The Smiley Smile Message Board

As a good will gesture for the cancelled gigs this year here's my wish list:

1. Al, Blondie and Matt still in the band

2. The NPP songs to remain and Be Here In The Morning etc

3. First set - Brian Wilson best of selection, e.g., Melt Away, There's So Many, Rio Grande, Rainbow Eyes, Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight, Morning Beat, Midnight's Another Day etc, 'Til I Die etc.

3. Second set - Pet Sounds album then a few greatest hits for the encore

Bonus

4.  Meet and greet with the fans who purchased original tickets ;D

Anyone else have any thoughts?

That'd be nice - all of it - but at the same time there might well had been a new album by the time Brian returns to the UK… I'd love to hear Rio Grande live tho'. Has to be top of my list for a Brian gig now.

Reading the thread about the current tour though I suspect we'll be lucky if Brian tours the UK; suspect it might be restricted to a few consecutive nights in London.

Current sum total of our info about this tour:

1 - it will take place between 1/1/16 and 12/31/16...

2 - it will "celebrate" the 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds...

3 - it will be Brian's final European tour...

Everything else, pure speculation/wishful thinking.  ;D

I'm pretty gutted Brian has cancelled, I was looking forward to seeing him live.


Al and Brian next year would be cool

I'm pretty gutted too. I was especially looking forward to seeing Brian with Al, Blondie and Matt there too, so I hope they'll be part of whatever happens next year.

But seriously - it's Brian's last ever European tour, the 50th Anniversary of Pet Sounds and Good Vibrations, so stop messing around and just make it a Beach Boys tour. Leaving aside what we know of the personal differences, the frictions and differences of opinion, take this last ever chance and do it right. The last one proved to be the biggest success they'd had in decades and the reasons for not doing it get less compelling with each and every day.

None of us can be sure of anything but the actual Pet Sounds anniversary falls on May 16th so perhaps if the tour goes ahead it will start in spring.

It would be great if Al and Blondie were still part of it. I hope that we will get to hear some of the songs that we would have heard had Brian toured in September, some from the new album and also  Surf's Up, This Whole World and more.

I hope that Brian's management arrange dates asap so that they can get the best venues possible. My main concern of course is that Brian is in good health and that he gets the best ever reception from his fans.

If they have Al and Blondie, they have Beach Boys enough IMO.  The C50  was successful but they managed to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory with the way it ended. It should have been triumphant but finished on a sour note. I would hate that to happen on Brian's last ever UK tour.

I would love that to happen, more than you could imagine. Alas, the indications of the last few years argue strongly against any such thing happening.

However...

These are The Beach Boys:anything is possible.

I hope it's a not a sell out and he is definitely coming to Glasgow next year.  First and only chance I will have to see Brian

In the happy event that happens, a few setlist entries...

Girl Don't Tell Me

Sail Away, with that Sloop groove and Lahaina Aloha yearning...

The Right Time

And, Love and Mercy...


Yes, Andrew, they ARE The Beach Boys and anything can happen!  :love :thewilsons

There's no disputing that of course. But then I'd never have pictured the C50 tour happening, let alone a new studio album that was actually good!

I won't be getting my hopes up but if the right person in the right place and time was able to start making the right noises with Mike and Brian, you just never know. Joe Thomas did the impossible for 2012 and it seems beyond unlikely that he'd have enough favour left to do it again.  But money talks and if C50 showed one thing it's that a full Beach Boys tour with Brian and Mike has huge potential in financial terms. We know that there were significant potential offers for more shows back in 2012 and maybe there are people who could start getting those sorts of offers back on the table, even if pulling all parties together again seems like a task beyond mere mortals. But if the money was right............

Regarding his health, as noted in the other thread, I recall he was helped on and off stage in 2011 during the Gershwin tour too, though perhaps that was for some specific localised reason (his back, maybe).

I'll be happy with whatever he plays next year.  I think he ought to shake up the encore a touch, though.  Surprise us.

Three out of four of those songs aren't Beach Boys songs of course.

Lots of BB concert and album songs aren't BB songs. Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Sloop John B, even circa 1971, Your Song (Elton John) has been covered and this is new, exciting material, which might easily lend itself to the concert format...

And Brian is a Beach Boy. Always and forever.

