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Author Topic: Al Jardine - The Unsung Hero of BASS GUITAR  (Read 12452 times)
NateRuvin
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« on: February 19, 2018, 11:23:40 AM »

Al Jardine is often recognized as one of the most important vocalists and guitarists in The Beach Boys music, but his bass playing contributions are also very impressive. He played a lot of the signature bass lines, with a great feel and tone (provided by playing with a pick- like Ray Pohlman and Carol Kaye, who get most of the praise)

His impressive credits include

Catch A Wave, Wendy, I Get Around (doubled by Ray Pohlman and Glen Campbell), Fun Fun Fun, All Summer Long, She Knows Me Too Well, as well as many other classics. If you go back and listen to those records, you can see that Al was actually quite an accomplished bassist.
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« Reply #1 on: February 19, 2018, 01:01:16 PM »

Don't Worry Baby, Warmth of the Sun
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Rob Dean
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« Reply #2 on: February 19, 2018, 02:18:23 PM »

Yep, certainly credit where its due.
I really don't believe it has been widely recognised before, thus fair play to the OP
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« Reply #3 on: February 19, 2018, 03:00:20 PM »

This was a revelation to discover, now more than a decade ago or so, that Al had played bass on so many classic Beach Boys recordings. I'll never forget that upon interviewing him for the first time with that knowledge at hand in 2006 I immediately praised him for it, saying it's really fantastic that you played bass on these great Beach Boys sessions! His response was "It's only four strings." That is so typical Al.
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« Reply #4 on: February 19, 2018, 06:23:13 PM »

I believe Dance Dance Dance as well.
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« Reply #5 on: February 19, 2018, 06:26:32 PM »

Yet another testament to the talent that each member contributed to the group.   
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« Reply #6 on: February 19, 2018, 06:36:30 PM »

Awesome thread, I had no idea!
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« Reply #7 on: February 19, 2018, 07:24:59 PM »

I believe Dance Dance Dance as well.

He played guitar on that.


It's really hard to get Al to talk about his bass playing, for sure.
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All Summer Long
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« Reply #8 on: February 19, 2018, 08:04:41 PM »

Should we maybe make a list of the songs where Al played bass?
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Rob Dean
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« Reply #9 on: February 20, 2018, 12:22:21 AM »

Should we maybe make a list of the songs where Al played bass?

No we had better not, Carol Kaye will no doubt refute his claims   Roll Eyes
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« Reply #10 on: February 20, 2018, 06:02:47 AM »

Don't Worry Baby, Warmth of the Sun

Wow!  I knew about Catch a Wave and a few others, but didn't realize he played bass on those.  Fantastic!
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« Reply #11 on: February 20, 2018, 06:57:54 AM »

Al's a much better musician than he gets credit for, and better than even he usually lets on. As I've often mentioned, I caught him at a 2005 gig with a semi-pickup band, and Al did a number of the vintage Carl/Dave style leads. He can actually play some of those, but almost never does.

I liken Al's musicianship to being a bit like George Harrison in the 1967-ish timeframe. Harrison clearly had other interests and in some ways atrophied as a "lead" guitarist. He eventually got back in the groove, and also chose the path of something more unique to suit his style (slide). I think Al eventually had other guys in the live band (and in the studio) to do more of the musical heavy-lifting, so he never needed to progress his guitar playing. And certainly, while he occasionally strapped on the bass for a song here and there into the late 70s and early 80s, he eventually phased out any substantial amount of bass playing.

But I think the ability is intact when he chooses to use it. Not only can he do more leads than one might assume, but he can do some great acoustic guitar work, heard in stuff like his "Stars and Stripes" era re-recording of "California Saga."
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« Reply #12 on: February 20, 2018, 07:13:56 AM »

Where can I hear the re-recording of Cal Saga?
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« Reply #13 on: February 20, 2018, 09:08:45 AM »

Where can I hear the re-recording of Cal Saga?

You can hear a bit of it in the "Endless Harmony" soundtrack near the end, underneath footage of Al at his home.

The full song was released on an old CD bundled with an issue of ESQ, back around 2002 or 2004 or so I believe. I'm not sure if it's on YouTube or not; a quick search doesn't show it but there are a gazillion versions of the song so it's hard to say for sure.
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« Reply #14 on: February 20, 2018, 09:59:13 AM »

No doubt Al played some classic bass tracks on some all-time classic records. So the million-dollar question comes in 3...2...1...

