I've never had this concert on CD, so I'm wondering whether or not I should try to buy and/or pre-order it.

I enjoyed the EP, and I think some might be a little too harsh on it, to some extent.  HeyJude refers to much of it being covered/or adapted material.  Obviously, that is true for "Highway 101" (being a rewrite) and "Crumple Car" (being a cover) and to a lesser extent true with "My Plane Leaves Tomorrow (Au Revoir)" (the portion adapted from "All My Trials"), but I don't think the same can fairly be said about the title track.  It seems, to my ears, like the only thing from Harry Belafonte's "Island in the Sun" that Al kept is the title (other than making it plural).  I like the EP a lot, especially the title track.  But I do have to admit that I first laughed out loud when I heard the start of "Highway 101" and realized its origins; I'd be concerned if Al hadn't gotten permission from Mike Stoller to do so.

Slightly off-topic, but I do like what I can hear of "Scotch and Soda".  I wonder if Al ever finished it after that video was filmed, but I'm guessing we might have had it by now had he done so.  I'm all for Al recording and releasing anything: material from his vaults, new songs, occasional re-recordings of Beach Boys songs (less often than Mike has done: for example, it'd be nice to have the new version of "Ding Dang", as well as "She's Got Rhythm" and maybe an Al-sung version of "Almost Summer"), covers, etc.  It'd be nice if another version of "Wish" was released without AI (or if the supposed Carl-sung demo version/recording referred to on Bellagio10452 was released?).

EDIT: I also think Al sounds great and the production and mixing of the EP sound great as well.

Love You 100%.  I'm not saying Love You is my favorite BB album, or the best BB album, but I really hate almost all of Smiley Smile.  I know that people have debated whether or not "Good Vibrations" should even be on here; obviously, that (GV) is a great song, so I'm not including it in a "poor review" of sorts.  H&V is good, though I prefer the verse to the Bicycle Rider chorus.   I love "Vegetables".  There are parts of some other songs (like "With You Tonight") that I like that are otherwise ruined by psychedelic drug-fueled laughter and chaos.   If you couldn't tell, I'm very hit-or-miss when it comes to psychedelic music, and I know this makes me a "bad fan" (haha), but I still haven't listened to all of the original SMiLE -- or BWPS -- yet (partly because I don't know if I would like it or not).

Love You isn't perfect; I think it (like one of my favorite BB albums: Wild Honey) could use some more guitars.  There are definitely songs and some lyrics that lean more into the bizarre ("I Wanna Pick You Up", etc.).  However, there are others I love ("Roller Skating Child", etc.).

I love this!!  Is there any way that you all could consider adding tabs for the guitar and bass parts for future uploads of the sheet music to the official sites?

Thanks!!

P. S. A small preamble explaining how you all got involved in this project could be helpful and interesting as well, if you'd ever consider adding that.  I know c-man and Joshilyn have been working on these things for years, but less (I think) is known about how the rest of you worked your way into such an awesome and lucky group.

I never posted here when Brian passed, but I did post on Facebook.  Though I'm extremely late, I thought I'd place an edited version of my Facebook post (from June) here as well:

Many of you know how important music is to me. It was extremely important for Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys' co-founder, musician, songwriter, and producer extraordinaire.  He and his bandmates have gone through/went through six decades of harmony and turmoil together.  He overcame an abusive father, hearing loss, mental health issues, drug addiction, the deaths of his younger brothers Dennis and Carl, and much more in his 82 years to become one of the greatest songwriters of popular music, if not all music ever.    Who else could turn songs as complex as "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "God Only Knows", "Good Vibrations", and many others into catchy singalong hits that have endured for decades?

I can't remember my earliest memories of Brian and The Beach Boys, but I know that I will always love their music.  I had the honor of seeing Brian perform (with his friends: Beach Boys co-founder Al Jardine and later addition Blondie Chaplin) twice: in 2017 and on Brian's final tour in 2022.  (I have also seen Mike Love and Bruce Johnston's touring band twice: in 2015 and 2019).  It is hard to try to put thoughts into words of how important Brian and his music have been to the lives of generations.  As others have written, he gave people joy with his music that he did not often have.

