I've given a listen to a relatively huge number of live BB shows, and I think that the BB's could be pretty impressive and sometimes quite horrible. In the early-mid 60's, they sounded quite solid, if not as polished as the studio recordings. If you listen to, say, the Michigan '66 live tracks, you hear a pretty polished band, especially considering that by that time they were playing "Good Vibrations" and some "Pet Sounds" stuff. Interestingly, the 1966 BB's were probably a more solid live band thatn the tired, ragged 1966 live Beatles, even though I feel the Beatles were all better musicians. This is proven (in my opinion) by the fact that if you listen to the Beatles' 1969 rooftop concert, which is the closest approximation to what the Beatles could have sounded like had they toured in 1969, the Beatles smoke compared either to past Beatles shows as well as any circa 1969 (or earlier) BB show.

Around 1967, the BB shows started to mirror the contemporary recordings of the time, thus a more laid-back, sparse sound. This could still sometimes sound tight, while other times it could sound pretty sloppy.

By 1968-69, they were sounding more solid again, as is evidenced by the generally enjoyable "Live in London" album. Of course, it was in 1967 and into 68 when they started to use backing musicians.

The pre-Blondie/Ricky early 70's shows were pretty impressive, with the band pulling off tracks like "Surf's Up." When Blondie and Ricky joined, they did hit their peak in terms of musicianship, a more rocking sound, and what was one of the last times their sound was really in line with the contemporary sound of live shows.

When the "Brian's Back" era hit, the BB's still had a bunch of backing musicians, but it seems as if Brian either directly or indirectly brought the quality of the live shows down with him. Carl sounds mildly drunk at shows as early as January 1977, culminating in the infamous collapsing incident in Febuary or March of 1978 in Australia. Carl got his act together soon after. Brian, who had been pretty active in live shows in 1977 and part of 1978, withdrew more by 1979 and was usually just off to the side adding a few vocal bits on songs like "Sloop John B" and "Surfer Girl." Dennis was absent for around a year from mid '79 to mid '80.

Many see 1980 as a turning point with the live band, but I think even in 1980 they sounded pretty strong overall. The 1980 tour was one of the last times that the actual BB's on stage outnumbered the backing members, as there were usually 6 BB's and only 3-4 backing musicians.

I believe 1981 was the turning point both in terms of setlist and performance quality. Carl left, and the BB's performed what has to be their worst-sounding live show that was ever broadcast, the July 5th Queen Mary show in Long Beach. Everybody in the band sounded horrible, including several of the backing band (Baker, Knapp). Carter, Meros, and Figueroa were still on their game, but it wasn't enough.

When Carl returned in mid-1982, one of his conditions for returning was that the band rehearsed more. This sounds to be the case, as shows from 1982 into 1983 sound markedly better, helped by the addition of Jeff Foskett in late 1981 and the return of Billy Hinsche in 1982. But by this time, a live BB show was really hit and miss. In general, especially by the late 80's, they usually sounded the same: Generally tight musicianship-wise (save Kowalski's drumming), and vocally middle of the road. They were certainly able to pick up their game, as is heard from the late 1993 "boxed set tour" shows.

BB shows from any time period could occasionally sound pretty dreadful, and this was the case moreso in the post-1975 period as Jon Stebbins referred to. But this generally had little to do with Dennis' drumming or Al's guitar playing. Dennis often had a second drummer in later years, and when he didn't have a second drummer, that meant he was on his game. Al's guitar playing, which is actualy quite solid, was never a big part of the mix (and I'm talking literally about the sound mix), nor was Bruce's keyboard. Carl was always solid on his few lead guitar spots. By the time they had a significant live backing band by the early 70's, the BB's could never bring a show down themselves based on their musicianship. The main thing the actual official BB's brought to the shows was their vocals, and this is what they often succeeded and failed on.

The BB's are about vocals and the songs, while Stevie Ray Vaughn and those of his ilk are much more about the musicianship; the virtuoso nature of one player. To me, I'd much rather hear a good *song* without any virtuoso musicianship as opposed to some flaming guitar playing with mediocre or repetitive song material. In terms of Stevie Ray Vaught specifically, for someone who isn't a fan of his, I've ended up hearing and watching him quite a bit because a friend of mine is a big fan of his. He was a great guitar player, but I just could never enjoy a full set of his music. It's too much 12-bar blues stuff with busy guitar playing all over it.

Anybody who listens to live recordings or goes to live shows primarily to hear a live act whose main showcase is musicianship more than the actual song material or group vocals, is going to be disappointed by most live BB material.

