The Smiley Smile Message Board

Just heard about this.  One report says he's replacing Totten, the other says he's replacing Kirsch.  What's the poop?

Christian Love has joined the band, but why would Chris Farmer (musical director) need a replacement for either Totten or Kirsch? Both men do their jobs very well.

And if you heard Mike and Bruce's UK setlists in late 2004, you wouldn't be calling them the Endless Sounds of Summer Travelling Jukebox. I personally would call them The Mike and Bruce More Daring Than Brian Wilson Has Been Live In Years Band.

Yeah really. I mean, what was Brian's setlist like in 2004 and 2005? Just that tired old "Smile" album that we had heard for year after year, that every two-bit cover band can easily pull off live, right?  ???

C'mon,  let's keep everything in perspective. The Mike/Bruce setlists certainly have been more adventurous and interesting in the last few years as compared to the late 90's for instance. (My humble opinion based on nothing but my own gut feeling is that part of the motivation behind Mike/Bruce spicing up the setlist has been the early attempts by Al to do so with his own band, attempts which by 2000 were no longer possible, and Brian's continued setlist diversity). But Brian's setlists have been quite interesting as well, even aside from the "Smile" sets. Sure, we get "Love and Mercy" every time, and we usually get stuff like "Surfer Girl", "Please Let Me Wonder", a few "Pet Sounds" tracks, and a handfull of other workhorses that you would hear at a Mike or Al show as well. But Brian in 2004 and 2005 has worked in songs like "Marcella", "When I Grow Up", "Good Timin'", and the list goes on and on. Sure, his 2005 setlist didn't vary a great deal from the 2004 setlist, but that hardly leaves room to crown the Mike/Bruce band as all of a sudden having a more "daring" setlist than Brian. And as for the handfull of 2006 Brian shows, you see the same problem that has occured with Al in recent years. That is, it is hard to work up a dymanic setlist that differs a great deal from the setlists of the recent past when you're not regularly touring and are only throwing together the band for a gig here or there once in awhile.

But wow, I have to give credit for being bold enough to suggest that the Mike/Bruce setlists are more "daring" than doing "Smile" live. I don't agree with this, and I haven't a clue how one could arrive at this conclusion other than the possibility that Brian is somehow expected to work up a new long-lost never-before-heard live album performance on every one of his tours.

What was so daring about Brian Wilson playing Smile live? Someone explain THAT one to me.

Don't bother preaching to me, I don't care what anyone thinks anyway.

EDIT - If Brian performs Love You live, then and only then will I rethink my post. Until then, no dice.

I sure hope he's replacing neither.  He was at many of the summer shows, and while he did a fair to good job on his leads, he doesn't really seem to measure up to the others.  I saw him at two consecutive shows, and on the second night, he did the lead on "Good Vibrations".  Both nights he did the lead on "Getcha Back".  He was definitely a nice addition, as was John Stamos (who sang a decent lead on "Good Timin"), but either of those guys are just that: good additions, not good replacements.

::EDIT::

Just saw on the BBB Board that Bruce has confirmed that Christian is an addition, not a replacement...no one has been fired.

I thought that was explained pretty well in the doco (unless you believe the "that was all a crock" line of thinking, which means David Leaf, Van Dyke Parks, Darian, Foskett, the rest of the band and a bunch of others were all full of it). 

Okay, even though you "don't care what anyone thinks anyway", I'll bite one more time for the fun of it and ask you this: What is "daring" (keeping in mind that you introduced the word "daring" to describe the Mike/Bruce show) about the Mike/Bruce setlist/show, and how is it more "daring" than anything Brian Wilson has done live? John Stamos singing "Good Timin'" or Mike singing "Bluebirds Over the Mountain" is more "daring" than attempting the entire "Smile" album in concert?

Of course, I'll understand completely if you don't want to talk anymore about this considering that you "don't care what anyone thinks anyway" and probably wouldn't care to waste time discussing this. Of course, if you don't care what anyone thinks, I'm sort of perplexed as to why you're here at all. I do care what you and other fans think insofar as discussion on this board is concerned. I'm not sure what other purpose one would have for posting here.

