While there is no excuse for bad behavior (or it wouldn't be bad)...put it in context.  The band was barely communicating with each other-after almost permanently breaking up a few months earlier.  Brian was again retreating and had to have minders to prevent him from getting into trouble.  AND those minders were not great to be around and one of them allegedly knocked Carl out at a meeting with David Frost a week before-after which Carl avoided all contact with said individual.   Brother Dennis was not exactly a good influence on that tour either----so I think we have to cut Carl a little slack...Probably one of the most miserable times to be in the band ever (and in a band with all the well known inter-group problems of the BBs that's saying something!!)

My view of Mike is complicated (Like everyones I guess);  He wrote some good lyrics in the 1960s and I question seriously if the band would still be around to celebrate their 50th anniversary without him.  I think his commercial instincts probably aided the band's early success as did his strong work ethic.  I have also heard from a number of people who've met him that he is actually the most approachable member of the group and can be extremely fun company if you catch him at the right moment.  On the less positive side:  I believe he is perhaps too commercial minded.  I think Mike honestly believes Kokomo is just as good a song as Good Vibrations-since he equates popularity with artistic quality.  They were both number ones yes, but I just can't agree with that view.  I also believe and have seen nothing to change this view that he was behind the crass directions the band went in circa 1987 onwards (though others agreed to do it)-wipe out, problem child, cheerleaders, Summer in Paradise, Stars and Stripes-etc-that did little to enhance the band's reputation.

Melbourne show was from the second night-March 9 1978

I wish they'd finished Walk On By-that combination of Brian's high falsetto and Dennis' earthy vocal just kills me-that is one of the best unreleased bits-a shame it just cuts off.  Really haunting...

well...for better or worse-it pointed out a difference between the Beach Boys and Beatles.  The Beatles up until 1968 were a four headed person-they did EVERYTHING together-drugs, meditation, you name it-they were all on the same wave length for the most part-the Beach Boys from the beginning just weren't that close.  Even as early as 1965-insiders say Mike preferred to hang out with manager Duryea, Al went off with his first wife, Brian had his friends, Dennis did his thing, etc-they weren't that tight...So Brian's trip was his trip-whereas the Beatles were all involved in Pepper and all supported it. 

Sorry-the article suggests that it was Al's idea to go there-the photographer wanted to take some shots and Al directed them there as a cool location to take photos. Writer Cyril Maitland was with them.  The photos were taken on Sunday June 16 1968-day after they played the Lagoon. Too bad the photographer didn't take pics of them at the gig. I haven't ever seen any pics of the BBs at the Lagoon-though I guarantee numerous Utah fans took photos with their little cameras.  If the BBs were as popular as the Beatles-everyone who ever took a photo of them would be showing them off!! It's a shame.  Also too bad that the Salt Lake papers never reviewed BB shows in the 60s. I really am curious about what they played at the Sept 1970 Lagoon appearance-but Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune didn't review it-though they printed plenty of ads for the shows.

Clint-the photos first appeared in the British magazine Fabulous 208 in 1968.  The magazine sent a photographer to shoot them and the pics were done specifically for Fabulous 208.  The session took place in June 1968-the day after the BBs had appeared at the Lagoon-as will be detailed in my upcoming book with Jon Stebbins. (I should note that the appearance is not in Badman's book-as you can see on the gigs part of AGD's site-which I helped compile-the BBs made 12 appearances in the Salt Lake area from 63-70-though Badman was unaware of most of them)

Mikie-one of the reasons I got interested in doing a concert book was that I felt the Badman book's omission of so many shows-sort of skewed the story of the group.  When you see all the listings I found at AGD's site-Brian's problems make more sense!! The gaps in the Badman book make it look like Brian had plenty of time off-but as you can see-1964 was actually almost non stop activity-even on days off they were busy.  And-even though we haven't uncovered that much footage-you can be certain that the BBs taped these sort of interviews backstage at every show-for newspaper reporters, DJs and the occasional film crew-so even the down time wasn't down time.  Take a look at all the publicity photos too!!! Days off were also taken up with posing for photos-signing autographs, record signings!!!! 

we have discussed a bunch in the past-in his Goldmine interview in the 1990s Mike was quite honest about his contributions-he sometimes wrote all the lyrics, sometimes just wrote a few lines, sometimes wrote a hook-he did not deny that Brian also wrote lyrics to many of their hits.  By the way-the footage is most surely from August 29 1964-BBs played three shows at Springlake that day than had a 3 day break.  During that break-according to Brad Elliot-they held a secret session to "fix" the concert album.

Great photos!! Interesting to see the BBs playing in their street clothes.  As photos from other shows in 1969 and even early 1970 attest they were still playing the vast majority of shows at this time in their white uniforms.  Indeed I have photos of them in Florida earlier on this tour with them in the uniforms and Mike in his Maharishi robes.  The African American gentleman in some photos is Joe Hicks-who was a Brother Records artist and opened for them a lot in 1969 (He was on the European tour in May-June too).

