NY Observer: 'Beyond the Life of Brian: The Myth of the ‘Lesser’ Beach Boys'

[sea of tunes]

http://observer.com/2015/07/beyond-the-life-of-brian-the-myth-of-the-lesser-beach-boys/

Of course when you interview Mike Love and Bruce Johnston of the Beach Boys you’re going to have to ask them if they’ve seen Love and Mercy.

LOVE: No, I have not.

JOHNSTON: Who has time?

LOVE: We are going to end up doing about 165 shows this year.

JOHNSTON: I’m hoping I can see it on the airplane.

LOVE: Well, I think anytime they spell your name right it’s good for business, isn’t that what they say? Yes, there’s a lot of emotion about it, a lot of talk about it, but it’s a story of an aspect of Brian’s life—maybe not the most joyful one, or the most fun part of his life, but nonetheless… it’s about an aspect of his life.

With that out of the way, let’s talk about the Beach Boys.

Mike Love and Bruce Johnston shouldn’t have to spend their whole freaking lives apologizing for not being Brian Wilson.

You say to-MAY-toe; I say tuh-MAH-toe. You say Car-uh-BEE-en; I say Cuh-RIB-be-in. You, swept away on a trail of Alex Chilton-flavored pixie dust by the legend of wronged Brian Wilson and a belief in the ultimate superiority of all flawed geniuses to any other type of artists, say that Mike Love is a douche; I say that he has kept alive the legacy of one of America’s greatest bands and the vision of one of our greatest artists, and he has done this cheerfully, energetically—even with a little grace—and he’s done it in the face of a lot of obstructions, a pile of untimely deaths, and a plethora of know-it-all music critics.

“Everything you read is not based on fact,” Love comments. “I know what I did—and if I was brash, or outspoken sometimes, and someone without a sense of humor pins me with having a certain personality type that’s derogatory or even defamatory—well, I know what I did, what I wrote, what I’ve done with the group, what I’ve done with Brian.”

I like Mike Love. There, I said it. He seems very damn genuine, with an honest love for the songs and voices of Brian and Carl Wilson. He also has a very real and endearing commitment to environmentalism and transcendental meditation, and it’s hard not to like someone who starts singing virtually every time a Beach Boys title is mentioned. Bruce Johnston, who has been in the Beach Boys for 51 years, is also eminently likable, a true gearhead who talks about the bands’ evolving recording techniques with childlike joy.

Now back to our story.

Beginning in February 1964, the very soul of American electric pop was hijacked by the idea of Beatles. When the Beatles arrived, a luscious and diverse vein of American musical DNA was largely discarded by a generation of young bands who were seduced by the plugged-in Tin Pan Alley/Brill Building traditionalism of the Beatles.

It’s time to stop thinking of the Beach Boys in such black and white terms.

Circa 1966, one thing stood in the way of the near-complete obliteration of this American imprint on rock/pop. This was the Beach Boys. Their masterpiece, Pet Sounds, had seamlessly blended the smooth splendor of mid-century vocal pop with quirky yet empathic mod-culture-inflected compositions that referenced a gorgeous American tradition that the Beatles had eradicated. Jesus, that’s a helluva sentence. Pet Sounds proved that a pop group could make an album-length piece comparable with the greatest long-form works of Bernstein, Copland, Ives, and Rodgers and Hammerstein.

The architect of Pet Sounds was Brian Wilson, a 24-year-old man who chose to withdraw into the studio to best serve his muse and his band.

“Why should the guy who is writing and producing be wasting away in Fargo, North Dakota, when he could be in the studio?” states Bruce Johnston, who replaced Wilson on the road. “Why would the man with ability to connect those dots be sitting in a motel in Atlanta when he could be in the studio? I never thought anything was strange about that. Think about his job—he writes the melodies, he has Mike co-write the lyrics with Gary Usher and a few other people, he starts arranging what the track’s gonna be, and in the studio he’s making the track come alive. He’s learning from the engineer, Chuck Britz, about EQ’s and other stuff like that, because he’s not learning anything over at Capitol, because they were breathing on him too hard. So he’s got three, four, five things to do at once! And then, what’s kind of just natural and a gift becomes a required thing to deliver, from the label. So everybody put the pressure on him.”

Pet Sounds marked the brilliant dawn of a new era for American pop, one that acknowledged the tumbling, misty, mesa-scraped and marsh-filled miles of American song while creating something startling and new. The next part of that story was supposed to be SMiLE.

