I always thought the tag to "At My Window" was pure heaven---very uplifting, takes what can seem like a sorta silly children's song to a whole new level of ethereal. Another personal fave: "Had to Phone Ya." And who can forget "From There to Back Again." Bliss bliss bliss. I can breathe off that coda. And yes, I spent whole chunks of my youth falling asleep to the fade out to "Moonshine" on my stereo.

Charles Manson actually wrote "Sumahama." The song dates back to the infamous late '68 Bellagio sessions and sat in the vault under lock and key until Bruce Johnston realized they needed one more song for L.A. (LIGHT ALBUM). Mike paid Charlie in prison cigarettes and meditation tapes for the rights. Charlie was pissed that his original lyrics in Japanese at the end, which contained secret coded messages to followers on how to start a race war between whites and Asians, were changed by the man who put his name to the final version.

I remember thinking when disco "Here Comes the Night" came out that I would've much rather had a 10-minute four-to-the-floor remake of "Wild Honey" than it. Drop it a step, let Carl loose with his mature R&B voice (which was underutilized IMHO), slap on some background vocals. I love to listen to the instrumental track on Stack O', but I've always wished for a more polished final vocals version of "WH." Sacrilegious, I know.

One of best experiences of my life was studying "Goodbye Surfing" in the mid-80s in a journalism class. This was a couple of years before LLVS, when the piece wasn't widely anthologized. I knew all about the article, of course, but it was the first time I'd read it in its entirety (as opposed to excerpts that everybody and their mother culled from it). I was in a magazine writing class where we analyzed long-form profile writing, New Journalism style. Lots of Gay Talese, Tom Wolfe, of course, but also some really cool obscurities that made us all heady with the idea we could go on wild hairs (maybe not Hunter S. Thompson wild, but still...) and write as much as report. Alas, that was about the time when the Sunday magazine market, which was the entry for Midwesterners into that type of work, began drying up. But to get back to Jules, it was exhilarating as a Beach Boys fanatic even then to get to tear the article apart, debate the first person in it, try to sort the timeline, etc. Long self-indulgent story short: I count it as one of the best pieces of rock criticism period. (And Jules's Dylan piece for the SEP ain't bad either).

Very sorry to hear this. I had a lovely correspondence with him in 09. I just bought the PDF of "Goodbye Surfing" and he emailed asking my interest. I would've assumed that was self-explanatory but we got yakking, mainly about his career. I'm interested in people's life after their moment of fame. He had a lot of cool insights about the writing life, then sent me a copy of his memoir, MAD LAUGHTER, complete with photography nudes (not of himself). I avoided asking about Brian and Pynchon just bc I figured he was tired of those subjects. He finally asked me if I was playing a game by not addressing what brought me to his email doorstep. I said I figured the story was in the books already. He said it wasn't---and then didn't say more. Ha---I got a chuckle out of that.

I've always thought of SUNFLOWER as the anti-WHITE ALBUM. In other words, if THE BEATLES was "John with a backing band, Paul with a backing band," as Lennon once complained, SUNFLOWER creates the illusion---and I'm sure it's an illusion---of a mutually supportive collaborative group. No single song has the greatness of "Surf's Up" or "Til I Die" ("This Whole World" comes close) but somehow the humility of the individual selections only makes the overall album that more consistent. And I love that the back cover describes the record as "an album offering from The Beach Boys." PET SOUNDS is the Sistine Chapel, but SUNFLOWER is like my local sanctuary. I don't have to worship but, I can just feel at peace in it.

So here's my list, in descending order. This is not a list of what I think is the best, just what I find most enjoyable and what makes me smile the most.

