New Tidbit on the Televised Beach Boys Tribute Concert

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

Just like the infamous "striped shirts" debate on the SiriusXM thing from 2018...

Oh man! I forgot all about Shirtgate. Too funny. 

[Bud Shaver]

Brian and the Lovester with what looks like Al behind Mike.

[juggler]

Nice to see them shaking hands.  Despite all the acrimony, lawsuits, pettiness (nearly all of it ML's fault, IMO), Brian and Mike are, at the end of the day, still family.  And once upon a time, long before the BBs, they were close friends, attending church youth nights together, hanging out, etc. Mike's book recounts his taking Brian along as his plus-one on Senior Day at Dorsey High in 1958.

[HeyJude]

I think it's worth keeping in mind that Mike (and Bruce) have probably not seen Brian in person since that 2018 SiriusXM event.

I don't want to be overly dramatic or make any assumptions about Brian's shape, but I think it's quite possible that Mike (and Bruce, and probably David) may have some pretty strong emotions involved in seeing Brian in rougher shape. Like, I'm sure they've heard how last year's tour went down, at least the broad strokes. But seeing and talking to him, if he's still having a rough time as it appears he is to some degree, it may have been still jarring and emotional.

What I hope is that if/when Mike (because Bruce and Dave seem to rarely do interviews) talks about this, if he did find it tough to see Brian in rough shape, he shows some tact and is able to convey his emotions about it without being too blunt or unsubtle about it. I'm not trying to anticipate a negative thing about Mike, but I know in the past he hasn't been the best at speaking with true empathy about Brian, where it sometimes kind of comes across as patronizing and/or pity. He did this a bit many years ago talking about Carl.

But I'm hoping this meeting between all of them was a good thing for them, whatever came of it or however it went down.

[juggler]

What I hope is that if/when Mike (because Bruce and Dave seem to rarely do interviews) talks about this, if he did find it tough to see Brian in rough shape, he shows some tact and is able to convey his emotions about it without being too blunt or unsubtle about it. I'm not trying to anticipate a negative thing about Mike, but I know in the past he hasn't been the best at speaking with true empathy about Brian, where it sometimes kind of comes across as patronizing and/or pity. He did this a bit many years ago talking about Carl.

I'd imagine it's more of a "when" than an "if."   Summer will approach, the Mike & Bruce tour's advance publicity machine will do whatever it does, and the entertainment reporter from the Puyallup Herald (or similar) will reach out to ML for a telephone interview. After the usual pleasantries, said reporter will inquire about Cousin Brian.  Will ML take the high road?  I'd like to hope so.  Or it will be along the lines of, "You know, I love my cousin Brian, but he wrecked himself with drugs and bad habits.  Same thing for his brothers.  I, on the other hand, through meditation and diet, will probably live to 150.  Oh, and did I mention that Uncle Murry cheated me?"

[patsy6]

I so much appreciate those in the audience taking these videos for us to see, especially since we don't know when the TV special will air. I do look forward to seeing it when it does air, though, as I'd like to hear improved sound and see different camera angles, including shots of the backup band and singers. Lest we forget, they too were singing and/or playing the Beach Boys' parts. Just shows how talented our Boys and their side musicians were and are, that they were/are able to sing those difficult parts and play their instruments at the same time, and put on a great live show with significantly less people onstage than were there at the Dolby Theatre.

[Shady]

Nice to see Brian and Mike together, God know when we will see that again.

I believe this will air on paramount plus

[All Summer Long]

I know it would have been impossible to get Brian to perform, and that there was a 99.9% chance it wasn’t going to happen, but I wish they had done a couple songs. The odds of that getting them all in the same place for the third time since 2012 are pretty much 0, unfortunately, and someone (hell, maybe even Stamos?) should have tried to make that clear to them.

Still not impressed art all by the lineup outside of Michael McDonald and Brandi Carlile (but at least Jim James has a connection to the group through Brian). Do we know who the backing band was? I assume it wasn’t, but it would have been Brian’s group plus Scott Totten and John Cowsill, just like the 2012 tour, and how it should have been if we could have had the rest of a brief reunited group performance. I know it was an unrealistic dream, but I’m still disappointed.  

