Speaking of BW's voice, I was just listening to "This Isn't Love" from the "Roxy" cd, and I was very surprised. Brian sounded very good, in my opinion. It's not quite falsetto, but it's getting there. Hell, it's ten times better than I could ever do, and I'm only 22. 

During Midnight Special in 1979 he keeps interuptting Al drunkedly while Jardine is trying to introduce the Byrds. The 1983 video of him singing You Are So Beautiful is pretty sad.

It made my eyes water the first time I watched. It's weird that he died  not long after that.

Yeah I almost cried when I saw that footage too. That's possibly the saddest piece of Beach Boys footage!!

Can anybody put this up on YouTube?

BB Medley from 81. Baaad!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbX3rKMHYy4

I also remember a 'Solid Gold' version. From memory Dennis was waaaay back of stage. No face. Just long hair flying and sticks out of time to track.

I have two things to say about that American Bandstand video. First, was Dennis even TRYING to mime? Second is, I wonder what Brian was laughing at?

At some point in the Maryland 1977 video, Dennis says "I'd like to dedicate this next song to all the girls...even you, Micheal". 

Who sang lead on Still a Mystery? I was pretty sure it was Carl.

Yea.. Dw was there..NOT..One of their better concerts..!!!!!!!!!!!

How so?

However, this doesn't really answer the SIP issue. Was Carl's involvement another case of feeling the need to "cave in" for group "peace", ala Al Jardine with the cheerleaders?

Did we ever find out the exact reason why Carl walked out of those 1996 sessions? I mean, what song didn't he like, specificly? Why didn't he like it? It just blows my mind that he would not like Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery, but he could put up with the whole Summer In Paradise album. From what I understand, Carl did not play a single guitar note on the SIP album, and only contributed a very minimal amount of vocals.

On Page 2 of this thread, I opined that maybe Carl wasn't as enamored of the Wilson-Paley material as others, and that maybe he (Carl) felt that the finished album would end up like the previous 3-4 albums, which were mediocre at best. Some posters disagreed, stating that Carl's decision to leave had nothing to do with the songs. Those posters, however, didn't speculate what the other reason(s) might be.

As far as Carl contributing minimally - vocally - to Summer In Paradise, I felt that he was THE bright spot and actually carried the album.  IMO, despite the weak material, SIP is one of Carl's stronger albums. He is excellent on "Hot Fun In The Summertime", 'Lahaina Aloha", "Remember Walking In The Sand", and "Under The Boardwalk". And, his emotional vocal at the end of "Forever" is the highlight of the album for me.

I must have overlooked your post. Sorry about that.  In my opinion/theory, both of the above cases might be true. It must have been hard on all the members to carry on after one mediocre album after another. It must have been hard to guess which song might be a hit...or a miss. I think that another reason might have been some kind of group tension that has not been mentioned in this thread yet. I read somewhere that right before he died, Carl decided to take legal action against Brian for Brian's "autobiography". Were there a lot of bad feelings between the Wilsons by the final few years(1995-98)?

Did we ever find out the exact reason why Carl walked out of those 1996 sessions? I mean, what song didn't he like, specificly? Why didn't he like it? It just blows my mind that he would not like Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery, but he could put up with the whole Summer In Paradise album. From what I understand, Carl did not play a single guitar note on the SIP album, and only contributed a very minimal amount of vocals.

[Good Timin': Live At Knebworth 1980:]

Good Timin': Live At Knebworth 1980:


1.   California Girls      - Mike (verses), with Carl, Bruce and Bobby Figueroa on the choruses
2.   Sloop John B.                        - Brian (1st verse), Mike (2nd verses), Carl (3rd verse) 1
3.   Darlin'                                    - Carl
4.   School Days (Ring! Ring! Goes The Bell)      - Alan
5.   God Only Knows                    - Carl, with Bruce and Alan on the tag
6.   Be True To Your School          - Mike
7.   Do It Again                            - Mike (verses) and Carl (bridge)
8.   Little Deuce Coupe                - Mike
9.   Cottonfields                          - Alan
10. Heroes And Villains  - Alan (verses, coda), Carl (choruses) and Mike (1st verse, chorus bass counter)
11. Keepin' The Summer Alive    - Carl
12. Lady Lynda                          - Alan
13. Surfer Girl            - Brian (bridge), Alan (verses) with Mike (verse low harmony)
14. Help Me Rhonda     - Alan (verses, chorus) with Carl (choruses), Mike (1st verse, bass vocal) 2
15. Rock And Roll Music              - Mike
16. I Get Around                        - Mike and Bobby Figueroa
17. Surfin' USA                            - Mike 3
18. You Are So Beautiful            - Dennis
19. Good Vibrations                    - Carl and Mike
20. Barbara-Ann                        - Alan, with Mike
21. Fun, Fun, Fun                        - Mike

Bonus Tracks:

22. Runaway (Live 1981)          - Alan

1 Prominent harmony vocal: Alan on the first chorus.
2 Prominent vocal: Dennis on chorus descants (and good natured irritant!).
3 Prominent vocal: Alan performs the "Everybody's gone surfin'" line.

I'm not sure if you would count this or not, but Brian originally sang "Girls, girls, girls, yeah I dig the girls" during California Girls at the concert. He was mixed out of the official DVD/CD release.

