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

[NateRuvin]

Will this be Pet Sounds? F*ck no. Will it even be as good as LA? Definitely not. But Mike's touring band really kicks ass, so I'm looking forward to hearing an album with them as the instrumentalists. I don't think Mike is trying to make an artistic statement, just a fun album, as has always been his goal. To be honest, I think everyone is being too hard on this album before even hearing it as a whole.

 I will admit using the BBs logo is out of line, and seems to me to violate the rules BRI has in place.

[KDS]

Will this be Pet Sounds? F*ck no. Will it even be as good as LA? Definitely not. But Mike's touring band really kicks ass, so I'm looking forward to hearing an album with them as the instrumentalists. I don't think Mike is trying to make an artistic statement, just a fun album, as has always been his goal. To be honest, I think everyone is being too hard on this album before even hearing it as a whole.

 I will admit using the BBs logo is out of line, and seems to me to violate the rules BRI has in place.

Im sure disc one will at least be a decent listen.  For a Mike product, if it's an enjoyable as BB85 or Still Cruisin, I'll enjoy it. 

[NateRuvin]

And to be honest, I don't think anything Mike is doing is damaging the image or legacy of the band. To the majority of people, The Beach Boys have always been a fun in the sun band (Just look at Endless  Summer or Sounds Of Summer which have done really well in sales). Mike doing DIA17 with Stamos, or blurring the lines between Mike Love and The Beach Boys doesn't really do anything at this point. Everyone knows them as the beach fun band. C50 cemented them as one of the alltime great rock bands for most people. And for (good) music fans, Pet Sounds and SMiLE (as well as 70's material) will define the band that we know and love. Mike has been doing his thing for nearly 20 years and the legacy of the band has stayed consistent. I think when the band members pass away, their legacy will grow as well. Pet Sounds and other masterpieces will be praised even more, and little things like DIA17 will be forgotten. Just like how no one remembers SIP (except for us hardcore fans), but you could go up to anyone on the street and ask them to sing God Only Knows, Good Vibrations, Surfin USA, California Girls, Barbara Ann, Wouldn't It Be Nice, etc...

[KDS]

And to be honest, I don't think anything Mike is doing is damaging the image or legacy of the band. To the majority of people, The Beach Boys have always been a fun in the sun band (Just look at Endless  Summer or Sounds Of Summer which have done really well in sales). Mike doing DIA17 with Stamos, or blurring the lines between Mike Love and The Beach Boys doesn't really do anything at this point. Everyone knows them as the beach fun band. C50 cemented them as one of the alltime great rock bands for most people. And for (good) music fans, Pet Sounds and SMiLE (as well as 70's material) will define the band that we know and love. Mike has been doing his thing for nearly 20 years and the legacy of the band has stayed consistent. I think when the band members pass away, their legacy will grow as well. Pet Sounds and other masterpieces will be praised even more, and little things like DIA17 will be forgotten. Just like how no one remembers SIP (except for us hardcore fans), but you could go up to anyone on the street and ask them to sing God Only Knows, Good Vibrations, Surfin USA, California Girls, Barbara Ann, Wouldn't It Be Nice, etc...

I agree.  Like any great band, the stuff that will ultimately be remembered was what happened in their prime. 

[rab2591]

Posting this again in regards to the legacy talk above.

A few thoughts on the word “legacy” after reading continuous talk of this elsewhere.

And before anyone reads this and feels like I’m beating a dead horse, it’s just clarification of my own thoughts (mostly for my own benefit and for anyone else interested)...if anyone is tired of debate on this I totally understand: you don’t have to respond with muppet’s quotes or anything...as I said, this is mostly me thinking out loud to make sure I’m thinking about this correctly.

I’d just like to clarify the definition of “legacy” as I think there are some glaring misconceptions about the word. “Legacy” does not just mean that the music will always be there and will always hold up. Legacy is also all the baggage that is carried along with the music. Legacy includes thoughts, feelings, and memories about the entity in question...when you think about The Beach Boys do you have positive thoughts? Positive feelings? Good memories?

