A competent flute player would probably be able to work the parts out without reference to sheet music - the intro to sloop John B is just six notes and the flute solo in BTTYS is very simple.

Remarkable stuff, I do find your passion and dedication very inspiring!

Glad I found this thread because I too have a Rachel and the Revolvers question:

WTF is Rachel and the Revolvers??? 

I saw them the other day at the Royal Albert Hall.

It was a mixed bag! I'll start with the stuff I didn't like:

• The film they play on the Big Screen before they come on. The first time I saw the Mike and Bruce Beach Boys show, they had the film play at the start - it was cut tight like a film trailer, probably only minute in length, showing clips of the boys on stage and in the studio, mostly from the 60s and early 70s. I remember thinking it was quite well done, and it got me hyped for the show that was about to come. The film has since bloated to include not just practically every use of a Beach Boys song in a film, from 50 First Dates to the present day, but every mention of the Beach Boys in every third rate Netflix show I've ever heard of. Like, you don't need to do this Mike and Bruce. We know the Beach Boys are a big deal. You're making yourselves look desperate for cultural relevancy when you really don't need to!
• The Big Screen, in general. There's an animated visual of some sort in the back ground throughout the whole show. Sometimes it will be the lyrics, never quite in time with the band. Sometimes it will be a slideshow of summery images, a lot of them bad quality jpegs, gliding across the screen, reminiscent of a screensaver in a hotel lobby. Very occasionally it will show footage that looks actually professionally put together - the Good Vibrations studio footage, for example - which makes the janky stuff appear even jankier when it returns. It looks like it was put together by Mike's great granddaughter. I'd be shocked to find out it was a professional job.
• Stamos. Sorry. I wanted to be ok with Stamos. I have nothing against the guy. Good for him, he's living his dream of being a Beach Boy. But his antics are just so distracting. During Mike's talking to the audience in between songs he would yell stuff off-mic, snarky "heheh I'm kinda like Mike's bratty but lovable nephew" comments, which Mike would then have to repeat so that we the audience knew what he was saying. In Britain, for the most part, we don't really know who John Stamos is, so much of this fell flat. It was tedious. However I will say, and I believe this is controversial, but I think he's an ok drummer!
• Another Stamos thing, before he sang "Forever", he gave a speech about Bob Saget, to whom he dedicated his performance of the song. I don't want to be mean, I know they were friends. But he does this, and up on the screen appears a big blurry black and white jpeg of Bob Saget with a quote about being kind. And all I can think is, this is the weirdest fucking Beach Boys show I've ever been to.
• At one point they brought a female singer on to sing one of the songs (I think "Don't Worry Baby"). I didn't quite catch from Mike's introduction what relation she has to the band, but I feel that relation is the key word here. She wasn't a bad singer at all, but her style wasn't in keeping with the band at all, it was quite musical theatre. After her one song, she was gone. It wasn't the worst thing in the world by any means, just... odd.
• Christian made quite a big a boo boo on "This Is That", at one point singing a verse instead of a chorus. Scott Totten had to get in front of him and wave at him to alert him to the boo boo, and seemed a bit pissed off. I felt bad for Christian, that song IS a bit of a dirge, I'd lose track of where I was too.
• Pisces Brothers

And now the good stuff!

• The band is great, and I especially like that they had a horn section with actual french horns for God Only Knows, and proper timpani in the percussion section, these touches really elevate the sound.
• Cowsill's "Darlin" is great, a big highlight for me.
• Bruce's "Disney Girls". Bruce has quite a whispery voice these days (which I like) but when he goes into falsetto it's the voice of a young man, really amazing to witness live.
• "Why Do Fools Fall In Love". I don't know why this one in particular to be honest, but they always seem to sing the sh*t out of it whenever I see them
• They really do still seem to care about putting on a show, which is nice. Mike and Bruce put their all into the performance. Bruce wanders around and grins and does a sort of "Ta Dah!" gesture to certain players when they take a solo. Ok it's not Circ Du Soleil but he could just stand at his keyboard and fiddle with his mic if he wanted to.
• "Here Today" is a personal favourite of mine from Pet Sounds, so to hear Mike sing it live is really cool.

Hope this helps.

