The Smiley Smile Message Board

Ugh,
why are we pretending to be ok with this piece of crap's repeated inclusion in recent sets, while "This Whole World," "Prayer" and "Marcella" become increasingly scarce?? Let's hope this is just for the heartland USA. There does seem to be a trend in the recent weeks of an increasingly conservative set list, which is disappointing and a little bit depressing.

No one is pretending. They play what they want to play. Personally, I could care less. Their set list has been evolving throughout the whole tour and that is fine with me. If you are lucky enough you get to hear what you want, if not, so be it.

Well that's a bit dull...
Come on, let's hear some anger!

foreget still crusin how about betsy why is that song still around. If they wanto to give scott totten a vocal so bad let him do let him run wild as he did that with the Mike and Bruce band and did a solid job. Sorry but still crusin goes without saying.

Still Cruisin' has been a live staple for a while. Granted, it's one of the better post-1979 tunes. It cooks in concert.

If it was disclosed that Brian Wilson was OK with "Still Cruisin" and "Ballad Of Ole' Betsy", and wasn't comfortable performing the other songs you mentioned, would you feel the same way?

Eh, not really. BW's no untouchable deity. These are just shockingly bad song choices, no matter which way you slice it.

Then don't see the tour if it puts you out so much. Simple solution for an obviously stressful problem.

AT LEAST THER IS A TOUR TO COMPLAIN ABOUT SONG CHOICES  ;D

Hopefully when they make it to Red Rock and later Eugene, OR they'll break out the more sophisticated tracks.

SC is 80's cheese. Inoffensive. Meh. Gimme something with soul, not this paint by numbers yawner.

I like "Still cruisin'" although of course I'd rather hear "Prayer" "Marcella" and such stuff. It seems that after a while of heavy Brian/Brian's band choices, some of the newer additions (Still cruisin, Getcha back, Come go with me) come from the Mike corner. So maybe This Whole World, Marcella, etc. will be back in the near future. I hope so, because I need to hear Marcella in Berlin in august. That one just has to be there !!  :3d  And a little Prayer, This Whole World wouldn't be too shabby either... Still the setlist is very good, who would've thought ?

Ha Ha Ha Ha!   Right arm, Jase.   ;D

I'd enjoy hearing SC live. Fun tune. Not everything has to be earth shattering beauty.

Some answers here are hilarious!

Well, this was kind of a dumb topic, considering we have discussed this many times in other threads and most here are happy with the tour and satisfied with the ever flowing set lists. Seriously, I couldn't have asked for more than what we have been given. In the studio and on the stage, The Beach Boys are a real band again. Wow, I made them sound like Pinocchio.

You've summed up 90% of the posts here as of late.

Watching a couple of clips of "Our Prayer," it seemed to be a momentum-killer.  If they do add it back, it might help if they would go into "H & V" without stopping instead of letting the audience applaud.  As for "This Whole World," I don't think Brian sounds that good on it anymore.  "Marcella," however, does rock, and I wouldn't mind hearing that. "Still Cruisin" is OK and inoffensive.

It's ridiculous that they're playing this song. Ridiculous! It's hard to think of any other band in music history with such impressive, artistic, inventive, exciting songs in their back catalogue, who then treat them with such distain. What's just sold a shitload of copies to raptuous acclaim? SMiLE or Still Cruisin'? Where are the Smile tracks? After all these years, after everything, group politics are still getting in the way....

Who says it's group politics?

It is about what works in a concert setting. I don't think for the average fan that Our Prayer works that well. Btw, the album Still Cruisin' sold very, very well. In number of copies, I am sure it sold more than Smile & TWGMTR combined. I think it went gold pretty fast.

Wait a fucking second. They play Pet Sounds. They play I Just Wasn't Made for These Times at every show. They play Add Some Music and Heroes and Villains.

This is an amazing setlist, it continues to be so, and it's astonishing that seeming fans are going nuts over the inclusion of one song.

Have you even been to a show? They are astonishing, joyous, and treat every era of the band with respect.

I was at an Our Prayer show. It was at an awkward place in the setlist and the audience seemed confused.

Once Mike works out the placement, I'm sure we'll hear it again.

I guess Mike Love just enjoys playing this song?
i mean, i don't think it's a hit or a loved song among the BB fanbase.

Yup. Right after Duke of Earl. After all, the DUKE has been a mainstay of the setlist for several years...  :smokin

I'll shut up. Let's play nice. Billy, stop teasing your sister.

Still Cruisin' was played pretty heavily between 1989 and 1993. It came back into the setlists around 2005 or so. So this is not exactly a "new" inclusion.

