Mike Love - Unleash the Love - Due November 17 - w/ 2nd Disc of BB Remakes

[HeyJude]

Back to SIP, I wonder if Mike with Carl, Bruce, and Al would've even attempted to release a Brian-less Beach Boys LP if not for the unexpected success of Kokomo.  

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that, apart from vague overtures from Brian in the 90s of wanting to produce a "new Beach Boys album", it was Mike that was the prime (and maybe only) mover behind doing an album in 1992.

They had already done their "cashing in on Kokomo" album with "Still Cruisin'", which went gold on the back of the "Kokomo" success, but didn't seem to impress fans or critics a great deal, and certainly didn't inspire Capitol to offer the band another album contract.

I'm unsure how Mike got SIP going as a "Beach Boys" album in its initial phases, when Brian wasn't there and Al was also on the outs and not present. Not only did Mike convince the rest of the guys (including eventually Al) to do the album, and not only did he convince them to let him (Mike) control *everything* about the album to the point of it being a Mike solo project with a BB logo slapped on it, but Mike also apparently convinced them to go deeper into a band-run business by doing the "Brother Entertainment" thing and essentially releasing the album on their own label (with of course a distributor to actually get it in the shops).

Even more bizarre is that, after the album tanked in the US, they got some sort of distribution deal with EMI for the album in the UK in 1993, and threw good money after bad by remixing and partially re-recording numerous tracks on the album, resulting in something that wasn't particularly any better, and which also tanked as far as I can tell. (Did SIP even chart when EMI put it out in the UK in 1993?).

Listen to the late 1993 Paramount Theater recording (from the "boxed set" tour), and one of the guys (I think Al?) makes a pretty heavily sarcastic reference to asking people to buy the GV boxed set to help fund their own record label, which I would presume would be referring to SIP and their "Brother Entertainment" enterprise. Clearly, by late 1993, it was obvious the whole thing was a bust.

It may well be that SIP not only tanked commercially and critically, but that the whole self-financed deal ended up losing *all of them* some money. Note that Mike *never again* attempted to spearhead a group album project (and it took him 25 more years to even crank out a single solo album). He was in the backseat on the Paley sessions, was involved in "Stars and Stripes" but with someone else (Joe Thomas's label) bankrolling the thing, and of course was not a prominent creative force on TWGMTR (and, while he wanted to write more songs with Brian, he certainly hadn't in the previous two decades been trying to *spearhead* a new BB album; it took Joe Thomas and Capitol and big wad of cash to make that happen).

[KDS]

Back to SIP, I wonder if Mike with Carl, Bruce, and Al would've even attempted to release a Brian-less Beach Boys LP if not for the unexpected success of Kokomo.   

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I get the impression that, apart from vague overtures from Brian in the 90s of wanting to produce a "new Beach Boys album", it was Mike that was the prime (and maybe only) mover behind doing an album in 1992.

They had already done their "cashing in on Kokomo" album with "Still Cruisin'", which went gold on the back of the "Kokomo" success, but didn't seem to impress fans or critics a great deal, and certainly didn't inspire Capitol to offer the band another album contract.

I'm unsure how Mike got SIP going as a "Beach Boys" album in its initial phases, when Brian wasn't there and Al was also on the outs and not present. Not only did Mike convince the rest of the guys (including eventually Al) to do the album, and not only did he convince them to let him (Mike) control *everything* about the album to the point of it being a Mike solo project with a BB logo slapped on it, but Mike also apparently convinced them to go deeper into a band-run business by doing the "Brother Entertainment" thing and essentially releasing the album on their own label (with of course a distributor to actually get it in the shops).

Listen to the late 1993 Paramount Theater recording (from the "boxed set" tour), and one of the guys (I think Al?) makes a pretty heavily sarcastic reference to asking people to buy the GV boxed set to help fund their own record label, which I would presume would be referring to SIP and their "Brother Entertainment" enterprise. Clearly, by late 1993, it was obvious the whole thing was a bust.

