The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was at the Beach Boys show tonight in Interlochen, MI and recorded the end of the concert and have transcribed the following quote from Mike: “I want to say a special thanks to [inaudible] and Studio 231 for helping us out. We’re doing some work on a Christmas album coming out. So thank you very much for helping us out. So part of our Christmas album will be a result of being here in Michigan.”

Some new product to look forward to down the pipeline  :-D I presume this would have to be Mike Love solo, right?

ugh

ugh +1

Do It Again...With Bells On  ::)

Santa going to Kokomo to do it again! Double ugh!

Will this be based on re-writes of the Kokomo re-write Santa's Goin' to Kokomo?

Having been exposed way too many times via the SiriusXM channel to tracks off "Unleash the Love", I can only hope any additional work Mike does in the studio does *not* involve Michael Lloyd in any way.

Mike's "original" circa 2004 "Unleash the Love" stuff was far from a masterpiece, but it's immensely less grating to listen to than his 2017 set helmed by Lloyd. Get a new producer, and leave out the autotune. That alone would make even the most tedious and unimaginative of future Mike "Christmas" album tracks much more palatable.

It's quite apparent that myKe luHv doesn't get the clear message from the public. Based on his past releases(including SIP), no one cares nor wants anything to do with what this ego driven clown has to offer in the way of recorded efforts. I would also note that very few in the audience of the fake Beach Boys performance could give a sh*% as to whether or not he or the other goldbricker was on stage.

  :thud  I'll give you 1 million guesses in regard to what I  DON'T  want for Xmas and the first 999,999 don't count.   ::)

Am I the only one who is happy about this? I'd be happy to see ANY Beach Boy release new material. Usually there is at least one or two gems per album. That includes SIP and Unleash The Love. I really like Strange Things Happen, Lahaia Aloha, Crescent Moon and Cool Head Warm Heart. The album will probably not blow me away, but any new BB-related product will excite me. Just like the RPO album. Gems would be Disney Girls and Kokomo, in my opinion. I don't love the whole album, but I like parts. And I will always give new material a chance. I would take the RPO album over Stars And Stripes.

Trashcans in bulk for christmas? ;)

How was the show? I'm going to catch it later this week

The show was great. I had only seen them perform once before a few years back but Mike seemed much more confident vocally than the previous show I saw/the 4th of July shows I’ve seen on TV. I swear he sounded 20 years younger. Vintage ’80s/’90s nasal glory in places. And all the band member features were great for the most part. Great energy too.

 :drum :drumroll

Wait, so now we are considering Mike's '80s and '90s vocals as his "glory"? From what I remember, a lot of us were happy by the early '00s when Mike finally started toning down the nasality and sounded much better vocally. And while we are at it, at least on Unleash The Love he sounded really rough on his classic leads, like "I Get Around" and such. Though I guess through all the autotune, he sounded good on "Fun Fun Fun" and despite the horrid surrounding production he sounded pretty great on "Do It Again".

The 1980s leads were the nair of his career.... >:D

I don’t understand why Bruce doesn’t produce Mike.  He produced extensively in the 70s, LA Light Album is a great sounding album.

In case anyone wanted to hear it from the horse’s mouth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DTayXDQ7B8 (Listening back, the “inaudible” name is clearly Andy.)

When Mike mentions Studio 231, I think he has to be referring to 231 Recordings (https://www.231recordings.com). That’s the only studio in the area with “231” in the name.

From 231 Recordings’ Instagram page (https://www.instagram.com/p/BlYwXzsHXu4/):

(https://i.imgur.com/dnJXdqr.jpg)

First thing that jumps out at me: Scott is mentioned as the producer!

"Living music legend"???????   :shrug :ohyeah :angry :thud :whatever :lol :lol :lol ???

Holy sh*t he looks old. Like...triple digits. Also...how could anyone be excited by this garbage?...

I kind of like mike embracing his age. The mustache looks good on him for a change, too.

First thing I thought of


(https://i.pinimg.com/474x/d3/e2/bc/d3e2bcf4537dd6136c01b50d3ed493b2--hulk-hogan-merry-christmas.jpg)

Now I'm picturing Mike in a leotard. Thanks a bunch.  ::) "HO HO HO"!

Gah I’m blind now lol

Mike embraced his age before just fine without the ugly mustache. It doesn't fit his type face. He'd better delete it. As to Christmas album - like Christmas music, curious what Mike & co. cover.

