Brian Recording Pet Sounds This Weekend At Capitol

[Jonathan Blum]

It's gonna be fascinating to put this next to Pet Sounds Live from the early tours.  My general sense of things is that Brian's singing is so much stronger now, and we might get a sense how the few changes in the band have affected the re-creation of the backing.  And given how much more loose and alive the live version of Smile sounded, I'd love to see if they can capture that same sense of celebration...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[HeyJude]

I think it's a different kettle of fish if the are recording live in the studio, my initial thought was they wanted to record
and try and better what has been done.  That sounds more fun now if that is what is happening.
My wonder is now, considering Brian sang most of the leads, how is gonna tackle singing some of those leads in a recorded
environment? you can get away with murder 'live' but a recording is under the microscope.
songs like YSBIM, IJWMFTT aren't quite the easiest.

If it's a recording they can easily 'sweeten' it in the studio.  Hence a reason for doing it in the first place.  I also suspect Brian won't be singing the lead on YSBIM, or some of the other songs.

I think Brian may still sing (at least most of) YSBIM. As it is, he'll probably have Matt singing "Don't Talk" (as Foskett did in 2013; unless they lower the key for Brian as they did in 2000), and possibly Matt and/or Al singing WIBN.

Who had the lead vocal assignments when they did PS in 2013? I know they took "Don't Talk" back to the higher key and Foskett sang it. Al added his bits. Did Foskett and/or Al sing WIBN? I think Brian sang YSBIM in 2013.

[Lonely Summer]

It seems like a major part of Brian's post-BB's career has been performing, re-recording, reliving Pet Sounds. It's not the only great album he ever did. How about a live show devoted to Beach Boys Today/Summer Days? Wild Honey? Sunflower?

[AndrewHickey]

It seems like a major part of Brian's post-BB's career has been performing, re-recording, reliving Pet Sounds. It's not the only great album he ever did. How about a live show devoted to Beach Boys Today/Summer Days? Wild Honey? Sunflower?

There are a couple of reasons why that won't ever happen, sadly.
The first, and more obvious, is that those albums don't have the "classic album" status bestowed on them. A *lot* of people own Pet Sounds and no other Beach Boys albums, and think it the only worthwhile album Brian or the band ever made. They'll go and see a Pet Sounds tour in a way they wouldn't go to a Sunflower tour.
The second is that Brian's management seem to have been going for a particular kind of "classic artist" image for Brian ever since he started touring, and with that goes a particular story: Genius whose classic pop singles led to a single brief brilliant album, but like Icarus he got too close to the sun with Smile and had to retreat, handwave handwave, triumphant return against all the odds. That's the promotional story behind every album he puts out, it was the story told in Love & Mercy, and I bet it's the story his autobiography tells, too.
Focusing any amount of promotion on something that isn't a) greatest hits, b) Pet Sounds or Smile, or c) whatever Brian's most recent solo work at the time is damages that message. In the actual show, of course, he and his band can play anything they want, but if you promoted a tour as, say, the Wild Honey tour, that would mean having to explain a far more nuanced, complicated story.
And that isn't, in any way, a criticism of that as a strategy. It clearly works in terms of getting audiences and publicity. It's a branding thing, and it allows Brian to compete against the Beach Boys branding as a more "classy", "arty" alternative to the fun-in-the-sun brand.

But it does mean that the only whole-album tours that make sense from a branding point-of-view are Pet Sounds, Smile, and $newalbum. Anything else would dilute the brand (anyone else remember the poster here during the reunion tour who was absolutely *outraged* that during that tour they played anything that *wasn't* from 1966 or 67, and said it was an insult to Brian that they were only doing five songs from Pet Sounds?). But on those tours, Brian can of course play as many songs as he wants from those albums anyway.

[HeyJude]

It seems like a major part of Brian's post-BB's career has been performing, re-recording, reliving Pet Sounds. It's not the only great album he ever did. How about a live show devoted to Beach Boys Today/Summer Days? Wild Honey? Sunflower?

The insane amount of sell-outs for this tour (more than I've ever seen on any Brian tour; west coast promoters are saying they could have added a third night in places like San Francisco; promoters are literally turning bookings down at this stage) tells me hinging the whole thing specifically on PS is what is selling the tickets.

I don't think Brian has beat it to death too much. It's the first time he's toured extensively behind PS in around 14 years or so. He did PS as a surprise twice in 2013, and did about 9 PS shows with Al Jardine in 2006/2007.

Considering he did two full years of "Smile" touring in 2004 and 2005, I wouldn't be surprised if he's done nearly as many "Smile" shows than PS shows prior to this year's tour.

A quick, very *rough* tally (you know, holding my finger up to the screen and counting!) from AGD's Bellagio site shows around 94 "Smile" shows done in 2004 and 2005, and about 82 "Pet Sounds" shows done across 2000, 2002, 2006/07, and the two shows in 2013. Again, rough tallies; I may be counting a few shows as Smile or PS shows that weren't.