Van Dyke Parks is overrated, for sure, but "columnated ruins domino" is the best lyric I can think of to fit that part of the song. Better than something like, "Don't you sweet baby I love you so" or "I popped the clutch in time and man I flew". The music of Surf's Up is not fit for the lyrics of I Get Around.

I think it was Elvis Costello who said (in the "Endless Harmony" documentary, I believe) that the words to "Surf's Up" sound good when they are sung. In other words, the alliteration and how the sounds of the words go together, as opposed to what the words mean or what they can be interpreted to mean. This is how I feel about most of VDP's lyrics. I'm not terribly interesting in dissecting potential meanings, but most of his words on those BB songs sound good when sung.

I think I've heard of (but have never heard) this recording. Is there any music on it, or just talking with Brian?

This is how I rank the Beach Boys' drummers:

1. Hal Blaine
2. Jim Gordon
3. Ricky Fataar
4. Bobby Figueroa
5. Mike Kowalski
6. Dennis Wilson

I would rate Mike Kowalski at the bottom of that list. Not only is he by far the worst drummer I've ever heard play with the BB's, he's the worst live drummer I've ever heard playing with even a half-way successful or notable band. Interestingly, the examples of Kowalski's drumming during his first stint with the live group in the late 60's/early 70's sounds pretty decent. But when he returned in 1982 or 83, and since that time, his drumming has been awful almost uniformly. He drops beats, often sounds awkward in general, and sounds stiff overall. On *some* of the BB stuff, it's pretty easy to just do a basic 4/4 thing and make it sound decent, but Kowalski has often managed to make even that sound pretty subpar.

Since we're talking live shows here primarily, I don't think it works to even rate the studio drummers like Blaine against the live drummers. As far as live drummers, I'd say Fataar and Figueroa were somewhat comparable (they even played together for a time, as did Figueroa and Kowalski), and Dennis at his worst was still somewhat better than Kowalski. Dennis at his best was, in my mind, pretty darn decent. Listen even to shows from 1980 when he was starting to really go downhill, and he still pulls it off pretty well.

There's another interview from that time, maybe it's the same, where Bruce says really awful things about "Smile" and not the nicest things about Brian, if I remember correctly

I'd like to read that. I never thought Bruce to have a sour bone in his body.

I don't know about that interview, but I remember that a few years ago when Bruce started appearing on the Beach Boys Britain message board, he made some comments, particularly about Brian, that I found to be pretty insulting. He called Brian's band something along the lines of a "tribute band", and I think this was also around the same time that he referred to attempts to release archival BB material as "bottomfeeding."

Interestingly, it seemed to me that when the fans weren't responding very postively to some of Bruce's comments, particularly when it came to Brian's band, it wasn't long before Bruce was all of a sudden posting about how great Brian's touring was and how he recommended every fan to go see Brian's show, etc.

Certainly Bruce is not always postive and glowing. Just read his commonly cited quote about the "Surf's Up" album! "A big, hyped up lie!"

A few thoughts:

Regarding Al's guitar skills, for a long time I assumed he was a solid rhythm guitarist and never intended or wanted to be a flashy lead guitarist. I still believe this is true, but last year when I saw Al perform (at a charity show with Stevie Heger's band), it really blew my mind that Al was actually playing some of the lead parts on stuff like "Sail on Sailor", "409", and "Fun Fun Fun", and he sounded pretty good! I had always heard people say Al sometimes didn't even turn his guitar up or didn't have it mixed up during some songs at BB shows, and maybe that was true, but at this show I was able to not only hear his leads, but his impressive rhythm guitar playing ability. Certainly he's not a virtuoso, but he's a much better guitarist than I had previously believed.

I remember reading an interview once where Eric Clapton said that George Harrison could have been as great of a gutiarist as Clapton or Hendrix or any other hot shots if Harrison had really wanted to. While some may believe this is somewhat of a stretch, I do believe that people that are so inherently talented and musical in any different number of ways, be it Harrison or Al Jardine, have the inherent ability to become much better at a number of musical pursuits if they ever care to. Harrison wasn't interested in being better than Clapton, and certainly Al Jardine was never concerned about even being the best guitarist in the Beach Boys, let alone be compared to anybody else. But I think someone like Al Jardine has the inherent musical gift that means he could have been a more impressive guitarist if he had wanted to.

Regarding David Marks, I'll wait until Jon Stebbins' book before I even begin to pick apart Marks' input on actual BB recordings, because I'm sure there is a lot of new information to clear up about that. But my sense about Marks has always been that he may be a great guitarist, but even in his latter-day stint with the touring BB's, he never got much of a chance to show this. I've seen the video of the show Marks did with the then in-limbo "Beach Boys" in May 1998 (the show where Al is gone, but Matt Jardine is still there), and it seems like apart from a few solo spots doing the solo bits Carl had used to in concert, Marks wasn't doing much in the show. I don't think it had anything to do with his ability. Maybe it had more to do with having another "official" Beach Boy to add to the band. I believe David Marks alluded to this in inteviews a few years ago. But this is probably another area than Jon's upcoming book will get into, which is a part of the story I'm particularly interested in reading.

