New Tidbit on the Televised Beach Boys Tribute Concert

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

watching now for better or worse 
it's currently streaming at cbs.com
https://www.cbs.com/shows/video/Xn3CwiS3o_LdViEd6IQ6tOGMDjjdnwco/

Thanks for this!

[Sam_BFC]

Do we know anything about the house band for the night?

Answering my own question, it seems the house band included Probyn and the fella from McCartney's band.
Anyone else confirmed?
(not to sound defensive, but surprised no one else is interested in this question)

[Aum Bop Diddit]

Do we know anything about the house band for the night?

Answering my own question, it seems the house band included Probyn and the fella from McCartney's band.
Anyone else confirmed?
(not to sound defensive, but surprised no one else is interested in this question)

I did mention the band as a highlight for me and Macca’s drummer  who is Abe Laboriel Jr.  Great singing chops and all round musician - Brian should poach him!  I did not realize Probyn was in the band.  Someone mentioned something about Roger Manning and Jason Faulkner from Jellyfish - on reflection I can recall seeing them up there on guitar and keys - I think!  Would be nice to have all the info.  These guys were definitely the cats up there.  Very strong backing vocals as well.

BTW spell check turns “Macca”to “Mecca” and “Probyn” to “Polynesian.” 

[All Summer Long]

I’ll post (or edit this to post) more complete thoughts tomorrow (I DVRed it and watched it tonight), but yes I didn’t notice Probyn at first. I was just surprised that they got someone to play tannerin. My first guess was that they loaned it from Probyn, but then I made several attempts (two of which were successful) to view the names in the band in the credits. They’re all there; you just have to be precise with the pause button.  

I specifically remember seeing a Jamie Muhoberac on keys. The only other time I’ve heard that last name is a Larry Muhoberac who played with Elvis on a couple soundtrack albums and live in 1969 with the TCB Band. I wonder if they’re related.

FIRST EDIT: And I was very pleasantly surprised to see Abe Laboriel, Jr. there. I saw Paul McCartney last year and Abe was definitely a great part of the show, plus his comedic dancing during Dance Tonight.

[Pretty Funky]

Do we know anything about the house band for the night?

Answering my own question, it seems the house band included Probyn and the fella from McCartney's band.
Anyone else confirmed?
(not to sound defensive, but surprised no one else is interested in this question)

https://variety.com/2023/music/reviews/beach-boys-grammy-salute-special-brandi-carlile-beck-pentatonix-1235577957/

*The most pleasant surprise of the show might not be any of the performances, but how good the band is at leaning toward faithful replications without sounding at all like they’re recording karaoke backdrops. Early on, if you’re a student of players, you will recognize faces like that of Abe Laboriel Jr., the longtime drummer for Paul McCartney, and guitarist Jason Falkner, who’s lately played in the touring bands of St. Vincent and Beck, and his Jellyfish partner, keyboardist Roger Manning, and know that you’re in good hands. Savvy fans will definitely be waiting till the end credits to see who the musical director was, but here’s a spoiler on that — the very proficient Mike Elizondo.

Props, also, to the special’s camerapeople and editors, who know that viewers will want to see not just the stars but some of these classic licks being played on-camera. That’s whether it’s multi-instrumentalist Probyn Gregory (a 23-year member of Wilson’s touring band) playing a French horn or pedal steel or the “Good Vibrations” tannerin part that everyone mistakenly thinks is a theremin, or whether it’s Elizondo himself playing the bass lick that makes “God Only Knows” start to come alive before any singers come in.*

[Cristian Kiper]

From the show credits:

[Emdeeh]

Thanks for posting the credits for the house band -- they went by too quickly to read when the show aired. The only person I recognized at first was Abe Laboriel, Jr., but noted the skilled hands playing the tannerin. I went back yesterday and rewatched the end of the show on the CBS free app, so I could pause and read the house band credits and find the spots where you can see Probyn Gregory at work. He was wearing a hat and was positioned in front of the horn section, but most of the time he's in shadow, so less easy to spot.

