New Al Jardine Track - "Wish"

[HeyJude]

Truly awful; I'm embarrassed to even give this track any extra publicity, but listen for yourselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WjZ1YHU4XM&t

This vocal is SO processed, I'm actually wondering if Larry Dvoskin used A.I. on it. It's that weird and artificial sounding. Past autotune.

ALSO, it's a re-write of "Waves of Love" (big surprise).

ALSO, why is Dvoskin getting co-billing on this thing now?

Al, stop it with the processed vocals (autotune or A.I. or whatever this is), stop flogging "Waves of Love" variations, and stop mining this weird little group of Larry Dvoskin songs and just go back into other tracks you've done over the years. Or find a new collaborator.

I say all this as the world's biggest Al Jardine fan, truly. Oy.

[HeyJude]

Somehow this is connected to an NFT thing Dvoskin devised:

https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xb932a70a57673d89f4acffbe830e8ed7f75fb9e0/beach-boys-al-jardine--the-worlds-first-nft-plus-a-superrare-cascade-of-utilities-30409

If Dvoskin is another NFT Crypto bro, that would tend to increase in my opinion the possibility that he would use A.I. on a Jardine track. 

[Emdeeh]

Haven't heard the track yet, but it's my belief that Dvoskin is the guy in that partnership with Al who can't stop reworking "Waves of Love."

Are NFTs still a thing? I thought that fad was in the past..

[rasmus skotte]

"Al recorded wth Al"? This is exactly why our Al should ALWAYS be called "AL" and Al should ALWAYS be written with a lowercase "Ai" to avoid any confusion
(imoho)!  [Just like we hopefully do it with the otherwise unrelated "SMiLE"!]

[HeyJude]

I find every aspect of this track suspect. I get it, it's just a throwaway digital single (e.g. "Sunshine to Snowflakes", "Hurry Up Santa Claus", "California Recall Blues"), but at least on all those bland, unmemorable songs, Al's voice sounded good (and real).

Someone elsewhere brought up the idea, whether joking or not, that the "Wish" *composition* itself is actually A.I.-generated based on being trained on "Jenny Clover" and "Waves of Love." I mean, I guess that's not as likely considering the "Wish" song was cited as having being written 30 years ago (apparently seemingly all of the very small pool of songs this guy wrote with Al come from the 90s). But again, considering this Dvoskin guy kind of gives off a desperate vibe of trying to milk this tiny pool of ancient, mostly bland songs he wrote with Al, to the point of attaching it to stuff like NFT crypto, I'm not sure of anything at this point.

Al's voice sounds not only laughably robotic on this track, it sounds amateurishly manipulated and mixed (and produced). It has bad 80s/90s synth patches (maybe they're actually from the 90s!), and you can hear whatever's being done to Al's voice jut in and out of the mix. The inflections and singing style don't even fully match what Al normally does, which is one of several reasons why I have a deep suspicion that A.I. was used in some fashion on this vocal. It could be Al singing guided by an A.I. trained on his own voice (in process essentially attempting to "de-age" his voice), or somebody else singing guiding his voice. I have no proof of this, and I'm far from an expert at spotting A.I. fakes. What I *can* say is that whatever has been done to this vocal makes it *sound like* a fake A.I. vocal.

Al Jardine *still* has a pretty good singing voice! As all of his contemporaries headed towards their mid-80s, I think the erosion of singing quality is accelerating. But less so for Al than others, certainly among Beach Boys. He's still the Beach Boy with the most intact singing voice, and one of the most intact singing voices of any of his still-living contemporaries.

Al needs someone else in there guiding him towards an album. The "press release" (which sounds like Dvoskin wrote it himself; or maybe he used ChatGPT for that too) offers a dire threat of more material like this to come in the form of a new Al Jardine album.

I think we all liked the first one or two versions of "Waves of Love" when we heard that. But beyond that, I would like Dvoskin to say as far away from Al's music as possible.

Even just letting Alan Boyd go through Al's outtakes and put an album of that out, that would be far preferable. I'll even take "Crumple Car" over this Dvoskin Deepfake/Uncanny Valley of sub-par 90s leftovers.