PS: If AGD is reading this, you can remove the September 19, 2000 "Mountain Winery" show from the 2000 tour dates list; that show was canceled, never happened. The September 20, 2000 show did happen, and was not at "Villa Montalvo", but was at "The Mountain Winery". (Looks like the venues for these two shows were flipped; it was the 9/19 canceled show that was going to take place at the Garden Theatre at Villa Montalvo).

[KDS]

LS,

Andrew makes some good points. 

Also, as much as I'd love to see a tour of Today or Sunflower, I feel Pet Sounds is the Beach Boys album that's most associated with Brian Wilson, especially in the wake of Love and Mercy. 

Sunflower, especially, is much more of a team effort - Dennis, Carl, and Bruce all play huge parts on that album.  Collectively, they do leads on nine of the 12 tracks.  Two are no longer with us, and one has other commitments.

[mikeddonn]

I would love to hear the Brian Wilson album live in it's entirety.  At least give us Rio Grande and Melt Away and even One For The Boys!

[KDS]

I would love to hear the Brian Wilson album live in it's entirety.  At least give us Rio Grande and Melt Away and even One For The Boys!

It would be interesting to hear what it would sound like, done live with his backing band. 

I wouldn't mind hearing some more solo songs in the setlist, especially some tracks from That Lucky Old Sun. 

And how about the closing "Suite" from TWGMTR.  It would be sad if From There and Back Again is never performed live.

[mikeddonn]

I would love to hear the Brian Wilson album live in it's entirety.  At least give us Rio Grande and Melt Away and even One For The Boys!

It would be interesting to hear what it would sound like, done live with his backing band. 

I wouldn't mind hearing some more solo songs in the setlist, especially some tracks from That Lucky Old Sun. 

And how about the closing "Suite" from TWGMTR.  It would be sad if From There and Back Again is never performed live.

I agree!

[HeyJude]

Also worth noting perhaps is that the likelihood of something like "Sunflower" in full is unlikely because Brian's shows are (understandably) very Brian-centric. You don't often hear something at a Brian show that he didn't either write or originally sing, especially once cover versions are factored out. There's his version of "Forever", which hasn't often been a regular staple of the setlist, Dave's take on "Little Bird" in 2013, Al's "California Saga" (which even technically had Brian singing the opening lead lines on the original recording), and not much else ("Hold on Dear Brother" was of course done for the one PBS show, and they rehearsed but didn't perform "Lookin' at Tomorrow" for the same show). Even most of the Al and Blondie leads in the shows on tour are songs co-written by Brian.

I just can't picture Brian and his band doing something like "Tears in the Morning."

[Lonely Summer]

I would love to hear the Brian Wilson album live in it's entirety.  At least give us Rio Grande and Melt Away and even One For The Boys!

Yes! Yes! Yes! I know it doesn't follow the storyline that has been layed out for Brian, but he did make great music after PS and Smile - even during the Landy years.

[HeyJude]

I don't know if Brian has a strong-enough affinity for the entire '88 album to do it all live. Beyond L&M, he has occasionally pulled out "Melt Away." My jaw dropped when I saw him premiere "Let It Shine" in the setlist in 2000, but that was gone by the end of that year. I don't think he's touched much else.

He hasn't much gone back to old solo albums after he promotes them. "Your Imagination" was surprisingly pulled out for some summer 2013 shows with Al and Dave (I've sometimes wondered if Joe Thomas suggested it, he popped up in a few pics on that summer 2013 tour), but he doesn't do much solo stuff outside of L&M and whatever new album he's plugging.

[bringahorseinhere?]

surprising really how Brian has not pulled much out of his solo albums and uses them on tour anymore.
I remember him doing Melt Away, Your Imagination, but never anything from OCA, ITKOD, GIOMH he could pull
some off of 'imagination' again, and a few reworked arrangements of songs from '88' would be great.
I know there were some current songs that were played at the time of some album releases, like 'desert drive',
but he has really fallen into boat of doing the 'beach boys' hits and 'beach boys' rare songs, which the later is
refreshing, but he has some great songs in his solo albums.  I guess it comes down to me being in a minority too.

[HeyJude]

I can't say I have any burning desire to hear him do a ton of solo stuff. A surprise now and then is always nice. The band could probably pull off "Orange Crate Art" quite well.

My weird favorite that I would have figured they'd never do is "Let It Shine", and they actually did that one. I even saw the first show they did the song at, still probably the biggest surprise.

[Smilin Ed H]

I love the 88 album, but I'd like to hear it rerecorded. Properly. I suppose we'd get autotune but I'd tale that over what we have. Whatever their origins, I think it's his best and most consistent  solo work

[KDS]

surprising really how Brian has not pulled much out of his solo albums and uses them on tour anymore.
I remember him doing Melt Away, Your Imagination, but never anything from OCA, ITKOD, GIOMH he could pull
some off of 'imagination' again, and a few reworked arrangements of songs from '88' would be great.
I know there were some current songs that were played at the time of some album releases, like 'desert drive',
but he has really fallen into boat of doing the 'beach boys' hits and 'beach boys' rare songs, which the later is
refreshing, but he has some great songs in his solo albums.  I guess it comes down to me being in a minority too.

