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Wow! After seeing the Beach Boys here in Pittsburgh this past Friday Night (Hey Dennis!) I just can't sleep. I'm just blown away with what I just saw and heard. For whatever reason I decided to visit Dr. Demento's website. I subscribe to Dr. Demento because of the great shows that are available in the archives and because I need a laugh once in a while. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Demento is known for his novelty/comedy music radio show. He's also done some great interviews over the years.

For whatever reason I clicked on the 1970's archives. There it was:

BEACH BOYS INTERVIEW: In 1973 the Doc conducted an in-depth interview with Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Ricky Fataar of the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson and Blondie Chaplin did not attend the interview, and Bruce Johnston was on hiatus from the group at this time. Ricky and Blondie were only with the group for a few years, so this is a rare chance to hear Ricky in an interview with them. Topics discussed include the Holland album, group dynamics, hobbies, the unfinished Smile album, the Party album, Brian's current involvement, transcendental meditation and M.I.U., and more. (This is NOT a comedy program.) BONUS: After the hour-long radio program, stay tuned for another 45 minutes of outtakes that were removed from the final edit!

I just got done listening. AMAZING! INCREDIBLE! I've just passed out...

There's so much here. Carl talks about 'Forever' and Dennis chimes in "What about Forever!". Mike talks about a song he is writing called 'Phoenix Dream'. SMILE is discussed. Some guy named Ricky is interviewed...Just kidding! I know who Ricky is!

This was apparently done in cooperation with Brother/Reprise records. This is done in the crucial time before 'Endless Summer' is released. Everyone is still in this highly creative mode. The double live album is yet to be released but is mentioned.

Andrew G. Dow or any other Beach Boy historian: have you heard about this interview before? Maybe it's out there already but now it's available to the public. It's now my favorite Beach Boys radio show. The BBC show was great but this one has much more insight and content.

Here's more info on this great program:

playlist courtesy of The Dr. Demento Show
Dr. Demento Interviews The Beach Boys - July, 1973
NOTE: The exact date of this interview is unknown, but it is believed to be in the range of July 26 to July 29, 1973.
NOTE: This is not an episode of "The Dr. Demento Show" but one of several interviews Dr. Demento conducted with various artists as part of his day job at Warner Brothers. It was intended to be sent to radio stations for promotional purposes, but it was never broadcast.

the main program

Friends (excerpt) - The Beach Boys
introductions: Ricky Fataar, Carl Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Mike Love/How did Ricky Fataar & Blondie Chaplin become part of the group?/Everyone contributed to writing on Holland album./recording outside of California (in Holland)
California Saga (On My Way To Sunny Californ-i-a) (single version) - The Beach Boys
How do individual ideas get into the group's music?/Alan Jardine arrives./What is Brian's role in the group today?
Feel Flows - The Beach Boys
earlier history of the group
Surfin' (album version) (excerpt) - The Beach Boys
getting in touch with publisher/singing together as teenagers/early live gigs/early recording sessions
Surfer Girl (excerpt) - The Beach Boys
Alan is restoring a homestead./Ricky is putting together a little studio./Dennis plays music and surfs./Michael meditates and goes to the beach to body surf. People from MIU live with Mike and he talks about transcendental meditation. He also has a garden./More talk of TM.
Transcendental Meditation - The Beach Boys
Why was Smile never released?/Were the tapes destroyed?/recording Smiley Smile
Wind Chimes - The Beach Boys
Wild Honey R&B-themed album
Darlin' - The Beach Boys
Surf's Up album (Student Demonstration Time)/Surfin' U.S.A. - any static from Chuck Berry for using his tune?/"Phoenix Dream" song Mike is writing/Why have The Beach Boys survived as a band for so long and remained popular?/How have your goals changed over the years?/Is the name "Beach Boys" still good?
Sail On Sailor - The Beach Boys
social conscience in songs
Good Vibrations - The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys' musical philosopy/What material do you play in concert?/Do you enjoy making new records?
Friends (excerpts/background) - The Beach Boys
closing

Outtakes/"Maybes"

The proposed radio program would've run an hour, but the interview by itself (before music was inserted) lasted around an hour and a half. Some additional parts of the interview were retained for consideration for the final product. These exist in 23 separate segments, some short and some long. Below are the notes Dr. Demento made in 1973 to describe these outtakes. [Notes in brackets were added by me.]

"Loose Ends" - leads up to Jaming + Jiving
Parks, Reiley, etc. [including Daryl Dragon]
Wrapup of Brian's Role
"Surfin'" -(2 bits) + before
Glen Campbell [also includes discussion of when Brian stopped touring]
"Crap at Capitol" (early) "Ronda" - "Party" album + a few words on Pet Sounds
Dennis- change of instr.
New studio/Carl's spare time (noisy)
bit about destroyed tapes [2 segments]
Smiley Smile [2 segments]
Smile - Release? Fire music
[re-release of later Capitol albums]
Concert Album + Recent attempts to Record
Holland
4 Seasons
old records hold up?
Big Disappointment -Maharishi [2 segments]
Stereo Technique [and quad]/Fav. Other Records/Radio/Al- Working with hands/Change in attitudes of people = B.B. popularity?
[other current music vs. Beach Boys music/what they've been through]

Bonus:
Beach Boys ID for Dr. Demento
Michael Love ID for Dr. Demento



I hope you can access this in the U.K. and elsewhere. Here's the link:

http://www.drdemento.com/index.html

The Beach Boys program is currently noted on the index page. Check the 1970's archives in the future.

I think this show just got posted. I don't know why I went there tonight but WOW!!!

Great catch! And guess what - I listened to Dr. Demento back in the day as well, and I distinctly recall a segue way/link recording during the Doctor's show, that said something like "we're the Beach Boys...and you're listening to Dr. Demento!"

Mid 70's as well, so the timeline is right. So that's where it came from! Always wondered about that.

Don't need to be a historian to have heard about this before!    Andrew Dow, have you heard about it?  ;D

Sounds great!!!! Thanks for sharing, can't wait to hear :listening I was at the Benedum show too, AMAZING ;D I haven't been able to sleep since (or the night before) either, lol

Dunno about him, but yes, had this on cassette since late 70s/early 80s. However, NO idea where it is right now, so many thanks for the link SJyB.

Do you have to pay to hear this show?

Sweet!! 1 hour 45 minutes long. Gonna be a fun morning.


Yeah, it's either 2 dollars for the lo-quality stream, or 4 for high quality.

Definitely recommend the high quality stream. Beautiful stereo sound.

If anyone out there has listened to this show I'd like to know what you think. I thought it was great. A nice piece of Beach Boys history.

Really cool. Dennis sounds in between voices here. Sometimes raspy sometime clear. If he hadn't been punched I bet it only would have changed a little compared to what actually happened

The best part is when Mike Love goes on a 5 minute rant saying that he doesn't listen to music anymore.

....Immediately followed by him saying that he does, in fact, listen to music.   :lol

I, too, have it on cassette (doubtless with the Greg Larson caps/small caps hand-written label... sigh...), God-knows-where in some mislabelled box or other, somewhere in the house, and I had completely forgotten about the delights therein until now, so THANK YOU SloopJohnnyB for this link and the reminder.

I need to hear this, don't think I like the idea of paying for a stream, though.

if you can spend 2 bucks on a beverage or candy bar that's gone in a matter of minutes, why not on a stream of a rare and revealing Beach Boys interview in their prime? it's almost 2 hrs long! it's really good.

You can play it with WIndows Media Player and save it to keep.

For a stream?  I don't use Windows Media Player on my mac, I wouldn't on a PC either, as it's 2012.

Oof! That's aw youse telt!