SMiLE, which aspired to assemble an extraordinary mofungo of American folk tics, treasures, shadows, fears, and emerging technologies into a shockingly new yet completely user-friendly cantata, could have been the work that set the standard for an inventive and progressive American music.

And it’s time to stop blaming Mike Love for the collapse of SMiLE.

A strong manager, a strong A&R man, even a determined engineer could have saved SMiLE. It was so revolutionary in concept and execution that it needed an extremely patient and determined hand to bring it all together, to act as the pragmatic facilitator for Brian Wilson’s revolutionary vision (in fact, it took nearly three decades—and the dedicated, persistent and kind discipline of Darian Sahanaja—for SMiLE to be completed). Which leads to the second key point in the defenestration of SMiLE: Composed of fragments of art, folk, melody and ambience that needed to be assembled into an intricate, operatic-like framework, SMiLE essentially anticipated the kind of production that only digital and automated recording/mixing made practical; failing that, only a carefully notated score could have led to the album’s completion. The technology for the former wouldn’t exist for another 25 years, and the discipline for the latter was never summoned.

After the collapse of SMiLE, the Beach Boys kept going. Deal with it. f***, celebrate it.

SMiLE didn’t collapse because Mike Love didn’t like Van Dyke Park’s lyrics.

“There’s zero animosity between myself and Van Dyke,” Love calmly states. “At least not from my side, and I don’t think from his, either. I think he’s a fantastic, brilliant musician and a brilliant lyricist in a different way than I,” Love continues. “Because I like it when songs go to No. 1, or Top 10 (laughs). That’s my crass commercialism showing!”

“By the way,” Johnston chimes in, “he plays a 100-year-old accordion on ‘Kokomo.’ ”

“That certainly gives a lie to this idea that we don’t like Van Dyke,” adds Love. “I like Van Dyke. Van Dyke is a modern-day Lewis Carroll, in my estimation. He’s brilliant and he’s talented and he’s gifted and that stuff, but see, Mike Love, see, he likes to write a lyric after thinking about how the tenses fit in, and ‘Is it just going to appeal to the moment in time, or is it going to appeal to all generations?’ I try to communicate something, I look at lyrics as a way to communicate. Like ‘Good Vibrations’—the track was really strange, I mean different, strange, unique, weird, but in a good way, but still, what are people going to think about it in Omaha, that kind of thing? So, I thought, everybody understands boy-girl, and I’m picking up good vibrations, she’s giving me the excitations, so that’s my contribution to that record.”

Not only did the collapse of SMiLE halt an important thread in the development of American pop, but it also significantly obstructed our ability to think clearly about the Beach Boys, whose career must be seen as inclusive of Pet Sounds/SMiLE, not exclusive of it. Many see the Beach Boys’ post-SMiLE work as secondary apologia for The Life of (Not Having) Brian. But between 1967 and 1973, the largely Brian-less Beach Boys produced some of their most endearing work: Friends, Sunflower, Surf’s Up, 20/20, and Holland are each essential albums, and each echo the Americana-rooted progressive folk rock sculpted on Pet Sounds and SMiLE, but with an overlay of the wistful California breezes and acid-age darkness. And Smiley Smile, the almost-whispered reworking of SMiLE, is a treasure; although it is more elegiac than ecstatic, taken entirely on its own it is a sunlight-filled antidote to the prevalent psychedelic memes.

‘I like it when songs go to No. 1, or Top 10 (laughs). That’s my crass commercialism showing!’—Mike Love

Mike Love—and by extension, Bruce Johnston—shouldn’t have to spend his whole freaking life apologizing because he’s not Brian Wilson. Mike Love loves the Beach Boys, too, and he’s been waving their flag for 54 years. See, we don’t beat up Pink Floyd because their certifiable genius, Syd Barrett, only stuck around for an album and a half, do we? The Beach Boys kept on going. Deal with it. f***, celebrate it.

This summer there are two versions of Brian Wilson’s dream out on the road. I’ve seen both. On his solo tour, Brian Wilson surrounds himself with a large and gifted band that reproduces his majestic vocal and instrumental landscapes in exacting and vivid glory; but as wonderful as the show is, Brian’s actual participation in the proceedings does not seem strictly necessary, and that makes the whole thing a slightly odd endeavor. The Beach Boys (Love, Johnston, guitarists Scott Totten and Jeff Foskett, bassist Brian Eichenberg, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme, and drummer John Cowsill) are a tough and engaged outfit with the feel of a real band, plugged into little amps and playing their freaking hearts out to win over the audience. To tell you the truth, I preferred the Beach Boys.

