I think a lot of breaking down the misunderstandings has to come from the listeners themselves who need to go beyond what the popular media outlets would feature on a more convenient, more regular basis - I hate to dwell on what is a really cool record, but Hendrix does in fact come down to a record like Purple Haze for a lot of folks because that is the one most often and conveniently heard. The rewards are found when looking beyond that, much like whatever impression someone may have of The Beach Boys can be shifted in so many different directions by simply handing them a certain album from a certain era, and having the music shatter those preconceived notions of who the band was or is.

Exactly.  My dad didn't like Hendrix because he thinks it's all guitar noise, and he didn't like the BBs because he thinks they are all teen-pop fluff.  In both cases, I needed to educate him.  Play stuff like "Little Wing" or "Angel" or "All This is That" or "Big Sur," let him say "What's this?  It's really beautiful" and then tell him who it was. 

I like the new version.  It's less Jeff and more emphasis on Mike and just keeping it within the Beach Boys.  Mike still seems a bit timid with the bridge...his vocal is a bit weak.  I'm sure a few more performances and he'll beef that section up a bit.  Can't wait to hear the official single!

Yes, as the professor says above--and it's worth repeating--the long-sought for de-fosckettization of the song is a dream come true: it was un-listenable for those few seconds to any astute listener or to anyone with ears. Jeff is good with Brian in the opening, serving as a support, but as a soloist?  Not with 5 BB still standing.  I am thrilled and counting the days, which would be easier if I knew when to stop, until the next single.

Jeff's vocals sometimes sound a bit shrill to me, but I really like his part on the bridge.  I agree that it's nice to have the original BBs sing the whole song, but with the dubious lyrical changes, I'm not sure if they've succeeded in improving it. 

Some more Smile material is of course always welcome (perhaps dust off "Our Prayer" once again?) but heck, I wouldn't mind if they added the Life suite off TWGMTR.  A nice excerpt from the new album for something special for the UK audience would be totally great.   

I'd vote for the suite first, "Surf's Up" second.  Both would be awesome. 

If setlist.fm is to be believed, you lucky bastids got "Let Him Run Wild"!

The stereotype seems to be that Jimi was a guitar hero.  Which he was, of course, but if that's ALL someone thinks he is, then the best explanation to me is that they haven't spent a lot of time with his music.  He was also a songwriter, a lyricist, and a studio innovator.  I think you can give BW a lot of credit for the whole "studio as instrument" concept, but "Electric Ladyland" is one of the best examples of that concept around. 

I love Hendrix and agree with the statement that the stuff he released while he was alive is amazing.  I like the reconfigured "New Rays" album a lot too. 

Some people think that Hendrix was anti-BBs, but I'm not sure.  I love the 'Psychedelic Barbershop Quartet' comparison, even if he meant it negatively.  I think that it might have been influenced by hearing "Heroes and Villains," which fits his description quite well...  or maybe it was the whole Smiley Smile album.  I do wonder how he would have reacted to the finished Smile album--I have a feeling that he would have been impressed.

BTW, the idea that Hendrix was anti-BBs is partially due to the line "you'll never hear surf music again" in "Third Stone From the Sun."  THAT line was definitely misinterpreted--Hendrix was a Dick Dale fan, and the line was a reaction to hearing that Dick Dale had cancer.  Whatever Hendrix actually felt about the BBs, that line is not anti-BBs and not anti-"surf music" (of course, we can debate whether the BBs were ever "surf music" anyway, beyond their lyrics!). 

Who in the history of recorded pop music came up with the idea of cohesive album? Was it Brian's and Pet Sounds' fault? Inspired by this topic, I started going through my favourite albums, and a good percentage of them is anything but cohesive. The canonized and cohesive masterpieces are often bit boring in all their cohey cohesiveness.

By the way, I listen to 20/20 more often than Pet Sounds. You know why? It's not cohesive!

