I kind of like "Paradise Found", and Mike's covers of "On & On & On"...

He was trying to get other projects off the ground (mostly disco/dance), and mostly "on spec" and he seemed to be generally in need of money ( he was bartending to make ends meet).

Wow, I didn't know that about Boettcher.  That's sad.

The speech (cut & paste job from online):

"And I think it's wonderful to be here tonight, but I also think it's sad that there are other people who aren't here tonight. And, uh, those are the people who have passed away, those are the obvious ones. But the other not-so-obvious ones are people like Paul McCartney, who couldn't be here tonight because he's in a lawsuit with Ringo and Yoko. That's what he sent a telegram to some, uh, high priced attorney in this room, you know."

"And that's a bummer, because we're talking about harmony, right, and the world. If we can't get it together in America and in England, and harmony within our groups. I mean, believe it, you can believe it. The Beach Boys have their own 'interstescene' (not sure what Mike is trying to say here, and neither does Mike) or whatever you call it, squabbles. But that's a bummer when Ms. Ross can't make it, you know?" (referring to Diana Ross, who was having legal battles with the other 2 members of The Supremes.)

"The Beach Boys have continued to do, about, we did about 180 performances last year. I'd like to see the Mop-Tops match that! I'd like to see Mick Jagger get out on this stage and do I Get Around versus Jumpin' Jack Flash, any day now. And I'd like to see some people kick out the jams, and I challenge the Boss to get up on stage and jam." (during Mike's pause, someone in the house band plays the theremin line of "Good Vibrations" during the crowd's tepid response.)

"I wanna see Billy Joel, see if he can still tickle ivories, lemmee see. I know Mick Jagger won't be here tonight, he's gonna have to stay in England. But I'd like to see us in the Coliseum and he at Wembley Stadium because he's always been chickenshit to get on stage with the Beach Boys."

http://www.areuonsomething.com/love_comments.html

Weird - reread this part last night.  In the Carlin book he tells of how one day Brian came down to a recording session really excited over the idea of dropping "Boys" from the band name and becoming The Beach.  He figured they were men now and this might help shake the image they were saddled with, and had even drawn up the legal doc for them all to sign and make it official.  His signature would be the only one on there, as the other boys weren't very thrilled over the idea.  I think it was Desper who said that after it was shot down Brian put the doc on the piano and it sat there until Desper took it away.

The Beach wouldn't have been a bad name at all, really.

Dennis was the Marvin Gaye to everyone else's Jordinaires.

And that's why he's not a songwriter, my friend.  Merely a decent lyricist who relies on others for a complete song.  Not a hatchet job - as I said I admire so much he's done, well more than I'll ever accomplish - but it is what it is.  And this is not a glorification of Brian either.  It's just facts. 

Plus, one thing to consider is approach.  The authentic double tracking The BBs did was 100% suited to their approach and appeal - that as a vocal pop group.  It sounded like a freakin' choir.  The Beatles' artificial double-tracking and vari-speed methods suited their working styles and sound down to the ground.

Nice point of view.  An interesting compliment to that train of thought is how when Brian DOES write a simple, switch off your mind  tune like the aforementioned "What Love Can Do" you will usually hear something to the tune of "Eh, it's harmless enough but it's no SMiLE.  This is hardly adventurous, this is paint-by-numbers Brian.  I mean, it's okay...".

Tying back to the original thought train: that is one tune from a Target comp, a tune with a heavyweight co-write (not just song, album-wise as well), amongst some very credible releases.  That is something Michael simply is not doing.  Also, to get into semantics a bit: Mike did not write "Santa", he rewrote lyrics for "Kokomo".  Nor does Mike write songs.  He writes lyrics and relies on musicians to end up with real songs.  I think in the past he was a fantastic lyricist and his singing parts are now legendary.  But Mike Love writes lyrics, not songs.  Dennis wrote songs.  Carl wrote songs.  Thank (insert deity or lack thereof here) that Brian still is.

[because labels consider him to be 'THE Brian Wilson']

You might want to read Aegir's post again, especially the "because labels consider him to be 'THE Brian Wilson'" part. Labels are more willing to release a Brian Wilson album than a Mike Love album, no matter how good/bad Mike's unreleased album is. 

Thanks, but it was short enough to understand first time around.  So he's "THE Brian Wilson" then?  I guess Mike's not "THE Mike Love" - you know, the one who has overseen the commercial come-uppance the Beach Boys for the past 20 years and takes the credit for it.  Lord knows that Love has no money, access to studio time, or connections to help him out - the playing field isn't even!  Brian has all these songs that people put out for him because he's THE BRIAN WILSON!  And because Mike's not Brian, he's not released anything -- let alone anything OF NOTE -- and has only been able to surreptitiously get his tracks out below the radar.  Who's got the "Mike Love Presents FRoWN" SOT boots?  They must be SOMEWHERE.

