a new 30-second longer mix is included in SOS, track 7 disc 6

it adds a short "intro" of radio noise,
a false start and instrumental portion on Back In Bed,
the "wind" sound effect (what is that anyway?) intros I'm The Pied Piper rather than Radio Kingdom,
and Magic Transistor Radio adds an instrumental portion also

I haven’t listened to the new box yet (likely waiting to pick up a physical copy first) and I haven’t heard the Fairytale in a while (and I’m not even sure if I have listened to the instrumental version), but I’m going to make an assumption that the wind sound effect is (played on) a Moog synthesizer. Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why some people pronounce it as “Mowg” when it’s clearly spelled “Moog”? Thank you in advance.

IIRC, c-man and friends have determined that Dennis plays guitar on Slip on Through, Got to Know the Woman, and at least one of his solo songs from Bambu (I’m blanking on the title).

Sorry to dredge up a thread from a little bit ago, but I haven’t been able to check the forum as much as I’ve liked for the past month or so.

Just an opinion: I think Mike misses the golden years, when Brian and he were penning hits upon hits, which also proved to be great evergreen songs, more than anybody else in the world, and that's the rmain reason he seems to be less than enthusiastic about his own "solo" output.

I agree to some extent, but wouldn’t that mean it would be more likely he would actually push for a reunion with him writing Brian (instead of just using for it to shut up interviewers).

"Looking Back With Love" is not the worst thing any of them ever did.

It's kind of an "MIU Album" without the other BBs on it, and with mostly outside songwriters.

It's a more homogenized, more generic-sounding version of "MIU", which, yeah, means it's not very good. But a few of the songs are okay. Mike's leads are as good as anything else he was doing in that era.

BB backing vocals would have helped; those anonymous-sounding Curt Becher style backing vocals are competent but extra bland.

Ironically, Mike seems to dislike the album more than most fans.

Brian asks him in the fireside segment on Endless Summer to sing "Be My Baby, you did it on your album". Mike responds "what album?" It's like he wanted to forget it. Hey, at least he was trying. Carl and Mike stayed active recording while the rest of the group just wanted to coast on the past.

IIRC, I thought said Mike said something along the lines of ’don’t talk about that album,’ unless that was something I read here in our discussions on the forum.

Get well soon Al, Carnie, and Wendy!!

Yes, Jimmy is the trombone player and an original member of Chicago. He has been there for most of the tour but disappeared sometime shortly after July 4. I’ve read on Facebook that it may be related to shoulder surgery.

That’s really too bad that they aren’t mixing things up a bit. I’m too young to have gone to the previous Beachago tours, and thought this would be the next best thing. The band members are obviously all talented and flexible enough that I’d think it would be easy for, for instance, Al to come out and do backing vocals or a verse on one or two Chicago songs, or vice versa with Robert Lamm doing a BB song. Like they did during Beachago shows. Seems a big shame to me not to take advantage of the fact that you have arguably the two greatest American rock/pop bands touring together! 

I’m seeing them tomorrow night and am still looking forward to it, but feel like I miscalculated. I thought about going to one of the very early shows, but then figured that they'd be more likely to loosen up as the tour went on and there’d be a greater chance of them doing some interesting stuff. Guess I was made the wrong call. I saw the last show of the Something Great tour with the Zombies, and for the encore everyone from both bands was out on stage together! 

Agreed. I’m also too young to have gone to prior Beachago shows so I totally get it. I’m not a huge fan of Wishing You Were Here but it would’ve been nice to hear it and see Al and some of Brian’s band with Chicago. Chicago’s encore is two songs only, if that helps. I can tell you that they had a lot of distance to travel overnight from MA to NJ, so that also could depend on time between shows, I hope? I didn’t know that the tour with the Zombies ended with a joint encore for the last show.

I’ll update later with better phrased thoughts.

I had never seen Brian, Al, and Blondie perform H&V so I was shocked when Matt sang Cantina.

I echo earlier posters that there was kind of a confused ‘who takes lead vocal’ if Brian doesn’t - Matt stepped in fairly quickly to fill the void though.

Brian occasionally moved down to bass vocals when it appeared he felt he couldn’t hit the high notes, such as GOK and GV.

Unfortunately time is catching up with Al, as Awesoman put it.

Most popular songs were SJB, GOK, and the rock and roll ending few.

Chicago’s horns no longer play on Darlin’.

No L&M.

Matt talks a lot with the sound guy off the side of the stage about the mic levels.

Darian and the band kicked ass as usual.

I got to thank Darian and Paul and fistbump Darian, who may have smiled at my PS 2017 shirt.

