It's a nice cover of an underrated song.  I kinda wish they did more with the instrumental last half of the track (the horn part is sorely missed here), but this is still pretty well done.  Beck and Depp also cover "Don't Talk (PYHOMS)" and "Caroline, No" on that same album.  Glad to see that Beck's rather awkward experience he had touring and recording with BW never deterred his overall appreciation for the group.

To answer the topic brought up above, yes, the Analogue Productions releases (vinyl and CD/SACD hybrid) are legit, licensed releases. I'm not sure what would possibly make anyone think they're not. They were/are sold through legitimate retailers, and have known names that remastered them.

They weren't discussed a ton here, but I think that was just a confluence of a bunch of things (the 2012 reissues being relatively recent at the time, not a super huge interest here in high-rez, and the incomplete nature of both reissue campaigns).

The current mode of running through the catalog and getting the albums back out there in physical form and also presenting a ton of outtakes (e.g. Feel Flows and Sail on Sailor) is ideal, and I certainly hope we continue to see the 70s covered in one form or another.

I bought all of he analogue production masters as high res downloads. They are easily the best editions of those albums. I don’t expect them to be bettered. Absolutely vital purchases.

I think it was also Analogue Productions that handled the 200g vinyl release of Holland that I also own.  That sucker's a pretty thick piece of wax; it could take a bullet and still probably play fine.  🤣

And finally we get the studio recording of "We got Love". I really like that one, especially that pedal steel intro! As you certainly know, an early pressing of "Holland" featuring that song was released in Germany, yet the recording was never used again on any sets afaik.

I think Analogue Productions used it on a vinyl release. Found it here https://www.discogs.com/release/8957660-The-Beach-Boys-Holland

I wasn't aware of that. Thank you! But I guess they didn't get to use the master tapes but worked with the "bootlegged" version, did they?

Unfortunately I've never come across an affordable copy so haven't heard it. I'd imagine it's the official version sanctioned by Brother as AP are a legit company but not 100%.

It's on the SACD too https://www.discogs.com/release/8864074-The-Beach-Boys-Holland

Thread here http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,19211.0.html

Yep I own the SACD version.  The studio version is quite nice although the live version of it sounds, well, livelier.   

Looking forward to this one!  Also quite buzzed that "Carry Me Home" finally gets a proper official release. 

I'm sure he'll be back to his normal routine next year - a run of medium sized theater dates. Brian Wilson as an opening act was a mistake. He deserves a full show all to himself.

He has been an opening act before for both Paul Simon and Jeff Beck.  And as maligned as the latter tour eventually became, it was pretty cool to see both bands up onstage performing "Surf's Up" amongst other things together. 

And sadly it would not be surprising if Brian doesn't continue to tour any further.  I think both his mental and physical health issues are truly catching up with him at his age. 

I just learned from David Leaf's updated book that Jerry Weiss who has been a long time friend and supporter on Brian's tours retired after 2021's fall dates.  I have to wonder; was his absence from the Chicago tour dates maybe partly responsible for Brian's "depressed" behaviour?

Unlikely.

Think some folks are going just a tad overboard with Mike's admittedly glib comments.  Even if Brian stopped using heavy drugs 40 years ago that doesn't mean they didn't have some kind of permanent effect on his psyche or even physically.  At least that's how I took those comments.  The truth is there were a number of factors that affected Brian over the years besides drugs including mental illness and an abusive, narcissistic therapist among other things.  But yeah, even if Mike's comments could be perceived as insensitive, he's technically not exactly incorrect in his assessment.  And Mike has always been kind of an anti-drug guy anyway.  His comments on Brian remain consistent to that. 

Looking Back With Love is still not available on CD. Also, Problem Child. I'd buy those.

Mike's solo album is at least officially available to stream:

https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_n5j1nOapBbk_JLacSMnff_k8xjehq9KQ4&feature=share

Why it's even available in the first place I'll never know...🤣

Somebody has called them "the greatest album that never was". The definition once reserved to SMiLE.
In any case, I think they deserve a treatment like the 2011 SMiLE Sessions, completed with a "reconstructed" album.
What do you think?