It’s time to stop thinking of the Beach Boys in such black and white terms. The affection between Love and Brian Wilson seems very real, and Love, Johnston, and the Beach Boys are a living memorial to the spirit and friendship at the heart of the group.

“We used to laugh, falling down laughing, and sing,” Mike Love remembers, “Brian would come over to my house and sing Everly Brothers songs or doo-wop songs and we’d learn Four Freshmen arrangements. I never remember a time when there wasn’t music in our family. The first time I remember him singing, was him singing ‘Danny Boy’ in my grandmother Wilson’s lap. So we go back… we’ve known each other all our lives, and there’s a tremendous amount of love and respect and rapport with each other, to the point where inane humor and 100 percent dedication and devotion to music is what we have in common. So if there’s anything that sounds divisive there, well, I have nothing but awe and respect for Brian’s musical abilities, and love for him as a person, as a cousin, as a family member. Strip away all the misconceptions and the divisiveness and that’s how it is.”

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

On his solo tour, Brian Wilson surrounds himself with a large and gifted band that reproduces his majestic vocal and instrumental landscapes in exacting and vivid glory; but as wonderful as the show is, Brian’s actual participation in the proceedings does not seem strictly necessary, and that makes the whole thing a slightly odd endeavor. The Beach Boys (Love, Johnston, guitarists Scott Totten and Jeff Foskett, bassist Brian Eichenberg, keyboardist Tim Bonhomme, and drummer John Cowsill) are a tough and engaged outfit with the feel of a real band, plugged into little amps and playing their freaking hearts out to win over the audience. To tell you the truth, I preferred the Beach Boys.

This guy's a tosser. It's one thing to give the M&B band the credit they deserve. It's quote another to imply that Brian's band doesn't 'have the feel of a real band' and that Brian's participation is 'not necessary'. I seriously doubt this jackhole has been to a show this year.

[SMiLE Brian]

Billy, BW ran the whole damn band this year on tour!

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Exactly. I think this guy must've been dropped on his head after birth.

Screw that...he was thrown

[CenturyDeprived]

I like how Mike essentially calls himself brilliant with the quote "I think [VDP's] a fantastic, brilliant musician and a brilliant lyricist in a different way than I”.

A songwriter or lyricist can be quantified as brilliant by others, but certainly not publicly by themselves (isn't that something that parents are supposed to teach their kids?); this is example 17893 why so many people have issue with Mike. And I say that thinking full well that Mike has had some totally brilliant lyrical moments. Nobody needs to hear him sneak in an "I am fantastic and brilliant!" in there.

And unwavering, absolute hardline self-defensiveness: that'll correct the misconceptions of history, right? Right? It's worked countless times before, for many musicians throughout history, right?

Also, why is there an implication by the author that nobody should have to apologize for not being Brian Wilson? Who ever asked/implied that, ever in the history of the world? Oh, I forgot: nobody did. That's an absurd nonsense statement, since it implies that anyone but anyone ever had such a thought.
 

[ChicagoAnn]

Despite the positive things both Mike Love and Bruce Johnston said about Brian, (and VDP) the writer still feels the need to neg Brian to elevate M&B and their band. Fell right into the trap he pretended to avoid.

ETA: I thought Mike's responses were excellent and had no problem with his discussion of himself as lyricist. He has every right to think of himself as good at it. He is.

[CenturyDeprived]

Despite the positive things both Mike Love and Bruce Johnston said about Brian, (and VDP) the writer still feels the need to neg Brian to elevate M&B and their band. Fell right into the trap he pretended to avoid.

ETA: I thought Mike's responses were excellent and had no problem with his discussion of himself as lyricist. He has every right to think of himself as good at it. He is.

It's one thing for someone to privately think they are brilliant; quite another to essentially say "I am fantastic and brilliant!" in an interview. Just because you think he is good (as I do), and just because you for some reason personally have no problem with him essentially saying "I am fantastic and brilliant!", I'd hope you'd at least recognize that many, many people are not gonna be down with ANY artist saying that about themselves, and that it's not gonna help any cause he's trying to further.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Despite the positive things both Mike Love and Bruce Johnston said about Brian, (and VDP) the writer still feels the need to neg Brian to elevate M&B and their band. Fell right into the trap he pretended to avoid.

