<<It's a comp featuring Beach Boys Medley, Getcha Back, Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue, California Dreamin', and a few of the oldies. <<

In an early 1986 interview, Mike said the Sunkist LP would be a collection of "...our favorite live tracks," so I was looking forward to a new live album featuring current highlights like the Surfin' Safari/Surf City/Surfin USA medley, California Girls, Runaway, maybe the opening medley that included I Can Hear Music, Dance Dance Dance, etc.  I was living in Carbondale, Illinois.  On the release day I called the Sunkist office at the DuQuoin Fairgrounds and they said I could drive up and purchase.  Naturally, I was a tad bit disappointed that I'd essentially driven a 40 mile round trip for one song, lol...

<<One of their greatest hits albums would have become big on the charts again as the mood of the country shifted in the 1970's and the younger generation embraced the music of the group.>>

Having become a fan during that time, I would disagree.  That new generation of teenagers (which I was a part of), had to be reminded who the Beach Boys were.  They weren't on our radar.  In 1974 we knew who the Beatles were but frequently got mixed up between the Bee Gees and the Beach Boys.  A couple of "B" groups.  I remember in 1973 being schooled in Sunday School class that the Bee Gees were cool.  The Beach Boys were not.  There were budget line albums available but nothing really on our radar.  I remember Beach Baby on the radio and thinking that must be The Beach Boys.  The genius of Endless Summer is that it wasn't packaged as a Greatest Hits collection.  It was simply packaged as a new Beach Boys album.  Carefully, yet seemingly randomly programmed, unlike the 1976 Brit collection 20 Golden Greats, which was chronological.  It wasn't marketed to original Beach Boys fans... the ones who bought Holland.  It was marketed to a new batch of teens - a new audience.  In the late 1970s I had a conversation with Dean Torrence about this.  He thought it was brilliant marketing, selling the  Beach Boys as something new.  He said it was precisely why his own 1972 Jan & Dean Anthology Album didn't sell as well.  It was automatically marked as "old."  Dean tried the Endless Summer approach with his own Gotta Take That One Last Ride set.  J&D classics sold simply as fun in the sun music, not greatest hits.  However, he was stuck on the UA label and they only spent about a thousand bucks... nothing near Capitol's massive ad campaign for Endless Summer.  People forget that Endless Summer was a phenomenon.  It was on the top 100 charts for years.  When I went to college as a freshman in 1977 the two albums everybody owned were Endless Summer and Dark Side of the Moon.

No.  Runaway was recorded in 1982 after Carl returned and was pushed as a 1982 single release for CBS.  But CBS apparently balked at releasing another cover and Runaway did not appear on vinyl until the 1986 Sunkist promotional LP.

<<Even has a distinct drum sound. >>

I like it, too.  Unpretentious and fun.  And that distinct drum sound is Ringo Starr.

 Jan & Dean's comedy bits were an integral part of their act between 1959 and 1966...  THE T.A.M.I. SHOW, Dean's liner notes to Golden Hits Vol. 2, all the liner notes to the Jan & Dean Anthology album, both TV pilots, Schlock Rod... Bucket T... Little Old Lady from Pasadena... Anaheim, Azuza... Horace the Swingin' School Bus Driver... Submarine Races... One Piece Topless Bathing Suit... Hang On Sloopy... Folk City... all of JAN & DEAN MEET BATMAN (both versions), all of FILET OF SOUL... and all of their concert appearances, all of their radio promos and, especially, DEAD MAN'S CURVE, which showed just how dark they were willing to go.  Dean calls it their "FARGO." They were billed as the Laurel & Hardy of rock & roll and their public personas were very much like Stan and Ollie.  Jan was "Ollie" and Dean was Stanley, the "dumb one."  And like Stan Laurel, Dean was actually the brains behind their comedy presentation.  Jan was equally adept at brilliant musical satires so subversive that they actually became hit records.  It's still astounding that he crafted such a deft send-up of drag racing songs like Little Old Lady From Pasadena and it became a number 3 hit with record buyers (including a hell of a lot of gear heads).

I suspect neither one of them would ever claim to have created something as brilliant as PET SOUNDS.  That wasn't the game to these guys.   You want a laugh, check out the way they gleefully savage their own work on FILET OF SOUL - and poke fun not only at Beatlemania but their own willingness to exploit it for fun and profit.

In the Radio Shack ad, the line about Dean is a throwback to his stage persona. 

Look at their work through the prism of their humor and you see what they were all about.  Farm team isn't really the best analogy.  If you think of The Beach Boys as the champion riders at the rodeo, Jan & Dean were the rodeo clowns.  They got plenty of laughs - and they were damned skilled at wrangling angry bulls when the stakes were high.

<<Tand then later when they had guys like Cowsill, Farmer, Griffin, etc., those were solid musicians. Many of the same guys who to this day play with Mike, or Al, or the various “Surf City All Star” lineups with varying combos of Al, Dean, and David Marks. But those were not bands that could have pulled off “Pet Sounds” or “Smile” in full.>>

Gary Griffin has been pulling off Pet Sounds in full for the last few years in Brian's band.  And John Cowsill's drumming was a highlight of the 2012 C50 reunion tour.

