The Smiley Smile Message Board

Come on folks - the man gets too little credibility here. Jokes are made at his expense. That's not fair.

1. Al Jardine was the first true Beach Boys voice for yours truly. I was about 10 to 12 years of age, and Al sounded always optimistic, youthful,  full of energy, and God knows I needed that at the time. Later on, I got to value the others just as much, of course. But Al was Da Man for me, for a couple of years.

2. Al introduced elements of folk music, and awareness of ecological matters into the band's work. I admire him for that.

Now it's your turn. Be positive, by all means, and say good things about Al Sardine!

Al is the only member of the Beach Boys who has said anything of interest in an interview since perhaps the late 70's?

Al has by far the best voice of any surviving Beach Boy, and while it's heresy I'd say he has a better voice than Carl did for most of his last twenty years or so as well.
In my experience, Al is the most friendly of the surviving members towards fans.
On the reunion tour, Al was clearly putting in a huge effort on his backing vocals -- it was fascinating watching the concentration on his face as he was singing even the least important parts.
A Postcard From California is a far better album than most people give it credit for.

Al's lead vocal on Help Me Rhonda is stonking. Perfectly judged and executed. A classic rock and roll classic performance.

Cheers! This was the first consideration of mine that led to this thread.

Dawned on me many years ago that Brian had Al get the delivery perfect – he really sounds like a bitter spurned guy who's been drowning his sorrows and feeling sorry for himself. He's only asking Rhonda out to spite the girl who's ditched him. Bitter, bitter, bitter.

Al's got the greatest surviving Beach Boy voice but it needs that kind of external direction to perfect the delivery. He's a showman, with a habit of turning in "nice" deliveries (ref. Postcards album) which, while I can listen to them all day, could be honed to the perfection with a little extra direction from someone like Brian. Love From There to Back Again.

No Al, no Beach Boys.

I like this remark. It was, as I wrote, Al's optimistic and energetic delivery that 'caught me in the BBs trap', so to speak. I was totally won over (in the same period of my life that I fell for the work of Spector - Al, LaLa Brooks, and Ronnie Spector really spoke to my soul in those days; and boy did I need that optimism).

I usually object to the young'uns who use "swag" as an adjective, yet if they were using it to describe Al's vocal on "Honkin' Down the Highway" I'd totally think it appropriate.

"A children's song, have you listened as they play"

He's the best bus waiter on-er.  Somebody had to do it.

Isn't he the first beach boy to have more than one Appreciation Thread on this message board?

Without Al there'd be no "little" people in the Beach Boys.

Without Al picture shoots of the Beach Boys would have included more legs and feet.  :lol

I love Al's song "Susie Cincinnati" and can't see why it is omitted on all the compilations and never got played on the reunion tour. It rocks much more than many other BB songs and has a catchy riff.

I was suitably impressed when I found out that fantastic lead is played by Al. Probably his best performance on the old geetar. Are the musician credits on 15 Big Ones to be believed for this one? Brian supposedly played bass which is definitely out of character for him in 1969.

How many versions of the song exist? I'm listening to the Greatest Hits, Vol. 3 mix at the moment and I'm finding it inferior to the 15 Big Ones mix, the vocals sound too loud here which gives them a slightly forced quality.

I appreciate the Pilgrim hat Al wore in the Seventies. If this was an Al Jardine Teasing Thread, I would call it a leprechaun hat.

How short is Al anyway? I'm only 5'5" myself and I seem to recall he's around that height too?

Daryl Dragon described Al as a, 'good soldier' which fits pretty well I think. Obviously his role in the success of the band doesn't rival Mike's or Carl's and isn't in the same stratosphere as Brian's but he did make a significant contribution.

Songs like Cottonfields, Lady Lynda and Come Go With Me helped the group to sustain their popularity after Brian had pulled back and between Friends and KTSA Al wrote or co-wrote some solid songs.

He is the best singer in the band and has been for a long time and is probably the only one of the main five members to have never embarrassed the group on stage (apart from the ponytail obviously).

Al's da man in my book because;

1) As above, he nailed it on Ronda and his edgey singing helped push a great song into the strat-o-sphere
2) Although I didn't find out until after the fact, Al sowed the seed for Sloop John B, my favourite song and deal closer from 1981's Beach Boys Greatest hits
3) Al's version of California Feelin' is king and Postcards is one of the great BB solo efforts
4) He has a great name

Al's behaviour (in the press, towards fans, towards the free livers in the late seventies) strikes me as a guy trying to, and not always suceeding, make sense of a series of baffling events and interactions with seriously extreme personalities; maybe not admirable qualities, but something some of us can relate to as we blunder about our daily business.