It would be safe to assume that this post is directed to noneother than the wonderful Mr. Positivity himself.  :tm

Fools... and Sloop... were covered by The Beach Boys, so not quite the same as adding Brian solo material. Carl added his solo input to Beach Boys shows, so not unprecedented.

And Dennis!  ;)

more like Mr. f*ckwit. ;)

Dr. Shitweasel -  the man, the myth, the legend.

Reminds me of a lyric: "While money doesn’t talk, it swears
Obscenity..."

If this is Brian's last European tour and not the Beach Boys', then I think the spotlight should be on Brian... and not the Beach Boys. He was a Beach Boy once and will always represent that to some but he is also Brian Wilson. That is worth celebrating in its own right.

and then you woke up

They could make it a contest. Sell tickets for a BW tour and a BBs' tour simultaneously - same dates, same venues. Whoever sells the most wins. If Brian wins he gets to tour solo; if the BBs win, Al and Brian and Blondie and Ricky and Dave have to join them for one last spin.

That's what it seems to be working its way around to boiling down to.

So, basically it's a win/win situation for Brian (and possibly Alan & Blondie) in your "contest" ? Yup, that seems entirely fair...  ;D

If it's just down to popularity, perhaps One Direction should join Brian on tour. So third option, Brian and One Direction - most popular wins? Hmm. Thought not.  It's Brian's choice of course. But if I were he, and I wanted to acknowledge the BBs on my final European tour, perhaps I'd invite them to guest on a few encores - Surfin' USA, Barbara Ann, Fun Fun Fun. Then back to Brian's band for Love and Mercy.

Here's my master plan - let both groups schedule their tours when and where they want, and we decided if we want to go see Brian, Mike, both or neither. It's worked for me since 1998.  :)

and it worked this summer.  TKO Beach Boys (Mike/Bruce/Jeff et al).
The future ?  Sitting beside one Blondie Chaplin July 4 in the bar beside the Danforth Music Hall,
I bemoaned the credit taking of  their "manager/producer/publicist".
the reply:  BC: "toward the end of 2015 we (the group) have scheduled writing sessions together".

- the future is bright  (Holland 2016?)

Now, that is some news!

So just to be clear, are you saying Blondie said that all of the living Beach Boys have writing sessions scheduled for the end of this year?

I was assuming that means BW, Al and Blondie.

I'm with Wirestone on this one.  Not just assuming but hoping.  And if Blondie is hoping to write with Brian and Al and describes himself with both of them as "we", perhaps it means he will be continuing to tour with Brian and Al? I hope that too.

I would assume any writing sessions that may be in the offing involving Blondie would be for stuff with Brian and Al. I’m truly, seriously not trying to start s**t when I say this, but I’m guessing that if Mike laments his degree of involvement in TWGMTR (writing credits on 1/3 of the album’s tracks), then involving Blondie and Al in songwriting (neither of which were involved *at all* in any writing on the last BB album) would not be ideal to him.

I’m not saying Mike would be against having Al or Blondie write something for a BB album. Then again, despite the Rolling Stone article from 2012 indicating Brian wasn’t into “Waves of Love”, it’s worth mentioning that Larry Dvoskin, co-writer of “Waves of Love”, said this: “Mike 1000% c*ck blocked Al Jardine & Bruce from having any of their songs on the record out of self interest.” We can of course weigh such comments accordingly.

hi all,
Blondie made the songwriting sessions comment as he was signing the interior
of my CATP gatefold LP (w/PS).  In case that is any sort of a hint?
Of course the group he was referencing might have been his knitting group.  I didn't ask.

- to see her face

Have checked with a trustworthy source who confirms that Blondie was talking about the current Brian touring outfit and not the BBs.

that would be fantastic, WS !

- as would the alternative !

More studio material with Brian, Blondie, and Al (with perhaps Matt as well) would be great. Let's hope it doesn't take another three years to come to fruition.

and it would be a dream come true if the aforementioned composed some studio material !

- with a dash of Scott and VDP

That is great news on both counts IMO.

How about each plays a full set at Glastonbury, then the two acts unite to, erm, play the same songs again, but together.

Glastonbury would be the right place to start to attempt to begin to make amends,
it is magical. Brian more and more in interviews references the BB option.
Good for him!  BB55 begins in Glastonbury with PS50 (it's not that long)
followed by 2 hours of an unmatchable 55 year arc !

