The Smiley Smile Message Board

It's a simple question: Does he have enough quality material stored away to make at least one good album?

No. I'm not sure he's produced enough decent material in the last 40 years either.

What do we know of on his stockpile? Three unreleased albums and one on vinyl that's never made it to CD? While I'd love these to have a formal release, I think it would have happened by now if it was going to. Maybe his autobiography will heighten interest next year, though I doubt it. A shame, but it doesn't hold much promise for Nything else he might have stashed away.

If Mike finally releases a new solo album, he needs to put the original 1970 version of Big Sur in pristine quality on there as a bonus track, much like Brian put the long – awaited 1975 ITBOMM on NPP. It may not make a sizable dent, but it certainly wouldn't hurt interest in the song collection. That song seems as though it's being saved for a reason, though I can't seem to figure out why.

I'll buy whatever album Mike finally releases.  I think the last thing I heard from him was "Cool Head, Warm Heart" which was pretty decent in my opinion. 

That was a good song, and I would like to hear more from him.

The entire history of Beach Boys and Beach Boys-related releases have been for naught if WRINKLES never sees an official release.


How the hell can those alleged "musicians" live with themselves knowing a song like WRINKLES has only been available on bootlegs for multiple decades.....

Cool Head, Warm Heart = good.
Daybreak Over the Ocean = not so good.

Daybreak isn't really that bad of a song. It's just a terrible recording they used on the album. It goes to show how much of a rush job "Radio" was for the band. They really didn't have enough time to go into the studio for ONE song? They absolutely HAD to use this abortion version with Adrian Baker's voice and that last chorus where they changed the key up a half step digitally instead of actually singing those parts?

Mucho pathetico on everybody involved's part.....

Overall though, it's a pleasant, non-offensive song, much like Kokomo. As has been said before, if it had a "Brian Wilson" credit instead of a "Mike Love" one, it would be universally applauded by the sheepish masses who can somehow stomach dreck like "On The Island" featuring that girl from the Will Ferrell movie "Elf"


But yeah, everything Mike Love does is BAD. Everything Brian Wilson does GOOD.


In Jesus name, we pray

I compared the two because I think Cool Head is a really good song and think it should have had a place on TWGMTW instead of Daybreak.

I think it all depends on the production and on what songs are chosen.

Mike has said he is working with producer Michael Lloyd who has obviously had a very successful career but...he is not exactly a cutting edge choice to put it mildly.

There are some decent potential songs in Mike`s solo writing because he generally steers clear of the references to the old hits and doesn`t try to follow the formula. If he were to do as Al did and include a mixture of previously released and never released songs (updated) then it would certainly be possibly to pick out a dozen nice tunes.

Big Sur, Sad Sad Summer, You`re Looking Better, Viggie, I Don`t Wanna Know, Daybreak (based on the superior First Love version), Glow Crescent Glow, Cool Head Warm Heart, Pisces Brothers, Too Cruel, Anything For You, 10,000 Years...

If the production were right then it could be a decent album.

'That girl' does kind of undersell She & Him, who are as their name suggests, a duo. And Zooey has a lovely voice well suited to the sound they went for on that song. I don't hate Kokomo at all either, by the way, but On The Island is a very pleasant little tune.

Too Cruel, Anything For You and 10,000 Years are all superb tracks, if only they were produced better than the Mike Love Not War-versions. Too Cruel and Anything For You have both some hit-potential, at least in my opinion. But it's a whole another thing who's interested about anything a nearly 80 years old man releases.

Is 10,000 Years a Mike Love track? I thought that it was a Dennis Wilson track.

.

No can do, it's a Beach Boys recording.

IIRC the music was by Dennis and the lyrics by Mike.
But that whole "10,000 years" is hard to get through. There's some "Friday night" in it and whatsoever... I never really understood it. Try searching a thread from around the time of POB's re-release about "Friday night"

I don't mind Daybreak Over the Ocean.  Not the absolute best song on the album but still not a bad Beach Boys style tune either.  The thing is...generally one of the BEST things about many of the Beach Boys albums was the variety of lead voices.  1965 to 1973 was particularly great in that regard. [even the double sided hit singles offered variety]   A Mike solo album, although a wonderful collectable for HIS fans...wouldn't offer variety and likely wouldn't sell well enough to recover costs.

It's what makes NPP so good.  A variety of lead voices.  That same thing, I think, has hurt Brian on many of his solo albums ... at least to some degree...BWPS being an exception.

