Beach Boys LIVE 1-hour concert on QVC tonight.

[Ron]

The June 5th releases are going to be a Joe Walsh album, and a Neil Young album... and the Beach Boys 'reunion' album.  I think the boys can win that battle. 

[Amy B.]

I really enjoyed that. The host did actually seem to be a fan, and I loved how she wanted to give all the guys a chance to talk. And she acknowledged the backup band. Brian in particular sounded great, I thought. Some of his stuff is not easy to sing, and he did well.

The only things I didn't like were that you could barely hear Mike and Bruce when they spoke, and that the host talked to Brian like he's a child.

[Landlocked]

Landlocked:  Get this.... the 120k Carrie sold was THIS WEEK.  The album rankings are done week to week.  Now, there may be another big album released the same week as the Beach Boys, I don't know.... but Carrie's album was #1 by selling 120K this week.  The Beach Boys just sold 14K in one store, in 1 hour.  

OK, so you're saying the way it goes, is new albums by week? Like, Carrie's album can't be on the charts the same week the Boys release theirs because by then her album will no longer qualify as a new release? Or are you just saying that at the rate the Boys are selling album pre-sales, there's no way in hell they can't top her?

[Landlocked]

The June 5th releases are going to be a Joe Walsh album, and a Neil Young album... and the Beach Boys 'reunion' album.  I think the boys can win that battle. 

I think so, too. Neil has tons of fans, and he'll do plenty well, but he doesn't have the QVC legions on his side.

[Bubba Ho-Tep]

I agree that Amazon pre-sales are going to outdo the QVC ones, but as far as "who the hell watches QVC?" comment: the Beach Boys demographic, that's who. Middle-aged women with credit cards who buy things on impulse. And the Beach Boys, for that demographic? Fuggeddaboutit! Nostalgia to the max. No surprise they sold 14,000+. QVC is broadcasted to hundreds of millions of people, so they have a very large viewership.

Hell yes. Why, on the show prior to the Beach Boys appearance an 80 year old woman called in and nearly died from the excitement of having packaged meat delivered to her house. THESE are the people who will help push this album to the top spot on the charts!

[Ron]

Zach, I agree.  14,000 sales is HUGE right now.  I don't know the specifics but I guess album sales suck so bad because you can download them for free, and also because most people would likely prefer to just download and buy specific tracks instead of the entire album.  

So yeah, 1 damn store (basically) which really isn't even that big (who the hell watches QVC?) sold 14 K.  I would be shocked if the Amazon sales weren't at least 3 times that.  Add in all the mom and pop stores.  Add in all the Wal-Marts, Best Buys, add in all the other online stores.  Add in Itunes.  

NO WAY this won't go top 5.  

I agree that Amazon pre-sales are going to outdo the QVC ones, but as far as "who the hell watches QVC?" comment: the Beach Boys demographic, that's who. Middle-aged women with credit cards who buy things on impulse. And the Beach Boys, for that demographic? Fuggeddaboutit! Nostalgia to the max. No surprise they sold 14,000+. QVC is broadcasted to hundreds of millions of people, so they have a very large viewership.

I suppose so, but still it's just a 1 hour show that I saw absolutely no promo for... so you're still only inside the marketplace of people who already watch QVC pretty religously (7pm. eastern?  Seriously?).... It wasn't even in primetime.  Less than 1% of the country was watching this show... and they still sold 14K.  Now granted I imagine a ton of the people watching bought the album.... but still.  

BTW, folks: The album and maybe even that package or a similar one will still be on sale on QVC.com and likely pop up on the television show too, from time to time, for THREE MORE WEEKS.  They're going to kill with this album.  

[18thofMay]

I really love this.. I am so stoked for the all involved!

[Landlocked]

Zach, I agree.  14,000 sales is HUGE right now.  I don't know the specifics but I guess album sales suck so bad because you can download them for free, and also because most people would likely prefer to just download and buy specific tracks instead of the entire album.  

So yeah, 1 damn store (basically) which really isn't even that big (who the hell watches QVC?) sold 14 K.  I would be shocked if the Amazon sales weren't at least 3 times that.  Add in all the mom and pop stores.  Add in all the Wal-Marts, Best Buys, add in all the other online stores.  Add in Itunes.  

NO WAY this won't go top 5.  

I agree that Amazon pre-sales are going to outdo the QVC ones, but as far as "who the hell watches QVC?" comment: the Beach Boys demographic, that's who. Middle-aged women with credit cards who buy things on impulse. And the Beach Boys, for that demographic? Fuggeddaboutit! Nostalgia to the max. No surprise they sold 14,000+. QVC is broadcasted to hundreds of millions of people, so they have a very large viewership.

