Where's Mike on there? Or are you just counting collaborators from outside the group?
And Rick Henn would be a good addition; 'Soulful Old Man Sunshine' is AWESOME. But I guess you could vote for him under "other".

I voted for Tony Asher. I treasure the songs Brian wrote with him. One of 'em is my #1 favorite song in the universe. I wish they would write more together. 'Everything I Need' and 'This Isn't Love' were sooo good.

Doubt the bvs were recorded at Caribou as a few days prior to the session that produced the released version, Bruce assembled  the following stellar cast -

Danny Hutton
Dusty Springfield
Gerry Beckley
Cat Stevens
... and some guy called Brian Wilson.

Unfortunately, no-one sang up to par, and I don't see all these people just happening to be at Caribou - I'm thinking Brother.

Huh. Guess the liner notes for the song on Elton John's Greatest Hits album are lying. Thanks for the bgv info.

and yes, I forgot, you're right, Jon, no Mike on 'Wishing You Were Here'. I was mixing it up since Mike did sing bgvs with Carl and Al (along with the other members of Chicago now that I think about it) on that afore mentioned New Years show that I saw on Youtube. Maybe Mike was vocally subbing for Dennis (who wasn't there).

Crack at Your Love
California Calling
Island Girl
PT Cruiser
California Energy Blues

I love ALL of those songs.

I've never heard 'Island Girl', 'PT Cruiser' or 'California Energy Blues', but the other two I know. I can't stand either one. Especially 'California Calling', which is the worst song on the '85 album, along with 'Passing Friend'. "Totally rad", huh?

Bleh.

Trying to rewrite 'Surfin' USA', just like 'Kona Coast' was trying to rewrite 'Hawaii'. Idiocy.

The thing about Carl in the background of Petty's 'Honey Bee' is that I can't really hear him at all. He's so far down in the mix. A shame. Carl also sings background vocals on Petty's 'Hung Up And Overdue' from the She's The One soundtrack. Great song and I can actually hear Carl in it.

Of course, it's quite well known that Carl and Bruce sing background vocals on Elton John's 'Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me' (along with Toni Tennille and Billy Hinsche). You can especially hear Carl on the lines "don't let the sun" in the BG of the chorus. The credits also say that Bruce arranged the vocals. It's interesting to note that 'Don't Let The Sun' was recorded in January '74, a few years after Bruce had left the group. The song was recorded at the late Caribou Ranch here in my home state, which might have been around the same time the Beach Boys were recording there. Or am I way off?

And of course, some of the Beach Boys sang on Chicago's 'Wishing You Were Here'. If I remember correctly, it was Carl, Mike, Al and...Dennis? I watched a long video of the Boys and Chicago playing a new years eve party, '74/'75, and Carl, Mike and Al (Dennis wasn't at the show) singing backup on the song for Chicago. Thing is, I could still hear the recorded track of their vocals being played in the background. So the Boys might have been kinda lip syncing there. Dunno.

This is so great!!! It's my favourite song on Today!
Maybe my ignorant friends will finally understand  why I fell in love with Brian's music when I show them this clip...

Yeah, that's my favorite song from Today! as well, actually my 3rd favorites BBs song overall. I'm glad I got to hear more sessions for this incredible beauty. I've always been screaming for Capitol to release a backing track only of this song.
Thanks Ebb & Flow!

The most insightful post I've read about the BBs in a long time!  Dead-on.

I agree, Mr. Stebbins' post really made me think. But the main reason I asked this question is not so much a philosophical one, but a literal one. I have been kicking around the idea of writing the Beach Boys' bio for their entry over at rateyourmusic.com. That site listed the break-up date as 1996. I had the option of changing that, so before I did, I decided to make this thread here to discuss it.

Still, for me, the end of the Beach Boys being really Beach Boys was, in some ways, in the late '70s, after Love You. The bottom hit in 1978. I think it was in this time that the band stopped actively wanting to be Beach Boys anymore. They just didn't do what most bands would do at that stage and break up, they just continued on.

I do find it interesting though that for a large portion of fans (and for Brian too, apparently), the end of this band is defined by Dennis and Carl. Dennis was the reason the band existed (along with Brian and arguably Mike) and found an identity at first. Dennis supplied the inspiration for Brian's artistic growth to get his foot in the door as it were. Did that sentence make any sense to anyone? 
Carl, meanwhile, would be instrumental in pushing the band on after Brian's retreat. He picked up the flag and ran with it, and the others followed. That's something.
The loss of these two make it harder to still define this band as really the Beach Boys, in many ways.