Well, there`s no reason why Mike couldn`t or wouldn`t bring in some guest vocalists. Obviously he and Bruce have had plenty of pretty illustrious guests over the years with them on stage so it`s not impossible that some may be willing to add their vocals in the studio.

I don`t necessarily think variety is a good thing though. That all depends on how well the voices blend. Christian Love contributed a couple of leads on the unreleased Unleash the Love album but I didn`t think they worked as part of that collection.

 (Al`s voice certainly did work on NPP but some of those other singers` contributions seem to be the least popular on the album. If Brian had sung a lot more leads it would have helped the album imo.)

As for sales, I doubt any Mike solo album would trouble the chart compilers. But if they were to sell it at gigs then it could sell a respectable amount (which is not a lot nowadays). Let`s face it, if they had issued Unleash the Love in 2004 and sold it at the 1000+ gigs that they`ve done since then it would only need a miniscule percentage of people to buy it for the sales to be acceptable in this day and age.

I'm with you as I've really grown to like Daybreak Over the Ocean. 

Maybe if Mike had Bruce, Jeff Foskett, or Brian Eichenberger (sp) add some leads, that would add some variety.  I don't think Mike's voice can carry a full album today.  Maybe he could take a page from Brian's book and have some guest vocalists. 

Would he be willing to do that?  Wait for years to finally realize a solo effort and turn the spotlight over to other people?  Is that Mike Love? ???

On one hand, I think you're right.  But if somebody gets in Mike's ear and says that adding some contemporary artists will sell some albums, he might do it. 

What I don't know is exactly what artists would be willing to appear on a Mike Love album.  In fact, that prospect scares me a little. 

The fake pitch-raising is crap, but other than that, Daybreak's probably my favourite track on TWGMTR.

I forgot about that one.

While forgettable ( :) ), it's pretty good.  The chorus has that awesome Beach Boys 'sound' to it.

Well, what about Don't Fight the Sea? That was a BB recording too, and somehow Al was able to release it on an Al solo album. I figure that with some legal wrangling, the same could possibly be feasible for Mike, no? Also, the 1975 ITBOMM, while featuring just Brian on it (and no other BBs) was co-written by another BB (Mike). While each song probably has unique legal parameters for ability to be released, I'd think that Big Sur could be released as a ML bonus track if he wanted it to be badly enough.

I can't wait for "Country Love-The Rap Remixes" to appear on the shelves.. :lol

How about a "Dallas" 7-inch record for sale in Dallas record stores? An ode to "Salt Lake City" getting traction in SLC back in the day?

BRI definitely owns the recording of "Big Sur", I would guess *probably* owns the recording of the '75 Brian demo (if it was done in the studio on Brother's dime), and owns some elements of the "Don't Fight the Sea" recordings (though little from the '78 version remains on Al's solo album, most of the stuff is from circa 1989 and then the 2000's). I think these guys can on occasion poach this stuff for their own use with the proper approvals, and in some cases take ownership of the recordings. Especially when nobody else much cares.

When no other BB's are on the recording (e.g. the '75 demo), that removes one layer of complexity at least (performance royalties).

1. If Cool Head had been on TWGMTR instead of Daybreak, they would have destroyed him yet once again on this board  because Cool Head had been released and performed live many times previously.

2. If Mike invited guest lead singers for his new solo album, he'd be destroyed here once again for following Brian's footsteps.

Umm...  Cool Head is a solid tune, and if it was re-released as a BB tune on a BB album of new songs, it would get a similar amount of people being annoyed as would people if Brian released a previously-released song (and same recording) on a new BB album. 

And, Brian's use of guest lead singers wasn't entirely thought of as a good thing. The impression you make is that everyone is hailing Brian's use of guest lead singers as a completely great decision. There are a good deal of detractors regarding that decision, and while there are times when I think the guest vocalist thing works great on NPP, I don't like all of them. Secondly, honestly and seriously, what guest singers would (and could) Mike get for his album if he went that route?

Brian recorded with Carnie and Wendy Wilson, maybe Mike could record with Christian and Ambha Love.

I think many people would genuinely like that, and it would make it harder for people who just want to bash anything that Mike releases to do so. He should consider it.

Is "Cool Head" available for purchase online by itself somewhere?

I'm thinking no (but don't know for sure), but I think that "Limited Edition" Hallmark exclusive CD with the track can be found super cheap on eBay and the like, and it has some solid live tracks on it as well, even a couple from the 70's. Everything on the CD is unique to the CD with the exception of Al's "PT Cruiser."

