Great stuff!

[November 19]

One of my favorite parts of any Brian Wilson/Beach Boys documentary is when he sits down at a piano and plays - sometimes he sings along to the song, other times he just lets the piano do all the work. These were always wonderful little glimpses into Brian’s domain. And now we have a full album of him at the piano. 48 minutes of Brian playing piano for us, what a great gift to us fans!

I’m sure it has been mentioned, and probably everyone knows by now, but the date for release is November 19. Hopefully we’ll get a couple more singles out of this before it drops!

Yes to all this!

I missed this beautiful quote from the promo email:

“We had an upright piano in our living room and from the time I was 12 years old I played it each and every day. I never had a lesson, I was completely self-taught. I can’t express how much the piano has played such an important part in my life. It as bought me comfort, joy and security. It has fueled my creativity as well as my competitive nature.

I play it when I’m happy or feeling sad. I love playing for people and I love playing alone when no one is listening.

Honestly, the piano and the music I create on it has probably saved my life.”

– Brian Wilson

Listening to God Only Knows. It's achingly lovely. I can't wait to hear the rest of the album. IMO it really has Brian's 'feel' to it, and I love that.

Thanks, these are great! 

[The Beach Boys’ archival set Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions – 1969-1971 debuts at No. 9 on Top Album Sales with 10,000 sold. It’s just the second top 10 for the band since the Top Album Sales chart launched in 1991. The group previously hit the region with the 2012 studio album That’s Why God Made the Radio, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (June 23, 2012-dated chart).]

The Beach Boys’ archival set Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions – 1969-1971 debuts at No. 9 on Top Album Sales with 10,000 sold. It’s just the second top 10 for the band since the Top Album Sales chart launched in 1991. The group previously hit the region with the 2012 studio album That’s Why God Made the Radio, which debuted and peaked at No. 3 (June 23, 2012-dated chart).

Nice! And hey, it would've been 10,001 if my order wasn't cancelled! 

I have been to Brian's first two shows of the new tour.(8/29 and 8/31/21. Brian sang the majority of leads and was in very good voice. He sang all 3 verses of Sloop John B, a strong lead on surfin USA in the encore and the strongest lead on FunFunFun by him that I have heard in years. He did not sing much on Barbara Ann, but who can blame him? Personally I am so tired of this song - perhaps Brian is as well.

Brian sang a very strong lead on I Get Around,  DanceDanceDance, Salt Lake City, Good Vibrations, Do It Again, God Only Knows, California Girls, and strong bridges on Wouldn't It Be Nice and Long Promised Road. And a very good Love And Mercy.

Al sang leads on Help Me Rhonda and Wake The World, Barbara Ann, and one or 2 of the car songs.

Very good shows and Brian is in very good voice.

That's great! Thanks for the review.

Hi all, I had a set pre-ordered through ImportCDs months ago, but got a message a few days ago that my order was cancelled. On the product page I see the set is now listed as 'Back Order'. Did anyone receive their set through them?

I'm in the US.  I ordered from ImportCDs, too, and sent them a message asking if they could tell me when I could expect it.  I just checked my email and I, too, received a reply that said they don't have copies of it and so it is on backorder -- which means it could take 45 days to get to me!

What the f**k did Capitol do to screw up the distribution of this set?  I wish Howie, Mark, or Alan would come here and try to explain to us why orders have been cancelled by Amazon in the UK and by ImportCDs in the US!  Even with all the delays they still couldn't get the product out!  This is sad.  Just so sad.

Love and merci,
Dan Lega

Ugh! Sorry to hear it... thanks for the reply though. Yeah, I guess I'll pursue it elsewhere.

Hi all, I had a set pre-ordered through ImportCDs months ago, but got a message a few days ago that my order was cancelled. On the product page I see the set is now listed as 'Back Order'. Did anyone receive their set through them?

Fantastic!

