Documentary!

[rab2591]

I'm a big space nerd…

Snap! Between this and The Beach Boys, we’re 60s tragics obviously. 👍

Right?! What I'd give to be laying on a Florida beach listening to 'I Get Around' on the radio watching a Saturn V take off

[Emdeeh]

Tickets for The Beach Boys: Imax Live Experience Featuring Q&A with Filmmakers and Special Guests on Tuesday, May 21, Available Now

Here are the cities (no Atlanta, alas):

* AMC Lincoln Square, NY
* Regal Houston Marq*E, Houston, TX
* AMC Northpark, Dallas, TX
* AMC Boston Commons, Boston, MA
* AMC Metreon, San Francisco, CA
* AMC Tyson’s Corner, Washington, DC
* AMC Thoroughbred, Nashville, TN
* AMC Highlands, Denver, CO
* Regal City North, Chicago, IL
* AMC Mission Valley, San Diego, CA
* AMC Woodlands Square, Oldsmar, FL
* AMC Rolling Hills, Torrance, CA

More here:
https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-the-beach-boys-imax-special-advance-screening

Hopefully this will wind up as bonus material on a Bluray/DVD release....

[Lonely Summer]

Out of curiosity, I watched the official 'Get Back' trailer and this new 'Beach Boys' official trailer back-to-back. The former gave me goosebumps, and yeah I even teared up a little. The latter left me feeling almost zero emotion at all. The actual 'Get Back' movie left me speechless/excited/inspired after each segment. I am not at all getting those vibes from this Beach Boys doc.

I know they're two separate beasts, but I have to imagine that some creatively talented director could create something as...stimulating? Or breathtaking?...as 'Get Back' when it comes to The Beach Boys. But this looks like a complete run-of-the-mill, cookie-cutter, colored in all the spaces, documentary. No risk, seemingly no artistry or narrative that would get some buzz going. How can you create a documentary using an overused formula about a band that constantly broke the rules of formula?

Also very tired of seeing modern "artists" gush about this band in interviews in these documentaries. Like how insecure are we about the music that we need Ryan Tedder to explain to us the appeal of the music? Or why do we need to hear thoughts on band dynamics by the person who brought us the cerebral, apex-of-modern-intellectualism-song that is 'Water Slide'?

I wish the documentary all the best, and I hope I'm proven wrong about my initial reaction to the trailer. But good grief, this band's music deserves better.

I have to laugh about all these documentaries that have current bands raving about (take your pick of legendary 60s bands), like they're a big influence on (name current popular band).
We really need a documentary that is the Beach Boys BY the Beach Boys. I don't want to hear from outsiders, unless it's someone like Fred Vail, Van Dyke Parks, or the children of the BB's.
We're never gonna get a BB's documentary that goes beyond surf, sun, cars and girls, and Pet Sounds/Smile.
But I hope I'm wrong.

[Rocker]

Tickets for “The Beach Boys: Imax® Live Experience” Featuring Q&A with Filmmakers and Special Guests on Tuesday, May 21, Available Now


https://press.disneyplus.com/news/disney-plus-the-beach-boys-imax-special-advance-screening?

[bossaroo]

Al Jardine spills the beans again:

“There is some really wonderful footage of our performing,” Jardine said. “But unfortunately, Carl and Dennis are gone, so you don’t have their point of view. You have the narrative, according to Mike Love, and you have me in there somewhere in between, going, uh-hmm, sure. The truth is, we didn’t have enough content the way I would have liked to have done it. The producer did what he could, with what he had.”

https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2024/05/beach-boys-cofounder-reflects-on-career-future/

[HeyJude]

I'm sure they're rushing to make a new poster for the documentary so they can put that Al quote on it.