It may well be that SIP not only tanked commercially and critically, but that the whole self-financed deal ended up losing *all of them* some money. Note that Mike *never again* attempted to spearhead a group album project (and it took him 25 more years to even crank out a single solo album). He was in the backseat on the Paley sessions, was involved in "Stars and Stripes" but with someone else (Joe Thomas's label) bankrolling the thing, and of course was not a prominent creative force on TWGMTR (and, while he wanted to write more songs with Brian, he certainly hadn't in the previous two decades been trying to *spearhead* a new BB album; it took Joe Thomas and Capitol and big wad of cash to make that happen).

I'm pretty sure Mike would've been the one to get the ball rolling on doing a BB album in 1992.   The history of SIP seems to be another murky patch in BB history. 

I still don't think the album is as bad as it's reputation.  I've seen on various threads on different boards where people make a nice playlist by combining the best of TWGMTR and NPP.  I think the same could be done with Still Cruisin and SIP.

I think the SIP album is marred by four hideously bad tracks (Summer of Love, Surfin 92, Remember Walkin in the Sand, and Under the Boardwalk).   Plus, the production is pretty bad, which seems like a big issue with Mike's upcoming solo album as well. 

[Awesoman]

I went to Mike's website, and in the discography that is supposed to have solo and Beach Boys, the following albums are missing:

Looking Back With Love
Summer In Paradise
That's Why God Made The Radio

It seems odd that various Christmas re-treads are on there, but these are missing.

I'm not too surprised that SIP is missing.  SIP was the only album that wasn't represented in the C50 Tour Program, and it's also the only album that didn't have any tracks on the MiC box (other than the live version of the title track).  

Mike can just pretend it didn’t happen, like the 2005 lawsuit omission in his bio. Sounds like a solid plan.

Considering the title track still pops up in his setlists, I don't think that's the case.  HJ might have more insight, but I think the exclusion of the album art from the C50 program and any studio tracks from the MiC set has something to do with the label / copyright, or something.  

I don't think anyone is quite sure why SIP was the lone album absent from some C50 montages/artwork compilations, etc. Brother owns the album outright as far as I know; they can do whatever they want with it.

Here's what we (maybe) know: The album was recorded of course without Brian, during a strange period around the same time he was being extricated from Landy. I don't know if Brian was even consulted or offered to "vote" on whether the album should happen. Considering three other BRI members participated in the album, it presumably wouldn't have mattered. So the album was recorded at a time when the other members strangely felt comfortable enough to do a Beach Boys album without Brian.

In subsequent years, Brian has (to varying degrees and at varying intervals) made more peace with the other BRI members than was the case in 1992 (when the fake autobiography lawsuit was still a fresh wound, among many other issues), and Brian and Melinda have asserted Brian's role and standing in BRI and in the BB legacy in general much more strongly than was the case in 1992.

Long story short, I wouldn't be surprised if Brian, and/or BRI on the whole, have quietly sort of "retired" SIP from the "canon" so to speak. It's not like they're literally trying to erase its existence. But it was done under circumstances that almost certainly would never take place today, and it probably makes the whole thing easier that the album was the biggest album flop of their career and went virtually unnoticed. Even *Mike* doesn't try to tout total failures for years and years. Mike has kept SIP in the setlist on and off, but that's about it. He doesn't wax nostalgic about the SIP *album* the way, say, Bruce might about "Sunflower." He briefly tried to recycle "Summer of Love" in that Baywatch episode where Brian made an appearance. But in any event, it probably doesn't bug even Mike that SIP remains out of print and that it isn't included in the "canon" when career-spanning artwork/montages are put together. So if Brian's thinking or the general thinking is to just quietly stop doing anything with the album, it's probably not something Mike is going to beef.

It's perhaps a bit like those weird mid-90s "Fleetwood Mac" projects done with Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason, or something like that. Totally legit projects done by enough members who controlled use of the name for the projects. But then at some point after the "classic" lineup reunited and that era was just kind of forgotten.