[rab2591]

I think it's a beautiful track. I love the lyrics, melody, and chords. For whatever reason it sounds nostalgic to me. I can definitely hear the vocal effects talked about above, but I'm still able to enjoy it.

I do think we're at the point with these guys where we probably don't have to sh*t on everything original these guys do. Al is 81 years old. The guy has every right to use auto-tune or a supposed cryptocurrency-AI-robot if he wants to in order to create the art he wants to create. And granted, we have every right to critique the art. But that being said, it's like if we were to critique an elderly professional painter's work because they used an iPad in their old age instead of real oil paints...yes you could critique it, but it's kind of a dick thing to do.

And no I'm not saying Al is some helpless old man putzing around the halls of a nursing home; but to keep things in perspective, he really is living in the latter years of his life, and he's just releasing some music for his fans...I doubt he's releasing this thinking he's going to blow up the Billboard top-40. Given how toxic this fandom is, I applaud Al for stepping out and releasing music in the face of what was clearly going to be a negative response (because whether it's Mike, Brian, or Al, we all have something negative to say about it).

And I realize that Al has the best voice of the remaining BBs and he should try to use it naturally. Well, none of us were in the recording studio with Al when he mixed this thing, so we have no idea what the reasons were for mixing it this way. Given the autotune on other Beach Boy related releases in the last decade, this is far from the worst I've heard.

Anywho, I honestly like the track, and it has a great vibe/atmosphere. Looking forward to his upcoming releases as well.

[HeyJude]

I'll say this. I suspect Al Jardine had very little to do with this track past co-writing and demo-ing it back in the 90s. I think he's just letting his buddy do whatever he wants, down to putting his (Dvoskin's) name right on the cover. I think logistically speaking my issues are most likely entirely with Dvoskin. I think he's behind the press releases (really, name-checking "Pet Sounds" with this?), and he's listed as the producer on the track.

My only issue with Al would be signing off on this.

I don't want to go down the path of decades of Brian Wilson discourse about what is or isn't happening with or without their permission or knowledge. I don't think Al Jardine is incapacitated or unable to make decisions. But I also think in this case he's letting Dvoskin kind of just run with this track, and I do wonder if Al was fully involved in crafting whatever was done to this vocal.

Go back to my 20 years of posts; I'm the biggest Al Jardine fan around and I've defended him many times against a myriad of cases of being dismissed, marginalized, a victim of uber-Mike Love-defenders, etc.

Al's "Postcards" album is pretty good. I dig it. Most of his standalone singles (I mentioned several of them in a previous post) are not very good songs. They tend to be inoffensive and bland and simple. But I've never just s*it on them. Very little original, new stuff these guys have done (especially aside from Brian) in recent years/decades has been particularly great. I don't dwell on it, but I mean, I'm also not going to give it all a thumbs up.

I think as a composition "Wish" is not good. It sounds extremely bland and pedestrian. And no, I can't just ignore that this is these two guys, most likely Dvoskin specifically, reusing "Waves of Love" AGAIN! C'mon!

This Dvoskin guy reminds me of those guys over the years that would hang around like Joey Molland of Badfinger.

It's like, this is NOT an Andy Paley/Tony Asher type of situation. It's not even a Robert White Johnson sort of situation. I think Dvoskin somehow finagled writing a few tracks with a Beach Boy 30 years ago, remained friendly with him, and keeps talking him into revisiting that same small pool of not-great songs, and/or talking him into letting him (Dvoskin) just do what he wants with them.

This is one of the weirdest lead vocals I can recall on any BB or BB-related track. Is it the "worst autotune" any of them have ever employed? I'm honestly not sure because I'm not convinced autotune is the only thing going on here. Is is the worst vocal ever? I don't even know how to answer that, because it doesn't really sound like a human singing this.

I don't think there's anything brave about putting this track out; as if it was assured that anything would be ripped to shreds by "toxic" fans. His previous singles have never seen such a reaction. I mean, they don't get much of a reaction *at all* because they're so slight. But there's plenty of evidence that when he or the group does good work (e.g. "Postcards", "From There to Back Again"), fans respond well to it. And most of the forgettable stuff isn't really raked over the coals. Every time he's put out another slight single, I've noted that his voice sounds great and that's about all you can say.