It would seem so.

Unleash the Love featured other vocalists on Too Cruel, I Don`t Wanna Know, Love Foundation and Only One Earth.

And Looking Back with Love back in the day had Joanie Sommers as a guest.

The real question is can Mike resist using his last name as a pun on a future album, either as a title or a song? I'm gonna go ahead... and say that urge will prove to be irresistible.

It's worth noting, though, that the 2004-ish Love solo "album" that floated around is likely not any sort of finished, banded album master that just wasn't released. Seemed much more like a rough compilation of stuff. I always got the sense back then that the stuff with Christian singing was targeted at a possible release of Christian's music, not Mike's. Mike doesn't do any lead vocal part on a couple of those songs as I recall, even though they're obviously re-makes of his '70's solo stuff. It's all guesses of course as to what could have or would have happened with the material.

They almost certainly would *not* have gotten a clearance to use Mike's home-made recording of Paul McCartney in India in 1968, so that was always the giveaway to me that this thing was more like a rough compilation.

I agree that the album sounds unfinished and Mike said they might have to cut one or two songs as it was too long at the time (I believe they also recorded 3 other songs later too - Make Love Not War, Paris and one other).

I have never heard that either Too Cruel or I Don`t Wanna Know were ever intended for anything other than this though.

And while Mike obviously has quite the ego, I don`t remember him ever having issues with other people singing on his stuff. Carl would have sung on the First Love album, he worked with Dean Torrence and obviously the Celebration stuff is full of other people singing Mike`s songs and vice-versa.

Does anyone know who made that home-made recording of Paul McCartney in India? Was it Mike himself who brought a tape recorder?

The ends don't suit the means.  Brian's demo of IBOMM is grey area enough that it was feasible for him to release it as a solo endeavor.  Yes Mike Love has a co-writing credit on the song but that is not where the focus should be because what we are speaking of here is performance, not song authorship.  For example, Al Jardine recorded a cover of "California Feelin'" on "Postcards..." which is a Brian Wilson composition without issue.   As you mentioned Jardine also included "Don't Fight The Sea" on the same record but stated that due to legal issues, the song had to be credited to him and not The Beach Boys.  In addition he was able to obtain the services of Johnston, Wilson, Love and I'm assuming permission of the estate of Carl Wilson to bring the song to conclusion.  Quite a bit of a trot for Jardine to have to go through to see the song released but remember what made "Don't Fight The Sea" a unique circumstance is that it was an unfinished Beach Boys song that Jardine wanted to feature on his record.  In order to finish it, he had to reassemble The Beach Boys which he somehow miraculously managed to do.  In the case of "Big Sur" you merely have a finished Beach Boys track that would be released under Mike Love's name.  That isn't going to fly.  Not in this lifetime anyhow.

Mike releasing a solo is a waste of time due to his lack of songwriting and singing talent at this point.

 :lol :hat

Would making a pun on his first name acceptable ?  ;D

Over the span of something like 21 years.

We might not have Social Security, at the very least the future holds promise of some other way to enjoy our golden years.

Pass the Mike?
Adjust the Mike?
Is This Mike On?

The songwriting credits would indeed not matter in any of these equations, so long as the song has been published. If it's unpublished, then some permissions would be needed. But Mike can cover "Lady Lynda" on a new solo album without Al's permission, etc. You just have to pay the flat royalty rate.

*Ownership* of the copyrights in the actual recordings is what would be the issue, and there have been several cases of very grey areas as far as "solo" BB projects using potentially *group*-made/funded recordings, recording that might be owned by BRI.

I would presume the original circa 1978 recordings of "Don't Fight the Sea" were made on BRI's dime (while under contract to Warner and/or CBS). Not sure who would have funded the circa 1989 recordings (at that stage, using Al's studio, Al may have just "paid" for it himself). There's probably a lot of "borrowing" and sharing of company resources. Al overdubs new stuff at *his* studio onto tape that was maybe paid for by BRI. Who knows. I think I've seen "Beach Boys in Concert" stamps on flight cases for music gear at Brian solo shows before. I would presume it's a case of "I'm a co-owner of BRI, BRI owns a bunch of crap, so I'm going to use some of it."

If Mike were actually motivated to do so, he might be able to finagle releasing the old recording of "Big Sur" as a "solo" track on his album with the right approvals.

