Anyone here attend the '67 Lei'd in Hawaii show?

[Pet Sounder]

If so I'd be curious to know how engaged Brian was when playing (or not playing?) his Baldwin organ and vocal contributions.  I know the band was in a low spot at this time and from what I've heard the show was pretty lame.  How was Brain's on stage participation level?  I assume more engaged than what we have now?

[hypehat]

I wasn't there, but he does sound very into it. Doesn't make the show any better, mind. Any show where a performer heckles the crowd isn't a good one, really...

[Aegir]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

[hypehat]

Dude, it is really badly played. The rehearsals are a much better example of that sound, IMO

[Jay]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

You know, I kind of wish that the group had played the entire Smiley Smile album at those shows.  I think that in some way it might have improved the album's reputation, as well as their own.

[MBE]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

You know, I kind of wish that the group had played the entire Smiley Smile album at those shows.  I think that in some way it might have improved the album's reputation, as well as their own.

I love the shows myself. Brian cooks.

[Jay]

It would have been awesome if they had done Can't Wait To Long/Been Way To Long as an encore, especially with those opening harmonies. 

[Cabinessenceking]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

You know, I kind of wish that the group had played the entire Smiley Smile album at those shows.  I think that in some way it might have improved the album's reputation, as well as their own.

You're right. The last thing people wanted to hear in post-summer of love 67' was Cal Girls, You're So good To Me and Help Me Rhonda.

The best song from the show is H&V which imo shines with the Smiley arrangements. Had they flipped out more Smiley and Pet Sounds they coulda had a better performance. Mind you, by this stage they really needed backup  musicians but had yet to realise it. Also if they had practised and not sounded like a newly formed highschool band playing to parents the show might have been a notch better?

[roll plymouth rock]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

You know, I kind of wish that the group had played the entire Smiley Smile album at those shows.  I think that in some way it might have improved the album's reputation, as well as their own.

You're right. The last thing people wanted to hear in post-summer of love 67' was Cal Girls, You're So good To Me and Help Me Rhonda.

The best song from the show is H&V which imo shines with the Smiley arrangements. Had they flipped out more Smiley and Pet Sounds they coulda had a better performance. Mind you, by this stage they really needed backup  musicians but had yet to realise it. Also if they had practised and not sounded like a newly formed highschool band playing to parents the show might have been a notch better?

I don't really agree, if you listen to the tapes its a crowd of screaming teenage girls who probably REALLY wanted to hear the hits and not weird spaced out organ harmony music. I wish they went more in this direction, but don't think the crowd who had to be told to "cool it" during artistic songs were on that level yet

[SMiLE Brian]

These concerts are shaky at times, but its the only show to hear Brian sing H&V with the classic voice and restore the live vocal blend to proper balance. This concert really is the coda to the original five's glory days.

[Ram4]

I don't know why everyone dislikes these recordings. It's the band in Smiley Smile mode performing live!

That's the problem.  A lot of people like Smiley Smile, but when they want to give all the songs in the show a stripped down, Baldwin organ Smiley Smile treatment it just doesn't work.  Plus most of the performances from both shows are pretty stale.  I wouldn't release these shows.  Maybe a couple tracks for historical curiosity.  If anything, they should have given a pop hit in the making like Getting Hungry a full band arrangement as if would have sounded on any other album.  And I have no idea why they did that "song" called Hawthorne Boulevard.

[guitarfool2002]

As much as the quality issues are pretty true, I think it should be released. No matter what the quality, the tapes are compelling and as someone said, they are historical in that it was the final appearance of that lineup.

I'm biased here, because the whole Hawaii saga is one of my favorite points in BB's history. The fact that film exists but leaves enough incomplete to keep us guessing, the whole re-recording deal, the exorbitant sums of money they spent to ship a fucking Baldwin organ, a team of some of the best engineers along with at that time the most high-tech recording gear available in LA courtesy Wally Heider's rentals, the entire entourage of wives, family, etc...

It was about as expensive of a project as a major band could have staged in 1967, and the burning question remains: If they put that much effort into the preparations, the pre-production, the operations and logistics of the thing in order to facilitate that kind of recording and performance system...(wait for it)...

Why in hell did they not practice the actual setlist? Why spend all of those thousands to prepare the show, record the show, have the Baldwin there, and then turn it what sounds like an off-the-cuff performance on some of the material? Lead off the show with a blues jam that doesn't jam and goes nowhere? Why? Missed cues, blown vocals, a loose band sound, Brian doing various things on stage...

Could that have been one of the elements which had earlier in '67 doomed Smile? The preparations seem to outweigh the actual event(s). The inability to finish strong, in other words, despite running a world-class race up to the final stretch when it becomes most important to deliver. The finish line, the gold medal, was ultimately the band delivering the goods on stage, not having everything in place to record and prepare for the event. It didn't work out. The best recording equipment and engineers can't salvage a lackluster performance.

Just my interpretation and two cents.

And I'm curious where that rumor started about Brian wanting to have thousands of ukes passed out to the crowd...

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The rehearsals for the show are AMAZING. One of my favorite BB related recordings. It's like Smiley Live!

[guitarfool2002]

The rehearsals for the show are AMAZING. One of my favorite BB related recordings. It's like Smiley Live!

I agree, they're great to listen to - But I wanted to make sure we're talking about the same thing. Do you mean the actual rehearsals as in the songs like Surfer Girl recorded live in the empty arena in Hawaii before the shows, or do you mean the more fleshed out arrangements of songs like California Girls and whatnot which have a more studio quality sound, with the Baldwin and more clear vocals? Because those were recorded after the band returned to LA.

