50th Anniversary live double CD up for pre-order on Amazon

[Freddie French-Pounce]

What about Then I Kissed Her?

Not too bad actually. Harmonies are questionable, and there's a tiny bit of painting on the bridge. Cleanest lead vocal on the album.

Hmm, sounds fair. Thank God for Al's voice.

Oh, not even Al gets away from the treatment most of the time. See Help Me, Rhonda/California Saga

[drbeachboy]

Makes me so glad that Brian was not involved with the Live In London & In Concert albums. I hate when they do studio overdubs like he did with Concert and even Lei'd in Hawaii.

[Lowbacca]

Makes me so glad that Brian was not involved with the Live In London & In Concert albums. I hate when they do studio overdubs like he did with Concert and even Lei'd in Hawaii.

I highly doubt Brian was much involved in this (despite the production credit). His officially released solo live stuff never sounded anywhere like the "Heroes and Villains" I just heard.

[EgoHanger1966]

Makes me so glad that Brian was not involved with the Live In London & In Concert albums. I hate when they do studio overdubs like he did with Concert and even Lei'd in Hawaii.

I highly doubt Brian was much involved in this (despite the production credit). His officially released solo live stuff never sounded anywhere like the "Heroes and Villains" I just heard.

Well, he was at least involved in the overdubbing of vocals post-tour...
Seriously, from the two clips that were posted, how did this get to the final pressing stage without someone saying something?
Again, I know many people have echoed this statement above - we get that there needs to be some polishing up, editing, and fine tuning - hardly any live recording is just a straight tape....but this is a thousand fine tunings overboard.

They stopped using autotune (or whatever it was) on Brian after there were so many complaints on the internet, and he sounded infinitely better as the tour progressed without any technical manipulation. He needs some "assistance" for the release of a live disc, but to have him (and the rest of the band) made to sound like robots, it's an insult to this band and it's 50th anniversary. Joe Thomas should be ashamed of himself - it's not too harsh a criticism - and if anyone "upstairs" is reading this - Joe Thomas should not be let anywhere NEAR the mixing board or producer role of another Brian or BB project, He's proven himself to be a pretty good collaborator of Brian's, and probably a genuinely nice person, but what he's done to the sound of the records he's worked on with the Beach Boys this past year or so is an abomination. Sorry.

[Wirestone]

My initial impression is that Mike comes across as much worse than Brian in the autotune department.

There is tremendous variation from track to track. Some sound great, some so-so, and some seem to be stitched together from non-matching parts (H&V). Kind of hard to know what Joe was thinking with a lot of this. It makes sense, right, if you're doing a single disc of highlights to buff and shine it to the n'th degree. But this is a two-desk set, with rarities, largely sold to a specialist audience that doesn't want the extra polish.

Makes me glad that Brian put out "Roxy," which while it includes a bunch of stuff that's not quite live, at least captures him and the band sounding as natural as possible.

I'll have some more thoughts later on about this all.

[Lowbacca]

Makes me glad that Brian put out "Roxy," which while it includes a bunch of stuff that's not quite live, at least captures him and the band sounding as natural as possible.

Yap. As well as Pet Sounds Live and The AOL Sessions of TLOS.

[Wirestone]

Makes me glad that Brian put out "Roxy," which while it includes a bunch of stuff that's not quite live, at least captures him and the band sounding as natural as possible.

Yap. As well as Pet Sounds Live and The AOL Sessions of TLOS.

Um ... not the first of those. At least to me. The mix is beyond awful. The live DVD, on the other hand, is magical (and also taken from different performances).

[Rocker]

Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations and California Girls make for the most robotic Threesome I've ever heard!

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Good Lord, what is this?!?!?!?!?   

[Pretty Funky]

This is really great news.  Can't wait for it.

But I'm NOT looking forward to hearing all the auto-tuned/overdubbed stuff they'll no doubt put on top of the performances.  Sigh....

I hear ya. If it is anything like the DVD that came out then this will be the only Live BB album not in my collection. The sound grates that much to me. Like most here, I caught the band in concert last year and have listened to the Chiba concert online, and the world did not end due to any so called inferior sound.