EDIT: Forgot to mention that it’s great but also bittersweet to see them all together again, just like HeyJude detailed. I also think it would have been nice to have Blondie and Ricky (or at least Blondie, given his last decade of work with Brian and Al) there with the core 5 as well.

ANOTHER EDIT: I was just on the Carnie interview thread and patsy6’s post about Brian and Carnie made me wonder again why Wilson Phillips didn’t perform at this like they did at Brian’s tribute in 2001? Couldn’t they have been given Good Vibrations or a deep cut?

I believe this will air on paramount plus

Just curious, Shady, when was that announced?

[HeyJude]

Carnie mentioned Wilson Phillips was asked to perform, but they weren't all available on the date.

[Don Malcolm]

I think we probably should cut the feckless kids some slack, ya know? I think most of 'em were putting out their best effort, and there were really no outright embarrassments amongst the clips I've seen on YouTube (though I was seriously underwhelmed by Mumblecore and Sons' version of "I Know There's An Answer"). There's a level of unavoidable smarm that's sort of baked into shows like this, with all the ultra-anodyne between-song (award) patter--though they could really have avoided foisting Stamos off on us yet again. And I'm not sure that I want to hear any of these folk attempting to tackle any truly deep cuts.

What might have been a nice touch: adding in songs written by each member of the band (though I can't imagine any of the folk on stage pulling off "Disney Girls"--and while such an approach might have gotten us "Long Promised Road," "It's About Time" or "Forever", and "California", the doors would've been blown wide open for "Kokomo," which is doubtless what Mike would've put up for "his" tune). If Wilson Phillips could've played, they might have picked something like "This Whole World" or "All I Wanna Do," either of which would've been most welcome.

And if they were going to find a place for Blondie, having him perform--"Wild Honey"--might have been the way to go. And they could've reached back to the C50 tour and have David strap on the guitar for "Pet Sounds." After all of his years in the wilderness, that would've been a nice gesture.

The strength of the music is so solid that I often found myself moved in spite of myself.

[Emdeeh]

The tribute show will appear on CBS and on Paramount+.

[All Summer Long]

Carnie mentioned Wilson Phillips was asked to perform, but they weren't all available on the date.

Hi HeyJude, thanks for the update. I wonder the exact unavailability, though I know we’ll never know (unless I try to ask Carnie on Instagram and see what happens).

EDIT: HeyJude, was that in the new BeachBoysTalk interview with Carnie (that I haven’t yet been able to watch), by any chance?

If Wilson Phillips could've played, they might have picked something like "This Whole World" …

This Whole World by Wilson Phillips would have been wonderful; I happened to be thinking this myself too, Don Malcolm.

[Don Malcolm]

If Wilson Phillips could've played, they might have picked something like "This Whole World" …

This Whole World by Wilson Phillips would have been wonderful; I happened to be thinking this myself too, Don Malcolm.

Great minds... 

On another level, it would've been really appropriate as well...remember that Carnie & Wendy's mom and aunt did a cover version of "This Whole World" on their SPRING LP.

So it could've been a double tribute...and that would've been really cool! Ah, well...

[HeyJude]

Not to be cynical, but I think had Wilson Phillips shown, the best we could probably hope for as far as a deep cut would be like "You're So Good To Me" like they did at that show years ago. Clearly the producers of this show wanted almost everything to be lifted right off of "Sounds of Summer." I mean, I'm sure non-uberfan artists would tend towards hits anyway, so it doubly makes sense that the show would feature mostly hits.

On the other hand, these shows love brevity and "This Whole World" is very short.

[Wirestone]

EDIT: HeyJude, was that in the new BeachBoysTalk interview with Carnie (that I haven’t yet been able to watch), by any chance?

I’m not Jude, but Carnie did talk about it. Wilson Phillips were invited to perform, but Chynna was in New York City and unable to get away.

[HeyJude]

EDIT: HeyJude, was that in the new BeachBoysTalk interview with Carnie (that I haven’t yet been able to watch), by any chance?