I bring that up because a mislabeling of the Boys' post-Hawaii attempts to re-record the concert at Wally Heider's in Los Angeles as "rehearsals" on several releases confused the whole timeline of how it actually happened. It's good to clarify that every now and then in case the information is still skewed about what tape is an actual Hawaii rehearsal versus their attempts to re-record much of the setlist in an LA studio after they returned from Hawaii and found the tapes mostly unable to be used or fixed enough to release.

[Cabinessenceking]

why did they rerecord all of it, and not just overdub? I mean, some of the performances were alright, others sucked. H&V and Gettin' Hungry were not bad at all.
I recall The Letter being decent as well.
Which ones did they really f*** up? WIBN?

[Myk Luhv]

Interestingly, "Hawthorne Boulevard" was a tribute to "Whittier Blvd." by Thee Midniters, a Chicano rock group from East LA, which was a local hit released in 1964. (This is mentioned in the liner notes of a compilation of Thee Midniters's music, written by none other than Domenic Priore.)

[guitarfool2002]

Interestingly, "Hawthorne Boulevard" was a tribute to "Whittier Blvd." by Thee Midniters, a Chicano rock group from East LA, which was a local hit released in 1964. (This is mentioned in the liner notes of a compilation of Thee Midniters's music, written by none other than Domenic Priore.)

Very interesting! What a great reference/trivia item, thanks for sharing that here!

And perhaps the joke/reference in 1967 would have played better in LA than it did to an arena full of Hawaiian residents, who probably had no idea what local record and band they were referencing, or what streets they were talking about in general. 

[Myk Luhv]

Should you be curious about Thee Midniters further, the comp I alluded to is In Thee Midnite Hour!!!! released on Norton (which should give you an idea of the music to be heard!) in 2006.

Yeah, it's a rather strange inclusion anyway, I think, -- I wonder what compelled them to pay such a tribute? -- but especially for the reasons you indicated. I do like that it suggests The Beach Boys and Brian were keenly aware of the local scene (c. 1964 at least?) and so perhaps their place within it? It would be excellent to see a book on just that subject too...

[Jay]

I just had an interesting thought, regarding the incident where Brian yells at the audience during God Only Knows. Do you think that maybe it was a sign of Brian's faltering self confidence, and a possible indication of things to come? Kind of like he "snapped" for a split second, when he saw and heard(in his own mind) that the audience was turning against them when they were trying to perform a serious song/concert? Or am I just over analysing it, and it really was just a case of Brian basically saying "shut the hell up, my brother is trying to sing"? 

[Jukka]

I'd say you are reading too much into it. The way he says it doesn't sound that angry, it's more of jokey ad-lib. Then again, young Brian had a nice-guy voice, that's not very convincing for angry rants, so...

[metal flake paint]

The rehearsals for the show are AMAZING. One of my favorite BB related recordings. It's like Smiley Live!

I agree, they're great to listen to - But I wanted to make sure we're talking about the same thing. Do you mean the actual rehearsals as in the songs like Surfer Girl recorded live in the empty arena in Hawaii before the shows, or do you mean the more fleshed out arrangements of songs like California Girls and whatnot which have a more studio quality sound, with the Baldwin and more clear vocals? Because those were recorded after the band returned to LA.

I bring that up because a mislabeling of the Boys' post-Hawaii attempts to re-record the concert at Wally Heider's in Los Angeles as "rehearsals" on several releases confused the whole timeline of how it actually happened. It's good to clarify that every now and then in case the information is still skewed about what tape is an actual Hawaii rehearsal versus their attempts to re-record much of the setlist in an LA studio after they returned from Hawaii and found the tapes mostly unable to be used or fixed enough to release.

Those pre-show rehearsals, including Surfer Girl, GV & THWFOS, are great! Hopefully there's more yet to be heard.

[Ian]

Whether you think the shows are terrible or great-the answer to the question is that Brian is super-involved and takes a bunch of leads-as well as some emceeing duties.  If you hear the 1970 Seattle show-he is also still fairly involved-takes some leads and introduces a song-different guy from 1976 and truly a different guy from 1981

[The infamous Baldwin Organ]

I love these recordings myself, and I always thought it was interesting that it's Al singing "Wouldn't It Be Nice" when Brian was there.

[Pet Sounder]

Whether you think the shows are terrible or great-the answer to the question is that Brian is super-involved and takes a bunch of leads-as well as some emceeing duties.  If you hear the 1970 Seattle show-he is also still fairly involved-takes some leads and introduces a song-different guy from 1976 and truly a different guy from 1981

I would have really loved to see this one live.  I've only heard the official releases.  I'm sure there are just a handful of shows like this - Brian at the keys with his original voice and still engaged.  I wonder, was he that involved at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go show?  I know he walked off stage halfway through on the second night if I remember correctly.

[Ram4]

Whether you think the shows are terrible or great-the answer to the question is that Brian is super-involved and takes a bunch of leads-as well as some emceeing duties.  If you hear the 1970 Seattle show-he is also still fairly involved-takes some leads and introduces a song-different guy from 1976 and truly a different guy from 1981

I would have really loved to see this one live.  I've only heard the official releases.  I'm sure there are just a handful of shows like this - Brian at the keys with his original voice and still engaged.  I wonder, was he that involved at the Whiskey-A-Go-Go show?  I know he walked off stage halfway through on the second night if I remember correctly.

I am far more interested in a recording of the Whiskey show(s) than the Hawaii ones, although that's because I heard the Hawaii ones.  Still, the six of them onstage in 1970 for a complete show is very cool and I'd love to hear what it was like.  Did Brian sing any lead vocals?