50th Anniversary live double CD up for pre-order on Amazon

[Wirestone]

Joe Thomas's main job these day is producing live concerts for television. This should be right up his alley.

Clearly something else went rather seriously awry.

[Pretty Funky]

This is really great news.  Can't wait for it.

But I'm NOT looking forward to hearing all the auto-tuned/overdubbed stuff they'll no doubt put on top of the performances.  Sigh....

I hear ya. If it is anything like the DVD that came out then this will be the only Live BB album not in my collection. The sound grates that much to me. Like most here, I caught the band in concert last year and have listened to the Chiba concert online, and the world did not end due to any so called inferior sound.

Please Capitol...don't mess this up!

Well going by the reports here, they have. Well done Capitol!

Sure, I'll buy it cause I'm a sap but most likely its the Chiba and Mermaid Theatre concerts that will get the most plays. A sad way to sign off the C50.

Mermaid? Is this a soundboard recording too? Any chance I can find a copy?

Admin...delete if breaking any rules.

http://www.tribalmixes.com/torrent/79778-The-Beach-Boys-In-Concert-From-The-Mermaid-In-London-BBC-Radio-2-SAT-24-09-2012-SC

[the professor]

This is really great news.  Can't wait for it.

But I'm NOT looking forward to hearing all the auto-tuned/overdubbed stuff they'll no doubt put on top of the performances.  Sigh....

I hear ya. If it is anything like the DVD that came out then this will be the only Live BB album not in my collection. The sound grates that much to me. Like most here, I caught the band in concert last year and have listened to the Chiba concert online, and the world did not end due to any so called inferior sound.

Please Capitol...don't mess this up!

Well going by the reports here, they have. Well done Capitol!

Sure, I'll buy it cause I'm a sap but most likely its the Chiba and Mermaid Theatre concerts that will get the most plays. A sad way to sign off the C50.

Mermaid? Is this a soundboard recording too? Any chance I can find a copy?

Admin...delete if breaking any rules.

http://www.tribalmixes.com/torrent/79778-The-Beach-Boys-In-Concert-From-The-Mermaid-In-London-BBC-Radio-2-SAT-24-09-2012-SC

PF, any way to get this without surrendering my first born to the torrent monster?I tried a facebook login, but they want to access too much personal data. Thanks fro the effort.

[guitarfool2002]

Next time mix it in Doubly...

[Freddie French-Pounce]

mrmoustachioto, please tell me they didn't autotune the sh*t out of Dennis and Carl on Forever and GOK

Nope, they are safe. And it makes you realise how bad everyone else sounds with robo mode.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I can't imagine even the most casual of Beach Boys fans feeling let down if there wasn't autotune on the disc, it's not like he's Ke$ha, he can actually sing.

Ke$ha can sing too; the autotune on her vocals on her first album was an artistic decision.

[Pretty Funky]

This is really great news.  Can't wait for it.

But I'm NOT looking forward to hearing all the auto-tuned/overdubbed stuff they'll no doubt put on top of the performances.  Sigh....

I hear ya. If it is anything like the DVD that came out then this will be the only Live BB album not in my collection. The sound grates that much to me. Like most here, I caught the band in concert last year and have listened to the Chiba concert online, and the world did not end due to any so called inferior sound.

Please Capitol...don't mess this up!

Well going by the reports here, they have. Well done Capitol!

Sure, I'll buy it cause I'm a sap but most likely its the Chiba and Mermaid Theatre concerts that will get the most plays. A sad way to sign off the C50.

Mermaid? Is this a soundboard recording too? Any chance I can find a copy?

Admin...delete if breaking any rules.

http://www.tribalmixes.com/torrent/79778-The-Beach-Boys-In-Concert-From-The-Mermaid-In-London-BBC-Radio-2-SAT-24-09-2012-SC

PF, any way to get this without surrendering my first born to the torrent monster?I tried a facebook login, but they want to access too much personal data. Thanks fro the effort.

Ok. Lets try this.

http://www.melodycenta.com/The-Beach-Boys/In-Concert-From-The-Mermaid-In-London-Bbc-Radio-2-Sat-24-09-mp3/download-9626082

[runnersdialzero]

It's not the boys fault. They have no idea how a live album should sound these days.

That doesn't really add up. A live album should sound like a band performing. I know it's ultimately probably a lot less to do with the five guys in the band and their decisions, but still, how can they accept and/or approve of what they're hearing and sign off on it being sent out to the public? Surely most/all of them of them realize how ill-fitting this sort of thing is for them? How it makes them look pathetic to people who don't know better?

[Nicko1234]

I don't think it's true to say that the group members don't know what a live album should sound like. There's nothing wrong with the sound on Al's live album for example.

I can understand why they felt they had to do something with Mike's and Brian's vocals in particular. Mike's voice is thinner than in the past and Brian sounds very weak on some of the songs on the youtube clips. What I don't understand is why it all sounds so lifeless and 'not live'.

