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Truly awful; I'm embarrassed to even give this track any extra publicity, but listen for yourselves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WjZ1YHU4XM&t

This vocal is SO processed, I'm actually wondering if Larry Dvoskin used A.I. on it. It's that weird and artificial sounding. Past autotune.

ALSO, it's a re-write of "Waves of Love" (big surprise).

ALSO, why is Dvoskin getting co-billing on this thing now?

Al, stop it with the processed vocals (autotune or A.I. or whatever this is), stop flogging "Waves of Love" variations, and stop mining this weird little group of Larry Dvoskin songs and just go back into other tracks you've done over the years. Or find a new collaborator.

I say all this as the world's biggest Al Jardine fan, truly. Oy.

Somehow this is connected to an NFT thing Dvoskin devised:

https://superrare.com/artwork/eth/0xb932a70a57673d89f4acffbe830e8ed7f75fb9e0/beach-boys-al-jardine--the-worlds-first-nft-plus-a-superrare-cascade-of-utilities-30409

If Dvoskin is another NFT Crypto bro, that would tend to increase in my opinion the possibility that he would use A.I. on a Jardine track. 

Haven't heard the track yet, but it's my belief that Dvoskin is the guy in that partnership with Al who can't stop reworking "Waves of Love."

Are NFTs still a thing? I thought that fad was in the past..

"Al recorded wth Al"? This is exactly why our Al should ALWAYS be called "AL" and Al should ALWAYS be written with a lowercase "Ai" to avoid any confusion
(imoho)!  [Just like we hopefully do it with the otherwise unrelated "SMiLE"!]

I find every aspect of this track suspect. I get it, it's just a throwaway digital single (e.g. "Sunshine to Snowflakes", "Hurry Up Santa Claus", "California Recall Blues"), but at least on all those bland, unmemorable songs, Al's voice sounded good (and real).

Someone elsewhere brought up the idea, whether joking or not, that the "Wish" *composition* itself is actually A.I.-generated based on being trained on "Jenny Clover" and "Waves of Love." I mean, I guess that's not as likely considering the "Wish" song was cited as having being written 30 years ago (apparently seemingly all of the very small pool of songs this guy wrote with Al come from the 90s). But again, considering this Dvoskin guy kind of gives off a desperate vibe of trying to milk this tiny pool of ancient, mostly bland songs he wrote with Al, to the point of attaching it to stuff like NFT crypto, I'm not sure of anything at this point.

Al's voice sounds not only laughably robotic on this track, it sounds amateurishly manipulated and mixed (and produced). It has bad 80s/90s synth patches (maybe they're actually from the 90s!), and you can hear whatever's being done to Al's voice jut in and out of the mix. The inflections and singing style don't even fully match what Al normally does, which is one of several reasons why I have a deep suspicion that A.I. was used in some fashion on this vocal. It could be Al singing guided by an A.I. trained on his own voice (in process essentially attempting to "de-age" his voice), or somebody else singing guiding his voice. I have no proof of this, and I'm far from an expert at spotting A.I. fakes. What I *can* say is that whatever has been done to this vocal makes it *sound like* a fake A.I. vocal.

Al Jardine *still* has a pretty good singing voice! As all of his contemporaries headed towards their mid-80s, I think the erosion of singing quality is accelerating. But less so for Al than others, certainly among Beach Boys. He's still the Beach Boy with the most intact singing voice, and one of the most intact singing voices of any of his still-living contemporaries.

Al needs someone else in there guiding him towards an album. The "press release" (which sounds like Dvoskin wrote it himself; or maybe he used ChatGPT for that too) offers a dire threat of more material like this to come in the form of a new Al Jardine album.

I think we all liked the first one or two versions of "Waves of Love" when we heard that. But beyond that, I would like Dvoskin to say as far away from Al's music as possible.

Even just letting Alan Boyd go through Al's outtakes and put an album of that out, that would be far preferable. I'll even take "Crumple Car" over this Dvoskin Deepfake/Uncanny Valley of sub-par 90s leftovers.

I think it's a beautiful track. I love the lyrics, melody, and chords. For whatever reason it sounds nostalgic to me. I can definitely hear the vocal effects talked about above, but I'm still able to enjoy it.

I do think we're at the point with these guys where we probably don't have to sh*t on everything original these guys do. Al is 81 years old. The guy has every right to use auto-tune or a supposed cryptocurrency-AI-robot if he wants to in order to create the art he wants to create. And granted, we have every right to critique the art. But that being said, it's like if we were to critique an elderly professional painter's work because they used an iPad in their old age instead of real oil paints...yes you could critique it, but it's kind of a dick thing to do.

And no I'm not saying Al is some helpless old man putzing around the halls of a nursing home; but to keep things in perspective, he really is living in the latter years of his life, and he's just releasing some music for his fans...I doubt he's releasing this thinking he's going to blow up the Billboard top-40. Given how toxic this fandom is, I applaud Al for stepping out and releasing music in the face of what was clearly going to be a negative response (because whether it's Mike, Brian, or Al, we all have something negative to say about it).

And I realize that Al has the best voice of the remaining BBs and he should try to use it naturally. Well, none of us were in the recording studio with Al when he mixed this thing, so we have no idea what the reasons were for mixing it this way. Given the autotune on other Beach Boy related releases in the last decade, this is far from the worst I've heard.