Regarding difficulty of playing Beach Boys songs on guitar, I think a lot of their stuff is rather difficult. One reason for this is that many of the songs seem to be in a non-guitar-player-friendly key (not surprising considering the liklihood that Brian wrote most of the stuff on piano). If you want to play some of their stuff in the original key, you can't get away with only knowing all the easy open chords. I remember when I first started to learn guitar, I got a hold of a BB music book, and even on seemingly simpler songs without a ton of different chords, it was difficult to play some of the stuff because it wasn't in an easy key like A major or something. And in addition, there are songs like "This Whole World" that would be difficult in any key, with like 57 different chords. I recall that in that "hotel room" video that's been around for years from 1990 with Brian, Bruce, Stamos, and Foskett, Bruce mentions to Brian that the touring BB's can't regularly perform "This Whole World" because there are too many chords. (The touring BB's performed the song on some of the 1988 tour and performed it pretty well, if lacking some of the nuance of the original recording.)

Amazon.com  has a "Good Vibrations 40th An ed." listed as due out on June 27th. It's listed as having an $8.99 list price. Since this price seems to be higher than a domestic CD single would be, yet cheaper than a full-length CD, I suppose this could be some sort of a "maxi single" or EP or something with several versions of the song perhaps.

Honestly, I'm pretty confused about what is or isn't coming out this year or what was or wasn't planned. There was a "Warmth of the Sun" CD which has apparently been postponed, the contents of which nobody is sure of. Most believe that one was going to be another hits compilation, perhaps a "Sounds of Summer 2" sort of thing.

There has also been talk of 40th anniversary releases for both "Pet Sounds" and "Good Vibrations", although what form such releases might take is unknown, nor is it even known if any such releases might take place at all.

Can Alan Boyd or anybody discuss this "Good Vibrations" release coming up, if it indeed is actually even coming up?

I have the UK issue of the Spring album on "See For Miles Records", and it should be noted that this version of the CD uses the UK billing, "American Spring", so perhaps it might help track down that version if you search for that version of the name.

I made this compilation a few years ago and have found it to be a great disc to hand out to friends.  All tracks are sourced from GH1, GH2 and GH3:BotBY.

As good as "Sounds of Summer" is, this is the one disc that I wish they'd release as the ultimate greatest hits comp.  Great for cranking up in the car, windows down, and goin for a nice cruise.

Best Vibrations: Their All-Time Greatest Hits
===============================
01) Surfin Safari
02) Surfin USA
03) Shut Down
04) Surfer Girl
05) Little Duece Coupe
06) Be True To Your School
07) In My Room
08) Fun, Fun, Fun
09) I Get Around
10) Don't Worry Baby
11) When I Grow Up (To Be A Man)
12) Dance Dance Dance
13) Do You Wanna Dance?
14) Help Me, Rhonda
15) California Girls
16) The Little Girl I Once Knew
17) Barbara Ann
18) Caroline No
19) Sloop John B
20) Wouldn't It Be Nice
21) God Only Knows
22) Good Vibrations
23) Heroes and Villains
24) Wild Honey
25) Darlin
26) Do It Again
27) I Can Hear Music
28) Rock and Roll Music
29) It's OK
30) Come Go With Me
31) Getcha Back
32) Kokomo

One of these days I'll get around to making a Volume 2.....

I can't argue that these are all great songs, but this track lineup is pretty darn close to "Sounds of Summer." By my quick and hopefully correct count, it simply excludes "Good Timin'" and replaces it with "The Little Girl I Once Knew", "Caroline, No" and "It's OK." Like I said, all great songs that I can't argue with, but your formula for track inclusions is pretty similar to the one they used for "Sounds of Summer"; you simply have added a few more songs and made one different decision. I can't argue with the inclusion of "The Little Girl..." and "Caroline, No", although I would prefer "Good Timin'" to "It's OK."

I do appreciate that your track lineup is chronological. "Sounds of Summer" has a really odd order of songs. Clearly, they've chosen to pack the front of the CD with some of the most well-known early hits and lead off with "California Girls." It also appears they grouped most of the cover versions together with "Come Go With Me", "R&R Music", "Barbara Ann", and "Do You Wanna Dance", although they stuck "Dance Dance Dance" in the middle of those for some reason. I haven't a clue why "Getcha Back" is in between "WIBN" and "Come Go With Me." It also appears that they stuck most of Carl's lead vocals at the end of disc, and I don't know whether that is simply a track programming decision, some potential slight to Carl, or a tribute to Carl showcasing his lead vocals as the grand finale. 