A quick look at this recording service indicates it appears to be a pretty new business, run by a pretty young guy, in a relatively remote location. I don't sense he's had a bunch of A-listers coming through his doors. Mike may well be the biggest name to use his facilities.

It also appears the company/guy does mainly mixing and mastering, and "partners" with an outside local recording studio for any actual recording needs.

For whatever reason, Mike seems to like to do his solo recording on the fly while on the road, and on the (relative) cheap. Not trying to denigrate anybody looking to get into the business. But I'm guessing "231" is significantly cheaper than hiring Mark Linett to be your engineer at Capitol Studios or Ocean Way, and cheaper than having Bob Ludwig do the mastering, etc.

https://mikelove.com/?attachment_id=2456
Is it just me, or is this Shortenin Bread.....

Sure sounds like short'nin bread to me. It also sounds terrible.

I'm not feeling "reason for the season" at all, but I kind of knew I wouldn't going in with a title like that. With that being said, I wasn't expecting shortenin' bread version 6 or so in the band's discography. Production is miles better than Mike's last album, so I still have a little hope that I'll enjoy a couple of tracks off of it.

 ::) ::) Sad, desperate and just downright awful. Yes, of course, it's a Mike Love engineered pathetic version of Shortnin' Bread and yes, it stands right next to Unleash The Love, and it's twin SIP. I guess he really gets off on being ignored and recording trash that no one cares about. Just goes to show that without a good composer, he's dead in the water. He should stick to his tribute band playing 900 dates a year singing songs that the real Beach Boys did 50 years ago.

So for those that know. What’s the legalities of Music plagiarism and this song?

Shortenin' Bread is a traditional song in the public domain.

Much better production and vocal. Hanson xmas song sounded really cluttered production wise and unsuited to his voice.

Yeah, definitely not what I was expecting! It's so bizarre, I grudgingly kind of like it.  ???

I kinda like it too. If it was Brian, I definitely would like it as a quirky Brian thing. So count me in on this one. That doesn't mean it's much more than a trifle, but I don't mind it.

Thanks CM. So in that case I assume the lyric is able to be changed as well.

Took whopping 18 minutes to download mere 4Mb mp3 track. Anyhoo, listened to it twice. Nice. In short, it will not be new song added to Christmas playlist. But, as Christmas music fan & glass half full type, I suspect there'll be few gems in RFTS.

So, the good news for those who found Lloyd's production on the remakes disc of Unleash The Love a bit...distasteful, is that he seems to be down to two tracks here.

Let’s not get too excited for the album’s release tomorrow.

Huh. I'm not a fan, but I just skimmed through and it's not exactly what I was expecting. "Celestial Celebration" feels very much like 15 big ones era beach boys.

I'm avoiding listening to the whole thing until about Thanksgiving, but it's a pretty interesting track sequencing that mirrors the Beach Boys Christmas Album. As expected, the vocals are overly processed, but actually listenable this time. The processing on "celestial celebration" actually works.

The last 5 tracks of the album do nothing for me, but I can't be angry at Mike for wanting to do some tracks with his family at this point in his career.

Edit: I listened another time and aside from brickwalled compression, I'm kind of wishing that more of TWGMTR's vocals were produced like that one track.

I'm probably going to be in the minority on this, but if Reason For The Season had been part of the unreleased mid 70's Beach Boys Christmas album, it probably would have been one of the highlights. I like it.

On Spotify now. Just started listening...anyone have a list of the writing/production credits?

I enjoy it.  I could do without all the religious references. Don't have a problem with religion but think it just detracts from the fun element of the song here.

Just right click on the track in spotify and you can access the credits!
Songs 8-12 are produced by Scott Totten

Thanks!

Gave it a wee listen. My thoughts are that it is very honest.
It's the kind of music a family would be able to record at home in that it has a sort of joyful amateurish edge to it. The vocals have that flavour of being auto-tuned through some in-built macbook air recording function.

This appears to be the 1st Mike Love solo album (released or unreleased) that does not have a "Love" pun in the title.
Way to mess up a streak of consistency, Mike. :lol

I'll say this: Mike seems to be well on his way to tipping the scales to finally having more released solo albums as opposed to unreleased ones. Not sure he's crossed that threshold yet?

You know what? I commend Mike for tackling a song that seems to be right at the edge of his vocal range(Reason For The Season). That the man is damn near 80 makes it even more remarkable.