In a sense it's too bad; I'd love to hear Brian's thoughts/remembrances about that period of time and that album. I'm not sure anyone has ever got Brian on record talking about the SIP album. It's quite odd; the band didn't even try to fly in an old Brian track or two to give the veneer of a "group" album. I think the fact that the album tanked (despite promotion on multiple episodes of "Full House") was perhaps one of the only reasons Mike and the band weren't grilled mercilessly about why Brian was nowhere to be seen or heard on the album. Indeed, even Al was absent for most of the sessions due to various band issues, and Mike felt emboldened to do the album anyway.

I think SIP had to be a humbling experience for Mike even if he never would admit it. To loosely borrow some points I recall Wirestone making some time back about the album, SIP is notable because it's Mike trying as *hard* as he can. It's Mike pushing the entire project (creatively more of a "solo" album than even "Looking Back with Love"), he and Terry Melcher bringing their A-game, using then state-of-the-art technology to record the album. It's Mike as pure and unfiltered as you can get, with Carl and Al adding some nice vocals (which does nothing but help the project), and the album was a 100% failure by *any* objective measure.

If Mike wasn't able to use the SIP title track to constantly try to convince people he and Bruce care about the environment despite their other stated politics being often diametrically opposed to such ideals, he probably wouldn't even continue to do that one track in concert.

Probably a simpler answer why the album was ignored was because of how much of a critical and commercial flop it was.  Didn't it initially sell less than a 1,000 copies upon release?  For all we know all the unopened copies of the album were buried in the same landfill with those E.T. Atari 2600 games.   

[SMiLE Brian]

Or in AGD’s flat....

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

Or in AGD’s flat....

 

[SMiLE Brian]

Aka club kokomo....

[Needleinthehay]

I do wonder if a big problem was lack of promo budget. Youd think the bb had enough fans that they could sell 50k copies no matter how bad an albim it was if the public was aware of it.

[Pretty Funky]

I remember Beach Boys related stories around that time all related to Brian not being involved with the album and the Brian/ Landy split with the group. All pretty negative and not good for promoting an album.Fast forward to 2012 and the theme is unity (on the surface at least) and its a whole different ball of wax!

[HeyJude]

In terms of the SIP album, it being ignored *is* the outcome of it not selling and being a critical failure. Certainly, it was continually ignored because it had no momentum and was apparently more or less DOA.

A lack of a promo budget certainly wouldn't have helped things. They were choosing to release the album themselves, and I would imagine it didn't have a huge promo budget. But it got some good publicity via multiple episodes of "Full House." They did service multiple singles to radio.

I think 1992 just wasn't a year when the "Beach Boys" were going to easily have another "Kokomo/Endless Summer" sort of career resurgence (and "Kokomo" was more of a blip than a huge career-changer; they were already a popular touring act before it was a hit, and "Kokomo" didn't leverage them any better albums), and Mike churning out an awful album made it even easier for the band as anything other than a touring machine to fall even farther off the radar. Superfans can pick through the scraps of SIP and find a few catchy melodies and chord changes. But as objective as we can be, SIP was a poor album and the marketplace rejecting it made sense. It's not like it's a hidden gem that people just weren't tuned-in enough to take a shine to.

Nobody was looking at BB '85 or "Kokomo" or "Still Crusin'" and specifically saying "That guy, Mike Love, what I *really* want is a full album of stuff from him!"

The production, even for 1992, was shrill and synthetic and sterile. Nobody wanted to hear something like "Summer of Love" from a guy in his 50s. Those who cared to know the then-recent history of the band would also easily pick out the multiple sad "Kokomo" clones on the album. And certainly, Brian literally not singing or playing one note on the album was a huge knock against the album. Brian had, at best, a mixed bag of his own material around this time. But I've never even been that into the "Sweet Insanity" stuff, yet a few tracks off that would have made SIP more listenable and notable. If Mike had been a true leader for the SIP album, he would have not only allowed but actively *encouraged* if not demanded that Al and Carl contribute more songs and lead vocals to the album.

