Bill Doss died five or six years ago.

I don’t believe Jeremy and Kevin Barnes are related: where did you hear that?

Robert is a math grad student and teaching assistant at Emory University these days, not doing music anymore.

I would have sworn I read somewhere that Kevin Barnes and Jeremy Barnes were distantly related, like third cousins or something. Now I think I was either dreaming, or someone online was making up bullshit.

Maybe Brian can bring Janelle Monae, and perhaps Kevin Barnes, on his next album?

And why not get Kevin's cousin Jeremy Barnes, and his bandmates Julian Koster, Scott Spillane, and Jeff Mangum as well? Bryan "BP Helium" Poole, Robert Schneider, Hilary Sidney, Will Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, Laura Carter...Elephant 6 party at Brian's house!!

Impossible. A decent BBs best of would have to take up a minimum of 8 discs.

Lots of good stuff mentioned here people, nice!

This for Alex as he remembered it and it is awesome - Batman Animated Series

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEx9r5enZsk


What about most hated TV themes? Mine has to be the Friends theme 'I'll Be There For You' - if I ever have to hear that shitty fucking song ever again I will go on a stabbing frenzy!

I realize I'm replying to a really old post, but if you're still out there lurking Paulos, I was talking about the series with the REAL Batman, the late great Mayor of Quahog, Adam West. You know, "na na na na na na na BATMAN!"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSaDPc1Cs5U

I found The Beatles one to be fairly decent, and am looking forward to Sir Elton.

Honestly, The Beach Boys will never be featured at one of these because it is impossible for big name soloists to sing the songs. You need vocal groups to effectively perform 80% of the catalog and in a program that features individual "stars", the repertoire doesn't back up the formula.

I think a lot of it has to do with lyrics too. Just about any of the hits that preceed pet sounds have not aged well, lyrically. They sound incredibly dated and that's not something these programs want to be promoting. They are all over the top (democratically funded) networks and the last thing they want to do is harken back to the days of hamburger stands, woodies, and letterman sweaters...a little too MAGA for their style, I think. It probably doesn't help that Mike has his head up Trump's ass every chance he gets.

I didn't mean to make that political...but you can't talk about network television without the wires crossing.

The only "democratically" funded network is PBS, the others are corporately funded through ad revenue.

 
60s
Fig Plucker
Bob Gordon's Real Trip
All I Want to Do
I'd Love Just Once to See You
In The Parkin' Lot

70s
Drip Drop
Ding Dang
Shortening Bread
Roller Skating Child
Country Pie

80s
Male Ego
Too Much Sugar
Oh Lord
I Feel So Fine
You've Been Good To Me

90s
Smart Girls
Summer of Love
Still Surfin'
Hot Fun In The Summertime
Surfin' (1992)

The only rock biopic anyone needs to see is Walk Hard.

Agree that his (Valli's ) falsetto was better suited to his own songs and visia versa. .  Imagining Frankie and Brian singing falsetto on each other's songs gave me a smile!

Can't forget Brian doing that little bit of Walk Like a Man at the end of Surfers Rule.

I went to the movies and after I went to FYE To see if they had some Beach Boys Not much there but I found for the first time on CD. The Beach Boys Still Cruisin CD for $4.75. Good find so I brought it and listen right Now.

There are so few FYEs left. I found one in Burlington, Vermont. Where is the location of yours?

There used to be one across the lake in Plattsburgh, NY that I frequented when I was in college (only because the one independent record store in that town-where I bought my first copies of Pet Sounds and BWPS on CD- closed down). The one in Burlington is pretty much identical in layout to the old Plattsburgh store. They seem to have a lot more random pop culture junk clogging up the place now than in years past.


EDIT: Went to Burlington a couple weeks ago, the FYE there is now closed. It's not much of a loss, though. That town has two great independent record stores. Just means I have one less reason to bother going to that mall.

Regarding Lana Del Rey, there were conflicting reports as to whether she was planned but never recorded, or did some recording, or finished the recording.

According the this article: ( https://pitchfork.com/news/58275-frank-ocean-and-lana-del-rey-left-off-brian-wilson-album-due-to-scheduling/ ) she did some recording work on the song but wasn't able to come back in to finish.

Regarding "Run James Run", I'm pretty sure that had to have previously been an Al lead vocal. I believe reports from a couple years back indicated as much, and you can hear Al's vocals weaving in and out of the finished "Brian" version of the song on the "Playback" album.

I honestly wouldn't mind hearing Lana Del Rey's unfinished parts with Brian/Al's voices filling in the rest.

Thanks for the heads-up!
While browsing through 1963, I stopped at the show from September 21, 1963. There's a picture of Carl, Dennis, Mike and Al. You write that Brian wasn't there. Do we know if David therefor took over the drums while Dennis was upfront, just like Brian did?

Yes, he did. I have a photo from a 1963 show with David on drums. We'll likely put that in the updated edition of Davids book.