Or, let's use yours and Mike's words.  The guiding word and direction of Mike Love has been "commercial".  And if, as you say, labels are more willing to release a Brian album than a Mike album - doesn't that mean that, from a commercial standpoint, the Brian albums are a more viable product, regardless of how good or bad they are?  Even easier: Brian's name sells albums, Mike's doesn't - so Mike's his equal, then?  Especially by the standards that Love uses to govern the modern day BBs?

Or is it that Mike deserves more respect for touring the same songs for the past 20+ years, whereas Brian doesn't come close with writing new ones? 

Regarding "Santa's Goin' To Kokomo", Mike wanted to do a fun holiday song, not a groundbreaking masterpiece. And he released it for free, whereas with Brian's management you have to buy the same album three times to get all the different bonus tracks. 

With all due respect maybe you don't see the point you just illustrated so well: selling the same albums three times over, from a commercial standpoint, is successful.  Repackaging 30 minute albums into multi-disc box sets because people want to hear how you were running THE BACKING VOCAL SESSIONS is successful.  Giving away a song no one will pay $1 for by itself is not.  By Mike's logic, Brian wins big time.  Of course, if your saying that Mike's an artist and that was an integrity thing on his part, well...

Also Brian's been successful writing both fun songs and groundbreaking masterpieces.  I'm not able to say the same for Mike.

People paid good money for GIOMH which was far worse.

You will hear no arguments from me there.  Such a prescient title.

Uh, Mike's been in the studio, too, and a few of his songs make it to the setlist (Cool Head Warm Heart, Santa's Goin' to Kokomo, et cetera). Sure, Brian's a little more prolific (maybe because labels consider him to be "THE Brian Wilson"), but it's essentially the same thing.

Brian sells out famous halls to play "SMiLE" and "That Lucky Old Sun" in their entirety, his newly released ALBUMS.

Mike packs in a couple thousand folks at the local fairground and has, in your words, "a few of his songs make it to the setlist (Cool Head Warm Heart, Santa's Goin' to Kokomo, et cetera)."

Brian goes in the studio and knocks out a quite nice new song with Burt Bacharach called "What Love Can Do".

Mike goes in the studio and knocks out a pathetic Christmas rehash of Kokomo even more pathetically titled "Santa's Goin' To Kokomo".


Yes, you're right.  They are essentially the same thing and require the same talent levels.  Silly me!

Didn't VDP once say something like 'John and Paul thought Mike Love was an butthole'?

Yeah, and VDP also thinks that the Beatles sneaked into LA studios in 66/67 to listen to SMiLE without Brian's knowledge. Clearly, he's delusional, no doubt owing to his years of LSD, amphetamine, and weed use. Mike kept his head clear. Why would you want to lose your ego? Mike's been touring successfully for decades while acid 'heroes' like Brian Wilson, Syd Barrett, and Roky Erickson were too busy fighting personal demons brought out by excessive drug use.

Parks understands that An American Family will stand as a legacy for Beach Boys fans who don't know the history, but he's hoping that the music will ultimately stand as the stronger legacy. "What I saw on that show about Brian Wilson was false, and   that's all I really need to say," he concludes. "I guarantee you it was a pack of lies. And I'll tell you something -- I'll give you one final clean piece of evidence. The audience was led to believe by that movie that John Lennon wanted to jam with Mike Love. Well, I was with John Lennon one time, and he told me that he and Paul thought that Mike Love was -- and these are the words John Lennon used -- 'a jerk.' The Beatles thought Mike Love was a jerk. So there are obviously two different impressions of that meeting. Mike Love has one and John Lennon had another. So, I'm submitting John Lennon's recollection to you since he's no longer here to do it himself."

http://vandykeparks.com/miscfiles/latimes0004.html

Touring an oldies package successfully for decades cos you've no talent to do anything else, or:

...he's worked with everyone from the Byrds, Paul Revere & the Raiders, and his friend Harry Nilsson to, more recently, Fiona Apple, U2, Sam Phillips, and Rufus Wainwright, the latter whose debut LP he coproduced. The telepic also makes no note of his movie or TV soundtracks, nor seems to consider his collaboration with Brian Wilson several years ago on the wonderful Orange Crate Art album.

Think I'll choose the latter, thanks.