I'd also say that, despite "Kokomo" subsequently being a hit, Mike's already-bruised reputation among casual fans and the rock press, exacerbated by his reputation-sealing R&R Hall of Fame speech, certainly didn't help the band sell SIP.

There are other "legacy artists" who were maybe doing albums that were mixed bags around this same time, who were not getting hits any more. But a lot of those albums from around that time still had some genuinely quality material buried somewhere in there. To use an obvious and perhaps tired comparison, McCartney's "Off the Ground" was not all a-list material, but as an album on both the song and production side of things, it was a masterpiece compared to something like SIP. Heck, even Ringo's "Time Takes Time" from 1992 truly is a hidden pop masterpiece compared to SIP.

[Matt H]

In terms of the SIP album, it being ignored *is* the outcome of it not selling and being a critical failure. Certainly, it was continually ignored because it had no momentum and was apparently more or less DOA.

A lack of a promo budget certainly wouldn't have helped things. They were choosing to release the album themselves, and I would imagine it didn't have a huge promo budget. But it got some good publicity via multiple episodes of "Full House." They did service multiple singles to radio.

I think 1992 just wasn't a year when the "Beach Boys" were going to easily have another "Kokomo/Endless Summer" sort of career resurgence (and "Kokomo" was more of a blip than a huge career-changer; they were already a popular touring act before it was a hit, and "Kokomo" didn't leverage them any better albums), and Mike churning out an awful album made it even easier for the band as anything other than a touring machine to fall even farther off the radar. Superfans can pick through the scraps of SIP and find a few catchy melodies and chord changes. But as objective as we can be, SIP was a poor album and the marketplace rejecting it made sense. It's not like it's a hidden gem that people just weren't tuned-in enough to take a shine to.

Nobody was looking at BB '85 or "Kokomo" or "Still Crusin'" and specifically saying "That guy, Mike Love, what I *really* want is a full album of stuff from him!"

The production, even for 1992, was shrill and synthetic and sterile. Nobody wanted to hear something like "Summer of Love" from a guy in his 50s. Those who cared to know the then-recent history of the band would also easily pick out the multiple sad "Kokomo" clones on the album. And certainly, Brian literally not singing or playing one note on the album was a huge knock against the album. Brian had, at best, a mixed bag of his own material around this time. But I've never even been that into the "Sweet Insanity" stuff, yet a few tracks off that would have made SIP more listenable and notable. If Mike had been a true leader for the SIP album, he would have not only allowed but actively *encouraged* if not demanded that Al and Carl contribute more songs and lead vocals to the album.

I'd also say that, despite "Kokomo" subsequently being a hit, Mike's already-bruised reputation among casual fans and the rock press, exacerbated by his reputation-sealing R&R Hall of Fame speech, certainly didn't help the band sell SIP.

There are other "legacy artists" who were maybe doing albums that were mixed bags around this same time, who were not getting hits any more. But a lot of those albums from around that time still had some genuinely quality material buried somewhere in there. To use an obvious and perhaps tired comparison, McCartney's "Off the Ground" was not all a-list material, but as an album on both the song and production side of things, it was a masterpiece compared to something like SIP. Heck, even Ringo's "Time Takes Time" from 1992 truly is a hidden pop masterpiece compared to SIP.

"Time Takes Time" had more Brian involvement than SIP.

[B.E.]

"Time Takes Time" had more Brian involvement than SIP.

 

[HeyJude]

"Time Takes Time" had more Brian involvement than SIP.

Exactly!

There was certainly some extended estrangement, even well after Landy was out of the picture. Brian didn't play on-stage with the BB's between 1990 and 1995 as I recall.

[Nate]

After reading much of this thread since the last time I contributed, I have several thoughts.