Anywho, I honestly like the track, and it has a great vibe/atmosphere. Looking forward to his upcoming releases as well.

I'll say this. I suspect Al Jardine had very little to do with this track past co-writing and demo-ing it back in the 90s. I think he's just letting his buddy do whatever he wants, down to putting his (Dvoskin's) name right on the cover. I think logistically speaking my issues are most likely entirely with Dvoskin. I think he's behind the press releases (really, name-checking "Pet Sounds" with this?), and he's listed as the producer on the track.

My only issue with Al would be signing off on this.

I don't want to go down the path of decades of Brian Wilson discourse about what is or isn't happening with or without their permission or knowledge. I don't think Al Jardine is incapacitated or unable to make decisions. But I also think in this case he's letting Dvoskin kind of just run with this track, and I do wonder if Al was fully involved in crafting whatever was done to this vocal.

Go back to my 20 years of posts; I'm the biggest Al Jardine fan around and I've defended him many times against a myriad of cases of being dismissed, marginalized, a victim of uber-Mike Love-defenders, etc.

Al's "Postcards" album is pretty good. I dig it. Most of his standalone singles (I mentioned several of them in a previous post) are not very good songs. They tend to be inoffensive and bland and simple. But I've never just s*it on them. Very little original, new stuff these guys have done (especially aside from Brian) in recent years/decades has been particularly great. I don't dwell on it, but I mean, I'm also not going to give it all a thumbs up.

I think as a composition "Wish" is not good. It sounds extremely bland and pedestrian. And no, I can't just ignore that this is these two guys, most likely Dvoskin specifically, reusing "Waves of Love" AGAIN! C'mon!

This Dvoskin guy reminds me of those guys over the years that would hang around like Joey Molland of Badfinger.

It's like, this is NOT an Andy Paley/Tony Asher type of situation. It's not even a Robert White Johnson sort of situation. I think Dvoskin somehow finagled writing a few tracks with a Beach Boy 30 years ago, remained friendly with him, and keeps talking him into revisiting that same small pool of not-great songs, and/or talking him into letting him (Dvoskin) just do what he wants with them.

This is one of the weirdest lead vocals I can recall on any BB or BB-related track. Is it the "worst autotune" any of them have ever employed? I'm honestly not sure because I'm not convinced autotune is the only thing going on here. Is is the worst vocal ever? I don't even know how to answer that, because it doesn't really sound like a human singing this.

I don't think there's anything brave about putting this track out; as if it was assured that anything would be ripped to shreds by "toxic" fans. His previous singles have never seen such a reaction. I mean, they don't get much of a reaction *at all* because they're so slight. But there's plenty of evidence that when he or the group does good work (e.g. "Postcards", "From There to Back Again"), fans respond well to it. And most of the forgettable stuff isn't really raked over the coals. Every time he's put out another slight single, I've noted that his voice sounds great and that's about all you can say.

One of the best things I've seen any of these guys do post-reunion was a little video of Al with some other guys singing "If I Had a Hammer" in a studio. Al sounds GREAT on it. All natural voice. He's still got it. Ironically, guess who's in on that session? Larry Dvoskin! But Dvoskin didn't produce the track, and didn't write it.

I'm sure my in-progress near-exposé on this song sticks out, because frankly the discourse is very dead lately concerning these guys. I dig seeing other opinions. This track is so low key, I don't know if we'll ever be able to dig much deeper on what sort of shenanigans were involved with Al's voice on this track. I guess we'll see....

I mean I do see what you're saying, I just don't agree that it's that bad. I don't know, I think lately I've become more of a glass half full person, at least when it relates to offerings by these guys. I mean, I certainly don't like everything that has been released this past decade - but I am trying to find the gems. It's like Brian's 'Right Where I Belong' track - for the life of me I still can't understand what Brian is singing in those opening lines and the computer-vocal stuff is very distracting, but most of the track is gorgeous so I can forgive it. Same with this for me.

I'll say that I feel like Al has wasted SO much opportunity/potential in this last decade. Al has such a great voice, his son has such a great voice, Al has his own barn studio, with a quick phone call he can gather some of the best musicians around. It's just weird that he wasn't able to come up with some concept of another album to release, or even some original singles.

I agree, I'm all for glass half full, especially as I get older. But when the glass is like 5% full, I just can't do it man. If the vocal thing wasn't present, I'd probably just listen and forget about it. But the one-two punch of this being arguably *worse* than his other singles from a song perspective, and then this weird voice thing that, whatever it is, is worse than any autotune we've heard on BB or solo tracks before, it just feels extra suspect.

Larry Dvoskin has always come across as sort of an opportunist, overblowing his tangential association with one Beach Boy that apparently only ever yielded a few songs 30 years ago. He won some good will when "Waves of Love" first surfaced and was pretty good. But anything since then that's had his name attached to it has been not good, and has often had a sort of weird slight hustle vibe to it. Again, some of these things in isolation are just normal lower-tier show business crap.

It's because the "press release" for this track threatens a full album that I'm probably most motivated to just say publicly that an album should not proceed in this fashion in any way, either in terms of working with Dvoskin or putting out this type of material. I mean, Al's often said he's working on a track or album and it usually doesn't happen, so I don't know how legit this latest album threat is.

