Documentary!

[Zenobi]

35. Baby Blue Bathing Suit (Bonus Track) – Stephen Sanchez (3:15)

What the hell is that? 

Pretty good tracklisting imo. It's certainly not your typical best of and I think newcomers will be pleasantly surprised. Nothing new for the hardcore fans but that's probably to be expected after all the rare stuff we got during the last years and - may I say - decades.



Mike Love talks new documentary, 'The Beach Boys'

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RhsXlOwaTfo&pp=ygUKYmVhY2ggYm95cw%3D%3D

Sorry Mike, but that first question about Stamos made me close the browser.

[HeyJude]

I get it, it's not easy to find someone who is both deeply knowledgeable about the band and also a good director.

But I think they could have picked someone who "gets it" more than Marshall. I don't need the director to know the lyrics to "Stevie" and "That Special Feeling".

Really, they should have paired a good director who gets it with Alan Boyd and Howie Edelson. Boyd did a good job of telling the story in 1998. Would have been interesting to see what Boyd could have come up with, with the budget that Marshall was given.

In that Q&A before the IMAX screening, they literally asked Marshall why he did the film, and he essentially had no answer. He rattled off something about the music being timeless. I cut these events and promotions plenty of slack in having to offer soundbites and platitudes, but really a lot of the stuff these people have to say, it sounds less sincere and convincing than Patrick Duffy's script for the "25th Anniversary" special.

I suspect Marshall's answer is "they offered the gig and I took it; I'm bored".

It's true; doing a documentary on a well know musical act is not easy. Even Martin Scorsese's Harrison documentary was kind of lackluster.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

I might be the only one here who likes the Stephen Sanchez song (and I happen to be a fan of his anyway ).

Just a reminder of how little I have in common with the BB fandom these days lol

[bossaroo]

you can like the song and the singer but it still has no place on a Beach Boys 60th anniversary documentary soundtrack. smfh

[Pretty Funky]

We’ll just watched it here in NZ. 7pm drop time so very lucky.
Actually, I was pleasantly surprised. Finally a documentary that chronologically explains the Al, David, Al, Glen, Bruce coming and goings with correct video and pictures.
While I hope we will eventually see more Paradise Cove footage. What you get is perfect for THIS project. Between Mike talking about Brian, then cutting to Paradise Cove….Have a tissue ready. 🥲

[HeyJude]

The film comes across as if funding was cut off 30% into production and they decided to go ahead and try to finish it and release it anyway.

[HeyJude]

One can't help but find elements of the story and some interview clips affecting. But as a film, that was stunningly rushed and abbreviated. The film doesn't really cut off in 1974 so much as it mostly stops in like 1967 and then speed runs through 1974 in the last 10 minutes or so. 

It's like they were halfway through editing and were given 24 hours to finish it.  How bizarre. 

[Zenobi]

I am glad if the documentary is decent. Personally, I am not spending money on Disney, the butcherers of Star Wars. Have no sympathy for the project however, for how F. M. treated freakin' AL JARDINE, for the Paradise Cove "problem", and for Baby Blue Bathing Suit. More than enough is more than enough. And I think we don't need yet another narrative where the Beach Boys did nothing important after 1966/1967.

[Zenobi]

Just listened to BBBS (for some reason, I like this acronym a lot). I have to agree with AGD on this... speaking very politely, abysmal.

[Heywood]

From The Guardian review -

(At one fantastic juncture, Love posits the theory that Brian Wilson’s mental problems would have been lessened had people realised that there was at least one other genius in the band, namely Mike Love.)

Does seem to be alot of Mike going *What about me/us!" Could have done without Kokomo over the credits too

[Joel Goldenberg]

Pretty nice sounding stereo mix of Surfin' Safari in the documentary.

[Joel Goldenberg]

Does anyone know the year and source of the archival interviews where Brian's voice is at its most youthful?

[HeyJude]

Pretty nice sounding stereo mix of Surfin' Safari in the documentary.

I dunno,  but it sure sounded like a lot of the audio interview clips were off speed, running too fast. 

[HeyJude]

Far from the biggest issue,  but why does the copy of the 1980 DC show they used at the end for "Darlin'" look and sound like they took an old VHS rip off of YouTube?  There's a pristine Japanese DVD of it they could have used. 

[pixletwin]

I might be the only one here who likes the Stephen Sanchez song (and I happen to be a fan of his anyway ).

Just a reminder of how little I have in common with the BB fandom these days lol

I like him too. Viral song hit and the whole album is pretty good.

you can like the song and the singer but it still has no place on a Beach Boys 60th anniversary documentary soundtrack. smfh

But, I definitely agree with bossaroo. Including it is a real headscratcher. Corporate buying incentive for knewbies I guess.

[Tony S]

It's ok for what it is, it wasn't designed to be a dig deep documentary. It was well produced and the music sounded great, loved the new interviews too. But it seemed like it rushed the last 1/2 hour or so, from the 60's to the end. Too bad it didn't end in 1980, but just very rushed. But I enjoyed what there was of it.

[Lonely Summer]

I am glad if the documentary is decent. Personally, I am not spending money on Disney, the butcherers of Star Wars. Have no sympathy for the project however, for how F. M. treated freakin' AL JARDINE, for the Paradise Cove "problem", and for Baby Blue Bathing Suit. More than enough is more than enough. And I think we don't need yet another narrative where the Beach Boys did nothing important after 1966/1967.