"Now, what *would* be interesting to know is what kind of setlist J&D did when they toured  for the BBs in the 70s/80s/90s. I would imagine they had to drop most BB songs that overlapped with the actual BB setlist, separate from songs they performed together of course.  "

They only toured once with the Beach Boys... in August-September 1978.  For the Lakeland, FL show, they did Surf City, Dead Man's Curve, Little Old Lady and Barbara Ann during the encore.  For any individual shows where they shared billing with the Beach Boys in the 80s or 90s I doubt they changed the set list for any reason.  Tour set lists remained essentially the same for decades; any deviance from the regular order would throw Jan off.
The set list for the 1982 LP ONE SUMMER NIGHT LIVE, which was recorded in the fall of 1981, is pretty typical for the 80s... and a wildly entertaining show, when compared to the 1981 Beach Boys.

CRACK THAT WHIP
NEW GIRL IN SCHOOL
JENNY LEE
BABY TALK
LINDA
DRAG CITY/
LITTLE DEUCE COUPE/SHUT DOWN
HIDE YOUR LOVE AWAY
BACK IN THE USSR
SURFIN USA
HONOLULU LULU
DO YOU WANNA DANCE/DANCE DANCE DANCE
RIDE THE WILD SURF
SIDEWALK SURFIN'
HELP ME RHONDA
CALIFORNIA GIRLS
LITTLE OLD LADY FROM PASADENA
DEAD MAN'S CURVE
GOOD VIBRATIONS
I GET AROUND
FUN FUN FUN
SURF CITY
BARBARA ANN

Creating great art was not Dean's intent at that stage.  He knew that was impossible given Jan's condition.  By 1981, audiences were largely made up of new fans - people who had seen the TV movie.  That audience identified it all as California music... Beach Boys... Jan & Dean... whoever.  They didn't differentiate.  The whole point of the exercise was to get bookings.  Lots of bookings.  And provide a good, solid, surf and drag oldies show for 60 or 90 minutes, whatever the promoter wanted to buy.  And to keep the price down; you could book Jan & Dean for less than the Beach Boys cost you.  In 1978, when Dean was contemplating going back on the road with Jan and Papa Doo Run Run, he told me the idea was to mix it up... do the Jan & Dean hits that everyone knew and expected... and to do a certain amount of Beach Boys covers, because it would give the audience the California music they expected, and would give Jan a chance to lay back and sing bg vocals between his leads on J&D songs that he struggled with every day.  It was a winning formula and it worked for them for 25 years.

The assertion that the phase II Jan & Dean Shows of the late 70s to early 2000s were an "unauthorized Beach Boys show" is ridiculous.  Both Jan & Dean and the Beach Boys covered each others songs in the 60s and have continued that exchange over the last 5 decades.  In terms of the Jan & Dean post accident set lists, Jan sang most of the leads.  And the more he struggled, certain songs were dropped. Jennie Lee was an early casualty.  Ditto Ride the Wild Surf, which by the late 80s became an instrumental band intro.   Doing Beach Boys covers was a no brainer, to fill the time.  The audiences ate it up and the band loved performing them.

As for being a "farm team," Dean himself referred to the duo as that very thing... but they were playing huge venues in the 80s and 90s... Three River Stadium... the Daytona Beach Band Shell shows, some of them on the same bill with the Beach Boys.  It's all documented in Bob Greene's wonderful book WHEN WE GET TO SURF CITY.  They also managed to be the first western rock group to play Red China, which is an amazing and bizarre tale of its own.

Quality of the show?  I saw Jan & Dean in the summer of 1981, in DuQuoin, Illinois.  I saw The Beach Boys a couple of months later, in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Anyone who saw any of those shows that year knows who put on the better concert, lol...

I'd love to hear Best Summers of Our Lives again, for nostalgia's sake.   Lots of enthusiastic interviews from the five principals, etc..  It was a fun old school ride through their first fifteen years.  I remember in the last part, after going into detail about 15 Big Ones they talked about what songs they still had in the can and what might be present in the next album.

I recorded the radio broadcast when it aired on TV.  I have a vague memory of the pre-Show radio special.  I think Dick Clark and Wolfman Jack were the hosts and they played a mix of the as yet unheard track Brian's Back.  My memory may be failing but I think the bulk of the program was an edited version of 1976 syndicated Radio special - The Best Summers of our Lives.

As I recall, from this period, some other interesting things were in the mix.

BROTHERS, COUSINS & FRIENDS, from what I recall, was Bruce's proposed title for KTSA.  I remember hearing rumors in 1982-83 a proposal was on the table to use that title for a new album to be produced by guest producers, all big names.  One of them was Lindsey Buckingham, who was interested only if he got to produce the entire album.  Eventually the concept evolved into the Steve Levine album.

