70's era questions for the board

[Emdeeh]

Bruce rejoined the band in late Aug. - early Sept. 1978. He was with the BBs when they played Atlanta's Omni on Sept. 2, 1978, the only time I saw Brian, Dennis, Carl, Mike, Al and Bruce together in person.

[adamghost]

IIRC when Carl left the band in '81 Ed Carter moved to lead guitar and Joe Knott played bass.

[Beach Head]

IIRC when Carl left the band in '81 Ed Carter moved to lead guitar and Joe Knott played bass.

Ernie Knapp, not Joe Knott.  (Knott was the cowriter of "Add Some Music To Your Day.")

[adamghost]

Knapp, Knott...whatever.  They both added some music to our day.

[c-man]

Some corrections for ya...first, keyboard-wise:  from '73 to Sept. '77, Billy played piano (electric & acoustic), Carli Munoz was on organ & clavinet.  They brought along Don Lewis for synthesizer in April '74, then in the fall of that year added a fulltime synthesist:  Ron Altbach (who also occasionally played piano).  But a guy named Elmo Peeler sat in for Altbach on the fall '75 tour, and again in early '77 (the Landover aka Largo aka DC show).  In late '77 Gary Griffin joined (I believe he replaced Carli for a bit), but by the time of Melbourne in Feb/March '78, Carli was back on organ, and Gary was still in the band (on synth).  Billy was still there in late '77, but was gone by early '78...Sterling Smith had taken over the vacant piano spot by now (Billy returned November '82 and was there through the end of '95).  Regarding the Midnight Special in early '79:  they actually went from 3 keyboards to 4 or 5:  Sterling Smith on grand piano, Carli Munoz on organ, Phil Shenale on synthesizer, plus Bruce and Brian (in some of that footage you can see Bruce joining Sterling on the grand, while Brian plays the little white Wurlitzer electric...when Brian moves to bass, Bruce plays the Wurly). 

Next, guitar/bass-wise: Eddie Carter WAS present throughout '78 (including Melbourne), however with Brian now on bass for most of the show, Ed moved over to guitar (still played some bass in mid-show when Brian left the stage or got on the electric piano).  In the first half of 1980, Joe Chemay played bass, and Eddie Carter was again on guitar for the Euro tour (and some U.S. dates immediately prior).

Next, drum/percussion-wise:  Mike Kowalski replaced Bobby Figueroa in late '77/early '78 (including Melbourne), but Bobby was back by the summer...until the end of '81, when Mike K. again took over.  Bobby returned summer '83, and they were both there til Bobby departed again in early '88.

Finally, horn-wise:  trumpets were John Foss and Lance Buller (the latter also played trombone), tenor saxes were Michael Andreas and Rod Novak (the former also played alto), and the bari sax was Charlie McCarthy. 

[Ed Roach]

Gotta hand it to you, C-Man; you're the best!  One small thing, though: glad to see the mention of "Phil Shenale on synthesizer", however, he was around for much more than just The Midnight Special.  I recall him touring with us for awhile, too.

[Phoenix]

The '72-72 lineup:

Mike Love - lead vocals
Carl Wilson - lead guitar, vocals
Blondie Chaplin - bass, vocals
Al Jardine - guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson - keyboards, vocals
Ricky Fataar - keyboards, drums, vocals
Brian Wilson - keyboards, bass, vocals (only in the studio)

While Blondie did play some bass, I'm fairly certain he was primarily a guitarist.  And I don't think Brian was playing much bass around that time.

A great idea would be for someone to go through all the info here and put together a "definitive sidemen" thread we could all try to fill in the the holes on.

[c-man]

The '72-72 lineup:

Mike Love - lead vocals
Carl Wilson - lead guitar, vocals
Blondie Chaplin - bass, vocals
Al Jardine - guitar, vocals
Dennis Wilson - keyboards, vocals
Ricky Fataar - keyboards, drums, vocals
Brian Wilson - keyboards, bass, vocals (only in the studio)

While Blondie did play some bass, I'm fairly certain he was primarily a guitarist.  And I don't think Brian was playing much bass around that time.

A great idea would be for someone to go through all the info here and put together a "definitive sidemen" thread we could all try to fill in the the holes on.

I would agree with your assessment of Blondie, based on the fact that most of the photos & footage from that era show him playing his Les Paul...however, in a 1979 interview for BBFUN (Beach Boys Freaks United, the official fanclub newsletter), he said  that although he played lead guitar in The Flame, he switched to playing mostly bass in The Beach Boys after Bruce Johnston left! 

[TdHabib]

I never knew Gary Griffin was in the Beach Boys! He was/is Darian's replacement in Brian's band when he can't make it: imagine that in 2007 for a short spell there was Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Billy Hinsche, Jeff Foskett and Gary Griffin in one band. And it'll never happen again...

How old is Gary?

[adamghost]

I've seen pix of Blondie playing the Fender bass on stage with the Boys circa '72.

[c-man]

I've seen pix of Blondie playing the Fender bass on stage with the Boys circa '72.

Yeah, there's a few, and he's seen playing it in one shot in the inner gatefold spread of "In Concert", but it's almost always the Les Paul.

[Foster's Freeze]

I seem to recall a picture in the Priess book(?) of an 80's show (maybe - Carl?) that showed some guy in a Pink Floyd "The Wall" shirt playing bass.

Of course I'm away from the book right now.......

[Andrew G. Doe]

I never knew Gary Griffin was in the Beach Boys! He was/is Darian's replacement in Brian's band when he can't make it: imagine that in 2007 for a short spell there was Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Billy Hinsche, Jeff Foskett and Gary Griffin in one band. And it'll never happen again...

How old is Gary?

Several years older after his keyboard collapsed in the middle of "GV" at The Roundhouse in London last September ! Man's a trooper - he just knelt down and played it on the floor.  Brian didn't miss a beat.

[TdHabib]

I never knew Gary Griffin was in the Beach Boys! He was/is Darian's replacement in Brian's band when he can't make it: imagine that in 2007 for a short spell there was Brian Wilson, Al Jardine, Billy Hinsche, Jeff Foskett and Gary Griffin in one band. And it'll never happen again...

How old is Gary?

Several years older after his keyboard collapsed in the middle of "GV" at The Roundhouse in London last September ! Man's a trooper - he just knelt down and played it on the floor.  Brian didn't miss a beat.

It's on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5DyxOwxK_Y and it's hilarious, Brian's reaction that is. He looks for a second, Gary mouths what happened, and then Brian calls for more drums from Mikey.