One of the best things I've seen any of these guys do post-reunion was a little video of Al with some other guys singing "If I Had a Hammer" in a studio. Al sounds GREAT on it. All natural voice. He's still got it. Ironically, guess who's in on that session? Larry Dvoskin! But Dvoskin didn't produce the track, and didn't write it.

I'm sure my in-progress near-exposé on this song sticks out, because frankly the discourse is very dead lately concerning these guys. I dig seeing other opinions. This track is so low key, I don't know if we'll ever be able to dig much deeper on what sort of shenanigans were involved with Al's voice on this track. I guess we'll see....

[rab2591]

I mean I do see what you're saying, I just don't agree that it's that bad. I don't know, I think lately I've become more of a glass half full person, at least when it relates to offerings by these guys. I mean, I certainly don't like everything that has been released this past decade - but I am trying to find the gems. It's like Brian's 'Right Where I Belong' track - for the life of me I still can't understand what Brian is singing in those opening lines and the computer-vocal stuff is very distracting, but most of the track is gorgeous so I can forgive it. Same with this for me.

I'll say that I feel like Al has wasted SO much opportunity/potential in this last decade. Al has such a great voice, his son has such a great voice, Al has his own barn studio, with a quick phone call he can gather some of the best musicians around. It's just weird that he wasn't able to come up with some concept of another album to release, or even some original singles.

[HeyJude]

I mean I do see what you're saying, I just don't agree that it's that bad. I don't know, I think lately I've become more of a glass half full person, at least when it relates to offerings by these guys. I mean, I certainly don't like everything that has been released this past decade - but I am trying to find the gems. It's like Brian's 'Right Where I Belong' track - for the life of me I still can't understand what Brian is singing in those opening lines and the computer-vocal stuff is very distracting, but most of the track is gorgeous so I can forgive it. Same with this for me.

I'll say that I feel like Al has wasted SO much opportunity/potential in this last decade. Al has such a great voice, his son has such a great voice, Al has his own barn studio, with a quick phone call he can gather some of the best musicians around. It's just weird that he wasn't able to come up with some concept of another album to release, or even some original singles.

I agree, I'm all for glass half full, especially as I get older. But when the glass is like 5% full, I just can't do it man. If the vocal thing wasn't present, I'd probably just listen and forget about it. But the one-two punch of this being arguably *worse* than his other singles from a song perspective, and then this weird voice thing that, whatever it is, is worse than any autotune we've heard on BB or solo tracks before, it just feels extra suspect.

Larry Dvoskin has always come across as sort of an opportunist, overblowing his tangential association with one Beach Boy that apparently only ever yielded a few songs 30 years ago. He won some good will when "Waves of Love" first surfaced and was pretty good. But anything since then that's had his name attached to it has been not good, and has often had a sort of weird slight hustle vibe to it. Again, some of these things in isolation are just normal lower-tier show business crap.

It's because the "press release" for this track threatens a full album that I'm probably most motivated to just say publicly that an album should not proceed in this fashion in any way, either in terms of working with Dvoskin or putting out this type of material. I mean, Al's often said he's working on a track or album and it usually doesn't happen, so I don't know how legit this latest album threat is.

At best, "Wish" is a case of Dvoskin or whomever trying to get an 82-year-old Al Jardine to sing a Peter Cetera-esque piano ballad, and I think Al's still pretty-intact voice is not suited to *that* range. Again, I think that "If I Had a Hammer" range is better. Even those janky Christmas songs he's put out show he has a good voice and sounds good in those ranges. Even "From There To Back Again", now recorded like 13 years ago, didn't require as much range (and even with autotune slathered on it unfortunately sounds much better than "Wish" just from a recorded vocal point of view).

[guitarfool2002]

Given how toxic this fandom is

That's the understatement of the year. It truly is a shame in many ways.


I like the song. I do not like the production. With a song like this, all it needs is a piano and a vocal, and it would humanize it ten-fold.

