THE BEACH BOYS ANNOUNCE 50TH ANNIVERSARY REUNION, NEW ALBUM AND TOUR

[Cam Mott]

Hot damn!

[CosmicDancer]

Very cool.  I'm hoping for the best.

What do you all think the stage setup will look like for the tour?  Will Brian be relegated to side stage on piano/keyboard like the early 80's or will he be front and center perched behind a keyboard? 

As far as the album goes, are most of you looking for all new material other than "Do it Again"?  Do you think some of the final tracks with Carl will be revisited?  Personally, I think "You're Still a Mystery" needs to have an official release.  Will any of Mike's unreleased tracks make the cut? 

So many possibilities!

I'm excited!  I hope the tour dates are released soon so that I can begin planning accordingly.

[SG7]

Nice to see a nice mix of everyone's bands in there.

[BJL]

This is unbelievably exciting!!!! I really hope Christian Love and Matt Jardine are involved vocally, but no matter who's involved, this is awesome!!

[pixletwin]

I kinda wish they had Christian Love in there instead of the Fosketter.

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Major International Tour

Guess what my 6 year old daughters first concert will be?

I shall most definitely be taking her to see the Beach Boys!!!!!

Fantastic news

[Chris Brown]

Wow, that footage was pretty incredible to see, and the sounds were more pleasant than expected.  I've always been a bit on the fence regarding a reunion, but this has me more excited for it than I thought I would be!

As for why they recorded that way, I think you answered your own question guitarfool - this is 2011 and that's how you record harmony vocals these days.  It's something of a time-saver I'd say, in that you can individually auto-tune each part in post-production and avoid having to make everyone sing it over and over again until nobody has a bum note.  These guys aren't exactly in their 20s anymore, and I doubt they have the patience to stand around a mic and work at getting 4-5 part harmonies perfect.  It's easier to set it up this way, leave with something that's good but with a few rough spots, and fix it later.  Not to mention, you can obviously control the blend much better with a fader for each voice, as opposed to taking the time to adjust where the group is standing, putting tape on the floor, etc.

That being said, I'd rather have them do it the old-fashioned way myself, but modern realities make that somewhat unlikely to happen.

[Shady]

I'd hate to be the band member that didn't make the cut

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Wow, that footage was pretty incredible to see, and the sounds were more pleasant than expected.  I've always been a bit on the fence regarding a reunion, but this has me more excited for it than I thought I would be!

As for why they recorded that way, I think you answered your own question guitarfool - this is 2011 and that's how you record harmony vocals these days.  It's something of a time-saver I'd say, in that you can individually auto-tune each part in post-production and avoid having to make everyone sing it over and over again until nobody has a bum note.  These guys aren't exactly in their 20s anymore, and I doubt they have the patience to stand around a mic and work at getting 4-5 part harmonies perfect.  It's easier to set it up this way, leave with something that's good but with a few rough spots, and fix it later.  Not to mention, you can obviously control the blend much better with a fader for each voice, as opposed to taking the time to adjust where the group is standing, putting tape on the floor, etc.

That being said, I'd rather have them do it the old-fashioned way myself, but modern realities make that somewhat unlikely to happen.

There was a shot of them all around a mic as well.

But at least, all in their little booths, they are all singing together. Levine had them record their parts separately in '85

[acedecade75]

The Beach Boys legacy is immortal.  This is amzing!

[joshferrell]

I feel better knowing that "do it again" isn't done like "Surfin'" or other songs from SIP with a rap beat and heavy guitars to bring it "up to date"..that was the big worry I had when I heard they were re-recording it..so it's great to know it actually has a beach boys sound...

[Justin]

My mouth hung open for a good 10 seconds as I read the headline on Facebook.  I'm ecstatic!  I cannot wait for this. 

[Joshilyn Hoisington]

Great news, I'm very excited to see what they do!