As I understand it, every copy of "Our Team" floating around looks pretty crummy overall. Certainly there are watchable copies floating around, but it sure seems like whatever copy leaked out years ago already looked iffy, and then since then it's been copied a million times on VHS. Since the BB's produced the documentary themselves (or I imagine I should say they contracted some company to make it), I would imagine the BB's have the master in the Brother vaults, although I'm sure Alan Boyd would be able to answer whether this is the case or not.

What is strange about the documentary is that it presumably was made to air on TV to promote the album, yet there are at least two songs prominently featured in the documentary ("Mike Come Back to L.A." and "Our Team") that were not even put on the album. So even if the thing had aired, people might have bought the album only to find out that those two songs aren't even on the album!

They did a similar thing with the Rolling Stone "Going Platinum" special featuring the making of KTSA when they showcased "Goin' To the Beach." But at least in that instance, they clearly discuss that the song was dropped from consideration. Presumably, they are showing this as part of the "process" of recording; songs are often dropped at various points.

I think the rule now for Billboard is that after two years, and album can no longer appear on the pop chart and moves to the "catalog" chart. "Sounds of Summer" was released in 2003, so it belongs in the catalog chart.

Years ago, an album stayed on the pop chart as long as it sold well enough to be in the top 200, thus the famous instances of things like "Dark Side of the Moon" being "on the charts" for like 10,000 weeks or however long that was.

Brian's track is somewhat disappointing. I thought I would enjoy it more. Comparisons to the 27 prior versions of the song are inevitable. In that sense, the biggest problem with the new version is that the key has been lowered noticeably, which right off the bat makes the song sound less energetic.

I think it sounds about a whole step lower. Noticeable, yes, but I don't think that makes any issues be the fault of the key.

Certainly, the fact that the key is changed or a whole octave change is only noticeable when compared to previous versions. I don't mean to say that the actual key makes it better or worse, as if the key of A is better than C irrespective of how that affects how the singer sings it, etc. Clearly, the key/octave was changed because Brian couldn't sing it in its original form. So it is in that sense that the song ends up having less energy, because Brian is singing it about a whole octave lower. I'm not saying he should have strained to hit notes he couldn't hit, though.

I think just hearing hearing the new version for the first time was a sort of off-putting at first in the same way as when I first head Brian and his band do "Wouldn't It Be Nice" or "Don't Talk" dropped down, and a few other songs.

Question for Alan Boyd if he's reading: What other sorts of songs did Al play for the Hallmark people? I don't know how much info you could divulge about these recordings, but were they finished, new, completely solo Al recordings? Is Al going to give us a solo album ever? For that matter, can you talk at all about how the Hallmark CD came about and how the track selection and concept came about? I'd be interested to know how it was decided to use 1989 live tracks, for instance. Was there any thought given to making some Brother-era outtakes the "new" studio tracks? Or perhaps offering each of the BB's a chance to provide a new, solo track was a way to motivate them to be involved and supportive of the CD. It sounds like Hallmark had rather strong control over the tracklisting. I imagine they were looking for a mainstream thing to offer, so I would guess a CD full of "Holland" outtakes or something wasn't ever going to fly!

I've got the CD and finally gave it a listen. The first thing I've noticed is that I can't really hear Brian on the '89 tracks. Are we sure he's actually on these tracks?

Come to think of it, if these '89 tracks are taken from the Univeral show that is shown in segments on the syndicated "Endless Summer" TV show, then I'm pretty sure Brian can't be on most or perhaps any of these tracks. I'm almost positive, for instance, that the "Endless Summer" TV show showed the Universal Amphitheater performance of "Kokomo", and Brian was not on stage during that song as I recall. This seems to be supported by the fact that I don't really hear Brian on the CD either. There is a high, slightly nasal voice, but that sounds more like Jeff Foskett in the harmonies, not Brian. (You can hear what Brian sounds like on "Kokomo" by watching that dreadful episode of "Full House" that the band did together).

As I recall, while there were other bits of the group with Brian shown during the "Endless Summer" show (the fireside bits, a few "Club Kokomo" performances), I don't think any live tracks featured from the Universal show featured both the group and Brian. There were a bunch of group performances, and a couple of Brian solo without the other BB's.