I don't get why people still get so uptight about setlist issues. We've been getting great setlists and great performances. Don't see the need to make angry demonstrations.

Would be disappointed tho if the concert i went to they decided to stop Our Prayer to put Still Cruisin' instead, but oh well.

Those would be the recent weeks in which Our Prayer and Pet Sounds have been introduced then?

Throughout the tour, songs have been added and dropped. Some have returned again, others haven't. The 'increasingly conservative set list' at last night's show still included Please Let Me Wonder, Wendy, Disney Girls, Isn't It Time, Kiss Me Baby, California Saga, Ballad of Old Betsy, Pet Sounds, Add Some Music, Heroes & Villains, Sail On Sailor, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, All This Is That, That's Why God Made The Radio and Forever.

So I don't think anyone's 'pretending to be OK' with Still Cruisin' being in the set. Some people like the song (I do, actually -- that and Getcha Back are the only two Love/Melcher collaborations I have much time for, though I wouldn't choose it over something like This Whole World). Some don't like it but think it's good that they're swapping in different songs on principle. Others don't like it but aren't angry because there's another forty-six to forty-nine songs in a typical set at the moment and they can put up with one or two they don't like.

But people are talking as if it's a one-for-one substitution. That is, evil Mike decides "we must replace Our Prayer with my masterpiece Still Cruisin." Or whatever. I really doubt anyone thinks about it in that way. Brian seems to have certain things he likes and wants to play, and the band does them. If BW wanted to start every second set with Our Prayer -- the way he clearly wants to play Add Some Music in every show -- they would. He just doesn't seem to care that much about the tune.

I don't mind "Still Cruisin'" being in the setlist. It's an okay song, not my favorite, probably on the same level of enjoyment for me as "Getcha Back." I think it's kind of cool to hear them do something from another era, and to see Brian integrated into a few 80's era songs where he was originally somewhat estranged from the band. I don't think they should set out to do a song from each album or anything at the expense of picking good songs, but I don't think it's wrong for the 50th anniversary tour to have a few tracks from the 80's other than "Kokomo."

I'm still hoping they'll try "Goin' On."  8)

Brian's not in the song I assume, but he's in the official music video at approx. :51.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1RbMTDLFOjA

I do remember this being played on MTV a lot when I was a young'un, so it must have been a small hit at least.

See now, Goin' On would be interesting. Far more to me than Cruisin'. I'm just lucky that I saw some of the increasingly rare deeper cuts earlier in the tour.

To echo what someone said, it's probably an American heartland set list thing. It'll be interesting what they play at Red Rock and real interesting how the set list evolves once they go abroad.

That's bullshit. If it was a heartland setlist thing, why would they still be playing literally more than a dozen rarities in each show? Pet Sounds. Add Some Music. Etc., etc., etc.

How about a Still Cruisin'/Getcha Back/Wipe Out/Kokomo medley....cover all the 80's in one shot :o

I don't know about more than a dozen, but they seem to maintain 6-8 that dig deeper into the songbook. It just seems as if whenever we get a surprise such as Pet Sounds, that means the deletion of This Whole World or pick your substitute. Where we disagree is that I'd be fine with dropping some of the holy relics to make space for the new - and you probably wouldn't. I would bet that in Europe they'll be more likely to experiment even further.

Again (ahem), no one is saying that the set list sucks. Everyone enjoys this balancing act of genres and generations that we've witnessed all summer. But every now and then, you're going to have some on the outside trying to get in. Much like a .500 team trying to make the NCAA March Tournament.

What a silly answer. Ok. so because the album Still Crusin' sold well in the 80s, and despite the fact it's universally seen as an artistic low point in their career, they should play songs from it, just because it sold a lot two decades ago? Friends and Sunflower were commercial failures - so... should they not play any tracks from those albums? And if you agree they should regardless, then surely your argument is redundant?
Transformers 3 made a sh*tload at the box office, but it was appalling. The same applies to Still Crusin'. So it sold well? Great. It's crap. Hence why the awful title track never, ever appears on any best-ofs, ever. Why on earth are they playing it, of all the songs they could pick, why this? I completely agree with the original poster. Problem Child was a success at the cinema you know, even though it's a terrible film, so hey, maybe they should play Problem Child? Yeah, they could play it in place of All This Is That or Forever... That'd be good. I'd be happy whatever they played, i'm just happy they're playing. Can't wait for Here Comes The Night '79....

I'm surprised Mike, the master of the set list, doesn't put "Our Prayer" as the intro to the second set. Seems like one of the few places it would fit, and it would be stunning to those who've never heard it, rather than killing set momentum.