Considering what we got on that Long Promised Road soundtrack from that era, then the claims of greatness over most of these tracks are definitively false.  Sure, they represent a revival of some sorts in terms of Brian's creativity and there are a few good songs to come of it, but most of that material is kind of bland and forgettable.  And none of it warrants going into any kind of deep inspection. 

[Up The Creek]

For the record have either of these albums ever received any kind of remastering since their original release?  Other than the song "Kokomo" of course?

"Summer in Paradise" was revamped for UK release in 1993, with several tracks being remixed/re-edited.

Otherwise, I don't think they've been remastered. But remastering won't help much. All of SIP and much of "Still Cruisin'" have that very thin, drum-sample heavy Terry Melcher production sound.

As I mentioned in another post, Howie Edelson mentioned in a recent interview talking to Alan Boyd about trying to remix something like "Rock and Roll to the Rescue" to try to liberate it from so much of that heavy, processed 80s sound (my words), but he mentioned that Boyd said in some cases there's not a lot that even a remix would solve.

I sense this is the case for most of "Still Cruisin'" and especially SIP. They'd really need to kind of have a partial re-recording treatment done, sort of like Al did with "Loop de Loop" or Jeff Lynne did with some ELO bonus tracks over the last couple decades. And really, considering they can't be bothered to even keep the two albums in print, I can't fathom putting the time, effort, and funds into remixing, let alone partially re-recording this stuff, all to make it sound like 10% better if they're lucky.

As to the previous stuff regarding advocating for these albums, yes, I think few are against putting these things up quietly on streaming services. I think my points were more that advocating for these albums seems to imply a wider net needs to be cast to get people to listen to this stuff, and that's just kind of weird to me, or perhaps just connotes a weird priority from a fan perspective. I'm not for censoring anything. But I think there is kind of a procedural aspect to getting "new" stuff to "new" fans, and SIP is like the *absolute* bottom of that barrel. Especially considering it is *very easy* to procure and listen to "Still Cruisin'" and "Summer in Paradise."

I don't lose sleep over a true fan having to put in a little extra effort if they really want to listen to "Summer in Paradise." Both of the albums are easy to download, and if that's not one's proclivity, actual used CD copies are not that difficult to track down. I also don't lose sleep over someone that is *that* desperate to hear SIP having to pay $30 or $40 for a used copy (though the eBay prices seem to be all over the place, as low as $15 to $20).

Yeah any type of intensive remixing or revisionism of these tracks seems grossly unrealistic.  A straight up remastering seems to be the most likely path they'd take if they ever choose to acknowledge these albums again to the public.  Still Cruisin' seems to be a likelier candidate to be revisited what with the success of "Kokomo".  And most of the new songs on there, while being soundly unremarkable, are at least not half bad.  The title track is still performed pretty regularly by Mike's band, Al's "Island Girl" is a catchy guilty pleasure, and "Somewhere Near Japan" was for years regarded as the band's "last good song" up until the reunion album came out.  And they could replace the oldies on there with "Happy Endings", "Problem Child" and "Chasin' The Sky" if they could land the rights.  I'm assuming it wouldn't be *that* inconceivable using a song from a completely forgotten movie like Up The Creek now would it?

For the record have either of these albums ever received any kind of remastering since their original release?  Other than the song "Kokomo" of course?

I wonder if there are any plans to release this mix for purchase.  Seems like a lot of trouble remixing this thing just for that rather trivial video it was attached to. 

Awesoman, somebody prefers apples, somebody (like me) prefers oranges.
I could not care LESS about who has the more success. If success were my guiding light, I'd be a fan of Justin Bieber and C.
And no, I don't think preferring Brian makes me a music illiterate. Quite the contrary.

That's not at all the point I was making.  Of course whoever you prefer is entirely subjective regardless to their successes.  I wasn't suggesting otherwise.  I was looking at it from an objective standpoint that their commercial/critical successes aren't really a fair comparison due to how different their solo career paths went.   But whomever you prefer to listen to is entirely your own personal opinion.

There is no need for a 60th anniversary reunion tour.  These guys do not owe us one either.  And despite the way the 50th anniversary reunion fizzled out near the end, it overshadowed the fact that it was still actually a very successful and high profile reunion complete with a great appearance on Jimmy Fallon's show among other appearances.   And it produced an album that was far better than it had any reason to be.  Even if some folks groaned over the production, it still is a better way to conclude the band's studio album career than with Stars & Stripes, Vol. 1 and especially Summer In Paradise.   The potential documentary is more than enough to recognize the band's milestone.