At best, "Wish" is a case of Dvoskin or whomever trying to get an 82-year-old Al Jardine to sing a Peter Cetera-esque piano ballad, and I think Al's still pretty-intact voice is not suited to *that* range. Again, I think that "If I Had a Hammer" range is better. Even those janky Christmas songs he's put out show he has a good voice and sounds good in those ranges. Even "From There To Back Again", now recorded like 13 years ago, didn't require as much range (and even with autotune slathered on it unfortunately sounds much better than "Wish" just from a recorded vocal point of view).

That's the understatement of the year. It truly is a shame in many ways.


I like the song. I do not like the production. With a song like this, all it needs is a piano and a vocal, and it would humanize it ten-fold.

What was most jarring for me is how when Al's voice first enters the mix, it's full of hiss and other artifacts, and then it sounds like a noise gate was set to close immediately after the vocal, and you can hear it to the point where it is distracting. I know nothing about how this track was created or mixed, but it sounds like they flew in a lead vocal from an old cassette demo, and had a noise gate on the track to try to get rid of everything on that track as soon as the phrase ends. There is just too much noise on the vocal track to think that was a new vocal cut in the last year or even 10 years. Imagine the way "Free As A Bird" and "Real Love" sound when they used the best available circa-1994 technology to fly in Lennon's vocals from noisy cassette demos, where you can hear the background noise of the original tapes stopping dead when Lennon's phrases end. The difference is that was 30 years ago when improved tech to clean those things up was not available in the studio. This is too jarring of a sound and it distracts from a nice lead vocal from Al in a 2024 release.

I'm sorry, but that mixing is amateurish and could be made much less noticeable in any off-the-rack digital mixing program. I don't understand the decision to roll with this mix. And the keyboard sounds seem to be from the 90's era as well.

I'm not out to bash the track, but it makes me sad when bad production sinks what is a pretty good song, a song that could be great actually with better sonics. Again I know nothing about how this track was cobbled together, but it sounds like they flew in an old vocal from a cassette or something rather than cutting a new one.

Despite the unusual mixing, I think we should all be thankful we're still getting new music from AL period.

Exactly how I feel.

Sounds like Jenny Clover is spots, more than Waves of Love to me. A nice little tune, but I'm not sure would have been able to sing in that range at times during the song w/o some sort of altered assistance.

So I posted this on the other board first, but of course I'd be interested to add in here...
For me at least it seems that perhaps Mr. Dvoskin perhaps was listening to some indie music, perhaps like Panda Bear/Animal Collective, Grizzly Bear, and the like. And then having heard that crazy echoey, reverbed-out vocal stylings, tried to do the same on production with this song of his and Al's. Or maybe they just recorded his voice like crap, which would make zero sense as Al has a top level recording studio at his fingertips.

Now the problem with this is that this style of song does not call for this kind of vocal effect AT ALL in my humble opinion. A drier vocal would worked so much better. Of course that wouldn't stop it from sounding like "Waves of Love" or "Jenny Clover" or whatever, but that honestly doesn't bother me. It a song is good, it's good, no matter what it sounds like.

Having said that, does the fact that this reminds one of those songs tell us something about why Alan hasn't put out much solo material? Perhaps it does. I'm not saying the cupboard is bare, but do we really think he has all that much relatively original music to share? He's definitely nowhere near the productivity of Brian, but I'd even say as a songwriter, Mike Love, Carl and surely Dennis probably have much bigger catalogs of worthy unreleased original songs (not covers or re-recordings). Only my opinion of course.

I just think both Al and the song deserve a better production to reach more listeners - This production just isn't good, and take it out of the BB's fan bubble, it's distracting enough to put off listeners. And again, the worst part is that this song is IMO a really sweet, good and compelling song.

I'll repeat this again, I do not think this is a vocal that was recorded recently, or perhaps not even in recent decades...but I have no knowledge to base that on, just my ears. As Jim said, Al has a professional studio at his disposal...one does NOT record a lead vocal on a softer ballad with that kind of noise in the track, and then use a noise gate in such an obvious and ham-fisted way to where it is that audible for even those who don't know what a noise gate is or what it does. Al's vocal is full of tape hiss and other artifacts, and then it cuts off immediately and audibly, not at all trying to blend it into the texture of the track.

I seriously think this is an old vocal taken from a cassette demo or something similar from the past, and flown in to a backing track. If they were going for an indie/lo-fi vibe, this is NOT how you do it, You don't have tape noise (or whatever hiss it is) on the main component of the song, then have it cut immediately.

And the 30-year-old sounding keyboard/synth sounds...those don't suggest a newly recorded track either.

I could be wrong, I could very well be wrong, and I hope to have this clarified. But this does not sound like a new Al track recorded at his pro facility Red Barn anytime in the past year. It may have been mixed there, but those keys and vocals are not modern. And AI does not create a tape hiss artifact as heard on the vocal track, and it is not a deliberate aesthetic production choice to "go Lo-Fi" by having the vocal track sound like that.

Al deserves better, and he has the facilities on his property to do it right. I just don't understand this one at all, unless it's an attempt to get out an old demo or something. Then label it as such!

I don't know that Al has a ton of A-grade material in his solo vault. But I'm sure he has an album or two's worth of solid material. He has named several tracks that didn't make the cut for "Postcards", and some stuff has leaked out over the years. He absolutely has better stuff in the vault that the 17th version of "Waves of Love", or "Jenny Clover", or this "Wish" track. That's what makes this so frustrating. I don't think he has a "Pet Sounds" in him waiting to be released. But he absolutely has a "Postcards 2" that could be released without going back to the well of this wonky Dvoskin material.

