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Author Topic: Beach Boys Easter Seals Show 1979  (Read 7791 times)
adamghost
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« on: October 15, 2018, 02:18:15 PM »

This just showed up. Don't know if it's made the rounds before but I hadn't seen it.

Mike on lead vocals for "Good Timin'."

Bruce plays guitar.

Brian tries out a little freestyle vocal improv in spots (end of "Good Vibrations") and looks very bored for the camera.

Classic Carl reax to a bad falsetto note at 6:12.

https://youtu.be/GJ72t7tsAOc
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 02:19:25 PM by adamghost » Logged
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« Reply #1 on: October 15, 2018, 02:32:42 PM »

It made the rounds for years on VHS, etc. I have it buried away somewhere on VHS. I think this was up on YouTube YEARS ago, but not for a long time.

Nice to see it back up. Maybe someday someone will have an explanation for why Mike was saddled with singing "Good Timin'" with Carl standing right there in perfect voice. An explanation other than "why not?"
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« Reply #2 on: October 15, 2018, 02:51:14 PM »

I've seen parts of it and I've been reading for years about Mike singing Good Timin'. Couldn't really believe it until now! They still did Surfin' USA so there really was no need for an extra showcase for Mike. After all there is no Al lead and by then Lady Lynda was a minor US and huge UK hit, right?
Despite this being a subpar performance I actually dig if the boys (or any other group for that matter) trade lead vocals. Just strange choice doing it when they were trying to promote the song and album on TV.

So now we know Carl, Dennis, Mike, Brian, John Stamos and Chris Farmer tackled this song, anyone else in the Beach Boys universe. Probably John Cowsill?
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 02:51:56 PM by Beach Boy » Logged

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CenturyDeprived
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« Reply #3 on: October 15, 2018, 03:03:14 PM »

It made the rounds for years on VHS, etc. I have it buried away somewhere on VHS. I think this was up on YouTube YEARS ago, but not for a long time.

Nice to see it back up. Maybe someday someone will have an explanation for why Mike was saddled with singing "Good Timin'" with Carl standing right there in perfect voice. An explanation other than "why not?"

A few thoughts...

The song is just not the same with Mike singing it. It's just really not. Interesting curio, nonetheless.

Watching late '70s Mike sing the lyric "celebration" makes me wonder if his side project band name and this lyric had any influence on each other.

I could do without the Mike planet orbiting hand miming during "the Earth keeps turning" lyric. Really I could. Not that it's unexpected, just as unnecessary as the hand-mimed gunshot during the "assassinations" lyric his live performance of "Looking Back with Love". Mike must be killer at charades though with all the miming experience.

« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 03:29:40 PM by CenturyDeprived » Logged
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« Reply #4 on: October 15, 2018, 03:42:00 PM »

Brian looks super cool.
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« Reply #5 on: October 15, 2018, 03:44:47 PM »

Here's my assumption on why they had Mike sing "Good Timin'" on this appearance:  notice that Dennis is missing. Dennis was given the lead for that song when they played three nights at Radio City Music Hall in early March to launch the L.A. (Light Album). Although at the time, Dennis said something like, "Carl's too shy to sing it", I think the real reason is that Carl was handling the essential high falsetto background part (which he also sang on the record, in addition to the lead - although he had wanted Brian to sing the lead). This Easter Seals show was soon after that, as was their appearance on the Midnight Special, and although they didn't do the song there, they did rehearse it - again with Dennis on lead. By May, Carl was singing the "Good Timin'" lead live, even when Dennis was present. So I can only assume that by that point, Bobby Figueroa had practiced and stretched his voice out enough to where he could take over that falsetto part, and let Carl assume the lead, as he did on record. That's the only thing I can think of that makes sense, as neither Dennis nor Mike sang the lead particularly well.
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adamghost
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« Reply #6 on: October 15, 2018, 03:47:46 PM »

Here's my assumption on why they had Mike sing "Good Timin'" on this appearance:  notice that Dennis is missing. Dennis was given the lead for that song when they played three nights at Radio City Music Hall in early March to launch the L.A. (Light Album). Although at the time, Dennis said something like, "Carl's too shy to sing it", I think the real reason is that Carl was handling the essential high falsetto background part (which he also sang on the record, in addition to the lead - although he had wanted Brian to sing the lead). This Easter Seals show was soon after that, as was their appearance on the Midnight Special, and although they didn't do the song there, they did rehearse it - again with Dennis on lead. By May, Carl was singing the "Good Timin'" lead live, even when Dennis was present. So I can only assume that by that point, Bobby Figueroa had practiced and stretched his voice out enough to where he could take over that falsetto part, and let Carl assume the lead, as he did on record. That's the only thing I can think of that makes sense, as neither Dennis nor Mike sang the lead particularly well.