REALLY can't wait

I hope they don't do Glastonbury. Festivals are not an ideal venue IMO for some of Brian's music. I doubt all of  his fans would be that enthusiastic either. And if the weather isn't good, that's another possible problem.

Sorry to repeat but if this is BRIAN'S last European tour, it is about BRIAN, not the Beach Boys. It isn't even as if Mike and Bruce can make that much of an improvement to how it sounds. They have a capable band but they're not original Beach Boys so there is no nostalgia advantage.

Brian references the BB option? News to me. The last comments I've read , including the words in Last Song "Dont be sad. There was a time and place for what we had...", have suggested it is over.

brian is the beach boys

Mike's not an original BB?

guess not

Glastonbury - really?  After having to cancel a tour because of poor ticket sales in large venues (probably) and to accommodate a group of mostly, lets face it, older people - you think an outside, unseated huge venue like Glastonbury is the best option?

Ultimately, this is Brian's swan song, his party and he choses.  He puts the tickets up for sale and we buy them or not.  If we don't buy them he doesn't come.  I think he'd like to go out on a high so will probably do things he thinks we like in places he thinks we like (so not stadiums then) but also places and songs he wants.

He's played with the Beach Boys before, it didn't end well either time.  Hopefully he will have enough wisdom not to try it again for his sake.  He's being doing what everyone else wanted for far too long - he should do what he wants now.  There's nothing to lose.

One of the first things that I learned in Beach Boys 101 class: Who are the original Beach Boys?

Well how about that in between time? At the end of the tour, remember, he didn't want it to end. I am imagining that throughout the tour, the experience was pleasant to him.

The best course I didn't take!  :lol

Keep in mind Glastonbury is a massive music festival, not a venue. It has many stages. That's what makes it freaking Glastonbury - you can see so many different artists regardless of how famous they are. You should probably look this up.

Also Brian has played there before.

'Venue' - place where something happens, especially an organized event..... sounds like Glastonbury to me. The fact of it being a festival with lots of stages doesn't enthuse me I'm afraid. Outdoors, with all the possible problems that involves. Not partiuclarly comfortable, not ideal for some of Brian's so-called deeper cuts. Yes, I remember he played there before but whilst no doubt some fans would like it, I think quite a few wouldn't.

I meant M&B's band are not original Beach Boys - I've edited to make that clearer.

as they are 40% deceased, there can be no original "beach boys".

When Brian played there in 2005, it was voted the set of the festival and drew an enormous crowd, some of whom were 'surfing' as he played. It probably also helped that up until about 5minutes before Brian came out in blazing sunshine, it had been raining all day. The set included Marcella and Sail On Sailor. Oh, and Little St Nick!
I agree that festivals are not to everyone's taste but for that hour Brian owned Glastonbury and the band were mega hyped to be there.
I very much doubt Glasto 2016 is part of the agenda but I really do hope they do 2-3 nights at the RFH

both RFH and Glasto could work for a 2016 tour by Brian or Brian and the Beach Boys.

After seeing C50, hearing NPP, and knowing how incredible both the current tour and Love and Mercy are, I believe anything is possible.

All of you can keep moaning about venue sizes and what Brian should/shouldn't do or play, but I'm going to wait until it happens to pass judgement.

I know that Brian's previous show at Glastonbury was very successful. Each to their own - I just prefer a setting where we can hear some of the deeper cuts to advantage. I would much prefer 2-3 nights at the RFH - of course I suppose he could do both.

There can be no original Beach Boys band - there are still several surviving members of the original band however.

hi Woodstock,  there really isn't moaning and judgement passing, but more to your point "anything is possible".
if we all discuss the many possibilities there is an enhanced chance of it happening.
Anything can happen, and sometimes does!

That's terrible 203 nights at the RFH would probably kill Brian and most of the band members. I reckon (and I know it probably won't happen in a million years) a Beach Boys reunion hits setlist at Glasto for the fans with energy followed by a six night residency at the RFH with deep cuts and Pet Sounds for those who don't want to get their hair wet and can cope without proper toilets.

First time I saw the Beach Boys live was at Knebworth in 1980. All the original Beach Boys plus Bruce were present excepting Dave, and it was a blast. There was a little cloud, a little light rain, bu the sun came out as they opened with Cali Girls. Anything's possible…

Typo - I've edited.  203 nights at the RFh would bankrupt me.

