The touring band on Imus this morning...

[the captain]

You guys are buggin.. Mike didnt sound too bad aside from some slip ups.. and Bruce sounded great on California Girls...

I'm impressed that at their age they sound as good as they do..

Apparently your pitch is bad. Seriously, Mike wandered around notes with a breathy--no, breathless--tone. He sounds like sh*t.

[seltaeb1012002]

Actually I have perfect pitch and work in the music biz for a living..

I don't know, perhaps I am just looking at the glass half full.   Maybe the performence wasn't perfect, but it made me psyched to think about a reunion show DVD w/vocal overdubs/sweetening.. or any type of new BB's studio project.  The voices are still there.

[Jonas]

I thought it was going to be a lot worse by how people are describing it but it really isnt THAT bad.

[the captain]

Actually I have perfect pitch and work in the music biz for a living..

I don't know, perhaps I am just looking at the glass half full.   Maybe the performence wasn't perfect, but it made me psyched to think about a reunion show DVD w/vocal overdubs/sweetening.. or any type of new BB's studio project.  The voices are still there.

If you have perfect pitch, then you have no standards. Mike sings poorly. It is a fact. And if you want a reunion with vocal overdubs and sweetening, then what the f*** is the point? A bunch of old men who have hated each other for decades singing badly together but overdubbed and reverbed to hell...yeah. Look, it's the Beach Boys.

Big fucking deal. No thanks. I'd rather watch a show by the Wondermints, frankly. Or any decent contemporary pop band. And I know that sounds negative or grumpy but big fucking deal. It's true.

(Crucify away...)

[seltaeb1012002]

Dude, i guess you havent noticed, but Mike has never been an amazing singer.  S**t, they had to auto tune his vocals for Knebworth 1980 (and I don't think they did a great job with that, but thats besides the point).  The fact is, although they're pretty much "old", they don't sound as old as they are.   I suppose you are one of those people who says Paul McCartney lost it as well?
But hey, it's up to you whether or not you want to enjoy these recent performences.. but I'm trying to enjoy it all while it lasts...

[Ron]

Honestly man, it's not even close between Paul & the BB's.  *any* band out today sounds miles better than what Mike presented on that GMA show.  Amateur talent shows sound better than that.

They were much better on Imus, though, but Mike wasn't singing.

Brian's band blows them away.  I've heard performances of Brian from the early 90's or late 80's where he sounded (along with his band) just as bad as Mike does now, so maybe there's hope. 

I don't see how anybody could watch that california girls or 'cool head, warm heart' performance from GMA and say it's "not that bad" when they're heard the originals or heard Brian's band do "california girls".  Brian live sounds more like Mike in 1965 than Mike sounds like himself in 1965. 

Mike sounds like somebody making fun of Mike.  Think about that for a minute.  that's fucking HORRIBLE.

[MBE]

The energy seems low. Mike and Bruce both sound spent. I admire them doing songs like All Summer Long and Good Timin though.

[endofposts]

Mike does a lot of shows, perhaps too many.  His voice when speaking sounds as though he has laryngitis.  I don't know if it's permanent damage or just overuse, or a combination, but he really needs to cut back in order to give the people that pay money a decent show.  I've only seen the Beach Boys touring band once, and I wouldn't see them again if he sounds like that, even if Brian and Al were with him.

[MBE]

BTW http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=2164128

Can anybody get this on youtube?

You know I just saw this and I think we can agree this is Mike Love's best released song since Somewhere Near Japan. Sadly while the studio cut is polished he is really loosing his voice. They do need to cutback touring it's sad because his bass voice was even 10-15 years ago still pleasing.

[Rocker]

To defend Mike a little, I don't think he even sang on "Good timin".

BTW anybody could upload the Good Morning America-thing to youtube?

[Ron]

To defend Mike a little, I don't think he even sang on "Good timin".

Ugh... that's not defending him, Good timin was the only one that sounded decent to me. 

[Wyndham]

Mike wasn't too bad on California Girls, but he was truly shocking on Cool Head, Warm Heart. However, on the tag at the end of Cal Girls Bruce sounded great.

[Aegir]

Is "Make Love Not War" a new Mike Love song? It's not on his new album that's been going around the internet..

I think it's interesting that they had John Cowsill on drums and then had Mike Kowalski standing behind John's keyboard playing the tambourine.. I really think they're just holding onto Kowalski because he's been with the band for so long; he's pretty unecessary.

[Andrew G. Doe]

In my book, Kowalski's not just unnecessary, he's close to a liabilty. At an otherwise truly outstanding performance by the band at Hammersmith fall 2004, he was definitely the weakest link - he lost the beat halfway into the first song, and the first song was "Do It Again", not exactly taxing. Either he's a cheap gun for hire, or he's got the negatives hidden somewhere - no other explanation.

[MBE]

Make Love had a good feel to it but again Mike just sounds spent

[Eric Aniversario]

In my book, Kowalski's not just unnecessary, he's close to a liabilty. At an otherwise truly outstanding performance by the band at Hammersmith fall 2004, he was definitely the weakest link - he lost the beat halfway into the first song, and the first song was "Do It Again", not exactly taxing. Either he's a cheap gun for hire, or he's got the negatives hidden somewhere - no other explanation.

I have long felt that the band would be pretty close to perfect if they would get someone else on the drums.  Mike K seems like a nice enough guy, but his drumming style is definitely not my cup of tea.  The 2004 Newcastle show that is circulating is very, very good...almost releasable with the exception of the mechanical drumming.  John Cowsill's drumming was pretty good on the Imus show.  Mike K sounded good on tambourine...maybe they should make this change permanent...

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I think a lot of it may be due to the fact that he's been with the band so long.

[Wilsonista]

Big fodaing deal. No thanks. I'd rather watch a show by the Wondermints, frankly.

I did, in 2002! And I passsed up a Mike and Bruce show to see the 'Mints! 

[the captain]

Big fodaing deal. No thanks. I'd rather watch a show by the Wondermints, frankly.

I did, in 2002! And I passsed up a Mike and Bruce show to see the 'Mints! 

Good move. If they'd ever come to Minneapolis, I'd do the same.