"Wish I could have you back again" = "I'm running on the waves of love"

Same melody.

Arrangement wise "Wish" does sound like "Jenny Clover."

It's no coincidence that all three of these songs are Dvoskin "collaborations."

And I say "so what?"
How many times have the Beach Boys, including Brian...especially Brian...recycled old melodies?
I like this song. Maybe love it.
Thankful Al is still blessing us with new music.

I'd like to think I've mellowed over the years. And I'll say I agree with you on not caring about a recycled melody, especially as none of the above were hit songs. And yes, Brian has definitely recycled many melodies. Also I'm super happy any of the guys are putting out new music.

However, you really think the production on this is good?

I've heard worse, much worse. My only complaint is the clarity of the vocal. It makes Al's voice sound kind of scratchy.

I was simply specifying where the melody was re-used in that spot in the song. No judgement as to the quality in making that particular point.

Having said that, my answer to "so what?" is that this is not *at all* the same as Brian revisiting "Shortenin' Bread" or "Ding Dang", etc. This is some *other* dude who wrote a song with Al, continuing to milk it (no Jenny Clover pun intended) both creatively and commercially in the absence of ANY other music being released, of which we know Al has plenty.

I never minded Brian reusing a melody or song here or there when it was *his* song and project, and while he was also releasing plenty of other material, and not some outside collaborator trying to *literally* commodify/commoditize/amortize the same one thing over and over.

And, as mentioned, I think even stripping away the poor, amateur production on this thing, and the possibility of A.I. or other shenanigans, and also setting aside the redundant nature of mining "Waves of Love" yet again, I think "Wish" is a bland, soporific song that, with Dvoskin's name attached, feels utterly insincere.

Al already tread this exact same territory with the much preferable (though still not a favorite of mine) "And I Always Will", without Dvoskin being involved.

I'm very glad Al is still spry and energetic and doing gigs, etc. But he seems perpetually unable ("Postcards" being the one exception) to get his s**t together and release music that isn't amateur/novelty status. As I've been saying, he has the tracks to do it!

It would be like Brian shelving the '88 album and only releasing "Just Say No", or shelving "No Pier Pressure" and only releasing "The Waltz." It's like, great, I'm glad they're out there releasing something and staying active, but it's kind of absurd and insulting to expect fans to just "be thankful" for anything and not have any type of discernment or critical view.

Having said all of *that*, I do think specifically the stuff going on with this vocal on "Wish" is by far the weirdest, most *potentially* troubling thing about this track. As I already mentioned, if this was a warm, analog, pure Al vocal on "Wish", I'd be happy to say "Al's voice sounds good", and not say much else, and move on.

But the confluence of all these things means I think it's totally justified to take this track to task on multiple levels.

I hope Al keeps creating and that the next thing is better across the board.

So I haven't had a chance to listen to "Wish" yet, but I do remember the NFT page being up back in 2020 or 2021.  I'm not sure if the song overdubs/post-production/whatever had been completed at that time, but I definitely remember the NFT page because I thought it was so ridiculous.  Another way to tell that it dates back to 2021 is to use the number of days Dvoskin says on the page it took to complete the song.  After dividing that by 365 and adding it to 1993, it comes out to 2021 (or maybe 2022), which makes sense since the package includes tickets to a Brian Wilson concert "of your choosing" depending on pandemic restrictions/protocol, and since there really haven't been any major restrictions since 2022, that sounds about right.  I'll edit this post, or post again, once I listen to the song itself.

The initial fan reaction to "Wish" reminds me of when Brian released his GIOMH LP lol.

Some more info in this article... https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/brian-wilson-beach-boys-tribute-song-al-jardine-1235091183/ (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/brian-wilson-beach-boys-tribute-song-al-jardine-1235091183/)

EDIT:

Al Jardine Drops New Song ‘Wish,’ Plots Shows With Resurrected Brian Wilson Band
Nostalgic song is a loving tribute to Brian and Dennis Wilson: "We're all wishing that things were the way they used to be, especially at our age"

By Andy Greene

September 2, 2024
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - JULY 23: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee Al Jardine, founding member of The Beach Boys, performs onstage during the "Friends and Family" tour at Saban Theatre on July 23, 2023 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Scott Dudelson/Getty Images)
Al Jardine has released a new song in tribute to Brian Wilson and Dennis Wilson. Scott Dudelson/Getty Images
A little over 30 years ago, Al Jardine looked out onto the Pacific Ocean near his home in Big Sur, California, and thought back to his carefree youth with Brian and Dennis Wilson. “It just dawned on me how much I missed them,” Jardine says, who was actively touring in the Beach Boys with Mike Love and Carl Wilson at this time. “Dennis, of course, had passed, and Brian was pretty much out of the action. I felt very emotional.”

He wrote a sketch of a song called “Wish” that he tucked away until this past May when his longtime songwriting partner Larry Dvoskin suggested they finally finish it. Working together, they created a sweet, nostalgic ode to the Wilson brothers, and days gone by. “I could see you standing there, smiling in the sun,” they wrote. “We were both so young, and in love when /you gave your precious gift, a sparkling innocence/I owe you so much thanks for this.”

