All of this is why that song "Labor Day" is so interesting to me. Apparently this was the last time Dennis ever recorded new material. And also the song's studio sheet supposedly lists the song as having vocal and piano, so it's hard to imagine that if indeed the song is recorded in full, what it could be.

The second group of BW/AP/BBs sessions was in November of that year (for "Soul Searchin'" and "Still A Mystery"), and while Andy states here that his brother Jonathan was involved with those and Bruce wasn't, an eyewitness account by Cindy Lee Berryhill, published in an issue of "ESQ" within a couple months of the session, confirms Bruce's participation (as well as Matt Jardine's), but there's no mention of Jonathan being involved with those November '95 sessions. The track sheets also include notations for Matt's and Bruce's vocals.

I will admit the stuff about Bruce not being there for the "You're Still A Mystery" and "Soul Searchin'" sessions did seem a little odd to me, as it I pretty much surely seemed to hear his voice on the former.

https://mikelove.com/?attachment_id=2456
Is it just me, or is this Shortenin Bread.....

Yeah, definitely not what I was expecting! It's so bizarre, I grudgingly kind of like it. 

I kinda like it too. If it was Brian, I definitely would like it as a quirky Brian thing. So count me in on this one. That doesn't mean it's much more than a trifle, but I don't mind it.

Is it that important in the greater scheme of things. Mr. Desper worked his ass off with Dr. Conner for a FREE book!

Absolutely SMiLE Brian.

["Now let me tell you, Brian's genius music and Mike's just super cool lyrics, it's totally rad!]

^ that didn’t work with me. Just an FYI.

Well OKAY, MISTER MAN!



"Now let me tell you, Brian's genius music and Mike's just super cool lyrics, it's totally rad!"

I'm getting the feeling that we ain't getting a physical release of any unreleased 1968 material this year. The summer was taken over by the useless orchestral disc and it's getting a little late for the classic fall release that would usually come in like October or November. So unless we hear some news soon, I'd assume we will only be getting a December copyright dump in digital only format. Which I admit I wouldn't be heartbroken over, as it's the music that matters to me, but I wouldn't mind that if the stuff gets released, it gets an actual physical release.

Get ready for the fake beards and horrible wigs.

Uh no.

That's not how Quentin T. rolls.

[Pacific Ocean Blue]

Eckhart still has the best "DW" chin in show-biz, but is obviously too old for late '60s Dennis. Too bad "The Drummer" never got made.

I agree. I thought that movie woulda been great. And though I don't think Vera Farmiga really *looks* like Christine McVie, I think she woulda worked really well as her. She has her kinda vibe, in my opinion.

Plus I'm sure a "Drummer" soundtrack woulda gotten us some more Dennis material. And with that I have to say that it's ridiculous that it's been ten years since the re-release of Pacific Ocean Blue, yet there hasn't been a Denny compilation issued since. He has too much great material for it to languish in the vault.

[Smiley]

It seems like Bruce has made grumbly, passive-aggressive comments about a good number of their albums, doesn't it? As HeyJude points out, he has had every opportunity to steer their music wherever it is he thinks it should have gone.

Doesn't he love Smiley Smile? Or is it Wild Honey I'm thinking of?

Pretty sure he's a big fan of both. And I think he's kinda said in a way that he prefers Smiley to Smile, though maybe he just means Smile as it is now and not what it could have been. He has also been a big booster of Sunflower throughout the years.

I don’t have any problem with the lyrics of the early Beach Boys songs. They are pretty tame.
I actually have more of a problem with some of the early Beatles songs.

Care to elaborate? I'm truly interested. I know "Run for Your Life" is a bit rude (though it's ripped from "Baby Let's Play House") but which others give you a problem?

[Friends]

You know, even though I love Friends I can understand what Bruce was saying here. In 1968, this was apparently not what the public was looking for from The Beach Boys, though one could make the argument that the public really didn't want anything from them by this point, besides a retro surf song ("Do It Again"). But then, maybe it truly was the promotion of the band? Who knows? Why for instance was the great work of bands like The Beach Boys and The Kinks being ignored around this era (maybe because of changing from what the public knew them as), even though both were putting out awesome material at the time, while peers like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones and whoever also changed quite a bit, yet did incredibly better commercially? It's weird. I guess sometimes maybe it's just your time and sometimes it isn't.

But yeah, as others have stated, if I had to ever had to pick a guy who represented "wimpy" music, it would be one Bruce Johnston. Seriously, put on "Won't Somebody Dance with Me" and tell me if it's the Friends music or Bruce's that is wimpy?

[August 24th]

So does anybody remember Mike's old complaint about Reprise releasing "It's OK" too late into the summer to capitalize on it's hit potential?

Well, 42 years later Mike has the chance to make "It's OK" an even bigger hit than it was (#29 in Billboard in 1976) and he ends up releasing his version on August 24th.

