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from Al's website:


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact:
David Carr
The KubRo Group

ONE BEACH BOY’S “CHRISTMAS DAY”

Al Jardine Has a Sack Full of Excitement for the Coming Year;
Interviewed on Sirius XM's “Cousin Brucie” Show, Saturday, Dec. 19th

BURBANK, Calif. - December 18, 2009 - Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine, who started the group in 1961 with the Wilson brothers (Brian, Carl, and Dennis) and their cousin Mike Love, is preparing for the holidays by releasing a special “live” Christmas recording for download through the iTunes music store.

The song was heard Saturday, December 19th on Sirius XM's “Cousin Brucie” show (8 pm to Midnight Eastern time, “The '60s on 6”), when Radio Hall of Fame DJ Bruce Morrow conducted a live interview with Al Jardine.

On the track, an informal “live” performance recorded at a Christmas party at Red Barn Studios in Big Sur, California in 2004, Jardine reprises “Christmas Day,” the very first lead vocal he ever recorded with the iconic group. A video of the impromptu performance can be viewed at the website, http://www.aljardine.com. The original version of the tune appeared on The Beach Boys' Christmas Album, which was released by Capitol Records in October, 1964 and has been a holiday favorite for decades.

Al Jardine has a plethora of exciting dates and events on his calendar, going into the new year:

First, on Nov. 24, 2009, the Beach Boys' 1965 Capitol single, “California Girls,” on which Jardine also appeared, was named by the Recording Academy® as one of its 2010 Grammy Hall Of Fame® Inductees. The Grammy Hall Of Fame Award was established by The Recording Academy's National Trustees in 1973 “to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old. Inductees are selected annually by a special member committee of eminent and knowledgeable professionals from all branches of the recording arts.” The list and recordings now reside as a collection on display at the Grammy Museum® in Santa Monica, California.

Al Jardine is also a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received a Lifetime Grammy in 2001 as a member of the Beach Boys.

In January 2010 he will release an EP of three tracks, selected from “the green side” of his upcoming album, that speak to the relationship of man and his environment. “Don't Fight the Sea,” “Tidepool Interlude” and “California Saga” are songs that reflect this artist's deep love for the California coastline and his concern for the ecological health of the planet. “I think the strength of this project lays here in these days of climate change,” Jardine suggests.

The new album, A Postcard from California, is slated to become available in its entirety in spring 2010, and some rough-mix samples of tracks from the album can be enjoyed on Al Jardine's website. The collection will feature Jardine along with a regular “who's who” of classic rock and popular music royalty, and includes a rare guest appearance by Neil Young, who will be honored as the 2010 MusiCares Person of the Year at a star-studded gala dinner and concert January 29th in Los Angeles. MusiCares is a charitable organization founded by the Recording Academy to benefit music professionals in need of help in various ways. The Person of the Year tribute dinner is an annual event that is held as part of the Grammy week activities.

Inspired by -- and dedicated to -- Jardine's parents, who, as he puts it, “were infected by the American dream and never satisfied with the status quo,” the album was largely penned by Jardine. He was joined in the studio by a steady and willing stream of famous friends, including Brian Wilson, Stephen Stills, David Crosby, Glen Campbell, Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell of America, David Marks, Richie Cannata and John Stamos. Completing the generational span, Jardine's sons, Matt and Adam, are also heard fleshing out the vocal harmonies.

The track, “Tidepool Interlude” (found on both EP and album packages), includes a spoken word narrative from another special guest, actor Alec Baldwin, who is heard reading a poem written by Stephen John Kalinich, in a moving tribute to California and its natural beauty. Baldwin is set to co-host the 82nd Academy Awards ceremony (“The Oscars”) with Steve Martin at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 7th, 2010.

Al Jardine's 21st century take on “Help Me Rhonda” has a special place on the upcoming album, and a video from the recording sessions, showing Jardine with Steve Miller and Flea recording the Brian Wilson-penned song, is also hosted on the website. “I wanted this version to feel like a blues classic,” says Jardine, to which end he also featured Steve Miller Band harmonica legend Norton Buffalo on the track, for that authentic blues edge. The Beach Boys' original of “Help Me Rhonda,” on which Jardine also sang lead, went to number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965.

In other recent related activities, an alternate take of the Beach Boys' hit, “Heroes and Villains,” (yet another original Jardine lead vocal!) appeared on Rhino/WMG's archival 4-CD box-set, Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968, which was released last September 18th.

Al Jardine's single of “Christmas Day,” which he defines as a “Christmas party song,” could certainly liven up anyone's holiday festivities, and can be instantly downloaded from the iTunes music store with a couple of mouse-clicks.