I wondered this myself, the conclusion I came to (this is entirely conjecture) is that it’s the child of someone who worked on the film and it was included (a) because it’s precious and (b) to make the point of how BW’s music is loved by all ages / is being passed down from generation to generation. So it’s a shame then that the song in question isn’t a BW composition – but then again, neither is the film’s title!

Telephone Backgrounds reminds me a lot of Carnival of Light.  Similar vein.  I'm also willing to bet Rooftop Harry isn't too dissimilar.

This is the part where you explain how you've heard Carnival Of Light.

I saw this at the cinema (UK) last night with my fiance. I wasn't expecting much. From the trailer I knew there would be plenty of whats-his-face from Foo Fighters saying "Brian Wilson threw out the rulebook" and Elton John talking about putting the fifth in the bass for the millionth time. And indeed the talking head segments were the least interesting part of the film (does anyone else worry that the more we keep saying how important Brian is in the pantheon of American 20th century composers, the more it sounds like we're defending a controversial statement? Why state the obvious over and over again?)

However, overall I really enjoyed this film. I like how they didn't dwell too long on the Surfin' Years, or really provide a coherent chronology of Brian's career - look to every other Beach Boys documentary if that's what you're interested in. Brent Wilson and Jason Fine clearly understood that this is a film for hardcore fans who are looking for something they rarely if ever get to see, and that's an unguarded Brian Wilson. As my fiance said afterwards, he just seems to be a 100% pure, egoless human being who still doesn't understand the impact he's had on so many people and is still finding life difficult to navigate. When he's feeling scared, which is often during the doc, his answers to questions are still often one word, but the camera lingers on his face which says more than words ever could about how he's feeling in that moment. It's so rare to see someone, especially a celebrity, who has zero pretence about them. I've always been drawn to Brian because of that, and this film just made me feel that even stronger. As fans we've heard hundreds of funny/poignant Brian Wilson stories, some of which have become legendary - in this film you actually get to see a few happen in real time.

Highlights for me (SPOILERS):

Brian yelling at the guy in the Cadillac to find out what year his car is.

Brian explaining to Jason in a very Brian way why he likes his company "the way you talk is very consistent... when I feel nervous I listen to you talk" (Paraphrasing)

Brian getting stuck into a frozen yoghurt at the Deli the millisecond it's put in front of him and proceeding to energetically sing the praises of Carl's production on Holland.

Footage of Brian and Melinda's wedding with Mike and Carl in attendance.

"Can I get a click?" "Here it comes" "Here comes what?" "The CLICK!!"

Brian reminiscing about various visitors to his house in the 70s.

Obviously a very sad moment, but when Brian learns about Jack Rieley's death is a very emotional moment.

Brian listening to Pacific Ocean Blue and clearly loving it (up until "Farewell My Friend"...). One thing I noticed was how Brian finds it very hard hearing his brothers sing anything to do with saying goodbye.

The performance of Caroline No at the Hollywood bowl.

Brian reminiscing about the the tent and the sandbox at the Laurel Way House. "Young and Rich".




 

It's subtle but when Paul mentions Mike Love, he pulls a face that suggests (to me at least) he found him a bit of an ass. 

Not a lawyer but my job is in music copyrights. This is a fun and thought provoking exercise but very unlikely to have any impact in the real world (though I'm always very happy to be proven wrong - time will tell!).

What's much more likely to have an impact in copyright infringement cases is the outcome a few years back of the Marvin Gaye / Ed Sheeran lawsuit, which effectively means that there is now a legal precedent for copyrighting chord progressions, which really is lunacy.

I love this track, and would go as far to say it is, in my opinion, their best song post-Love You.

The vocal harmonies that kick off the track are brilliant and so BW. We know Brian had been playing around with that snippet since 1964's "All Dressed Up For School",  through "I Just Got My Pay", then in some of the many unreleased versions of "Heroes and Villains". He must have really believed in that snippet, and I don't blame him cause it sounds awesome. I love how it appears in half-time during the "I love you, I miss you, things won't be the same til I kiss you" section. Like Shortnin' Bread, it's one of those BW musical easter eggs that only the die hard fans will know about.

I think the production is cool! It's clean, not overblown, and uses pretty standard rock band instrumentation so hasn't dated badly like other synth-laden tracks from the same era. It has a tasteful arrangement (though admittedly doesn't sound like it was lead by BW - would Bruce have had a hand in it?).

