Some fans have complained that Brian's vocals were "shouty" on this album. I don't know what they're talking about. I think his vocal are amazing on  this album - I'm not talking just lead vocals, but those harmonies. And those harmony stacks scream out to be BRIAN WILSON.

Though I guess I understand what they mean by "shouty" (Brian's voice during that era was kinda strange - maybe too much smoking?), I think whatever it is, he uses his voice to great effect on OCA. The soundtrack to IJWMFTT is a little harder for me to listen to, but that may be because the Beach Boys versions of those songs are just so good. But his singing on OCA is very inspired and as I mentioned before even soulful. He's not just singing the melodies, he's actually phrasing words around etc. And his sound at that time definitely fits with the songs. Just listen to the outro in "sAIIlll awaayyyy" and the wordless part in "Summer in Monterey". All in all, I love Brian's work on the leads but also on the backgrounds (where he got help by Danny Hutton and others on a couple of tracks). Plus I think this may be the last album we got with a full, though worn falsetto by Brian. Not that he didn't sing those high parts on "Imagination" but he sounds more smooth there, not as in-your-face. That could also come from the medical treatment he got, but also the shock of Carl's death.
And again, the feeling and joy he puts into his singing was only heard again starting with "That lucky old sun" imo, even BWPS wasn't THAT good. But others may disagree, which is their prerogative.
Great album and definitely worth a re-release.

I just want to say I agree with everything in this post.
Why don't we have a 'like' button on this board? A lot of times I see a post I agree with, but I don't have anything to add to what was said, so I just move on to the next one.

I would also love a “like” button.

What instrument would Mike write on? Not aware of him ever playing any chordophones :-)

He does play a little guitar, I believe.  There's a video of him with an acoustic playing one of his solo songs(from UTL?), but I can't remember which one.

EDIT: Just listened.  I know he means well, but this wasn't that good (at least lyrically).  The music is all right but it sounds like a pale imitation of a rocker than a real one.  Enjoyed Scott Totten's slide guitar work though, it'd be nice to see him do more of that with Mike's band.  Did he play any slide during the reunion tour?  This is the first time I've seen him do that.  But as much as the "Fun, Fun, Fun" reference is stupid, the damn thing is stuck in my head.

SECOND EDIT: The comments are turned off. 

I seem to recall reading that Dennis was also going to give a stab at the vocal but I may be misremembering

I read that this was true but supposedly he only did one take and left to go surfing. 

After Mike's most recent actions I wish Brian to never work with him again. I'd love to see a a big tour with Brian, Al, Blondie and add in David and Ricky too if they can make it. Mike's voice has been going downhill fast the last few years and Bruce doesn't do much on stage. There's really no point in my mind to collide those two bands anymore. Mike's band really has no assets for that matter.

The ultimately greatest thing would be if Brian and Al would take The Beach Boys name away from Mike and do a tour without him, with the name and all. They have Matt and Brian's great band. They don't need Mike and Bruce for anything.

Well they have Scott Totten and John Cowsill; it'd be nice if they jumped ship if such a tour happened. Not that I think it'd happen, but didn't part of Mike's band attend Brian and Al's Beacon show?  I thought it was funny that Bruce attended too; the man claimed back in 2007(?) that he missed Brian and Al, but then he stays with Mike after everything broke down in September 2012.

I think as soon as things got as ugly as they did, with Mike sitting idly by while Don Jr publicly humiliated his cousin without saying a word to pushback, it polluted the waters in ways that can't be quantified.

When did Trump the Lesser (which is saying something as Trump Sr. is —- oh, nevermind) publicly humiliate Brian? I must’ve missed that.

This is (at least part of) it.  https://thehill.com/blogs/in-the-know/in-the-know/481350-beach-boys-brian-wilson-asks-fans-to-boycott-concert-at-hunting

I don't know if this article ever found its way here...but I grabbed this off one of the BB FB groups I'm on (can't remember which one):

https://kixi.com/the-beach-boys-mike-love-says-hes-open-to-a-60th-anniversary-reunion-tour-with-brian-wilson-al-jardine/?fbclid=IwAR3bkXVsh3s7L4G-mrnXsIlK7L_WKjqWYEELO40NfmptfrRBXNj--541MnI

For someone who's heard of Stan Shapiro but really don't know how he met Brian, can someone help me out?  I know he's involved in the early 70's Friends rewrites?  Can he be trusted especially since he was cited as the source for the Song to God story that Desper said doesn't exist? 

Elora on youtube has us covered:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ianPM0emP3o

Thanks for posting this.

I'm still processing this exchange in the comments section--

Just for my own sanity I’m going to choose to believe that was tongue-in-cheek. 

Check out his follow-up comments. He wasn't kidding! 

(There must be a fairly small subset of people who know the BBs well enough to namecheck Bruce Johnston, yet consider John Stamos an original member.)

This guy was 100% tongue-in-cheek. Source: Am that guy.

I knew it!! You post way too many rarities to have meant it. 

I wish I had known about 2012, during the reunion tour. I feel like I missed out.