Itunes apparently really wants people to know when ALL LOVE is guesting on the songs. Look at how many times they repeatedly and redundantly inform the listener.

ALLLLL LOOOOVE!!!  ALLLLL LOOOOVE!!!  ALLLLL LOOOOVE!!!

(http://i66.tinypic.com/s30tis.jpg)

A (tacky) lyric video has dropped for the title track: https://youtu.be/O0OI5voRq1w

Here are my thoughts...

Autotune is prevalent on a couple tracks (specifically Little St Nick), probably the ones Michael Lloyd produced.

Tracks 8-12, produced by Scott Totten, sound very nice.

The vocals on this entire album are honestly pretty good. Not perfect BBs in 1965 quality, but definitely solid vocals and harmonies that still do remind me of that classic BBs sound. Mike's vocals can be a little shaky here and there, but you gotta give the guy credit, considering his age.

Is this album a masterpiece? No. Did anything blow me away? No. But would I listen to it again? Definetly. It's a cheerful, positive, and well put together album.

... However, I will ALWAYS take The BBs Christmas Album over this!!

On the plus (?) side, the animated meditating cartoon of Mike Love could be the start of a sequel to the unproduced Beach Boys cartoon from the early '70s.

(http://i68.tinypic.com/rh4w37.jpg)
 
Looks like they took the Rolling Stone "Ballad of Mike Love" photo of Mike (wearing a Beach Boys hat), flipped its direction, and Photoshopped out the BBs hat in favor of a Love hat. No comment.

(http://i66.tinypic.com/4ujvvc.jpg)

(http://i66.tinypic.com/9tcn68.jpg)

I like how Apple Music thinks Beach Boy Mike Love and reggae Mike Love (https://youtu.be/fU7hZ3smj0g) are the same person.

Must be a trait of the MELECO managers.  ;D

https://www.nevada-register.com/448166-meleco-records-inc

The company MELECO RECORDS, INC. is managed by 10 persons in total. The persons responsible for business activities are MICHAEL E LOVE with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as President , MICHAEL E LOVE with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Director , MICHAEL E LOVE with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as President , MICHAEL E LOVE with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Director , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Secretary , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Treasurer , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Director , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Secretary , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Treasurer , JACQUELYNE PIESEN with the seat at PO BOX 7684, INCLINE VILLAGE, 89452, NV as Director .

Bought and gave this a good listen yesterday... I do not hate this! It's nothing brilliant but is a nice mix of traditional and semi-originals done fairly well.  Only little Saint Nick stands out as really weak and it is one of the M Lloyd productions (autotune). I will happily put that CD in a mix with Brian's Christmas CD and I think they will both stand up together as one charming Christmas listening collection this Christmas. :-D

doc smiley, I couldn't agree more. The album actually holds up very well. Overall, the production is an improvement UTL (disc two, specifically). The originals aren't really mind blowing, but they work and they're fun to listen to. The traditional songs sound really nice; to my knowledge, those were the ones produced by Scott Totten.

To see two Mike Love solo albums in two years, especially for a guy his age, is pretty remarkable. Mike gets a lot of flack on here, and a lot of it well deserved, but you've gotta hand it to him- two albums in two years at 77 years old is quite the feat.

If Mike decides to release another album, or at least more music, I would be very happy to see Scott Totten take the production role again. The vocals are pretty pitch corrected, but it's more along the lines of what we've become accustomed to with many recent BBs/Brian solo releases like TWGMTR and NPP. (BW88 even used primative forms of pitch correction I believe) Other than Little Saint Nick, which as mentioned above, has that Michael Lloyd UTL Disc Two sound, the production on this album is very nice.

The fact that much of this album features Mike's family all singing together, definitely gives the record a Beach Boys vibe  (Away In a Manger, particularly). Autotuned harmonies of Mike's kids will obviously never match The BBs in their mid-60's prime, but there's just something magical about family singing together ......I guess I'm just a sentimental sap? :lol

I thought Brian was the one that has an obsession with "Shortening Bread"...  :lol

I just noticed (and won’t be able to unhear) an editing mistake with the BG vocals on “Jingle Bell Rock” at about 1:05. (Otherwise, flawless album ;))

Disc 2?