Thanks Jon! Very interesting. If I'm not mistaken that makes that in the early years (before they added other musicians) it was either Brian or David playing drums when Dennis came upfront to sing his song. After Brian left the touring group in late '64 Dennis played sang and played drums at the same time ("Do you wanna dance") or came upfront and no one played drums ("You've got to hide your love away"). Or did Carl or Bruce take over the drums as well sometimes?

Actually I saw a photo of Mike Love with the mike along Dennis in 1966.

Carl Wilson mimed drums in tv apparitions

I'm assuming this was after he died, and ghost Carl just felt like stopping by and sitting in with the other guys. Unfortunately, no one in person at the TV studio could see him, but the cameras picked him up fine, and TV watchers around the world got to see Carl's apparition fake playing the drums during Mike and Bruce's epic rendition of "Santa's Going to Kokomo".

The version of WIBN where Brian sings the bridge instead of Mike. Brian brought a longing and melancholy to the "Maybe if we think and wish and hope and pray..." part. It just sounds damn goofy when Mike does it.

I wish he'd hit Burlington, VT or somewhere in northern NY.

I'm surprised there isn't more love here (aside from KDS) for the 1966 Batman movie. "Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb!" I'd love to see Batman make a return to campy lightheartedness, but without the Schumacher cheesiness.

"Passing Friend" is admittedly a self-ripoff of the Culture Club track "Miss Me Blind" (I wasn't aware of this until someone more familiar with the Culture Club catalog heard me play "Passing Friend" and could already tell it was a Culture Club song).

Sort of bizarre that The Beach Boys were enlisting help from members of Culture Club.  

But, then again, Pink Floyd got some help from a member of The Dream Academy on their later work.

I think the obvious answer on that is that the Culture Club outtake came through producer Steve Levine, who was working with them at this same time. I don't think any member of the BBs sought it out. Similarly, I'm guessing it was Levine who brought in Gary Moore to do some guitar shredding, etc.

Its debatable whether or not The Beach Boys were even aware of The Culture Club, but either way there are some Culture Club songwriting credits. 

I keep forgetting Gary Moore appeared on BB85.  I should remember that, as that kind of guitar work is largely absent in BB work.

The BBs would have been living in a pretty epic vacuum to not even know who Boy George was in 1985. But I'm sure the one Culture Club-penned track on the '85 album came through Steve Levine, and almost surely was instigated by Levine. I guess we can't know for sure. I guess it's not impossible that, say, Carl was in the studio and said "Hey Steve, you work with Culture Club, do they have any songs they'd like us to record?"

It's still unclear how many outtakes exist from the '85 project as well. We know of "At the Hop" of course, which was apparently jettisoned very late in the game. There are a bunch of alternate mixes/performances floating around. They may have worked on Brian's "Oh Lord" and Al's "And I Always Will." Brian may have worked on "Water Builds Up", and they may have also worked on Carl's (?) "Down by the Pier."

Carl reported in a circa 1986 interview that he was still writing with Robert White Johnson, so there may be more of that stuff.

A few years back I heard an old British radio interview from when the album came out where Carl said Passing Friend was pretty much a gift from Steve Levine and Boy George. In that same interview he also talked a little bit about Dennis, and just randomly brought up how much Dennis was disappointed with 15 Big Ones.

The whole shifting of band members around this time period has always entrigued me. If it wasn’t for Carl’s tragic passing you wonder what might have been. I could certainly see Carl retiring or even sticking with Mike. Couldn’t imagine him with Brian touring Pet Sounds or even later Smile. Especially since he evidently vetoed The Beach Boys Pet Sounds tour of the 90’s(?) and him and Brian were on the outs if I’m not mistaken.

I like to think that if Carl had been healthy, he could have gotten Mike and Al to sit down and iron out their differences. As it was, he had too much on his plate already. But if Mike, Al, Carl and Bruce had been able to continue touring together - with, or without David - I seriously doubt any of them would have joined Brian's band.

Would Brian have even gone forth with solo touring if Carl had survived?

Actually a Harpsichord was used on Good Timin' I believe, Dano Bass was used during the Good Vibrations sessions as well as The Smile Sessions, A Celeste not a Glockenspiel used on Girl Don't Tell Me which was used later on as well for other songs. It's quite interesting how much the Celeste has appeared with the Beach Boys. It started way back in 1963 for the Surfin' USA sessions, then Brian used it again for Little Saint Nick. He wasn't done with it, he used it again on Girl Don't Tell Me. After that it was used during the Smile Sessions. I think it disappeared after that. The longest used obscure instrument, the Harpsichord. Used in 1964, 1966, 1967, 1978 and even 2012. Craig can correct me, he's awesome when it comes to this stuff.

Does the sampled harpsichord from 2004 not count?