If it makes you feel any better, I made it to the 2012 tour after having seen Brian perform some years earlier. Now, I regret not seeing a show with Carl. There's always going to be a "I missed out" feeling

As someone who also missed out in 2012, this does help a tiny bit. At least I have a bunch of good Carl live recordings to listen to (I still listen to the butchered 2013 live album as it’s the closest for me to get to a C50 show.)

Haven’t watched any of the clips yet, but nice to hear that David Marks is back at it.

And I would like to believe that the commenter was joking because he’s posted a bunch of rarities.

Thanks for the YouTube link. I can see it's him now, on my tablet. Watching multiple windows popping in & out to the beat of GV on my cell phone was a bit disconcerting. Fun to see, although I will always miss Brian, Al, & Dave. I wish I had known about 2012, during the reunion tour. I feel like I missed out.

Me too. Definitely feel like I missed out.

I had never considered that, but Murry also says David to sweeten up and not remove treble (so I don't think it's likely would've said that about bass), plus it's possible that Al plays since this is on the Surfer Girl LP.  Plus, I know guitarfool2002 and/or c-man and/or Jon Stebbins have discussed that Carl and David used different string gauges than what are typically available now.

There are partial lists available, and I can dig up everything I've written down from the c-man's archives tomorrow.

EDIT: I think Jon Stebbins and Carrie Marks have said in the past that David has no memory of Carl playing bass in the studio while he was there. No comments about himself, but I assume he would said something if it happened/he remembered at that moment. Obviously he was 14/15, so understandable if he forgets. Just thought I’d throw that out there. Not that I’m an expert, but I’m going to (slightly) throw my money behind on Al.

And if Matt Jardine is feeling better, we have a falsetto singer.

Was I the only person who thought that this album was the title of the rock and roll album? I thought Brian said that in an interview but could be wrong.

I put Love You in the same category as Smiley Smile, Wild Honey and Friends because they’re strong examples of where The Beach Boys, especially Brian, were musically generally out of step with everyone else in pop music and were uniquely brilliant. One could argue that Love You is an even better example of this because it’s the biggest, most different oddball out of all.

I have to disagree on Love You being uniquely brilliant.

I'll probably agree on Love You but disagree on Smiley Smile. Obviously GV is good.  Same with H&V and Vegetables.  There are some songs/parts of songs I don't understand and never will and others I flip-flop on.  I think I've only heard the entire album fully a handful of times. Love Wild Honey, and haven't had a chance to buy a copy of Friends yet but I like what I've heard so far.

Maybe Soulful Old Man Sunshine (with a minor vocal tweak) to replace one of the songs?  I've been working on alternate albums for the time being as well.  My (still WIP) version of 15 Big Ones still uses both covers and originals but makes some changes here and there.

Okay, I couldn't find anything from a quick scouring of YouTube.  I'm going to speculate because I have no clue.

If so:
1. Maybe
2. I have no clue, but since M&B played Pasadena and Surf City, he would have probably taken his original falsetto parts on those. 
3. If so, probably unplugged as he usually does.  Based off videos from sitting-in once in 2016, he didn't, but that seems to be four songs only (and Bruce was there too).
4. I'm going to guess full show.

Oh man, I'd love to see more footage of the 2012 happening. Although there was the Sirius Radio interview, 2012 almost certainly is the last time the Beach Boys made music together.

Sadly.  I remember when it was announced we were all speculating maybe if we were lucky we'd get an acoustic "Surfer Girl."  Would have been nice and have needed only one extra singer at the most (Matt Jardiine or maybe Jeff Foskett).  Has the complete Sirius interview made the rounds?

[So where's the video?]

So where's the video? That's the problem - after making a nice 1080 HD edit, I uploaded it to YouTube and immediately got a copyright strike and the video was pulled. Not just for one song, either.
Any suggestions of where it can be posted? Is there even any interest in 50th reunion shows? 

In the meantime I'll try to gather my memories of just what it was like being stood next to Johnny Rotten and Brian Wilson and everything that went on that day...

Yes I have A TON of interest in the reunion shows because I was unfortunately unable to see any of them, and all I really use is the 2013 live album.  As for where to upload it, maybe Dailymotion or Vimeo?  Or you could try a WeTransfer or Mega download link so it can't get pulled by anyone and we can all have our own copy?

Mr. Desper,

Your comments are invaluable. Your post made things quite clear. Thank you for taking the time to share such great details with us fans.

Agreed, thank you Mr. Desper.

I’ve said it before but will say it again. As much as I love their music, I have no interest in meeting them. 

I would. Well, Brian anyway. Would Carl and Dennis were still around.

Also agreed. I’d also like to meet David Marks and Al, regardless of my past run-in with Al.

All Summer Long,

I'd really like to hear more about the dissolution of Mike and Al's friendship/partnership beginning in the 80's, with the Goldmine interview, as well as the 1977 tarmac incident. Never heard of that before.

My original meaning for the thread wasn't to once again get into the legal aspects (thought I do love that stuff), but to tap into the emotional side of things ie:

When did Mike no longer want to tour with his bandmates, and in particular his relationship with Al... the human, emotional side of the events, which of course can only be speculatory.