I would like to thank my parents for taking me to hear Mike & Bruce play Brian and the band's wonderful catalog of music in 2015 and to see Brian & Al (with Blondie) in 2022.  I would also like to use this opportunity to thank my great-uncle and great-aunt for giving me their collection of original 60s pressings of almost every Beach Boys record released during that decade and for taking me to see Brian & Al (with Blondie) in 2017 and Mike & Bruce in 2019.  This helped me develop from a casual fan to a hardcore fan of their hits and then to a hardcore fan of their broader catalog as I dove into deep cuts on these albums and more.   I would like to thank my guitar teacher, who taught me for 11 years, for making demo recordings, including covers of their hit "Little Deuce Coupe" and deep cut "Goin' to the Beach."  He also helped me with a professional demo of "Help Me, Rhonda", which I am still working on at the moment.   I've performed some of their songs when I have had a (very rare) gig in the past, at open mic nights, and at performances during college.   

Today, I listened to various versions of hits and deep cuts, including "Please Let Me Wonder", "I Get Around", "In My Room", "Sail On, Sailor", "Add Some Music To Your Day", and "The Little Girl I Once Knew".  I know I will be playing much more of Brian and the band's music throughout the summer (and of course beyond), especially in preparation for one of my friends and me seeing Al Jardine perform (with members of Brian's band) next month.  I am sure it will be emotional for Al, the band, my friend, me, and the rest of the audience as well at that concert and many others.

In the words of former Beatles and Beach Boys "press secretary" Derek Taylor, "Brian Wilson is a genius," and to modify these words slightly, Brian Wilson will always be a genius.

I might do the same, Julia, with my posts/threads soon; another (music) forum that I'd been a long-time member of got hacked and supposedly was practically 'destroyed'.  There were talks about them putting together some sort of archive, but it looks like those fell apart or won't be happening in any fashion, which really disappoints me because of all the knowledge, plus some threads I created, being lost to time.

I just saw him this past weekend; it was a great show!!  I do think it's strange that he's re-recording CCR material since he got the rights back a couple years ago or so.  I'm okay with re-recording "Travelin' Band" because I think it's in a lower key, but doing that many of the hits is kind of strange, in my opinion.

Rocker, has there been any update on whether FECC is coming back?  I don't know if you're a member over at the Steve Hoffman forum, but I was lurking over at the thread on that board about it, but it "ended" at 21 pages (at that point, it gives an error).  So I'm guessing that thread got pulled by the mods on that board?  I've been debating whether or not to make an account over there, assuming FECC doesn't return.

Hi everyone,

Can anyone clarify something for me?  I keep hearing and seeing different things about whether MIU is part of the box set that’s coming out in the fall.  It seemed like Al confirmed it was.  Somebody on Facebook that I don’t know (in a BB group) told me that Al was supposedly mistaken.  But Al and the Pet Sounds Band are playing songs from MIU. Someone on the other board (where I was lurking) posted that Al said in the most recent ESQ (which I don’t have yet) that it’s not part of the box?  I know that Alan Boyd and Mark Linett wanted a Caribou-to-MIU box, but I don’t know if that changed since Mark Linett is no longer part of the archival team.  Any clarification would be greatly appreciated!!  Thanks!!

I believe Fred Vail and Sam Parker were waiting for a deal with a distributor for the documentary to be announced before any further release info is shared.

I always assumed the famous Honeys picture was Marilyn, Diane, and Ginger Blake, but I could be wrong.

Hi all, I hope I'm not going too far with my post: mods, please feel free to heavily edit if necessary.  I am only a member here; I am not a member over at the other board, but I do lurk on occasion, especially since this board has (unfortunately) gotten much less action than its "harmonious" counterpart has.

