Excellent post, HeyJude. 100% agree with regard to Al's apparent change in attitude around the turn of the century. And yes, since then, he certainly appears to be the Beach Boy who has aged the most gracefully in that respect, with the possible exception of David Marks (although admittedly I don't know enough about Blondie and Ricky to say this for sure). Same goes for his voice.

Either way, regardless of his situation in the band at different stages over the years, I think the overall lack of major drama involving Al personally (at least compared to his bandmates) says a lot about his character.

Sideburns were apparently persona non-grata in 1990.

 

Thanks Ian, will have a look at those  

HeyJude, yes, very curious case with regard to Al a couple of years before Summer in Paradise. I wonder if the issue arose during the Problem Child session. If so, I suppose it would make sense for the band to then keep it quiet during the lead up to the album (hence only being referenced in one book).

Hey guys, hope you are all well.

The details of the airport tarmac incident in New York in 1977 seem to be pretty well known. However, I have found it more difficult to find significant information on the meeting that occurred a couple of weeks after at Brian's house, which apparently brought the group to some kind of an agreement.

I've had a look around the forums and as far as I can tell I don't think this meeting has been covered in a lot of detail (although I see there have been some pretty large threads in the past and it might be buried in one of those -- if it has already been discussed in detail, apologies in advance!)

Wikipedia:

The band broke up for two and a half weeks, until a meeting on September 17 at Brian's house. In light of a potential new Caribou Records contract the parties negotiated a settlement resulting in Love gaining control of Brian's vote in the group, allowing Love and Jardine to outvote Carl and Dennis Wilson on any matter.

Unfortunately I do not have access to the source given for this excerpt ("The Beach Boys: The Definitive Diary of America's Greatest Band, on Stage and in the Studio" by Keith Badman). So, does anyone know the details of this supposed agreement?

Regardless of the scenario it seems rather f*cked up to me; not only did Brian end up with essentially no voice in the band, but another band member was given twice the power of all other members. For a band already split into camps (Wilsons vs. Love/Jardine) this kind of arrangement seems like it was an awful idea.

Did Brian willingly cede his vote or was it taken from him? Why did the vote even go to another band member in the first place? Was this some kind of deal-breaker for the Caribou Records contract?

Any information would be very much appreciated 

Thanks c-man, great to know 

Hey guys,

I just came across this photo of what appears to be an LP of Wild Honey with a variation of the Smiley Smile album artwork:

https://imgur.com/a/rbPJJDq (apologies, insert image was not working)

Initially I assumed it was a fan-made alternate version, although due to its quality I figured it could actually have been an limited edition in, say, the Netherlands or another country with a strong Beach Boys fanbase.

Has anyone seen this before? Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Signed Sincerely

1977/78 ?

This was my first thought when I read the thread title! Imagine if they'd fully retired right after Love You... I wonder how it would have affected the band's legacy.

Anyway, as others have said, it seems like it's going to happen some point in the next five years (give or take) regardless of circumstances. In fact, they might already be done in terms of tour dates outside North America.

[LDC.]

I love "Spirit Of America". That and the magnificent "Cherry, Cherry Coupe" are my favourites on LDC.

JK, thanks a lot for the reminder about that song! I don't think I've heard it in about eight years. Nice hidden gem.

Jack's lead is fitting to song about passing tree - brutally ugly yet gives you perfect mental pic

Thanks RangeRover, those are exactly my thoughts on Rieley's vocal - I figured that's the kind of thing he and Brian were going for. I don't really care for his narration on Mt Vernon and Fairway, but for me Rieley gets it just right on A Day in the Life of a Tree.

I imagine Brian's voice by around 1976-77 would be great on that song as well, but of course it hadn't changed that much by the time of the Surf's Up album.

Great thread!

The Beach Boys Love You would be a serious contender for their best album if not for Love is a Woman. Swap it with their amazing cover of You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' and we're good 

I've had a look though a few pages in this thread and I love it. I couldn't agree more with some posts. I couldn't disagree more with others. But now I can't not post my own, so apologies for reviving an old thread. Here goes (don't shoot me!):

*Let's Put Our Hearts Together is the best song by the Beach Boys.