Classic Mike Love right there.

I don't think it makes any difference at this point, but yeah. Was thinking much the same thing.   

Of course it makes no difference. Mike is not gonna have a solo hit single at this point in time, if he ever was in the first place.

[August 24th]

So does anybody remember Mike's old complaint about Reprise releasing "It's OK" too late into the summer to capitalize on it's hit potential?

Well, 42 years later Mike has the chance to make "It's OK" an even bigger hit than it was (#29 in Billboard in 1976) and he ends up releasing his version on August 24th.

Classic Mike Love right there.

While I don't understand the point of why it was done, I don't think Mike sounds bad. His older, weathered voice seems to work pretty well on this one.

Now granted, I was listening from a TV at a low-ish volume. There is likely a slathering of autotune. I also thought the "sum-sum-summer" thing at the beginning was definitely similar to the backing vocals that feature later in the original version of the song.

I have to get back to the point and say I don't understand why this was done though? New, non-holiday album? New single? Why is this gonna get attention if his "Do It Again" single didn't?

[1964]

So overall this is pretty darn good, but I think I'd lose some of the opinionated commentary, and there are also a few facts that you've gotten wrong. Also, CD is digital, so when you're saying something isn't available digitally, perhaps you should say "it's not available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon, etc.

I'm going to post a few of things that in my opinion should be changed. Also, in addition to those changes, I think it would make sense to remove things like "single mixes" becuz obviously they have already been released.

1964

-"What'd I Say" (live): only released without Beach Boys authorization on an Australian Beach Boys comp if memory serves. I honestly can't believe this never got re-released just based on the fact that it's a good version of a song otherwise unavailable by The Beach Boys at one of their career high points. Seems like an obvious box set inclusion to me.

1966 - SMiLE era

- "Child Is Father Of The Man" (Brian's full mono instrumental mix): self explanatory.

- "Barnyard" (backing track w/ background vocals): somehow omitted from The SMiLE Sessions


1968 - Friends, early 20/20 era

- early 70's Friends remakes; "Passing By", "Wake the World", "Be Still" and "Friends": Stanley Shapiro and Tandyn Almer worked with Brian on these rerecordings, never circulated (perhaps this belongs in 1971 or 1972)

1972 - Carl & the Passions "So Tough", Holland era

- "California Saga: On My Way Sunny Cali-for-nia" (single mix): Released in 1973 as a single! Ergo the single mix. Available on CD on both the UK Ten years of Harmony and Greatest Hits Vol. 3 or whatever it's calleder it's called. Truthfully shouldn't be on list as it's been released.[/b]

- "Cuddle Up" (single mix): rare, but booted (Perhaps not necessary as it's already been released, though it's rarity does merit inclusion perhaps


1975 - early "Brian Is Back" era

- "Come to the Sunshine": Brian's cover of a Van Dyke Parks song, supposed to be lost

- "Carl's Song": unbooted early version of "Angel Come Home"

- "Grateful We Are for Little Children": unbooted early version of "Saturday Morning in the City"

- "In the Back of My Mind" (piano demo): still don't think this exists for sale through iTunes or the like, was a bonus track for the Target release of No Pier Pressure I believe. A beautiful and revealing version with altered lyrics by Brian and features him prominently switching between his more coarse 15 Big Ones voice with the soaring falsetto from his younger voice

1976 - 15 Big Ones, Love You era

 - "Michael Row the Boat Ashore", "Mony Mony", "Rock & Roll Music" ("hot" mix) one suspects that the version on Made In California is at least a re-creation of this verion, "Come Go With Me" (original mix), "Ruby Baby", "Short Skirts", "Running Bear", "10,000 Years Ago", "On Broadway", "Sea Cruise", "We Gotta Groove", "Marilyn Rovell", "Lazy Lizzie", "Hey There Momma", "Let Us Go On This Way" (a capella mix): booted

- "Don't Fight the Sea": unbooted, I assume an early version of the Al song he tried to include on That's Why God Made the Radio? Not true. He offered "Waves of Love" for TWGMTR. He did however, release "Don't Fight the Sea" on his solo album, A Postcard from California. The song featured Brian, Mike, Carl and Bruce, effectively making a Beach Boys track in all but name

- "It's Like Heaven": booted. Recorded with Brian and Marilyn on vocals, I assume it predates the American Spring version (Where on earth have you heard a version with Brian and Marilyn on vocals? I need to hear this


1978 - M.I.U. and Bambu era

- "I'm Begging You Please": Brian demo, much better than almost any of his other original songs released from this year (Really? If we are counting songs that he worked on or reviewed for use in '78, I think "Good Timin'" and "California Feelin'" both rank high above this one

- "California Feelin'" (original mix): more synthy and without Brian (lead) vocals


1980 - Keepin' the Summer Alive and beyond

- "Be My Baby", "Smokey Places", "River Deep, Mountain High", "Greenback Dollar": covers with Brian involvement. Only the first two are booted ("Smokey Places" is booted?