I'm as big of a fan of Brian's solo output as can be, but no, I don't think I'd take most of Brian's solo output over McCartney's. In many cases, it's not even close.

Let's be clear: "A Friend Like You" is not a high water moment for either Brian or Paul. I like the chords, I like the sentiment of the song, and it's cool to hear them on a track together. But it's not Brian's best work. McCartney's vocals on the track are fine. He could have been used better vocally; I'd guess they didn't have a ton of time with him in the studio.

But yeah, if we're looking at Paul's entire catalog, or even just the concurrent 1988-present time frame, I don't think Brian's albums hold up nearly as well. Both made far from perfect, A+ albums, but I'll take "Flaming Pie" over "Imagination" any day, and I'll take "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" over "Gettin' In Over My Head" (and I seem to like GIOMH more than a lot of BB/Brian fans). McCartney's last few, especially "Egypt Station", were pretty weak. But I don't need to point out that Brian hasn't done much studio work past "No Pier Pressure." The "Long Promised Road" soundtrack is cool, but that's mostly old stuff. "At My Piano" is nice (McCartney had a slightly similar moment with his material on his "Working Classical" album in 1998).

There's obviously no need to pick one over the other, and I'm not sure how "A Friend Like You" would ever remind anybody that Brian's material is better than anybody else's, especially McCartney.

Total agreement.  To even compare Brian's solo work to Paul's is pretty much an "apples and oranges" argument.  Paul's been doing the solo thing since 1970, has had many commercial and critical successes, and quite a few epic tours in stadiums. 

Brian on the other hand didn't even get his solo career going until the late 80's (although that doesn't necessarily mean anything in the scheme of things) and he has had nowhere near the successes Paul has had.  And no, that is not in any way a "knock" on Brian.  With perhaps the exception of the SMiLE remake, Brian's solo career has simply been far more lowkey than Paul's.  Although I enjoy most of his solo albums and think his return to touring (at least in the beginning anyway) was a personal triumph for him.

As for "A Friend Like You", this new remix is certainly interesting and it's nice to hear Paul's contributions a little more prominently.  But the song was never very good in the first place. 

Just saw this: https://1027wkbh.com/2022/08/01/brian-wilson-scraps-all-upcoming-dates/

'Brian Wilson has scrapped all of his remaining summer and fall dates. Although no official reason was given, a statement cancelling his September 22nd show at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium read: “Due to unforeseen health reasons Brian Wilson will not be performing at the Ryman on September 22.⁠​ BRIAN IS BUMMED TO MISS THIS SHOW BUT LOOKS FORWARD TO SEEING HIS FANS ON THE ROAD AGAIN.”' [my caps]

Please don't crucify me for saying this folks but based on his overall health status and well-being during this tour, his cancelling these remaining shows is probably for the best.  If whatever health issues he's dealing with are treatable and manageable enough (for an 80-year-old Brian Wilson anyway) for him to comfortably get back on the road and be more engaged, then more power to him.  But his current status during those shows was inevitably a big concern for many concertgoers even when you factor in his lifelong mental health issues.   I just want the guy to spend his remaining years comfortably doing what he wants to do.  But his health should come first.  

Paul McCartney & Idris Elba - Long Tailed Winter Bird

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=_qlFIsyTaDo&feature=share

This one was a bonus track off of McCartney's recent McCartney III Reimagined compilation.  It appeared on the Target exclusive vinyl and they eventually released it digitally as a single.  I didn't even know Elba dabbled in music but this reggae-tinged reworking of the song is quite catchy.

I wonder when they filmed this interview with Brian.  It certainly couldn't have been in the last few years at least.

https://youtu.be/vLBEaR1BGro

Link is dead.

Everyone fell in love with the Eddie character but I found him to be almost instantly irritating when he was introduced.  He eventually grew on me but I never saw the appeal.  

But Stranger Things is a fun, engaging show.  Season 1 is damn near perfectly executed, seasons 2 and 3 aren't bad but you will have to power through some of it, and season 4 has been an excellent return to form.  