What was most jarring for me is how when Al's voice first enters the mix, it's full of hiss and other artifacts, and then it sounds like a noise gate was set to close immediately after the vocal, and you can hear it to the point where it is distracting. I know nothing about how this track was created or mixed, but it sounds like they flew in a lead vocal from an old cassette demo, and had a noise gate on the track to try to get rid of everything on that track as soon as the phrase ends. There is just too much noise on the vocal track to think that was a new vocal cut in the last year or even 10 years. Imagine the way "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" sound when they used the best available circa-1994 technology to fly in Lennon's vocals from noisy cassette demos, where you can hear the background noise of the original tapes stopping dead when Lennon's phrases end. The difference is that was 30 years ago when improved tech to clean those things up was not available in the studio. This is too jarring of a sound and it distracts from a nice lead vocal from Al in a 2024 release.

I'm sorry, but that mixing is amateurish and could be made much less noticeable in any off-the-rack digital mixing program. I don't understand the decision to roll with this mix. And the keyboard sounds seem to be from the 90's era as well.

I'm not out to bash the track, but it makes me sad when bad production sinks what is a pretty good song, a song that could be great actually with better sonics. Again I know nothing about how this track was cobbled together, but it sounds like they flew in an old vocal from a cassette or something rather than cutting a new one.

[Bedroom Tapes]

Despite the unusual mixing, I think we should all be thankful we're still getting new music from AL period.

[Lonely Summer]

I think it's a beautiful track. I love the lyrics, melody, and chords. For whatever reason it sounds nostalgic to me. I can definitely hear the vocal effects talked about above, but I'm still able to enjoy it.

I do think we're at the point with these guys where we probably don't have to sh*t on everything original these guys do. Al is 81 years old. The guy has every right to use auto-tune or a supposed cryptocurrency-AI-robot if he wants to in order to create the art he wants to create. And granted, we have every right to critique the art. But that being said, it's like if we were to critique an elderly professional painter's work because they used an iPad in their old age instead of real oil paints...yes you could critique it, but it's kind of a dick thing to do.

And no I'm not saying Al is some helpless old man putzing around the halls of a nursing home; but to keep things in perspective, he really is living in the latter years of his life, and he's just releasing some music for his fans...I doubt he's releasing this thinking he's going to blow up the Billboard top-40. Given how toxic this fandom is, I applaud Al for stepping out and releasing music in the face of what was clearly going to be a negative response (because whether it's Mike, Brian, or Al, we all have something negative to say about it).

And I realize that Al has the best voice of the remaining BBs and he should try to use it naturally. Well, none of us were in the recording studio with Al when he mixed this thing, so we have no idea what the reasons were for mixing it this way. Given the autotune on other Beach Boy related releases in the last decade, this is far from the worst I've heard.

Anywho, I honestly like the track, and it has a great vibe/atmosphere. Looking forward to his upcoming releases as well.

Exactly how I feel.

[Tony S]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

[Jim V.]

So I posted this on the other board first, but of course I'd be interested to add in here...
For me at least it seems that perhaps Mr. Dvoskin perhaps was listening to some indie music, perhaps like Panda Bear/Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and the like. And then having heard that crazy echoey, reverbed-out vocal stylings, tried to do the same on production with this song of his and Al's. Or maybe they just recorded his voice like crap, which would make zero sense as Al has a top level recording studio at his fingertips.

Now the problem with this is that this style of song does not call for this kind of vocal effect AT ALL in my humble opinion. A drier vocal would worked so much better. Of course that wouldn't stop it from sounding like "Waves of Love" or "Jenny Clover" or whatever, but that honestly doesn't bother me. It a song is good, it's good, no matter what it sounds like.

Having said that, does the fact that this reminds one of those songs tell us something about why Alan hasn't put out much solo material? Perhaps it does. I'm not saying the cupboard is bare, but do we really think he has all that much relatively original music to share? He's definitely nowhere near the productivity of Brian, but I'd even say as a songwriter, Mike Love, Carl and surely Dennis probably have much bigger catalogs of worthy unreleased original songs (not covers or re-recordings). Only my opinion of course.

[guitarfool2002]

I just think both Al and the song deserve a better production to reach more listeners - This production just isn't good, and take it out of the BB's fan bubble, it's distracting enough to put off listeners. And again, the worst part is that this song is IMO a really sweet, good and compelling song.