ETA: I thought Mike's responses were excellent and had no problem with his discussion of himself as lyricist. He has every right to think of himself as good at it. He is.

Agreed (on all points).

I'll never understand why some people feel the need to tear down others in order to praise their chosen ones. Of course, this is the same rag that praises Donald Trump at every possible moment, so f*** 'em. (note: that comment was not an endorsement nor a condemnation of either political party, rather an admission that I think Trump is a piece of sh*t)

As for Mike's comments about himself, well...I'd rather someone openly admit they think they're brilliant rather than put on airs of false modesty. Just my opinion

[HeyJude]

There's a way to write an article delving into things Mike has done that he hasn't gotten enough credit for, or fixing some misconceptions. This article was not it. It's hack work, and the guy doesn't get a pass because he tries to sort of admit up front he has a bias.

The criticisms leveled against Mike have little to nothing to do with "not being Brian Wilson." This guy is answering a question nobody asked.

The criticisms (both valid and invalid) of Mike over the years have come from his own actions. I don't recall any articles around the demise of C50 stating "Beach Boys Reunion Falls Apart Due to Mike Love not being Brian Wilson."

I also find it particularly obvious it's a Mike/Bruce band fluff piece because even though the title and picture talk of "Lesser Beach Boys", he evidently didn't even get an interview with Al Jardine, even though Jardine is in the freaking picture.

As others have mentioned, his characterization of Brian's band indicates he has not recently actually seen or assessed that band or its make-up. And unless I missed something, he also failed to mention that Brian is currently touring with more "Beach Boys" than Mike's band. You see more actual "Beach Boys" singing leads at a "Brian Wilson" show than you do at a "Beach Boys" show.

As I said, there are ways to point out the positives with Mike and his band and give them due credit. Too bad this was the douche that tried and failed to do it.

[HeyJude]

Someone also needs to tell this guy that, as far as I know, Syd Barrett didn’t come back to Pink Floyd for a reunion, with an eye towards continuing with the band, only to have Gilmour dissolve the whole thing and go back to touring without Barrett. In the context of Mike “carrying the flag for 54 years”, a comparison between Brian Wilson and Syd Barrett is totally off the mark.

Again apologies if I read too fast and missed it, but this guy didn’t even mention C50. Again, that screams “fluff piece” with an agenda/bias. Even a piece with an agenda and bias can be interesting and entertaining. But not this one.

I also get the sense that there is this small group of Mike supporters, including apparently the guy who wrote this article, who heard about “Love & Mercy” and assumed without seeing it that the film would totally bash Mike or paint him in a negative light, and formulated a PR campaign to right the wrongs of the film, all without checking to see the actual film.

Apparently nobody has told them that Mike is not a huge part of the finished film, and to the degree he’s there, was treated fairly and actually comes across as an empathetic character.

[sea of tunes]

This piece seems to have been written from a contrarian point of view and purposefully so. Trying to give voice to Mike and Bruce specifically in the wake of LOVE & MERCY. One could argue that Mike has been busy, especially since Carl passed, molding the public perception of the Beach Boys in his image. Maybe the writer fears that history will be cemented with Brian Wilson being now (rightly) being considered the craftsman behind it all (which he was). To those in the know, he always was that person.  

Articles like this tend to make me essentially say "Okay, we know, Mike contributed lyrics to some songs. We get it". Brian wrote lyrics with an array of collaborators. No one is writing articles like this in praise of Gary Usher, Roger Christian or Tony Asher.  Van Dyke Parks takes care of his own publicity.

And having said that, I don't have a huge problem with the article in general.  After a lot of the authors hyperbolic protestations, this is indeed a very fair-minded view of 'this whole world':

"It’s time to stop thinking of the Beach Boys in such black and white terms. The affection between Love and Brian Wilson seems very real, and Love, Johnston, and the Beach Boys are a living memorial to the spirit and friendship at the heart of the group."

The Beach Boys story isn't about assigning 'Heroes and Villains', that's too simplistic. It's ultimately about a plea to 'Add Some Music to Your Day'.  

It's about the music.

And speaking of music...  



I'm reminded of the old axiom: "Success has a million fathers, failure is an orphan."