1) I don't think SIP deserves the hate it gets. I think all the songs are good except Surfin, Summer Of Love, Forever (hate the redo), and Remember Walkin

2) I think Unleash The Love will be much better than Looking Back With Love.

[KDS]

After reading much of this thread since the last time I contributed, I have several thoughts.

1) I don't think SIP deserves the hate it gets. I think all the songs are good except Surfin, Summer Of Love, Forever (hate the redo), and Remember Walkin

I agree with you, except I'd swap Forever 92 for Under the Boardwalk.   I actually like the Forever remake, but I had a fondness for cheesy power ballads. 

[HeyJude]

I think Stamos's cover of "Forever" would have been fine on a Stamos album. On a BB album, even a crummy, compromised, pseudo-Mike-solo-album Beach Boys album, it still seems rather bland and forgettable.

The most fascinating thing about Stamos's "Forever" in relation to the SIP album is that Stamos featured the song *multiple times* on "Full House", at a time when the show was one of the *highest rated* shows on TV, and the SIP album *still* tanked.

And I do think the album got decent distribution. I recall seeing it back in 1992 even at places like mall record stores and places like "Fry's Electronics." It came out during the tail end of the CD "long box" era where CDs came in the long cardboard boxes, and SIP was supposed to be "ecologically friendly" while still attempting to maintain "longbox" dimensions, thus it had the odd packaging where the case was left open-face and then shrink wrapped.

[rab2591]

After reading much of this thread since the last time I contributed, I have several thoughts.

1) I don't think SIP deserves the hate it gets. I think all the songs are good except Surfin, Summer Of Love, Forever (hate the redo), and Remember Walkin

Every BB studio album up until SIP had some sort of life to it - each album has memorable moments, and more to the point many forgettable moments. And with the exception of the shitty ‘Here Comes The Night’ remake, mostly every song prior to SIP was harmless and not overly embarrassing. Post Love You:

MIU: ‘My Diane’ is a knockout, and the whole album has a cohesive vibe focusing on vocals and harmony.
Light Album: Full of some okay songs that just didn’t take off. But no harm done at all.
KTSA: it’s got charm, and it’s not creepy, yet the whole thing is forgettable.
BB85: yeah, it’s 80s production but Getcha Back kicks ass and Brian has some good tunes on there as well. Carl’s voice shines on it - and unlike SIP, Carl’s voice isn’t the only thing holding this album together.

And back to my point about each of these albums having forgettable moments: much of the content of these albums is so inoffensive that nobody bothers to talk about the songs. When was the last time someone mentioned ‘Sumahama’ on this site? Yet the creepy vibe of SIP, the plastic production, sacrilege ‘Forever’ remake makes it an album that is talked about negatively and it does deserve the hate and it shows everywhere - be it this forum or others, or review sites, blogs, etc. Hell, the fact that they don’t sell this pile of dicks anymore (in an age where digital streaming would make nearly any album free money for these guys) should be clue number one that this album deserves the shitty reputation that it has.

Aside from one or two people here who feel the need to interject SIP positivity constantly, no one goes out of their way to say “Under The Boardwalk is a great song from SIP, let’s discuss it”. Whereas you do hear sporadic and genuine praise for ‘My Diane’, ‘Getcha Back’, maybe even ‘Good Timin’ once in a while. No one asks about what kind of mic setup they used on SIP because it doesn’t matter; it all sounds like sh*t. The closest anyone has come to inquiring about details of production is when ProTools is mentioned, and it’s only brought up when posters are having a laugh at how bad the album sounds.

Assemble friends and family around for Thanksgiving this year, then turn on your Dolby 5.1 surround system, then play Summer In Paradise while you’re all sitting down to eat (heck, even skip the really bad songs). Let me know how that goes. And that is why this album 10000% deserves the hate it gets.

It’s an absolute joke and a slap in the face to the legacy of the band that brought us Pet Sounds.