It wouldn't surprise me if this has already been discussed here before, but here goes:

I've seen the year of 1996 on various websites as the year the Beach Boys broke up. Obviously, Mike and Bruce would disagree. I went over to AGD's site and checked out the timeline for '96 and September of that year was the last time Brian would appear live on stage with the boys (exactly 35 years to the month since the band started out). Maybe this is why so many sites call 1996 as the final year?

What do you all think?

Some 1972 Holland-era pictures of the Beach Boys, from Wolfgang's Vault: http://www.wolfgangsvault.com/Catalog.aspx?ArtistID=7141&is=text&xferText=beach%20boys&xferCategorySortID=

Sorry for the size of this post....here we go:
















I could swear I've seen that Brian pic somewhere, maybe here in this thread, earlier. If so, sorry for the redundancy.

Little GTO.

Barbara Ann (I mean most people think the Beach Boys were the first to record this song)

Some of Brian's solo songs, from what I have seen on the web.

I agree that it seems likely the song choices hadn't been finalized and the BW did intend to include GID on Today. Wasn't there also a version of Girl don't Tell Me and That's not Me (or one of those PS songs) done around this time? Maybe I'm just making that last part up. If not, they surely could have been contenders...

The Pet Sounds song that might have been around late '64/early '65 probably would have been 'I'm Waiting For The Day', which was written in '64. Imagine that one on the Today! album, eh?

'I'm Waiting For The Day' and 'Guess I'm Dumb' would have fit splendidly on Today!, though that means PS would have been robbed of one of it's great songs. Maybe 'Trombone Dixie' would have placed there in IWFTD's stead. Or 'The Little Girl I Once Knew' could've had an album home, via PS...hmm..

What-iffing is quite fun, isn't it?

Brian couldn't 'do it again' because the world has turned, no band or especially no 1 man is doing what Brian did in the 60's musically.  There are still many great musicians but the birth and early years of Rock & Roll was an exciting time, there isn't much of an envelope to push anymore, there will be no Good Vibrations that knocks everybody off their chair anytime soon.

100% agree with this. Sure, there are many records these days that I love, by bands such as Wilco, but nothing that hasn't been played with before. It's nice, but not really new.
Brian was really competitive, driven and at the height of his powers, circa '65-'66. So was Macca and the other Beatles. Those days and those ways are pretty much long gone. We're all now just retreading much of the past several decades of music.
I'm just glad to have Brian still with us, still making music. A lot of his peers aren't so lucky.

Basically: It's all been done, whoo oooh ooooh. 

Heh! Good to see a fellow BNL fan here.

That's cool, we need to see more childhood pics of the Wilson brothers. Anyone got any more?

Thats really cool Summer Days. I really like that one a lot. Nice editing, I am really hopeless at editing images like that, so thanks for doing that.

Thanks! And no problem, mikey. I like doing stuff like that. On that note, here's another one:

Well, Dennis' beard is a dead give away; it's 1980. Watch the Knebworth DVD, Brian looks about the same.

Anyway, here's a famous picture I colored and edited to just include the Wilson brothers:

I'm with Luther. Can't really stand this song at all. I guess some of Carl's parts are cool, but he could sing an old instruction manual for a Betamax that's in Japanese, and it'd still sound like heaven. Doesn't mean the song is any good (i.e. 'Sweet Sunday Kind of Love', 'Passing Friend', etc.).
Mike's lyrics are awful. I just want to kick his cueball head, corner pocket, every time he sings "I guess we got around".
Seems like Mike was taking lessons from Bruce Johnston in how to write syrupy. "I write the songs that go good with pancakes".

Why then is Mike credited on BWPS for GV?? I think the melody belongs to Brian (left hand on the piano) and Mike just inserted the words, "I'm picking up GV's..." on that part.

Partly because of that, and also the opening words: "I, I love the colorful clothes she wears" as well as "I don't know where but she sends me there" and "gotta keep those lovin' good vibrations a-happenin' with her". Brian didn't want to get sued...again.

Brian, of course. But there are times, when I'm groovin' on the '67-'73 years, that Carl is tops for me.

I just like the Wilson Brothers the most, really. I am with Emdeeh, though; I feel these guys are only at their very best when all together. Like, Pet Sounds is Brian's greatest work, but it only really makes it because of the Beach Boys' voices. The vocal blend is perfect, too.

Man, I wish this compilation was just full of Love You...imagine being some casual fan and pickin up this CD, starting out with Wendy, or Honda, or 409 or something and then just launching into Solar System, Ding Dang, and Mona.

People just don't know how to market these days...

Sure, scare the crap out of the listener, why don't ya!
You've got to build up to these things, I think. You go from, say, 'Girls On The Beach' straight into 'Roller Skating Child' and your head might explode.

(oh and I'm not sure if it's quite evident in what I said above, but I quite adore Love You...)