[HeyJude]

I think this writer’s work was far more problematic than the answers Mike and Bruce gave. Though, the “we’re too busy touring to see the movie” thing is totally lame. Didn’t Mike just post on Facebook that he had time to hang out with Bono and go see a U2 show? They have off days. Mike was also “too busy” to listen to the 3-minute track Brian and Al released earlier this year. It’s clearly not a scheduling issue that keeps him from seeing this stuff.

But I also see a less obvious, less obviously inflammatory pattern continuing here. Simply put: It’s far easier to praise Van Dyke Parks (or Brian Wilson, or whomever) in an interview over and over and over (no pun intended) than it is to actually WORK or BE with those people in an active, continuing artistic/working relationship. Mike talked for DECADES about working with Brian, and yet after less than a year doing a reunion, he chose to walk away from it, with no extant evidence or testimony that he attempted to broach a writing relationship with Brian on road for all those months when nobody (not Melinda or Joe Thomas, etc.) was there keeping him from doing it.

It’s now quite trendy (and not incorrect on the whole) to point out that Mike didn’t hinder “Pet Sounds” or “Smile.” True, he sang on all the stuff he was asked to, and did a great job. That doesn’t speak to how enthusiastic he was about it, or whether he championed the stuff. That doesn’t mean he gets blame for anything. But Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson came away from the “Smile” period NOT with the impression that Mike was fine with all the work Van Dyke was doing. It’s actually funny; I could probably formulate a better defense of Mike than Mike himself does when it comes to the VDP stuff. WTF does the accordion on “Kokomo” have to do with how much Mike liked Van Dyke’s “Smile” lyrics? (And, that session was 27 years ago incidentally).

[Awesoman]

Poor Al.  No mention of him other than appearing in the photo.

[CenturyDeprived]

I think this writer’s work was far more problematic than the answers Mike and Bruce gave. Though, the “we’re too busy touring to see the movie” thing is totally lame. Didn’t Mike just post on Facebook that he had time to hang out with Bono and go see a U2 show? They have off days. Mike was also “too busy” to listen to the 3-minute track Brian and Al released earlier this year. It’s clearly not a scheduling issue that keeps him from seeing this stuff.

But I also see a less obvious, less obviously inflammatory pattern continuing here. Simply put: It’s far easier to praise Van Dyke Parks (or Brian Wilson, or whomever) in an interview over and over and over (no pun intended) than it is to actually WORK or BE with those people in an active, continuing artistic/working relationship. Mike talked for DECADES about working with Brian, and yet after less than a year doing a reunion, he chose to walk away from it, with no extant evidence or testimony that he attempted to broach a writing relationship with Brian on road for all those months when nobody (not Melinda or Joe Thomas, etc.) was there keeping him from doing it.

It’s now quite trendy (and not incorrect on the whole) to point out that Mike didn’t hinder “Pet Sounds” or “Smile.” True, he sang on all the stuff he was asked to, and did a great job. That doesn’t speak to how enthusiastic he was about it, or whether he championed the stuff. That doesn’t mean he gets blame for anything. But Van Dyke Parks and Brian Wilson came away from the “Smile” period NOT with the impression that Mike was fine with all the work Van Dyke was doing. It’s actually funny; I could probably formulate a better defense of Mike than Mike himself does when it comes to the VDP stuff. WTF does the accordion on “Kokomo” have to do with how much Mike liked Van Dyke’s “Smile” lyrics? (And, that session was 27 years ago incidentally).

Well, let's also not forget how Mike could mention how much love there is between himself and Van by pointing out Van's work on the even-more-recent-than-Kokomo Summer in Paradise. 

[HeyJude]

Poor Al.  No mention of him other than appearing in the photo.

Seriously. The guy writing the article just should have dispensed with the pretext that this was about the other “lesser” BB’s and just used the newest publicity photo for Mike’s touring band. 

[CenturyDeprived]

Poor Al.  No mention of him other than appearing in the photo.

Yeah, because to bring up Al in the article would force the subject to possibly bring up why he was kicked out of the band, which could lead to a discussion that other people in the then-lineup beyond Al Jardine are also difficult to work with. Al is the elephant in the room of the article, yet he looms large in that pic.

What a joke it is to just pretend that Al is an invisible member (beyond the photo) when the article itself is about appreciating the non Brian Wilson BBs. That alone shows just how much credibility the article has, pretending that the article is actually about anything other than specifically puffing up Mike's ego.

[KDS]

OK, the writer apparently didn't check his facts about the "Brian-less" albums from 67-73. 

I don't agree with the writer's assessment of Brian's live show, but that's subjective. 