I was actually pleased to hear "Betsy" at the Berkeley show. LDC is my fave of the early LPs. Scott did a fantastic job with it. Mike's praise for Brian having written it was a bit awkward, given his many mini-masterpieces, of which this is not one, although it's a likeable enough song.

Having said that, as time goes on I have several times thought to myself, "What the hell were they doing having Scott sing  'Betsy' at their 50th anniversary show?"

Hmmm...."Ballad of Old Betsy" or 'Til I Die?

Had they played "Still Cruisin'," I may have puked on the bald head in front of me.

Pet Sounds and ASM are great openers to the second set. Problem with slapping Our Prayer in there is that the set then starts three times. And I wouldn't want to lose the other two.

I would say that each show contains about a dozen deep cuts -- PS, ASM, IJWMFTT, Sail on Sailor, the two new songs, Betsy, Heroes, Kiss Me Baby, PLMW, California Saga. Sometimes they're shuffled around, sometimes the setlist goes longer or shorter.

Personally, I'd rather Our Prayer than Add Some Music, by far.

Possibly one way to satisfy that would be to swap the encore songs around and have the encore start with Our Prayer into Good Vibrations, with a transition similar to that on Brian's 2004 Smile?

Seconded. As if it means anything: excepting Smile or 20/20 in full, that's exactly my favorite way to program those two songs.

You brought up "what sold well..."' I just answered about just how well it sold. I take my Beach Boys talk seriously, so I don't talk silly. I tried to give reasonable explanations to the silly thread. As I said, they play what they want to play and they change it up as they see fit. You guys are like cry babies. Boo hoo, they didn't play my favorite cut, boo hoo. If you think Still Cruisin' wasn't popular, then guess what? That makes it a deep cut, then.

The audience shots in the recent Australian TV program on the boys, makes these setlists seem much more daring than they are. Setlist discussions are put into a different light once you realize who these guys have to perform for every night.  The fact that they're spoiling us hardcore fans (a small number of people if there ever was one) in spite of these twist-dancing baby boomers is to be cherished as an act of love and respect from the band to their fans.

Thank you, Lenny. Absolutely.

Agree with Lenny. I was kind of shocked by being young at the show and being the only guy without a flower print shirt on. Considering who they were playing to, I was impressed by the set list. For the first time in my life, I wanted to shake Mike's hand and thank him.

Superficially, I would agree with you. For instance, I would say that the demographic in Pittsburgh skewed older, and a fair amount did not fully embrace IJWMFTT, although they politely applauded. However, you do see a bit more of a sophistication trend in other markets (such as NYC, Boston, etc.). It is what it is - and at this stage of the game, it's quite difficult to reeducate a festival crowd who has been weened a certain way in the past three decades. (perhaps the same huh moments occurred amongst some attendees during the 1993 unplugged sets).

All that being said, continual (set list) tweaks and improvements - that's the name of the game. To accept any status quo does not speak well to the storied legacy of this band imo.

Good Lord, I had no idea SC went gold. Wow, that's...uh...well, it says a lot.

Dunno about you, but a Best Of is the first place I heard it.  Same disc that introduced me to "Heroes And Villains", all those years ago.  Wish I could remember which one it was, and whether it was American or Australian.

And the biggest reason I can think of why they introduced "Still Cruisin"'?  Someone probably noticed that, in a tour that's supposed to be a celebration of a 50-year career, there was basically a 25-year hole in the middle filled only with "California Dreamin'" and "Kokomo".

Hence, "Come Go With Me", "Good Timin'", "Getcha Back", and "Still Cruisin'".

Not that I wouldn't prefer "Our Prayer" myself, or even "Rock And Roll To The Rescue", but I'm not getting hot under the collar about it...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Stop bitching! Anyone that has actually seen one of these fantastic shows would not make such an issue over SC. Most of these venue's are for large crowds and festival atmosphere's. People sit dead on their butts for California Saga (California) and jump to their feet when the car songs start. Get over it. This is not a Brian solo gig and even he was doing tons of greatest hits stuff his last few years. Yes, Marcella is a much better song than SC, but only a couple of dozen per thousand at most of these shows knows Marcella even exists. People are walking away having seen IMO the greatest band ever perform a wide gamut of great music at the age of 70 and sound fantastic. Keep it in perspective.

Ah, he'll just tell you that you're being silly. ;)

Figure I'll wade into this discussion. While I don't think "Still Cruisin'" is in anyone one of the group's better songs, it's relatively inoffensive and chances are that Mike Love's wants to band to play it. And since he is one of the guys in charge, he gets what he wants.

