Graduation Day 1966: Live At The University Of Michigan

[“Big Daddy”]

Released today: https://www.amazon.com/Graduation-Day-1966-University-Michigan/dp/B01N7EDNL2/

[SMiLE Brian]

Also on Apple Music!

[jiggy22]

Awesome to see "Row Row Row Your Boat" tagged on at the end!

[Rocker]

Great! Thanks for these releases!

[Emdeeh]

Does this mean we'll be getting the whole concert released in the very near future??

[Rocky Raccoon]

Does this mean we'll be getting the whole concert released in the very near future??

This is the whole concert!

[Emdeeh]

My mistake, I thought it was just a single of "Graduation Day" being released as a teaser.

Time go over to iTunes and buy me a new BB album!

[Rocky Raccoon]

"Row Row Row Your Boat" sounds like The Honeys, not the Beach Boys.  Weird they put that there.

[SMiLE Brian]

Mike's stage banter is painful to listen to as he drones on and on....

[tpesky]

I have a question regarding Mike's stage banter. As this was before my time, was it common for other bands to have a front man do lots of talking and joking at that time, or was that something unique to Mike and the BB?

[Zesterz]

Yes, in early days it was handy to keep the audience engaged while tuning up went on ........at length, roadies were relatively a new thing and tuning pedals etc. Plus, talking or "filling in" could mean you had one or two less songs to rehearse  😀

[Zesterz]

Does anyone know the download release date for this set in UK  through Amazon ?

[Jay]

Is this a digital only release?

[jeffh]

Is this release any different than the "Mike Love Not War " boot that came out many years ago ?

[branaa09]

"Row Row Row Your Boat" sounds like The Honeys, not the Beach Boys.  Weird they put that there.

It is the Honeys, It's also not really live. Its an extra from 1966, while the boys were on the road,Brian was at home experimenting with Sounds. This is one of them. It has been heavily booted for years. Its nice to have this Odd gem finally released. Well Capitol certainly wouldn't release Brian's 66' Smog rant or Jokes and Humor. I also believe that the KOMA promo Spot, is all Brian as well Overdubbing himself ala the Don't Talk Vocal Demo.

[NateRuvin]

Mike's banter is rough.... But I'm always excited to see new releases.

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Mike's stage banter is painful to listen to as he drones on and on....

Absolutely, SB. He's always been so insanely, deeply in love with himself. 

[SMiLE Brian]

Agreed, the performances by the BBs are great but Mike's banter breaks any momentum.

[Dove Nested Towers]

Agreed, the performances by the BBs are great but Mike's banter breaks any momentum.

It's simply insufferable here. I wonder if they edited out one juncture when he starts up again after one song and a fed up audience member shouts "SHUT UP!" very forcefully, which seems to rattle him, and after which he does tone it down considerably, for a while at least. A highlight, along with the music of course.

[pdas1996]

It's on YouTube too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cluy3OK9t0c&list=PLtVIYE9-xQZlllFEcAzAxG58JgAXfT_9f

[Robbie Mac]

Agreed, the performances by the BBs are great but Mike's banter breaks any momentum.

And I believe the banter was edited down too.

[c-man]

I will say this in regards to the banter present in a lot of the mid-'60s to early '70s BBs shows...it was a necessary gap-filler while Carl and Al re-tuned their guitars. It's been awhile since I've heard these Michigan shows, so I can't say for sure how much guitar-tuning was going on behind Mike's banter there, but I know that technical adjustments between songs were a constant theme during those years: witness the repeated changing of a faulty snare drum head at the November '72 Carnegie show. By the late '70s or so, they seemed to pretty much have that stuff under control (due likely to the backline crew ensuring a constant supply of tuned guitars), aside from the occasional malfunctioning microphone that has always afflicted them. I remember one February '99 show with Mike, Bruce, and Dave...Chris Farmer actually broke a bass string (not easy to do), so a few minutes had to be spent on that between-songs, while Mike entertained the audience by chatting away.

[HeyJude]

A detailed, level-headed analysis of Mike as a frontman would be a very interesting thing to work out. I have very mixed feelings. I think even Brian and Carl (and Al, and everybody else) saw his value as a frontman. I think when he's singing, he usually does the frontman thing well.

His banter has always been a mixed bag at best. I've played many shows (audio and video) to casual fans and non-fans, people not predisposed to disliking Mike, and many of them have found his stage presence to be rather dick-ish, or smart-ass, etc. He occasionally lapses into making fun of the band's own music, which doesn't work as a self-deprecating humor thing when he's making fun of music from an album/era he actually had taken real issue with over the years (e.g. "Heroes and Villains" on the '93 GV boxed set tour: "We're still trying to figure out what that song's about")

His banter has sometimes been a momentum killer. Going back again to the '93 Paramount show, at one point he starts listing off numerous songs they're about to do, totally killing the surprise momentum of the "rarities" set. And God help us if Stamos shows up to the gig; then it starts turning into one of those Adam Sandler buddy films where you're paying money to watch rich Adam Sandler go on vacation and d**k around with his rich buddies.

[Steve Latshaw]

<< I wonder if they edited out one juncture when he starts up again after one song and a fed up audience member shouts "SHUT UP!" very forcefully, which seems to rattle him, and after which he does tone it down considerably, for a while at least.>>

Not an audience member.  That was Dennis.

[Cool Cool Water]

Cool release!