Why didn't Al play bass on the road after Brian stopped touring regularly? The fact Al played bass on that many of the hits makes the decision to bring Glen Campbell, one of the best guitarists in LA, onto the stage and have him play bass while the guy who played a lot of the parts was there.

And overall, why didn't Al play more bass live through the years?
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« Reply #15 on: February 20, 2018, 12:38:12 PM »

No doubt Al played some classic bass tracks on some all-time classic records. So the million-dollar question comes in 3...2...1...

Why didn't Al play bass on the road after Brian stopped touring regularly? The fact Al played bass on that many of the hits makes the decision to bring Glen Campbell, one of the best guitarists in LA, onto the stage and have him play bass while the guy who played a lot of the parts was there.

And overall, why didn't Al play more bass live through the years?

Maybe it's as simple as he didn't want to?  I can't think of any other good reason that the de facto studio bassist for a few years  (kinda he was!) would not play bass on the road.
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« Reply #16 on: February 20, 2018, 01:23:50 PM »

Well he certainly played his share of bass on the road in 1963, but as GF stated once Brian was gone in '65 why didn't he resume his touring bass role? And Glen C in particular credited Al for helping him learn his bass parts when he joined. Perhaps it came down to the fact that it's easier to sing and play rhythm guitar than it is to sing and play bass. Give the harder job to the new guy, which Al kind of was in '63, but wasn't in '65.
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« Reply #17 on: February 20, 2018, 06:21:12 PM »

Yup it would seem to be he just didn't want to. It is hard and Al was singing singing most of the challenging falsettos at that point. There were numerous times where Al playing bass might have shored some things up in the live act. Didn't Dave Marks reportedly turned down a chance to rejoin in part because he would have to play bass?
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« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2018, 11:11:27 AM »

No doubt Al played some classic bass tracks on some all-time classic records. So the million-dollar question comes in 3...2...1...

Why didn't Al play bass on the road after Brian stopped touring regularly? The fact Al played bass on that many of the hits makes the decision to bring Glen Campbell, one of the best guitarists in LA, onto the stage and have him play bass while the guy who played a lot of the parts was there.

And overall, why didn't Al play more bass live through the years?

I'm guessing from my own experience, is that it's quite a bit more difficult to sing well and play bass well at the same time and in rhythm.
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« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2018, 11:49:13 AM »

Well he certainly played his share of bass on the road in 1963, but as GF stated once Brian was gone in '65 why didn't he resume his touring bass role? And Glen C in particular credited Al for helping him learn his bass parts when he joined. Perhaps it came down to the fact that it's easier to sing and play rhythm guitar than it is to sing and play bass. Give the harder job to the new guy, which Al kind of was in '63, but wasn't in '65.

I always figured that, with some scattered exceptions after Dave left and Al joined, and Brian missed shows on a one-off basis resulting in a four-piece, they wanted to stay as a five-piece lineup to flesh the sound out (particularly the vocals).

So if Al had switched to bass in '65, they still would have brought someone else on that would have presumably then either played rhythm guitar or played some utilitarian role jumping around (which is eventually what Bruce became switching between organ and bass). I'm guessing Al either let it be known he'd prefer to play guitar and therefore they sought out "Brian" replacements that could play mostly bass, or they simply kept the other members locked into their positions in '65 and wanted to a straight bass-for-bass replacement in replacing Brian.

I think at least through the late 60s, Bruce, Al, and Carl all played bass at one time or another. So I think it was a lot of switching around.

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« Reply #20 on: February 21, 2018, 12:04:23 PM »

Here's Al during a fill-in stint for Brian while Dave was still in the band:



Here's one of the weird cases post-Dave where Brian missed an afternoon show and Al just played bass (playing Brian's white Precision Bass it should be noted). This is Cupertino High School in March of '64:



Al on bass circa 1977:



Here's Al on bass in 1985:



And of course, just last month:


« Last Edit: February 21, 2018, 12:13:37 PM by HeyJude » Logged

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« Reply #21 on: February 21, 2018, 01:28:59 PM »

Those pics are so cool. Al in general is one cool dude.
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« Reply #22 on: February 21, 2018, 01:42:15 PM »

Does anybody know the last time he played bass in the beach boys? I was surprised to see Al playing bass when I first saw the 1983 Seattle show. I didn't know he was playing bass that late in the group.
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« Reply #23 on: February 22, 2018, 08:23:48 AM »

Shout out to Blossom Music Center! My neck of the woods!
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« Reply #24 on: February 22, 2018, 10:42:55 AM »

I saw Al playing bass with the BBs on at least one number in Dec. 1984.
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