They recorded it this past May with Jardine on lead vocals and bass, Dvoskin on harmony vocals, piano, and synths, and Taylor Simpson on drums. It’s available now on all streaming services. “It’s a good message because right now we’re all wishing that things were the way they used to be, especially at our age,” says Jardine, “because our memories are wonderful, our musical memories are intact, and it’s just important to finish these great songs that we’ve written.”

Jardine hopes the song will eventually appear on a follow-up to his 2010 solo LP A Postcard From California, which featured guest appearances by Neil Young, Glen Campbell, David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and David Marks. “This song is kind of like the appetizer,” says Jardine, who notes that he’ll donate a portion of the proceeds from the single to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “I’m actually working on a lot of unfinished tunes that are pretty close to being done. They come from all different backgrounds and fields of my musical endeavors over the years. My hope is to get a vinyl out for Record Store Day.”

As “Wish” demonstrates, Jardine remains in stellar vocal form, especially considering he just turned 82. He attributes that largely to clean living, and staying clear of drugs and alcohol. “Brian and I used to both be avid non-smokers,” he says. “We were militant. When Carl came to a session with a cigarette, Brian would pull it out his mouth and step on it. And then all out of nowhere, Brian became a four-pack-a-day smoker, which to this day, I still don’t get it. It dramatically changed his voice. But he has other issues that probably I wouldn’t understand either. But my voice survived. It also might be because I eat a lot peanut butter.”

That voice was a powerful tool in Brian Wilson’s touring band over the past couple of decades. But Wilson hasn’t performed since the summer of 2022. He now uses a wheelchair for mobility, and has been placed under a conservatorship because he’s living with “a major neurocognitive disorder.”

Jardine has played a series of small-scale solo shows over the past two years, but he’s plotting a return to the road alongside Brian Wilson’s touring band. “Brian has agreed to allow me to use the name of his band to resurrect that incredible Brian band that we worked with so wonderfully for the last 20 or 30 years,” says Jardine. “I’m looking forward to meeting up with him shortly and working out a schedule to do a couple of benefit concerts that we can do in L.A., and then maybe kick off an actual tour from there maybe early next year.”

He’s not sure exactly how they’ll bill themselves, but he can imagine it being something like “The Brian Wilson Band Presented by Fellow Beach Boy Al Jardine.” “Brian just isn’t physically in shape to join us,” says Jardine. “But he’s a strong individual and he’s got stamina. It wouldn’t surprise me if he could make a few of the shows in the Los Angeles area where we intend to do a trial performance.”

In a change from the past, Jardine hopes to add a video component to the show. “We never did video with Brian’s band,” he says. “I never understood that. But I think that dimension would really improve the quality of the show. I’ll also tell stories to inform the audience about how the music was made essentially. It could be a lot of fun.”

He hasn’t worked out a setlist yet, but he presumes it will be a mixture of Beach Boys hits and deeper cuts from the group’s overlooked Seventies albums. The Mike Love incarnation of the Beach Boys, meanwhile, plays a set focused almost exclusively around the Sixties hits.

“Mike does the Sixties really well,” says Jardine. “That can be a blessing and a curse, but apparently people are still coming to see him. People love to hear the same songs, and there’s a new generation of fans. And Mike seems to enjoy that. That’s the important part. But I found it tedious after a while. So now we have this opportunity to express some of the more esoteric things.” (A small list of the “esoteric” that Jardine is thinking about adding into the show includes “The Right Time” from Brian Wilson’s 2015 LP No Pier Pressure, and “Roller Skating Child” from 1977s The Beach Boys Love You.)

Jardine and Love haven’t toured together since the 2012 Beach Boys reunion tour, but they did spend considerable time together earlier this year promoting the Disney+ documentary The Beach Boys. “Despite the legal crap and everything that went down over the years, we can still talk,” he says. “Well, he’s a little hard of hearing now. I’m not quite sure if he hears anything I’m telling him, but we still have that common denominator between us. It works out.”

So Al's song is a tribute to Brian and Dennis? But not Carl?

Al going on tour with Brian's band would be lovely. I fondly remember the NYC Beacon Theater they all did in 2019, with e.g. deep cuts from Friends and Surf's Up sprinkled among the hits. He seems to be describing something similar here (Roller Skating Child, lol!). Really hope it can happen!

Carl hadn't passed when it was written in tribute to Denny and Brian.

But it was just released...er...dropped NOW in 2024, so it feels like Al is overlooking the third Wilson brother.

Perhaps Al doesn’t want to lose the specific sentiment of the song. Or put another way: perhaps, internally, he just views that song as specifically connected to Brian and Dennis in that specific moment in time and doesn’t see any necessity in changing that viewpoint 30 years later solely for optics.

I doubt anyone questions Al’s love for Carl. And in the context of Al’s simple/specific bio of the song, it makes sense why Carl isn’t mentioned as part of the tribute.

This is going to piss at least one of you off, but I bet Dae Lims could take this track and make it sound like a million bucks. (At the very least clean up the noise gate effect.)

I couldn't agree more with this. Dae Lims took 'Thank Him' - a very rough demo(?) track that had every sonic problem on it, and made it into a masterpiece. Tbh, I also love the original 'Thank Him' demo as well - sonic issues and all. I feel the same about this 'Wish' track - it's not perfect, but I'm not unable to hear 'around' the sonic issues. It just sounds like a cool track that, yeah, Dae Lims could absolutely make even better.

I'm not pissed off or urinated cause I don't know who Dae Lims is.