I guess I am one of the few who really dislikes 75 percent of Love You. I do like Adult Child though.

Different strokes, I guess. Meanwhile, so many praise 'Hey Little Tomboy' when I personally feel it's one of the very worst BBs songs ever. Pure 100% nuclear waste.

Thanks for the reply.  I am aware of Our Team (I have the boxset) and the Xmas stuff. I never understood the dislike for Oh! Darling. Maybe I am just nuts!  On another note, I would love to ask some of the Brian Wilson Band what they dislike. "Hey Darian, what Beach Boys song (s) do you think are merdae?" Imagine his reply...anyone know? I doubt he loves it ALL. I understand Foskett hates Love You.

I agree about 'Oh Darling'. I've always loved that song!
Too bad Foskett hates Love You; I'd really like to actually hear some of those songs live.
It seems like a lot of Brian's band members only really dig the all-important Today! ballads, Pet Sounds, and SMiLE, for the most part. I doubt many of 'em care two shits about, say, 'A Day In The Life of a Tree' or 'Marcella'. Or any of the other Beach Boys' great, underrated songs, for that matter. I get the feeling they like to ignore the fact that Mike had his really great musical moments sometimes. I could be wrong. I guess I'm in an odd mood (some of the BBs-blaming comments in Beautiful Dreamer will do that to ya).

I'm not going to talk about M.I.U. because I'd rather not vomit all over myself at this time.

Dennis and Brian did use the Arp String Ensemble synth extensively in 76-77.   It's quite prominent on "Solar System," "Chapel of Love," "In The Still of the Night," the afore-mentioned "Just Once In My Life" and "Moonshine," among others. 

Denny uses the Arp on 'Morning Christmas', recorded at half-speed, too. Pretty stuff.

Whoa, why is 'Why Do Fools Fall In Love'  getting the shaft by so many? That one is easily the Beach Boys' greatest cover song, with the exception of 'Sloop John B.' In fact, I argue that the BBs version of that song blows the original away (and I do LOVE the original)! Brian's vocal is just incredible, and the track is an early example of his love of Spector. Classic in every way. I naturally included WDFFIL on my own best of volume 1 compilation. One of the greatest songs on Shut Down, volume 2.

And 'Friends'? Beautiful song. Better than 'Caroline, No', 'Our Prayer', 'Cabinessence', or 'This Whole World'? No, but so what? Hits comps are really put out to draw in the neophytes. Those two SMiLE songs are better for the new listener to discover for his/herself, like I did. I didn't expect to have any SMiLE tracks to appear on Endless Summer when I first bought it as my own personal Cliff's Notes to accompany and give a wider understanding for my countless listens to Pet Sounds, when I first discovered it nearly 8 years ago. I got to discover those songs courtesy of the GV box. So, as far as presenting "just the facts, ma'am", I don't see why SMiLE tracks need apply there. Now, 'Caroline, No' and 'This Whole World' should be on that new best of comp; I always include 'em on my personal best of compilations that I made. SMiLE tracks, however, have no place on 'em (except the '67 single of H&V and '71 'Surf's Up', but that's quite different).

Whew, what a rant. Where'd that come from?

You know, that list was really put together for a laugh, but Brian's condition I never felt was all that funny. A guy who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, manic depression and brain damage doesn't seem all that humorous to me...but hey, whatever...

But then, many of the people on that list don't strike me as crazy. Mostly, they're either mentally ill (Brian Wilson, Syd Barret), sometimes do/say odd things, but are usually "normal" (Mariah Carey, Britney Spears) or are complete assholes (Axl Rose and Ike Turner).

Music seems to me to be a lot more rockin' and a'swinging back then. Too bad we don't any of those good time songs anymore. The Phil Spector Box set is a wonderful set of music. Just can't get enough of that and 60's Motown. Incredible!!

Man, you said it all! I've been a Motown addict for awhile now. On top of that, I love Spector's records, plus some of the British Invasion groups (Stones and Beatles, really but I dig the Kinks a bit too), and all those one-off singles from the late '60s from whos-it bands (like Spiral Staircase or The Mindbenders) and lots more. Oh, and some inde band called the Beach Boys. Pretty darn groovy, too...

The '60s is the most musically rich decade, if you ask me.

I have a preference for 'Da Doo Ron Ron', 'Then He Kissed Me', 'Walking In The Rain', 'I Wish I Never Saw The Sunshine', and especially 'Be My Baby'. No wonder that's Brian's favorite song. It's bigger than life.

I kinda remember a website that had just about all of 'em, but I can't recall the address or anything.

You can search for the original 45 singles over on eBay. I've seen several 45s with their pic sleeves over there. Not all of 'em, mind you, but many of the classic ones, '63-66.