[KDS]

I think Stamos's cover of "Forever" would have been fine on a Stamos album. On a BB album, even a crummy, compromised, pseudo-Mike-solo-album Beach Boys album, it still seems rather bland and forgettable.

The most fascinating thing about Stamos's "Forever" in relation to the SIP album is that Stamos featured the song *multiple times* on "Full House", at a time when the show was one of the *highest rated* shows on TV, and the SIP album *still* tanked.

And I do think the album got decent distribution. I recall seeing it back in 1992 even at places like mall record stores and places like "Fry's Electronics." It came out during the tail end of the CD "long box" era where CDs came in the long cardboard boxes, and SIP was supposed to be "ecologically friendly" while still attempting to maintain "longbox" dimensions, thus it had the odd packaging where the case was left open-face and then shrink wrapped.

I definitely prefer the Sunflower version, but I still think the 92 version is decent.  If anything, it's the best produced song on the album by far.  

I also think that the Full House tie-in failed because the song was credited to "Jesse and the Rippers" even though Mike and Carl have cameos in the music video they aired at the end of the episode.  So, even though the song appeared on Full House, they didn't specify that it was a Beach Boys song featuring John Stamos.  

I do remember there was a previous episode where Mike and Bruce show up at the Tanner house, and "Uncle Jessie" asks permission to cover Forever.   My memory of the details is foggy, but I don't recall any dialog about a new BB album for 1992.

[HeyJude]

After reading much of this thread since the last time I contributed, I have several thoughts.

1) I don't think SIP deserves the hate it gets. I think all the songs are good except Surfin, Summer Of Love, Forever (hate the redo), and Remember Walkin

2) I think Unleash The Love will be much better than Looking Back With Love.

When one is trying objectively review an album, we're not just looking at how much we like a given song, or how much it's "okay", or "better than" something else. The whole ball of wax is scrutinized, to give it some context.

SIP is not like the "worst album ever" or anything like that. It's the context that makes it maybe the worst in all aspects in the BB canon. Musically, it *is* not every good, with a few songs that compositionally are okay/catchy, and with some good group vocals (as always) and good leads from Carl and Al. But the production/recording/mixing/mastering is awful. And, again to paraphrase/touch on the point I drew from Wirestone, this middling-to-awful album is Mike *trying his hardest*, bringing his A-game.

The album is rightly pounced on not just because the songs are on the whole not very good, but because of what it represents and is emblematic of. And that is *bad* artistic (and frankly commercial/financial) decisions. Mike shouldn't have been put in charge of an album. Carl and Al shouldn't have abdicated seemingly more or less *all* of their control. And they all shouldn't have done an album without Brian. Unless Brian at that point had specifically announced that he was quitting the Beach Boys and would never ever work on an album with them again, they should have held out and waited.

Not only should a band like that not cede all control to one member, they certainly shouldn't to a member has a very specific, often derided and criticized artistic taste.

[HeyJude]

I think Stamos's cover of "Forever" would have been fine on a Stamos album. On a BB album, even a crummy, compromised, pseudo-Mike-solo-album Beach Boys album, it still seems rather bland and forgettable.

The most fascinating thing about Stamos's "Forever" in relation to the SIP album is that Stamos featured the song *multiple times* on "Full House", at a time when the show was one of the *highest rated* shows on TV, and the SIP album *still* tanked.

And I do think the album got decent distribution. I recall seeing it back in 1992 even at places like mall record stores and places like "Fry's Electronics." It came out during the tail end of the CD "long box" era where CDs came in the long cardboard boxes, and SIP was supposed to be "ecologically friendly" while still attempting to maintain "longbox" dimensions, thus it had the odd packaging where the case was left open-face and then shrink wrapped.

I definitely prefer the Sunflower version, but I still think the 92 version is decent.  If anything, it's the best produced song on the album by far.  

I also think that the Full House tie-in failed because the song was credited to "Jesse and the Rippers" even though Mike and Carl have cameos in the music video they aired at the end of the episode.  So, even though the song appeared on Full House, they didn't specify that it was a Beach Boys song featuring John Stamos.  