Aw, that's kind. It's a long shot, but I'd love the opportunity to help Al finish the unfinished songs he mentioned, not as an "AI guy", but as a producer/co-writer.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't you do that cover of "That's Why God Made The Radio" years ago?  If so, that one was pretty spiffy.  Your arrangements of "Walk On By" and "Return To Pepperland" alone would give you the credentials to do something more interesting than this song for sure.

As for the "Wish" song, I wish they would have worked on the production more.  Al's vocal (which is quite nice for a guy his age) sounds like it was plucked from a lo-fi and completely lossy MP3 file and the mix itself feels a little on the cheap side.  It sounds bad even listening to the 24-bit version you can purchase off Qobuz.  And the never-ending ties to "Waves Of Love" are just straight-up irritating at this point.  

With all that being said, dare I suggest that there (http://are) some actual pleasant moments in the song; I think the whole thing needs to be reworked and definitely remixed though.  

I'm not a fan of the fake A.I. vocals, but yes, that A.I. fake vocal stuff on YouTube sounds better than whatever Dvoskin did to this Jardine track.

Al needs someone to finesse his actual voice in the studio (and/or mine the vaults), and not process it so much. There are ways to "massage" his voice without resorting to autotune or other heavy effects.

The question is whether anyone in Brian's band knows.

I'll say it again: The noise on Al Jardine's lead vocal track are not AI or "effects", it's source noise which they then tried to gate out of the track. Which means that vocal could have been taken from an old demo or something and grafted onto this new release. That kind of noise is not something you would get even using a cheap retail-store microphone.

And if this track was conceived before Carl died, "a little over 30 years ago" as that article said, it would make even more sense if they found an old demo from circa 1994 and tried to do a "Free As A Bird" thing with it because the vocal sounds like it came from an old tape demo and the keyboards sound like exactly the 90's era from which this song was apparently written.

And if that's the case, they should just say that's what this release is. If it's not the case, and that is a "new" vocal track, holy sh*t that's a bad job of engineering and production to be blunt.

What disappoints me is Al and Mike previously have said Brian could still contribute in some way. Nice thought perhaps but from what we have seen of late, please let him be.

All of the initial 2012 versions of "Waves of Love" had slightly similar wonky things going on with Carl's vocal.

It seems like on these Dvoskin tracks they sometimes try to go back to the old recordings (in the case of "Waves of Love", a 90s soundcheck recording) and try to extract stuff from them.

As for Al's lead on "Wish", I hear the background noise jutting in and out. That does sound messy. That's what the "noise" is I'm sure. But there's more going on beyond that. It's *extensively* processed with *something*. It's a robo-Jardine vocal. I don't have any interest in burning time trying to forensically determine which of a zillion effects or plug ins or apps Dvoskin used on the track. It sounds unnatural to the point that it sounds *like* an A.I. vocal (and that noise-gate thing adds to that effect).

Everything production-wise sounds off on the track, including the cheesy 80s/90s pan flute (or whatever it is) synth sample.

I don't know a lot of extensive details, but I can say that I've heard going some time back that there have been various discussions about Al fronting some configuration of Brian's touring band. I don't know who has been privy at various junctures, but I can say that I don't believe Al is just pulling this idea out of thin air.

The idea has for years been a no-brainer from a conceptual point of view, but I think there are also a ton of logistics involved in trying to do something like this. Is it run by BriMel (or whatever entity would be in charge of Brian affairs)? Meaning essentially the same business and operating machine as 2022 and before, just without Brian in attendance? Or is this some other operation with possibly Brian's name being licensed out for billing (e.g. some variation of "The Brian Wilson Band"). If it's a new entity, how involved is Al on the business side and decision-making side?

Separate from that, there's the practical issues involved in booking shows. They need careful billing and advertising so that people understand it's a show fronted by Al Jardine with no active Brian involvement. And also, they would probably need to do a few "test" shows (which Al mentions), because it would take some finesse to figure out what type of venues to book. They'd presumably have to go on the smaller side, but bigger than the clubs that Al typically plays. And of course, they have to figure out how this works financially to be able to pay for the huge band, even if they did pare it back a bit. But they probably couldn't pare it back too much, as the whole conceit of it would be to see *that band* backing Al.

And really, they probably need to amp this stuff up and do it sooner rather than later. Having just seen the rough shape Jeff Lynne is in on his "farewell" ELO tour, seeing a drastic turn in his shape in just the last year and last few years, there's no telling how long Al will still be up for this type of things.

I just watched a recent Mike/BBs show, and Mike's sounding *very rough* himself. Al's kind of all that's left.

Might be the first step in the door. Take 'Wish', polish it off and hand it back to Al's people. Perhaps the production aspect is one of his roadblocks.

I think the only way to possibly "fix" "Wish" would be to either have Al re-sing it now, or get the source recording and see if it's salvageable. There's no way to un-do what's on the finished track.

I picked that up watching the Greek show on YT this week. Mike was often rusty on one off shows or at the start of the summer, but for an end of a summer tour I was quite shocked. If that is the quality going forward I hope those around him have a talk about retiring.

I saw the band in Sherman, TX last month and Mike sounded pretty much exactly how he sounded when I saw them in 2012 and 2014.

I certainly haven't listened to every show that's out there, but I haven't heard any live recording of Mike, from post-2020 certainly, that sounds as solid as how he sounded back in 2012.

Shots fired...  :o


https://www.facebook.com/alanjardine

Al getting saucy.