I hear your point, here.  I like tend to like eclectic records, and they can often be better than records that all have the same style IF the production holds the record together, and also if the record is programmed well so that the difference from song to song doesn't sound too jarring.  For example, The White Album all has a pretty raw production sound, and it's programmed in a very interesting way that holds it together.  I'm not as big of a fan of Sunflower as many BBs fans, as I think some of the songs are pretty weak, but the fact that it is eclectic but produced and programmed in a way that makes it sound cohesive--this to me is a big plus and makes the album more than the sum of its parts.  I'm pretty positive about 20-20 too, and it's programmed quite well, but the production does sometimes make it sound like a collection of unrelated songs that happened to be put together on one album--in that sense, it's a bit less than the sum of its parts to me (tho luckily, it has lots of great parts!) 

I really wonder about the Sail on Sailor choreography.  Is Brian laughing at the song or is this his honest-to-goodness shot at a good performance? Is the band laughing with him or at him (not in a vicious way, but in a "oh that goofy guy" kind of way).

I don't know, but one possibillity is that the movements help to sing the notes... in better pitch. Jeff supports Brian vocally, and now and then others join in.

I could see the movements helping him hit the notes.  But as for vocal support, when he was doing that at the Nagoya show, there didn't seem to be anyone supporting him vocally on SOS--in fact, Jeff was watching him and making the movements back at him, so his back was turned to the mic. 

 And then he sings the next line as "sometimes I feel velly sad", doing an accent and you see a glimpse of a SMiLE on his face. So fantastic.

I noticed this too.

I thought he was saying "very" in a stereotypical way to poke fun of the Asians. "Sometimes I feel varry sad". He probably wasn't doing that, but if he was that's pretty damn funny (if politically incorrect).

He's definitely having some fun up there. Good for him.

Had Mike attempted something like that, we would be backslashing the guy.
Had Bruce attempted something like that, we would have a new hate thread.

I dig that Brian did it, though. And, I say it again, TWW is some of te best live vocals from him I've heard. This tour so far has been his best with the BBs since -- what? 1965?

Oh, come on guys, Brian wasn't making fun of Asians. he just has a funny singing voice.

I kinda think he was. Maybe an inside joke. You did see that sly smile on his face as he was singing it like that, didn't you? That's one of those looks that you make when you're getting away with something. 

I doubt he was, although I concur that it's possible.  If he really was, though, he picked the wrong country:  Singapore is technically an English-speaking country, although it's multilingual and their variety of English can be quite different from American or British.  The most common native language these days there is probably Mandarin Chinese, which unlike Japanese and Korean distinguishes between "l" and "r," although their R sounds are quite different from those in English (but sound nothing like "l"). 

I'm eager to see some setlists/reviews for this show! 

Sort of strange to spread a >40 minute album on two vinyls.  And FYI to the music industry....make more albums under 40 minutes....they tend to be better.  I can think of more than a handful of modern albums that would be remembered much more fondly IF the artist sliced more of the fat off. 

I totally agree!  The ability to make albums longer has increased, but the ability of artists to write good songs has not.  The result is more inconsistent albums.  I'm a huge fan of Steve Earle (granted, very different kind of artist to the BB's!), who regularly makes 35-40 minute albums--12 short, sweet songs. 

Beautiful review, mabewa. Reading it makes me appreciate even more what a wonderful time we're having. And while we all helplessly face the passage of time, we have this "good times never have to end" motto we've been given this year. These guys seem to live by it, after all.

Thanks, what you wrote is beautifully expressed as well.  We are all very lucky to be having this experience. 

You know, I forgot one. I'd say Surf's Up isn't very cohesive either. Not as bad as Still Cruisin' and of course a much better album, but think about it. When you have 'Student Demonstration Time' jutting up against 'Disney Girls' and 'Feel Flows', it's not exactly of one heart and mind, thematically and musically. But precisely because it's all over the map may be a key to it's quality, I dunno.

I think that Surf's Up is pretty cohesive EXCEPT for SDT--most of it is quite lush, but SDT doesn't sound like anything else on the album. 

Just a comment about this thread:  some people seem to be listing the albums they feel are most and least cohesive, but others the albums they feel are most and least consistent.  To me, the two are pretty different. 

