Very exciting!

For me, the earliest cases of Brian's vocal decline start in the early 70's, particularly with the demo of Awake. Yes, it's a demo/guide vocal, but notes that would've once sounded painless now sound very strained.

With that said, I'm of the opinion that Brian's voice never has declined as much as 15BO or even recent Pet Sounds tours indicate. Despite the effects of cigarettes and cocaine, I think Brian has always been able to re-channel his iconic falsetto when he wants to. This Beautiful Day comes to mind as a recent example.

Check out Brian singing a few moments of Surfer Girl in this interview at 2:00. He sounds identical. It's pretty astounding.

I think he has just evolved over the years in the way he likes to use his voice as instrument. In the 60's it was that pure falsetto, in the 70's it was that gruff "Randy Newman" voice, in the 80's and 90's it was the "shouty" voice, and in the last few years he's positioned himself as a talk-singing crooner. It would probably get boring to sing in the exact same way for 60+ years, so in my mind, a lot of the different stylings reflect experimentation, rather than decline.

I've always thought side 2 of Today! has a lot of elements of psychedelia, almost a stoned doo wop feel. All the tempos are slow, the instruments all blend together, very introspective lyrics.

The spoken word break during Amusement Parks USA is psychedelic as hell.

In my opinion, every album in between Today! and Love You features psychedelic moments. Whether it's the prominent genre like with Pet Sounds, or one of many genres (Sunflower, Surf's Up, etc)

This was excellent! Mike sounded great, especially on those low notes. This has great energy.

I like how Billy doubles Mike, but Mike's voice still stands out as lead, similar to the way Brian would shadow Jan Berry on Surf City, Ride The Wild Surf, etc...

Does anyone rememeber / have access to the interview from a year to a few years ago, where it was essentially a group interview, with Mike & Bruce and Brian (& Al maybe?) interviewed separately ...

It was fascinating. Mike asked at point blank if he loved Brian, about the state of the group, and more. Bruce's facial and verbal responses to Mike being asked these questions reveal the weight of the questions. They weren't expecting such direct upfront questions.

The feature showed pro-shot clips of the current band playing with an orchestra too if my memory serves me correctly.

adamghost, I feel the same way about HCTN. It's an incredible record. Carl and the boys' vocals are outta sight. Such a tight production.

WOWWW those samples get me excited!

Thanks for the update Howie! Brought us a lotta joy to see that

Mannnn---- I'd kill to get a package (of at least this quality and better) of BW live over the last 20 years. Same for M&B too!! The evolution of the various members in each group, the different songs of each era, give VonMertens/Totten/Sahanaja/Farmer/ etc... their due.

My dream is that they'd be a paired package, (hell through Al and Davids tours too)  with more C50 stuff, but that'll never happen.

But say a package like each came out... I'd be just as excited to hear a CD with BW band playing stuff from Be My Baby to Night Was So Young , as a CD with M&B band playing Sherry to All This Is That. (Im that much of a fan, proud to admit it )

Show off the great vocals of Darian, Cowsill, Ike, Baker (on a good night) etc. Great guitar work of Bardowell, Foskett,  Totten, NICKY WONDER, ... Great Fender Bass from Lizik, Kirsch, Farmer, Hubacher.... the keys from Darian, Gary G, Timmy B, Bruce(!!!!! ) , and what great drummers Mikey and Johnny C are!

The bands had gotten so great over the last 20 years, ups and downs yes, but what a treat its been that the music has continued in the live capacity for all these years. 

I absolutely love When Girls Get Together. Both the version from the 70's sessions and KTSA sessions have their merits.

BW, Bruce, Desper did a magnificent job with the production/arrangement. The way the vocals and instruments blend are so cool. i like the mandolins, electric keys, and percussion. Such a catchy melody. Im in the minority that digs the lyrics, just cause I find them silly.

I think Carl is a guitar legend, hands down. Those leads are so iconic. Surfin USA, Fun Fun Fun, I Get Around, Surfin Safari, Barbara Ann, Shut Down, etc all have great surf guitar work from Carl.

Al is impressive in that he can play such a variety of string instruments. Electric/Acoustic Guitar, Fender Bass, String Bass, Banjo, Uke, etc... In my opinion Al is a very good guitarist too. His recent Postcards storytelling tour, as well as general solo touring before C50, showed that he can play all those leads just like Carl, and with more accuracy to the original parts than David, who's great but doesn't "stick to the script" that much. Al plays those solos note for note like the recordings. Just different takes on what the solo should be.

I think in a context of rock and roll, where it's more about feel and less about technique, Brian and Bruce are criminally underrated bassists. There are some tricky lines that each guy pulled off onstage and in the studio respectively.

I love Dennis' drumming. He had incredible energy. The Rock And Roll Music 45, In The Still of The Night, Knebworth album , and first live album show off Dennis' great powerful drumming.

Bruce is an insanely good pianist. Classically trained type of thing. He's almost as good a pianist as he is a hand-clappeer/mic adjuster

SaltyMarshmallow, on second thought, i definitely agree that TWGMTR and NPP are manual. Every note being touched, yes. But manual. Pitch Correction as opposed to autotune.

UTL definitely has the digital artifacts of autotune, the fluttering and pitch jumps.

By the late 70's, when Brian was playing bass for the majority of the show, it shows his bass playing technique never dwindled in those years off the road. He killed "Wouldn't It Be Nice" and "Heroes and Villians" in that 1978 Melbourne concert film.