Mike probably already has shows booked into 2027, so I'm not sure what Al thinks can happen.

And really, the time for a viable reunion, even without Brian, has passed. I'm not saying something can't be put together as a one-off recording or something, maybe even with Brian involved. But gigs, and certainly tours, it's just too late. Without Brian it kind of seems pointless, and Mike's voice is in really rough shape.

One of the only things I can see as being a viable "new reunion" sort of project would be compiling a "new" album out of the TWGMTR leftovers and whatever else, but I think even with Melinda and Joe Thomas gone and Brian out of action, Mike probably still wouldn't want to work with those Brian/Joe songs.

As for Al with Brian's band, I wouldn't be surprised if this upcoming charity gig with Al fronting some of Brian's guys is the one of the only times we see that sort of show. I just don't see how Al could mount a tour with that full band and not lose money. And those backing guys were already not exactly getting rich off their pay touring with Brian, so I don't think a significant pay cut for a Jardine tour would be feasible.

Sadly, agree with all.

It's not surprising that Al feels this way *privately* given the years/decades of friction between them, but him actually posting it seems like 'eh nothing will ever happen with Mike anyway so might as well take a public shot or two'. Interesting that if we read this dig literally Al is still peeved about the outcome of the 2012 reunion.

These two have met quite a few times since 2012 and both have said they do talk occasionally. I could be wrong but it would not surprise me if it’s a private joke between them. Hopefully, nothing to see here…Move along.

Is Al joking? I mean, I guess, in a way.

But no, Al even jokingly goading Mike to drop his planned-years-ahead-of-time lucrative "Beach Boys" tour and join Al and Brian's band (on a tour that may or may not even happen), with a chaser of "don't worry, I won't fire you", that's not just a "private joke between them." That's absolutely a jab from Al, regarding a very PUBLIC thing that happened in 2012. It's not a particularly dire jab, but that has as much to do with Al's continued impotence regarding anything to do with the group/corporate machinations.

Yes, Al has met up with Mike and had conversations now and then since 2012. It may never have gone back to the most icy early 2000s period where Al and Mike weren't talking and Mike was not even uttering Al's name in interviews. But there is *always* going to be some level of undercurrent of backbiting and group/corporate politics and ill feelings. It obviously waxes and wanes at various points, and I think Al and Mike genuinely also have warm feelings and affection as well.

But I can't imagine, after all we know about these guys and this band, reading that post from Al and STILL after a THOUSAND years into this saga, thinking it *isn't* tinged with the usual layer of Beach Boys-brand politics. I think it's mostly innocuous given their age and the current corporate setup with Iconic, but it's not 100% innocent fun in-jokes either.

I don't blame Al for still being pissed about how C50 ended in 2012.  Let him jab Mike, in my opinion, since (as HeyJude states) there's no chance of any reunion at this stage (with the possible exception of revisiting TWGMTR-era studio material). 

With regards to Al touring with Brian's band, isn't it possible that Al could pay the band at the same rate Brian paid them?  After all, Al picked up a share of the Iconic money and could technically "float" the whole operation, even if it loses (some?) money in the process.

Yes, I suppose all of the BRI shareholders are rich enough that they could float some length of touring out of pocket, or partially out of pocket. But touring costs add up fast. I don't think Al could pay fully out of pocket for like a year-long tour.

Could he pay the band members at the same rate and just cover any shortfalls that ticket sale revenue doesn't cover, for like a 5 or 10-gig mini tour? I would assume so. Is it fair to expect that of him, or ask that of him? I have no idea.

I think Al has been breaking even or losing a bit of money on his own touring for awhile now. So I don't think he cares too much about money. But I don't know if he's interested in cutting checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars to do 6 gigs with Brian's band.

They could try to amortize the touring cost a bit by maybe doing a quickie live album or something, I dunno.

So I was "lurking" over at the other board the other day, and I saw their thread about Al possibly going on tour with Brian's band.  I think it is very interesting that David Leaf has endorsed the idea.  Just curious, but do we know if he is still in contact with/close with Brian?


I guess I didn't realize how expensive touring can be, especially with a band the size of Brian's.  I'm personally guessing that, if at least a couple shows go through, that Al will use Ed Carter and Bobby Figueroa too (in place of Bob Lizik and Mike d'Amico), or maybe not use Jim Laspesa and have Bobby Figueroa on drums and Mike d'Amico on percussion (or vice-versa?). 

On a semi-related topic, how did Joe Thomas have the connections to finance something like C50 anyway?

There are others that more closely follow the players in Brian's band, but I did recently see a blurb that Probyn got a gig to tour extensively next year with Weird Al. Don't know how that would impact other tour schedules.

I think David Leaf's feelings about the nature of a tour with Al and Brian's band are shared by most fans. I think most people would dig the show. But I don't know how much Leaf is aware or, or thinking about, the financials and logistics of such a tour. 

But the financials are always going to be a big issue, if they are truly trying to keep to the idea of essentially seeing the 2022 tour band minus Brian.

As mentioned before, Al could pare the band down, and he probably could use some of the old BB backing band guys like Bobby Figeuroa and Ed Carter and save some money there. But at the point where he would be dropping 3 or 4 of Brian's backing band, it would start to look more like "AL Jardine's Endless Summer Band" with a few guys from Brian's band.