For example, "Carl and the Passions" is quite consistent to me (songs range from fairly good to great), it's not cohesive at all--the R&B style songs, Dennis's ballads and the more Beach Boys style songs fit together uneasily. 

"Shut Down Vol II" is extremely inconsistent, with stunning songs like "Fun Fun Fun" "Don't Worry Baby" and "Warmth of the Sun" rubbing shoulders with stuff like """Cassius" Love vs. "Sonny" Wilson"  and "Denny's Drums," but it is reasonable cohesive--there is a similar range of musical styles tying the record together. 

"Summer in Paradise" is fairly consistent and fairly cohesive (the production ties it together, and the most of the songs range from horrific to fairly bad). 

To me, Pet Sounds is both extremely consistent and extremely cohesive (the songs and production all have a distinctive style, and everything is great IMHO). 

Ditto for "Wild Honey" and "Friends"--both albums feature songs that are similar in style and production, and also similar in quality.  "20-20" is not very cohesive, but reasonably consistent. 

Somebody above commented that "Sunflower" is rendered cohesive by the production, and I agree:  despite the extremely eclectic nature of the songwriting, the production and vocal approach are very similar from song to song, and that makes it sound fairly cohesive.  IMHO, it's not particularly consistent though:  a lot of brilliant stuff, but songs like "Tears in the Morning" and especially "At My Window" sound extremely weak compared to stuff like "This Whole World" "All I Wanna Do" and "Forever." 

The setlist is up on Setlistsfm--looks like they got a nice long set in--49 songs.  No "Forever," tho.  Wonder why the video screen makes it to some countries and not others? 

Thanks everybody!  It was a very nice, but somewhat bittersweet moment.  I WILL say that if BW or the BBs come back, I will definitely take her! 

Anybody back from the show yet???  Or did anyone on this board even go?

OK, here's my review:

This time, I brought my wife Akiko and 3-year old daughter Hisui, and we deliberately missed America, just because we were concerned about the little girl's ability to handle such a long concert.  Hisui was all excited about seeing the BBs--she's quite into music, but it's the only English-language band she has interest in.

A couple of things I noticed right away:  first, unlike the Osaka gig, this one wasn't sold out.  The floor seats were totally packed, but there was a lot of space in the arena seating.  The place seats 10,000, but there were probably more like 7500 there.  Second, the audience seemed way more interesting--a greater range of people, a lot more rock-type people, and a lot of people wearing T-shirts for Brian's Smile or Pet Sounds tour.   This is much more in line with my experience of Japanese BBs fans--a lot of serious Brian freaks.  Right behind us, we had 4 interesting people--two twin sisters who looked like they might have been 13-year old teenyboppers in 1965, and who did syncronized 60's style dancing together all night.  Next to them, there were a totally bronzed, long-haired middle-aged hippie-surfer couple.  And then next to us there were a whole lot of aging rocker types--all really fun and funky people.  

Like the Osaka show, Mike's vocals were a bit shaky when they started "Do It Again," but unlike the Osaka show, the whole band sounded a bit shaky vocally and musically for the first few songs--I was almost wondering if they hadn't been knocking back too much sake on their day off.  Part of the problem was that the acoustics in the place weren't quite as good as in Osaka, although they got much better as the night went on.  Still, the audience really went nuts for the surfing songs--I don't know if Nagoya has a big surfing culture or what, but even the images of surfers on the screen seemed to be getting a big response.  Early on, the band said something appreciative about the audience--really, the band seemed like they were in a great mood, and wanted to give this audience their best.  There was also a lot more singing along than in Osaka--Osaka isn't known for English ability!  

As before, Brian got a big response for his Surfer Girl vocal--people were screaming "Brian!" at him.  Getcha Back featured another great vocal turn from Dave, and then they went into "You're So Good To Me," the first of two additions to the Osaka setlists.  I was very glad to hear this one, and it was a lot of fun--people clapping along and cheering Brian.  Brian seemed a lot more animated!  "And Then I Kissed Her" (Al sounding great), and then the biggest and best surprise of the night:  "Darlin'."  This is a song I absolutely love, and I didn't know if I was going to get to hear it, so it was probably the emotional highlight of the show for me.  Then, Jeff knocked "Don't Worry Baby" out of the park.  Mike said something admiringly after the song, telling him to take a drink because he would need it after such a great vocal.  

