Yes. It is.

One thing that is striking about the difference between Paul and Brian's shows is that Paul plays huge venues and fills them which means that he could easily afford to carry a larger band. I think that there are missed opportunities that are being filled in with modern technology.

I believe that Paul is still a great and exciting performer. The catalog is huge and above reproach but he comes across as a bit cheap. He has a great band but it could be fuller.

From the reports I've read, he used a mikestand. 

Before the beating began, Bruce sneered,

"Sometimes you adjust the mike stand, sometimes the mike stand adjusts you."

I really like Dennis's contributions to LA. He was pretty much absent after that. People like to paint Mike as the bad guy. Imagine that you are the guy at a job who always shows up and works your ass off while another long time coworker shows up most of the time but may not be fit to do their job. Sometimes they don't even come at all. The best work that they have done in recent years has been moonlighting. Would you start to resent them?

I really like Dennis's contributions to Sunflower a lot. "Got to Know the Woman" is pretty amusing. I love the track and the vocals too.

I only have Brian's autograph. He always seems to sign Pet Sounds right on the white goat 

Did Denny or Al ever feel insecure, because someone awhile ago said that Dennis' vocals were prominent in the early days but as the years went on except for maybe on occasion he was in the back (for acapella performances) or not singing in the studio like in "And Your Dream Comes True". 

That would be a good thing because "409" near the fadeout makes a good case for never having Dennis's vocals used again on a recorded performance.

If you take "Everyone's In Love With You" at face value, it is not so bad. I wish that I could go back in time before I heard that it was about the Maharishi. It takes on a different flavor when you know the particulars.

Wish I would have thought of that but I would have had to go to Oregon to do that..! 

Even then, it's your whole collection.  Know another guy with a very similar happening. He stopped seeing a woman, and she traveled from Texas to his town, cleaned everything from his storage locker and kept it. Tons of BBs and practically everything else he held dear. Knew it was her, but couldn't prove she took it, only that it was GONE!
Sad people out there

Keep your girlfriend close and your BB memorabilia closer. That is the moral of the tale, I guess.

I guess that I find Carl's death from cancer to be pretty tragic. I agree that the 1978 episode really stands out because it was a lapse in professionalism that was rare for him. Even though Carl did not have many songwriting credits, I believe that if one were to be a fly on the wall it would be evident that he was a shaper and editor and had a strong influence on the group's sound.

I am really amazed at how Dennis gets so much attention on this board and Carl gets so little. Carl was the backbone of the Beach Boys live show for many years. He had a great voice on record and in concert and his guitar work was always tasty and well suited for the material. He made two decent solo albums and by many accounts was the glue that kept everyone together at times. Dennis might show up for a gig or not. He might not be fit to play when he did. I am not saying that he wasn't a big part of the group and I love everything he did up through Sunflower. After that, with the exception of Baby Blue, there isn't much that does it for me. A lot of plodding overly sweetened ballads with lyrics that run the gammut of "I love you" to "I am really sorry that I treated you like garbage but I still love you." If Bruce Johnston had done the same songs, they would be dismissed after one playing.

Sometimes there will be copies at Staples this time of year.

Russ

I love Male Ego.

A fellow fan of tasty ladies. I hope we'll still like it when we're in our eighties.

When the two-fer of KTSA and BB came out, I was really disappointed to not see it on the track listing. When it came on at the end of the cd, it put a smile on my face. When I got my first cd player in early 1988, I bought the cd right away to hear that track. It is a fun song and a great Mike and Brian vocal. I think that it is a breath of fresh air that will have you humming the "what's your name" part for the rest of the day.

Mike is certainly on the egotistical side and has filed more that his share of lawsuits. Outside of those areas, one could make quite a case for saying that he is a decent hardworking human being. Dennis seems to get a free pass by a lot of people on this board. His behavior was deplorable at times and it impacted the band in a negative way. I have never seen Mike when he wasn't on stage doing his best to give the fans their money's worth.

I am not a Mike apologist but Dennis has been gone for almost 30 years. I don't believe that he was contributing much to the band, except Baby Blue, for the last 5 years. I think that there was a window of time when he peaked but then there was a sad decline. I think that his stuff on Sunflower was great. CAPST was just okay. POB was way overrated.

There may be a couple of nice soundboards from 1996 as well that are not on the list.

Jimmy Webb is indeed a genius, but "MacArthur Park" is a really rancid piece of crap song.

When a cake is left out in the rain for an extended period, a rancid smell will develop. That is especially true when the frosting has a high butter content.

I have always felt that many of the Beach Boys songs are prayers, in a sense. Often, it is in the bridge.

According to Amazon, I should receive the book on 07/03.

Do It Again from this album has always been my favorite. I even like the Mike and Bruce banter at the intro. I listen to this one quite frequently. There is a sense of urgency in the performance and the crowd is eating it up. It has a great feel to it.

I have had it preordered for months. I cannot wait to see it!

Sometimes I think that part of the issue is that they had a lot of hits. If someone has a handful of hits, they can come up with a more diverse setlist. Another thing to consider is that many artists have a lot of more casual fans that are filling seats. I saw Springsteen with the E Street band in 1999. I thought that it was a great set but there was a woman on the train afterward that was going on and on about how disappointed she was that he didn't play Born in the USA.

I find some of Mike's behavior confusing at times but I also believe that he is underappreciated. He works his ass off and really kept the Beach Boys going. Yes Brian deserves a great deal of credit for the groups success but Mike has been supportive of Brian. It may not seem like it because everyone always assumes the worst about Mike.

I try to remember that I have not had the same experiences as Mike. There most certainly was behavior that he witnessed that could only be described as unprofessional. If we worked with someone who often did not show up or was not in a condition to perform their duties, it would be easy to resent that person after a while. He has a strong work ethic and he has given his best very consistently to audiences.

Clearly Milt and Murry were very different men.

I would pick it up at that price.

Thanks,

Russ

I refuse to believe that there was no one else in the world capable of treating Brian's condition other than Landy.

I agree 100%. There are those who could have taken on Brian and not exploited him in the process.

I find Bruce's cheerleading embarrassing to the band. Makes them look less of a "band" and more like the Full House era unit.

Bruce is the least hip figure in rock/pop I can think of. Dennis must've been pissed when he rejoined in 1979.

Why would Dennis be pissed that Bruce came back?

If you take the lyrics at face value, he would make it his focus to "Never do ya wrong"