[HeyJude]

Certainly the house band could have been far worse. I have no major complaints. I think the backing vocals were still too light considering the material they were performing (how much of that was the band versus the mix, I'm not sure), and I don't think the typical house band configuration with the three backing singers really works well for BB material.

But I didn't hear as many oversights and shortcuts in the band arrangements for this material as I've heard on other shows/performances. There was certainly some kind of attention to detail in bringing Probyn in to use the Tannerin.

One can't help but be curious why they didn't just use Brian's band. I'm curious if it was just the producer/director decision to use their preferred players, or if they wanted to differentiate from past tribute shows that used Brian's band, or if there were politics at play so that a "Beach Boys" (rather than "Brian Wilson") tribute didn't skew towards Brian too much.

I'm also curious if Mike was happy with the between-song script the presenters used, as there were at least one or two bits that I would think would have irked him a bit.

[juggler]

Still stunned "Kokomo" didn't make it in somehow.

For me, the non-inclusion of "Kokomo" was something of a highlight.  On one level it's a silly but harmless little ditty that was a legitimate hit for the group.  On the other hand, Mike Love has spent too much of the past 35 years talking up the song (i.e., "we had our greatest song ever with Kokomo!" blah blah blah).  It's been less about the merits of Kokomo itself and more about pushing a revisionist narrative that diminishes the importance of Brian Wilson to the group ("Oh, you think Brian Wilson is all that?  Then how come we had our greatest hit ever without him??").

Also, I get it that Mike Love always wears a hat or cap, but the same tired old malt-shop-script Beach Boys logo cap?  Really?  I mean, there's a certain logic to him wearing it to a general Grammy-type event. "Oh, look that's Mike Love from the Beach Boys; it says so on his cap."  But come on, it's a Beach Boys tribute show.  He's sitting in the box with Brian and the rest of the guys.  We know you're the Beach Boys.  Wear a Dodgers cap or something.  And of course, Bruce has to follow suit, sporting a nearly identical cap.  Ironically, if you go back to photos from 1966-67 era, Bruce was once a pretty well-dressed guy.

As to performances...  pretty forgettable stuff.   Beck and Jim James clearly love the material.  Mike McDonald's Don't Worry Baby was nice.   The Pentatonix truncated H&V was odd.  And, yeah, LeAnn Rimes' extended Caroline No  was unnecessarily redundant.   Overall, nothing truly "cringe,"  but noothing like the Brian tribute show from 20 years ago when you saw truly memorable, show-stopping things like the Crosby, Gill & Webb "Surf's Up."

[Rocker]

I specifically remember seeing a Jamie Muhoberac on keys. The only other time I’ve heard that last name is a Larry Muhoberac who played with Elvis on a couple soundtrack albums and live in 1969 with the TCB Band. I wonder if they’re related.

Seems so:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Muhoberac

BTW Larry was also part of the Memphis shows Elvis gave in early 1961, though not part of Elvis' band. And afaik he also did a little studio work for Sun Records, filling in for Jerry Lee Lewis when the latter wasn't allowed to play piano on his own records due to union problems. I love Muhoberac's playing. It's a little more bluesy than Glen Hardin's.

[Sam_BFC]

Cool info.

And of course Abe Laboriel Jr provides post Smile premiere comments in the Beautiful Dreamer DVD. What a guy.

Cool that Probyn was involved. Of course we would have welcomed seeing more of our heroes also performing (Darian, Scott T...). Interesting to ponder the reasons behind the band being what it was. Noting that there might have been political reasoning, I wonder if something close to the 2012 lineup was considered.

Haven't streamed the show yet but reports from others have certainly aroused my interest.

[Aum Bop Diddit]

As per the makeup of the house band - certainly there is some strong BB sympathy among the players.  But they’re not there to back up The Beach Boys - they’re backing more contemporary artists and their styles.

[Shady]

Wow, this show has shot the beach boys to the top of a lot of online charts. Always cool to see

[Jay]

And now for the $64,000 question: How does this compare to the 25th Anniversary show?

[juggler]

Wow, this show has shot the beach boys to the top of a lot of online charts. Always cool to see

You're right.  There it is....

