Mike Love - Unleash the Love - Due November 17 - w/ 2nd Disc of BB Remakes

[Pretty Funky]

Brian could update his “hold my nose” joke with Al. Set a autotune system to 11 and sing some Mike leads.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Hell, I got some vocal only Mike leads from through the years..I'm gonna autotune the holy hell out of it and put a beat behind it

[Lonely Summer]

The Beach Boys played new Mike Love alongside classic hits at the "Unleash The Love" listening party last night. This is not okay.

Sure it is. Glad they are playing some of the new songs. Wonder if any of them will make it into the regular setlist? And for how long?

[Pretty Funky]

Hell, I got some vocal only Mike leads from through the years..I'm gonna autotune the holy hell out of it and put a beat behind it

To late....

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I'd like to see a outtake where the bird shits on his hand

[CenturyDeprived]

I'd like to see a outtake where the bird shits on his hand

I legitimately keep wondering if turds were involved in the bird shoot, like in Mel Brooks’ Silent Movie. Unlike with Amazon, turds can’t be censored (unless bird diapers are a thing).

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Bird diapers

[rab2591]

The Beach Boys played new Mike Love alongside classic hits at the "Unleash The Love" listening party last night. This is not okay.

Sure it is. Glad they are playing some of the new songs. Wonder if any of them will make it into the regular setlist? And for how long?

right?? [err at first thought you were being sarcastic there, Lonely Summer. I guess that was a serious post? Pardon for the confusion] And on top of how ridiculous this is, I read this on Facebook a minute ago:

“I saw the Beach Boys a few days ago. The whole concert was basically a sales pitch for the album. The video screen kept displaying the cover image, along with a number to text to save 50% for the duration of the concert.”

I really hope this person was joking. A number to text for 50% off the album? If that’s true then he’s turning Beach Boys concerts into the QVC channel. I can see it now, Mike Love finishes up Be True To Your School then invites John Stamos out to help pitch the album. “Oh it’s a great value, Mike. 25 songs for $9.99. That’s right, 25 songs for $9.99. Dial #409 on your cell phones to receive this phenomenal set for 50% off the retail price!”

[The LEGENDARY OSD]

The Beach Boys played new Mike Love alongside classic hits at the "Unleash The Love" listening party last night. This is not okay.

Sure it is. Glad they are playing some of the new songs. Wonder if any of them will make it into the regular setlist? And for how long?

right?? [err at first thought you were being sarcastic there, Lonely Summer. I guess that was a serious post? Pardon for the confusion] And on top of how ridiculous this is, I read this on Facebook a minute ago:

“I saw the Beach Boys a few days ago. The whole concert was basically a sales pitch for the album. The video screen kept displaying the cover image, along with a number to text to save 50% for the duration of the concert.”

I really hope this person was joking. A number to text for 50% off the album? If that’s true then he’s turning Beach Boys concerts into the QVC channel. I can see it now, Mike Love finishes up Be True To Your School then invites John Stamos out to help pitch the album. “Oh it’s a great value, Mike. 25 songs for $9.99. That’s right, 25 songs for $9.99. Dial #409 on your cell phones to receive this phenomenal set for 50% off the retail price!”

"...and that's not all! Call in the next 15 minutes and we'll send you a 2nd copy! Just pay a separate handling and autotune processing fee! Call now!!

[HeyJude]

As far as Mike doing solo songs during his "Beach Boys" shows, for better or worse he has been doing this for years and years. He was doing "Cool Head, Warm Heart" back as early as 2006. I think he has also done a few other solo tracks in years past. "Pisces Brothers" most obviously. I think he also did "Unleash the Love" several years ago at the Ella Awards show.

At a few shows he even let Christian Love do one of his own compositions (titled "My Remote" as I recall).

It was clear several years ago when he did the Christmas song and "Pisces Brothers" that he has no problem and in fact relishes cross-fertilizing (no pun intended) the solo and "Beach Boys" stuff.

I'm not a fan of it (and indeed BRI lawyers were quick to go after Al in 1999 for doing "deep cuts", and those were from the actual Beach Boys catalog!), because indeed Mike is using the BB trademark to piggyback and promote his solo stuff.

More problematic, though, in my mind is sticking a BB logo on his CD. Live acts can perform basically any song they want to, as long as it's published/copyrighted. Mike could do an hour of AC/DC songs if he wanted to. But a "Mike Love" CD shouldn't be able to use the BB logo. Mentioning that he's a Beach Boy is fine; all of the guys have done that (though Brian and Al have also been harangued for the verbiage of how they bill their shows of recent years).