Interestingly, I recall other shows from '89 when Brian would come on stage for a few songs with the group and then do a few solo songs, and I recall that Brian joined them for "Surfer Girl" and sang the bridge. On the new CD, the '89 live version of "Surfer Girl" has Al singing the bridge, which I would think indicates Brian was not on stage during that song.

Some folks have mentioned that some of the live tracks sound almost too polished. I would imagine it is possible some post-production work was done on the '89 live tracks back in '89 for the "Endless Summer" TV show. The BB's have often done this for TV specials and the like. It sounds more or less like live stuff I've heard from the time period, so I don't think there are any drastic alterations. Mike's lead vocal on "Dance Dance Dance" sounds a bit too polished and up front, like it could have been re-recorded in the studio back then, but I'm just guessing on that. If there is any post-production work on these songs, it isn't much, and almost surely any work that would have been done would have happened back in 1989 when they were prepping these live tracks for that TV show. The only thing that was done in 2005/06 was to mix the stuff I'm sure.

The '74 tracks are blended in quite well with the '89 tracks, and I would imagine most casual fans who pick this up would never know that they are taken from shows 15 years apart. It particular, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" sounds like the drums have been mixed to sound as close to the '89 tracks as possible. Maybe that's just how the drums came out on that '74 show, but it usually seems like live stuff from back then had the drums sounding a bit less echoey and snappy and a little more dry and thick. All of the live tracks are a bit wet/echoey, a bit more than my personal tastes dictate (I'm probably in the minority in that I actually enjoy rather dry, up front, up close-sounding mixes for live stuff, which some say totally negates the whole live/ambient sound of live recordings), particularly the '74 stuff, but it all sounds really great from a sound quality point of view. Certainly, this is evidence of the huge amount of live material that the BB's could release.

As for the solo tracks, I was a bit shocked originally that the Al solo track was "PT Cruiser", given that the song isn't really "new", and while it's neat for what it is, it isn't the most substantial thing Al could have included. But given the explanation that Hallmark chose it, I can apparently safely remove any blame from Al's shoulders (other than perhaps to suggest he shouldn't have offered it up as a possibility, but I don't think that is a very fair criticism). The track sounds good from a recording standpoint; it sounds very warm, and Al's lead vocal is excellent. His voice has held up amazingly well. Too bad the song is such a novelty sort of a thing.

The Mike track is not bad at all, probably better than anything I've ever heard released under his solo name. The backing vocals, especially the intro vocals, have a bit of that really sharp, yet sterile, Beach Boys copycat-ish sound heard on other stuff from the past like the Adrian Baker-produced tracks or "Looking Back With Love." But the song itself is catchy, quite reminiscent of the more catchy stuff on "Summer in Paradise", yet with much more laid-back, organic sounding production than what was heard on "Summer in Paradise." I'm not big on sax solos; unless they are done in certain styles in certain circumstances, they otherwise always make songs sound to me like an overblown 80's ballad, so I think the song could have done without that. But that's just my lack of preferences for saxophones in general.   

Brian's track is somewhat disappointing. I thought I would enjoy it more. Comparisons to the 27 prior versions of the song are inevitable. In that sense, the biggest problem with the new version is that the key has been lowered noticeably, which right off the bat makes the song sound less energetic. The whole production seems a bit lethargic. The mix is way too wet/echoey, which is something I've noticed with a lot of Brian's recent productions (including another one-off compilaton re-recording, "California Feeling"). The near Spector-ish ambience at times makes the song lack a bit of crispness which is heard on the other two solo tracks. The arrangement itself is not too dissimilar to previous versions, although I don't like the altered drum beat added under the first line of the verses. Brian's lead sounds a bit lethargic as well. The rest of the backing vocals aren't bad. The a capella ending redeems the song a bit. I could do without the saxophone solo, although in fairness I can't say I would have wanted to hear the over-the-top 80's sounding electric lead guitar heard on some of the old versions either.

I certainly hope this CD is a sign of more CD releases through the new website, or by whatever means. If Alan Boyd can talk about the website at all, I'd like to know if the possibility of archival material being presented on the website would only be confined to downloads. I'm not big on downloading (more than anything because I'm still on dialup!); I'd rather get the stuff on CD, so I'm hoping that whatever might be offered on the website would be offered on CD. The website doesn't say anything about downloads, I've just heard a few fans mention this as if it was common knowledge that the website was going to be all about downloads. Of course, I'm sure I'm getting away ahead of the whole website project, which I'm sure is still being worked out.

I tried looking around for this CD at several of the local Hallmark shops in my area (Kennesaw, GA) and could not find it.  I asked several of the employees there about it and they said it would probably be out after Mother's Day is over.  Anyone in the Atlanta area find this CD?

