Why the Mike/Bruce Combo?

[Jonathan Blum]

Mike (and Bruce) make that same buttload from what WAS on the charts, and with a lot less stress than any further C50 tour can provide.

I find it incredible that 18 months after the fact there are some here that still can't move on.

We're on a message board talking about a band whose last hit was 27 years ago, and you're astonished that people here haven't moved on after eighteen months?  It doesn't exactly go with the territory.

Many bands would be happy to make a career stretch to 20 years and a handful of albums. The Beach Boys have given over 50 years, many, many albums and sacrificed two founding members. While enjoying many of the benefits,some members personal lives and health have suffered due, in part I'm sure, to the nature of the industry.

They owe me nothing yet  I still have the opportunity should I want to, to see individual members solo or in pairings continue to play the music live and that has been the case for the last 15 years, not to mention their new solo albums.

I wonder sometimes if there are those here who will only be happy if a band member drops dead onstage providing them with the music and experience they feel they are entitled to.

No need for the melodrama.  I think Brian and the boys have the potential for another good album in them, at least as good as "Radio", and more great shows.  Brian's already working on doing both with Al and Dave.  I'd like Mike and Bruce to be part of them.  Do I feel entitled to them?  No.  But I'd like it.

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Cam Mott]

More than enough.

I congratulate those here that have stayed in one job with the same people for there whole career. If you are over 70 I give my first born! There must be a few as they have criticized members of the C50 line-up and in some cases their families, for months.

I have been in my same career I still love for almost 30 years with multiple workmates who I regard as friends. However if I still feel 'needed' when I am 70 they can go take a flying f*ck, to put it mildly. My own well being comes first and the wants of a few does not even come in to it frankly.

What if they are your cousin, who made your life possible?

Yeah, what if they are your cousin Mike, who made your life possible?

[Pretty Funky]

Mike (and Bruce) make that same buttload from what WAS on the charts, and with a lot less stress than any further C50 tour can provide.

I find it incredible that 18 months after the fact there are some here that still can't move on.

We're on a message board talking about a band whose last hit was 27 years ago, and you're astonished that people here haven't moved on after eighteen months?  It doesn't exactly go with the territory.

Many bands would be happy to make a career stretch to 20 years and a handful of albums. The Beach Boys have given over 50 years, many, many albums and sacrificed two founding members. While enjoying many of the benefits,some members personal lives and health have suffered due, in part I'm sure, to the nature of the industry.

They owe me nothing yet  I still have the opportunity should I want to, to see individual members solo or in pairings continue to play the music live and that has been the case for the last 15 years, not to mention their new solo albums.

I wonder sometimes if there are those here who will only be happy if a band member drops dead onstage providing them with the music and experience they feel they are entitled to.

No need for the melodrama.  I think Brian and the boys have the potential for another good album in them, at least as good as "Radio", and more great shows.  Brian's already working on doing both with Al and Dave.  I'd like Mike and Bruce to be part of them.  Do I feel entitled to them?  No.  But I'd like it.

Cheers,
Jon Blum

You keep thinking about another good album and more great shows then. Means they left you, and myself for that matter, wanting more. The perfect time to exit IMO.

[Pretty Funky]

More than enough.

I congratulate those here that have stayed in one job with the same people for there whole career. If you are over 70 I give my first born! There must be a few as they have criticized members of the C50 line-up and in some cases their families, for months.

I have been in my same career I still love for almost 30 years with multiple workmates who I regard as friends. However if I still feel 'needed' when I am 70 they can go take a flying f*ck, to put it mildly. My own well being comes first and the wants of a few does not even come in to it frankly.

What if they are your cousin, who made your life possible?

Yeah, what if they are your cousin Mike, who made your life possible?

I like to believe that sometimes Brian says to himself "I really have to thank Mike for those great early lyrics he wrote and the way he delivered them." and Mike does likewise about those great tunes his cousin came up with.

If either party feels he is still 'owed' after 50 years and a wonderful lifestyle, then they perhaps need to move on too.

[Ron]

That's all I have for now.

I had to go back and read this twice, because Lee, you just read and wrote down exactly what was in my mind.  Also, my middle name is Lee.  Coincidence?  I think not.  Very well said, I agree with your points and see it the same way. 

[Ron]

No amount of money can get Paul & Ringo together, they just make appearances for free, for 10 minutes, about once a decade so nobody thinks they're assholes.

John Lennon and George Harrison being dead might have a little bit of bearing on why Paul and Ringo don't tour together.

 

In 1979 were they touring?  They can't stand each other, NO AMOUNT OF MONEY will get them to work with each other, outside of a 1 off track every 10 years.  

ROCK STARS can't keep it together forever, we're fortunate we got what we got out of the Brian/Mike pairing.  

 There was an undeniable tension between George and Paul during segments of the '95 Anthology film, but Ringo and Paul seem to get along reasonably well.