But I again submit that had Al released a CD in 1999 of his solo show, but used the Dean Torrence classic "Beach Boys" logo on the cover, he would have been sued into oblivion and there would have been an injunction to keep the CD from shipping out.

[HeyJude]

The Beach Boys played new Mike Love alongside classic hits at the "Unleash The Love" listening party last night. This is not okay.

Sure it is. Glad they are playing some of the new songs. Wonder if any of them will make it into the regular setlist? And for how long?

right?? [err at first thought you were being sarcastic there, Lonely Summer. I guess that was a serious post? Pardon for the confusion] And on top of how ridiculous this is, I read this on Facebook a minute ago:

“I saw the Beach Boys a few days ago. The whole concert was basically a sales pitch for the album. The video screen kept displaying the cover image, along with a number to text to save 50% for the duration of the concert.”

I really hope this person was joking. A number to text for 50% off the album? If that’s true then he’s turning Beach Boys concerts into the QVC channel. I can see it now, Mike Love finishes up Be True To Your School then invites John Stamos out to help pitch the album. “Oh it’s a great value, Mike. 25 songs for $9.99. That’s right, 25 songs for $9.99. Dial #409 on your cell phones to receive this phenomenal set for 50% off the retail price!”

I think Mike actually appeared way back circa 1993 on either QVC or Home Shopping Network to sell the "Good Vibrations" boxed set (that may have been the one where they gave away copies of SIP alongside it?).

(Yes, I know Brian did QVC in 2000 and the Beach Boys did it in 2012, but at least they played live in studio in those cases).

I'm actually curious where the 50% discount applies as far as Mike's album. I would presume only on Mike's website store or something? Amazon has already had the 2-CD set for $11.99 to $12.99; how much cheaper can they make it?

[Tony S]

I agree wholeheartedly....apparrently to Love seems there are 2 sets of legal rules and regs.....those for Love and those for the rest.

[guitarfool2002]

#NotTheRealBeachBoys

[Tony S]

Just watched a couple of videos on You Tube, with the Beach Boys Band performing both Unleash the Love and Help Me Rhonda. Mike's lead on Rhonda is simply awful....worst performance I've ever heard of that classic. Destroys the Al Jardine signature song. As far as Unleash the Love, I give him credit that at least it tries to be somewhat contemporary.....just not that god a tune. IMHO.

[guitarfool2002]

Unleash The Love...what Beach Boys album is that on?

[guitarfool2002]

There is live video:

"Unleash The Love" performed by the "Beach Boys":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5_LEAM248sc

"Cool Head Warm Heart" performed by the "Beach Boys":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekGMPJ37Y1U

"All The Love In Paris" performed by the "Beach Boys"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O9e81cKFiAs


Looks like The Beach Boys name has now been co-opted by Mike to promote his solo album. So has the video screen Mike takes to the shows.

Does BRI even exist at this point?

[KDS]

I've never been a fan of musicians performing solo material at band concerts. 

I want to hear the songs by the band name on the ticket stub.  The obvious exception is if you're seeing a supergroup, or a newly formed band from a musician who had his hey day with somebody else. 

I saw Van Halen with Sammy Hagar twice in 2004, and didn't care for his solo acoustic part of the set which featured two of Sammy's solo songs. 

I know Phil Collins and Don Henley have put solo songs in Genesis and Eagles setlists. 

This is one of the reasons I wasn't a fan of seeing Pisces Brothers and the two Beach Boys shows I attended in 2015 and 2016.   Granted, I like some of the clips I've heard of some of the new original tunes (minus the awful autotune), I'd rather not hear them at shows billed as The Beach Boys.

I know the chances are slim to none, but I'd love to see Mike do a small venue solo tour.   He could put a band together, or use some of the musicians from the current BB band, play some small venues, showcase his new album, sell copies at the merch tables, do meet and greets, and maybe even be a little daring with the setlists and include some BB songs that don't crack BB sets.  Maybe Belles of Paris, Sumahama, California: Big Sur, etc. 

[HeyJude]

What Mike chooses to do with his concerts wouldn't be so grating if he didn't flout just about every complaint made *against* Al Jardine in 1999.