Apologies to those who are smart enough to not be baited by "Smile-what's the big deal?" type of comments. I'm just making one more attempt at discussion in case such a thing is really possible in this particular case. As much as I do care what others think when it comes to generating discussion here, there is no explanation for someone actually being serious in questioning what is more daring about performing "Smile" live versus Scott Totten and Chris Farmer covering Beach Boys songs that would make me want to invest anymore time in discussing this.

Re(2): Christian Love ?
Posted on October 25, 2006 at 08:35:35 PM by Bruce Johnston

'Word' regarding Scott is incorrect!! No one has been 'axed.'

Bruce Johnston
Montecito
October 25, 2006


http://b5.boards2go.com/boards/board.cgi?action=read&id=1161801335&user=Bellagio

Wow, look at the firestorm I kicked off.

Smile was not the "big leap forward" for Brian Wilson. Bringing out Heroes and Villains was the first. Then came Surf's Up, Prayer, Cabinessence, and Wonderful. Smile was eased out of him. It was inevitable. I wasn't "shocked" when I heard the news that BW would be playing Smile live. It was bound to happen, and Brian alluded to it so many times.

Brian built his live career on being more than just the hits. The Beach Boys since 2004 have begun building their live career on more than just the hits. It was EXPECTED of Brian to do more. The Beach Boys? Doing album tracks in their setlists? Who would have thought about that after Endless Summer. Therefore, The Beach Boys took the greater of the leaps, in my opinion.

When someone says that 'they don't care what anyone thinks', they're basically yelling 'I really do care, so make sure you pay attention to me'...its the oldest trick in the book!

Of course it could be argued that they were... I'm not sure if pressured is the right word... but inspired to do so after seeing the overwhealming reaction to such songs in Brian's and Al's setlists over the years.

and yes I have heard a copy of a 2004 concert, yes they played songs that I wouldn't have expected, however I still cannot bring myself to call them The Beach Boys, so they'll still be Mike and Bruce's Endless Sounds of Summer Travelling Jukebox Band in my mind   :)

Joe, this is the part where you tell Malicki that he's a tool. :)

KIDDING.

You can call Mike and Bruce whatever you want. I call them more daring than Brian Wilson. Deal with it.

Jason just takes it personally because he plays the Kazoo and back up vocals #4 for Mike and Bruce's band.

 :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol :lol

 :lol

I'm different!  Look at me being different!  I don't care what you think!  Deal with it!  Deal with it!  Are you dealing with it?  Good!  I'm glad you're dealing with it!  What's your screen name?  Wanna chat?  Please?

Isn't it funny :police: how almost any innocent thread can turn into a Brian vs. Mike battle of words of some kind?

Anyway, I do get tired of people referring to Mike's Beach Boys as a travelling jukebox, which has been going on for about 30 years now. If being a travelling jukebox means playing mostly the hits (which 99% of the fans in attendance want), and performing the songs by being true to the recorded versions (which 99% of the fans in attendance want), and by avoiding most of the obscure songs (which 99% of the fans in attendance want), then Mike is guilty as charged!

It is so simple and I don't understand why we BB/BW nuts/diehards can't accept it. Mike Love is a proponent of the "give the fans what they want" school of rock and roll performance. Has been and always will be. WE ARE THE MINORITY. We are 1 out of every 100 Beach Boys fans. We are 1% of the people who go to Beach Boys' concerts. Mike plays for the other 99%...

He played "The Night Was So Young" at the House of Blues in Chicago. In the same show he also played "Friends", "Busy Doin' Nothin'", "Melt Away", and "Hang On To Your Ego".

You're so right. It's just sad for the real fans. They played since 81 only the hits and they didn't play so much new stuff. But since a few years the setlist is not so bad. The setlists from the late 90ies are so boring. I don't like that the new opener is "Do It Again" (which the band play bad) and not "California Girls" what was a really great opener.