I suppose so, but still it's just a 1 hour show that I saw absolutely no promo for... so you're still only inside the marketplace of people who already watch QVC pretty religously (7pm. eastern?  Seriously?).... It wasn't even in primetime.  Less than 1% of the country was watching this show... and they still sold 14K.  Now granted I imagine a ton of the people watching bought the album.... but still.  

BTW, folks: The album and maybe even that package or a similar one will still be on sale on QVC.com and likely pop up on the television show too, from time to time, for THREE MORE WEEKS.  They're going to kill with this album.  

I think that the label should really do their best to persuade QVC to re-run this show religiously over the next few weeks. Honestly, I think if they did, they would be almost guaranteed a number 1. QVC is the Beach Boys' bread and butter demographic. Does anyone know for a fact if/when they are going to re-air this?

[Ron]

Landlocked:  Get this.... the 120k Carrie sold was THIS WEEK.  The album rankings are done week to week.  Now, there may be another big album released the same week as the Beach Boys, I don't know.... but Carrie's album was #1 by selling 120K this week.  The Beach Boys just sold 14K in one store, in 1 hour.  

OK, so you're saying the way it goes, is new albums by week? Like, Carrie's album can't be on the charts the same week the Boys release theirs because by then her album will no longer qualify as a new release? Or are you just saying that at the rate the Boys are selling album pre-sales, there's no way in hell they can't top her?

No, it works simply like this: Every week, from tuesday through monday, they count how many of each album are sold.  Carrie sold 120 thousand albums in this week, and nobody else sold that many, so she was #1.  By the time the Beach Boys album comes out, Carrie Underwood won't be selling 120 thousand albums a week anymore, because many of the people who want the album will have already bought it.  So that week, she may only sell 30 thousand albums.  Since it's the first week of the Beach Boys album, they'll have all their pre-sales counted, plus whoever buys it off the shelf that week.  So the number will likely be the highest it will ever be, on that first week.  However many Carrie (or anybody else) has sold the weeks before is irrelevant, they only count how many are sold each week.  

[Shady]

I am ecstatic they sold that many records and that was just during the show

I was pretty down on this QVC idea but man did it pay off

[Ron]

None of the albums released the same day as the Beach Boys are charting higher than them on Amazon's best seller list.  HOWEVER, I did just see that Alan Jackson is releasing a new album the same day as them.  That will be their competition... He may be hard to outsell.  

[Landlocked]

Landlocked:  Get this.... the 120k Carrie sold was THIS WEEK.  The album rankings are done week to week.  Now, there may be another big album released the same week as the Beach Boys, I don't know.... but Carrie's album was #1 by selling 120K this week.  The Beach Boys just sold 14K in one store, in 1 hour.  

OK, so you're saying the way it goes, is new albums by week? Like, Carrie's album can't be on the charts the same week the Boys release theirs because by then her album will no longer qualify as a new release? Or are you just saying that at the rate the Boys are selling album pre-sales, there's no way in hell they can't top her?

No, it works simply like this: Every week, from tuesday through monday, they count how many of each album are sold.  Carrie sold 120 thousand albums in this week, and nobody else sold that many, so she was #1.  By the time the Beach Boys album comes out, Carrie Underwood won't be selling 120 thousand albums a week anymore, because many of the people who want the album will have already bought it.  So that week, she may only sell 30 thousand albums.  Since it's the first week of the Beach Boys album, they'll have all their pre-sales counted, plus whoever buys it off the shelf that week.  So the number will likely be the highest it will ever be, on that first week.  However many Carrie (or anybody else) has sold the weeks before is irrelevant, they only count how many are sold each week.  

Crystal clear, I got it.

I just read your comment about Alan Jackson. He's one of them good ol' country boys, ain't he? I guess you're right about him being their competition, since obviously them country folks still buy albums, as evidenced by Carrie Underwood's sales.

[Les Chan]

Thanks Ron for the link.

Why in the world is the audio so crappy?  Tweeting noise bugs me!

Can't wait to see the BOYS in Berkeley, CA!

I am still keeping my hopes up they will do Country Air or something else from WILD HONEY and something else from Sunflower!

[Ron]

Yes, do not underestimate Alan Jackson, that guy can sell records.  He's probably already got some unbelievably catchy hick song playing on every hick radio in the USA, and I'd probably like that hick song if I heard it.  I myself am a hick from time to time.  

Seriously though, he's the real deal, he'll give them a run for their money.  