I had tickets to Knebworth and didn't make it. Not because of lack of energy but because of trying to help an injured bird which sadly didn't make it anyway.

I don't hanker after a(nother) reunion. I get enough pleasure out of a Brian concert.

for 2016 i would suggest 260 days @ RFH.
give them weekends off.

I started a thread a few days ago about Brian at Glastonbury 2005.  No-one commented on it! :(

Like, literally. Two dudes were crowd surfing... on actual surf boards ! Possibly the most bizarre thing I've ever seen at a festival.

I suppose it's too much to hope there is video? 

Search: Brian Wilson Glastonbury 2005 (3/6) (http://www.google.com/search?q=Brian+Wilson+Glastonbury+2005+%283%2F6%29)

Can't help with video, but as one of those "dudes" passed right behind my head I span round and took a photo.  Unfortunately you can't see the surfboard due to the angle, so you'll just have to take my word for it that she was standing on something.  I'd have taken more photos but I was too busy going hog wild.

(http://www.spoonfeeding.org/images/crowdsurfer.jpg)

Thanxx for the link!  ( and to Theydon for the shot of one of the dudes) 
Interesting it was posted by Hollandsmile and there's a Smile Holland mod here.... 

But Missing the surfboards in this first episode was OK, as I was busy waving my arms along with the crowd following the always entrancing Taylor Mills....   

Has Brian ever crowd surfed?

The surfing songs were a part of Brian's career and the 'fun' aspect of the shows is good but I find it exasperating when some people believe that is the main significance of Brian's music. Brian has been type-cast by some people, who are unaware of the wide range of songs he has written or else who just want to ignore all but a stereotypical part of it.

My then-housemate was at that Glastonbury. He was very disappointed not to hear "Mrs O'Leary's Cow".

and yet the fun aspect is the main significance, Ang, for it is just that which led us to this great place !
nobody was initiated by "Fire", and then eventually discovered FFF.  It is the other way around.
2, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 or 55 years ago a pair of ears hear the "fun", and then a voyage begins.
Fun is the gateway drug.

Brian has probably been crowd surfing all his life; he kinda rises above the fray.

- he certainly invented bed surfing !

I'd be interested to hear from somebody who initially discovered the BB/BW world via Smile, Sunflower, Surf's Up, Holland, Pacific Ocean Blue, etc and then later discovered the early songs about surfing, cars, and girls. 

I'd expect many these days get into Pet Sounds and Smile first, then listen through the early stuff, stuff they sort of already knew but hadn't paid much attention to, with new ears.

To be honest, I'm not that bothered these days about deep cuts.  I go to hear the core material.  I realised this at the Gershwin show, where the order was flipped around.  The new 'work' was played first, then the hits were restored to their rightful place, as the main meal, the heart of the show.

Same with the touring Beach Boys.  The main point for me there is to hear Michael doing his thing on the early stuff, flipping between his leads and dropping to his bass parts.

that is a great question, KDS.  i believe that "they sort of knew but hadn't paid much attention to" by Fire Wind
is the BEST explanation i ever heard.
also, Fire Wind, your observation about flipping vocal parts is certainly one of the magic things which Brian
cultivated from before the beginning.  i have seen mike live several times this year and it is a joy.
even better was Brian doing the same thing last Saturday !

- is it really 2015 ?  how can this be happening ?

I started with the hits, but I didn't start going through their discography until after I listened to smiley smile

I refer to that person as a liar.   ;D

I was kinda the same way. Heard like 15 of the hits, then heard Pet Sounds, Smile, then all the post Today! albums. Then I started really delving into the early stuff - Little Deuce Coupe, Surfin USA, Surfin Safari, etc.

Not for me. The first Beach Boys song I really loved was Heroes and Villains. I like lots of the early material but it is nowhere near as sophisticated, complex or interesting as the material Brian was creating from 1965 onwards. Listen to the a cappella version of Friends or of Breakaway for example and then compare to Little Deuce Coupe or Fun Fun Fun.

Maybe Beethoven once played Chopsticks but if he was performing today, I doubt the audience would be attending to hear that - other than as a lighthearted encore.

