other hand, i thought was really, really weak. It sounded like a county fair tribute band. In My Room sounded good though. It’s probably because the original arrangement is easy enough to pull off live. The WIBN arrangement on the other hand, no way.

[Runaways]

I can't get over how good this is! I love Jimmy Fallon for doing this

fallon is awesome.  He always seems humble about where he is.  I think a lot of people were shaky about him taking over, but he's the best on tv now.

[Pretty Funky]

At last for TV. A home- run rather than a bunt. Put those clips on the tour DVD please.

Well done all!

[Dave in KC]

During the PBS interview for the Gershwin album, Brian closed his eyes when he didn't want to talk about a subject or answer a question. He still was able to come up with something. Tonight, the same thing happened, but he had Mike sitting next to him to handle it. It's so obvious that Brian doesn't want to answer questions he's not comfortable with and closing his eyes again tonight confirms that. And that's fine. He knows how to deal with it. It happened a couple of times. You can't possibly miss it.

[donald]

some of this show MUST be included in a future update compilation  of Americas Band/Endless Harmony!

[guitarfool2002]

The more I take in all of what happened, the word I'm using is bittersweet. It was a bittersweet night that feels a lot has come full circle, and some things have happened and are happening which were once thought impossible. This one show - I never thought I'd see Brian and Mike interviewed like that, and I definitely never thought I'd see them get a three-song set and an interview on late night TV - in that format, it's unheard of.

It says a lot about the respect the Beach Boys really do have out there, and I felt like Fallon interviewing Mike and Brian was like one of us fans, just smiling and giddy the whole time, and is probably tonight asking his wife "Did I really just sing harmony with Mike and Brian???" like him singing with McCartney last year...just living that ultimate fan dream of being up there next to those people you thought were untouchable and the coolest people in the universe.

It's good but it's bittersweet, that's all I can think of.

Fantastic.

[donald]

During the PBS interview for the Gershwin album, Brian closed his eyes when he didn't want to talk about a subject or answer a question. He still was able to come up with something. Tonight, the same thing happened, but he had Mike sitting next to him to handle it. It's so obvious that Brian doesn't want to answer questions he's not comfortable with and closing his eyes again tonight confirms that. And that's fine. He knows how to deal with it. It happened a couple of times. You can't possibly miss it.

Yeah.  He seems to enjoy sharing the hot spot lite of the last few years with the others..  That would explain his relaxing and seeming more natural,

And ML looked "like a brother".   

[18thofMay]

Is the interview up yet?

[mammy blue]

Anyone who could watch that show tonight and still profess to "hate" Mike Love has a cold, cold heart.

The guy took pretty much every opportunity he could to praise Brian to the skies, showed a great deal of compassion to him throughout their appearance, and out of three songs, none even featured him as the main vocalist.

Mike strikes me as the proudest Beach Boy. He actually listens to the radio just to hear the same  BB songs that he's performed millions of times. That's weird but kind of touching.

When he says he's happy to be up there with the other guys, singing their hearts out, he means it. You could actually see that fire in all five of them tonight, even Brian.

[Phoenix]

Finally thought of the song the verses of That's Why... remind me of.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_E2wBksA7l4

Been saying that since the first listen.  I'm glad I'm not alone.  Still, I don't mind.  Maybe it's an intentional tip of the hat.

[Les Chan]

Bravo to the BOYS on their performances tonight.  They did themselves proud and made us fans so proud of them!  Finally, not an embarrassing TV appearance!



Awesome!!!

[Pretty Funky]

Someone posted they thought WIBN was not the best. That was the BB's, mainly Al, doing the lead. Jeff was nicely in the mix but not IN YOUR FACE like the Dodger slot. I'll take that any day thanks.

[MBE]

I don't think Brian made any of the 1968 TV shows. He must remember watching at home.

[Fro]

Seriously, if they do end up recording Brian's "rock" album in the future, they need to get Questo and whoever was responsible for the sound mixing on Fallon's show. to co-produce/engineer it instead of Joe Thomas.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

After a pretty lousy day, another in a seemingly endless stream of them, it actually made me smile (pardon the pun) to see my musical heroes go on TV and fucking slay it.  Tonight was a reminder of why I love the Beach Boys.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Seriously, if they do end up recording Brian's "rock" album in the future, they need to get Questo and whoever was responsible for the sound mixing on Fallon's show. to co-produce/engineer it instead of Joe Thomas.

?uestlove would be GREAT. BB/The Roots together on a song? Hell to the yeah.