A live version of "Runaway" was prepared as a follow-up single to "Come Go With Me," but was vetoed by CBS.  It later surfaced on the 1986 promotional Sunkist album.  This is, of course, old news, but I do remember Al announcing it as their new single at all the 1982 shows I attended.

According to one early 80s interview - I remember Bruce saying he was trying to persuade Carl to have the band record a cover version of "Rock & Roll Lullaby."

In early 80s interview, Al spoke about a cover version of the Del-Vikings' "Whispering Bells" which I assume evolved into "Island Girl."

Capitol Center, Landover, MD, week of June 24, 1975...

Tarantino's crew is rebuilding Spahn ranch on the old Corriganville Movie Ranch site in Simi Valley, which is actually about 4 miles from the actual Spahn site:

http://iversonmovieranch.blogspot.com/

I enjoyed reading this; I attended at least five of these shows between 1977 and 1985... some very, very good (Edwardsville, IL, 8/21/77) and some very, very bad (Merriville, IN 8/17/81)

<<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.

<<One of the best Brian "give-aways" of the era? "I Do", which conveniently has a true "Beach Boys" version that's superior in every way.>>

While I enjoy the Beach Boys version (I used it in my wedding right after we were pronounced), I actually prefer the Castell's single.  Great production on that.

From Wikipedia re: the new album:

Pacific Daydream (2017–present)

Soon after the release of the White Album, Cuomo discussed plans for Weezer's next album, provisionally titled the Black Album: "It’s going to maybe be like Beach Boys gone bad [...] I’m thinking of swearing, which is something I’ve never done in songs.” Cuomo also said the album would tackle “more mature topics” and be “less summer day and more winter night”. He suggested the band could return to the recording studio as soon as October 2016.[73] Weezer delayed recording after Cuomo felt his new material was more "like reveries from a beach at the end of the world [... as if] the Beach Boys and the Clash fell in love by the ocean and had one hell of an amazing baby".[74]

Side note to GM re: Proof-Reading...

In your subject line, Torrence should be spelled with an "e", not an "a."

Stephen wrote an excellent two volume history of Jan & Dean (covering the years 1958-1968) that is an excellent companion piece to Mark Moore's brilliant new book.

I'll make the same statement I made in 1992.  ANY new Beach Boys album is better than nothing at all.  It's still that bend and those voices.

Wonderful film... this generation's BULLET... this is a film that will be talked about for years to come.

The use of Let's Go Away was both perfect and smart... they could not have picked a better placement location - using the song to start off an important story arc.

Just because we now can, sticking with the stereo mixes, I did an assembly of the alleged 1st track line-up for Wild Honey.  It makes for a very interesting listen, sometimes very rich. I was pleasantly surprised.  I stuck Can't Wait too long on as a bonus track at the end.

SIDE ONE:
Wild Honey
Here Comes the Night
Let the Wind Blow
I was Made to Love Her
The Letter (alt stereo mix)
Darlin'

SIDE TWO:
A Thing or Two
Aren't You Glad
Cool Cool Water
Game of Love
Lonely Days
Honey Get Home
Can't Wait Too Long

<Friends remixed:>

Do we really need a remixed Friends?  It was produced in stereo and, in my view, is a beautifully mixed album...the beginning of the lush stereo sound continued through 20/20, Sunflower and Surf's Up.

I covered the Louisville, Kentucky State Fairgrounds show (August 10, 1980) for my college radio station WIDB (Carbondale, IL).  We were giving Peter's first Tremblers album heavy airplay at the time, because it was an excellent album.  The Tremblers opened for the Beach Boys that show.  We met with Peter in a talent holding area below the stage, in the afternoon before the show.  He was one of the most upbeat and nicest people I'd ever met in the business.  He was excited to talk about his album and we were excited to talk to him.  After the interview, he was fascinated with some albums we brought for signing.  He was particularly thrilled with an original pressing of PET SOUNDS.  He took it carefully, holding it like rare treasure, and pointed out his favorite songs and the photos on the back.  He wanted to keep the album.  He then insisted on introducing us to "the guys."

At the hotel, he took us into the dining room, over to a table where Carl Wilson and Bruce Johnston sat, and introduced us.  They were both very gracious and signed our albums, though Bruce took great pains to point out to me that my copy of the Rip Chords "Hey Little Cobra" album was a reprint and not an original issue.

The show itself was excellent.  Surprisingly, or maybe unsurprisingly, Noone did not do any Herman's Hermits songs, though he did explain the meaning of the band name ("Tremblers is what happens when you make love standing up.")

The Beach Boys show was excellent, complete with Dennis, on stage with You Are So Beautiful during the encore.

When I look back, it's hard to believe Peter was only 33 years old when he did that show.  He was a contemporary of the Beach Boys, from the 60s, yet enthusiastically trying to reboot his career in a brave, edgy and artistic manner. He was also an unabashed fan of the Beach Boys... hanging with him was just like hanging out with any other starry-eyed fan.  He was thrilled beyond measure to be on tour with them.

To Mr. Desper -

Did you record the Lei'd In Hawaii shows in August of 1967?