This is how the band always did things, once Brian wasn’t running the show.  They’d have 20 songs to pick from for an album. Seven would be really tremendous. Seven would be ok. Six would be fairly bad.  The album would include 3 from group A, 5 from group B and 4 from group C. 

That's a really great way to explain it! And yet, somewhat in their defense, the seven tremendous tracks would sound like they came from two or three or four completely different bands. (Though in your hypothetical, the 12 tracks that actually were chosen likely have the same problem.)    And we probably won't agree even amongst ourselves which A-list tracks should have made the cut.

From the September edition of Record Collector (jump to the last sentence):

"Alan Boyd: We’re hoping to do another box set next year which focuses on the Carl And The Passions and Holland era. There are some fascinating unreleased songs that aren’t really finished. There are some really interesting early versions — all the layers of the music within the fairytale [Holland bonus EP Mount Vernon And Fairway] is really interesting to dive into. I can’t wait to hear The Trader with just the track and the backing vocals. And we’d also like to include one of the complete Carnegie Hall shows that they did in late 1972."

Thank you!
Wow, that would be great.

It really would!

Anyway, I'm not going to any concerts or other events with large crowds for quite a while yet.

Agreed. I'm in the NY/CT area and there's some degree of risk attending events like that here, but it would be borderline crazy to do them in LA/MS.

Brian and band played Diamond Head live in 2019 and it was dazzling... I really heard it as never before. So many cool little moments and textures and touches.

From Facebook:

Just Announced! Brian to perform at the Long Beach Terrace Theatre in Long Beach CA, August 29, 2021.
Presale goes live this Wednesday June 9 at 10:00AM PT at https://www.ticketmaster.com/event/0B005AC49B121A33
The password is: SURFSUP!

Looks interesting!

https://www.njarts.net/pop-rock/jem-records-will-release-multi-artist-tribute-to-brian-wilson-july-16/?fbclid=IwAR2oZHKIP88jjly4OROSmw4fO46u6Na1qtnmStXpFmjYIfMESHuxD_B7_BI

Following the release, last year, of a multi-artist album paying tribute to John Lennon, the Jersey-based JEM Records label will do the same for Brian Wilson, featuring covers of songs from both his albums with The Beach Boys and his work as a solo artist. The Weeklings, Richard Barone, The Grip Weeds, Johnathan Pushkar and The Anderson Council are among the artists contributing tracks.

Ben Greenman, co-author of “I Am Brian Wilson: A Memoir,” writes in the liner notes that Wilson’s “finest songs are immortal, but they got a little more life this past year, when the very things that afflicted him — anxiety around others, a dependence on and despair regarding his solitude, the realization that people need a mess of help to stand alone — took hold of the world once again during the COVID-19 pandemic. This year, ‘In My Room’ was not just a portrait of a solitary genius, but an international reality. This record, and the artists who contributed to it, reflect back Brian’s brilliance, his pathos, his ability to transform isolation and loneliness into direct emotional and spiritual communication, and in doing so they move the music and its magic forward in time.”

Here is the track listing:

“The Warmth of the Sun,” The Weeklings
“Help Me, Rhonda,” The Weeklings
“You’re So Good to Me,” The Grip Weeds
“Hang On to Your Ego,” Nick Piunti
“Love & Mercy,” The Gold Needles”
“Girl Don’t Tell Me,” The Anderson Council
“Dance, Dance, Dance,” Johnathan Pushkar
“Don’t Worry Baby,” Lisa Mychols & Super 8
“Heroes and Villains/Roll Plymouth Rock,” The Grip Weeds
“In My Room,” Richard Barone
“Do It Again,” The Midnight Callers
“I Get Around,” Richard Barone and Johnathan Pushkar
“I’d Love Just to See You,” The Anderson Council
“Please Let Me Wonder,” Johnathan Pushkar
“Pet Sounds (Story),” Lisa Mychols & Super 8

For more, visit jemrecordings.com.

Yay! Can't wait!