That's basically my story. I became good friends with a guy at work who was 59 years old and his favorite bands were The Beach Boys and The Kinks. We always talked music and when he brought up The Beach Boys, I told him I wasn't into them because I hadn't liked what I had heard at that time (FFF, Surfin' USA, Barbara Ann, etc.). He told me that they had some great music that wasn't anything like that. He then let me borrow his Friends / 20/20 twofer cd and I was hooked. From there it was the Sunflower/Surf's Up twofer and then the Carl & The Passions/Holland twofer. I loved this stuff and bought those cds along with Wild Honey/Smiley Smile and Pet Sounds. I listened to those albums and only those post '66 albums for over a year before I gradually started to appreciate the pre '66 material.

I understand this completely. I think it is the difference between a casual "fan" and someone who would call them their favorite band or rank them high in the category. My smartass remark had more to do with the fact that it is nearly impossible for anyone on this planet not to hear Surfin' USA, FFF, Little Deuce Coupe, etc. Those songs are certainly the gateway to almost everything else.

So I'd be a liar, then?

See above. I have no doubt that the deep love from the band comes from PS and on, but I would find it amzing/fascinating if someone had never heard the early stuff and started with the list that cant wait produced. I would love to hear your story.

Street clears, children hide behind waterbutts, a dog yelps in the scorching midday sun as tumbleweed bounces down the dusty dirt of the Main Street where two gunslingers stand facing each other 200 yards apart, wrists poised and ready to draw…

"So yer callin' me a liar, huh?" growls Billy the Kid.

"Quit callin' me Huh, Dude," snarls Mean Marty…

A single chapel bell clangs, an ocarina blows…

Big Bad John Manning. ;)

good stuff JM;
could you pls add the
"rusty sheet metal Coroner sign twisting and screeching eerily in the wind"  ?

- thanks

I understand what you're saying. The reason I posted my story was because hearing those songs you mention wasn't a gateway for me. I heard those songs though out my teens and twenties and they completely turned me off. I didn't own one BB item and only thought of them as that band you hear playing through the pa system when you visit a water park. It wasn't until I heard that later material that I fell in love with the band.

I guess I'm calling my self a liar, too. No lie, my first exposure to the Beach Boys was the "Surf's Up" cassette, circa 1984:

(http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee92/mbriev16/R-3641079-1338496566-8030.jpeg_zpsdoil73hm.jpg)

By the way, that's not a joke, I distinctly remember the songs and the crappy cover art.

+1

I'd been just a Greatest Hits guy for years, it was discovering the Smiley Smile/Holland era of the band that made me want to hear/own everything they'd ever done.

Meanwhile…

In the cantina Margueritta keeps the spirits high.
There I washed her laundry again and spun her smalls in front of the fire…

‍

IGA was my 1st BB single when i was 12, along with Beatles, Dean Martin, DC5, Ricky Nelson, and Louis Armstrong...
ASL was my 1st BB LP, along with Beatles, DC5, etc

- John M pls keep going

"Pants, Margueritta, don't you know they'll keep the boys off you?"
"Pants?"
"And maybe a vest…"

"Whoo hoo hoo hoo!"

In a way, it also comes down to what one actually considers the early stuff.  For me, it's Surfin' to the release of Good Vibrations.  That's one stretch of fun and youthful emotions (yearning and sadness).  I don't see a break there, even if the subject matter and lyrics deepen a touch.

I also see that as be early stuff but in a way we're deluding ourselves. Over 50+ years, the early stuff ought really to be regarded as having ended with KTSA - that's less that half-way through their career but also when the creativity and the productive unit really did dry up (until, arguably, TWGMTR). There might have been peaks and troughs over those first 20 years but at least they productive (with a lull 73-75).

but what a lull 73 - 75 that was, John!  Studio aside, they began to rule the stage. That exiting stage presence
continues to this day.  & you are correct about the recorded production's loss @ KTSA...

Okay, here goes....