Amazon.com pop rank....

1. The Beach Boys: Sounds Of Summer
2. Lana Del Rey: Paradise
....
17.  Sounds of Summer (3 cd edition)
....
30.  Pet Sounds vinyl

[Pretty Funky]

‘Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys’ Picks Up Good Ratings Vibrations
The show had the largest audience for a Grammy Salute special since a 2020 tribute to another music legend.

America still loves The Beach Boys. A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys, which aired on CBS on Sunday April 9, was No. 1 in its time period with 5.18 million viewers and was the night’s No. 2 primetime broadcast in viewers. (The night’s champ was its lead-in, the venerable 60 Minutes, with 6.43 million viewers.)

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/grammy-salute-to-the-beach-boys-tv-ratings-1235301134/

[Awesoman]

I was mostly indifferent to the special for the most part due to the fact that I was unfamiliar with at least half of these artists and mostly lukewarm towards most of the artists that I did recognize.  That said the performances were mostly good.  I think LeAnn Rimes knocked it out of the ballpark with "Caroline, No".  Mumford And Sons provided a unique take on "I Know There's An Answer".  Norah Jones' jazz-tinged reading  of "The Warmth of The Sun" wasn't bad.  I can't say I really liked Jim James' involvement in Brian's clunky song "Right Where I Belong", but he made up for it here with a lively take on "I Get Around".  It was also cool when that CEO Harvey Mason Jr. happened to mention that time Ray Charles gave a cherished and criminally forgotten performance of "Sail On, Sailor" back in the 80's.

Any exposure of the Beach Boys music as a whole is good exposure.  This tribute concert was charitable enough but it will never top the 2001 tribute concert done for Brian. 

[Lonely Summer]

And now for the $64,000 question: How does this compare to the 25th Anniversary show?

Can't compare. The 25th anniversary show had the Beach Boys - for the most part - performing with the guests. The 25th had some legends among the guests - Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell. The Grammy show had John Legend. The 25th had Belinda Carlisle. The Grammy show had Brandi Carlisle.
The Grammy show certainly had a younger, hipper group of performers; the 25th was clearly aimed at middle America,  with people like Patrick Duffy, Gloria Loring, Joe Piscopo, and yes, Stamos.

[Awesoman]

And now for the $64,000 question: How does this compare to the 25th Anniversary show?

Can't compare. The 25th anniversary show had the Beach Boys - for the most part - performing with the guests. The 25th had some legends among the guests - Ray Charles, the Everly Brothers, Glen Campbell. The Grammy show had John Legend. The 25th had Belinda Carlisle. The Grammy show had Brandi Carlisle.
The Grammy show certainly had a younger, hipper group of performers; the 25th was clearly aimed at middle America,  with people like Patrick Duffy, Gloria Loring, Joe Piscopo, and yes, Stamos.

The only real downside of the 25th anniversary special was the overall cheesiness that came with specials from the 1980's.  The atrocious scripted lines that the band awkwardly delivered, and a couple of oddball song selections that weren't even Beach Boys songs.  But hey, it was a small price to pay to hear Ray Charles tackle "Sail On, Sailor".  

This Grammy special was nice but I wasn't familiar with nearly half the artists that were involved and very few of the performances really rose to the occasion.

But the 2001 tribute concert for Brian remains my favorite.   From a healthy selection of guest artists (Paul Simon, David Crosby, Elton John, Billy Joel, etc.) to some fantastic performances (Vince Gill delivering my favorite performance of "The Warmth Of The Sun"), this one had the right balance that these other tribute concerts simply lacked.

[juggler]

An argument could definitely be made that the 25th show was musically superior in myriad ways (not least of which was the BBs' own performance).  But, yikes, yes, the aforementioned cheesiness .... Mike Love prancing around shirtless with a beach towel around his waist, plus the over-the-top number of bikini-clad babes

[Lonely Summer]

An argument could definitely be made that the 25th show was musically superior in myriad ways (not least of which was the BBs' own performance).  But, yikes, yes, the aforementioned cheesiness .... Mike Love prancing around shirtless with a beach towel around his waist, plus the over-the-top number of bikini-clad babes

But you also had Brian looking better than ever  - except when he had to deliver those scripted lines.