You make good points Rocker-but I think Guaralnick makes clear that the frustration Jorgenson discussed had to do with the whole set-up of EP sessions.  To get a song to Elvis was next to impossible and if an artist wanted EP to cut his song-they had to give up the publishing (which you may recall from the book-led to a huge blow-up with Jerry Reed at the Guitar Man sessions-which just about ruined the mood of everyone there)...This wasn't EP's doing, but it was how his management worked.  Usually songs only came to Elvis from the publishing catalogue of Freddie Bienstock and as the 60s progressed into the 70s he sent EP more dogs than winners-indeed they discuss one session in I think 71 (haven't read it in awhile) where EP spent part of the session throwing the demos he'd been sent by Freddie against the wall because he hated them all.  EP usually brought 3 or 4 songs with him that he wanted to sing but by 73 he seldom showed much enthusiasm for anything submitted by his management-which was frustrating for RCA and Jarvis-because sometimes it meant he'd storm out after recording the 3 or 4 songs he liked when they were hoping he'd record 15 sides!  And one could understand their angst-often EP recorded a song he loved-but one that wouldn't make it as a single (I love his 66 Love Letters-but that had already been a hit years before for other artists and a soft ballad, however exquisite, by EP in 1966 was clearly not single material)

Well the book on their concerts that I wrote in collaboration with Jon Stebbins will be out in June! So hopefully that brings a smile to your 2013!  Plus that Box Set is certainly going to appear with some nice surprises on it!  All in all-I am looking forward to it. Happy New Year

Well I think what those authors point out is that when Elvis was truly engaged with the material he could still get inspired and really deliver a sublime performance (Good Time Charlie's Got the Blues, It's Midnight, Hurt, It's Still Here, etc) but that he no longer seemed willing to really play with a song for multiple takes and try to make something out of mediocre material-unlike the 60s (non-soundtrack) material-where he often delivered exquisite  performances on songs that in anyone else's hands would be dismissed as pure sentimental tripe-he had a way of investing such material with way more emotional weight.  If you read about the 70s sessions-he often seemed more interested in doing karate demonstrations or clowning than really working.  Compare the accounts of him at American in 69 to him at Stax in 73-it was a different man! In 69 he worked on those songs-for tons of takes-all night till he was hoarse.  By 73 you either captured the performance on the first few takes or that was it!

Certainly a decent performance-with some nice moments-but I share the views expressed in Peter Guaralnick's majestic Biography:  Basically for all the pomp and circumstance at this show-there is just a lot less excitement, joy of performing and energy in evidence than in the 68 Special or the 1970 Vegas shows.  Some great melodramatic ballads though

Not to argue too much Sheriff-but is a medley ever a good thing?  Personally-I feel that if a song is worth doing-than its worth doing the full song.  Doing a medley is really Vegas cheesy...Just my opinion of course

Roger that-Mike Love's passport from the early 70s was reprinted in Billboard in 1976 and a stamp in it shows that he didn't even return to the U.S. from Europe till January 25 1971-so there's no way he played a show in Iowa on Dec 28 1970

Whether you think the shows are terrible or great-the answer to the question is that Brian is super-involved and takes a bunch of leads-as well as some emceeing duties.  If you hear the 1970 Seattle show-he is also still fairly involved-takes some leads and introduces a song-different guy from 1976 and truly a different guy from 1981

The Beach Boys were on Merv in 1968 but it hasn't been seen since.  I wonder if the tape will now surface-looks like the Griffin estate is now releasing all the archives.  They also appeared in early 1982 (taped in late 81) and that clip is/or was on Youtube.  Has them doing a lip-synch medley (minus Carl)

Yes-they made some good music-but you have to be honest all the same-only a small fraction of the music made between 1976-1992 is in anyway comparable to the music they made i962-72.  But than again-hardly any of their contemporaries reached such heights again either.  McCartney put out some decent albums but nothing to rival the Beatle years, the Who were basically a spent force by Who Are You in 78, Rolling Stones had a late creative spurt with Some Girls and Tattoo You and than basically fell apart, the Kinks had long since stopped being consistent and had put out a series of fairly mediocre records...You are only twenty-two once and as more responsibilities pile up (family, kids) its hard to stay focused on the music

Not sure if this has been posted-but some documents related to Wild Honey are being sold on ebay-including the hand written message that was used for the back cover and a track listing with edits written on it.  What is fascinating is that the documents show that initially the album was to include a live version of "The Letter" from the Leid in Hawaii shows with Brian, plus "Game Of Love", "Lonely Days", "Cool, Cool Water" and something called "Honey Get Home." If the LP had been released this way-Country Air, How She Boogalooed it and Mama Said would have been left off.  According to the seller-David Leaf confirmed that the handwriting is Brians and that he scratched deleted those tracks with a pen and hand wrote in the now familiar titles.  It also said produced by Brian Wilson but he (or someone) has hand scratched that off and replaced it with "the BBs"  Also fascinating-in the hand written message that was to go on the back of the LP-there was a scratched out paragraph about how the Letter was recorded in Hawaii and was a teaser for an upcoming live album release!  Fascinating stuff from the most mysterious period in their career

There are a lot of old news stories about the BBs available-but many are pay sites-such as NY TImes archives, LA Times Archives, Chicago Tribune archives, etc

The strange one is from the video shoot for their collaboration with the Fat Boys on Wipe Out.  Carl stayed away from that one (can't really picture him in that hat!)

By the way-we tried to make this book as accurate as possible-but I am very thankful to AGD for allowing me the space to list all the concerts on his site and it's nice to know that if I learn about a mistaken date/venue, etc or find a missing show from 1962 after the book comes out-at least I can add it there for anyone fanatical enough to want to know

Don't have a pic of Carl in Perth-but do have some from Sydney on that tour.  Have lots of info on that tour though-not their finest moment of course.  Thanks for all the kind words on the book

I agree totally.  The bbs made no attempt to really honor their legacy with that show. It's just pure 80s cheese nd barely watchable today.