The car songs were fun, with a lot of good Dave solos, and the funny sax/guitar bit in Shut Down, though as in Osaka, the audience didn't seem to respond quite as much as to the surfing songs.  Mike was in a really great mood and dancing around.  I have to say, I think the first part of the show was structured much better than the Osaka show--putting more love songs between the surfing and car songs seemed like a better balance, plus you got to hear Brian, Al and Darian sing lead in addition to Dave and Jeff, so there was much variation with the lead singers.  

Up to this point, Hisui had seemed a bit unresponsive--she'd never been to such a big show, and I think she was a bit confused.  But she really lit up for "TWGMTR," and even sang along in her broken English--she loves the new album.  "Heroes and Villains" wasn't quite as tight as it was in Osaka, but even more far-out.  "Isn't It Time" followed, and was actually much MORE tight than in Osaka--in Osaka, they struggled for the first third or so of the song, but here they had the vocals down very nicely.  This is another song that Hisui loves, so she got to sing along again.  Why Do Fools Fall in Love was just fantastic--I've finally lost my skepticism of this song.  They were really showing off their vocal chops--kind of a tour-de-force.  When I Grow Up was slightly underwhelming (as it was in Osaka), but Cotton Fields was fantastic--Al's voice was loud, clear and precise--just cutting through everything, and the harmonies were great too.

They followed with the "Forever" "God Only Knows" section, which got a great, emotional response, especially God Only Knows (again, the Japanese love Pet Sounds).  Sail On Sailor also got a big cheer of recognition even before Brian started singing.  This was the most animated he got in the entire show--he was doing some kind of weird dance with his arms, and Jeff was watching him and doing it back, so they had this amusing little performance going on.  Brian's vocal wasn't quite as tight as in Osaka, but he was really getting into it and playing with the melody--great to see him so involved.  For "All This is That," the audience seemed to understand the little intro speech more than the Osaka show (again, better English in Nagoya), and seemed to appreciate it--perhaps the greater proportion of hippy types helped.  It was beautiful, anyway, just waves of harmonies washing over everything.  

"Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" got some of the best responses of the night--more serious Pet Sounds love.  I think that Mike may have underestimated the popularity of PS when he wrote the setlist--I think that "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times" would have really gone over well.  "Good Vibrations" also got a huge response, and then they started going through some of the huge hits.  Bruce struggled a bit with the high parts on CG, but sounded great when he got them, and there was a big surprised sounding cheer when they started All Summer Long.  Of course "Help Me Rhonda" was its usual goofy, fun self, and proved to be a good kid song.  

"Rock n' Roll Music" was a lot of fun too--it's another song that's finally winning me over after I hear how it comes across live.  I like how they do it a lot more, well, rock n' roll than on the studio version, and it's a very fun song to share with a kid--especially the ROCK, ROLL backing vocals.  Do You Wanna Dance finally got my wife dancing (she is very pregnant, by the way, and was sitting down most of the night, unlike virtually everything else).  She loves this song, and it got her and Hisui dancing together.  The chorus harmonies were gorgeous, and Dave played another atonal guitar solo--a totally DIFFERENT atonal guitar solo as he played in Osaka (nice having Dave around for that little touch of anarchy!)  "Surfin' USA" was pure joy, as Hisui loves it and I got a video of her and Akiko dancing excitedly, with Hisui waving her arms around.  I got the amused feeling that she was getting in touch with her American roots!  

When the band came back on stage for the encore, Bruce made an excited, emotional little speech about how great it was to be in Japan and "thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful country."  Not sure how many people understood it, but it was very sweet.  "Kokomo" sounded much better than in Osaka--Mike's managed his tricky vocal parts pretty well, and the song got a good response.  For "Barbara Ann," Brian came up to the front of the stage on bass, and that got the audience really excited.  It was also fun--everyone sang along, including Hisui (perfect song for a 3 year old native speaker of Japanese!).  And "Fun Fun Fun" was pretty wild--they really hammed up the trash-can ending, leaving the band and audience with and extremely fun moment.  