But regardless, we've gotten "This Whole World", "Please Let Me Wonder", "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "Good Timin'", "Heroes And Villains", "Marcella",  and "Sail On, Sailor", among others, on this tour. Show me a Beach Boys tour from within the past 35 years that was even close to having that many classic, but possibly overlooked, songs in the setlist.

And lastly, is a 2012 performance of "Still Cruisin'" anywhere on the interwebs? I couldn't find it on YouTube despite the fact I thought I'd find it there. Anyways, who sings what on this one? Do Al and Bruce still do their parts? And who does Carl's part? Brian?

 Still Cruisin' from VA Beach show:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqfVbJ5bYvw

Listening to SC for the second time ever right now. Makes me think, "Damn, I'd much rather hear 'Almost Summer.'"

And what do you suggest we do about it?

Maybe the group should dump all the hits, and just do an all deep cuts/rarities show. There'll be an ecstatic group of 25 or so people in the front row at every show, and.....a bunch of empty seats behind them.

I went to that show, it was pretty cool seeing them do that song.

"Pet sounds" could also be played in the middle. It would fit and iirc that's what is done with that song at Brian's shows. I think the only problem would be that except for David the other guys would have nothing to do.
The ASM opening is very strong and I agree that it would look strange if they all gather 'round Brian's piano in the middle of the set.
My suggestion though from another thread:
"Our prayer" right into "Honkin' down the highway". They could still do ASM before that. "Prayer" is just one minute long so it wouldn't misfit imo. "Pet sounds" could also be done as the last song before the encore like Dennis' "You're so beautiful" (look at Knebworth)

See latest 'Rolling Stone' for an eye-opening exchange between Mike and Brian regrading setlist choices.

Sample:

Brian: 'Let's play Marcella'.

Mike: 'What??

Brian: 'It's a good song, Mike'.

Brian sings Marcella, Mike unpersuaded.

Brian: 'Ok. What about Add Some Music To Your Day?'

Mike not keen. Brian points out that Mike had a hand in writing the song. Mike suddenly keen.

Yeah, and one has become a staple and the other has been circulated in and out of the set list for awhile, now. Last played: last night. Whether Mike wants it in or not, they still work together to get all the songs into some of the shows.

I wasn't saying the songs aren't being played. I was just demonstrating the two different attitudes behind the scenes, which goes some way to explaining choices such as 'Still Crusin'. 

Sounds great, really.

No. We don't know the story behind the inclusion of Still Cruisin'. What we do know is that the songs mentioned in that article are being performed after properly rehearsed.

Well of course they are different. They are not clones. I'm sure if all 7 were doing this reunion there would be more differences than now. Hell, we are two pretty big fans and we can't agree, either. The best thing to see out of all this, is that all of the members are willing to compromise, and that is very important to the success of this reunion.

It's got some oomph, but on the record the guitar pattern is more pronounced during the chorus verse.
Still cruising after [guitar riff]...

Whereas live they do the whole 'still cruisin' line with mostly a backbeat . Just sayin'.

Still say it's a cheez-mo track, but we got 49 others to choose from.

If they did it the way Kim Fowley did it, I'd love to hear them do Almost Summer!

If they did it the way Brian Wilson did it on the demo, I'd throw up with excitement

That's exactly how it went sans the bolded, fabricated bits ^_^

I wouldn't put SC in my top 50 Beach Boys' songs but I was at the Virginia Beach show and it sounded good. I enjoyed it more than Betsy.

I'd love to hear Our Prayer but Pet Sounds was a very cool set opener.

The weirdest part in the Rolling Stones article was this:

Mike plays the opening notes to "Still Cruisin'" on his saxophone.

Mike: What song is this? Does anyone know what song this is?

Brian: That's one of your best hit songs, Mike. It was a smash.

Mike plays the opening notes to "Still Cruisin'" on his saxophone.

Mike: What is this?

Al: It's a good song, Mike.

Mike plays the opening notes to "Still Cruisin'" on his saxophone.

Mike: What's this song? I can't remember what song this is.

Bruce: It's a great song, Mike.

Dave: It's one of your best songs.

lolololololololol

I love Still Cruisin', both studio and live versions. It was an almost brand new song when I heard it in my first BBs concert in 1990, here in Spain.
Also in Spain became quite famous because a tv commercial and its inclusion in the compilation that became a hit record called The Beach Boys Collection:

(http://img805.imageshack.us/img805/425/thebeachboyscollectionf.jpg)

(http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/2971/thebeachboyscollectiont.jpg)