I love Bill Maher. And it's just a joke. And face it there's a lot to make fun of with the Beach Boys. It doesn't diminish their amazing contributions to music guys....

I agree with this.

As do I.  I'm a fan of his as well, but even putting that aside, neither this nor the Chris Rock joke are actually putting down the Boys.  Let's face it, the guys are old, and their fan base tends to skew older given that they've been around so damn long.  At the end of the day it's just a harmless little joke, meant to get a laugh, not maliciously attack musical legends.

When I afford to will definitely get a copy. Any rare or unseen pics and do they discuss Brians vocal change?

There were a handful of pics I hadn't seen, and yes the vocal change is discussed in the context of his 1976 live performance on SNL and how much of a shock it was to hear him like that.

Got this as a Christmas gift, and naturally had to watch it tonight when I got home.  I really enjoyed it, a lot more depth than you'd get with most Brian/BB documentaries, especially when considering the time period it covers.  Where else can you find a relatively in-depth discussion of Love You?  Of course the nuts like us would've watched a cut that's twice as long, or just more of the interviews with Desper, Fred Vail, Priore, etc.  I'm definitely going to get my hands on the 1962-69 DVD after seeing this.

Never seen the show but that was hilarious.

Although my appreciation for the 67-73 albums has grown tremendously over the years, I still have to go with pre-66 (as long as Pet Sounds comes along with that).  For me it doesn't get better than young Brian at the top of his game.

The best Christmas song Brian's ever recorded in his solo career:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gBsL7gcKCU

Second it.

Third it.  I was so glad this ended up on his Christmas album.

Seem a little odd that JT he had to be told that Smile started with an a capella track 

Odd but not surprising - Joe Thomas doesn't exactly strike me as much of a Smile fan.

Is it me, or is the video incomplete? It runs for about 36 minutes, and ends right after the master backing track...?

Keep listening for a few minutes after the backing track finishes, there's another gem at the end.

Yeah...that was a pretty nice article. I'm happy that he finds refuge at the piano. The pleasure he finds there is his alone and that's what it's all about. It makes me happy that Brian Wilson is somewhere playing a piano. And you always assume that the only thing that he really cares about is music, but it's always nice to see it mentioned.  I'm kind of happy for Brian. Even though the photos are touched up, I like 'em. Deli food is the best. Right on.

Agreed.  I do feel bad for him having to put up with all those dogs though - granted I'm not a dog person in the first place, but too much of anything can be annoying.

That was an absolute joy to listen to as always Stephen, thank you so much for all the time, effort and love you put into these study-videos!

That gave me a headache.

I've always had a soft spot for "Smart Girls." 

I wonder what 1964-Brian would say if he heard GIOMH, especially his vocals on 'Fairy Tale'...

Playing 1964-Brian any of his vocals from the mid-70's onward would probably elicit a confused reaction, to put it mildly.

Very cool, thanks for sharing!  That Tascam was my first recording unit as well, right around the same time as it happens.  Your version of "Wonderful" was a hell of a lot better than I was capable of at 14 though, that's for sure - easy to hear why Brian was so impressed.

I'd have to say "All This is That" and "409".

I agree Bubba, I like having the option for any given album/song.  I do think there are instances where a stereo mix blows away the mono (i.e. most of Pet Sounds, for me anyways), and other cases where the exact opposite is true (a lot of the Today! tracks, in my opinion).  With Smiley, I found things to appreciate about both mixes, as others have said here. 

The coolest thing about Beach Boys stereo mixes in general is hearing little things that you couldn't hear before.  These are all over Brian's tracks, even the sparsely arranged Smiley tracks.  Those are what blew me away the most.  I have a feeling that if/when we get a Wild Honey stereo mix/master, the reaction will be similar.

Very cool!  Hearing "Wonderful" on a real harpsichord was awesome.

Don't agree at all that it slows the track down too much. I mean I guess if we're talking strictly in terms of aiming for huge commercial success, but Smile wasn't solely about that at all. It was a goal, don't get me wrong, but yeah.

Absolutely beautiful section. To me, the song is incomplete without it. Blasphemy, but I rarely listen to the single/album version anymore as, despite hearing it before other edits, my brain just expects the cantina section and it doesn't happen.

Agreed on all counts.  "Cantina" doesn't slow the song down any more than the chorus from the single mix does (one of my major gripes with that particular edit - the chorus just drags on and on).  I love that it comes out of nowhere and acts as a perfect bridge between verses.  I don't think the song as a whole can work without it.

Sheriff, I don't think Brian's solo career is the reason why he resisted a reunion for so long - perhaps it had something to do with the fact that the last time he tried getting together with them, in 1995, they shot down the music he wanted to do with them.  And obviously that was far from the first time.  Why subject himself to that again by asking them to do Imagination/GIOMH/whatever?