Has the Mike and Bruce setlist evolved to what it is today because they (I include their band) wanted to be more adventurous or were they annoyed at the comparisons with Brians setlist? Maybe a bit of both?

I do think Brian's crew setout with the idea of playing more the less-known tunes and a few surf-car hits while Mike continued with the standard BB formula but in the last year or so (PS and BWPS aside), both setlists seem to be merging.

Probably a bit of both. But I'll add a third reason. Mike and Bruce's more adventurous setlist eliminates another potential or actual reason for Brian Wilson to not want to play with them.

I've said on many occasions, and will say again here lest there be any confusion... I have absolutely no problems with Mike and Bruce touring.  I have no problem with their setlist, jukebox or otherwise.  He *is* playing to what 99% of the attendees want to hear, and God bless him for it, for keeping the music alive and in the public consiousness.

What I *DO* have a problem with, is their use of the Beach Boys name.  That's it.  End of story.  I am not a Mike hater or basher.  He's good at what he does.  Yes he's made some poor decisons and is lawsuit happy.  But that doesn't mean he doesn't put on a good show.  My brother saw them this summer (I had to work) and loved it. 

Of course we all know the reason Mike bought/won use of the name, since he did a couple dates as "America's Band featuring Mike Love" and didn't get anywhere near the attendance. 

I just find it sad that The Beach Boys have devolved akin to the Drifters, Platters, Coasters, any number of other oldies bands with one (if any) original members    :(

And yes Jason, I can be a tool... "deal with it"   *LOL*   j/k  :)

how the foda did I manage to get the first topic on all three pages of this thread? 

Stop whining.

I read an article earlier this year where Mike said that he wanted to include some rarities so that there would be something for everyone from the casual fan to the hardcore fans.  Not exactly in those words, but that was the gist of what he said.  He seems to have more fun with the rare songs.

Amen, he's finally getting tired of "hot-wiring those hot rods one more time...."

Okay maybe not, but at least he's branching out!!!

Fact is, Brian's 'people' have no problem with Mike & Bruce touring as The Beach Boys nor, according to a few interviews, does Brian himself. I'd just like Brian to exercise his right to tour under the BB banner. Just once. :-)

His definition of "rarities" at times seems to be more like "Wendy" as "Surf's up".
But they did play "til I die" for example, and although it didn't sound very good, it wasn't that bad either.

Okay, so maybe the hardcores are only 1% of the audience, I don't think that gives him the right to exclude us from consideration when making the setlist.  Us hardcores are the ones who buy tickets to shows most every year, whereas casual fans come less often.  Also, hardcore fans buy almost every album whereas casual fans only buy a greatest hits CD, if that.  Mike should have been catering to both groups every year.  Besides, you're not going to lose casual fans by playing 5 to 10 album tracks a show, while still playing 20 to 30 hits every show, too.  His setlists were an insult to hardcore fans.  Hardcore fans deserve respect, too.

Me, I don't care that Mike and Bruce go by the name of "The Beach Boys".  Doesn't really bug me.  However, to not cater to the hardcore fan for more than 20 years of touring really stuck in my craw.  And all his bluster over the years that they just "couldn't" play the rarities, because people would walk out of the show or never come back, is now being shown for the lie that it was as we can all see he's doing fine playing the rarities now.

As for Mike and Bruce being more daring with their setlists than Brian is, that is just skewed logic in triplicate!


Love and merci,   Dan Lega

The reason Brian's people don't object to Mike touring as the Beach Boys ( and granting him the rights to do so) is because it puts more money into Brians pocket. As Goofy Jeff stated the crowds would be way down if he toured under some other name.

A name is just a name. They simply are not The Beach Boys that I hear on my records and cds from the 60s and 70s. One original member and one long time member do not make a group "the real deal."

not when one tours as "america's band" and can't even fill up a tent in 1998 under that name. the money comes in when "the beach boys" name is used. why it was obtained.