Alright, i'll back down.  I'm being tongue in cheek about it, but my point was that there are very few rockbands that the members get along for 50 years. 

Think about it.  Do you work at the same place for 50 years?  With the same people?  One of them is mentally ill.  The other is kind of an asshole.  They fight like family.  One sues the other one at the drop of a hat, the other one has 20 people that come by for lunch every day and talk about how great he is and how sh*t the asshole is. 

I'm just saying, I can completely understand how Mike and Brian probably love each other very much, and love the memories, and exchange pleasantries, but don't really have a desire to be around each other 24/7. That's not to say anything's wrong with either of them, it's just hard to work together for 50 years and eveyrthing be perfect like everybody wants it to be. 

Right now it's not perfect... that's understandable to me... we don't need villians to explain why, and it's not necessarily anybody's fault.

[Ron]

What if they are your cousin, who made your life possible?

That`s not how human beings work though is it...

Who made your life possible? For most people it is their parents who give not only their time but hundreds of thousands of dollars (on average) in bringing them up. Now does that mean that decades later people will (or should) only do things to please their parents even if it goes against their own wishes?

Brian gave just as much to the other group members but it didn`t stop Carl from putting an end to the Don Was sessions, Al from suing Brian etc. They are all only human after all...

Exactly.  The Beach Boys are VERY Human, lots of warts on these guys. 

Even if somebody wants to say that Brian made Mike (he kind of did), that STILL only goes so far.  Mike doesn't owe Brian 1 thing, and I honestly don't believe Brian expects anything from Mike.  Brian's not the kind to hold "I made you!" over somebody's head, that's ridiculous. 

It's just two people with different opinions, to us fans it's a disaster because there's no Beach Boys without Brian and Mike... but to them I doubt they thought much about it.  Another business decision. 

[Jonathan Blum]

You keep thinking about another good album and more great shows then. Means they left you, and myself for that matter, wanting more. The perfect time to exit IMO.

IMO very much not.  By that standard, releasing "Smile" in 2004 would have been the perfect time to exit -- and then we wouldn't have got TLOS, or Gershwin, or Radio, all of which have been lovely works despite not being an absolute artistic peak.

I'm very much in the "while there's life there's hope" camp.  I don't care about whether an artist's last work is "a perfect time to exit" -- I care about whether it's good work, even if it's not their pinnacle.  And I prefer them having done more good work to less!

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Pretty Funky]

But you are using Brian's solo works as examples. If he is interested in a project he puts more effort into it. Counter that with say, the Beach Boys and the dynamics involved, I'm sure he has a different mind set. The TWGMTR album was a success mainly for his songs. He probably had to put some Mike songs on there contractually and according to the RS story he took off out of the studio rather than having to deal with Al's song.

[Ron]

I think you can make a case for a song being better, simply because the Beach Boys themselves are singing it, as opposed to Brian & his band.  Everyone in his band has a beautiful, great voice (or they wouldn't be there) but I like the natural, angels from heaven sound of the official Beach Boys (That means you too, Bruce)

[urbanite]

I wonder how many of the great songs from the golden years it's Brian singing most if not all of the parts, and not the group.

[Ron]

Whaaaaaaaa?  That would be Zero, brother.  Everyone of them could sing. 

[Jim V.]

Whaaaaaaaa?  That would be Zero, brother.  Everyone of them could sing.  

Actually I'm pretty sure he's only Beach Boy on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "Don't Talk", "Caroline No", and I'm pretty sure some SMiLE stuff and other stuff too, brother.

[KittyKat]

The best Beach Boys vocal sound is all the Beach Boys, or as many as can be currently rounded up. Not that Brian can't do a fantastic job singing those multi-part harmonies, as you can hear on his '88 solo album. But there is something special about the other guy's very distinctive sounds, from Mike's bass to Al's Jardine sheen and Bruce's boyish tenor. I'm not that big a fan of most of TWGMTR, but I do think the other guy's vocals make it better than just an average Brian solo album (which it could have been if it weren't a BB reunion project).

[Andrew G. Doe]

Whaaaaaaaa?  That would be Zero, brother.  Everyone of them could sing. 

Actually I'm pretty sure he's only Beach Boy on "I Just Wasn't Made For These Times", "Don't Talk", "Caroline No", and I'm pretty sure some SMiLE stuff and other stuff too, brother.

Two of the seven vocal tracks on "IJWMFTT" are the whole band: the other five are Brian (or "Bryan" as the Columbia track card would have it).

I'm pretty sure that "Surfer Moon" is the earliest example of a Wall of Brians.

[Shady]

I think you can make a case for a song being better, simply because the Beach Boys themselves are singing it, as opposed to Brian & his band.  Everyone in his band has a beautiful, great voice (or they wouldn't be there) but I like the natural, angels from heaven sound of the official Beach Boys (That means you too, Bruce)

I believe Brian's bands vocals just don't work with his BB's music.

It's not a popular opinion but I did not like the vocals on BWPS at all, especially Jeff's.