I like a lot of his solo material, but its The Beach Boys material that gets the butts in the seats. 

Artists like Paul McCartney, Roger Waters, and John Fogerty used to feature primarily solo songs in their sets, but they've become much more successful touring artists by featuring sets heavy on The Beatles, Pink Floyd, and CCR respectively. 

[“Big Daddy”]

“Sloop John B” from this recording session http://petsounds.com/sloopjohnb

[Rocky Raccoon]

“Sloop John B” from this recording session http://petsounds.com/sloopjohnb

That sounds awesome!  Great clean vocals from Brian and Al, no audible pitch correction at all.

[bringahorseinhere?]

so let me get this straight    I go to thebeachboys.com, and there is the link there to Brian and Al combo doing 'sloop john b'....
now I'm a lil confused.  So are Brian and Al now 'The Beach Boys'? Yet I don't see M&B?  and why is this not just on Brian's site?
oh, and the clip is on 'The Beach Boys' facebook page.
help me SS, help help me SS.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

“Sloop John B” from this recording session http://petsounds.com/sloopjohnb

That sounds awesome!  Great clean vocals from Brian and Al, no audible pitch correction at all.

Brian singing extremely well...loved his harmony part too

[Cabinessenceking]

youtube link for Sloop John B - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDZgl7H-coQ

Great voices from Brian, Al, the whole band. Good instrumentation too 

[Cabinessenceking]

It seems like a major part of Brian's post-BB's career has been performing, re-recording, reliving Pet Sounds. It's not the only great album he ever did. How about a live show devoted to Beach Boys Today/Summer Days? Wild Honey? Sunflower?

There are a couple of reasons why that won't ever happen, sadly.
The first, and more obvious, is that those albums don't have the "classic album" status bestowed on them. A *lot* of people own Pet Sounds and no other Beach Boys albums, and think it the only worthwhile album Brian or the band ever made. They'll go and see a Pet Sounds tour in a way they wouldn't go to a Sunflower tour.
The second is that Brian's management seem to have been going for a particular kind of "classic artist" image for Brian ever since he started touring, and with that goes a particular story: Genius whose classic pop singles led to a single brief brilliant album, but like Icarus he got too close to the sun with Smile and had to retreat, handwave handwave, triumphant return against all the odds. That's the promotional story behind every album he puts out, it was the story told in Love & Mercy, and I bet it's the story his autobiography tells, too.
Focusing any amount of promotion on something that isn't a) greatest hits, b) Pet Sounds or Smile, or c) whatever Brian's most recent solo work at the time is damages that message. In the actual show, of course, he and his band can play anything they want, but if you promoted a tour as, say, the Wild Honey tour, that would mean having to explain a far more nuanced, complicated story.
And that isn't, in any way, a criticism of that as a strategy. It clearly works in terms of getting audiences and publicity. It's a branding thing, and it allows Brian to compete against the Beach Boys branding as a more "classy", "arty" alternative to the fun-in-the-sun brand.

But it does mean that the only whole-album tours that make sense from a branding point-of-view are Pet Sounds, Smile, and $newalbum. Anything else would dilute the brand (anyone else remember the poster here during the reunion tour who was absolutely *outraged* that during that tour they played anything that *wasn't* from 1966 or 67, and said it was an insult to Brian that they were only doing five songs from Pet Sounds?). But on those tours, Brian can of course play as many songs as he wants from those albums anyway.

Also, PS is an album of only good songs. It is after all one of the greatest, if not the greatest album ever made. It's an instantly recognisable classic even if Joe Public doesn't know each title on the album. People at least know WIBN, GOK, SJB.

Sunflower is stunning, but in a different way and there is hardly any public recognition or widely known songs on it. Other albums with some known hits such as SD&SN has two main hits; CalG, Rhonda but also quite a few weaker titles. WH is unknown, LY is unknown. SU or Holland could've been done if Carl were around and working with Brian/Al.

[Rocker]

youtube link for Sloop John B - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDZgl7H-coQ

Great voices from Brian, Al, the whole band. Good instrumentation too  

Thank you!

Does anyone have the exact date this album performance was recorded/filmed? I would like to add it to the Pro Shot Concert list

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

Love it!

[Don Malcolm]

Brings tears to the eyes to see those guys at it...it reminds you that one of the reasons the band was so good live w/o Brian was that they had Al there. It's great to see him get so much exposure and recognition for being such a great singer and having so much of his youthful voice intact. They are missing the power and purity of Brian's falsetto--none of the latter-day guys seem to really be able to reproduce that--but IMO they do justice to one of their greatest songs.