I’m not Jude, but Carnie did talk about it. Wilson Phillips were invited to perform, but Chynna was in New York City and unable to get away.

And I'm sure many BB fans in their brain immediately then wondered why simply Carnie and Wendy couldn't perform, especially considering they've released multiple albums on their own (and perform with Al often to boot). It may well be that "Wilson Phillips" is the bare minimum name recognition the show was looking for.

Either that, or "scheduling conflict" was used to explain away some other reason. Not trying to bake conspiracy theories here. I would imagine it was a legit scheduling conflict. I do always wonder how hard it would be for these people to fly in and fly out of LA for one evening, though. They wouldn't need much rehearsal or anything.

[CenturyDeprived]

I imagine the lack of deep cuts, or even anything remotely approaching deep cuts, that were performed on the show probably speaks to the desperation of television ratings these days… The fear of audience tuning out is most likely the culprit in my humble opinion.

[Awesoman]

I imagine the lack of deep cuts, or even anything remotely approaching deep cuts, that were performed on the show probably speaks to the desperation of television ratings these days… The fear of audience tuning out is most likely the culprit in my humble opinion.

They probably could have dug deeper but I wouldn't exactly call songs like "Caroline, No", "Heroes & Villains" and especially "Sail On, Sailor" to be among the band's most well-known of repertoire.  "This Whole World" as well as some choice Dennis, Al and Carl songs would have been nice to hear performed though.

[HeyJude]

"Heroes and Villains" is on "Sounds of Summer", so I'd say it hews closer to "well known" than deep cut. "Caroline, No" is off of "Pet Sounds", which is by leaps and bounds their most well-known studio album. "Sail on Sailor" is the only track that at some point got the band any FM/Classic Rock radio airplay.

I honestly had forgotten that "Sail on Sailor" wasn't on the original single-disc "Sounds of Summer", which seems insane, but I know that single disc was jam packed about as much as it could have been.

Frankly, the three tracks above I'd wager are at least slightly *more well known* than a few of the songs that ended up on "Sounds of Summer." I'd wager more people know those songs than like "Getcha Back" or  the BB cover of "Come Go With Me."

Of course, the super-uninitiated that just know like "Kokomo" and "Surfin' USA" aren't going to know most ANY of these songs.

As I've said, I think the track selections make sense for this show; I'm not surprised. But I do think it was almost as conservative as a song selection could possible be, however it happened.

[Awesoman]

"Heroes and Villains" is on "Sounds of Summer", so I'd say it hews closer to "well known" than deep cut. "Caroline, No" is off of "Pet Sounds", which is by leaps and bounds their most well-known studio album. "Sail on Sailor" is the only track that at some point got the band any FM/Classic Rock radio airplay.

I honestly had forgotten that "Sail on Sailor" wasn't on the original single-disc "Sounds of Summer", which seems insane, but I know that single disc was jam packed about as much as it could have been.

Frankly, the three tracks above I'd wager are at least slightly *more well known* than a few of the songs that ended up on "Sounds of Summer." I'd wager more people know those songs than like "Getcha Back" or  the BB cover of "Come Go With Me."

Of course, the super-uninitiated that just know like "Kokomo" and "Surfin' USA" aren't going to know most ANY of these songs.

As I've said, I think the track selections make sense for this show; I'm not surprised. But I do think it was almost as conservative as a song selection could possible be, however it happened.

I would argue that all three songs I listed are probably second-tier songs in terms of overall familiarity and popularity among the casual fans despite the points you made about them.  These are songs the general public *might* become familiar with if they dig a little deeper into the band's catalog.  But the casual fan will still easily identify songs like "Don't Worry Baby", "Fun, Fun, Fun" , "I Get Around" and "Kokomo" before they will the said material in question.  "Caroline, No" was always a choice album cut despite them releasing it as a single under Brian's name.
"Heroes & Villains" was a moderate hit for the group that was completely overshadowed by "Good Vibrations" despite both songs appearing on the same album.   Hell, "Sail On, Sailor" doesn't even initially sound like a traditional Beach Boys track upon first listen and it was a complete rarity to hear on the radio anytime after the 70's and especially after the 80's.  And with Blondie tackling the lead vocal I couldn't fault anyone for not immediately identifying this song as coming from the Beach Boys.  If the Grammy team behind this concert were truly playing it completely safe we definitely would not have heard these songs performed at all. 