Very sorry to read that the Chicago horn section didn’t join for Darlin’. I’m seeing them tomorrow and as a huge fan of both bands, the “cross pollination” aspect is what I’ve been most looking forward to. Perhaps it’s because Jimmy Pankow has been absent?  Was there any mixing of the bands at all?

Unfortunately no. I’m still slowly moving my way into Chicago so I couldn’t tell you if Jimmy Pankow has been absent though I heard that from someone a few seats away from me. He’s the trombone player right? Whoever was his substitute looked to he about the same age and was in great shape.

I’ll update later with better phrased thoughts.

I had never seen Brian, Al, and Blondie perform H&V so I was shocked when Matt sang Cantina.

I echo earlier posters that there was kind of a confused ‘who takes lead vocal’ if Brian doesn’t - Matt stepped in fairly quickly to fill the void though.

Brian occasionally moved down to bass vocals when it appeared he felt he couldn’t hit the high notes, such as GOK and one or two other songs, I think GV was one of them.

Unfortunately time is catching up with Al, as Awesoman put it.

Most popular songs were SJB, GOK (with standing ovation), and the rock and roll ending few (HMR, SUSA, FFF, etc).

Chicago’s horns no longer play on Darlin’.

No L&M.

Matt talks a lot with the sound guy off the side of the stage about the mic levels.

Darian and the band kicked ass as usual.

I got to thank Darian and Paul and fistbump Darian, who may have smiled at my PS 2017 shirt.

EDIT: Brian didn’t sing a ton, and Matt sang all of IGA. Brian did appear to give everything for Be My Baby, though.
If anyone else has any questions, I can see what else I can remember.

 And I wouldn't mind having a recording of Carl singing "The Warmth of the Sun" (didn't Billy Hinsche also handle lead on this song?). 

AFAIK it was always either Carl or Matt (in later years of course). Never heard of Billy singing the lead.

I know Billy sang I’m Waiting for the Day live. Maybe that’s what Awesoman is thinking of, unless I’ve forgotten something else.

Hi everyone, I somewhat want to clarify my comments: I didn’t expect a big 60th tour for all the reasons we’ve gone over here countless times, but hoped (like Al did or does) that there would be a handful of shows or so. I’m a younger fan who wasn’t as into the band when C50 happened, so I’ve been hoping for my last chance to see at least four or five Beach Boys together on stage again. I’ve seen Brian and Al once (and I will again for a second time this year) and Mike and Bruce twice and enjoyed both shows but have constantly hoped for that chance to see them all together. Maybe it was a hopeless dream from the start, but it was my dream.

With my comment on Azoff’s money magic, I also meant that I thought we’d have a really great documentary no later than December, especially with the archives that BRI has (and that users like HeyJude, Howie Edelson, Mark Linett, Alan Boyd, and others have continuously informed us about).

I haven’t seen the interview (if someone could post a link please?) but I’m also disappointed with the summary. So much for Azoff and his money magic.

EDIT: Fixed typo.

Does anyone know if David Marks posted anything? (IIRC Bruce also doesn’t have “social media” other than the I believe now-defunct Beach Boys Britain board?)

Brian's performances have become increasingly challenged in the last several years, including everything from the actual quality of his vocal delivery, to his overall demeanor. It *is* more low energy than even in like the 2012-2015 era, and his demeanor on stage when he's not singing is even more still and blank than in the past. I don't think it's out of line for someone to find that off-putting or concerning, even compared to 7 to 10 years ago.

I personally ended up stopping seeing the live show after 2016 after having seem him tons of times since 1999. It wasn't a big dramatic decision; I'm not even saying I'd never go again. But the performance of PS in 2016 wasn't great enough to justify keeping doing it for me, and while they do delegate leads to others, I've had a continual slight confusion/frustration with not giving Al more leads when his voice is so strong. So *that* level of Brian performance, coupled with having Al standing there the whole time but not singing a ton of leads, left me feeling I didn't need to go out of my way to see the next several tours.

This is kind of how I feel too, HeyJude. I want to see Brian and Al (and Blondie) again and I also don’t understand why they don’t give Al more leads, especially now. I felt he sang a good amount when I saw them in 2017 doing PS (and almost half of Wild Honey too) but I definitely agree Al has been underutilized at least since the return to live music.

Happy 80th Birthday Brian!!

According to ESQ, Al isn’t on the new recordings? That may have been reported here before but is news to me. Does anyone know why? Was Al on tour with his storytelling shows at the time? Thanks!!