Please Capitol...don't mess this up!

Well going by the reports here, they have. Well done Capitol!

Sure, I'll buy it cause I'm a sap but most likely its the Chiba and Mermaid Theatre concerts that will get the most plays. A sad way to sign off the C50.

[Justin]

haha!  Totally forgot about that prediction.  I'm sad to see it come true

[Shady]

Honestly I can't stand autotune, especially on a live album.

 I'll buy it but I doubt I'll even bother listening

[JohnMill]

Honestly I can't stand autotune, especially on a live album.

 I'll buy it but I doubt I'll even bother listening

With all due respect then why bother spending the money?  To support the band? 

I can understand buying it, listening to it once, not digging it and then relegating to your "not often played" bin but to make a hard and fast decision to buy something you are not going to listen to to me at least is a bit odd.

To each his own though.

[Shady]

For supporting the band and for just having the CD.

[runnersdialzero]

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Holy crap, why?

I don't understand how the guys can sign off on this. Do they really listen to stuff like and say "This is what I sound like"? Who thinks this is actually convincing and seamless? Do they think this will help sell more records or something? I sincerely can't understand the logic.

[pixletwin]

This is really great news.  Can't wait for it.

But I'm NOT looking forward to hearing all the auto-tuned/overdubbed stuff they'll no doubt put on top of the performances.  Sigh....

I hear ya. If it is anything like the DVD that came out then this will be the only Live BB album not in my collection. The sound grates that much to me. Like most here, I caught the band in concert last year and have listened to the Chiba concert online, and the world did not end due to any so called inferior sound.

Please Capitol...don't mess this up!

Well going by the reports here, they have. Well done Capitol!

Sure, I'll buy it cause I'm a sap but most likely its the Chiba and Mermaid Theatre concerts that will get the most plays. A sad way to sign off the C50.

Mermaid? Is this a soundboard recording too? Any chance I can find a copy?

[Sheriff John Stone]

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Holy crap, why?

I'd like to take a stab at that question. I caught one of the C50 shows, in Bethlehem, PA. Of the 30+ Beach Boys' concerts I've attended since 1978, it was easily the best one I ever saw. I have nothing but fond memories of the concert. But, if I'm to be totally honest, I wasn't overly impressed by Brian's lead vocals. I give him a B+ for effort; he sang strong and got the words right. But, I thought he was a bit "shouty" and I have heard him sing with more emotion. After some recent subpar and quite frankly scary TV performances, Mike rebounded well and sounded strong, but still a notch below what I had come to expect from him. But don't misunderstand, I enjoyed their performances very much.

The YouTube videos of some of the C50 shows, while acoustically flawed, also confirmed to me what I felt about what I heard live. So, I'm not surprised the performances were significantly altered. They had to be. I think it would've been embarrassing, moreso for Brian, but also for Mike without the Autotuning. And, this is another case of somebody/something happening within the Beach Boys' world THAT IS NOT FOR US 1%, but the other 99% of Beach Boys'/music fans. Yeah, we diehards can sit here and pick out the parts that were fixed but I guarantee the other 99% can't. So, I guess that is the answer. This "product" is marketed like a greatest hits comp. It's mainly targeted for others, not primarily us. If I wasn't a Beach Boys' nut, I couldn't listen to that "Heroes And Villains" snippet and say, "That doesn't sound like the real Brian Wilson. They messed with his vocal." I'm telling you most people won't have a clue - or care. It has to sound good. It can't embarrass the guys. This won't embarrass them. If it would, they wouldn't have allowed it to come out the way it did.

[runnersdialzero]

It also sounds awful like this, though. Is it really more embarrassing to use a bit of manual pitch correction in spots where it's needed and do vocal comping from other shows than to autotune the entire vocal into oblivion the the point of it being so obvious? No human being sounds like that.

Which approach is really more embarrassing, making them look like they're well past their prime and can't sing anymore without a fuckton of doctoring? I'm gonna go with the latter.

[Sheriff John Stone]

It also sounds awful like this, though. Is it really more embarrassing to use a bit of manual pitch correction in spots where it's needed and do vocal comping from other shows than to autotune the entire vocal into oblivion the the point of it being so obvious? No human being sounds like that.