But yeah, it would have been nice if they had dug a little deeper and highlighted a song or two written by the other guys such as Dennis's "Forever", Carl's "Feel Flows" and even Al's "Susie Cincinnati".  But I believe what we got was a pretty fair selection all things considered.

[juggler]

"Heroes & Villains" was a moderate hit for the group that was completely overshadowed by "Good Vibrations" despite both songs appearing on the same album.

The H&V 45 was a hell of a record, IMO, but it didn't top its predecessor sonically or production-wise.  The mix is a bit muddy compared to GV, and I imagine that it didn't particularly "pop" on AM radio.  It's a shame.  Chuck Britz, who certainly knew what he was talking about, spoke years later of early '67 H&V mixes that he considered better than GV, but that's not what the public got.  Ultimately, though, I don't think it's fair to blame H&V's failure on being overshadowed by GV.    Smiley Smile was such a dud commercially,  and GV's inclusion therein was approx. 10-11 months after the 45 had shocked the world.   Even the H&V 45 was, what? 8 months after GV?  If the public weren't ready for a new hit from the BBs then, they never would be.   I think there's something to the hypothesis that the long delay between GV and H&V caused the record-buying public to lose interest in the group.  Out of sight, out of mind.   It seems crazy to even say it now, but it's useful to remember that the Beatles released Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever because EMI and the Beatles themselves perceived that they were "fading a bit" in the public mind.

[Awesoman]

"Heroes & Villains" was a moderate hit for the group that was completely overshadowed by "Good Vibrations" despite both songs appearing on the same album.

The H&V 45 was a hell of a record, IMO, but it didn't top its predecessor sonically or production-wise.  The mix is a bit muddy compared to GV, and I imagine that it didn't particularly "pop" on AM radio.  It's a shame.  Chuck Britz, who certainly knew what he was talking about, spoke years later of early '67 H&V mixes that he considered better than GV, but that's not what the public got.  Ultimately, though, I don't think it's fair to blame H&V's failure on being overshadowed by GV.    Smiley Smile was such a dud commercially,  and GV's inclusion therein was approx. 10-11 months after the 45 had shocked the world.   Even the H&V 45 was, what? 8 months after GV?  If the public weren't ready for a new hit from the BBs then, they never would be.   I think there's something to the hypothesis that the long delay between GV and H&V caused the record-buying public to lose interest in the group.  Out of sight, out of mind.   It seems crazy to even say it now, but it's useful to remember that the Beatles released Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever because EMI and the Beatles themselves perceived that they were "fading a bit" in the public mind.

Agreed.  There were a number of factors that contributed to why "H&V" did not become a bigger hit than it could have been, none of them having to do with the quality of the song itself.  The point I was making is that because of its borderline lukewarm commercial response, it's not as well known as some of the group's bigger hits, even if it does sometimes pop up on greatest hits compilations. 

[Bud Shaver]

Here's the first promo for the special.

https://ew.com/tv/beach-boys-tribute-concert-special-first-look-lineup/?utm_campaign=entertainmentweekly_entertainmentweekly&utm_content=manual&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_term=641086e09be59e0001309e4d&fbclid=IwAR0IsKiUMpc3RhQU1tpgJkgoAROcUIdAKYT0hhMJ-qi_hewCq3sWdC4SiKM

[Bud Shaver]

Screen grab from the video in the EW article. Brian looks frail.

[patsy6]

The official announcement from the Beach Boys website today. Tune in on Sunday, April 9 at 8 PM ET/PT on CBS.

https://us.umusic-online.com/4YWS-6KME-9E79D5B66C46A0D21RTOSZFB048C0ABCCFABB8/cr.aspx