But Jardine's best Christmas present to himself this year is the fact that he's just wrapped production on his new album, A Postcard from California, in his studio in Big Sur. We will be looking forward to enjoying his Postcard in the months ahead!

For any additional information about Al Jardine and his music, a current bio and photo, or to arrange an interview, please send an email to kubro@davidcarrmusic.com, or contact the KubRo Group office at (818) 343-1510.
   

Why does Al keep claiming Brian's lead's.

??  Does Brian sing "Christmas Day"?  It's always sounded like Al to me, but I could be wrong.

I think he was referring in "Heroes and Villains."  Al did indeed sing the lead on the original "Christmas Day."

Right Heroes is Brian.

I am NO Smile expert but didn't Al do the lead on one of the versions of H&V?  And, if correct, is that the one now being released?

Al sang it on In Concert, which is probably their loophole

That release they mention there is just the Cantina version, so not Al. Top score there for Jardine's press people.

Al...Steve Miller...Flea. "Help Me Rhonda" Blues classic? WTF?  LOL!  :hat

Al sings the lead on the chorus section on the final version of "Heroes and Villains", don't forget.

Nice to finally get some details on the album.  Hopefully it won't get released on the 12th of Never!

Funny it mentions the "blues version" of Help Me Rhonda - quite a few of the band's hits have a basic blues feel, like what you'd play on the E and A strings of a guitar.

I'd rather have the bluesy pop/rock version of HMR that I've heard (which is surely a nod to the song that influenced it) than the kind of white-boy wanking dad blues of Clapton, face twisted in orgasmic frenzy while the audience are checking the football scores on their phones.

I totally agree..Must have been short on material. If this is all the same stuff that was previewed last year its pretty weak. And I love Al!

Nicely put!  :lol

The "white-boy wanking dad-blues" of Clapton. It's funny, I guess. But really, Al is the same thing to folk and even to Beach Boys music (as are all the Boys, for that matter, their true time of being anything else not only in the past, but more than a generation gone). It's entirely listenable, non-challenging music aping something already done better by the artist in question. People get older and mostly dull. Al is one of them (unless he's an elf, which is my contention).

If only Clapton's legions of airhead fans realized that his talent went away with his heroin addiction...

Not that this thread is about Clapton, but I'm a guitarist myself, and it's just the sound of his instrument in recent years that I find so completely boring. It's the worst of 'generic studio musician' tone. Same thing with Santana, and several other 'big name' players. Smooth over-saturated distortion. *barf*. The guys obviously have talent, but I would never want to listen to them in a million years.

Nice rendition and great to hear Christmas Day live!!  Good sense of humor about his not hitting his chord too.  Why did Al stop playing abruptly after the line "..so many hearts are gay" and say "Oh no!"?   Was Al not being politically correct?

I also noticed in that press release no mention of Mike Love or our beloved Carl contributing vocals nor any mention that the album will feature a song with four of the original BB members, both of which would seem to be a huge selling point for Postcard.  I'm pretty sure the Mike Love vocal was confirmed completed, if I'm not mistaken, although I never did hear him on the snippet.  Weird that their participation wouldn't be mentioned......and a three track EP release three months before the album is released after it's sat for over a year almost two now?  Hmmmmm....  Production just wrapped?  This long to produce an album with what, four 'cover' tunes?  Hmmmm....  Anyway, looking forward to Al's release...

Saw Mick Fleetwood in a pic at Al's studio.  Anyone know which track he plays on?

Finally! I've been waiting over 2 years for the Al record. While no masterpiece, I'm sure it'll be a halfway decent old-rocker album... At the very least, Don't Fight the Sea will be worth downloading.

Al Jardine Has a Sack Full of Excrement for the Coming Year.

What a lovely way to put it.  ::) I, for one will buy it when it comes out. So what if there are a few cover songs? Just quit whining, and LISTEN, and I think you'll find it rather fun to dance along to. So there is a cover of Help Me Rhonda....so? Steve Miller is a good guitar player, and a good singer. It's not as "bluesy" as The Beach Boys of circa 1973 would play it, but it's still a fun, uptempo song.

Let's face it, if Al brought out a brilliant album (and I'm not sure it's any worse than Unleash the Love or GIOHM, both of which recycle), a lot of the people whining here would still whine.  He's just not liked.  Someone's gotta be the fall guy, especially as it's suddenly fashionable to blow Mike.

I agree that there would be whining, but I think Al is liked by many.  In fact, since 1998, Al has been my favorite remaining Beach Boy.

I do too:
http://www.myspace.com/fuhq1987 (http://www.myspace.com/fuhq1987)

You can purchase my excrement or sample it for free!