12. Our Sweet Love---feels like a second cousin to God Only Knows. Great bass line, though. Just doesn't go anywhere.
11. Tears---if only bc it's so un-BB like. But I like the accordion and the coda. It just feels like a Bruce song that didn't quite become a group effort.
10. Cool, Cool Water---I hate to say it bc I love the demo, but this version is too long. Maybe if they put the water chant first like in the live versions.
9. At My Window---again, I don't dislike. Utterly charming, dorky, awesome coda, and the weird chord shift at the end injects a bit of ominousness into it. Coulda been better, though.
8. Forever---sacrilegious, I know, but there are so many great Dennis songs but Ive hit saturation level with this. Love it, can remember the shock of hearing Stamosized back in the day, but lately I've been wanting somebody to remake/redo another Dennis number only for variety's sake.
7. Deirdre---when Brian kicks in on the refrain or chorus or whatever I can't help but sing along to those harmonies. Love the stop time/bass solo bit, Mike's lines. I would probably hate this if it were on KTSA, but here it just feels right.
6. Add Some Music---again, only because it's not as obscure as it used to be. But I loved seeing Brian do this live in '11. Wish I'd seen one of the later BB concerts where they'd added this, but, alas, Atlanta was pitstop No. 3.
5. It's About Time---Remember when Mike said Santana rock wasn't really his thing? Well, you were wrong, man. This was a good direction to explore. I love playing the "import" I have with the drum/conga track only. Whew.
4. Slip on Through---I still enjoy playing SUNFLOWER for people who think they know the BBs and watching them lose their sh*t when they hear this. That insane high note Dennis hits! Haha. And the horns. White gospel soul? I wish they'd done more like this.
3. This Whole World---should be No. 1, I know, but I can't help myself. I actually think the a capella break here is more orgasmic than on "Good Vibrations."
2.  All I Wanna Do---OK, it's time for every soundtrack/TV show to stop using God Only Knows and introduce this to the general public. Pure spiritual love.
1. Got to Know the Woman---So I admit it: this song just makes me happy. I envision Jerry Lee Lewis hearing it and pulling out a pistol at Dennis saying, "Boy, you think I'm a joke, do you?" But it's such a wise parody. Love all the harmonies. I like to randomly walk up to my wife and say, "C'mon, c'mon, and do the chicken!" This is Dennis's "Ding Dang."

Totally agree: the "making of" interviews are fascinating because the info is so fresh. Articles on obscurities such as the Mike/Dean 83 tour issue a couple of years ago are great bc no biography is ever going to cover stuff like that.

I'm not even sure this is possible, but my pipe dream is a piece on the 12/23/61 gig at the Rendezvous Ballroom. I've never seen a pic from it and only fuzzy description of what it was like, what besides "Surfin'" was on the two-song (?) intermission set list, how the BBs felt afterward. This was apparently Al's one and only show as a stand-up bassist; according to Carl in some mid-60s interviews it was right after this gig that Brian bought his Fender and amp and took over the bass lines. The tepid response of the Dale crowd supposedly crushed Brian (or at least that's what I remember Timothy White writing). I offer this suggestion realizing the likelihood of unearthing a pic or drumming up some long-buried memories from Mike, Al, or Brian (yeah, right) is unlikely. But I've always wanted more specifics about this first gig---especially considering the Long Beach show a week later was long considered their debut. I'm guessing more specifics don't exist....

Some other ideas just off the top of my head: "back in the day" stories from fans in the 60s and 70s about gigs, meeting the band, fandom in general; something on Joe Knott of "Add Some Music to Your Day" co-author fame (where is he now?); something on the 35th of MIU and  the 25th of BW (Holy hell---it's been 25 years since BW... that is depressing); a piece from Ian on the ends of the earth he went to researching his forthcoming book; something on the making of In Concert since this is the 40th; and minutiae minutiae minutiae.

I have to say, I really dig ESQ. I learn a lot with every issue.


 

Excellent news and a well-deserved honor for Monte Hellman, James Taylor, Warren Oates, and Laurie Bird as well as Dennis. I remember when the movie was almost impossible to find before 2000. In fact, I remember only seeing it twice by pure accident, once on afternoon TV in Columbia, Missouri, in early 1989 (don't ask me what it was doing on an afternoon movie) and once on VH-1 in 97 or so. Still a completely egg-scrambling experience to watch it.

I'd love to hear other stories from folks about seeing it/hunting it down during its "lost years"....

I go back and forth liking/disliking the tag to "Airplane" (I can't wait...). Some days I think it ruins the great "down, down, on the ground..." chord section. Other days I think tacking a call and response sing-a-long to a ballad is the more subversive thing to do this side of subtitling it "And then We'll Have World Peace."

Some tags I love: the PSS alternative version of "God Only Knows" with the piling on of harmonies. I wish it had been the final version.

"At My Window"

Brian's end part on "Had to Phone Ya."

Also, "From There to Back Again" ---maybe my fave ever tag.

Every chick at that party looks 16.

Except Linda Lovelace.

The "Harrison Ford" looks more like Lee Majors to me, but I doubt it's the Six Million Dollar Man. Would be cool if it were, though.

I would love to hear the harder version of "Keepin the Summer Alive" that Randy Bachman talks about in Mark's book. I think Carl certainly had the vocal chops to pull off tougher rock and still sound authentic. The line he does on "Rock n Roll to the Rescue" is the best thing in that song. Hell, the verses of "Let Us Go on This Way" are pretty hard to my MOR ears.