I'll repeat this again, I do not think this is a vocal that was recorded recently, or perhaps not even in recent decades...but I have no knowledge to base that on, just my ears. As Jim said, Al has a professional studio at his disposal...one does NOT record a lead vocal on a softer ballad with that kind of noise in the track, and then use a noise gate in such an obvious and ham-fisted way to where it is that audible for even those who don't know what a noise gate is or what it does. Al's vocal is full of tape hiss and other artifacts, and then it cuts off immediately and audibly, not at all trying to blend it into the texture of the track.

I seriously think this is an old vocal taken from a cassette demo or something similar from the past, and flown in to a backing track. If they were going for an indie/lo-fi vibe, this is NOT how you do it, You don't have tape noise (or whatever hiss it is) on the main component of the song, then have it cut immediately.

And the 30-year-old sounding keyboard/synth sounds...those don't suggest a newly recorded track either.

I could be wrong, I could very well be wrong, and I hope to have this clarified. But this does not sound like a new Al track recorded at his pro facility Red Barn anytime in the past year. It may have been mixed there, but those keys and vocals are not modern. And AI does not create a tape hiss artifact as heard on the vocal track, and it is not a deliberate aesthetic production choice to "go Lo-Fi" by having the vocal track sound like that.

Al deserves better, and he has the facilities on his property to do it right. I just don't understand this one at all, unless it's an attempt to get out an old demo or something. Then label it as such!

[HeyJude]

Having said that, does the fact that this reminds one of those songs tell us something about why Alan hasn't put out much solo material? Perhaps it does. I'm not saying the cupboard is bare, but do we really think he has all that much relatively original music to share? He's definitely nowhere near the productivity of Brian, but I'd even say as a songwriter, Mike Love, Carl and surely Dennis probably have much bigger catalogs of worthy unreleased original songs (not covers or re-recordings). Only my opinion of course.

I don't know that Al has a ton of A-grade material in his solo vault. But I'm sure he has an album or two's worth of solid material. He has named several tracks that didn't make the cut for "Postcards", and some stuff has leaked out over the years. He absolutely has better stuff in the vault that the 17th version of "Waves of Love", or "Jenny Clover", or this "Wish" track. That's what makes this so frustrating. I don't think he has a "Pet Sounds" in him waiting to be released. But he absolutely has a "Postcards 2" that could be released without going back to the well of this wonky Dvoskin material.

[HeyJude]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

[Lonely Summer]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

And I say "so what?"
How many times have the Beach Boys, including Brian...especially Brian...recycled old melodies?
I like this song. Maybe love it.
Thankful Al is still blessing us with new music.

[Jim V.]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

And I say "so what?"
How many times have the Beach Boys, including Brian...especially Brian...recycled old melodies?
I like this song. Maybe love it.
Thankful Al is still blessing us with new music.

I'd like to think I've mellowed over the years. And I'll say I agree with you on not caring about a recycled melody, especially as none of the above were hit songs. And yes, Brian has definitely recycled many melodies. Also I'm super happy any of the guys are putting out new music.

However, you really think the production on this is good?

[Lonely Summer]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

And I say "so what?"
How many times have the Beach Boys, including Brian...especially Brian...recycled old melodies?
I like this song. Maybe love it.
Thankful Al is still blessing us with new music.

I'd like to think I've mellowed over the years. And I'll say I agree with you on not caring about a recycled melody, especially as none of the above were hit songs. And yes, Brian definitely has definitely recycled many melodies. Also I'm super happy any of the guys are putting out new music.

However, you really think the production on this is good?

I've heard worse, much worse. My only complaint is the clarity of the vocal. It makes Al's voice sound kind of scratchy.

[HeyJude]

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

And I say "so what?"
How many times have the Beach Boys, including Brian...especially Brian...recycled old melodies?
I like this song. Maybe love it.
Thankful Al is still blessing us with new music.

I was simply specifying where the melody was re-used in that spot in the song. No judgement as to the quality in making that particular point.

Having said that, my answer to "so what?" is that this is not *at all* the same as Brian revisiting "Shortenin' Bread" or "Ding Dang", etc. This is some *other* dude who wrote a song with Al, continuing to milk it (no Jenny Clover pun intended) both creatively and commercially in the absence of ANY other music being released, of which we know Al has plenty.