*SMiLE is still the best thing Brian ever did, but Brian Wilson Presents Smile is better than the real thing.

*Pet Sounds consists of five great songs, four good songs and four average songs.

*Smiley Smile and Wild Honey are by far their best albums (not counting SMiLE). Give me one of those over Sgt Pepper any day.

*Jack Rieley's vocal on A Day in the Life of a Tree is absolutely magnificent and maybe the best thing on that album.

*Mike certainly deserves around 90-95% of the sh*t he gets.

*Having said that, it is Carl who deserves most of the blame for the band's '80s and '90s output.

*Controversial since we don't have all the details, but I suspect Dennis wasn't cared for well enough by the rest of the band during his battles with drug addiction.

*In terms of Beach Boys contributions, what Blondie did in a couple of years exceeds what Bruce did in 50 years.

*Spirit of America is easily their best car song and should have been a big hit. California Feelin' is pretty awful and the music video makes it worse.

Anyone know what the chances are of Brian coming back to Europe? It looks like only North America dates at this point

Here are 10 off the top of my head (some minor and some major, but all standouts for me):

*All the spoken word tracks on the albums from 1962-1965
*The title of their fifth album, which absolutely should have been called Fun, Fun, Fun instead
*Not immediately building on the momentum of Good Vibrations (arguably the biggest one)
*The fact that Never Learn Not to Love actually made it onto an album
*The sale of Sea of Tunes (another big one)
*Given the amount of quality unreleased material they had by 1970, using Student Demonstration Time on an album
*The loss of both Blondie Chaplin and Ricky Fataar around the same time as the release of Endless Summer (another big one)
*The "Brian's Back!" campaign and the half-and-half concept of 15 Big Ones
*The direction Mike took the band from 1979 to 2011 (arguably the biggest one)
*Al, Bruce, and even Carl allowing themselves to become Mike's Messengers

BONUS: Brian not quitting the Beach Boys in 1966 and doing Good Vibrations and Smile as solo works

Regardless, I don't see the non-release of Smile itself as a mistake because it was more or less a foregone conclusion given the circumstances at the time. What happened instead, i.e. having the releases of Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, and Friends all somehow happen in the space of 10 months, was anything but a mistake. In retrospect, the fact that they managed to get back on track that quickly with three of their best albums is seriously impressive.

1. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
2. Surf's Up (Smile version)
3. I'd Love Just Once to See You
4. Heroes and Villains (Smiley Smile version)
5. Busy Doin' Nothin'
6. The Trader
7. Forever
8. Wild Honey
9. Wonderful (Smiley Smile version)
10. God Only Knows

Welcome, SS.  

Nice to see some slice-of-life stuff in there. I've only seen Brian and band once (in 2008) but then they performed "ILJOTSY". I never thought I'd ever find myself bellowing "IN THE NUDE!!!" together with a bunch of complete strangers.

Thanks JK, glad to be here!

It was incredibly difficult to pick only 10 (I had a shortlist of around 40) but Brian's slice-of-life tracks from that period are so inspired.

Ha, I genuinely envy that experience! I saw him on the Pet Sounds tour in 2016, in Edinburgh and in Reykjavik. Edinburgh had a more varied setlist with the likes of "Wake the World" and "Funky Pretty" but Brian was definitely having more fun in Reykjavik. I feel lucky just to have been there!

1. Let's Put Our Hearts Together
2. Surf's Up (Smile version)
3. I'd Love Just Once to See You
4. Heroes and Villains (Smiley Smile version)
5. Busy Doin' Nothin'
6. The Trader
7. Forever
8. Wild Honey
9. Wonderful (Smiley Smile version)
10. God Only Knows

1. Smile
2. Wild Honey
3. Smiley Smile
4. The Beach Boys Love You
5. Pet Sounds
6. Friends
7. Holland
8. Surf's Up
9. Sunflower
10. Summer Days (and Summer Nights!!)