Reason For The Season single

Mike Love on “The Beach Boys” Tours & his New Holiday Album "Reason for the Season"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twwxiNDjn9Q

Reason For The Season

https://www.billboard.com/ (https://www.billboard.com/)
Week of November 10th:

Top Album Sales: #39
Holiday Albums: #5
Holiday Album Sales: #4
Independent Albums: #6 (UTL peaked at #37)
Heatseekers Albums: #3 (UTL peaked at #2).

Just to be clear, "Top Album Sales" is different from the main "Billboard 200" album chart, which is the sort of de facto/main album chart.

The main difference is that one is pure album sales, while the main "Billboard 200" factors in streaming (as well as "regular" sales as well).

Long story short, not surprisingly, the people buying Mike's album skew older and far fewer stream his stuff. So much so that the album doesn't even appear in the Top 200.

There aren't a ton of comparisons to make in the BB world, as this chart tabulation process began in 2014. But, for instance, Brian's "No Pier Pressure" made it to #14 on the "Top Album Sales" chart, and #28 on the "Billboard 200." So, as with most "legacy" artists, his physical sales outpaced streaming, but a good amount of people must have still streamed stuff from the album, as he still saw a solid placement on the "200" chart.

It's a bit difficult to navigate the data on Billboard's site, but it appears "Unleash the Love" didn't make it to either the "Top Album Sales" chart or the "Billboard 200", only appearing on the Indie and Heatseeker chart.

It's quite possible if not likely that his Xmas album is selling more than "Unleash the Love."

This is the often lucrative "legacy artists recording holiday music" format they tried cashing in on with that "Songs from Here and Back" CD exclusive to Hallmark in 2006.

I'm curious if the sales figures for the new Xmas album include copies bundled with tickets, which can *sometimes* be counted under certain circumstance (for instance, I believe one has to be able to buy a ticket *without* the bundled album for a lower price than the bundle).

The traditional songs sound great. Just about the rest of the tracks sound ok, minus Mike's vocals, which sound like they were recorded with the iPhone's Voice Recorder app during a bus drive and texted to the producer.

Been generously sent free zip file with the album past week by nice fellow BBs fan. As I said I don't buy any music, they bought & made zip file with mp3s. Listened few times, will not do track-by-track.
1stly, many posters commented Christian sounds like Carl. To my ears, he doesn't.
The other thing I paid attention to is Ambha's voice doesn't suit to singing Christmas music. It's not the deal about it not being Christmasey, it just, at least in carols she sang, ruins them. Then again, I ain't no fan of her vocal stylings.
As to Mike's singing, it's fine, it's passable, would be nice if he sang each song alone, without extra voices & muddy-like harmonies.
Title track doesn't capture Christmas mood - I suspect why, the main piano riffing - the bass - brings back stupid popular Vince Guaraldi song which iir is Christmas song but to me - to me - it doesn't seem that way. Nice rhythm still.
"Jingle Bell Rock" is best by Randy Travis, no contest.
AOCD is best here. Hate version by Phoenix. "Must Be Christmas" is so not my thing it's not even funny. "Celestial" is slight, didn't leave impression. Except cool marching drums intro, "Do You Hear" didn't like due to reason I state before, i.e. Mike's kids' vocs. But, I didn't like the 80s with Mary MacGregor either. I wish "Have Yourself Very Merry Christmas" would be remade with new vocs but the same lively joyful tempo & included instead, say, of "Away In A Manger" which again, due to vocals, didn't like. Besides my idea of perfect Christmas song is joyful, fast, festive, catchy, cool, to name few tags.
Bottom line:  could be muchly better without featuring "All Love", just Mike will do. Song choices to cover whilst they're interesting, some, obscure (as I said before, I didn't hear about Hanson. Yep, I didn't) but traditional yearly songs everybody & their brother covers like "O Holy Night" should be replaced by such popular funfests as "Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree" & "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus". Mike could just lower the key & it'll be great fun finish tracks. As is, RFTS will be 2/5.

(https://i.imgur.com/TQan0Zcl.jpg)

What the hell??

OSD 1971 flashback? ;D

 :lol :lol :lol :lol

Frankly, I really don't care much for his Christmas CD; I think his voice sounds pretty lame now, as do most fo the originals. But I thought the best songs were the All Love ones. At least vocally. That being said, still not saying much.

Listened again, initial review stays - Mike could sing it *without anybody*, the album would improve , I tells ya. :police: Forget fam, ha. :P It's best to hear just Mike than his kids, esp. Ambha. Christian doesn't sing good either to these ears.