Also, as I pointed out in the BW Forum, if you're going to draw a parallel to Floyd, then Brian is more like Roger Waters than Syd Barrett.  Both Roger and Brian have essentially had to compete against themselves.  In the late 80s, Roger and Brian had solo records stagnate in the charts while their former bands hit new heights (Floyd with a #1 album BB with a #1 single).  Roger and Brian also revisited full albums they wrote with their former bands to generate more interest in their solo careers. 

All that being said, I don't disagree with the point that the writer is trying to make (albeit poorly at times) - Mike and Bruce with their band are out there, performing the classic songs written by Brian.  Maybe it's time to move past all of the bad blood and nick picking and enjoy the band while they're still out there. 

I agree with JCM, it's about the music. 

And there won't be many chances left to see these songs done by the people who were on the records. 

[drbeachboy]

OK, the writer apparently didn't check his facts about the "Brian-less" albums from 67-73. 

I don't agree with the writer's assessment of Brian's live show, but that's subjective. 

Also, as I pointed out in the BW Forum, if you're going to draw a parallel to Floyd, then Brian is more like Roger Waters than Syd Barrett.  Both Roger and Brian have essentially had to compete against themselves.  In the late 80s, Roger and Brian had solo records stagnate in the charts while their former bands hit new heights (Floyd with a #1 album BB with a #1 single).  Roger and Brian also revisited full albums they wrote with their former bands to generate more interest in their solo careers. 

All that being said, I don't disagree with the point that the writer is trying to make (albeit poorly at times) - Mike and Bruce with their band are out there, performing the classic songs written by Brian.  Maybe it's time to move past all of the bad blood and nick picking and enjoy the band while they're still out there. 

I agree with JCM, it's about the music. 

And there won't be many chances left to see these songs done by the people who were on the records. 

I agree with you 100%, but that is not what this place does.

[petsoundsnola]

The biggest issue I have with this article is calling 1967-1973 a "Brian-less" period and including albums such as Sunflower in that mix.  Brian is credited as sole writer on one track (This Whole World) and co-writer on 6 other tracks on that album.  Also, Brian is all over Wild Honey. 

The article suffers from a lot of hyperbole and it appears that the writer was trying to unnecessarily create an issue and stir the pot.  To their credit, it sounds like Mike and Bruce didn't bite.

[NateRuvin]

This is an interesting idea for an article. Mike was bitter as usual, but Bruce had some interesting things to say

[HeyJude]

All that being said, I don't disagree with the point that the writer is trying to make (albeit poorly at times) - Mike and Bruce with their band are out there, performing the classic songs written by Brian.  Maybe it's time to move past all of the bad blood and nick picking and enjoy the band while they're still out there.  

I agree with JCM, it's about the music.  

And there won't be many chances left to see these songs done by the people who were on the records.  

I think the issue I have with the (absolutely correct) point that Mike and Bruce are out there touring and have been all these year is, essentially: And…?

It’s another sort of straw man argument. Another point to counter a point that nobody is making. It also kind of implies that there’s some sort of altruistic reason for Mike touring. He tours, and tours under the “Beach Boys” name, because it makes a ton of money, and also allows him full autonomy in running his band, and also yields all the attention/acceptance, etc. that comes along with being a rockstar. That’s all fine. 

But, ESPECIALLY in the aftermath of C50, the idea that Mike is out there doing it because nobody else will or can or wants to is totally bogus. If the core idea behind it all was to bring the music to the masses, to carry the torch, etc, etc., then the reunion lineup would have continued.

I’m sure Mike feels some sense of duty and obligation and has deep respect for the BB name and catalog of music and all of that. But as with everything else, it’s all on *his* terms. To write a piece touting Mike’s continued touring, but omit any reference to C50, or Al Jardine, or the trademark licensing situation, is to paint a very incomplete picture. ESPECIALLY when part of the crux of the piece in question concerns detractors/critics, etc.

[HeyJude]

The biggest issue I have with this article is calling 1967-1973 a "Brian-less" period and including albums such as Sunflower in that mix.  Brian is credited as sole writer on one track (This Whole World) and co-writer on 6 other tracks on that album.  Also, Brian is all over Wild Honey. 

The article suffers from a lot of hyperbole and it appears that the writer was trying to unnecessarily create an issue and stir the pot.  To their credit, it sounds like Mike and Bruce didn't bite.