[Ron]

Thanks Ron for the link.

Why in the world is the audio so crappy?  Tweeting noise bugs me!

Can't wait to see the BOYS in Berkeley, CA!

I am still keeping my hopes up they will do Country Air or something else from WILD HONEY and something else from Sunflower!

Since it's QVC, they probably usually have clips up of them just pitching something that isn't music, so the audio doesn't have to be that good.  So they've used the same compression on this file, which unfortunately makes all the beautiful harmonies sound like sh*t.  Good folks are working, I'm sure, on uploading a nice quality file of this to youtube... when it played on T.V. it was in HD and a lot of people recorded it.  So give it a couple hours and you'll have good quality versions of all this. 

[Ron]

Here's the competition.  Alan Jackson's new album "Thirty Miles West" features the lead single "So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore".  Alan's written 24 of his 34 #1 songs.... the only singer/songwriters who have written that many of their personal #1's are John Lennon and Paul McCartney (but you have to take into consideration a country #1 isn't a 'regular' #1)

"So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore"


I’ll be the bad guy,
I’ll take the black eye,
When I walk out,
You can slam the door,
I’ll be the S.O.B,
If that’s what you need from me,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

When you and our friends talk,
Make it all my fault,
Tell ‘em I’m rotten to the core,
I’ll let it all slide,
Get ‘em all on your side,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If the wine you’re drinkin’,
Leads you to thinkin’,
That you want what we had before,
Girl you can call me,
I’ll let it ring and ring,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

Yeah, I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If you need me to make you cry,
I don’t want to but I’ll try,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

[Landlocked]

Here's the competition.  Alan Jackson's new album "Thirty Miles West" features the lead single "So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore".  Alan's written 24 of his 34 #1 songs.... the only singer/songwriters who have written that many of their personal #1's are John Lennon and Paul McCartney (but you have to take into consideration a country #1 isn't a 'regular' #1)

"So You Don't Have To Love Me Anymore"


I’ll be the bad guy,
I’ll take the black eye,
When I walk out,
You can slam the door,
I’ll be the S.O.B,
If that’s what you need from me,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

When you and our friends talk,
Make it all my fault,
Tell ‘em I’m rotten to the core,
I’ll let it all slide,
Get ‘em all on your side,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If the wine you’re drinkin’,
Leads you to thinkin’,
That you want what we had before,
Girl you can call me,
I’ll let it ring and ring,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

Yeah, I will keep,
All those memories, of the good times.
Yeah, there were some good times.
So when you think,
Of you and me,
They won’t even cross your mind.

If you need me to make you cry,
I don’t want to but I’ll try,
So you don’t have to love me anymore.

Those lyrics are almost good enough to have made it onto Love You.

[Ron]

LOL Yeah it's definately not that great.  I gotta give the nod to Joe Thomas on this one. 

[Zach95]

No way in hell are we going to be outdone by Alan Jackson.  Is it bad I've never even heard of him?

[Landlocked]

No way in hell are we going to be outdone by Alan Jackson.  Is it bad I've never even heard of him?

Bad? No. Odd? If you live in the USA, kind of.

[Ron]

He's huge.  H U G E.  If you're not into country though, it's completely possible you've never heard of him.  He's probably the third biggest selling country artist ever... and honestly, he's pretty talented.  He's a pretty simple person, really down to earth... most of his songs are really similar, although he sometimes does some surprising things with strings, or does an album of gospel songs, or whatever.  

He's probably best known for his 9/11 song, probably the best one anybody wrote.  Lots of country acts wrote songs about 9/11, but they ranged from being angry, to patriotic, or whatever... Alan's song was pretty brilliant because it didn't really comment on anyting negative, it just reflected on different reactions people had to the bombings.  

Anyways, if you want something decent he wrote, here's one:

Cowboys dont cry, and heroes dont die
Good always wins, again and again
Love is a sweet dream that always comes true
Oh, if life were like the movies, Id never be blue

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

I gave you my love, but that wasnt enough
To hold your heart when times got rough
And tonight on that silver screen
Itll end like it should
Two lovers will make it through
Like I hoped we would

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

[Zach95]

He's huge.  H U G E.  If you're not into country though, it's completely possible you've never heard of him.  He's probably the third biggest selling country artist ever... and honestly, he's pretty talented.  He's a pretty simple person, really down to earth... most of his songs are really similar, although he sometimes does some surprising things with strings, or does an album of gospel songs, or whatever.  