Born in 1978. As the kid of an older father (my dad was 46 when I was born), I grew up listening to 50s -70s music, along with blues. However, my dad HATED the Beach Boys, said they were too 'white bread' and 'lacked grit', and lumped them in there with Pat Boone. Instead, whilst in the car with him, I heard stuff like BB King, Fats Domino, Eric Clapton, and such. Whenever the Beach Boys WOULD come on the oldies station, it was something like Shut Down or Surfin Safari, and Dad would immediately be like 'ahh, I hate this weak sh*t' and change the station or put a tape in. So yea, I never actually got to listen to the early stuff growing up, really. Now, one time Good Vibrations came on, and (keeping in mind I was a kid), and I was like 'whoa this is some weird stuff', and wondering why somebody did a cover of the 'Sunkist song'. :lol (In retrospect, I notice Dad didn't change from THAT song....). As the DJ didn't say who it was, I didn't know it was the Beach Boys. Yeah, I know. So really, for the first 16 years of my life, I thought of the Beach Boys as (sigh)...' a bunch of bald fat guys with Hawaiian shirts and khaki shorts'. I guess I somehow mixed Brian, Mike, AND Bruce together.  Then, 20 years ago, I was in a really toxic relationship with a complete whackjob. Several of months of getting blood stained notes saying that if she killed herself, the world would think it was my fault really does a number on you, ya dig? Well, *I* ended up having a breakdown, not going into detail about it, but I ended up having to see a shrink on a regular basis for about a year.  During one of my sessions, I mentioned how I'd been depressed for a long time, and whenever I was alone in my room, I'd daydream about music, just writing melodies in my head (and eventually full arrangements...something that would come in handy from 2001 on, but that's a story for another time...) for solace. Well, Dr Whatever-his-name-was let me borrow a book that he said was 'inspiring' and that I would find a lot of 'life's answers' in it. Next to psychiatric journals and God (Only) Knows what else was a book that would indeed change my life...the 1991 Wouldn't it be nice book.  :lol   (Yeah, I know). So I read it...and immediately two things became apparent to me. 1) The thing with Landy felt incredibly unhealthy to me, and reminded me of my by then ex girlfriend, even though it was pro-Landy, and 2) I'd found a kindred spirit. I was rather nervous about listening to a Beach Boys album, though, because of my previous bias, and was afraid that I wouldn't like it. (Yeah, I know, pt 2). So, when I found a copy of BW 1988 for 99 cents at Blockbuster Music, I grabbed that f*cker faster than a cheetah on crystal. Rio Grande became my Be My Baby for a while, if you follow. Bought the IJWMFTT  soundtrack the following week, and then the documentary on VHS shortly there after. I was like 'oh my God, I really am not alone after all'. When I say his music saved my life, it's only partially true...his life saved mine. Gave me hope. Made me realize that I could channel my hurt and pain into a creative outlet rather than internalize it. Bought Smiley Smile next, my first Beach Boys album. Despite having never smoked weed at the time  (yes, the SS board's version of Tommy Chong once was a complete goody goody)  and listening to it completely sober...I was floored. THIS was genius, THIS was art. (Amusing aside...my dad once came in the room when She's Going Bald' came on...looked at me, shook his head, then walked out of my room and closed the door, all without saying a word :lol ) . Never expected the Beach Boys to sound like THAT. Next week, I bought Wild Honey,  then 20/20, then Friends. By then, I was hooked. The world only knew of the oldies, but I knew better. I felt like it was my little secret. Bought Pet Sounds, and it changed my life. I realized that 'THIS is what I want to do with my life'. I finished an album's worth of music in my head (complete arrangements, mind you) shortly after.* Joined the old Mike WHeeler Cabinessence board that year, and made friends with a (sadly now passed on) really cool dude who hooked me up with cassette copies of all the albums from SUnflower through BB 1985.  Got the GV boxed set for Christmas in 1996, and THAT was my initial *real* exposure to the earlier stuff.

All of this was a long-winded explanation of why , yes, it is possible to have become a fan without being exposed to the earlier stuff. But really, I was a BW fan first, and then the Beach Boys.

* You may be wondering if I had an entire album's worth of music in my head for that many years, then why am I only now releasing my first album next month. Well, I did record that music in 2002, although I later realized some of the melodies in my head were nicked from existing songs I must've heard as a small child , and I'd get sued!

Nice story Billy!

Time for a new song: "the ballad of Billy Castillo"

My initiation into the World of Wilson had similarities with Billy. Of course I knew the hits from the radio & TV (growing up in the 60s, you had to...) but after the 1975 Kent piece, first album I bought was... Pet Sounds. Start at the top. Thereafter, the canon 1967-73... then Endless Summer (oddly, I have never, ever owned 20 Golden Greats in any format from cylinder to mp3) and on to the pre-1966 stuff. As ever with me, arse about face, as my father would have it. First "new" release was 15 Big Ones (errr...), then (following a summer's sojourn in the local basket weaving academy) Love You (yay !) and POB (OMFG !!!).