It would probably be kind of disingenuous to go out with any sort of "The Brian Wilson Band" billing if you're missing 1/3 of that band or something, even keeping in mind that Brain's band has made changes over the years.

Al clearly hasn't been able to get a ton of traction booking his own solo shows, either the "Endless Summer Band" shows, or the gigs where Carnie and Wendy are added and it's a "Family & Friends" deal. So I don't think Al just adding like Darian and Mertens and a few other Brian players would, alone, make a big difference. Al would need the "Brian Wilson Band" naming rights, and would need as full a contingent of Brian's band as possible. And even then, remember that Brian's *own* tours have often been a case of just breaking even, and the players in Brian's band have not gotten rich off that gig over all these years. Even a Brian-approved "Al Jardine and the Brian Wilson Band", even with Blondie, would have to pay the players less and book smaller venues. I don't know how that works financially. Especially if indeed they would actually plan to make it a true "Deep Cuts" tour.

Despite severe mixed feelings, if this were like 7 or 8 years ago, I would probably consider doing  some epic "Peace Accords" meetings and getting Al, Mike, Bruce, Dave, and Blondie out on a "Beach Boys" tour with Brian's backing band. It probably wouldn't have flown even back then, and in 2024 I think the voices apart from Al (and I guess probably Dave) aren't there anymore.

I think Al would probably be served best by doing a hand full of big production live shows, shooting it for video and audio releases, and then working on some good studio stuff.

Got to admit, when you mentioned going on tour with ‘Weird Al’ I had to re-read it for the correct context. Got it now.  ;D
I doubt the sums work for a Al (Jardine) tour with Brian’s band tbh, and ever would. Al’s found a sweet little niche for himself with his trio. Something different with a ‘Story Teller’ twist that works. I don’t think it is an insult to call it a hobby band. It is and at a minimal cost. Does he really need the stress of a bigger business/ high risk outfit at 82? Definitely not.

I don't think Al does the Storyteller shows anymore.  I'd love to see him in any format; it's too bad that he has barely any name recognition and that promoters won't/aren't able to book more dates for him.

Correct, it has been awhile since Al did the 3-piece Storytellers band shows. I think he did 3 gigs in 2022 that may have been "Storytellers" gigs. Other than that, he hasn't done that format since pre-shutdown.

For the last few years, he has mostly been doing his "Endless Summer Band" shows, which is essentially variations of the same band he's been using since the 1998 "Family & Friends" days, just minus Adam Jardine and the Wilson sisters, and with other players rotating in and out. He has also revived the "Family & Friends" shows over the last few years (though still without Adam), which is just the Wilson sisters added to the "Endless Summer Band" shows.

An indicator of how infrequent Al's shows are and how low key his tour is, is that I've been maintaining the ongoing "Al Jardine Tour" thread for years here and I couldn't remember if he had any more dates scheduled as of right now. The answer is no, outside of the one-shot gig he has been teasing for awhile.

By my count he has done 8 shows this year, 3 "Family & Friends" shows and 5 with the "Endless Summer Band." In 2023 he did 12 shows.

So he doesn't seem to be able to get much traction booking shows in either of these formats. If he has trouble booking more than 20 shows over two years in venues ranging from small theaters to clubs, I'm not sure how him fronting a huge band like Brian's would work.

They're apparently trying to make a Grammy push for this dog. A zillion things are campaigned on for the Grammys, and this song has zero chance of getting any Grammy nomination, but it's so bizarre that quite possibly his worst song ever is the one being pushed. Wouldn't be surprised if Dvoskin is behind this push. I'm sure some marketing person somewhere says if you just say you're putting your thing up for consideration, it makes it look more prestigious.

(https://scontent-lax3-2.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t39.30808-6/462490359_8722959897762228_4620441332233472798_n.jpg?_nc_cat=103&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=iAZLhCByzoUQ7kNvgFH6ilH&_nc_ht=scontent-lax3-2.xx&_nc_gid=A2NH9fC6j9NjuDQMmV2-NQW&oh=00_AYCW0FAucKs1i4DWcY3WtTKO55yF2R92qirCc_NXf83WUQ&oe=670CAB0B)

Also, I'm not even sure this would qualify under the rules for "Best Pop Duo."

Which makes me wonder if there's any actual push for this thing beyond a few social media posts.

I still don't get the hatred for this track. If it was a new Brian or Dennis track being unleashed, people would be praising it to the skies; but alas, it's one of those lesser Beach Boys.
I've got an idea for a compilation: "The Beach Boys' Greatest $#it", featuring songs from the solo albums of Al Jardine, Mike Love, and Carl Wilson. Gems like Pisces Brothers, Bright Lights, Waves of Love, and The Grammy.

Larry Dvoskin has to be the one behind this campaign for a Grammy nomination, because he did the same thing for one of his multiple versions of "Waves of Love."

If a Carl or Dennis collaborator, seemingly one who only wrote a few songs with either of them, then released a version of a song they wrote with Carl or Dennis where the lead vocal was either autotuned or otherwise processed into oblivion, mixed and arranged cheaply and poorly, if not possibly enhanced with A.I., all on the most mediocre song you could imagine, I would have no problem saying it sucks.

Indeed, the few scraps of Carl outtakes that have surfaced over the years have not been so great, such as that "This Is Elvis" song or that "You Oughta Know" demo.

"You Oughta Know"? Unfortunate title for a song.
"do you think of me when you fornicate with her" lol