Amen!

[Emdeeh]

Could have done without Kokomo over the credits too

"Kokomo" is linked with the film Cocktail, which was released by Disney's Buena Vista / Touchstone pictures. No way Disney's not going to include it in the doc. The credits are the perfect place.

My question is what's the deal with ADITLOAT being played over the Paradise Cove footage?

[feelintheflows]

Just watched. It’s what I was expecting. Definitely a mixed bag and then some. Disappointment is to be expected when you’re a hard-core Beach Boys fan. Definitely not definitive, but whatever. This is what happens when you match Disney with a Director who probably is not a true beach boys fan. We need people like Alan Boyd, Howie Edelson at the helm. This should’ve been like a 7 to 10 part series with each hour or two focusing on 4-5 years and stuff like that it would’ve been more Focused and direct in my opinion.
I’ll stick with the E! True Hollywood Story, The Endless Harmony Documentary, Brian Wilson Songwriter and Dennis Wilson The Real Beach Boy.

[juggler]

The SF Chronicle this morning aptly described the film as a "Cliffs Notes" version of Beach Boys history.  

I didn't hate the film.  It is what it is... a mostly sanitized,  mostly glossy, candy-colored promo film for the "Beach Boys" brand that is now majority owned by outside investors who intend to monetize this brand into perpetuity.

But I didn't love it.  Other than a bit of home-movie footage, there was nothing new here. Nada, zilch.

I guess the thing that bothered me most was omission of any sort of discussion of the deaths of Dennis and Carl.  On one level, I get it that if your goal is basically to make a glossy promo fiim, Dennis' tragic final act along with Carl's illness and death are kinda buzzkill.  Still, you torpedo the conceit that this is a documentary rather than a promo film when you make such a glaring omission.

Also, I thought it was strange that Smile was discussed in a weirdly anachronistic way with just pre-2004 clips of Brian, Mike, VDP and Carl discussing the topic.  Hell, if you're going to do that, at least put a note in the closing credits explaining that Brian revisited Smile to great success and the Smile box won a couple Grammies etc.

[Joel Goldenberg]

A couple of things I did like:
1. Seeing a few more seconds of that footage of 1970s Brian looking at the camera and hiding his face, now in color and including Marilyn.
2. Brian's smile at Paradise Cove when he greets Al.

Thoughts about Mike getting choked up in that interview near the end?

[HeyJude]

To be clear,  this isn't pedantic superfan nitpicking.  This was not good filmmaking or storytelling.  It was regressive and reductive on key topics (Smile, the group's feelings about the genius narrative,  etc.), and the pacing and coverage of post-1967 was the documentary film equivalent of someone rushing through the end of an awards show speech as the house orchestra starts playing music to edge you off the stage.

[Rocker]

I guess the thing that bothered me most was omission of any sort of discussion of the deaths of Dennis and Carl.  

Really?! 

[juggler]

I guess the thing that bothered me most was omission of any sort of discussion of the deaths of Dennis and Carl.  

Really?!  

Yes, really.    

One could argue that the makers of this film tip their hand with respect to their values by omitting the tragedies of Dennis' and Carl's deaths while simultaneously devoting so much time to a different "tragedy"... i.e., Murry's ownership and sale of Sea of Tunes and the related aspect of Sea of Tunes' mistreatment of Mike Love.  Is that story really so terribly interesting and important to the legacy?  All parties concerned here are multi, multimillionaires, right?  Is it really so tragic that they're not even richer? The filmmakers think so, apparently, and that's perhaps the Rosetta Stone of understanding this film.

As I mentioned above, this isn't truly a documentary.  It's a promotional film posing as a documentary.  What's it promoting?  A brand called "The Beach Boys" which boils down to a collection of timeless songs created 1962-67 along with a "California dream" of sunny beaches, beautiful girls and fast cars.   I think it's pretty obvious what happened  here.  A couple years ago, Irving Azoff's Iconic bought a majority stake in BRI/The Beach Boys.  Azoff is an executive produer of this film.  He commissioned this film as re-introduction of a newly acquired asset.  This is business, not art.  

[guitarfool2002]

I guess the thing that bothered me most was omission of any sort of discussion of the deaths of Dennis and Carl.  

Really?!  

Yes, really.    

One could argue that the makers of this film tip their hand with respect to their values by omitting the tragedies of Dennis' and Carl's deaths while simultaneously devoting so much time to a different "tragedy"... i.e., Murry's ownership and sale of Sea of Tunes and the related aspect of Sea of Tunes' mistreatment of Mike Love.  Is that story really so terribly interesting and important to the legacy?  All parties concerned here are multi, multimillionaires, right?  Is it really so tragic that they're not even richer? The filmmakers think so, apparently, and that's perhaps the Rosetta Stone of understanding this film.

As I mentioned above, this isn't truly a documentary.  It's a promotional film posing as a documentary.  What's it promoting?  A brand called "The Beach Boys" which boils down to a collection of timeless songs created 1962-67 along with a "California dream" of sunny beaches, beautiful girls and fast cars.   I think it's pretty obvious what happened  here.  A couple years ago, Irving Azoff's Iconic bought a majority stake in BRI/The Beach Boys.  Azoff is an executive produer of this film.  He commissioned this film as re-introduction of a newly acquired asset.  This is business, not art.  

Nailed it. Al also answered the reason why they devoted that much to the Sea Of Tunes topic: It's the narrative according to Mike. Simple as that.