The Smiley Smile Message Board

From the Queen Latifah website:

The Beach Boys are a key part of American music history. In their 52-year career, they’ve sold more than 100 million albums and had over 30 top 40 Hits, including classics like “Good Vibrations” and “California Girls.” They stopped by The Queen Latifah Show to perform “Fun, Fun, Fun” to celebrate the song’s 50th Anniversary.

Another great band that is celebrating it’s own 50th anniversary is the Beatles. Singer Mike Love wrote a tribute song for and about his friend George Harrison called “Pisces Brothers,” and shared the tune exclusively with Queen Latifah fans.


http://queenlatifah.com/music/performances/beach-boys-perform-live/

Been doing the rounds on boots since 2005 or so.

They played Unleash the Love live, off the same album as Pisces Brother.

Is this a sign that Mike's solo stuff will be getting a release soon?

Presumably without Daybreak?

My respect for Mike would go waaaaaayyy up if he has the guts to release a new solo album. It seems obvious to me that he is pretty proud of this work. I mean, "Cool Head, Warm Heart" was released on Songs from Here & Back, along with that ESQ CD called The Boys Of Summer that had both that song and "Love Like in Fairytales". And then to add to that, Mike got "Daybreak Over The Ocean" on the latest Beach Boys album. So, I think he should get the album out there.

Possibly what I think is stopping him is firstly that neither Capitol nor any other record label is gonna release a Mike Love solo album. And he knows that if he does release it independently or through some deal, it's probably gonna sell somewhere around 14 copies. Which would then hurt the argument of "Mr. Commerciality" about how TWGMTR only reached number three. Mike knows he needs "The Beach Boys" name to sell, and even that didn't help Summer In Paradise.

So anyways, I'd love to see him prove me wrong. And while we're at it, get Looking Back With Love out on CD, and get First Love out too. I mean, none of the stuff is that great, but the man obviously feels some affinity for his stuff, and why not man up and release it?

The problem with Mike's '05 solo project is -- with Mike trying his very best, and with the most expert musical accompaniment he's ever managed on a solo project -- it's still only about half good. Now, some of those parts are quite good indeed. But the overall record averages out to mediocre.

So true. He's just not a great songwriter. There is some really nice stuff from these sessions such as "Cool Head, Warm Heart" but there is also some pretty mediocre stuff, some even verging on plain bad.

But regardless, if he's proud of it he should release it.

Or, in a perfect world, he'd cherry pick the best of it, and get together with Brian, Al, Bruce and David (and maybe even Blondie) and use it on a new Beach Boys album.

Stuff like Pisces Brothers or Daybreak wouldn't end up on a Beach Boys album in my perfect world.

Why not just release EPs if he can't do full albums?

Fair enough. But at the same time, in a perfect world, Carl and Dennis would still be around too. So let's be honest, if there were to be another Beach Boys album, Mike would probably want another one of his songs on the album. So we might as well try to pick the best of what he has. And by the way, I think "Pisces Brothers" is pretty piss poor. And it's kinda obvious how little contact Mike had with George or any of The Beatles, since he even mentions that they sang happy birthday to him in the song.

Beats me. I'd enjoy a good ML EP every other year. :3d

I mean, I have no clue whatsoever, but I could imagine Mike's aspiration/expectation regarding his solo output might be fixed significantly higher than "just" an EP. The big solo album, you know. Like the next great American novel, or something. But like I said, who knows what his reasons (for not releasing material) are...

Considering how well his last solo album (and so far only, Looking Back With Love [1981]) did commercially and was received critically, and how he has not released any substantial collections of solo material since then, I'm not surprised he's hesitant to do so. If Brian Wilson apparently has a tough time finding label or distributor interest, I can only imagine how difficult it must be for Mike Love... Perhaps Mike just doesn't see himself as a recording artist any more and is more than content with touring and keeping alive the summer the music of The Beach Boys? That honestly probably makes him more money than a solo album would anyway. However, if he does have an interest in getting his music out there, I would think EPs every so often would be more than doable: they're quick to put together, easy to get out there (independently or otherwise), and you're not risking a lot as you would with a full-length album.

If he were to release Unleash The Love, I think we could all be happy with what's on there. Its not a bad record, and really has some great arrangements. Its a definite step up from Looking Back With Love (which is not a bad record either).

Maybe release some a live Celebration album too? Just please...keep Country Love in the vaults  :P

I like the idea of some EP's. That would work well as a vehicle Mike's stuff.

Just picturing a Mike Love ep in my mind....
8 songs clocking in at about 22 minutes total with tracks that echo "Going to the Beach", "Cruisin", "Camp California" in their scope...


promoted heavily as a summer beach party ep/ record.. (you can even remove the gaps between the songs, running them together like a mega mix)  .... it could sell  :-\  

( stretch it to 45 minutes and 20 tracks... not so much, overkill...)

nostalgia can be a scary thing  :)

I agree, and don't know why he can't release it on iTunes the way that Alan did with his solo album.  From what I've heard on YouTube, I'd say it's better than Alan's or either of Carl's solo albums, as well as some of Brian's lesser efforts.

Bandcamp also seems like a sensible distribution platform, and one which I prefer as a consumer over iTunes without question, although I don't know the specifics of how it works for the artists who sell music on it money-wise beyond that Bandcamp takes some percentage of sales. (Though even with free downloads on Bandcamp, people are more than willing to pay in support of the artist's efforts as well.)

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beach-boys-mike-love-honors-george-harrison-with-unreleased-track-20140225

And http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-love/pisces-brothers_b_4852838.html

Maybe Mike does have a publicist after all.

Concerning unreleased Mike Love tunes, I'd say that "Vicky", "Too Cruel" and "Glow Crescent Glow" would be better candidates for an imaginary new Beach Boys CD.

Don't you mean "Viggie"?

Awful song, but xoxoxo Mike Love.

Yeah, that one.

I found the song kind of funny..

New viewers beware - The Queen Latifah clip of Mike on Pisces Bro' indicates a total run time of 6 minutes; however, it feels like I started watching it just after the universe formed and finished watching about 2 minutes ago.

A TM mind trick, perhaps.

I thought it was pretty good, and that if Brian wrote it there would be a lot of praise for it. It suffers from the classic ML flaws like working in song titles (this time not his own), but the melody and the vocal is quite nice.  Better than daybreak.

Mike and Bruce have added this to their setlist according to a setlist from Japan posted on Mike's Facebook page.

is it sounding good ?