[SonicVolcano]

The other thing is, people are acting as though this is all about Brian's vocals.

It's not.

Mike is tuned far worse in several spots. He sounds like Cher!

Just like on the Knebworth 1980 DVD, then.

[absinthe_boy]

Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations and California Girls make for the most robotic Threesome I've ever heard!

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

That is processed to hell.

To be honest if that is indicative of the actual product I will be sending mine back. It is unlistenable.

[Wirestone]

It is extremely variable. There are a fair number of tunes without noticeable processing.

[Shady]

Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations and California Girls make for the most robotic Threesome I've ever heard!

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

That is processed to hell.

To be honest if that is indicative of the actual product I will be sending mine back. It is unlistenable.

I'm thinking this too..

If this is the crap they think they can put out, why the hell should we buy it.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

The un-tuned tunes are few and far between.

[drbeachboy]

Maybe that is the holdup with the box set; they are autotuning every song being placed on it.

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be. The same can be said  for the C50 shows, as well. There, but not noticeable to anyone in attendance.

Thank you all the same, but I'll decide for myself, with my own ears.

[Rocker]

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be.

I'm absolutely with you on that (TWGMTR) but the snippet of H&V is really terrible...

[drbeachboy]

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be.

I'm absolutely with you on that (TWGMTR) but the snippet of H&V is really terrible...

And so did the TWGMTR single that was posted to Youtube. I remember when TLOS was first posted online a week or two before release, that sounded like sh*t. Brian sounded terrible. Yet the CD sounded nothing like it. It was like night and day.

[AndrewHickey]

Maybe that is the holdup with the box set; they are autotuning every song being placed on it.

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be.

I don't have particularly sensitive hearing, but the autotune on That's Why God Made The Radio is absolutely horrible. It ruins From There To Back Again, which would otherwise be a lovely little song, for me.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Wouldn't It Be Nice, Good Vibrations and California Girls make for the most robotic Threesome I've ever heard!

Also: have a sample of 21 seconds of Heroes and Villains: http://soundcloud.com/moar-freddie/h-v-snippett

I think my reaction can be best summed up like this...

[Rocker]

Previews for all the songs:

http://www.jpc.de/jpcng/poprock/detail/-/art/Beach-Boys-Live-The-50th-Anniversary-Tour/hnum/3566959

[pixletwin]

Well that doesn't sound so bad.

[Freddie French-Pounce]

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be.

I'm absolutely with you on that (TWGMTR) but the snippet of H&V is really terrible...

And so did the TWGMTR single that was posted to Youtube. I remember when TLOS was first posted online a week or two before release, that sounded like sh*t. Brian sounded terrible. Yet the CD sounded nothing like it. It was like night and day.

That sample is taken right from my CD. THAT is how it sounds.

[JohnMill]

Well that doesn't sound so bad.

Eh I can see what the folks are driving at especially when it comes to Brian.  "Add Some Music To Your Day" sounds like it's an abomination.  Still I'll wait until I can get the set in my hot little hands and put it into my car stereo with the top down to see if the set really isn't as tolerable as some suggest.

[Sheriff John Stone]

Maybe that is the holdup with the box set; they are autotuning every song being placed on it.

You guys CRY WOLF so much. To my ears TWGMTR was not nearly as bad sounding as you all made it out to be. The same can be said  for the C50 shows, as well. There, but not noticeable to anyone in attendance.

Thank you all the same, but I'll decide for myself, with my own ears.

That's basically where I'm at, too. I'm gonna wait and hear the entire package and digest it and then decide. Capitol Records probably figures that a decent percentage of the people who purchased TWGMTR will buy this one? So, they had to make sure that these guys sound like those guys.

I don't mind autotune as much as others. To me, it does what it is supposed to do, correct the flaws. And quite frankly, I can't take much more of Brian Wilson's shouting off-key vocals. If there is anybody who autotune is made for, it's Brian Wilson. I don't mind them being corrected, and, apparently, neither does Brian.

[Rocker]

Judging from those short snippets it almost sounds like Al was the only one who really was at a live show. What a contrast to hear the sound of his voice and that of Mike and especially Brian. I'm sure there wasn't very much studio overdubbing by the boys except for maybe Brian. But there are no dynamics, at least it sounds like that. The way the audience's cheers are brought up at stupid moments and the dynamic-less vocal production make this sound just like one of those "live" saturday night TV shows on german TV (I don't know about other countries' TV). Unfortunately that is the way many live performances sound today.
Brian has a very, very strange sound on most samples. It's not necessarily autotune but something that tries to imitate vocal doubling. I believe he had that sound on stage early on the tour which makes me believe that the songs they performed early come from the first concerts (plus Jeff is not singing "...we find" on Good Vibrations).

My final judgement will come after having listened to the whole album more than once. But my expectations aren't as high anymore as the tour promised.