Here's hoping in season 5 that they use something off of Summer In Paradise.   After the kids save they day they celebrate on the beach and the show closes with "Summer Of Love" ending with Mike's tag, "It's a looooove thing"...🤣

So is the soundtrack ever having a physical release? I thought it was supposed to come out a couple of weeks ago, but Google shows no signs of its existence.

Amazon has an entry for it but it is currently "unavailable".  🤷‍♂️

Brian Wilson: Long Promised Road Soundtrack https://a.co/d/8x95LtM

Must have only entertained a limited release. 

No doubt, I think it's great Kate's music is getting such a boost from the show - well deserved! In 1986-87 I was most familiar with Kate's voice from her work with Peter Gabriel, "Don't Give Up" and "Games Without Frontiers". A friend at the time was a major Gabriel fan and dubbed his music from several albums onto cassette for me, and I loved those two tracks. And I listen regularly to WXPN, who was playing that specific track getting all the attention on a semi-regular basis before the show.

I just think it was a pretty major missed opportunity fro the BB's not to do some tie-ins or cross-promotions especially with new product coming out and a record store day thing happening today, it would have been cool to see even some of the attention Kate's music received or at least give the band even more of a marketing boost since their song was so prominent.

And was it just me or did McGuinn's 12-string Rickenbacker sound even better when it was on the show than I remember?

It was a pleasant surprise for the season to open with a Beach Boys song.  Unfortunately I don't think it resonated with the fans anywhere near as well as the Kate Bush song which had a far stronger emotional impact on any of the scenes it was featured in. 

Maybe when season 5 rolls out they'll find a way to incorporate "Kokomo" into the mix to have the same impact.  🤣

Several things can be true at the same time: you can be critical of how the audio mixes have been handled on recent Beach Boys projects without simultaneously dragging Howie and his team over the coals about it.  But part of the silliness of all this is we have two Beach Boys forums at odds with each other which most likely perpetuates a lot of this dysfunction. 

Pardon me for butting in again, but part of the "silliness" was the legitimate need to expel folks who then created their own forum, which perpetuates and reinforces the dysfunction. It should be instructive to us that they began all that on their own, and observations here (coupled with an escalating sense of disbelief...) followed. Check the timeline, and this will be confirmed. Many of us have discussed in various tonalities--from sympathy to black humor to derision to outright contempt--the excesses that occur there, despite many intelligent and highly knowledgeable posters: this most recent manifestation is really just more of the same, but at such a level of extremity that even their Dear Leader has come to see the incident as being tragically catastrophic. All of us reap what we sow...

I'll admit that I have never been that heavily invested in this squabble so I will have to take your word for it.  And of course there have been posters who have been out of line before.  However I think there is a lot to unpack here.  All I can say is that I've been posting regularly to both forums and have had no major issue with either one.  And there have been plenty of ridiculous comments (as well as good comments) coming from both forums on a variety of topics.  It wouldn't surprise me if folks are taking things a bit too personally as usual. 

The key going forward for those who advocate for the band as being right at the top of the list for most seminai, influential, historically significant entities in the history of popular music is to be thrilled that a record company would invest in another 80-track compilation and follow up with a(nother) legacy box focused on a period where the band had no hits. Billy's right: we've won the war--but some people just like fighting so much that they can't bring themselves to stop.

I think you can be happy to see that the band is still getting attention and still having products released all this time later, but that doesn't mean that any of us are required to automatically be satisfied with the products coming out.  People are allowed to offer criticisms (preferably constructively) if they are unhappy with the product (such as noting the awkwardness in audio of some of the new mixes).  That doesn't definitively mean they are ungrateful.  I agree that people are going a little overboard with some of the criticisms with the sound quality but it isn't completely an illegitimate complaint.  However I will completely agree that harrassing Howie and the team no matter how you feel about these products is completely wrong-headed and ridiculous.

 And I wouldn't mind having a recording of Carl singing "The Warmth of the Sun" (didn't Billy Hinsche also handle lead on this song?). 

AFAIK it was always either Carl or Matt (in later years of course). Never heard of Billy singing the lead.

I know Billy sang I’m Waiting for the Day live. Maybe that’s what Awesoman is thinking of, unless I’ve forgotten something else.