I think it's hilarious how many act high and mighty over there act like this forum and its mods were "the big bad bully" of sorts.  With regards to AGD in particular. he is a great source of knowledge, and I've had a couple of pleasant exchanges with him (over Facebook and email), but the way he treated one or more fans that suggested that potential "final" Brian studio albums be overdubbed by Mike, Al, Bruce, Matt Jardine, David, Blondie, Ricky, etc. was ridiculous and rude in my opinion.  Obviously, I have no idea what exists, so (even if the band politics or powers that be were able to make something like that possible) who knows if enough contributions (piano, vocal, etc.) from Brian are on these tapes to actually be able to do something with them in a "final product" is another issue.  But it's something that I thought too. Thankfully, one of their mods corrected the claim (regardless of whether it was a false memory, a fact that AGD was unaware of, or a deliberately false assertion) that TWGMTR was always meant to be the final album (since it was reported in at least one source that Brian wanted to do another album when the reunion was going well -- until Mike ended everything, that is).

But the idea of Mike, Al, Bruce, David, etc. working on their own version of Smile, coming from those who might have been fans longer than I've been alive, is ridiculous; if I know that is impossible, then the user who made that comment should too.

There might have been other things I was going to mention, but I can't remember at the moment, and I'm too lazy to try to remember again at the moment.  

 


EDIT: I think one thing was that I tried to sing those hilarious AI Surf's Up lyrics; they're hilarious!!

It’s out!!

You know what would be awesome (but wouldn't actually happen)?   Since Rob Bonfiglio is (probably) on the road with The Lovin' Spoonful and Probyn Gregory is on the road with Weird Al Yankovic, it would be pretty cool if Scott Totten (if he was available) joined Al & The Pet Sounds Band for those shows.  I know Scott's been working with some touring musicals, so who even knows if he's available; just for the hell of it, I'll have to check out his Facebook page (we're Facebook friends) to see if he is touring with a musical during that time period. 

I would also love to see John Cowsill with Al & The Pet Sounds Band too, but I know (also from Facebook) that he and his wife Vicki Peterson (of The Bangles) are doing duo shows together (and I think have a duo album out), plus Cowsill has also been doing some shows as a guest vocalist with The Smithereens.

Harkening back to my previous post (quoted above), do we have any suspicion as to who Al's lead guitarist will be for the Pet Sounds Band shows?  I think I've seen that Al has had a couple (or so) lead guitarists since 1998, but since 2022, he's used either Probyn Gregory (on tour with Weird Al and his band) or Rob Bonfiglio (on tour with the remnants of The Lovin' Spoonful last I heard).  Since they will both be unavailable, I'm wondering if Ed Carter will join Al for the Pet Sounds Band shows (on lead guitar) or that Al will try to find someone who he used in the 1998-2021-ish period.  Personally, I think Scott Totten (if he's not currently touring with a musical) would probably be the best fit, with Ed Carter coming in at next best.  Anyways, I'm rambling now, so I'll stop here.

I'm surprised that they didn't do a 1965 box this year, hold off on 15 Big Ones/Love You/MIU until 2026, and then do Smile in 2027.  But then again, we never got the In Concert box we were hoping for in 2023 (EDIT: or 2024) or even part of a Beachago release either.

I've heard Crumple Car already, that's not a new song per say, it's been around for at least 20+ years, maybe even longer. Its ok, nothing special.

I've heard one version on YouTube as well; it's a nice vocal from Al, but I think the lyrics were a little strange (or at least the title is) if I recall correctly.  I wonder if he'll be replacing his vocal or if he'll just release the old recording as it is (or maybe with some overdubs here and there).  Supposedly, Islands in the Sun dates to the late 1990s, and Highway 101 might date to the early '90s.  I believe HeyJude has said elsewhere that the Neil Young collaboration is a little "more recent" than Islands in the Sun and Highway 101 (and maybe also Crumple Car?).

I find it weird that we're discussing using Paley sessions stuff on a Beach Boys album, when it wasn't even deemed usable for what became Brian's next solo album, Imagination.

I'm certainly not an expert, but I believe the reasoning there was that Joe Thomas (and supposedly Melinda) wanted Imagination to have an adult contemporary sound, which was a different sound than the more '60s-influenced Paley sessions had.

From looking around on Al's website, plus what we already know, we can expect four songs: "Islands in the Sun", "Highway 101", "Crumple Car", "My Plane Leaves Tomorrow"

Just a quick throwback:

Beach Boys Family & Friends on Regis and Kathie Lee (1998-11-23)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn1nKcKO5fY

That's an interesting clip. Not surprised Al got in trouble after this. It's very cheeky and seems like they are the only Beach Boys band......with their new single "Darlin"? 