I haven’t chimed in here at the board, so I’ll briefly place my thoughts on everything: It’s to hear more guitar (and a little organ) on “Marcella.” Also not a fan of Carl’s “ooh-ooh”s.  I do think there are some interesting track listing choices: I think Howie made some good choices, but it would’ve been nice if the “second disc” more closely followed The Warmth of the Sun compilation (especially a lack of California Dreamin’ IIRC in light of its recent use in Stranger Things).

As someone near the age being targeted, I think that is great, and I do think EH is a little harsh, to be kind about it.

As the board’s resident Metallica fan, the idea of this being compared to metal is freaking hilarious to me.

Yeah, I made the mistake of reading that thread over there. Two things… 1) The gene pool could use a bit more chlorine, and 2) typical boomer sh*t.

I got one thing to say to those “fans” bitching about how things have been since the sale (yeah I saw that too). I subscribe to ChartMetric (Artist tier)… the Beach Boys’ popularity on Spotify alone has sky rocketed since the sale. Compared to most of their peers, their stock is rising.  Is anyone else my age (almost 44) or older aware that the BB’s popularity has come close to surpassing the Beatles? Anyone else aware that the generations after mine revere them on a way nobody else has since 1966? So many of us are still bitter over sh*t that happened decades ago, and bear the scars of liking the group
when it was uncool to do so, to the point where few notice that hasn’t been an issue since around 2011. TSS did wonders for the group’s rep, as did the C50. That’s when I noticed a lot of early 20s kids getting into them.  Something funny happened, though…. they went from the 67-72 period being their most popular amongst the indie scene, to pretty much all of the 60s material being held in the same regard. The 20 somethings and under folks now don’t look at The Beach Boys as a group full of wasted potential, or as washed up has beens who got bitch slapped by the Beatles. Instead, they’re hailed as the fathers of indie rock and bedroom pop.

Tl;Dr version… the group’s legacy has been handled marvelously since the sale, and at just the right time too.

Billy C, I have a couple questions regarding this post. Is that really since the sale, or is that just since Feel Flows? I understand they happened at similar times but I don’t know if IAG has really done that much yet for the group, if we’re not counting getting FF released. This might be a stupid complaint from me, but I prefer the 1976 logo to the current one, and that’s really all I can think that Azoff has done. Definitely excited for a good documentary, which I will admit only Azoff can get done.  In addition, (IMO) the band is much better than anything ever classified as indie, indie rock, or bedroom pop, even if they are the forerunners of those genres. And I’m not sure the band has surpassed The Beatles yet - I think the most we can hope for is a tie in the next couple years.

Prior to Feel Flows. The way they’re being marketed , and how they are described by the music media, has certainly changed.

This stuff doesn’t happen in a vacuum. I know a lot of people think of Fleetwood Mac’s popularity being mainly due to the Tik Tok thing with Dreams are missing the boat… same with the Kate Bush song being on Stranger Things and is currently #4 on the Hot 100…. these are legacy artists that were already starting to get traction amongst a younger fan base (and in the Mac’s case it’s the Bob Welch period that has gained a lot of traction; conversely the Peter Green era has lost a lot of steam) .
There are songs charting that sound retro; not “manufactured major label artists” but artists from mid sized indies who write and play their own music.

As far as the Beatles goes, I’m mostly  referring to raw numbers, along with how they’re viewed in comparison by the younger set overall, musicians , media and general public alike . Hell look at music discussions on YouTube or browse non beach boys sites that deal with music that aren’t Hoffman (too old of a crowd). My daughter’s 15 next month and she can pretty much spot trends right before they happen. Hindsight and the lack of cultural bias is an amazing eye opener . We are too close to the action. I’ve been on these boards for over 26 years . I was a younger fan of 17 but the world has changed immensely since . Imagine hearing the band now as a new fan and having SO much available legally and easily be able to put things in context with bias.

This really deserves its own thread but for the first time ever things are lining up perfectly for The Beach Boys, and this time it’s past the point of being able to screw things up.

Billy C, thanks for the explanation. I’ll just say that I’m among the age group Howie wants to target but I’m not good at spotting trends  probably because I don’t like today’s music and therefore have only a fairly small group of people I can talk music with.

Has there been any audio or video found from this tour yet? I’ve planned to go but am a little worried about how Brian’s voice might sound.

I haven’t chimed in here at the board, so I’ll briefly place my thoughts on everything: It’s to hear more guitar (and a little organ) on “Marcella.” Also not a fan of Carl’s “ooh-ooh”s.  I do think there are some interesting track listing choices: I think Howie made some good choices, but it would’ve been nice if the “second disc” more closely followed The Warmth of the Sun compilation (especially a lack of California Dreamin’ IIRC in light of its recent use in Stranger Things).

As someone near the age being targeted, I think that is great, and I do think EH is a little harsh, to be kind about it.