He's probably best known for his 9/11 song, probably the best one anybody wrote.  Lots of country acts wrote songs about 9/11, but they ranged from being angry, to patriotic, or whatever... Alan's song was pretty brilliant because it didn't really comment on anyting negative, it just reflected on different reactions people had to the bombings.  

Anyways, if you want something decent he wrote, here's one:

Cowboys dont cry, and heroes dont die
Good always wins, again and again
Love is a sweet dream that always comes true
Oh, if life were like the movies, Id never be blue

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

I gave you my love, but that wasnt enough
To hold your heart when times got rough
And tonight on that silver screen
Itll end like it should
Two lovers will make it through
Like I hoped we would

But here in the real world
Its not that easy at all
cause when hearts get broken
Its real tears that fall
And darlin its sad but true
But the one thing Ive learned from you
Is how the boy dont always get the girl
Here in the real world

Nice lyrics, aside from the cowboy reference 

Yeah, I live in the states, but am not into country whatsoever.  So that's probably why.  I believe I probably heard his 9/11 song though.

[LetHimRun]

I just finished the show in lo-fi, I thought it was exceptionally good.  I never thought these guys would be able to perform like this at this age.  I know 70's the new 55 but still.  We basically have 5 guys here who are functioning professionally at a really high level, and nobody's dropped the ball yet.  I hope I have the stamina and the will power to still be doing what I love to do when I'm 70, as well as they're doing it.  

Bruce sounds amazing, when he has a little vocal lick in a song, you see him singing his heart out with that same, classic Bruce smile, and that same, classic Bruce voice he had when he was in his 20's.  It's like time stops for a minute.  Listen to him on the end round in California Girls.... sounds awesome.

David is like a kid at Christmas, he realizes probably more than anybody in the band what the weight of this is, and he's enjoying every minute of it.  Up until a few months ago, his time in the Beach Boys was probably his fondest memories, and something he thought he had lost 50 years ago.  Now he's right back where he was when he was a teenager.  Television shows, world tours, new albums, working with genius musicians and the best friends he ever knew.  The best part about it: He knows it.  

Mike is rising to the occassion and working as hard as he possibly can to be great at what he does.  He comes across as well spoken, he sings to the best of his ability, and he acts like a gentleman for every interview, not just some of them.  If he hasn't turned over a new leaf, he's sure as hell putting on a good show.  

Al looks perpetually stuck in 1974, in a good way.  He's even wearing white suits again.  His ability to bury the hatchet with Mike is inspiring to me... and he comes across as the most down to earth (outside of David) of the group.  His voice still has the most energy in it, just like Murry telling him to enunciate, 45 years later he's still putting the swagger in the vocals where it needs it.  

Finally we have Brian.  Who knows what goes on inside that brilliant, well coiffed, half deaf head of his.  Like the last 30 years of his career, 95% of what you see is a little bit depressing... and then for 5% of the time, he either wows us with another one of those beautiful Wilson brother SMiLEs, or hits a note just right enough that you think it's 1965 again.  Just as soon as your ears or your eyes catch that little glimse of the Brian that once was, he's gone again, sunk back into his chair, slipping off the side of the camera, shrinking back into his oversized shirt.... waiting for the next little flash of hope he shows us.  

God bless these guys, may their music go on and on.  

Great post all around. Bruce really, really stuck out to me on the end of California Girls. He sounded absolutely fantastic.

[Olliander]

I caught the last half of the show, and I have to say Brian looks miserable.  Not sure if anyone else caught this but towards the end of the show, the camera was panning across the stage, from right to left, and everyone's doing their thing.  It gets to Brian and he looks like he's about to cry.  At the last second, he realizes the camera's on him, straightens his slouch, puts on a fake grin and starts snapping his fingers to the beat.  It took all of five seconds, but felt like an eternity.

Hate to say it, but I'm not believing that his heart and his mind are into this tour.  You can see it in his eyes.  Love Brian Wilson, but it sucks seeing him this way.  

[Landlocked]

I caught the last half of the show, and I have to say Brian looks miserable.  Not sure if anyone else caught this but towards the end of the show, the camera was panning across the stage, from right to left, and everyone's doing their thing.  It gets to Brian and he looks like he's about to cry.  At the last second, he realizes the camera's on him, straightens his slouch, puts on a fake grin and starts snapping his fingers to the beat.  It took all of five seconds, but felt like an eternity.

Hate to say it, but I'm not believing that his heart and his mind are into this tour.  You can see it in his eyes.  Love Brian Wilson, but it sucks seeing him this way.  

I agree. I feel bad for him. I'm assuming, from his demeanor from most of the footage I've seen, that he's only doing this because the people around him are pressuring him to. Which is not a surprise.