I’m also not sure what this guy is on about as far as fans denigrating post-Smile material. Nearly every hardcore fan I’ve run across has deep love for a lot of 1967-1973 material, both the stuff Brian participated in (and he plays a crucial role in some of the best stuff from that time period) as well as the stuff the other guys did (and I’d say a lot of that credit goes to Carl and Dennis’ written material, and all of the guys including Carl and Blondie and Ricky giving the live band some serious cred in the early-mid 70’s).

Who’s not “dealing with” the BB’s having continued after “Smile?” Doesn’t nearly everyone celebrate that? The only people who don’t know or care about that stuff are mostly the casual fans who don’t care about “Smile” either.

[Lee Marshall]

Finally an article where the writer didn't encourage, or at the very least allow, Mike to say something 'unnecessary' about Brian D. Wilson.  It was possitive.  As one who complains EVERY time Mike does THAT I now need to give him credit for NOT uttering 'stupid'.  Mike did, though, spend some time defending himself from his portrayal in a movie he hasn't seen which struck me as rather odd.  I mean really!!!

I will not be able to REALLY comment in who is better live in concerrt until Aug 9...the day AFTER I see and hear 'The Beach Boys' live.  IF the writer prefers 'The Beach Boys' it is, in part, because Brian's 'Boys' [and Taylor when she was in the 'group'] PUSHED THE ENVELOPE a long, LONG distance.  Mike has, I would think, responded.  Prior to Carl's passing I saw the Beach Boys [generally w/o Brian...at least a participating Brian] and their performances were more than pretty darned fine.  AWE-inspiring really.  They had a larger contingent of players up there with them.

But Brian's concerts were ALL completely and totally better.  They were authentic to the original idea of what EACH SONG should sound like.  They were magical.

I have only heard 'The Beach Boys' [sans Carl] on u-tewb.  They have good days and they have bad days.  The bad days are really, truly 'ouch' days.  I'm hoping for an A+ performance.  Counting on it really as this is likely the last chance I'll EVER have to see/hear them live.  It seems they've upped their game over these past several years as Brian set a new standard which just couldn't be ignored.

Still...that said...There was an emptiness factor to the Brian concert I saw in Detroit.  From what I've read people have been marginally dishonest about the performance factors contained there-in.  Brian was NOT on what I'd guess would have been his game-plan.  Songs were not delivered as they were originally intended to sound.  Boats were missed...and the 'magic factor' was missing too.  The backing musicians were poised as props instead of how they have been presented over these past baker's dozen plus years...ie: as Brian's band.

Brian just doesn't have the stamina to deliver a full show on his own anymore.  He can muster the where-withall to record a song or two in a day...but all of THOSE songs?  Even with Al, and Blondie and Darian and Matt taking some of the leads Brian was hard pressed to deliver everything he tried to bring to the table.  And I DO NOT blame him one iota for trying.

Matt's falsetto sounds almost contrived...almost cartoonish.  Mixing his voice with Brian's in order to 'make' the notes didn't work.  At least it didn't work for me.

At least with Brian there is the possibility of there being more to come OUT OF THE STUDIO.  Live?  He's past his expirey date.  It's too much for him to do anmore.  I love him as a soul.  I depend on his musical expertise in terms of the soundtrack which has played over these past 53 years of my life.  And...I wish him nothing but happiness and loads of roses to smell.  I am, I'm sorry to say, going to have to go with what I heard in Detroit as the truth.  It wasn't terrible.  It just wasn't up to the Brian Wilson standard.

[startBBtoday]

This is an interesting idea for an article. Mike was bitter as usual, but Bruce had some interesting things to say

Where does Mike come across bitter?

[Lee Marshall]

I like how Mike essentially calls himself brilliant with the quote "I think [VDP's] a fantastic, brilliant musician and a brilliant lyricist in a different way than I”.

A songwriter or lyricist can be quantified as brilliant by others, but certainly not publicly by themselves (isn't that something that parents are supposed to teach their kids?); this is example 17893 why so many people have issue with Mike. And I say that thinking full well that Mike has had some totally brilliant lyrical moments. Nobody needs to hear him sneak in an "I am fantastic and brilliant!" in there.

I noticed that the first time through and thought similarly...but...I have also come to realize...and if you've been around to hear Mike speak...words do NOT flow easily off of the tongue for him.  Mike is somewhat challenged when it comes to saying exactly what he MEANS to say.  It makes me question his abilities, to a degree, as a lyricist...brilliant or otherwise.