Al: [...] This year we are supporting the UMG release, a boxed set coming out this fall with “The Beach Boys Love You” (the group’s 1977 cult album) on it. So that encourages them to promote the tour, which is nice, to be getting a little collaboration there. So we might actually get some bookings for ‘26 out of this, which would be very helpful. Because the band wants to keep working, because we love Brian’s music… including the more esoteric stuff, like this boxed set, which has unreleased music from the “Love You” album, which hardly anybody probably has ever heard, and “15 Big Ones.” So there’s a lot of stuff in there that we can educate people about, because we can actually perform it, which is pretty remarkable. There’s some serious music in there.
It was exciting to hear not just that you were touring, but that you will be doing some of the little-played stuff from the mid-’70 era this particular boxed set represents. Because “Beach Boys Love You” is my favorite Beach Boys album…Al: Are you serious?
Of course. For some of us, for some reason, that one is dearest to our hearts.Al: That’s amazing. May I ask what your favorite songs are on it? Or which you would prefer to lose if you had your druthers?
Well, this is not just because you sing lead on it, but speaking honestly… just as a lifelong thing, once you’ve heard it, it’s hard to ever stop humming “Honking Down the Highway.”Al: Ah, man, that is great. Well, listen to my version of it on “Postcard from California” and you’ll hear how I added a baritone saxophone solo in it, by the sax player from the Billy Joel band… and that’s the version we’re gonna try to do this summer. Plus, I’ll be singing Mike’s lead on “Roller Skating Child,” and my son Matt will do “The Night Was So Young.” Darian Sahanaja, the musical director, wants to do “Johnny Carson,” of all things. And “Airplane,” that’s the other big one. That gives us some breadth and depth. … Brian, he is so quirky about everything, and that’s why the album is interesting to you, because it’s quirky. Everything about it is so interesting. And very few people… I’m impressed that you even know about it.
And the album that came before it, “15 Big Ones,” which is also part of the box… will you be playing anything from that on tour, too?Al: Yeah. It’s gonna be crazy. I’m gonna need a three-hour show or something. Right now our first dates are in casinos, and we have some outdoor shows, which are always restrictive to time, if there are other people on the show, so I’m not sure how much we’re gonna be able to get done on those first few shows. I think we’ll definitely be able to plumb a few extras.
I’m thinking about “15 Big Ones,” and songs like “Rock and Roll Music.” There’s one that I haven’t even heard since we recorded it, called “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” by Bill Haley and the Comets. That was one that never made the album. I found a lyric sheet for it sitting in a pile of trash just the other day, which is kind of weird, on a nice legal pad. There weren’t any background parts with Bill Haley, except they were shouting the theme. But we had many background parts worked out that I had written out, and I’m going, “Holy tamale, I’ve gotta hear this again.” I even took a picture of the lyrics for the boxed set so they could see it, because you don’t often see stuff like that of ours written out.
Anything else you could share about the boxed set?Al: Yeah, there’s an unreleased album called “Adult Child.” I haven’t even heard the songs on it for 50 years, or at least 30, so I hope they send me an approval box. It was supposed to come out after our last Warner Bros. release — maybe it was after “Love You” that it was supposed to come out — but we rejected it, or somebody rejected it, either us or the label. Incredible stuff on there. You’re going to be really pleased.
https://variety.com/2025/music/news/al-jardine-beach-boys-ep-islands-in-sun-tour-interview-1236413758/
Author