You're right, it IS all about Brian Wilson - he's the only member with the creative juice left to use on the Beach Boys, so before doing the reunion he needed assurance that the Boys would let him take creative control and not question his creative direction like they had done so many times before.

Because Brian's not authorized to promote his band as "the Beach Boys"; he DID, however, vote to authorize Michael to promote his band as "the Beach Boys".  Just saying. For all of the malarkey about "WHY CAN'T THEY GO ON?!?!", this has received a rather...muted response. I know that double standards are something to be proud of in the Brianista world, but...

I completely understand that the reunion tour was finite. I know the logistics of why they cannot go on. I only ever dispute the fact that M&B should tour as "The Beach Boys" so close in proximity to the end of the 50th celebration. I know M. Love has the right to tour under that name, but if his thing is about not cheapening the legacy of the band, well....

Even if he could, you think Brian would tour as The Beach Boys if he was the only original member? Doubt it.
And, yeah, I like Brian Wilson more than I like Mike Love. On a lot of different levels.

I agree with your first paragraph. Just saying that for all of the freaking out over things going back to how they were before the reunion (even when we all knew it would end), Brian's return to solo performing has seen zero response. I'm just pointing out a glaring hypocrisy.

And would Brian tour as the Beach Boys if he was the only original member? He's said himself he'd rather have Michael do it, so I doubt it. I also never say never.

It's not hypocrisy - there's a world of difference between Brian doing a one-off show under his own name and Mike playing shows calling his band The Beach Boys.  This was true even before the reunion tour, but the disparity is even greater now that we've seen the real Beach Boys in action.

As was stated in the other thread, if Brian booked shows for himself using the Beach Boys name (forget the licensing issue for the moment - we all agree that the name has more meaning than what's written on a contract), he would be rightfully subjected to the same criticisms.  But in playing this show, Brian is doing no disrespect to the Beach Boys name, and the same can't be said for Mike.

Additionally, unless Brian booked this solo show months in advance, it isn't the same as Mike booking a "Beach Boys" show during the middle of the reunion tour.  Mike has already seemingly ruled out more reunion shows, at least for the time being, so this strikes me as more of a reactive move by Brian, dissimilar to the proactive move made by Mike in booking October "Beach Boys" shows.

Nah. Studio technology is like weather forecasting. It's become exponentially better over the last few decades, meaning advances are going to be less and less important. In other words, a decade from now, there won't be enough of a difference to make it worth anybody's while.

On top of that, practically nobody will be buying physical CDs by that point, so there'd be even less of a reason to do it.

True, but I wouldn't rule out digital-only releases in the future.  Maybe something along the lines of what BB Central was supposed to be.

Always been one of my favorites on BW88, great hook and I love the middle eight.

I wonder what some of these "fans" would say if it was Brian who had solo concerts booked immediately after the reunion tour, and Al came forward to lobby for a continuance of the reunion tour? Or, WOULD have Al come forward if it was Brian who had commitments? I doubt it. Do you think Brian would've cancelled his solo dates?

Key word there is "solo".  The underlying issue is still that that press release defined Mike and Bruce's band as the ongoing Beach Boys, apparently ending the reunion.  No one had a problem with Brian or Mike playing solo shows in between their Beach Boys gigs, even back in the '80s -- neither one laid claim to the Beach Boys name in the process.

If this whole thing could be settled just by officially billing Mike's band as "Mike Love's Beach Boys", I'd be all for it...

Cheers,
Jon Blum

Exactly, well said!  If everyone went out and did their own thing when they wanted, and reserved "The Beach Boys" only for albums and tours with all 5 members, this whole situation would be a non-starter.

I'm with sweetdudejim on this one.  No matter how good or bad everyone thought the reunion album/tour would go, it's been quite clear for several months now that the whole endeavor has been a smashing success.  In light of this, the fact that in it's original conception, the whole thing was intended to be finite is irrelevant.  For me, and obviously many other fans, seeing this summer's configuration of The Beach Boys rendered the Mike and Bruce version of the band obsolete.  A facsimile of the real deal.  It only worked prior to this year because that was how all parties wanted it, but that is no longer the case.

Bottom line, Brian Wilson wants to be a Beach Boy again, and if his cousin truly cares about him or the legacy of their band, he should re-evaluate his notions about touring and "diluting the brand".  He's had a good run with Bruce, and admirably worked his ass off to bring the music to many happy fans over the years, but as "Brianista" as this sounds, I think the right thing to do would be to dissolve "The Beach Boys" and spend what precious time they all have left with Brian at the helm and touring/recording/whatever as THE BEACH BOYS.

Or we can believe Carl's isolated vocal:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sc5GSsdMPuM

Bygone.

Holy hell - how have I never heard this?  That was extremely cool, I had no idea such a mix existed.  Thanks!