I do remember there was a previous episode where Mike and Bruce show up at the Tanner house, and "Uncle Jessie" asks permission to cover Forever.   My memory of the details is foggy, but I don't recall any dialog about a new BB album for 1992.

True, they didn't really specifically mention that *that* recording/song was going to be on a new BB album.

Stamos *did* prominently display the SIP poster in the background of the show on his "radio show" set.

[KDS]

I think Stamos's cover of "Forever" would have been fine on a Stamos album. On a BB album, even a crummy, compromised, pseudo-Mike-solo-album Beach Boys album, it still seems rather bland and forgettable.

The most fascinating thing about Stamos's "Forever" in relation to the SIP album is that Stamos featured the song *multiple times* on "Full House", at a time when the show was one of the *highest rated* shows on TV, and the SIP album *still* tanked.

And I do think the album got decent distribution. I recall seeing it back in 1992 even at places like mall record stores and places like "Fry's Electronics." It came out during the tail end of the CD "long box" era where CDs came in the long cardboard boxes, and SIP was supposed to be "ecologically friendly" while still attempting to maintain "longbox" dimensions, thus it had the odd packaging where the case was left open-face and then shrink wrapped.

I definitely prefer the Sunflower version, but I still think the 92 version is decent.  If anything, it's the best produced song on the album by far.  

I also think that the Full House tie-in failed because the song was credited to "Jesse and the Rippers" even though Mike and Carl have cameos in the music video they aired at the end of the episode.  So, even though the song appeared on Full House, they didn't specify that it was a Beach Boys song featuring John Stamos.  

I do remember there was a previous episode where Mike and Bruce show up at the Tanner house, and "Uncle Jessie" asks permission to cover Forever.   My memory of the details is foggy, but I don't recall any dialog about a new BB album for 1992.

True, they didn't really specifically mention that *that* recording/song was going to be on a new BB album.

Stamos *did* prominently display the SIP poster in the background of the show on his "radio show" set.

I don't recall that poster in the background.  But, for whatever reason, my memory of the later Full House episodes is pretty foggy. 

Of course if one doesn't notice The Beach Boys' logo, one would probably think it's a poster from a local aquarium. 

[Needleinthehay]

I was about 12 when full house was at its peak and i remember “forever” being sang and that i had no clue it was a bb song or that uncle jessie had a version on a bb album. So yeah i dont know how much promo it did. Why couldnt someone take 5 seconds and say “hey great beach boys song...youre on the new album right?” On the show...sure it wouldve been cheesie but whole show is not exactly breaking bad
Altho maybe in the long run it wouldve hurt the band if more people had spent money on such a subpar albun

[KDS]

I was about 12 when full house was at its peak and i remember “forever” being sang and that i had no clue it was a bb song or that uncle jessie had a version on a bb album. So yeah i dont know how much promo it did. Why couldnt someone take 5 seconds and say “hey great beach boys song...youre on the new album right?” On the show...sure it wouldve been cheesie but whole show is not exactly breaking bad
Altho maybe in the long run it wouldve hurt the band if more people had spent money on such a subpar albun

They could've done a quick tag at the end of the episode, like "if you liked this version of Forever, it'll be on the new Beach Boys album, SIP." 

And much worse albums by great bands have sold many more copies without doing any damage. 

[guitarfool2002]

Without repeating for the umpteenth time what I've said in the past about the SIP debacle (yes, it's one of my bigger gripes in the band's history), I'll suggest there was no lack of promotion for the project nor was there a lack of reaching the core audience of Beach Boys fans who were the key demographic for buying the SIP album.

The issue was demand - Those core fans were simply not interested in buying this album. They all knew it was out and available, whether it was Capitol or Boardwalk or MELECO or Peter Pan on the label. They simply did not buy it, or want to buy it.

Consider these points.