Keep in mind that the CD's release date is supposed to be May 15. So there supposedly shouldn't be any copies being sold anywhere. So there's nothing wrong with stores that aren't selling it. It's really just a case of some stores screwing up and putting it out early (I'm assuming they aren't doing it on purpose), which of course is a plus for fans. I've called at least 7 or 8 stores within a reasonable driving distance, and none of them have it. As I mentioned earlier in this thread, I've been surprised to see that many of the stores are on the ball in the sense that they seem aware of the CD and many of the stores specifically knew about the May 15th release date. Of course, I wish they would have broken the release date, but it's at least good to know that I won't go into the store on May 15th only to find that they have no idea what I'm talking about when I ask about the CD.

There are tons of copies up on EBay. By the time I found the copies on EBay, I've passed figuring that by the time I put in a bid, pay, and wait for it be shipped and arrive, it will probably be on or after May 15th. I start to get pretty motivated to hear this CD, but then I remember that we're not talking about an Endless Harmony-style archival package. It's still a neat little release, but I certainly hope the new website has some even more interesting material to buy on CD and/or DVD.

The yearbook page of photos I discussed above is posted at this address:

http://www.geocities.com/beachboysopinionpage/bblive64.html

This is a scan of a photocopy of the yearbook page. The quality isn't super, but you can definitely make out what's going on.

I should note that these photos aren't total proof that it was a four-piece band performing. In fact, there is another microphone in place where Brian's would normally be, and it seems to be in a taller position as his would be. But I still think Brian is likely not at the show. First of all, he isn't seen in any of the pictures. I would think they would have ended up getting Brian in at least one of these pics if he was at the show. Secondly, Al is playing bass. Would Al have ever played bass at a show in early 1964 if Brian was also at the show? I suppose Brian could have been off to the side playing piano or something, thus neccesitating Al playing bass and explaining why Brian isn't in any shots. But this doesn't seem very likely.

My guess would be that perhaps Brian's absence occured at the last second at this show. Thus, they had it setup for him to play with them, but then went on without him.

In short, I'm about 95% sure that this is a four-piece band without Brian. I'm also pretty sure that at some point they were either expecting Brian to show up, or at least had a mic set up incase he showed up. It's kind of weird that Al and Carl are sharing a mic when there's another one available. Who knows. I got this yearbook page from somebody who was at this show, but that person is not with us anymore, so I can't ask if they remember whether Brian was there or not.

In any event, we definitely can see that Al is playing bass in these pics.

Thanks for posting the scans. A couple of interesting things I've noted on the artwork:

It does indeed state that all 9 live tracks are from the Universal Amphitheatre. So, either that listing omits the info on the two 1974 recordings, or perhaps the 1974 recordings were also performed at the same venue. Dates would have been nice, but somehow we have the dates anyway based on early reports.

It appears that Brian thanks "The Beach Boys" underneath his solo track (and also dedicates the track to Carl and Dennis). This certainly isn't any sort of hard evidence of a pending BB's reunion or anything. But I recall that recent releases from Brian have often been dedicated to Carl and Dennis but have not mentioned the Beach Boys. It just seems like sort of a weird thank you, considering that the track in question was, apart from the Hawaii anniversary show performance in which they tacked on a few BB's to a solo recording, intended way back when as a solo track.

The mention of the upcoming website that will hopefully offer some substantial things for fans does now give a better context for this Hallmark CD. It seems like it could be a sort of "sampler" to offer both to the fans and perhaps the BB's themselves to show what sort of archival releases are possible in the future. Hopefully future archival releases would be more substantial than this Hallmark CD, but it seems to bode well for possible future releases.

I don't see a Brother Records logo on the back cover, which is a bit surprising. Brother of course is mentioned in the booklet.

I think the overall design of the CD is pretty good. It's way more subdued than I thought it would be. I thought the artwork would just look like another one of those BB compilations you see in drug stores and gas stations, but this artwork is pretty understated and tasteful, within the confines of still having to show surfboards, woodies, etc. Plus, I like orange for some reason, which is probably why I didn't think the original CD artwork for "Endless Harmony" was as bad as most people thought!

Too bad none of my local Hallmarks are breaking the release date. I'd ask somebody to pick a copy up for me, but by the time I got it all sorted out, it wouldn't be too long before I could go get it myself (assuming the Hallmarks near me don't screw up and not put the CD out at all!).

Is anybody willing and/or able to post a picture of the front cover (and/or the back cover or any other artwork from the CD)? Or, at least a description of it? I'm mildly curious as to what the CD looks like.