This is my thinking as well. I also think the band couldn't handle the (overdubbed by Carl and Bruce) verse vocal parts without him, so Carl delegated the lead to someone else. They really struggle on the backup vocals on the later versions with Carl singing lead.
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« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2018, 04:08:52 PM »

I assume Dennis was not here due to his inconsistency?
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« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2018, 04:16:16 PM »

I think Dennis may have been booted by the Band at that point. I was at 2 of the Radio City shows, and I remember Dennis being really disruptive on stage, as he seemed smashed. He knocked over a whole tray of beer as I recall, and he was the only one laughing about it. I was near the front of the stage and the band and especially the Lovester, were not happy. And p.S. I heard th esame thing as mentioned above about why Carl didn't sing the lead om Good Timin, makes alot of sense.
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« Reply #9 on: October 15, 2018, 05:13:29 PM »

Dennis missed some shows here and there in early '79, but his nearly year-long "boot" didn't occur until June, after the Universal Ampitheater shows (and during his "sabbatical", he still played a show in Hawaii that August and a handful of western state shows in November). And, correction to my comment above - they played four shows at Radio City Music Hall that March, not three.  Smiley
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« Reply #10 on: October 15, 2018, 06:33:47 PM »

This is where a bunch of those epic "Brian as Gotham Detective Harvey Bullock" pics came from:


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« Reply #11 on: October 15, 2018, 06:35:04 PM »

Brian looks super coo
« Last Edit: October 15, 2018, 06:36:33 PM by The LEGENDARY OSD » Logged

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« Reply #12 on: October 15, 2018, 06:36:50 PM »

I remember Dennis being really disruptive on stage, as he seemed smashed. He knocked over a whole tray of beer as I recall, and he was the only one laughing about it. I was near the front of the stage and the band and especially the Lovester, were not happy.

"You're out of the band, Buckwheat!"
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« Reply #13 on: October 15, 2018, 06:37:41 PM »

This is where a bunch of those epic "Brian as Gotham Detective Harvey Bullock" pics came from:




Love that '79 yellow Pinto in the background.
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« Reply #14 on: October 16, 2018, 06:12:57 AM »

The "Mike filling in for Dennis" theory has always seemed the most plausible to me out of the available potential obvious reasons. It's still a screwy decision though. Yes, it allows Carl to sing the falsetto backing part. But, even being as kind a possible to Mike, the song is just so out of his wheelhouse even for his 1979 voice and comes off so tentative and "undersung" when he does it, the obvious first impression on any potential audience is going to be far more poor with Mike out front singing *that* lead than the alternative of Carl singing it and either Bruce or Bobby singing that falsetto part and the rest of the backing vocals sounding a bit thinner, or nobody singing that falsetto part and the group backing vocals sounding a bit thicker.

Dennis didn't sound *amazing* singing the lead (in the few examples we have), but he sounds okay, far better still than this Mike performance. Dennis's voice was raspy when singing the song, but he didn't sing it flat or awkwardly or tentatively.

And, as it turned out, most 1979-1980 and 1982 live performances I've heard with Carl on lead have a pretty minimal falsetto vocal (presumably via Bobby Figueroa), and in some cases either due to performance of mix variances, there is virtually *no* falsetto part and you just hear the "good, good timin" group backing vocals. And it sounds okay. The Washington DC '80 TV special/DVD is a good example of this. You can hear a bit of a falsetto part peeking through, but barely. That performance still comes across much better than the '79 Easter Seals performance.
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« Reply #15 on: October 16, 2018, 06:25:52 AM »

A lot of this theorizing seems to come from the wrong place. 