With The Beach Boys yeah, mostly all of the above. Do the last three decades of embarrassing antics hurt the 60s/70s music catalogue? Of course not, that music is solidified in time as some of the greatest ever made. Do the last three decades of embarrassing antics hurt the image of the band? Yes.

You see this when a music journalist writes about this band - they usually mention the fractious history of the band in their interviews. You can see this even on the official Beach Boys Facebook page in the comments of the DIA song post that mostly everyone hates. The public reads these articles and comments and their perception of band is altered.

As KDS mentioned yesterday, the Beatles quit after a decade - they didn’t record disco, they didn’t go on sitcom shows, they didn’t have a nasty reunion breakup. They didn’t have these things so their legacy is one of the brightest stars in the sky. But therein proves my point: the actions made by The Beach Boys over the past few decades have altered how bright their star is in the sky...the disco track, the sitcom appearances, etc have all added up the tackiness that is now part of the image of this band....ie part of their legacy.

When we think of The Beatles, we also think of Yoko Ono breaking up the band. That thought will be forever cemented with their legacy. See what I’m getting at? It’s not just the great music but the events that stand out. They could be good events or bad events, but each go hand in hand with the legacy.

The music is safe, and maybe that’s all some fans care about. Others of us care about the group that Brian, Mike, Carl, Dennis, Al, David, Bruce, Blondie, Ricky, belonged to at one point or another. This band is a device that created culture, created introspection, gave people dreams. The music of course is what we listen to and love, but the culture of this band goes right along with the music. And when the image of that band is tarnished time and time again, people remember that when they think of the music (like the Axl Rose example someone made above).

These embarrassing antics don’t effect our enjoyment of the past music, they effect our perception on the vessel that gave us that music. And to some of us, that part of the legacy is almost as important as the music itself.

^this was regarding his embarrassing performance on national television which got a ton of negative feedback on social media (point being: some things Mike does these days do add droplets to the bucket of things people remember about the band he is allowed to tour under).

But I don’t at all think that a cover album by Mike would have an impact on the legacy of the band - firstly, very few people are going to buy this. Secondly, as far as I know, he won’t be hawking this on broadcast tv on a major holiday. So I can’t see this album itself having a negative impact on much of anything.

[Jim V.]

I've always thought a better solo track for Mike to fly into TWGMTR in 2012 would have been "Too Cruel" with Al on lead

Gotta disagree with you there. Although I think "Too Cruel" is a good song by Mike's standards, in the form it'll likely be in on this upcoming album, it's way super Jason Mraz-y or Jack Johnson-y or whatever they were playing in the Gap from like 1998 through 2003, and I don't think it would fit in on a Beach Boys album.

[HeyJude]

I've always thought a better solo track for Mike to fly into TWGMTR in 2012 would have been "Too Cruel" with Al on lead

Gotta disagree with you there. Although I think "Too Cruel" is a good song by Mike's standards, in the form it'll likely be in on this upcoming album, it's way super Jason Mraz-y or Jack Johnson-y or whatever they were playing in the Gap from like 1998 through 2003, and I don't think it would fit in on a Beach Boys album.

Yeah, I was thinking more the song than the arrangement or production. It's a good key for Al. If they had re-recorded it with more straight-forward instrumentation and without the sampled electronic drum beat interludes, etc., I think that would have been preferable.

In its 2004 form, it indeed would have stuck out like sore thumb on TWGMTR. But then again, "Daybreak...." stuck out production-wise too, even with overdubbed BB backing vocals punched in.

[HeyJude]

The 2004 stuff floating around tended to consist of:

1. Unleash The Love
2. Cool Head, Warm Heart
3. Anything For You
4. Pisces Brothers                  
5. Everyone’s In Love With You
6. 10,000 Years
7. Glow Crescent Glow (aka "Love Like in Fairytales")
8. Too Cruel (featuring Christian Love)
9. Brian’s Back
10. I Don’t Wanna Know (featuring Christian Love)
11. Love Foundation
12. Daybreak Over the Ocean
13. Only One World

I didn't include the '68 recording of McCartney, et al. singing "Happy Birthday Mike Love"; that was never going to be on an actual album.