1981

- "Be My Baby",  "River Deep, Mountain High", "Greenback Dollar": covers with Brian involvement.

-"I'm A Man" also recorded. New BW song, not the classic Spencer Davis tune.

1986 - Made in U.S.A. era

-"Wouldn't That Be Cool": a Brian Wilson original, per Alan Boyd. Attempted during Made in U.S.A sessions. Apparently shares similarities with American Spring's "Do Ya" (also co-written by BW)

2012 - That's Why God Made The Radio era

-"I'd Go Anywhere": another Brian track, apparently was at some point part of the "suite"
-"She Believes in Love Again": new version Bruce's tune from the 1985 album
-"Waves of Love": if it was even worked on? Who knows if the Beach Boys (outside of Carl and Al) ever touched it
-supposedly there were like 29 tracks overall recorded for this album. Whether or not any ended up on No Pier Pressure is another question though

[Unleash the Love]

Heard it on Sirius today and thought I'd somehow forgotten about it from Unleash The Love.

It's no improvement on the original and it's very, very heavily produced. If you like It's OK, you won't hate it. But when the original is out there, why bother?

It's not on Unleash the Love. What the hell is it from actually? I have no knowledge of this ever existing.

Honestly, I think the choice of Rob Reiner is great. He's a great actor and a great director and he brings the same type of prestige that Ron Howard brought in he directed his recent movie on The Beatles touring years.

Now surely there are the people who are butthurt over the fact that Reiner was chosen to do this and not Sean Hannity, but once we get past that, it's pretty neat.

To truly get a deep discussion with the guys I think it would have to been done long form over maybe a year with perhaps different sets of people interviewing each guy separately (perhaps Stamos for Mike, Ray Lawlor for Brian, Lou Dobbs for Bruce,  Tim Heidecker for Al ) and then a final get together with all of the guys perhaps moderated by a big celebrity fan. Maybe, say...Elton John for instance?

It could have been worse, they could have gotten an actual annoying personality. Reiner is likeable. At this event, he was essentially a more energetic, dynamic version of a Larry King type. But again, I think it's fair to call the thing what it is. They could have snagged a Howie Edelson, or Alan Boyd, or heck, even Jerry Schilling, to do the event, all additional people who have good relationships with all factions, and who would also understand how to strike a balance between softball, obvious questions (e.g. "did you guys surf?", "why has your music endured all these years?") and something a bit more substantive without going into "Drip Drop/Lazy Lizzie/That Special Feeling" deep cut territory.

I think the Reiner selection was emblematic of the SiriusXM channel in general. That is, it's a nice project that has gone over well enough and certainly hasn't hurt anything, but which hasn't really lived up to its full potential.

I wonder if they considered Stamos?

You know, as dumb as this sounds, he might be the perfect person to get the guys together for a good, more in depth interview. As much as we like to drag him with the whole Uncle Jessie/Full House cheesefest, you have to admit that the guy is truly a big fan of the group and could probably get them to talk more about the "deep cuts", and maybe the workings of specific songs, etc.

Would never happen because he quite obviously is to most observers a member of Club Kokomo. While I'm sure Stamos is a wonderful guy, we've heard what Brian's band think of him, and I'm sure that wouldn't be lost on Melinda (and therefore Brian as well).

Good gravy already, the whole Mike ended C50 thing is bogus. BRIAN 'S WIFE ended it with the "no more Wilson dates" email: that is a fact.

I see that coming up a lot. Has anybody actually seen the email or is it bard completely on hearsay?

The actual e-mail has never been published; Mike mentions it in his book. I think the headline on that one is that it's perfectly plausible in my mind that the e-mail does exist and was sent. But it's a literal red herring. It had zero to do with the demise of C50. Going back to my previous message in this thread, Mike has not been shy about expressing a litany of reasons he had issues with the C50 tour, and he has always freely admitted that by the end of the tour, Brian DID want to continue and Mike *chose* to go back to his own thing.

By the time that e-mail was allegedly sent, I believe the reunion was already dead as an ongoing, "in perpetuity" thing. The alleged e-mail was the equivalent of shooting someone after they've already died of a heart attack or something. And, again, assuming the e-mail is legit and in proper context, *all parties* including Mike agree that Brian changed his mind and wanted to continue by the end of the tour.

See, even the "no more dates for the Wilsons" thing I think is kinda nonsense. I always kinda took it to mean, "no more dates on this leg of the tour," since, ya know, everything Brian had said during the tour signaled wanting to do more with The Beach Boys. So, just my take.

There are reasons why I like what I like.my solution was the song that made me want to get into the band. That and the alternative til I die.