[KTSA]

The info is confusing, but my impression is that only the initial sessions at Western were thusly taped.

BTW, "River Deep..." (which is an atrocious performance from Brian) was recorded some time after KTSA, at Mike's place.

Is it known exactly what was done at Western?

To make things even more confusing, there is a blog out there that claims to have a version of Soul Searchin' for download with a lead vocal from Andy Paley. I believe there are also a few alternate mixes(3-4?) of that same song.

Ok, after reading this entire topic carefully, am I to understand that the versions of Soul Searchin' and Still a Mystery that exist in the collectors network are not the same versions that The Beach Boys originally overdubed their vocals to? I think it was Mr. Doe that mentioned that Mark Linett "created" these versions. If so, do the original backing tracks(as The Beach Boys originally heard them) circulate in the collectors network?

[/quote]
Mike then comments about "not being paid for a certain lawsuit" - a comment directed toawrd Brian. Brian gave no response during all of this, but all of a sudden Brian blurts out, "hey Mike, do you need a Maharishi robe to sing the damn song?"

[/quote] This is, quite possibly, the funniest thing I have ever read in my whole life. 

"Brian certainly wasn't at any kind of peak in those days, but we respected his history and achievements for us to go and record with him and see what it might sound like".

Geesh, I wonder why Brian doesn't want anything to do with Mike and Bruce now? 

So it was Baywatch Nights/Dancin' The Night Away that was "the straw that broke the camels back" for Carl? I for the life of me could not figure out why he wouldn't like Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery. I have a theory about this. Do you think that it's possible that those two songs were to GOOD? Before you shake your head at this, hear me out. Let's face it, every album the group did from KTSA to Summer In Paradise got progressively worse. I think that it might have been embarrassing for Carl to suddenly come up with "SS" and "SAM", after putting up with sh*t like Kokomo and Summer of Love. I myself would have been depressed to put out a great album and pretend that everything is fine and dandy, after my group had been pulled through the mud by Mike and his " Fun Fun Fun as America's Band" bull sh*t. 

As I understand it, The Beach Boys went into the studio around 1995-96 to try to put together another album. Only two songs were allegedly recorded: Soul Searchin' and She's Still A Mystery. I was hoping that we could get AGD or possbly c-man to help with the information on this. Exactly how much got recorded? Why did it all fall apart? Listening to the above songs mentioned is a maddening experience. If you put those together with Gettin' Out Of My Head, Proud Mary, and I Wish For You, this has a lot of potential to be a hell of an album. Of course, i'm just speaking hypothetically. But I think you guys get my point. They could have put out something great, but they released Stars and Stripes instead.

I wonder if Johnny B Goode exists with Dennis? I wouldn't go as far as saying Brian's vocal on River Deep Mountain High were "atrocious". Sure, he shouted to much at the first verse, but it's far from terrible. 

It has been said that virtually every second of the KTSA recording sessions were preserved on tape, because it was thought that it might be Brian's last recording with the group. Where are all those tapes? Do they still exist? I know that quite a few outtakes have surfaced in one form or another, but if the entire recording process was taped, why aren't there multi volume bootleg box sets like there are for the Smile sessions? Is there really a bunch of tapes waiting to be discovered/recovered, or is it just another Beach Boys myth? KTSA is far from the group's best work, but I'd love to hear all the sessions for it. Some of the things that have surfaced(Oh Darline' with Brian singing, River Deep Mountain High, etc) sound quite promising.

I would have to say that Lakeland, Florida 9/3/1978 get's an honourable mention as another pretty bad Beach Boys show. Dennis is REALLY drunk, and almost trainwreck's "God Only Knows", and a few other songs. Needless to day, his playing is poor at best.

I have been reading about this "infamous" recording for a while now. It would REALLY ruin my day if somebody sent me an mp3...

In the last half dozen years, I have seen and heard Brian talk at some length about his experimenting with pot, acid, hash ect. He talked about this on the Beautiful Dreamer DVD, and on the Larry King show if I remember correctly. In the "Endless Harmony" film, Brian also mentions that he was "drinking a lot of booze" during the 1970's and early 1980's. But I have never seen or heard Brian mention his addiction to cocaine and heroin. It is talked about in the "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" book, but I have a feeling that it might have been more of Landy talking. It seems to me that cocaine and heroin had much more of a damaging effect on Brian than anything else. Am I the only one that thinks that it seems like Brian doesn't want to talk about, or admit that fact?

I posted this same topic, but I think it was in the wrong place. Feel free to move this to wherever it seems best. I know that the Long Beach 1981 show is pretty much considered a low point for the band. But is there any other concert the group did that has a reputation of being particularly bad?

I forgot to mention in my post last night that this footage seems to be sped up. So Brian might look ever so slightly more "manic" than he actually was at that show. Are there any good examples(audience tapes, ect) of Brian singing during the 1982 shows? I was just wondering how his voice was. I mean, did it get much worse than Long Beach 1981?

That footage is pretty hard to watch. I wish it had the original audio, if nothing else than to just hear what Brian said when he took center stage. The part where Mike jumps across Brian's piano is interesting too. I just noticed that Jeff Foskett seems to be missing. You can see Ed Carter though. Does anybody know when Brian performed his last show before he was "fired"? I'm curios to know how close to the end this show was.