I never minded Brian reusing a melody or song here or there when it was *his* song and project, and while he was also releasing plenty of other material, and not some outside collaborator trying to *literally* commodify/commoditize/amortize the same one thing over and over.

And, as mentioned, I think even stripping away the poor, amateur production on this thing, and the possibility of A.I. or other shenanigans, and also setting aside the redundant nature of mining "Waves of Love" yet again, I think "Wish" is a bland, soporific song that, with Dvoskin's name attached, feels utterly insincere.

Al already tread this exact same territory with the much preferable (though still not a favorite of mine) "And I Always Will", without Dvoskin being involved.

I'm very glad Al is still spry and energetic and doing gigs, etc. But he seems perpetually unable ("Postcards" being the one exception) to get his s**t together and release music that isn't amateur/novelty status. As I've been saying, he has the tracks to do it!

It would be like Brian shelving the '88 album and only releasing "Just Say No", or shelving "No Pier Pressure" and only releasing "The Waltz." It's like, great, I'm glad they're out there releasing something and staying active, but it's kind of absurd and insulting to expect fans to just "be thankful" for anything and not have any type of discernment or critical view.

Having said all of *that*, I do think specifically the stuff going on with this vocal on "Wish" is by far the weirdest, most *potentially* troubling thing about this track. As I already mentioned, if this was a warm, analog, pure Al vocal on "Wish", I'd be happy to say "Al's voice sounds good", and not say much else, and move on.

But the confluence of all these things means I think it's totally justified to take this track to task on multiple levels.

I hope Al keeps creating and that the next thing is better across the board.

[All Summer Long]

So I haven't had a chance to listen to "Wish" yet, but I do remember the NFT page being up back in 2020 or 2021.  I'm not sure if the song overdubs/post-production/whatever had been completed at that time, but I definitely remember the NFT page because I thought it was so ridiculous.  Another way to tell that it dates back to 2021 is to use the number of days Dvoskin says on the page it took to complete the song.  After dividing that by 365 and adding it to 1993, it comes out to 2021 (or maybe 2022), which makes sense since the package includes tickets to a Brian Wilson concert "of your choosing" depending on pandemic restrictions/protocol, and since there really haven't been any major restrictions since 2022, that sounds about right.  I'll edit this post, or post again, once I listen to the song itself.

[GoodVibrations33]

The initial fan reaction to "Wish" reminds me of when Brian released his GIOMH LP lol.

Some more info in this article... https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/brian-wilson-beach-boys-tribute-song-al-jardine-1235091183/

EDIT:

Al Jardine Drops New Song ‘Wish,’ Plots Shows With Resurrected Brian Wilson Band
Nostalgic song is a loving tribute to Brian and Dennis Wilson: "We're all wishing that things were the way they used to be, especially at our age"

By Andy Greene

September 2, 2024
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - JULY 23: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Al Jardine, founding member of The Beach Boys, performs onstage during the "Friends and Family" tour at Saban Theatre on July 23, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Al Jardine has released a new song in tribute to Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson. Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
A little over 30 years ago, Al Jardine looked out onto the Pacific Ocean near his home in Big Sur, California, and thought back to his carefree youth with Brian and Dennis Wilson. “It just dawned on me how much I missed them,” Jardine says, who was actively touring in the Beach Boys with Mike Love and Carl Wilson at this time. “Dennis, of course, had passed, and Brian was pretty much out of the action. I felt very emotional.”

He wrote a sketch of a song called “Wish” that he tucked away until this past May when his longtime songwriting partner Larry Dvoskin suggested they finally finish it. Working together, they created a sweet, nostalgic ode to the Wilson brothers, and days gone by. “I could see you standing there, smiling in the sun,” they wrote. “We were both so young, and in love when /you gave your precious gift, a sparkling innocence/I owe you so much thanks for this.”

They recorded it this past May with Jardine on lead vocals and bass, Dvoskin on harmony vocals, piano, and synths, and Taylor Simpson on drums. It’s available now on all streaming services. “It’s a good message because right now we’re all wishing that things were the way they used to be, especially at our age,” says Jardine, “because our memories are wonderful, our musical memories are intact, and it’s just important to finish these great songs that we’ve written.”