Good point that subtle , manual, (and various forms of) pitch correction has been used on BBs related recordings for years... BW88, Imagination, Postcard, Gershwin, TLOS, Disney, 12 Sides, BWPS, etc .... all use  manual pitch correction, only for bum notes--- used sparingly, and undetectable to the average ear, unless you really, really listen.

Annnnnd then we get to TWGMTR, NPP, Live C50 CD, and UTL with uber, turned up to 11 'live' autotune, where every note is being processed. You can hear it from a mile away. That "TPain" effect. Personally, the autotune doesn't really impact my enjoyment of the music--- I love all those albums I just listed.

I think these clips prove that the recent Drive In show was a fluke...

Sloop/WIBN: https://youtu.be/OyVRuQQ9OxI

Bruce KILLS the lead. Sounds strong, considering his age.

California Sun: https://youtu.be/7PqP9hUGpNk

Mike sounds like Mike f*ckin Love!!! Not the warbly mess from the drive in show. A little shaky? Yeah, but still sounds fabulous.


Interesting, and to me very pleasing, to see Randell filling in for Scott. He’s an excellent singer, guitarist, bassist whose played with BBs, J&D, BW band, Dean/Alan/David “allstar” band— definitely earned his stripes. Of the best (non BW falsettos/BW Imitation)  my list goes in order goes  Al (62-early 80’s), Ike, Kirsch, Baker (on a good day), and lastly Foskett. That’s not to say I don’t love Jeff’s voice, but his mid range is where he shines in my opinion, and the falsetto could be very pitchy at times, my two cents.... a long tangent to say, that I’m happy to see Kirsch back in the picture, even if only temporary. All these sidemen are obviously so dedicated to the music, given that when they leave the BBs/Solo/J&D bands, they start/join tribute  bands.


Anyway, in my opinion the horrible vocals of the Drive In show were probably a combination of Mike being under the weather (G-d willing, not Covid) and shitty monitoring. And The Beach Boys, as a touring band, still seem to be a fabulous Unit.

I think these clips prove that the recent Drive In show was a fluke...

Sloop/WIBN: https://youtu.be/OyVRuQQ9OxI

Bruce KILLS the lead. Sounds strong, considering his age.

California Sun: https://youtu.be/7PqP9hUGpNk

Mike sounds like Mike f*ckin Love!!! Not the warbly mess from the drive in show. A little shaky? Yeah, but still sounds fabulous.


Interesting, and to me very pleasing, to see Randell filling in for Scott. He’s an excellent singer, guitarist, bassist whose played with BBs, J&D, BW band, Dean/Alan/David “allstar” band— definitely earned his stripes. Of the best (non BW falsettos/BW Imitation)  my list goes in order goes  Al (62-early 80’s), Ike, Kirsch, Baker (on a good day), and lastly Foskett. That’s not to say I don’t love Jeff’s voice, but his mid range is where he shines in my opinion, and the falsetto could be very pitchy at times, my two cents.... a long tangent to say, that I’m happy to see Kirsch back in the picture, even if only temporary. All these sidemen are obviously so dedicated to the music, given that when they leave the BBs/Solo/J&D bands, they start/join tribute  bands.


Anyway, in my opinion the horrible vocals of the Drive In show were probably a combination of Mike being under the weather (G-d willing, not Covid) and shitty monitoring. And The Beach Boys, as a touring band, still seem to be a fabulous Unit.

Doug Supernaw, who sang Long Tall Texan with The Boys on S&S, passed away.

https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/doug-supernaw-country-singer-i-don-t-call-him-daddy-n1247847

Love's current group definitely doesn't use autotune.  I think that recent Drive In show proves this 

I hope this was an off night for Mike, and not the new normal with his voice. I think the group still sounded *ok* when Stamos wasn't drumming. Just understandably rusty. Perhaps the monitoring was poor. But Timmy's keys and Keith's bass sounded wonderful. The vocals were shaky overall, but I think Ike, Totten, and Bruce did well. I think Bruce rocked on Do You Wanna Dance. Mike's voice had me worried. Between the video of his movements and audio of his singing, it's the first time Mike has really seemed his age to me. My dad and I always leave the Mike & Bruce shows talking about what a force of nature Mike is. That he can bring such energy, walking around the stage, sounding, for the most part, almost identical to his voice in the golden era. An absolute professional. Akin to Mccartney or Jagger. That may not be what went on the 98-99 let's say when it was a free for all, but in the time I've been seeing BB shows (2014-today) Mike has always had great energy and voice. But this most recent show, and to an extent, some of the shows leading up to it, Mike's voice sounds so shaky. Makes me wonder what's going on. I guess its pretty similar to McCartney's shaky live tone of the last few years.

The only common compilations on CD that I'm aware of that feature Jan's MONO mixes are Gotta Take That One Last Ride (1974) and The Complete Liberty Singles, but neither contain all of Jan and Brian's collaborations. They both feature the obvious hits like Surf City, Ride The Wild Surf, Drag City, Sidewalk Surfin.... but they both exclude album cuts they wrote together like Surfin Wild and Move Out Little Mustang.

As a fellow J&D fan, I've been searching high and low for the mono mixes in a a digital space. The Complete Liberty Singles + vinyl rips I can come across, or create myself, have been my best solution. The recently released "Ba-Ba-B-B-Ba-Ba" compilation features the R&B pre-Surf stuff in mono.

Very exciting!

who is this playing rhythm guitar, behind Mike and in front of Randell?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8rzziDj2jA

Thank you so much! So excited to check these out.

Does anyone still have these? I can't get the link to work.

It was so fun to talk about this era! Let us know what you'd like us to talk about next