I've always found "Concert Tonight" inscrutably weird. Maybe his weirdest melody since "My Solution."

I have to say when I was a kid "Johnny Carson" creeped me out, except for the outro, which was fun.

It' "Everybody Wants to Live" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NP1O-iuF21o

Pretty gospel, actually.

Actually, Andrew in his book calls these "slice of life" songs... maybe that's the best term.

Best stream of consciousness line ever IMHO: A cigarette butt when you throw it in the water goes "ssst".... It's like straight out of Waiting for Godot or something.

I remember watching this the night it aired. Staying up past midnight without the parents knowing was a tough mission at 13. Taped it onto a Panasonic I still have. It was definitely the highlight of their set. Probably Dennis's last great performance, too....

And it definitely beats the drawers off this remake, however heartfelt a tribute it was meant to be: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvN7V-p0Zzg

I much prefer for the versions of "Love and Mercy" and "Melt Away" to the BW88 album.

I agree totally. Although I like the concert L&M best of all, I think redoing these two for acoustic guitar really redeems them from the lumbering quarter-note keyboards on BW. "Melt Away" looses some of its dynamics on this version to me is the only downside. That said, I don't play this one much either.

At least Pablo Cruise sounded good that day.

I also love the surf culture White gets into. I think his treatment of Dennis's attraction to the beach scene is really good. I also think Nearest Faraway is probably the best intro to appreciating how the BBs tapped into early 60s fads---though for an illustrated history, though, I prefer Dom and Brian's Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom, which, of course, isn't a BBs history, but expands upon Nearest Faraway. White's use of both his 76 Crawdaddy essay and his 85 Musician profile of Brian, however, bothered me. As Andrew notes, he cut portions, but he didn't add or rewrite, so there's a weird shift in style for me in those sections. Those were personality profiles instead of narrative histories, and they seem to zoom in. By the end of the book you can feel him running just to keep up with the rush of chronology. Plus, White could sometimes get a little grandiose with his language. But overall, it's a valuable book---it's also one of the rare ones that tries to understand Murry's personality rather than just condemn him as an ogre.

They should take away Bruce's grammy for I Write the Songs and then re-award it to him for Disney Girls imo.

Agree totally! Disney Girls is a classic not just in the BB canon but in 70s pop. Way better than the Manilow hit.

Back in 1996 Vh1 showed Two-Lane on a weekend rock movie program they used to run, long before they became home to Dr Drew and Mafia Wives. It was only the second time I'd seen the movie, the first being 1989 when it popped up unexpectedly on local cable on a Thursday afternoon movie. (Don't ask me how....) Vh1 interviewed Taylor about the movie. Probably nothing that's not in the DVD interview, but my recollection was he had some nice if quick comments on Dennis, about how fun and energetic he was. Mostly Taylor recalled how bored the two of them were sitting around waiting for setups, etc.

Amazing what an afterlife this movie has enjoyed in the past 12-15 years.

I think these are the New Years Eve 76 Sweet Sixteen Concert.... These pics were in the 77 tour booklet and Brian's going Sequined Moses on the inside sleeve of LOVE YOU, too. I still have a poster from the late 70s featuring this shot... pretty funny.

I remember seeing the July 5 broadcast from the Queen Mary in 1981 on TV, live I believe it was. The infamous "Don't Worry Baby" broadcast. I was 16 and thought, I'm out. It had been a good 7 years since I'd gotten Endless Summer, but it felt time to move on. Down came the posters and the magazine clips from the walls....

Little did I realize how many more ups and downs there'd be. So I'm really enjoying the 2012 up.

I have so many memories of handling these albums in the mid- and then late 70s. The ENDLESS SUMMER gatefold was entrancing---i used to try to redraw it by hand. SPIRIT OF AMERICA was so overcrowded, but you got pics in the gatefold and the TODAY/SDSN stuff was hard to find anywhere else at the time. Mostly I remember how easily most of these records were to find in record stores. I guess that was once benefit to the renewed popularity between 74 and 77. I bought SUNFLOWER (or should I say my parents bought it) in a mall in the Michigan boonies. A few years later you couldn't find a copy to save your life (Thanks, Reprise). But yeah, those re-releases of the late 60s LPs were pretty uninspired ... but they're so 1970s languid I can't help but feel affection for them.

We wouldn't have had these in the mid-70s



and thus would've been missing an important chunk of BB history until the 1990 two-fers came out

I wonder if Reprise would've dropped the band c. 75 if not for the Endless Summer renaissance; without ES, I don't think there's a 15 Big Ones