As I mentioned before, I think it is easier to justify putting ostensibly "Solo" (or at least no other Beach Boys present) recordings on solo releases, even if BRI owns the tape. This was the case with "Night Bloomin' Jasmine" on the BW '88 reissue, which was probably recorded around 1981 or so (liners say 1979; either way, BRI probably had a claim on the tape). Same was the case with "In the Back of My Mind" on NPP.

Just as an aside, the interesting thing about “Don’t Fight the Sea” is that it sounds like *very little* of the ’78 recording is on that finished version. I think all of the vocals, including Al, Carl, Bruce, and Brian come from the circa 1989 sessions, with later vocal additions from Al (the last verse) and Mike (the bass vocal, done in the late 00’s). Bobby Figueroa’s drums may be from 1978. The Meros keyboard seems more likely from 1989.

 :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup.  Of course, plus volunteers would be needed to get the thing into stores. Wouldn't chart either. Best thing to do is wait till he croaks...nahhh, better yet, based on his track record, just forget the entire idea.   :whatever

I can't wait to hear his new solo cd "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen" and read his new autobiography titled "Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen- The Story of Love singing through a mike."

Almost every song from First Love that hasn't been released and/or re-recorded and released is bloody brilliant: Lovely Leila, Viggie, Trisha, Glow Crescent Glow, I Don't Want To Know.

Actually, "I Don't Wanna Know" was re-recorded and featured on Celebration's self-titled album. It didn't however, feature Mike on lead. It was also re-recorded with Christian Love on lead and leaked along with a bunch of Mike Love recordings around 2004. Who knows whether the recording with Christian on lead was to be released under Mike's name or not.

I believe " I Don't Wanna Know" was acually recorded by Celebration BEFORE Mike recorded it for First Love

Mike Love Not War. Stick to what has the most pun value.

Love is a rock, but the radio rolled me

Love it like that

I'm still waiting for his followup to SIP, Masterpiece. It was going to be Mike's Pet Sounds. If the original tapes are gone, maybe he can re-record the album as Mike Love Presents Masterpiece.

As I'm typing this, I'm listening to "Wrinkles" for the very first time.  Just found it on the internet.  Don't you envy me, wishing you could hear it for the first time all over again?

No. I envy those that still have not heard it.

Was that ever even recorded? Was it even written? Id absolutely love to hear it, just for curiosity's sake

Was Masterpiece supposed to be more of a group effort (with Brian possibly), or another Love/Melcher affair? Unless I'm mistaken, I think I recall seeing a video of Mike mentioning Masterpiece on Regis and Kathy Lee while sitting on a couch (possibly on the same clip where Bruce plays Kokomo at a piano, if memory serves).

Here are two appearances by Mike (one with Bruce) on the show. I haven't watched them through so I don't know if the "Masterpiece" is mentioned here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LABEM-2s75Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2XnzaX-5o

I need to watch those through again to see if "Masterpiece" is mentioning, hopefully I'm not misremembering. I did come across 2 interesting pieces of info though...

At 15:57, in 1993, Mike says an upcoming studio project will be called “Unplugged in Paradise”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TxoUgO5NIq8

At 4:06, when promoting SIP, Bruce refers to “Forever” as a bonus track, implying that it’s not artistically considered part of the proper album (I was unaware of that)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LABEM-2s75Y

I'll see your envy and raise you an "amen, brother".

Mike could do a solo lp that would sell some.   he could have co-writers and assemble a crack team of backing vocalists and musicians as Brian has done.     But he doesn't have that legendary Brian Wilson thing going for him.   He could do a Ringo thing if enough people knew who he was.   tough spot to be in for the lead singer of one of the legendary bands of all time.
I'm sure this is his bear to cross.

Quoting you to keep that mistake in the last line.

Honestly, he would be more respected in musical circles if he just worked on how he comes off but its obviously too late now. He thinks of himself as the McCartney to Brian's Lennon but he's not musically talented enough to have that kind of respect. And yet he demands it, while also putting down whoever he pleases without a care for tact which is why he cant pull of the Ringo either.

too late now is probably correct.   and he has not been warm and fuzzy like Ringo.    But I think Macca has been a bit easier on his band mates legacy.    and Macca is a talented musician .........in truth, I don't knownWTF Mike has on his mind.    He seems quite defensive about his legacy and releases a lot of  WTF material over the years.    He could have done better but I think he went for the touring bucks instead of focusing on realizing his musical legacy.   Maybe his legacy IS keeping the touring band alive and making a living.    Not a horrible thing,   But just own up to it.     could get some honest respect for that