So, turn a blind eye to MIU and Lady Liberty and embrace your inner Al.

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I'm not sure why people should turn a blind eye to Al's contribution to MIU. He only produced the vocals (not the music) after all and the lead vocals on this album are pretty strong. Al's contributions and Brian on Match Point in particular. There were never going to be great harmonies as it was tough to get more than 2 or 3 of them in the same room at the same time.

Hey, I didn't know that! Cool! I of course assumed that was Carl.

I mostly listen to the booted version from the so-called "Landlocked" reel, but the album version is ok, too. Recently I found the single mix, I didn't like that so much.

Did Al play the main riff AND the solo? Always thought the solo was Carl.

The main reason they should turn a blind eye is because MIU is a sorry pile of boring sh*t and Al, having previously played a (varied) hand in gems like Wake the World, Cottonfields @ 45rpm, It's about time, Susie C and California Saga, then subsequently delivering delights like Lady Lynda and Santa Ana, while keeping Looking down the Coast up his sleeve, was capable of much better (as were a few of the players (perhaps)).

You make a good call re Al's vocal productions as strong in light of reduced ranks and enthusiasm, so I'm happy to replace the word "MIU" in the blind eye plea, with the phrase "Al's goat sheparding skills".

 ::)

The shitness is mainly down to Brian and Ron Altbach's half-finished music and the crappy lyrics. That is the point.

Definitely agree that Al's voice is by far the best of the surviving boys. I'd actually put it at second best overall in the history of the band for my tastes (2nd to Carl). He seems friendly and likeable, and his complete and utter misremembering and mangling of historical facts comes off as kind of quirky and almost charming at times.  I also agree that Postcard is better than most people give it credit for. The version of California Feeling on there is a prime example of his strong vocals holding up...it's one of my favorite Al vocals in fact.

He's so clumsy and forgetful it's kind of cute. :D

Got the Japanese version of Postcards this week, with its multitude of bonus tracks. Played The Eternal Ballad until it's now stuck in my head on a loop! His voice makes it.

However.

My subconscious mix master now takes over the skull iplayer and at the end of each verse adds the lines:

Wake up, call me baby call me
tell me what's on your mi-i-ind
I've got a car and you're not too far
Please let me come over to you

Anyone else see the homage to that Beach Boys classic subtlety contained within the melody?

I just have my ancient Android on me or otherwise would link, but if you go on YouTube, there's a video of Alec Baldwin recording Tidepool Interlude in the studio. Now, when recording a rock album, or a pop album anyway, you'd just wear casual clothes, right? In this case wrong...if the clip can be believed, Baldwin recorded his bit in his 30 Rock clothes. Dress shirt, suit, tie -not even loosened- the works. He looks like he's about to walk out of the studio and right onto the set of a Capitol One commercial.

Although it could be that he was, from there, going directly to film something. A true story comes to mind. A member of the lounge revival group Love Jones once told me about when they were recording their second album in the '90s. Right after a take the door to the studio opened and a guy in a rumpled trenchcoat walked in. He looked around, puzzled, with his one good eye, and said: "I'm looking for where they're doing the looping."

"Right down the hall and to the left, Lieutenant," answered one of the band. "Thanks," said Peter Falk, and left. He was doing some dubbing on one of the last Columbo TV movies. I guess he was wearing the coat to stay in character.

I love Looking At Tomorrow and Santa Anna Winds. He also reminds me of Benjamin Button.

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I'm a great fan of Al too (both the man and his great singing voice), and agree with almost everything written about him in this thread.  However, AH, your comment about Al having a better voice than Carl for most of Carl's last 20 years or so is (for me, anyway) a head-scratcher.  In my opinion, Carl's voice improved as he matured – I started to notice it about the time he was recovering from that dark period in the late '70s.  Carl was a wonderful singer as a teenager and on through his 20s, but was even better later on.  Listen to his leads on songs like GOK and ICHM in the band's concerts throughout the '80s and early '90s.  To me, those vocals, more often than not, bordered on perfection.

I promise to stay off his land  ;)

Can I ask....

How is Al Jardine no longer bald (thinking about the 90s bald-mullet days)?

he's pretty thin on top but he still has Mike Love beat.

now there's something to smile about!
(http://www3.pictures.zimbio.com/gi/Al+Jardine+EMI+GRAMMY+After+Party+Arrivals+1-GVhyJeg32l.jpg)

hair plugs

He's still keepin' it clean ya'll. Day by day - day after day.

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Ran into Al when I was having breakfast at the River Inn in Big Sur back in 2006.  He was great to talk to...really nice and engaged in the convo.  He did mention that he had a couple of sections of fence to fix after the storm that had rolled thru the night before.

Cool voice. Honest guy.