Assume: they are booked to play one of these 10 minute tv gigs.  They get to play a song of their choice, Good Vibrations, and Surfin USA.  This happened multiple times in this era.
Assume: Good Timin' is their current single.
Assume: Dennis is out for whatever reason.  It isn't a super complicated verse and anyone *should* be able to do a passable job. 
Assume: Since its on tv Mike needs something to do while on stage during this song.  The others he either gets to sing lead on the verses or on the chorus. 
Assume: Carl shines with those falsettos, and they know that and tend to spotlight it.
Therefore: It makes more sense for Mike to sing Good Timin' than anyone else.  It looks best on tv, and that is a lot more important at that time than whatever talent bump that would come from reorganizing the structure.
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« Reply #16 on: October 16, 2018, 09:23:04 AM »

I would indeed imagine some variation of "Mike filling in for Dennis" is the root of the choice. And sure, this is all over-analysis. It's just a curio; I've always been fascinated by Mike singing this song this one time, and it doesn't anger me or trouble me. It was a quick TV gig and I'm sure they never thought about it again.

I think the succession of events above is quite plausible as to what their thinking was. But it doesn't make it actually make sense as an observer, then or now.

But I certainly don't buy the "Mike needs something to do" idea; they band had regularly over the years appeared on TV (and of course in concert) and featured other vocalists where Mike didn't have much to do. Mike sings backing vocals. The same year, Mike backed Dennis singing "Angel Come Home" on "Midnight Special." Presumably, Mike would have been backing Dennis singing "Good Timin'" at this Easter Seals gig had Dennis been there and sang it.

And again, and I'm not trying to be overly-harsh on Mike (Brian sounded pretty blargh singing "Good Timin" on the C50 tour too; the song evidently *seems* much easier to sing than it actually is), but he sounds really stilted and tentative (to put it politely) singing "Good Timin'" on this TV show. More harshly, he's kind of flat and the tone and timbre of his voice is completely wrong for the song (even in '78 he could use a "smooth" voice on other songs better-suited for his voice, like some of the MIU tracks). In terms of presentation, performance, and sound, it makes a million times more sense to have Carl sing it, or even Brian or Bruce or Al.

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« Reply #17 on: October 16, 2018, 09:53:49 AM »

I see I'm not the only one who thinks "Good Timin", vocally, sounded a little off-key and stilted. Not a good performance.

Actually, hearing this TV clip of that song, the song itself isn't holding up too well after the years. The verses meander, a lot of dead air so to speak. A lot of the later 70's original tracks have that same drawback to these ears, where there may be a workable or even solid hook or chorus, but the way the song got to that could be too drifting in nature.

Anyway...something was off in the mix too. Compare this to the Knebworth videos. Roughly the same era. Knebworth for all the flaws did have some all-out rocking powerful moments. The closest here on this tape is the closer, and it's marred by the TV studio mix.
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« Reply #18 on: October 16, 2018, 10:02:55 AM »

Wow -

I have never seen the entire band looking so sharp dressed before!
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« Reply #19 on: October 16, 2018, 09:25:12 PM »

Hearing Brian ad libbing through Good Vibrations was interesting.

Edit: Does anybody know who the long haired guy playing keyboard is?
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« Reply #20 on: October 16, 2018, 11:02:08 PM »

Random observation: Jack Klugman doesn't seem to have liked Good Timin.  LOL
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« Reply #21 on: October 16, 2018, 11:21:19 PM »

Hearing Brian ad libbing through Good Vibrations was interesting.

Edit: Does anybody know who the long haired guy playing keyboard is?

The guy in the back next to Carli? I believe that's Phil Shenale. And Sterling Smith is on grand piano. Note that with Bruce on the Wurlitzer for "Good Timin'", there was no room onstage for Brian (too many keyboard players)!.
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« Reply #22 on: October 17, 2018, 11:28:04 AM »

Random observation: Jack Klugman doesn't seem to have liked Good Timin.  LOL



The Klug-ster probably would have scowled a little less if Carl had done the lead  LOL

Side note: It almost looks like they stole the set of The Price is Right for this telethon.
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« Reply #23 on: October 17, 2018, 12:12:39 PM »



Quote


Side note: It almost looks like they stole the set of The Price is Right for this telethon.

Mike Love! Come on down! You are the latest contestant on "The Pitch is Wrong"!
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« Reply #24 on: October 17, 2018, 03:35:03 PM »

LOL
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