So now he does cater to both...we are no longer excluded.  He's made it a point to make the shows longer.  For the "20 years" that you mentioned that the setlists were pretty standard, Mike was not the only one making decisions about what would be on the setlist.  I believe they all had input in one way or another, but the bulk of the decisions were made by both Mike and Carl (that's my take anyway).  I'm normallly not one to defend Mike, but it's unfair to blame him (and only him) for 20 years of setlists that were decided by the group.  And especially since he has made an effort to change this over the past 5 years or so.

     From what I understand Mike forced his idea of the setlist down the others' throats.  And it hasn't been five years that he's been changing the setlist in a major way, it's only the the past two, hasn't it?


           Love and merci,   Dan Lega

"And it hasn't been five years that he's been changing the setlist in a major way, it's only the the past two, hasn't it?"

You mean since Brian toured SMiLE?

Did the Lovester keep the adventurous setlist in the US or was it a Europe only thing?  I saw the BB in 2004 (after seeing BW) and was genuinely impressed by the setlist (apart from dreck like Everyone's in Love... and Still Cruisin') and performance, but the feeling among the crowd was that BW's tour had somewhat upped the ante and the changes made were a necessary (and pleasing) result of it.

I believe he played "til I die" and the other songs only in the UK and only in halls with good accoustics.

The first time I saw Brian Wilson's band  live they did:

 "The Little Girl I Once Knew"
"This Whole World"
"Kiss Me Baby"
"Back Home"
"Add Some Music"
"Please Let Me Wonder"
"Brian Wilson" (Barenaked Ladies song)
" 'Til I Die" (covering the alternate mix)
Both Pet Sounds instrumentals
"Caroline, No"
"All Summer Long"
and two new songs.

Of course the last time I saw him he did SMiLE live with a pre-show that included songs like "Hawaii", "And Your Dreams Come True" , "Good To My Baby", "Drive-In", and "You're Welcome". And of course he toured the whole Pet Sounds album before that.

I honestly haven't seen Mike's set list, but he's got that beaten?  WOW! (We are talking about set-lists when you say "daring", right?)

When I saw Brian in 2004, we got "Tell Me Why", "Time To Get Alone" and of course, SMiLE. I saw Mike a few months later, and the most obscure song was maybe "Do You Wanna Dance?"

I think that's EXACTLY what I said in my post??

 :lol :lol :lol

I saw The Beach Boys (I know it's not the same band, but it's what the band is now.. the Beatles weren't the same without Pete Best and Stuart Sutcliffe, but you don't see anyone complaining) over the summer, and the rarest song they played was Surfin' Safari. I've heard the concerts from Europe '04, but I'm just not seeing it stateside.

Who would complain?

The Beatles without Stu or Pete certainly weren't the same as the Beach Boys without Carl, Dennis, Al, or Brian. Plus the fact that the Beatles did not become popular until after the departure of Stu and Pete.

In the US, Mike & Bruce have two basic setlists: for outdoors, you get the meat & potatoes hits. Indoors, you get a slightly slimline version of the 2004 UK setlist. Thus:

AMT, Lancaster PA, 5/1/05

1. California Girls
2. Do It Again
3. Surfin' Safari
4. Catch A Wave
5. Hawaii
6. Dance, Dance, Dance
7. Do You Wanna Dance?
8. Little Honda
9. Surfer Girl
10. Don't Worry Baby
11. You're So Good To Me
12. Darlin'
13. The Warmth Of The Sun
14. Wendy
15. Getcha Back
16. Then I Kissed Her
17. Duke of Earl
18. Come Go With Me
19. Why Do Fools Fall In Love?
20. Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring
21. In My Room
22. 'Til I Die
23. All This Is That
24. When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
25. California Dreamin'
26. Disney Girls
27. God Only Knows
28. Sail On Sailor
29. I Can Hear Music
30. Still Cruisin'
31. Little Deuce Coupe
32. 409
33. The Little Old Lady From Pasadena
34. Shut Down
35. I Get Around
36. Good Vibrations
37. Sloop John B.
38. Wouldn't It Be Nice
39. Help Me, Rhonda
40. Barbara Ann
41. Surfin USA

Encore:
42. Kokomo
43. Fun, Fun, Fun

Wow, Mike did "Til I Die" [and All This is That]? I can't imagine how that would come about, or how it would sound....