[HeyJude]

Doc is 1 hour, 53 minutes:

[guitarfool2002]

Al Jardine spills the beans again:

“There is some really wonderful footage of our performing,” Jardine said. “But unfortunately, Carl and Dennis are gone, so you don’t have their point of view. You have the narrative, according to Mike Love, and you have me in there somewhere in between, going, uh-hmm, sure. The truth is, we didn’t have enough content the way I would have liked to have done it. The producer did what he could, with what he had.”

https://www.mauinews.com/news/local-news/2024/05/beach-boys-cofounder-reflects-on-career-future/

I'm withholding a lot of opinions for now because it hasn't been streamed yet, but if Al is correct in his words and this film is the narrative according to Mike Love, is that really what fans have been waiting for, or is that what fans can already get from various sources and outlets? We've already seen and heard the narrative according to Mike, and part of that was the "official" bio-pic "An American Family" produced by John Stamos that ran on ABC back in 2000, which was a complete farce.

Side note - From the same interview, Al said this: "Later in life, Brian and I went back on the road together. He loved it. He called me, ‘come out and join me.’ Neither of us were working with Mike (Love) anymore. It was a natural fit.”

He loved it. So much for a miserable Brian being forced to tour all those years, as we were told in another "narrative" that wasn't factual.

[Pretty Funky]

I don’t think I have read much to indicate ‘Endless Harmony’ being knocked off its perch as the definitive Beach Boys documentary to be honest.

[Rocker]

Do we know if Al actually saw the finished product? It's not uncommon that the artists only see the actual movie at the premiere and before that only get to watch some snippets.

[HeyJude]

Do we know if Al actually saw the finished product? It's not uncommon that the artists only see the actual movie at the premiere and before that only get to watch some snippets.

It's certainly unknown precisely which cut he has seen. But I have to say, his comments about the film make sense in light of the things I've heard about the film over the past weeks and months.

I think the filmmakers (remember, a totally different team of course than the people who work on the audio/music/boxed set releases) ran into some of the common pitfalls that occur when working with the Beach Boys/BRI political apparatus (even now with Iconic involved as well), and there was probably a point at which they had to just finish the thing and get it out the door and done. That might be part of why the thing cuts off in 1974.

I also suspect perhaps part of what Al is talking about in that interview is the likely lack of ability of the filmmakers to do much of any substantive new interviews with Brian.

[Bedroom Tapes]

Ya I'm 99% sure this doc goes up to present day.  Otherwise 1974 is such a slap in the face to fans, like wtf!?

[HeyJude]

Ya I'm 99% sure this doc goes up to present day.  Otherwise 1974 is such a slap in the face to fans, like wtf!?

I haven't seen the film, so I can't say anything with 100% certainty. I think it's quite possible key events from the later years are covered very briefly via some sort of epilogue or on-screen text or something.

But you're not going to see post-1974 covered in any detail. Certainly you're not going to see detailed discussion of Dennis' demise, the Landy situation, Carl's death, the 1998 splintering, the 2012 reunion, etc. As far as I'm aware.

[FreakySmiley]

In all honesty, the part of that interview that caught and held my attention were comments about new music from Al:

Jardine has four new songs that he hopes to release soon. “One is a beautiful song about a soldier going off to war. Neil Young is singing on it with me. He’s the soldier. I want to get it out pretty soon before we go to war. Then there’s another song called ‘Islands in the Sun,’ which is my follow up to ‘Kokomo.’ I invited Mike to be on it several times, and neither time did he show any interest. I came up with a hell of a song. It’s all about drifting among the islands and the Caribbean and losing oneself. I’ve got Bruce (Johnston) and my son Matt and I singing the Beach Boys’ harmonies. It sounds just like the real thing.

I know Al's productivity (or lack thereof) can be something of a joke among some fans, but I would be more excited for a new Al Jardine EP featuring Neil Young & Bruce Johnston than ANOTHER documentary about The Beach Boys.

[MyDrKnowsItKeepsMeCalm]

In all honesty, the part of that interview that caught and held my attention were comments about new music from Al:

Jardine has four new songs that he hopes to release soon. “One is a beautiful song about a soldier going off to war. Neil Young is singing on it with me. He’s the soldier. I want to get it out pretty soon before we go to war. Then there’s another song called ‘Islands in the Sun,’ which is my follow up to ‘Kokomo.’ I invited Mike to be on it several times, and neither time did he show any interest. I came up with a hell of a song. It’s all about drifting among the islands and the Caribbean and losing oneself. I’ve got Bruce (Johnston) and my son Matt and I singing the Beach Boys’ harmonies. It sounds just like the real thing.