Now onto that video clip: I'm not passing judgement, I'm not second-guessing or critiquing before hearing the finished product, but I am questioning and hoping maybe someone will explain this from a sonic perspective, just as a curious fan who is into recording and such:

Why isolate each band member inside these gobos/baffles to track vocals when these same guys are quite possibly the finest group vocalists in all of rock history, with the best studio blend of vocals we've ever heard? In the same clip there are scenes of them gathered around a single mic, but that looks staged for the cameras while this shot has each of them on a single mic inside a booth...I'm just curious why or what they were doing when this was filmed.

I know this is 2011 and that's how it's done but when there is the finest group of harmony vocalists in the studio I don't get the setup in this shot:

Well, if you are an autotune conspiracist, that would be good evidence--they need everything isolated because you can't (well, you can) autotune a group vocal on one track?

[Quincy]

 

[Micha]

I have to admit, I'd be curious to hear them take on some of the SMiLE material again, maybe one of the less completed songs like Worms of Dada/Blue Hawaii with the finished BWPS arrangements.  That may be a pipe dream, but it would be cool to hear the Boys do a finished take on this stuff.

Even if this is sacrilege, but I'd like them to finish DYLW, ILTSDD, Holidays, SFC and CIFOTM using the 1966/67 backing tracks and the voice of Chistian Love (besides their own voices).

Why isolate each band member inside these gobos/baffles to track vocals when these same guys are quite possibly the finest group vocalists in all of rock history, with the best studio blend of vocals we've ever heard?

To avoid getting at each other's throats.

No, the pitch correction theory seems plausible.

Sounds like they used the ProTools denasalator on Mike!

[Justin]

Well to be honest...I wouldn't personally bet that this footage of them in the studio is them actually recording the track we're listening to.  I wouldn't be surprised if they did 1 or 2 run throughs after recording the track at the end of the day solely for this little video.  While this COULD have been the setup for the actual session--could be true---but I'd bet everything about it staged.  Unless, Brian REQUIRES that the lighting in the studio look like a setting sun at the beach---everything about this looks a little phony.

[SMiLE]

Amen on having the thing on repeat. When I see 'em all there it makes me almost lose it.

And just for clarification the sidemen appear to be Scott, John, Nicky and Brett and (by the sounds of it) Jeff.

Scott Bennett John who?  Nick Walusko and Brett Simons?

[Runaways]

awesome but mike barely sounds like mike there!

[HeyJude]

Very interesting stuff. Do we know this is actual footage from that actual session? I only ask because I recall that it was specifically mentioned that David Marks was not a part of the “Do It Again” session. But there he is. Did they work in some additional footage of later sessions? Whatever period of time the footage was taken, some of this footage may be partially staged just to get some “at work” footage of the group.

Still very slightly mind blowing to see them together. Let’s really hope the album doesn’t suck. Let’s also hope they play a wide variety of locales around the world that gives the most people a chance to see them, and that tickets aren’t too expensive and are obtainable.

I do think it’s weird but logistically understandable that they are announcing a big reunion several months off, but the Mike/Bruce “Beach Boys” will presumably continue to do their shows in the meantime.

[SMiLE]

I fail to understand the irrational hatred of Jeffery Foskett around here.

[Shady]

I fail to understand the irrational hatred of Jeffery Foskett around here.

It's not personal, just his voice

[SMiLE]

I fail to understand the irrational hatred of Jeffery Foskett around here.

It's not personal, just his voice

I don't mind his voice, Brian sure can't hit those notes anymore.

[BiNNS]

I fail to understand the irrational hatred of Jeffery Foskett around here.

Same here. I quite like his voice. I've never had a problem with his falsettos.

[southbay]

I fail to understand the irrational hatred of Jeffery Foskett around here.

Same here. I quite like his voice. I've never had a problem with his falsettos.

Agreed.  If it's not going to be Matt jardine, glad it's Foskett. I persoanlly can't take Randell Kirsch, too much Adrian Baker-esque for my taste.  As for the backing musicians, I can make out Nick, John Cowsill on drums, Scott Totten and David Marks on Guitar and Brett Simons on bass. I don't see Foskett in the actual video.  One question, on the vocal iso booths, who is in farthest booth, David Marks? Foskett?

[Mikie]

I really hope Matt Jardine is involved vocally.

Me too!