So what is and isn't included on the new album? I'm talking songs and not recordings, because it's unclear if he wholesale re-recorded everything or if he used elements of those 2000s recordings.

For sure, the new album carries over:

Unleash The Love
Cool Head, Warm Heart
Pisces Brothers                  
10,000 Years
Too Cruel (presumably now with Mike singing the lead?)
I Don't Wanna Know (presumably now with Mike singing the lead?)
Daybreak Over the Ocean
Brian’s Back (on the second disc)

These tracks on the new album may also be reconfigured from the 2004 collection:

Crescent Moon (could this be "Glow Crescent Glow" aka "Love Like in Fairytales", the latter title was used on an ESQ CD)
Only One Earth (very similar title to "Only One World")

I don't remember the lyrics too well from those 2004 tracks, so I don't know if the lyrics in those suggest any of the other "new" 2017 tracks are based on those.

We know "Everyone's In Love With You" is missing for sure; a bit surprising considering Mike added it back to the setlist back in the 2000s presumably based on having recently re-recorded it back circa 2004-ish.

[phirnis]

Unleash the LOL. The only thing missing from this set is a remake of Rockin' the Man in the Boat.

[Ang Jones]

Van Dyke Parks expressed an opinion on Twitter.

"Unleash Mike? Fine. But get your rabies shots in the whole hood. Take yer dog to the bank. If he leaves a deposit, take paws."

[HeyJude]

See, Mike could have *blown everyone's mind* by collaborating with VDP on this new album.....

[mtaber]

This release will serve as inspiration for numerous untalented aspiring musicians the world over - "if MIKE can do it, SO CAN I!!!"

[Jim V.]

Will this be Pet Sounds? F*ck no. Will it even be as good as LA? Definitely not. But Mike's touring band really kicks ass, so I'm looking forward to hearing an album with them as the instrumentalists. I don't think Mike is trying to make an artistic statement, just a fun album, as has always been his goal. To be honest, I think everyone is being too hard on this album before even hearing it as a whole.

Hey there Nate, like you I'm actually somewhat *excited* to hear this album. But I gotta say, I'm pretty sure that if Mike's guys are on the album, for the most part they'll only be on the second disc, maybe with appearances on the (likely recently recorded) "Getcha Back" and maybe "Dehra Dun" or whatever that other new tune is called. For the rest, there is likely to be a lot of Adrian Baker and Christian Love as I'm pretty sure a larger chunk of this stuff is dated from his 2003 or so sessions.

[guitarfool2002]

But I don’t at all think that a cover album by Mike would have an impact on the legacy of the band - firstly, very few people are going to buy this. Secondly, as far as I know, he won’t be hawking this on broadcast tv on a major holiday. So I can’t see this album itself having a negative impact on much of anything.

Both Thanksgiving and The Hollywood Christmas Parade are coming up in a scant few months, don't count out Mike and his management just yet. I wouldn't be surprised if a parade float hasn't been commissioned already so Mike can roll down some major city street lip-syncing "OUR new single" just behind the Accu-Weather team from Channel 5.

[guitarfool2002]

See, Mike could have *blown everyone's mind* by collaborating with VDP on this new album.....

Hell would freeze over before Van Dyke Parks collaborated with Mike.

[guitarfool2002]

This release will serve as inspiration for numerous untalented aspiring musicians the world over - "if MIKE can do it, SO CAN I!!!"

It didn't work with the Do It Again Stamos-McGrath debacle...unless there has been an uptick in middle-aged hacks with expensive haircuts doing DIY videos miming to autotuned classic rock cover songs in front of hotel bedsheets.

[HeyJude]

Worth noting is that it appears Mike is actually putting this album out through "The End Records", which is an independent label acquired last year by BMG.

Someone more entrenched in the industry can correct me if I'm wrong or partially wrong.

