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

[guitarfool2002]

Beat me to it Hickory.

I can understand wanting to defend Mike against all the toxic people, but seriously, this defines "no-brainer"...

[Pretty Funky]

All in good fun.

It relates to a discussion about Brian recording R&R covers on his proposed album. I thought it was a bad idea and could not understand re-recording classics. Already perfect so why touch them IMO.
Regardless who is on Mikes album singing what is irrelevant. If it ain’t broke, why fix it. If Brian re-records a classic of his or someone else, the same applies.

[Pretty Funky]

Beat me to it Hickory.

I can understand wanting to defend Mike against all the toxic people, but seriously, this defines "no-brainer"...

Definitely not defending Mike. Like Add Some, not one penny has come from me for anything he has done since Carl’s death, C50 and official Beach Boys releases aside. That won’t change with UTL.

[guitarfool2002]

I still think any artist can record and release a cover of any song they want to cover. Mike can't even do that without fucking it up.

I've used the comparison before, for certain fans with a proclivity for defending Mike to any lengths, but it feels like if this were The Godfather, Mike would be Fredo Corleone. He feels like he got passed over on the true leadership and recognition departments for decades, to the point of feeling wronged, and has impossible Don Quixote type fantasy visions of how much he can get done if he was given a chance to run the show. Then when he does, it falls flat.

The scene, Godfather 2, of Fredo and Michael on the patio after Fredo betrayed him...Fredo says "I'm SMART and I want RESPECT!".

[guitarfool2002]

Beat me to it Hickory.

I can understand wanting to defend Mike against all the toxic people, but seriously, this defines "no-brainer"...

Definitely not defending Mike. Like Add Some, not one penny has come from me for anything he has done since Carl’s death, C50 and official Beach Boys releases aside. That won’t change with UTL.

We share a similar mindset on those points. Not one penny from me either.

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

Definitely not defending Mike..........

is how all Mike defenders start their posts.



Just joking PF,  you's one of the good guys.

[SMiLE Brian]

Keeping with the godfather theme, I wonder if BW gave Mike the "kiss of death" when he broke up the C50.....


"Mike, you broke my heart....."

[Pretty Funky]

Definitely not defending Mike..........

is how all Mike defenders start their posts.



Just joking PF,  you's one of the good guys.

 

Ditto!

I just call em as I see em. They have all grabbed defeat over the years.

[Pretty Funky]

Keeping with the godfather theme, I wonder if BW gave Mike the "kiss of death" when he broke up the C50.....


"Mike, you broke my heart....."

I’ll play! Remember the horse head? I predict Mikes album will be the other end! 

[SMiLE Brian]

You don't come to Brooklyn and talk to a guy like Michael Lloyd like that!

[Wirestone]

I must note here that, without the credits at hand, we don't know the exact role AJR plays on the new recording of "Darlin'" aside from (presumably) vocals. They are a self-contained band on their own, but they may simply be contributing those vocals to a track recorded by the BB touring group.

I've spent the evening listening to some of their stuff, which is very modern pop, but clever enough for the form. There's a gigantic shout-out to the Boys in this song, titled "Call My Dad." It starts around 48 seconds in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du_8o-Y0b6c

[B.E.]

... I've spent the evening listening to some of their stuff, which is very modern pop, but clever enough for the form. There's a gigantic shout-out to the Boys in this song, titled "Call My Dad." It starts around 48 seconds in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Du_8o-Y0b6c

You are NOT kidding!

[Zargo]

In any event, I mention this to point out that Mike certainly has been more hands-on with more recent archival BB releases. I don't think he literally doesn't care about them. I believe Howie Edelson mentioned that all of the band members spoke with enthusiasm when interviewed for "Sunshine Tomorrow", and Mike was certainly involved with MIC in 2012/13 to the point of commissioning an overdub on one of his songs. When tasked with a given project, I think Mike shows enough interest, and he's certainly signing off on these things.

If I recall correctly, one of the people behind the MiC release stated that Mike was as keen as (or even more so) any of the other members to have a big Dennis presence in the track-list. The fact it had all the hits on it too would have made the release more interesting to him, I imagine.

And there's the rub. "Hey Mike, we're going to do a BB archival release that focuses predominantly on Dennis!" I'm not sure how much he'd be pushing for that. (He apparently/allegedly wasn't a fan of the "Love & Mercy" soundtrack, which was ostensibly in part a "Beach Boys" release that was very Brian-centric, albeit in a different way).

But if handed an already-compiled project that has some Dennis stuff, it doesn't cost Mike anything to say "Yeah, sure! Sounds good." Especially if the project also takes out time to devote to Mike's stuff like "Brian's Back", "Goin' to the Beach", "Summer in Paradise", etc.

I don't believe Mike has been approaching BRI internally to champion Dennis archival material.

To be clear, I'm not saying Mike signing off on a good project is a bad thing, regardless of how much he's proactive about it. I'm also not suggesting MIC shouldn't focus on all members. That makes total sense.

Again, the basic idea is that Mike isn't adamantly opposed to archival stuff. He just doesn't prioritize it heavily when, in my opinion, he and all the members should be. When it comes to the Beach Boys, we're not talking like Beatles fans pushing for the other 27 takes of "I Saw Her Standing There" to be released (not a bad thing, to be sure). The Beach Boys have *albums worth* of totally unheard material that would be a game changer for them in terms of the story/narrative that's out there now regarding their later-era history.