Our Prayer
Heroes and Villains
Heroes and Villains Part 2
I'm In Great Shape
Barnyard
He Gives Speeches
Do You Like Worms?
Tones
Three Blind Mice
The Old Master Painter-You Were My Sunshine
Cabinessence
Bicycle Rider
Wonderful
Look
Teeter-Totter Love
My Little Red Book
I Don't Know
Child Is The Father Of The Man
Holidays
With Me Tonight
Indian Wisdom
Good Vibrations
Vega-Tables
Wind Chimes
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Wanna Be Around-Workshop
Cool Cool Water-I Love To Say Da Da
Surf's Up
You're Welcome

That's pretty lengthy, although at the same time very thorough and covers a wide range of music that was recorded during or after the sessions for the album into an enjoyable list.

I think I'm going to edit together a new SMiLE mix now. Haven't really done one in about 10 years, and that one was super crazy.

Our Prayer
Heroes and Villains
Heroes and Villains Part 2
I'm In Great Shape
Barnyard
He Gives Speeches
Do You Like Worms?
Tones
Three Blind Mice
The Old Master Painter-You Were My Sunshine
Cabinessence
Bicycle Rider
Wonderful
Look
Teeter-Totter Love
My Little Red Book
I Don't Know
Child Is The Father Of The Man
Holidays
With Me Tonight
Indian Wisdom
Good Vibrations
Vega-Tables
Wind Chimes
Mrs. O'Leary's Cow
I Wanna Be Around-Workshop
Cool Cool Water-I Love To Say Da Da
Surf's Up
You're Welcome

I honestly think sometimes people write articles like this just to get some clicks as they know it'll get a rise out of people. 

Take a beloved band, album, or song, and write a viciously negative review, and it generates traffic to the site. 

Sad what passes for music journalism these days. 

As I think I said somewhere before,  conspiracy theories and making money make the Internet boring day by day.

I'm not sure this is such case, though. Reading other reviews of the reviewer's, he seems to dislike what's not 'rock'. He criticized Simon and Garfunkel for not being 'rock'. Considering that, it's pretty natural for him to suspect the appreciation for PS as the best 'rock' album. Sure it doesn't sound like 'rock' at all.

Sounds like one of those "PLAY FREEBIRD!!!!!!!!!!!"/"Zeppelin/Kiss/Van Halen/Metallica rules!!!" idiots.

First BBs book I ever read was Wouldn't It Be Nice by Charles Granata, detailing the making of Pet Sounds. If you like seedy gossip try Heroes and Villains by Steven Gaines. A more balanced perspective, but with a focus on Brian, can be had from Catch a Wave by Peter Ames Carlin. The Lost Beach Boy by David Marks and Jon Stebbins covers the early days in great detail. If you don't mind endless conjecture and speculation, there's Domenic Priore's 2005 SMiLE book. Look Listen Vibrate Smile, also by Domenic Priore, is a 2-inch thick cut and past 'zine with writings and ramblings by all sorts of BBs superfans (including Darian Sahanaja, Nicky Wonder, and Probyn Gregory a good decade before they joined the BW band.)

Ding Dang
Shortening Bread
Drip Drop

Great job. I only knew this one from the version by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, had no idea until now that Randy Newman wrote it.

Smart Girls
Summer of Love
Brian's Back
Surfin' (92)
One Summer Night
Hey Little Tomboy
Belles of Paris
Jingle Bell Rock (Mike and Dean)
Spring Vacation
Little GTO (Salute to Nascar)
Sun City (ML and Adrian Baker)
Girls of the World (ML and Adrian Baker)

Make it a 3 disc comp!!!

D1
1. Love and Mercy
2. Melt Away
3. Walkin' the Line
4. One For the Boys
5. There's So Many
6. Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight
7. Let It Shine
8. Rio Grande
10. Concert Tonight/Someone to Love
11. Water Builds Up
12. Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel
13. Love Ya
14. Make a Wish
15. The Spirit of Rock and Roll (featuring Bob Dylan)
16. This Song Wants to Sleep With You Tonight
17. Gettin' In Over My Head
18. Saturday Morning In the City
19. Marketplace
20. Some Sweet Day

D2
1. Slightly American Music
2. I'm Broke
3. Proud Mary
4. Your Imagination
5. She Says She Needs Me
6. South American
7. Lay Down Burden
8. Brian Wilson
9. This Isn't Love
10. City Blues
11. A Friend Like You
12. How Could We Still Be Dancing?
13. Do You Like Worms?
14. Cabin Essence
15. Wonderful
16. Surf's Up
17. Heaven
18. Morning Beat
19. Good Kind of Love
20. California Role

D3
1. Mexican Girl
2. Midnight's Another Day
3. Southern California
4. The Like In I Love You
5. Summertime
6. I've Got Rhythm
7. Listen to Me
8. Sail Away
9. The Right Time
10. Guess You Had to Be There
11. On the Island
12. Saturday Night On Hollywood Blvd.
13. The Last Song (with Lana Del Rey-Does a recording with her vocal even exist?)
14. Run James Run
15. Danny Boy (with Jeff Beck)
16. Metropolis (with Jeff Beck)