He's listed in the label's roster of artists:

http://theendrecords.com/artists/

And of course the new song uploaded on SoundCloud is on that label's page.

So it's a bit weird that the press release for the album only mentions BMG. I would presume they're trying to make it sound more prestigious than saying it's coming out via "The End Records."

[HeyJude]

See, Mike could have *blown everyone's mind* by collaborating with VDP on this new album.....

Hell would freeze over before Van Dyke Parks collaborated with Mike.

It was of course not a serious suggestion.

I'd say VDP would be more likely to accept an offer from Mike than Mike would be to accept an offer/pitch from VDP.

I'd love to see it, if for no other reason than the fact that VDP's story from the "SIP" sessions about being confronted 25 years later about the same "Cabinessence" lyrics, along with being stiffed for the cost of a private plane ride, is among my favorite hilarious BB-related stories.

[HeyJude]

Also worth mentioning is that the new album is coming out from the same parent company as Mike's book. Bertelsmann owns the "Penguin Group", under which the book's publisher "Blue Rider Press" operates. Bertelsmann also owns BMG, who in turn owns the label putting the album out, "The End Records."

No conspiracy theories or anything, but it might help explain *how* he scored a record deal.

[SMiLE Brian]

They need a reality show with Mike and VDP making an album!

[guitarfool2002]

Also worth mentioning is that the new album is coming out from the same parent company as Mike's book. Bertelsmann owns the "Penguin Group", under which the book's publisher "Blue Rider Press" operates. Bertelsmann also owns BMG, who in turn owns the label putting the album out, "The End Records."

No conspiracy theories or anything, but it might help explain *how* he scored a record deal.

It's not a conspiracy theory at all, it's just the way management and business is run and seeing the connections and give-and-take deals. Just like knowing Mike Love and Mark McGrath share the same management, it makes more sense how they ended up together on a BB remake and subsequent appearances promoting it.

[HeyJude]

Also worth mentioning is that the new album is coming out from the same parent company as Mike's book. Bertelsmann owns the "Penguin Group", under which the book's publisher "Blue Rider Press" operates. Bertelsmann also owns BMG, who in turn owns the label putting the album out, "The End Records."

No conspiracy theories or anything, but it might help explain *how* he scored a record deal.

It's not a conspiracy theory at all, it's just the way management and business is run and seeing the connections and give-and-take deals. Just like knowing Mike Love and Mark McGrath share the same management, it makes more sense how they ended up together on a BB remake and subsequent appearances promoting it.

It's definitely common, increasingly so with the well-known consolidation of media conglomerates and all of that. Hence my mentioning "no conspiracy theories" in my previous post, as I didn't want anyone to think I felt I had uncovered some secret corporate agenda. It just *may* help to explain how Mike finally got a record label, even if only an indie attached to a big conglomerate, to sign on for his album after all these years; it may not be coincidental that he first had to sell the company some copies of an autobiography before they'd follow through with putting an album of his out. In turn, they can then of course cross-promote both.

I hate to be so fixated on the logo thing, but does anybody here think there wouldn't have been bloody murder being screamed if, say, Al had stuck a big sticker on his "Live in Las Vegas" album in 2001 with the Dean Torrence-designed ubiquitous "Beach Boys" logo?

[The Lovester]

They need a reality show with Mike and VDP making an album!

For once I'll agree with you, that would be pretty funny

[CenturyDeprived]

I hate to be so fixated on the logo thing, but does anybody here think there wouldn't have been bloody murder being screamed if, say, Al had stuck a big sticker on his "Live in Las Vegas" album in 2001 with the Dean Torrence-designed ubiquitous "Beach Boys" logo?

It's really quite simple. I have zero doubt that the reason Mike feels legitimized by doing so (and not letting anyone else do so) is that he thinks HE is the Beach Boys, that he deserves different treatment than everyone else, and that it's only ok for him to do this.

[SMiLE Brian]

They need a reality show with Mike and VDP making an album!

For once I'll agree with you, that would be pretty funny

It would be quite the grudge match!