Jardine hopes the song will eventually appear on a follow-up to his 2010 solo LP A Postcard From California, which featured guest appearances by Neil Young, Glen Campbell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and David Marks. “This song is kind of like the appetizer,” says Jardine, who notes that he’ll donate a portion of the proceeds from the single to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “I’m actually working on a lot of unfinished tunes that are pretty close to being done. They come from all different backgrounds and fields of my musical endeavors over the years. My hope is to get a vinyl out for Record Store Day.”

As “Wish” demonstrates, Jardine remains in stellar vocal form, especially considering he just turned 82. He attributes that largely to clean living, and staying clear of drugs and alcohol. “Brian and I used to both be avid non-smokers,” he says. “We were militant. When Carl came to a session with a cigarette, Brian would pull it out his mouth and step on it. And then all out of nowhere, Brian became a four-pack-a-day smoker, which to this day, I still don’t get it. It dramatically changed his voice. But he has other issues that probably I wouldn’t understand either. But my voice survived. It also might be because I eat a lot peanut butter.”

That voice was a powerful tool in Brian Wilson’s touring band over the past couple of decades. But Wilson hasn’t performed since the summer of 2022. He now uses a wheelchair for mobility, and has been placed under a conservatorship because he’s living with “a major neurocognitive disorder.”

Jardine has played a series of small-scale solo shows over the past two years, but he’s plotting a return to the road alongside Brian Wilson’s touring band. “Brian has agreed to allow me to use the name of his band to resurrect that incredible Brian band that we worked with so wonderfully for the last 20 or 30 years,” says Jardine. “I’m looking forward to meeting up with him shortly and working out a schedule to do a couple of benefit concerts that we can do in L.A., and then maybe kick off an actual tour from there maybe early next year.”

He’s not sure exactly how they’ll bill themselves, but he can imagine it being something like “The Brian Wilson Band Presented by Fellow Beach Boy Al Jardine.” “Brian just isn’t physically in shape to join us,” says Jardine. “But he’s a strong individual and he’s got stamina. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could make a few of the shows in the Los Angeles area where we intend to do a trial performance.”

In a change from the past, Jardine hopes to add a video component to the show. “We never did video with Brian’s band,” he says. “I never understood that. But I think that dimension would really improve the quality of the show. I’ll also tell stories to inform the audience about how the music was made essentially. It could be a lot of fun.”

He hasn’t worked out a setlist yet, but he presumes it will be a mixture of Beach Boys hits and deeper cuts from the group’s overlooked Seventies albums. The Mike Love incarnation of the Beach Boys, meanwhile, plays a set focused almost exclusively around the Sixties hits.

“Mike does the Sixties really well,” says Jardine. “That can be a blessing and a curse, but apparently people are still coming to see him. People love to hear the same songs, and there’s a new generation of fans. And Mike seems to enjoy that. That’s the important part. But I found it tedious after a while. So now we have this opportunity to express some of the more esoteric things.” (A small list of the “esoteric” that Jardine is thinking about adding into the show includes “The Right Time” from Brian Wilson’s 2015 LP No Pier Pressure, and “Roller Skating Child” from 1977s The Beach Boys Love You.)

Jardine and Love haven’t toured together since the 2012 Beach Boys reunion tour, but they did spend considerable time together earlier this year promoting the Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys. “Despite the legal crap and everything that went down over the years, we can still talk,” he says. “Well, he’s a little hard of hearing now. I’m not quite sure if he hears anything I’m telling him, but we still have that common denominator between us. It works out.”

[Lonely Summer]

So Al's song is a tribute to Brian and Dennis? But not Carl?

[rab2591]

A little over 30 years ago, Al Jardine looked out onto the Pacific Ocean near his home in Big Sur, California, and thought back to his carefree youth with Brian and Dennis Wilson. “It just dawned on me how much I missed them,” Jardine says, who was actively touring in the Beach Boys with Mike Love and Carl Wilson at this time. “Dennis, of course, had passed, and Brian was pretty much out of the action. I felt very emotional.”