From a December 1999 Rolling Stone piece:

Jardine has worked some of the more
artistically heralded, yet less commercially successful material from Pet Sounds
to Holland into the set with the surf/car/fun songs. In doing this, Jardine has run
afoul of the corporation. From the complaint: “Much of Jardine’s repertoire with
Beach Boys Family and Friends include many songs that the Beach Boys do not
regularly play in concert, songs [that] are about many issues that are not traditionally
associated with the Beach Boys, i.e. cars, surf, girls and fun.” Here, Love may be
flouting his own rules, as some of the songs on his set list -- “In My Room,”
“God Only Knows” -- don’t exactly fit the criteria. Love has also turned much of
the set into an all-purpose oldies show, including such classics as “Duke of Earl”
and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”

If the Beach Boys were "whole", if they were all together, I wouldn't mind if they did solo stuff. A fully constituted Beach Boys doing respective solo material seems more on point than many of the covers of other artists they do.

But the problem here is that Mike licensing the BB name to tour, so the "group" and "solo" brands are being blurred, and the only person capitalizing on it is Mike. Unfortunately, unless the license has specific restrictions on what songs he could play (and it clearly doesn't; he's done everything from "Duke of Earl" to "Fire Brigade" to Christian Love songs to Mike solo songs, and everything in between), then any touring outfit can perform anything they want. So yeah, technically Mike could do *nothing but* solo songs at his "Beach Boys" shows.

Let's just see if, a year from now, Mike is still taking up FOUR song slots or more with his new original solo material.

And yeah, does anybody think Mike "Gatekeeper of the Setlist" Love would have let Al do FOUR songs from "A Postcard from California" during the C50 tour? Remember when Al mentioned before the C50 tour that he's like to do "Don't Fight the Sea?" Al didn't get *song one* in the setlist. Indeed, I'm pretty sure Al got ZERO picks of any kind during that tour apart from "California Saga."

[Cabinessenceking]

Hell, I got some vocal only Mike leads from through the years..I'm gonna autotune the holy hell out of it and put a beat behind it

To late....

The image on the album cover must be the image Mike Love has of himself.
He must really want to convince everyone that he's not what people believe him to be.

[RubberSoul13]

My problem is not with these songs appearing in the touring setlist. BUT I have a serious problem with THE BEACH BOYS serving as the promotional band at a listening party for a new MIKE LOVE record. Solo and side-project tracks have popped up in The Beach Boys' setlist all the way back to the 70's...usually the tunes fit right in. My problem is that an event that is solely to promote MIKE LOVE's release, was led by The Beach Boys. That has never happened before and should never happen....even if Bruce stays home and the rest of the band comes and he calls it Mike Love and Band, that is FINE. But not a "The Beach Boys" event solely for promotion of this album.

I wish I could've heard "Aren't You Glad" in Hagerstown last week, but I don't regret not going. This bullshit would've killed it AGAIN for me.

[HeyJude]

The weirdness of the "touring license" is such that the line can always easily be blurred. Mike can obviously do shows under his own name whenever he wants.

So he can do a show on Monday as "The Beach Boys", and then take the *exact some show with the exact same band* to a show the next night and perform as "Mike Love."

He doesn't do this much (if at all), primarily because the "BB" gigs are what bring in the money. But I also think that if he started booking "solo" shows with the same band, prominently mentioning that he is "of the Beach Boys", he would run the risk of BRI coming to him and saying he's trying to avoid paying the license fees for those shows by "technically" doing them as solo shows.

Ironically, in terms of revenue, BRI's best move in a license agreement would be to forbid Mike from doing any "non-Beach Boys" shows, so that BRI gets their cut of every show he does.

Mike did pretty much the same thing, using some or all of the touring band for a short "non-Beach Boys" promotional appearance, last year promoting his autobiography.

He has done a few short shows, or short sets within other multi-artist shows, where I'm not even clear on whether he's using the "Beach Boys" name. For instance, the "Ella Awards" in 2014. Was that billed as "The Beach Boys?" His touring band was there, and at one point they backed Mike and Al singing "Help Me Rhonda."

I'm not sure if the little club gig Mike did the other night was billed as "The Beach Boys." But again, as long as any revenue is properly paid to BRI according to the licensing agreement, Mike can do a little club show as "The Beach Boys" and do all or mostly "solo" songs.

But again, if he does shows as "Mike Love", but it's kind of vaguely also being touted as sort of a "Beach Boys" show, it would be up to BRI to pursue such things. I doubt they'd do so for literally one-off gigs.

If Mike was doing dozen of technically "solo" gigs per year with the same band, wearing "Beach Boys" baseball caps and showing pics of the BBs on the video screen and prominently using the BB name in ads, then maybe BRI would take issue. Maybe.