Agreed certainly, and I'm pleased you acknowledge that it's not just Mike who's not overly interested. Carl it seems wasn't all that keen either. "Sweet and Bitter" didn't get as much excitement as it should've when it appeared out of the blue because it was a Mike lead, but for me that's quality enough it could be a single off a new archival release. If Mike is clued up enough about it beforehand to play it live (ala "Goin' to the beach") then that would make it more appealing. I could imagine the touring band playing a long lost Carl song, if not a Jardine one. 

[jeffh]

Weay back on one of the first pages I posted links to two AJR songs. Check them out. They are good

[Hickory Violet Part IV]

Checked them out. They are not.

[phirnis]

For whatever reason I just decided to listen to All the Love in Paris and the Darlin' remake. Couldn't make it to the end of either. All the Love made me want to take a shower. Will play some Wild Honey now and try to forget.

[BBs Footage Saga]

Where is the Big Sur remake of the Good Vibrations Book Trailer?

You can hear it at about 0:54 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OutWymKjErk.

I Wasn't Asking for where it's sounds. I'm Asking What the hell Big sur is missing

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

Where is the Big Sur remake of the Good Vibrations Book Trailer?

You can hear it at about 0:54 of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OutWymKjErk.

I Wasn't Asking for where it's sounds. I'm Asking What the hell Big sur is missing

Mike could find no room on his album for the best song he has ever written alone. Classic Mike.

[Peadar 'Big Dinner' O'Driscoll]

Is time for Ben Vaugh Quintet to re-release Ben"s Prayer..A/K/A Kill .......Love?   Sure it's still on utube.

Did Ben Vaughn release that in some form or was it just a live track? cant find it on discogs.

Lots of MP3 downloads around, Big Dinner, but I suspect they're all of that live performance.

Thanks John, got loads of Ben V records so was curious.

[Tony S]

Obviously, including all the Beach Boys redo's is because he realizes the solo material is weak, and his only real chance of selling the music is to include the legacy of the Beach Boys

[Lonely Summer]

Obviously, including all the Beach Boys redo's is because he realizes the solo material is weak, and his only real chance of selling the music is to include the legacy of the Beach Boys

Albums of new material by older artists do not sell in Taylor Swift numbers in 2017. So naturally they are looking for anything they can use that will boost sales. I suspect ML's album will do well if he sells it at his shows.

[Awesoman]

Based on the sound samples I've heard so far, this album at best sounds alright.  Nothing overly remarkable and some questionable BB covers, but this is hardly as lousy as some of his previous embarrassing efforts.  Methinks a lot of the dooming and glooming on this board comes from those that are taking their anti-Mike Love hysteria just a little too personally.  I always thought "Cool Head, Warm Heart" was a pretty good song and some of the other track samples on here aren't too bad.  Nothing can save the ridiculous umpteenth cover of "Do It Again" though. 

At least Love isn't releasing this album under the "Beach Boys" title. 

[NateRuvin]

Awesoman, I agree completely. To be honest, I'm looking forward to adding it to my collection. But that's just the completest in me talking.

[Jim V.]

Awesoman, I agree completely. To be honest, I'm looking forward to adding it to my collection. But that's just the completest in me talking.

I'm looking forward to it too. I don't expect it to be very good at all. But he does have a few good songs. I think "Cool Head, Warm Heart", "I Don't Wanna Know" and "Too Cruel" are all pretty nice.

And I'll saying something else that will make me hated on here. Of the new songs on that Songs from Here & Back collection a few years ago, Mike's "Cool Head, Warm Heart" was by far the best new song, far better than Al's "PT Cruiser" or Brian's "The Spirit of Rock & Roll."

Obviously I think Mike's a bit of a dick-bag a lot of the time, but I'm not gonna sh*t on him when it's not necessary. Occasionally he can still do good work. And there's a few songs on this thing that I'm sure I'll be happy to add to my collection.

[HeyJude]

Perhaps worth pointing out is that on past BB-related products where autotune was used in some fashion, it has always varied from song to song. On TWMGTR, it's more obvious in certain spots ("Spring Vacation"), and less apparent, or dialed back, or not present at all on other tracks ("Think About the Days", "Pacific Coast Highway", etc.). Even on the C50 live album, while Mike sounds like a robot on something like "Don't Back Down", other tracks remain unscathed ("Getcha Back" as a random example).

Whereas, every sample released from Mike's new album so far has had pretty much the exact same ear-bleeding amount of autotune. It's the same robo-Mike pretty much across the board. I fear Mike has been done a disservice by his producer on this project. That same sound is present on the XMas single from a couple years ago as well. It's Mike's project and he surely chooses to sign off on this stuff, and I also can't rule out the possibility that he directed Michael Lloyd to use autotune. But to the degree the autotune is entering the picture by the hand of Lloyd, he's hurting the whole project. There's not subtlety to it whatsoever. It's more distracting than the worst autotune/processing I've heard on any other BB-related product. The rest of the production side of things isn't too hot either (Wirestone was right about "Darlin'", which sounds really dead and kind of throttled sonically), but Mike is near Frampton talkbox levels of autotune on this thing.

I'd seriously advise folks to, where the corresponding same track is available, seek out the circa 2004 Mike solo set floating around. I never thought the production on even *that* stuff was amazing, but it sounds far less processed. I'd also say Christian Love's takes on "Too Cruel" and "I Don't Wanna Know" sound better than Mikes, for whatever that's worth. Why Mike packed this new set with guest vocals but cut both of those is pretty perplexing.