If I remember the early word on this CD, the '89 and '74 tracks were going to be mixed together (with five songs from '89 and two from '74). One way to tell if there are any '74 tracks: Is Al singing the lead on "Wouldn't It Be Nice?" If so, it's probably not from 1989, as Carl had taken over the lead on that by '89. (Although, I've heard shows from the 1988-89 timeframe in which the band kind of can't decide who is singing lead. I've heard a show from 1988 that features Al, Carl, and Jeff Foskett all singing the lead in unison for some reason; even Mike comes in well before the bridge and is singing too. Really weird.)

As for how your Hallmark store is selling the CD, I doubt there's any big mystery behind it. The store probably just put it out before they were supposed to. Most of the stores probably already have the CD's in stock, they're just waiting to put them out for sale on May 15.

Thanks for answering my questions, Jon. Here's a totally loaded question: *If* Al wanted you to do an authorized biography, do you think you'd do it? On the one hand, he perhaps doesn't have some of the mystique or interest that Dennis or David Marks have. At the same time, he was there for the entire time and he's probably the only person who was always there and is still lucid and willing to recount everything that happened.

One other question related to early BB touring lineups: I'm sorry if I've missed mention of this elsewhere, but when was David Marks' last show with the BB's (during the 60's of course, not his stint in the late 90's)? If this is info you're saving for people to see in the new book, I understand. The reason I ask is because I just came across an old photocopy of a page from a local high school yearbook (from Cupertino, CA to be exact). I've had this for years, but just recently looked at it again. It features pictures of a show the BB's did at this high school. The date is February 28th (and while I don't have a year listed on this page, it has to be 1964), and the pictures show a four-piece BB lineup of only Mike, Dennis, Carl, and Al. Carl is playing his Jaguar, and Al is playing bass.

How often did the post-Marks BB's perform with Al and without Brian or any other replacement? For some reason, I've had it in my mind that the BB's were always a five piece one way or the other apart from one-off instances. I've always thought it was Dennis, Carl, and Mike plus David and Brian, or Al and David, or Al and Brian, or then Al and Glen Campbell or Bruce by 1965, etc. I'm sure I've read over the years that there were times in the post-Marks era that Brian missed shows so that the BB's went on as a four-piece. I guess I just never thought it was that common. The show I'm looking at was probably some little promotional thing. Certainly a high school show was something Brian could have missed as it wasn't a high profile event. Brian was playing with them less than a month later in what was later released as "The Lost Concert." Has David Marks mentioned to you a lot of instances of playing local high schools all around the country? I would think it would have been easy for the BB's to play high schools in the southern California area, but I didn't know they did a lot of that in other areas.

Anyway, this was just something that struck me all of a sudden recently. In the past, I've never been especially interested in the formative years of the BB's (perhaps having things like the Gaines books in years past meant for better or worse that it was easier to learn about the sordid 70's era), but the annoucement of your David Marks book has certainly led me to find a great deal more interest in the formative years.

(By the way, if anybody is interested, I can post a scan of this yearbook page. It's only noteworthy because it shows a four-piece lineup, and Al playing bass. Otherwise, the pics and bit of text are right out of the "Concert" album type of thing.)

I just thought I'd mention that it doesn't appear that this early release is planned by Hallmark. It sounds like one store (and no doubt a few) have simply messed up and put the CD out early. I've just called four different local Hallmark stores and none of them have it out yet. Interestingly considering how clueless retailers can sometimes be, most of the Hallmark stores I called were quite aware of the BB CD, and were quick to mention that it is due in May (15th to be exact, although one store mentioned they might get it early, just not this early).

As I understand it, during the 1989 tour (some or all of which were shows on a tour with Chicago), Brian did some dates with the group. I know of one show in Phildelphia that circulates that shows this type of show: The BB's would start the show without Brian. Then Brian would come on and play a few songs with the group (usually something like "Surfer Girl" with Brian singing the bridge). Then the BB's would leave the stage and Brian would do a mini-set of songs from his solo '88 album using a mixture of backing tracks and the live BB band (usually "Love and Mercy", "Walkin' the Line", and "Melt Away", although at one show at least as shown on the "Endless Summer" show, he did "In My Car" solo as well). Then, I believe, Brian would leave the stage and the BB's would finish the show without him.

The "Endless Summer" show, in terms of the footage from the actual live show, only showed some songs (usually 1-2 songs per show), and didn't show any of the songs Brian and the BB's did together. But they did do a few at most of those shows.

I'm also not sure that this new Hallmark CD is taken from the actual show used for "Endless Summer" (which was the Universal Amphitheater). I always just assumed it was from that string of shows on that tour. It may be from that actual show, I don't know.

Whether or not a reunion happens, I don't think Foskett being in the same room as Mike and Bruce has anything to do with it. I think Foskett was there because he's a friend of Stamos, as are Mike, Bruce, and numerous other folks.