[CenturyDeprived]

What Mike chooses to do with his concerts wouldn't be so grating if he didn't flout just about every complaint made *against* Al Jardine in 1999.

From a December 1999 Rolling Stone piece:

Jardine has worked some of the more
artistically heralded, yet less commercially successful material from Pet Sounds
to Holland into the set with the surf/car/fun songs. In doing this, Jardine has run
afoul of the corporation. From the complaint: “Much of Jardine’s repertoire with
Beach Boys Family and Friends include many songs that the Beach Boys do not
regularly play in concert, songs [that] are about many issues that are not traditionally
associated with the Beach Boys, i.e. cars, surf, girls and fun.” Here, Love may be
flouting his own rules, as some of the songs on his set list -- “In My Room,”
“God Only Knows” -- don’t exactly fit the criteria. Love has also turned much of
the set into an all-purpose oldies show, including such classics as “Duke of Earl”
and “Why Do Fools Fall In Love?”

If the Beach Boys were "whole", if they were all together, I wouldn't mind if they did solo stuff. A fully constituted Beach Boys doing respective solo material seems more on point than many of the covers of other artists they do.

But the problem here is that Mike licensing the BB name to tour, so the "group" and "solo" brands are being blurred, and the only person capitalizing on it is Mike. Unfortunately, unless the license has specific restrictions on what songs he could play (and it clearly doesn't; he's done everything from "Duke of Earl" to "Fire Brigade" to Christian Love songs to Mike solo songs, and everything in between), then any touring outfit can perform anything they want. So yeah, technically Mike could do *nothing but* solo songs at his "Beach Boys" shows.

Let's just see if, a year from now, Mike is still taking up FOUR song slots or more with his new original solo material.

And yeah, does anybody think Mike "Gatekeeper of the Setlist" Love would have let Al do FOUR songs from "A Postcard from California" during the C50 tour? Remember when Al mentioned before the C50 tour that he's like to do "Don't Fight the Sea?" Al didn't get *song one* in the setlist. Indeed, I'm pretty sure Al got ZERO picks of any kind during that tour apart from "California Saga."

I don’t know why Mike doesn’t just come out and flat out say that these rules don’t apply to him.  I mean his actions clearly prove that is his mindset, but he should just be explicitly say it. He could have “hypocrite“ baseball caps printed up that he could wear on the tour.

[KDS]

If Mike was doing dozen of technically "solo" gigs per year with the same band, wearing "Beach Boys" baseball caps and showing pics of the BBs on the video screen and prominently using the BB name in ads, then maybe BRI would take issue. Maybe.

I doubt it.  At BW shows, Al Jardine is regularly introduced as "original Beach Boy."  Brian's tours the last few years has used the iconic Pet Sounds font for merch, programs, and the BB name is used in some advertising. 

Plus, I'd think if Mike did a solo tour, it would likely be in intimate venues that wouldn't accommodate his video screen. 

[B.E.]

Unfortunately, unless the license has specific restrictions on what songs he could play (and it clearly doesn't; he's done everything from "Duke of Earl" to "Fire Brigade" to Christian Love songs to Mike solo songs, and everything in between), then any touring outfit can perform anything they want. So yeah, technically Mike could do *nothing but* solo songs at his "Beach Boys" shows.

I'm not sure if the little club gig Mike did the other night was billed as "The Beach Boys." But again, as long as any revenue is properly paid to BRI according to the licensing agreement, Mike can do a little club show as "The Beach Boys" and do all or mostly "solo" songs.

Sorry, but this is very hard to believe. What isn't so hard to believe is that BRI simply allows it to happen - not that they don't have any recourse under the licensing agreement. BRI owns the trademark. They have a say in how it is used. Where do you think this complaint came from?

From a December 1999 Rolling Stone piece:
complaint: “Much of Jardine’s repertoire with
Beach Boys Family and Friends include many songs that the Beach Boys do not
regularly play in concert, songs [that] are about many issues that are not traditionally
associated with the Beach Boys, i.e. cars, surf, girls and fun.”

I don’t know why Mike doesn’t just come out and flat out say that these rules don’t apply to him.  I mean his actions clearly prove that is his mindset, but he should just be explicitly say it. He could have “hypocrite“ baseball caps printed up that he could wear on the tour.

Maybe because they do apply to him? BRI just lets him off the hook.

[Matt H]

Why is Darlin' on here?  According to the liner notes Mike isn't on the track at all.