[HeyJude]

The 25th Anniversary show is pretty much "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fodder at this stage. At the time, I think it was cool/interesting to see and hear the new song at the end. And Carl offers a truly earnest and heartfelt "Heaven" dedicated to Dennis. The cheesy show frankly didn't deserve the class Carl brought to it.

But everything looks and sounds awful at that show, save a few numbers. They pre-recorded most of the audio (see the Gary Usher diaries book for the story on that), and while that negated them actually biffing the songs, they very much sound like they were recorded in a TV dub studio.

Even most the guest spots were kinda awful. Two Dog Night was okay I guess. Everybody always cites Ray Charles, and I can't fault his performance, but frankly I would have been fine with Carl (or god forbid they called up Blondie) singing it. Glen Campbell seemed to be on something at the show and they actually left in the part where he sings the lyrics to the wrong song.

But it's highly entertaining as cheese. Brian squinting to read the lines without glasses. I've always loved Mike's randomly blurting out "Don Ho, what are YOU doing here?" during the end of the show. The truly awful editing, including not even showing the guys in the order they got off the stupid boat for their leis at the beginning of the concert.

There are actually some network like interstitials that the guys taped that I don't think even made it on the Japanese laserdisc, including Brian lifting weights.

As we learned from the Gary Usher book, the 25th show seems to have helmed by an old fashioned, cranky, demanding network variety show producer who yelled and demanded everything yesterday. You can imagine how *that* guy enjoyed dealing with Landy.

[Justin]

Anyone have an HD capture of his by chance..?

[Lonely Summer]

The 25th Anniversary show is pretty much "Mystery Science Theater 3000" fodder at this stage. At the time, I think it was cool/interesting to see and hear the new song at the end. And Carl offers a truly earnest and heartfelt "Heaven" dedicated to Dennis. The cheesy show frankly didn't deserve the class Carl brought to it.

But everything looks and sounds awful at that show, save a few numbers. They pre-recorded most of the audio (see the Gary Usher diaries book for the story on that), and while that negated them actually biffing the songs, they very much sound like they were recorded in a TV dub studio.

Even most the guest spots were kinda awful. Two Dog Night was okay I guess. Everybody always cites Ray Charles, and I can't fault his performance, but frankly I would have been fine with Carl (or god forbid they called up Blondie) singing it. Glen Campbell seemed to be on something at the show and they actually left in the part where he sings the lyrics to the wrong song.

But it's highly entertaining as cheese. Brian squinting to read the lines without glasses. I've always loved Mike's randomly blurting out "Don Ho, what are YOU doing here?" during the end of the show. The truly awful editing, including not even showing the guys in the order they got off the stupid boat for their leis at the beginning of the concert.

There are actually some network like interstitials that the guys taped that I don't think even made it on the Japanese laserdisc, including Brian lifting weights.

As we learned from the Gary Usher book, the 25th show seems to have helmed by an old fashioned, cranky, demanding network variety show producer who yelled and demanded everything yesterday. You can imagine how *that* guy enjoyed dealing with Landy.

There's just no pleasing some people. It's the Beach Boys, it's prime time tv in 1987. I was just happy ABC gave 90 minutes to our guys on a Friday night.
I don't remember Glen singing the wrong song; he did mess up the words on I Get Around, though. "Now none of the guys go steady, no, no, because it wouldn't be right to leave her alone on a Saturday night"...or something like that.

[Awesoman]

Everybody always cites Ray Charles, and I can't fault his performance, but frankly I would have been fine with Carl (or god forbid they called up Blondie) singing it.

That's an interesting take.  Ray Charles is just about the best thing going on with that special.  It's not every day you get one of the greatest and most iconic vocalists of all time to sing on your song, especially when said number is one of the group's lesser known and more obscure songs. 

But yeah I agree with the rest of your assessment.  The 80's were a strange decade; people were far less cynical back then so watching content from that era especially in this day and age can feel surprisingly jarring at times.