When we walked out, Hisui chattered excitedly about the Beach Boys, asking where they were going.  I told her that they were leaving Japan, flying to other countries to play more concerts, but if we were really lucky, they might come back sometime.  Maybe not though, because they are pretty old and can't play forever.  That was a little bittersweet to tell her, but I also told her that when she is older, she'll be able to tell people that she saw the Beach Boys, and no-one will believe her, because no-one her age will ever have seen them.  I'm glad I got that video of her going wild during "Surfin' USA," because it's something she'll be able to remember this by.  

SDT is corny, but it's also catchy and kinda enjoyable.  I don't mind the lyrics--my interpretation is basically "things are pretty screwed up, but rioting just makes it worse,' which is fine--not as eloquent as "Revolution," but not offensive either. 

I think that "Don't Go Near the Water" sucks, though.  Very corny, cloying song, with sometimes baffling lyrics (the water is polluted because of toothpaste?)  It's the kind of thing that gives a bad name to eco-protest songs, which is too bad. 

"Take a Load off Your Feet" is also a bit irritating, and not the strongest musically, but ultimately, it has a kind of eccentric feel that redeems it. 

The rest of the album pretty much rules, though, including "Disney Girls" (frankly, I think that Disney Girls is the third-best song on the album, after Surf's Up and Till I Die!)  If some of the songs above, especially DGNTW, could be replaced by Dennis tracks, it would be a great album, though not as great as PS. 

Hope you guys get a great setlist! 

They were probably somewhere knocking back the sake together!

Anyway, here is my show review:

The venue was fairly large--must have been able 15,000 people capacity (though I'm bad at guessing these things), and seemed completely sold out--not an empty seat in the place.  I was a little surprised by the audience--not as many senior citizens as I expected!  Most people appeared to be in their 30s, 40s and 50s, and it was a fairly anonymous crowd--some Japanese rock crowds can be pretty colorful (though I did see some punk rockers--go figure!)

America opened, starting at 7:05, and played for a little under an hour.  They seemed a bit wimpy and soft-rock to me at first, particularly the love songs, but got better and better as they went alone.  You gotta give them credit for the surprising number of enduring songs they've written--it wasn't until the last week that I realized that there is a lot more to them than "Horse With No Name" and "Sandman."  They have great CSN-style harmonies, and can pull off some pretty complex stuff with only 5 guys on stage.  I liked hearing stuff like "Ventura Highway" and the Jackson Browne soundalike "Sister Golden Hair."  The best song was prolly "Sandman," which they totally rocked out compared to the studio version, and accompanied with footage of the Vietnam war and protests against it.  The audience also seemed to know a lot of the songs--I get the impression that at least some people were there primarily to see America.

The BB's hit the stage at 8:27, and immediately the whole crowd was on its feet (and stayed there throughout).  Mike's vox were a bit off for the first verse of "Do It Again," but by halfway through the song, everything seemed to be together and sounded glorious.  Mike sounded great on every song afterwards except for "Kokomo" This place has good sound and everything was crystal clear.  The audience seemed pretty into the surfing songs in the beginning of the set, but the biggest cheer in the early part of the show was for Brian's vocal on Surfer Girl.  I have to say, this setlist didn't give Brian a lot to do for the first third of the show, and he seemed somewhat disengaged.  The first surprise for me was "Getcha Back," as they didn't play this in Tokyo.  I have to say, this sounded great--it's so much better than the studio version, with the more organic arrangement, and David's lead vocals.  I'll never consider this a great BBs song, but I like it so much better now.  "Don't Worry Baby" was also beautiful--I sometimes find Jeff's vocals to be shrill, but he sounded lovely here.  