I agree somewhat, but that seems to be on Regis Philbin or whoever gave him bad information.

You know what would be awesome (but wouldn't actually happen)?   Since Rob Bonfiglio is (probably) on the road with The Lovin' Spoonful and Probyn Gregory is on the road with Weird Al Yankovic, it would be pretty cool if Scott Totten (if he was available) joined Al & The Pet Sounds Band for those shows.  I know Scott's been working with some touring musicals, so who even knows if he's available; just for the hell of it, I'll have to check out his Facebook page (we're Facebook friends) to see if he is touring with a musical during that time period. 

I would also love to see John Cowsill with Al & The Pet Sounds Band too, but I know (also from Facebook) that he and his wife Vicki Peterson (of The Bangles) are doing duo shows together (and I think have a duo album out), plus Cowsill has also been doing some shows as a guest vocalist with The Smithereens.

I never realized Wink Martindale had such a BB history.  I had previously known him from his role as one of Elvis Presley's early local interviewers, and for some reason, until learning of his passing, I falsely assumed that the game shows he hosted were only Memphis-area local shows; I'll have to see if I can find some of his shows online, since I did follow him on Facebook for, I believe, two reasons: the Elvis connection and his large vault of unaired, unfinished, and/or vintage game show episodes and pilot episodes.

Hi everyone,

I really need to listen to more of these Wilson-Paley sessions songs.  I've listened to some on YouTube and/or Brian's official website, plus the band's versions of "Soul Searchin'" and "You're Still A Mystery" (and "Some Sweet Day" from Brian's Playback solo compilation (which I had a CD copy of but lost, unfortunately, before listening to any of it, other than listening to "Some Sweet Day" and "Run James Run" online).  I wonder if "Some Sweet Day" and/or Brian's version of "This Could Be The Night" would have been considered for this album, but I'm assuming they'd need to add/replace some of the existing Brian or Brian & Andy harmonies with parts for Mike, Al, Carl, Bruce, and Matt Jardine. 

For a while, I saw "Unleash the Love" mentioned here but kept thinking of "Summer in Paradise".  I wonder if a re-recording of "Summer in Paradise" could have worked as a potential Mike solo writing spot and as one song where he would sing lead (with some lyric revisions to/rewrites of at least the second verse, though), since very few people would have heard it in the first place.

I don't know the stories behind these songs as much as I'd like, so I have some quick questions for if/whenever anybody has a moment to answer them.  First, would Mike have likely been the lead vocalist on "Desert Drive"?  Do we know if any of these songs in particular were slated as potential vocal spots for Al, or would Al have brought something of his own in, like "Wish" or "Waves of Love"? Did Bruce have any songs that he could have contributed for his typical post-1979 one lead per album?   Would Carl have probably brought in some of the Beckley-Lamm-Wilson songs?  Finally, regarding "Dancin' the Night Away", am I remembering correctly that Mike (and Brian?) had recorded some vocals for this and that Carl had recorded both vocals and guitar for it before it was abandoned?  Thank you all in advance!!

It's pretty awesome to know that at least four of these shows are happening!!  One is close to my neck of the woods, so I'm definitely going to try do all I can to be there!!

Sorry to double-post, but while looking up the Surf City All-Stars, I saw that Al and David will also be joining them for a private show in Groton, CT on July 19th.

Here's the link to the Surf City All-Stars' website, where I read/"found" this: https://www.surfcityallstars.com/tourdates.html

If the Mike-Al thing wasn’t going to be able to be mended back in the 1998-early 2000s timeframe, then they should have added Al to Brian’s band back in the early-mid 2000s. Al wasn’t busy with anything, and it would have benefitted everybody musically. Yes, the politics of the various organizations were such that that was simply not going to happen at that time. And, there’s certainly an argument to be made that things like the 2004 “Smile” were things Brian needed to do solo without any attachment to the other BBs.

Ironically, a good time to add Al would have been in that 2006 timeframe when they *did* actually have Al guest at some shows in late 2006 and early 2007. Ideally, that would have just continued on instead of falling apart after it barely got started. Al wasn’t paid for those 2006/2007 gigs, so that’s probably part of why that didn’t take off back then.