The key change into the sax solo as someone else has pointed out is really quite inspired, musically.

Do people not like it because of the sax solo? Definitely the one element that dates it, but if you try to forget how we now in the 21st century perceive sax solos as cheesy, you can come to accept it... I have.

The chords are great. Love the dramatic, almost spooky sounding minor flat 5 chord on "Why is my love goin' on".

I love how they snuck in the lyric "awaken me beautiful dreamer" - my guess is Brian's input as we know he's a fan of the song it references, "Beautiful Dreamer" and the fact that Beautiful Dreamer Wake spells out his initials.

It's a rare Wilson/Love song from after the 60s that doesn't sound completely half-assed. As a (admittedly amateur) songwriter myself, I can tell that a lot of effort went into this one, from the music to the lyrics to the arrangement to the vocal performance from all members of the group.

It really baffles me that it quite often gets singled out by fans as a song they especially don't like. I don't think those people are wrong, taste is subjective after all, but still, it does baffle me! Maybe it is that sax solo after all...

Anyone else love "Jump!"? Great music and lyrics by VDP. I was surprised to find out recently that the arrangements aren't his - surprised that he wouldn't be the natural choice for arranger (maybe he was too busy with other projects?), and surprised because the arrangements sound like his to my ears. Sadly it's not on Spotify anymore, would be interested to know why.

Also recently obsessed with the tune 'Mills Brothers' from Discover America.

I'll watch/listen to any interview with the man - he talks in riddles sometimes, and goes off on tangents like no one's business, but he's a walking encycloopedia and always interesting. I wish someone would get him to talk in depth about how he approaches an arrangement because his style is so  unique sounding to me.

Also seems to have a lot of time for people.

This is too good to be free! Thank you for doing this.

What was the "Then I Kissed Her" debacle you mention in the Sunday May 7 1967 entry? Not sure I've heard about that before.

When did it become common knowledge that Murray was an abusive father? I've only been a fan since the mid 00's by which time Murray's overbearing nature was an indelible part of the Beach Boys story with the boys openly discussing it in interviews and biographies. Was there a single article or biography that came out and broke that particular part of the story for the first time, or is it more a case of rumours trickling out over time?

A few days ago someone uploaded this interview with Brian from 1968 that I'd never heard before. The interviewer is Jamake Highwater. They discuss Smile, Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, religion, meditation, Beatles, Mamas And Papas, and a crazy new instrument called a synthesizer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3OQ4w77l0g&t=1304s

Apologies if this is well known but I've been a big fan for years and never heard this!

I would definitely watch this!

The drum on "Let's Go Away for Awhile" goes twice as fast as it should be between 0:16-0:27 and 0:45-0:58

Do you have any?

Does it? It doesn't change from what it was doing before...

No, WME is a talent agency not a record label.

Dear God the autotune 

Is that the boys playing on Graduation Day, or did they get session musicians in?

Stars and Stripes vol. 2

This is perfect and will not be surpassed. Close the thread now.

Good one. I myself thought “Parks” was referring to Van Dyke for many years

I still do! who is it referring to?

I really can't hear any Brian in this at all. Nice song though.

https://twitter.com/thevandykeparks/status/974291866060378112 

I believe the record company would have given the band an advance payment upon signing them. This would presumably be split between the members and be enough to live off. The advance would be recouped through royalties generated by record sales and the licensing of any other band related products. Once the company has made back its money, then the band become 'payable' and that's when they start getting royalty payments. Once the contract runs out (they're usually limited to a fixed number of albums), if the band are doing well, the contract will be renewed and another, larger, advance would have been paid to the band and the royalty rates amended to be more favourable. That, at least, is more or less how record companies work today. The 60's were far shadier and more exploitative times for recording artists so who knows what kind of skullduggery was going on! But that should explain at least why even Al could afford a nice house etc.

wow... that was a sh*t piece of television if ever i saw it. they had not only Phil Spector but also Richard Pryor - two hugely talented people who are now considered to be legends in their respective fields... and that was the best they could do? i'm from the UK so excuse me for not really knowing who merv griffin is. it's one of those names you hear of from time to time but i wouldn't be able to tell you anything about him. But judging from that; what a lousy, uninteresting, charisma bereft host.


That was one of the most awkward things ive ever watched, and i'm a Brian Wilson fan.