I give him credit for even trying Til I Die...oh the irony.  I thought Mike believed that the fans didn't want to hear such a "fodaing downer"?

"I give him credit for even trying Til I Die..."  Yeah, BW had done it and Mike didn't want to f**k with the formula!  ;D

Is Christian in the band? The Beach Boys Band newsletter doesn't mention anything about him.

Here's my .50 cents.

If Darian is there, I'm there   :serenade


End of lecture.

 :lol

Hi,
yes Christian is still in the band, just saw them the other day.  He's been defined as the "new addition to the band" so I guess he's gonna stay for now.  Beside few leads, he doesn't seem very busy on stage.

STE

Just like the old man, right...? :lol

Does he play an instrument?

Is his voice like the old man's?

He should should join In Bloom, then the band would be almost complete:

1. two of Carl Wilson's sons

2. One of Dennis Wilson's sons

3. And then Mike Love's kid!

All me need are Matt Jardine and Wendy Wilson, she can sing Brian's falsetto parts.

By the way, I was on the official site for the Beach Boys Landmark Dedication and they had this picture: http://sgtrock75.phpwebhosting.com/P1010252C.jpg
It's titled second generation Wilsons, but I think like six of those kids are Dennis Wilson's children, so I'm wondering how many kids did Dennis have? His adopted son Scott is in the picture but he still counts as a Wilson I guess. Dennis's kids have a lot of muscle mass and Carl's kids are real doughy.

Heywood, I think "In Bloom" doesn't exist anymore and they also had just one of carl's sons (Justyn) and one of Denny's (Carl B.).
Christian Love has a very good voice from what I've heard. He sang some of the "Carl-Parts" on Mike's not-yet-released album, including "Cool head, warm heart" from the "Songs from here & back"-CD

Hi,
yes he plays a barely audible acoustic guitar in some songs. 
He doesn't play it on all songs and he doesn't sing harmonies on all songs either.

If I need to compare his voice type to one of the BB I'd say it is a mix between a young Dennis and an young Carl..  but that's just to give you some kind of idea.  And no, his voice doesn't come out through his nose.

STE

In Bloom is still around; it's their website that has fallen by the wayside.

Good to know, even though I am not that much of a fan of their musi, I think it's good that some new Wilson-blood-songs see the light of day.
After reading some of the last messages I think it would be a very interesting idea to bring together those Wilson/Love/Jardine-folks (that is kids) and see how they blend together.

As long as their lawyers are present!   ;D

That's odd. Maybe he doesn't know all the songs yet?

Saw the Mike and Bruce show last night, and was once again thoroughly entertained.  Those cats are no Brian Wilson Band [only Cowsill and Totten stack up musically, as far as i'm concerned, and maybe Farmer], but that doesn't stop them from stringing together a sh*t-load of good stuff.  [I exclude the execrable "Santa's Goin' to Kokomo" from that description for obvious reasons.]  Songs from the rare side included Don't Back Down, Getcha Back, Good to My Baby, Good Timin', Come Go With Me, a full I Write The Songs, and Santa's Beard in the Christmas set.  Rarest of the rare?  Nope.  But very cool to hear live.

Christian is quite unassuming on stage - in fact, it took me several songs to realize he was up there, even tho i knew he had joined the band.  His leads are unremarkable, his guitar playing [entirely acoustic] unnecessary...but he's another young face on a stage that's increasing dominated by old farts.

The audience was mostly people older than i [and i'm 45], but i've gotta tell ya - they were ROCKIN'!!!  Up and dancing for long stretches at a time, belting out the words, and enjoying every blessed moment.    So who cares what they call themselves?  A couple thousand people left very happy last night, and THAT is the important thing.

How did "Santa's Goin' To Kokomo" sound to you, and how did the audience receive it?

It sounded lame...worse than the recording.  The audience was polite, but nobody was jumping out of his seat yelling 'WAHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!"  Or even close.

It's embarassing.

'nuff said. Thanks Susan. Where's Bruce?