Have you heard the 1980 version of "My Solution"? Brian cut a backing track for it in 1980:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G02sDTNUUpk

Ironically, even though the band had released "Shortenin' Bread" the previous year on 1979's "LA (Light Album)", Brian also cut *another* backing track for "Shortenin' Bread" around that same time in 1980.

And interestingly, apparently both the tracks for the 1980 versions of both "My Solution" and "Shortenin' Bread" were apparently taped for inclusion on a song called "Song Within a Song" if I remember correctly. Perhaps c-man or somebody could clarify if I'm wrong?

Hola Becca! I'd enjoyed your posting over at that other board and was hoping youd join over here, as I think some of the "facts" they were trying to push on you, were...shall I say, sketchy.

It's always struck me as a bit odd how the band seemingly consciously tried to copy the late '60s guitar sounds of artists like Jimi Hendrix on "Bluebirds Over the Mountain".

While I like this song, and I kinda dig the guitar sounds on it, I can imagine that at the time it must have come across as a slightly clunky and obvious attempt to be "hip" and sound like the cool kids. It does feel a bit like the band was trying way too hard. Especially since it was a one-off type of sound on just that one song, although songs like "All I Want to Do" get into this territory a bit too.

Did people (including hardcore fans of the band during the wilderness era) also feel that way at the time (that the band was trying a little too hard)? I don't want to compare it to a song like "Summer in Paradise", but I think there's a comparison to be made for the band trying to dip their toe into a largely unrelated genre just in a somewhat desperate attempt to be "cool". But like I said, I kinda dig it anyway.

And whose idea was it to go for this guitar sound? I believe Ed Carter plays on "Bluebirds", but somebody in the band presumably had to be driving those types of decisions to attempt to merge that Hendrix screeching guitar sound with The BBs.

Also - supposing "Bluebirds" had been a big hit; would we have gotten a whole followup album of The BBs trying to sound like Hendrix?

I can totally dig what you are trying to say here, and in fact have basically thought the same thing before.

And I think we have to remember who was the driving force to in what I assume was a somewhat desperate attempt to sound "hip" or "current"....

....and that would be one Mr. Bruce Johnston.

I personally don't think any of the other guys (at that time) would've conceived of anything as obvious of a trend hopper as that one. Bruce's thing a lot of the time, to be honest, was to take somebody else's sound and do a copycat version of it. So of course when given the chance with The Beach Boys, he tried to hop aboard the "heavy guitar" train meshed with a Mike Love lead vocal.

And to be honest, I kinda dig it. But it seemed to me at least, to be a bit of a pander to an audience that likely wouldn't be into their stuff.

<<I think he has used the name "The Jan & Dean Show featuring Dean Torrence" or something like that, which I must say is lame. I get WHY he'd need to do that, but unlike a "Jeff Lynne's ELO" type thing where it's describing a different version of a band, Jan's name is right in the name, and it makes his absence all that much more obvious.>>

"The Jan & Dean Show" name legally goes back to 1978.  Dean gave Jan permission to use "Jan & Dean" for his solo tours early that year provided he was billed as "The Jan & Dean Show featuring Jan Berry."  At some venues, including the shows I attended at the Decatur, Illinois "Macon County Light Company" in March of 1978,  the billing was simply "Jan & Dean," on the marquee and in newspaper ads, which caused audiences members to periodically shout "Where's Dean?"  Band members usually replied that Dean was out in their RV.  Later that Spring and early summer, Jan actually toured with a fake Dean.

Toured with a fake Dean? That's class, right there. 

I could add some more snark, but it's too easy...some would say certain Beach Boys have been touring with fake...oh, never mind. 

To be honest, a fake Dean isn't exactly a bad thing. The real one is a bit of a jerk-off.

When's Bruce going to do a Q&A panel as part of a "Hot Doggers" reunion? THAT'S the big question.

Let's hope at least we don't have to hear Bruce go *on and on* about the individual credit scores of each "Wrecking Crew" member......

Well considering the other Hot Dogger is Terry Melcher, and he is dead, that might be tough.

Well, it hasn't stopped "The Beach Boys" post-Dennis/Carl (and Al, and Brian), so you never know. 

Didn't Dean Torrence continue using the "Jan & Dean" name in some form after Jan's death?

I think he has used the name "The Jan & Dean Show featuring Dean Torrence" or something like that, which I must say is lame. I get WHY he'd need to do that, but unlike a "Jeff Lynne's ELO" type thing where it's describing a different version of a band, Jan's name is right in the name, and it makes his absence all that much more obvious.

When's Bruce going to do a Q&A panel as part of a "Hot Doggers" reunion? THAT'S the big question.

Let's hope at least we don't have to hear Bruce go *on and on* about the individual credit scores of each "Wrecking Crew" member......

Well considering the other Hot Dogger is Terry Melcher, and he is dead, that might be tough.