It was ironically partly as a political maneuver that Al landed back in Brian’s band after C50 in late 2012 and into 2013. The Brian/Al/Dave 2013 tour was certainly meant to be a message to the Mike camp. While that exact format also didn’t last long, and while it took another aborted Mike-Al repairing with the infamous 2014 Jones Beach debacle to get Al back in Brian’s camp permanently, it was a nice way to see things finished out with Al by Brian’s side, essentially taking on (on stage at least) the Foskett role beside Brian from 2014 to 2022.

I’m still skeptical of how/if this new idea (and as I’ve said, and we all seem to agree, was/is of course a no-brainer excellent idea) will actually come to fruition. I think it’s likely *something* will come of it, some sort of date or short string of dates will be booked. But as I’ve said, it may end up being more like Al’s current “Endless Summer Band” show, just with some people from Brian’s band thrown in and renamed as “Al Jardine & The Pet Sounds Band.” And who knows, maybe just getting a show or a few shows under their belt will build some actual momentum to do more.

Hi HeyJude, was there ever a specific reason that Al wasn't allowed to interact with/talk to/visit Brian in the late 1990s-early 2000s?  (I've seen a brief clip of Al discussing this in a documentary from around that time, maybe the Endless Harmony documentary?  (I don't know which one it was because I haven't seen the full EH documentary, or wherever this clip was from if it was not from the EH documentary.)

It seems to me (not that I'm an expert) like, other than briefly during 2006-2007, that 2010-ish was around the time there seemed to be some thawing between the Brian and Al camps; this is when they did the We Are the World 25 for Haiti, which as far as I know was their first collaboration or appearance together since 2007.  I'd also like to think (based on what I've seen and read -- and just hope and optimism) hat they both enjoyed having a relationship/friendship again between C50 and Brian's final tour.

I don't think I agree with (what I think your argument is here about 2014/Jones Beach): since Brian/Melinda and Al had a good relationship in that time period, other than band politics, I don't see why Al couldn't have played Jones Beach with Mike, Bruce, and David Marks and then flown over to Europe to play the rest of Brian's tour with him.  Since Mike clearly has never wanted Al to return to the touring band full-time, maybe he could've done occasional gigs (California area, etc.) with M&B when Brian wasn't on tour.  I know the band politics is different here from David Marks sitting in with M&B for select shows in 2014 and 2015 (and supposedly once in 2016 according to a YouTube video of a full concert I 'found'/saw online).

The rest of this post is partly off-topic, partly ranting, so feel free to skip over the rest of it:

I know this is a much larger issue, and off-topic, but do you think there was any chance that Brian, Al, and Carl's estate would have voted to terminate or limit Mike's touring license if David Marks continued working regularly with Brian into 2014 and beyond?  I remember reading that Brian's camp announced they wanted to tour as The Original Beach Boys in 2013.

Also, I know you've discussed this elsewhere on the board, but I wonder why Al wasn't officially given equal billing in most/all of Brian's shows from 2013 to 2022; Al only missed/didn't join Brian for a handful of shows during that time, and maybe it could've helped Al with some limited name recognition once his three different touring lineups started up again from 2018 onwards.

I was lurking a little over at the EH board to hear their discussions about this topic, and it seemed that some (on that thread or another semi-related one) were trying to accuse Al of spreading false information?  (for example, regarding hopes of a brief 2021 reunion tour).  I wonder, had the pandemic not taken over the world in 2020, if what Al had suggested could've happened.  Maybe Brian would've performed vocally similar to how he did during his and Al's (and Blondie's) fall 2021 tour.  I had high hopes for Brian's tour in 2022 based off the YouTube videos I had seen in 2021, but obviously dementia (or whatever the specific similar diagnosis is) and possibly both mental and physical health played a role in that.  I will say, though, at the show I did see that tour that, at least at 'my' venue, the crowd appeared to be very sensitive (for lack of a better word) or understanding of Brian's health and performance as his and Al's set progressed.  I was happy to see that the audience lovingly joined in loud applause to show love to Brian (and Al, Blondie, and the band). 

Okay, rant over; sorry about that.