The crowd seemed to enjoy the car songs, but maybe not as much as the surfing songs (maybe because Japan is not much of a car country?).  David's leads did seem like a big draw though, and the sax/guitar duet on "Shut Down" got the audience cheering.  They seemed to get more into it with "TWGMTR" and especially "Sail On Sailor,"--I get the impression that Brian singing lead was a big plus factor here.  Brian still seemed somewhat disengaged, but sounded great.  Heroes and Villains sounded even better--massive, super-tight harmonies, and more Brian lead vocals.  "Isn't It Time" got a good reaction, but the song started out kind of shakey--about a third of the way though, they got everything together.  I love this tune, and it was great live, but really prefer the original lyrics.  "Why Do Fools" was pretty impressive vocally, though not enough to convince me that it's necessary to play it every night (though the Nagoya version two nights later pretty much won me over!).  "When I Grow Up" was nice, but a little underwhelming.  Cotton Fields was better, with Al's first full lead vocals of the night--he's really the best singer left in the band these days.  

They then did "Forever" and "God Only Knows" with Dennis and Carl on the video screen, and that was just beautiful and emotional.  I noticed, by the way, that not too many people were singing along (Osaka is not known for its English abilities), but the "We love you Dennis/Carl" messages got a big reaction.  I thought that "All This is That" was gorgeous (who is singing Carl's parts?), but the reaction was slightly underwhelming from the crowd.  "Sloop John B" and "Wouldn't It Be Nice" got a huge reaction, though--Pet Sounds is big in Japan, and I think they should have played more from it.  

The rest of the show was pretty much hitville, with GV getting another huge reaction (so much tighter than it was on videos I've seen from the beginning of the tour) and Al ruling on "Then I Kissed Her."  "All Summer Long" and "Do You Wanna Dance" were also additions over the Tokyo setlist and nice surprises--both songs I love personally.  It's interesting hearing Brian singing Dennis's vocal parts on the latter!  David played a weird, atonal guitar solo on "Do You Wanna Dance."  Bruce sounded fantastic on "CG" and "Surfin' USA" closed things off with a nice bang.

The encore started with Kokomo, which was kind of the low point of the night--the audience had a good reaction to it, but as I mentioned above, instrumentally and vocally it was off.  "Barbara Ann" was fantastic, though--such a fun live song.  I now understand why it's a must play.  The guys in America joined it, and the audience sang more than any other song of the night (an easy song for people with limited English!).  Brian did not play bass.  "Fun Fun Fun" was a, well, fun way to end the evening, with more great vocals on the chorus from Bruce.

Overall, it was super-tight show with fantastic sound, amazing vocals, and with the audience on its feet and clapping the entire time, it was a really fun experience.  The band commented on what a great crowd it was, and though I'm sure they tell every crowd that, it seemed really sincere.  

The Nagoya show was even better, though  (I'll write my account of that one later!)

Who would sing lead on it, I wonder?

Last night in Nagoya, Bruce introduced the encore, and made a really loving, glowing speech about Japan and how much the band enjoyed being there.  I can't paraphrase most of it, but among other things, he said something like "Thank you for welcoming us to your beautiful country."  I know that he got in a bit of trouble in Europe, but he sounded really sincere of his appreciation of Japan and its people. 

Setlist:

1). Do It Again
2). Little Honda
3). Catch a Wave
4).  Hawaii
5).  Don't Back Down
6).  Surfin' Safari
7).  Surfer Girl
.  Getcha Back
9).  You're So Good To Me
10).  Then I Kissed Her
11).  Darlin'
12).  Don't Worry Baby
13).  Little Deuce Coupe
14).  409
15).  Shut Down
16).  I Get Around
17).  That's Why God Made the Radio
18).  Heroes and Villains
19).  Isn't it Time
20).  Why Do Fools Fall in Love
21).  When I Grow Up
22).  Cotton Fields
23).  Forever
24).  God Only Knows
25).  Sail On Sailor
26). All This is That
27).  Sloop John B
28).  Wouldn't it Be Nice
29).  Good Vibrations
30).  California Girls
31).  All Summer Long
32).  Help Me Rhonda
33).  Rock n' Roll Music
34).  Do You Wanna Dance
35).  Surfin' USA
(encore)
36).  Kokomo
37).  Barbara Ann (with America; Brian on bass))
38).  Fun Fun Fun (with America)