It isn't like that's the first time somebody from one "camp" appears with somebody from another "camp." Randell Kirsche (who I think is also in that picture of the Stamos get together) has played with both Al's band and Mike's band. Carnie and Wendy worked with both Al and Brian in the midst of the various lawsuits. Matt Jardine and Bruce Johnston worked with Brian (albeit in 1998, prior to the various "camps" being so clearly defined). Phil Bardowell played with Mike and Bruce, and now he appears with one of the off-shoot "beach" bands featuring Matt Jardine. I think Foskett and Scott Bennett from Brian's band do gigs with another off-shoot band that features Billy Hinsche from Al's band. Foskett and Hinsche have done gigs together.

These instances of crossing over and working together was what made it even more sad to see both Brian and Al (and David Marks) all appear at the Hawthorne Landmark event, yet not sing together. It was kind of sad to see Al get up and do that karaoke thing with "Sloop John B" and mention he was doing it only because he didn't have a band, and then see Brian get up seperately and perform while Al watched from the side of the stage. All the while, Billy Hinsche was there not performing with either one of them, not to mention David Marks. They all could have sang together without it being a "Beach Boys" reunion. I would actually think that with Mike and Bruce not there, it would have been easier to perform together since it would have avoided having to call it a "reunion."

A couple of questions: Did you get this by simply going into a Hallmark store? It wasn't supposed to be out until May 15, although I always guessed that different stores might put it out at different times since they don't deal mainly with CD or DVD releases, which are supposed to have an exact date for release.

Secondly, are you sure the recordings are of Mike & Bruce? All of the indications previously have been that most of the live stuff is from 1989 (thus including Al, Bruce, Mike, Carl, and Brian) with a couple tracks from 1974 (presumably Al, Mike, Carl, and Dennis). I believe "Wouldn't It Be Nice" was supposed to be one of the 1974 tracks, which means it probably would have had Al (or perhaps Carl) on lead vocals. I know the circa 1989 BB's could sound rather anemic sometimes, but I'm a bit worried about this CD because I would think that lead vocals from Carl or Al on those live tracks would be obvious. Do these live tracks sound like they have other guys from Mike & Bruce's band singing? I don't think Mike or Bruce handle the Carl or Brian leads like WIBN or GV in the current touring band, so those would have to have some of the backing members (Cowsill, Farmer, etc.) singing if they are current Mike & Bruce live tracks.

Hi Jon. I was wondering if you've given thought to approaching Al about doing a biography from his perspective along the lines of your Dennis and David Marks books. I know Al has spoken a few times in recent years about wanting to do a book from his point of view, and he apparently is confortable dealing with you (I'm only assuming this based on the fact that you're able to call him up and talk to him, so let me know if I'm assuming too much!). If you could do an Al book (or if Al would do one himself), it would really be the first time we'd get a first-hand look at virtually the entire history of the group.

Al doesn't seem to work particularly fast on some of these projects, so I don't know if such a thing can ever happen.

By the way, two quick questions about the new book: First, do you have a release date yet? Apologies if I've missed it. I e-mailed to what I believe is the publisher asking about pre-order details, but never got anything back. Will you announce any pre-release sales here? I'd definitely like to get it as soon as it's available anywhere.

Secondly, were you able to interview Al directly for the David Marks book? For that matter, did you get any other BB's to provide any interviews?

It's easy to fall somewhere between being pretty cynical about even the possibility of a reunion, and thinking "anything is possible." I'm thinking about the logistics of it all, and I think while a one-off "reunion" show seems possible, a full-blown "reunion" tour seems less likely. Doesn't Mike Love's "Beach Boys" book shows a year or two in advance in some cases? They may already have shows booked into 2007.

If Al and Brian were involved in a tour, I would doubt that either financially or logistically it would simply consist of Al and Brian joining the current touring band that Mike heads. If a new band and financial setup had to be made for a reunion tour, what would happen to all of the shows booked by the Mike/Bruce "Beach Boys" for that year?

It seems unlikely that they could do a reunion show late this year, and then decide if a full-blown tour could work. If they did that, they'd have to either wait until 2008 or later to do it, shoehorn it in among the Mike/Bruce dates (what kind of confusion would that cause?), or somehow take over the bookings that Mike/Bruce have. Anything is possible, I suppose.

Either way, I could easily envision a reunion show or even tour, followed by Mike and Bruce going back out on their own just like they have. I don't see a reunion as meaning either a retiring of the BB name, or a revival of continual touring from all of the members. A reunion could conceivably happen completely seperate from any band licenses or touring that Mike or anybody else does.