Must admit, I bought the downloads of the half dozen ' regular' songs . Whilst the family sing okay, I prefer to hear the artiste themselves, not guests.  I find the trad songs are  well produced  but not distinctive arrangements.  My one and only quibble with the ones I bought , is that someone is screeching off-key on " Must be Christmas" and spoilt what could have been a great track.

I agree with you, Christian sounds like he's related to Carl, but he doesn't sound just like him. In fact, I'd go even further and say that Christian's sister Hayleigh sounds more like Carl, in terms of intonation and emotion. She is an excellent singer, in my book.


Yes, ma'am -- I agree 100% with that assessment!

Only two more days before I can finally give the album a listen. I am patient.  ;D

Wow, you know Randy Travis? I didn't see anybody here mention him, thus figured he isn't famous country singer in the States. Really cool that smb. - you - appreciates this singer except I & especially his (best) version of the best Christmas classic to boot. Respect. :3d

Randy Travis is quite famous in country circles I believe, isn't he? Not my cup of country, but definitely not a nobody in my mind.

Randy Travis is a legend in country music.

2posts below: Interesting. Looks like he isn't rare country name as I used to think till now.

Someone posted a video of Mike and his family singing Oh Holy Night on his Facebook page. Amber love sings the lead on this song. I don't think it's that good really she sounds more like she's yelling or screaming and doesn't really seem to have a nice tone to her vocals. Not terrible but just not pleasing to my ears.

Maybe she's copying Mike's awful and annoying habit of "bleating".   ::)

Agree. As I said, she's got voice which doesn't fit Christmas songs. Wish she quit singing them. Maybe today's r'n'b would be suitable. But, I wouldn't be fan anyway as I dislike her vocalizations, stylings or what do you call it.

Here's a new interview relating to the album...   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzzJsimzAUU

Heard a track playing from it today over a store's sound system.

Didn’t know where to post this.
While driving just now heard an announcement that Mike will be ‘spinning his favorite Christmas songs’ tomorrow on the Sirius/XM 60s channel . Don’t know any more. Assume his FB page will have more info

"Maybe she's copying Mike's awful and annoying habit of "bleating"
Seriousely... tired of those automatics types of comments on Mike... by always the same persons... I love "The Beach Boys", and every one of them. With their qualities and their bad sides!

Here's an update -
Mike Love "plays his favorite holiday songs from the 60s and beyond, including a few tracks off his new Christmas album 'Reason for the Season'"

Sirius XM channel 6 (60s channel)
All times ET:
12/17 2-3 pm
12/20 8p.m.
12/22 10 a.m.
12/24 2p.m.
12/25 9 a.m.

@mustomax--- mostly, I agree with your sentiments...but cannot extend "the BB" to include Stamos nor Ambha L. IMO.

If you speak of the thing on TV. It was not as the BB but as "Mike love", for is xmas lp. (Wich is a family lp).  even Bruce stayed back this day. the band was here as an orchestra not as the BB... that's how I felt it...
 Then for Stamos... apart Mike and Bruce, no  one else is a Beach Boy in the band. So him or another... (even if it's clear that Scott and the others are here for their musical talent and not Stamos😊).

Yes, fair comment, musto !!

Sure it's family album. But Ambhas, Hayleighs, Christians really ruined it. If smb. hates Ambha's voice, it must be respected by smb. who likes it.

Did I said I like her voice? You know what? I don't!  I only said that some people here think that hating Mike Love is hip! And showing their hate on every subject is hip. I don't think so. And I don't know what "respect" is doing here. I think we should RESPECT every member of our favorite group.

2mustomax: Did I say you like her voice? The poster you replied to about hating Mike commented about *Ambha*'s voice being bad ("bleating"). Maybe it could be said tactfully but the point is still similar to if the said poster said "she's nasal like Mike". If you read threads here & PS, even Mike's fans would say "in this song Mike sounds good, in that song it's at its nasal". I'm sure "bleating"/ "bleats" were used as well.
Some people may "hate" Mike but it's like what, 2-5 people in the ENTIRE board? Everybody else respects Mike/ each BB just fine. You know, you can respect him, yet be free to say sth. negative about, to stay in topic, this album. Reviewing isn't about just sunshiney positivity. Some like, some dislike etc. Each side should be listened & respected, dislikes not quickly be painted as "hating Mike". Anyhoo, the reply by me you quote did refer to you but at the same time, it's general statement.