New Al interview: "Don't call us The Beach Boys!"

[Loves The Sunflower]

This interview with Al only serves to remind the world what an absolute clusterfuck of wasted time and squandered opportunities the last 20 years of Beach Boys' history is. They've spent more time in court with one another or being insulated from one another by a gaggle of managers, handlers and attorneys than they've spent onstage or in the studio... and what has it gotten them? Nothing. It's just sad, you know? What is is certainly amazing and nothing to be sneezed at, but... looking at what might have been...

[Smilin Ed H]

More like  thirty five years.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'll see your thirty five and raise you fifty three.

[lee]

I just don't think quality of a Beach Boys related show has to do with whether or not lots of well known hits are being played.

I agree. I've seen live shows where a band has performed only a handful of their hits and they were fantastic shows. I think only playing "greatest hits" is lazy and could possibly prevent fans from going to see them because they saw the same exact show a year or two prior. Now as AGD said, it may only be 10 people that want deeper cuts but why not do something for those 10 people who know there's more to your career than some surf and car hits.

Is 99% of the generic audience going to know Goin' To The Beach, Ballad of Ole' Betsy or Pisces Brothers?
Is 99% of the generic audience going to leave disappointed because they didn't hear California Dreamin', Why Do Fools Fall In Love or Rock & Roll Music? I highly doubt it. I could be wrong but I doubt it.

Cutting out those six songs and perform songs like All I Wanna Do, Deirdre, Here Today, Friends, California Saga (On My Way...) and maybe rotate Please Let Me Wonder* and The Warmth Of The Sun*. Little changes like that make the set so much more interesting and of those 7 songs, 4 of them are on 50 Big Ones. Who knows, they may turn the casual listener to something more by performing some fantastic songs they may not have heard before.

*I know they've performed these songs here and there but make them concert staples. By the way, bring back Wild Honey!

Sorry to go off topic but I do feel like Mike and Bruce could put together a better representation of The Beach Boys music that everyone could enjoy. Al's "Carl and Dennis" show isn't original but at least he tries to acknowledge all periods of The Beach Boys music and do something for those 9 or 10 people who are more than the casual fan.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Point being, the notion - not that it'll ever fly - seems to be to perform exclusively the songs of Carl & Dennis. No hits.

[Heysaboda]

During C50, I remember how Al introduced Heroes and Villains: “Okay, we’re going to do something from our new album Smile.”

LOL

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Remember that as far back as the early 70s, there was backlash whenever they played the 'non-classic' material. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

[Nicko1234]

Remember that as far back as the early 70s, there was backlash whenever they played the 'non-classic' material. Damned if they do, damned if they don't.

Indeed. I think Daryl Dragon has said that even in the late 60s that fans would walk out when the played non-hits.