Hook, line and yes, I do believe that's a sinker.  ;D

Oh and in case anyone asks, no my shrink was not named Landy :lol

Agreed, truly incredible story. Brian Wilson before later-Beach Boys must be even rarer. Again, my initial post was entirely tongue-in-cheek, but you must realize you have to be in a very small minority. What an amazing personal connection to the music.

Oh yeah, most definitely.  Even odder,  when I saw what (then) current Brian looked like, I was all like 'hey its Mr Hawthorne from the New Leave it to Beaver!' :lol

You need a movie made about your life! :lol

Well, if this album sells well, it could one day happen. Lol

I was introduced to the Beach Boys via a slew of all sorts of compilations (remember the one titled "Golden Harmonies" that had the instrumental "Pet Sounds" on it?). One of my favorites was "Sunshine Dream", which I remember seeming just as good if not better than "Endless Summer" or "Spirit of America."

But mixed into all of that I also got the "Pet Sounds" album.  Because it was just "another" album of theirs (don't remember whether I even stopped to think about whether it was an "original" album or just a compilation in my earliest pre-nerd days), it's probably why to this day I maintain "Pet Sounds" is amazing more than anything else simply because they're all GOOD songs. All of that "concept album", "one complete thought" of an album, blah blah blah. Yeah, all of that is accurate too. But it's also just *all good songs*!

I eventually snagged some albums in the vinyl days, but not all of them. It wasn't until the CD age that I really, as Michael Bolton said in "Office Space" came to "celebrate their entire catalog."

I also became a fan because of Brian Wilson, not the band. I knew the hits, but they never particularly resonated with me. But then in 1995, I heard about the IJWMFTT doc, along with Orange Crate Art.

Pretty sure the first BW/BB related disc I bought was the IJWMFTT soundtrack. I followed that up with Orange Crate Art, Pet Sounds, and then the 20 Good Vibrations disc that was the standard hits release at the time. The boxed set was next, followed by BW88, Love You and 15 Big Ones.

hey Billy, great story !  i just can't quite remember, but did you regale us with your version of
"In My Room" on the original Cabinessence board ?  or am i hallucinating ?

I was 9 years old in 1965, when I received the Barbara Ann 45 for Christmas.  I don't know why I was given this particular record, because I wasn't really a Beach Boys fan.  I fell in love with The Beatles the first time I heard them on the radio in '64, and they became my favorite group, but I heard all of the popular stuff on the radio, including Beach Boys songs.  I also remember a friend of mine owning the Help Me, Rhonda single, with the band wearing terrible preppy sweaters on the sleeve.  I just didn't dig it at the time.  So, when I got that Barbara Ann single, I played it a few times, but I liked the flip side, Girl Don't Tell Me much better (because it sounded like the Beatles).  Soon the Monkees Marketing Machine hit me, and all other 10 year olds, and the Beach Boys were all but forgotten (except for Good Vibrations, which made me take notice for about 15 minutes).  1967 was all about The Monkees and The Beatles for me.  Soon after came The Who and Jimi and the San Francisco bands, and Woodstock, and suddenly everything had changed.  I was probably like a lot of the people around my age that at some point dismissed The Beach Boys as 'not cool, man".

Fast forward to 1988.  I was working with a younger guy who was into all sorts of music, and he started talking about this new album from Brian Wilson, and how great it was.  He told me about Pet Sounds, and the story about the Smile album, and what a great album Smiley Smile was.  Well, the next day he brought me a cassette tape with Brian Wilson on one side, and Smiley Smile on the other.  I could not believe what I was hearing.  This is the guy and band that did Barbara Ann?  No way.  Man, I played that tape to death.  I played it for anyone who would listen.  I would often get funny looks from people, but I didn't care.  This stuff was hitting me like no music had hit me in a very long time.  Needless to say, I was hooked. 

To this day Brian's (and The Beach Boys') music just makes me feel good.  It is, as Carl and others have said, very spiritual.  I'm not sure why or how it works, but it does, and I feel really lucky to have met that guy at work 27 years ago. 

Are there any restriction on Al's and Blondie's availability for such a tour - family commitments and the like?

Do their wages/expenses add heavily to tour costs, in a way that might persuade Brian's management not to take them?