- There was no shortage of the album in the stores, as I've reported before the "Beach Boys" section in the big shops was full of the SIP album available for sale. The supply never went down, it seemed. After that it went into the cut-out bins...and again, it seemed like the rack was always full to the brim for anyone to buy even at a discount, several years even after the release.

- Mike was promoting this album and especially the title song for several years on all the stages he and the band played after the release. I can speak for one I witnessed  and it's probably up on YouTube to watch...Philly, July 4 1995. They played the title cut of SIP, and it seemed to drag on and on like swimming a length of a pool filled with molasses. It wasn't the Beach Boys...of course neither was the dancing girls and all the other Mike-led trappings on display at the show. But if fans who saw the band play live in the 90's up to Carl's passing dug the song and wanted to buy it, they simply didn't do so.

- Mike was on several pretty big media outlets plugging the album. Howard Stern, yeah his audience was more into hard rock and metal, but if BB fans heard Mike's interview, they heard Mike tell them about his new BB album. They must not have bought it either. Then Mike with QVC...they gave SIP away as a free bonus for people buying the GV box set. I guess freebie bonuses aren't tabbed as sales, who knows. But QVC moves product, and it's pretty desperate to give away an album that stiffed as a bonus.

- Full House. As mentioned, if Uncle Jesse's fans wanted to buy the SIP album, they would have. It appears they did not.

- Baywatch. At the time Mike and the Boys were featured on the show, it was being called the most popular and most watched show *in the world* thanks to syndication. Mike and the Boys had a whole episode written around them that even worked the title track (and album) into the plot as a fundraiser for clean water, and Mike had the infamous "Summer Of Love" video shot for the episode...no one bought it. Even with Stamos and the bikini girls dancing around Mike. So even giving the SIP album and a single from the album a huge marketing push via the world's most-watched TV show at that time, a few years after the original release, no one seemed interested in buying the album or the related singles.

After considering those examples of the promotions and exposure SIP received for the years after its release, was it really a lack of promotion or knowledge of the album that caused it to stiff, or was it the album itself? That's an easy one to hash out.

[guitarfool2002]

Add to the above, a two-page spread ad ran in Billboard August 1992 to advertise and hype the SIP album. First page was a "Brother Entertainment" ad with the names Elliot Lott and Ron Alexenburg along with logo and contact info. The second page was a full hype on the album, with bullet points touting the highlights including John Stamos' recording "debut", as well as listing upcoming tour dates for the band. The release was even reported as going independent as a news item, through "Brother Entertainment" (listing Mike Love as executive in charge of music production, so don't tell me (you know who you are lol) that Mike was not running this dog-and-pony show at this time), and distributed by Navarre Corp out of Minnesota. Mr. Alexenburg's resume and credits in the music biz are a mile long, and the band had control even moreso because it was their own label releasing it. Again, just to point out that the industry and fanbase were fully aware of this project. The fact it stiffed can't be chalked up to ignorance or lack of information 25 years later.

[Curt Lambert]

I bought SIP when it first came out as I was excited about a new Beach Boys album. And yes, ugh. It is the worst Beach Boys album, by far and away. Exponentially so. But, lol, I do like 4 songs on the album. " Strange Things Happen" (although it sounds like it was unfinished)," Lahaina Aloha" (yes, a Kokomo derivative/rip off/whatever), but I enjoy it when I hear it; "Hot Fun In The Summertime", and "Remember Walking In The Sand". I know most, above and beyond the general distaste, seem to dislike Remember,, but I like it. Even inspired a screenplay by me. S0 yes, I haven't listened to the album in a few years, the overall sound and production is crap and it has a lot of drek on it. But I do like those 4 songs. No, they are not in my top 100 Beach Boys songs and yes, they should have waited for Brian, and Carl and Al should have taken much, much more leadership on SIP. Their vocals are what I like on the album. I think Mike is a disaster in many ways, and this album is one prime example. I will not be buying or listening to the new solo release. I have heard a few seconds and no thank you.