Which approach is really more embarrassing, making them look like they're well past their prime and can't sing anymore without a fuckton of doctoring? I'm gonna go with the latter.

I'll have to listen to the whole thing I guess. Upon first hearing, I didn't think it sounded THAT bad. I'm not trying to be contrarian, but I'm not gonna jump on the bandwagon either!

[zachrwolfe]

‍

[EgoHanger1966]

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Holy crap, why?

I'd like to take a stab at that question. I caught one of the C50 shows, in Bethlehem, PA. Of the 30+ Beach Boys' concerts I've attended since 1978, it was easily the best one I ever saw. I have nothing but fond memories of the concert. But, if I'm to be totally honest, I wasn't overly impressed by Brian's lead vocals. I give him a B+ for effort; he sang strong and got the words right. But, I thought he was a bit "shouty" and I have heard him sing with more emotion. After some recent subpar and quite frankly scary TV performances, Mike rebounded well and sounded strong, but still a notch below what I had come to expect from him. But don't misunderstand, I enjoyed their performances very much.

I was at that same show - it was my first Beach Boys show - and I thought Brian did sound a little shouty at times, but nothing that warrants the excessive autotune. He sang on key and didn't forget the words. He wasn't all "there" that night, and it did make me a bit sad, but that's nothing you could hear on an audio cd. They have numerous concerts recorded, it's a patchwork anyway - they don't need to be doing this to make him sound passable. Because, frankly, I'd rather hear a little bit of shoutyness (is that a word?) in his voice, a bit of character and a bit of grit - because that is Brian after all - than a tamed, electronic Bri-Bot. I can't imagine even the most casual of Beach Boys fans feeling let down if there wasn't autotune on the disc, it's not like he's Ke$ha, he can actually sing. Some nights are better than others, yes...but to rely on this as an only excuse to make him "sound good" or "sound modern"....it's available to them but certainly not the only option.

In 2013, they have SO much technology to help make an artist sound better - but they abuse and manipulate to a point where it goes beyond even sounding human. It's offensive.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations and California Girls make for the most robotic Threesome I've ever heard!

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Yikes! Is this a special version for the "Finding Nemo 2" soundtrack or something? Brian sounds like he's underwater!

I wonder what the compression situation is on the MP3 posted to soundcloud. I doubt the thing would ever go out to the "shops" like this!

[Wirestone]

I wonder what the compression situation is on the MP3 posted to soundcloud. I doubt the thing would ever go out to the "shops" like this!

It sounds just like that. I have the discs in hand.

[seltaeb1012002]

It also sounds awful like this, though. Is it really more embarrassing to use a bit of manual pitch correction in spots where it's needed and do vocal comping from other shows than to autotune the entire vocal into oblivion the the point of it being so obvious? No human being sounds like that.

Which approach is really more embarrassing, making them look like they're well past their prime and can't sing anymore without a fuckton of doctoring? I'm gonna go with the latter.

Not only is the vocal tuning WAY over the top, but that doubling effect makes it sound even more robotic. I wonder why they wouldn't try to attempt some more natural tuning. There are ways of doing it without it having to sound like this. Reminds me of Mike's leads on the Knebworth CD/DVD. Only worse, with the double tracked effect. They should seriously go back and fix this, even if just for the digital release. If they don't, I'm sure they'll face a lot of negative reviews. Almost everyone knows what autotune is these days.

Like Wirestone said.. "Roxy" sets the bar on how it should be done. "Pet Sounds Live" was pretty good too.

[Wirestone]

The other thing is, people are acting as though this is all about Brian's vocals.

It's not.

Mike is tuned far worse in several spots. He sounds like Cher!

[Shady]

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

Holy crap, why?

I don't understand how the guys can sign off on this. Do they really listen to stuff like and say "This is what I sound like"? Who thinks this is actually convincing and seamless? Do they think this will help sell more records or something? I sincerely can't understand the logic.

It's not the boys fault. They have no idea how a live album should sound these days.

It's just sad they have a bunch of, quite frankly, incredibly lacking people working on their products these days.

It's making my blood boil