I know Al's productivity (or lack thereof) can be something of a joke among some fans, but I would be more excited for a new Al Jardine EP featuring Neil Young & Bruce Johnston than ANOTHER documentary about The Beach Boys.

I had the same reaction -- I too hope he can get these songs out in months and not years.

[HeyJude]

I'd love for Al to get another album or even EP out; anything but "Waves of Love."

But he has been talking about the Neil Young "soldier" track for probably over a decade, and "Islands in the Sun" has been a title floating around for decades as well (not sure how often Al has personally mentioned that one).

Al has tons of stuff in his vaults. He has enough material for another album, easily. He just has his thing about taking a zillion years to finish anything. He needs an outside producer to come in and tell him what to do, both in terms of culling old material and doing any new recording.

[jeremylr]

Hey Jude's memory is accurate. From January 21, 2011, when Al talked to me.......

https://medium.com/@jeremylr/persistence-pays-off-beach-boy-al-jardine-spills-the-beans-on-a-postcard-from-california-and-62cc15b9f8e6?sk=53eade62cec8bddeb4b1599b05f0f956
Persistence Pays Off: Beach Boy Al Jardine Spills the Beans on 'SMiLE' and 'A Postcard from California'


Did you record any songs for "A Postcard from California" that did not make the final track listing?

One that immediately comes to mind is a very poignant ballad I wrote called "My Plane Leaves Tomorrow." I may have originally published it via Al Jardine Music as "Au Revoir," the French word for "until we meet again" or "goodbye."

It's about a young guy who joins the military, and then he goes, "I'm not sure why I joined, but I had nothing else to do with my life," which is probably the story of half the guys serving our great nation. The young soldier feels like, 'Jeez, I'm out here fighting, I'm kinda afraid to die, but don't say goodbye to me 'cause I'm coming home.' I really like it.

I adapted "My Plane Leaves Tomorrow" to an old folk song standard called "All My Trials" [Author's Note: Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame member Mickey Newbury shrewdly transposed a verse from "All My Trials" into "An American Trilogy" in 1971, which Elvis Presley brought to worldwide attention during his historic Aloha from Hawaii satellite telecast].

Neil Young has a prominent vocal on it and does a beautiful job. He sings at a little higher pitch with that lonely-sounding voice of his. In fact, the chorus of "au revoir, don't say goodbye" is where you'll hear Neil. He put a whole day's work into that song and is such a generous guy. I'm still trying to get the darn song finished. It's pretty darn close, but my extensive touring with Brian and just life in general have interrupted my plans.

[FreakySmiley]

I shouldn't be surprised at the notion of Al talking about "new" songs that have been in the works for years. I just hope that these projects don't continue to collect digital dust (so to speak) until the principal collaborators have shed their mortal coil. I'd like to celebrate the achievements (and the arguably less successful experiments) of these artists while they're living and breathing as opposed to looking back and asking myself "what could have been"

[HeyJude]

I'm the biggest Al fan around, but the slow pace on getting music is done is on him much more than scheduling or logistics. He's had a full-service, professional studio mere *steps* from his front door for about 45 years now!

As I've often said, I don't think he has been wholly unproductive. I suspect there are DOZENS AND DOZENS of songs he has worked on over all those years, and I'm sure a number of them are "finished enough" to release. A few have trickled out over the years, like that "Crumple Car." Some of them, like "Crumple Car", are slight and probably not worth putting on an album. But I'm sure he has a good album or two that could be compiled without even doing any new recording, or very minimal. If he got a producer in there to make it happen somehow, I think that would work.

But the guy is impossible to figure out. He has *re-released* "A Postcard from California" multiple times, yet has *sat on* outtakes from him that he could have included, plus alternate versions. There's studio footage of Brian singing verses on "A Postcard from California", and that version has never been released.

I'm not as big on more cover versions from Al, but ironically the re-make of "California Dreamin" he put on the second version of "Postcards" is a pretty good re-imagining of the song. So I wouldn't mind more stuff *like that.*