Yeah that's correct.  It was that song he performed.  Thanks for clarifying.

[Endless Harmony]

Actually this is a great look into the philosophy of each forum. Petsite posted the same thing on the EH forum, and the response from leadership is quite different there than here. Billy agreed with the initial post and explained his perspective. DrBeachBoy on the other hand states there are no "Kum-bay-a moments" on these forums. literally painting himself as a Wyatt Earp character protecting the streets. Only given the recent dust-up with Howie Edelson, he is not as he says "trying to keep the peace" but he is a huge part of the reason why Howie Edelson walked out of Tombstone under a barrage of insults from a vast swath of members there.

It is stupid board drama, but it is rooted in the fact that a lot of posters were booted off of here for breaking forum rules - then they all congregated on the PS forum and then the EH forum. So when those people who broke rules continue to lie about people here, when they continue to insult people, of course we are going to set the record straight. When a Beach Boys insider gets run out of Dodge, I think it's fair to comment on the reasons it happened.

The silly thing is that I was really hoping that this set would bring a lot of people together - it is an amazing set with some really good mixes. But instead it just further divided people. Like Howie says, we don't all need to think the same exact way and have the same taste (what a boring world that would be). But there is such a thing as having tact/respect when talking to (and about) the people who have made it their life mission to make sure The Beach Boys keep releasing tracks.

Yep. The messed up part is, for many years many of us wanted desperately for The Beach Boys to be looked at how they actually were… an innovative band that ranks up there with the very best bands  in history , and were not a “guilty pleasure” that were only relevant for a few years. Guess what…we won.  Sadly, now many long term fans are saying “no they were never as good “ and that’s it’s foolish to “pretend” that they were ever “cool”.  That’s why I said what I said the other day about how “everyone loves The Beach Boys…except their own fans”.
 
Now why that is, that’s the million dollar question. My own personal belief is that it took too long for some people. It’s a fact of life that as people get older, many of them resent the younger generations for no other reason than it’s not them. I got called ageist the other day for saying that (not here) but it’s true. There’s a certain sense of entitlement that comes with getting older. (And I do get it, I mean I’m not exactly in my 20s. I’m way closer to the grave vs the cradle. So yeah I include myself too; I just possess enough self awareness to fight that off and try like hell to become what I don’t like. ) So they see the band getting popular with 20 somethings and under , and resent the fact that’s the target audience now. Well, the 18-34 demographic is focused on by *everyone* in the entertainment industry for a damn good reason . If Iconic were to ignore that, well…yeah. That would be absolutely terrible in a business sense. But yeah, that’s where a lot of the current resentment comes, and it’s rather sad and pathetic.  It’s this “ me me me” attitude, and “f*ck  everyone else” that I quite frankly despise. I read that some people don’t want there to be any future sets now. I mean, they could just not buy it. But nope, NOBODY should be allowed to have it, cause they don’t like it. I just will never understand that attitude

In all honesty, I think there is just an obsessiveness amongst the fandom that can be both a blessing and a detriment towards the  overall popularity of the group.  The band's image has had its ups and downs throughout their career and to the general public there is a perception that they were just another oldies act that came and went. 

Because of this there has always been fans fretting about the group's identity in pop culture.  I admit I used to be like this early on when I was getting into the group way back in the 90's.  But I've longed stop worrying about such trivialities.  Because the good has always outweighed the bad.  Because even back in the 90's there was plenty of praise showering the band and cementing their iconic status in music from the Don Was documentary on Brian to the band's Endless Harmony special.  It seems ever since Carl's passing there has been something of a renaissance over the band's music.  Most of their albums are now back in print.  There have been several high profile tribute concerts for Brian Wilson alone.  You have superstars like Johnny Depp covering Dennis Wilson material along with Jeff Beck.  You have a bunch of well known artists including Bob Dylan wishing Brian a happy 80th birthday.  They had a remarkable 50th anniversary with a well-received reunion album and tour.  And entering their 60th anniversary we're still getting blessed with expansive projects such as last year's Feel Flows box set to this year's Sounds of Summer release as well as the inevitable box set they have planned for the fall (or maybe next year). 

As I've stated before in previous posts in recent years we don't need to obsess endlessly over the group's image because as Billy said that battle has long since been won.