Most of what I have is varying levels of educated guesses based on what HeyJude and many others have stated before on this board.  My guesses are that the tarmac incident, at least Al and Dennis' remarks, would have at least temporarily hurt their relationship.  With Carl supporting the POB tour, I'm assuming he would have sided with Dennis.  Dennis' unfortunate demise, regardless of if he had made up with Al, probably still woiuld have sat with Carl.  Had the POB tour gone on, maybe Dennis doesn't die, and maybe Carl is pissed at Mike and Al for this.  A little ranging into alternate history here, because I'm not sure.

What I can say for sure is in that interview, Mike complains about "Island Girl" (and others, like Brian's "In My Car") being added to "Still Cruisin'" and turning it from a repackage (typical Mike) into a hodgepodge studio/compilation album.  He refers to Al, IIRC, as "Jardine."  People don't often refer to people they like solely by their last name (unless it's a nickname thing, and I don't have much evidence that Al was ever referred often as just "Jardine."  This implies tension by 1992, obviously with SIP, but it's not a stretch to say this tension occurred in 1988/89.  I believe Al and Carl had mentioned Mike's neverending obsession with "Kokomo."  Since Mike was discussing a song from 1988/89 ("Island Girl") in a negative (IIRC) manner, it is certainly possible that this tension occurred back then as well, placing a Mike-Al dissolution occuring sometime between 1980 and 1988.  Maybe (getting back into alternate history again here) Al was disappointed that his alliance with Mike hurt his relationship with Carl and Dennis, especially as Carl left his '77/'78 state?  I'll guess sometime after 1985, using "California Calling" as my half-evidence.  I believe I read about a full Al lead vocal, but mostly due to Mike being the primary surf lead vocalist, Mike and Al eventually would (as we know) divide the lead between them.  

EDIT: Again, this is without having really read any books on the band, and just using my knowledge from Wikipedia and what I've read from those here on the board.

Ok so I had a long post which I was pretty happy with -- and then the board went down for a few seconds and I lost the post.

I'll try to summarize as fast as possible because I don't want to spend 10 minutes retyping.  

First, I believe the therapist was tied into one of Mike's foundations and happened during SIP (I remember reading that from HeyJude).

I believe it is likely the Mike-Al relationship broke down in the '80's, using the Goldmine interview and its reference of Island Girl as evidence.  I can explain further if people would like.

I'm assuming Al tried to reconnect with Brian, Carl, and Dennis after the 1977 tarmac incident on Al's birthday.  Obviously, Carl is the most relevant to this discussion. Carl may have rejected this, regardless of it was before or after December 1983, because of the breakdown between the factions around 1977/1978.  As early as 1980, I remember reading, Al was worried about how heavily the setlist was biased towards "oldies."  As Carl withdrew, Al became the primary source advocating for deep cuts, seen from at least 1990-1993.  

Regarding the iron story, if Mike isn't embellishing Carl's reaction too much (while also remembering that Al wasn't the calmest), then the Al-Carl relationship had broken down so much, possibly due to the tarmac incident and Dennis' unfortunate death six years later.

I had more but can't remember.  Also, I know much less than many of the experts on the board, so I welcome and encourage corrections from those who know more than I do.

Also, I really doubt that a proposed tour with Peter Cetera would have been done without Mike.  Are these symphonic and/or Cetera tours the same as the Pet Sounds tour with Brian proposed before Carl's death?

Also, in his book, Mike does offer some insights into why he and Al were ready for a "divorce" in 1998.  He mentions a dispute over a "symphonic tour" in the wake of Carl's death (which, according to Mike, Al wanted to do while Mike didn't).  A few pages earlier, Mike also mentions a verbal dispute between Al and Jackie Love about one of the mid-90s "dancers" who had also been acting as the Jardines' nanny.  Mike describes an ugly argument which ended with Jackie threatening Al with a clothes iron from her luggage (only to be restrained by Carl).

I’m assuming that must be the proposed tour with Peter Cetera? So would that still have been the Pet Sounds tour with Brian proposed before Carl’s death?

Billy, WeTransfer works pretty well for stuff like this.

Also, I want to tell all of you how much I love you  and am enjoying this topic. I’m hearing more of these parts than I ever have, but still having a hard time hearing Bruce.

Something's fishy about it.  I may very well be wrong, but whatever the case may be I still feel as though there is something weird afoot.  It's probably just the years of psychosomatic sublimation of my autistic desire to hear the isolated tracks finally turning me into a crazy person.  Banging one's head against a wall for a couple decades will do that.

Please don’t lose it, aejitzsche. Loving the videos and enjoying trying to learn some of the guitar parts.

Mr. Desper, would these sessions at Al's barn have been for the Keepin' the Summer Alive album around 1979-1980?

Considering Billy Hinsche is probably sitting at home with time on his hands and has been active with his Facebook gigs, has anyone with an account (never been interested myself) actually thought of just asking him?

True. On it.