As the board’s resident Metallica fan, the idea of this being compared to metal is freaking hilarious to me.

Yeah, I made the mistake of reading that thread over there. Two things… 1) The gene pool could use a bit more chlorine, and 2) typical boomer sh*t.

I got one thing to say to those “fans” bitching about how things have been since the sale (yeah I saw that too). I subscribe to ChartMetric (Artist tier)… the Beach Boys’ popularity on Spotify alone has sky rocketed since the sale. Compared to most of their peers, their stock is rising.  Is anyone else my age (almost 44) or older aware that the BB’s popularity has come close to surpassing the Beatles? Anyone else aware that the generations after mine revere them on a way nobody else has since 1966? So many of us are still bitter over sh*t that happened decades ago, and bear the scars of liking the group
when it was uncool to do so, to the point where few notice that hasn’t been an issue since around 2011. TSS did wonders for the group’s rep, as did the C50. That’s when I noticed a lot of early 20s kids getting into them.  Something funny happened, though…. they went from the 67-72 period being their most popular amongst the indie scene, to pretty much all of the 60s material being held in the same regard. The 20 somethings and under folks now don’t look at The Beach Boys as a group full of wasted potential, or as washed up has beens who got bitch slapped by the Beatles. Instead, they’re hailed as the fathers of indie rock and bedroom pop.

Tl;Dr version… the group’s legacy has been handled marvelously since the sale, and at just the right time too.

Billy C, I have a couple questions regarding this post. Is that really since the sale, or is that just since Feel Flows? I understand they happened at similar times but I don’t know if IAG has really done that much yet for the group, if we’re not counting getting FF released. This might be a stupid complaint from me, but I prefer the 1976 logo to the current one, and that’s really all I can think that Azoff has done. Definitely excited for a good documentary, which I will admit only Azoff can get done.  In addition, (IMO) the band is much better than anything ever classified as indie, indie rock, or bedroom pop, even if they are the forerunners of those genres. And I’m not sure the band has surpassed The Beatles yet - I think the most we can hope for is a tie in the next couple years.

I've always felt like In Concert was their first step towards Endless Summer, with the 2nd LP featuring many earlier songs as the set's big finale. Both Concert and In Concert are fantastic live albums as far as I'm concerned. I wish they'd done one more before Dennis died.

Well, technically, they did do one more with Dennis - they just didn’t put it out until 2002 or so. I agree that it’s too bad they didn’t release Knebworth earlier - it’s a great show and the last release that really relies on the core band.

Releasing Knebworth in the early '80s would have been a useful and worthy stop-gap release. It also would have preserved an autotune-free document of the show.

It would definitely be nice to have the show without autotune.

I've always felt like In Concert was their first step towards Endless Summer, with the 2nd LP featuring many earlier songs as the set's big finale. Both Concert and In Concert are fantastic live albums as far as I'm concerned. I wish they'd done one more before Dennis died.

Well, technically, they did do one more with Dennis - they just didn’t put it out until 2002 or so. I agree that it’s too bad they didn’t release Knebworth earlier - it’s a great show and the last release that really relies on the core band.

It’s too bad he doesn’t really look like Elvis-Kurt Russell physically looked more like him than Butler’ in my opinion

Ian I agree 100%. I think that will be the major flaw this movie has - everything else could be perfect but he just doesn’t resemble Elvis enough.

One thing I’ve been curious about is if there ever was a song Dennis wrote that he didn’t actually play an instrument on (It’s About Time is the first thing that comes to my mind).

Little Bird and Be Still, for one.

Dennis plays harmonium on Little Bird.

The harmonium was played by Brian, at first on the basic track, and later, as an overdub.

Really? Oh I didn’t know that.

One thing I’ve been curious about is if there ever was a song Dennis wrote that he didn’t actually play an instrument on (It’s About Time is the first thing that comes to my mind).

Little Bird and Be Still, for one.

Dennis plays harmonium on Little Bird.

Al just posted a birthday message for Mike and included “See you at the reunion”. 

If the pandemic was over, I’d be at one of these shows in a heartbeat, but I’m not comfortable yet.

Who is in the backing band other than Al, Matt , Carnie and Wendy?

Bobby Figueroa announced he is on Facebook.

EDIT: Bobby’s wife Joanne has confirmed that Ed Carter will also be in the band. If anyone has a Facebook account, you can see here: https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10209143260494706&id=1715461151

Not sure about who's in the backing band but I wonder if Billy was planning to be? I believe he was as musical director went out toward a few years ago.

I assume so. Maybe Jeff Alan Ross or Debbie Shair will fill in as they alternated as keyboardist for the Postcards storytellers shows?