Thanks for this! Honestly, by the rather relaxed standards of recent years I think they sound pretty good. It's OK is one of the few setlist surprises and has some real zip to it.

Sorry about starting the thread twice but at first I got an error message and I tried it again.

It’s interesting to compare the 125 smackeroos Mike charges to what others charge. Carnie asks for $75, Neil Sedaka for $399, Debbie Gibson $250, for example.

I guess he read your post, because the price is now $200.

"#other" 

I had to watch all of them. Kind of weirdly fascinating.

Been missing live music so much.

I've seen various configurations of the touring Beach Boys over the years since Carl passed and Al left, some good some not so good. I went on a deep dive on youtube and rediscovered my appreciation for one very specific configuration of the touring Beach Boys band, whom I made a point to see at every chance after the first time seeing this configuration in 2015. I saw them live a handful of times between 2015-2018 with the touring lineup whose harmonies were anchored Jeff, Brian E, and Scott and they were so damn good. I wonder if there are any better quality live recordings from this period. It felt like Brian E really lifted the group up and you could feel the excitement from everyone when he'd sing some leads. And Jeff and Scott were in great form. Here are some I gathered in case you also are missing live music and want to spend some time watching this group from this era.

Thanks for this! I agree, I saw a few shows in this window with Brian E and they were really good. A lovely Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring was another highlight.

I think just about the only way to reverse the damage and make any sort of change in peoples' minds (to minimize that so many such BBs threads, especially anything directly about Mike, descend into ugly arguments - not just here, but on the web in general), would be if there was some sort of real public heart-to-heart between Mike and Brian, where Mike straight up apologizes for a bunch of stuff, talks about being hurt, talks about his own culpability in all sorts of stuff, etc.

It seemed like that Rolling Stone article "The Ballad of Mike Love" from 2016 was a half-baked *attempt* at something like that, maybe for PR purposes, maybe just because Mike is pissed at Mike's own reputation and wishes things were better, and thought this would be a step in that direction. I give Mike a little credit for a few things in that article, but overall it could/should have been much better, but obviously he was only willing to open up and let his guard down a little bit.

Well now that the brand name sale has taken place, and there's an actual team of business people who are trying to figure out how to monetize the brand, possibly this could lead to Mike (and Brian) making some sort of other overture to mend fences even more, if only to appease the suits who now own the brand. I don't envy those suits, they are surely keenly aware of the fact that the brand they just bought has a huge fracture in it, namely the Mike/Brian issue and how deeply disliked Mike is by many fans. Many other fans don't care who Mike is, what he did, etc, but still I'm sure the business interests involved with the brand *wish* this issue was no longer an issue. Why would stockholders in the brand *want* to see every Youtube video/FB comments section descend into ugliness? I'm sure it's the last thing they want, but it's the reality. How much this hurts the profit potential of the brand is of course another question that I unironically am sure they have charts for determining.

While I do think at this point this is next to impossible to happen between Mike and Brian, I did recently see an example of two stubborn celebrities, one very powerful and wealthy, and one whose star had fallen, mend fences in a very public way - on the unscripted documentary show, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air reunion on HBO Max, Will Smith and Janet Hubert who have publicly feuded for nearly 30 years, and who repeatedly sh*t-talked each other in the press very much, actually sat down and had a long talk, with many tears. Again, I think it's a minuscule chance, but I think it would be very healing if Mike and Brian did something like that. Not just would it be good for the brand, but it would first and foremost be good for them as human beings. But only if it were totally sincere and didn't feel "produced" -  The Fresh Prince of Bel Air segment was amazingly very, very real feeling and just felt like 2 people who had a TON of water under the bridge, but they seemed to mend fences and admit where they both f*cked up.

I wish someone could convince Mike and Brian to do something like that, but while I won't hold my breath, I still think there's any number of possibilities that this type of fence mending could happen which would make some of the negativity subside. And it can't just be a simple reunion of a few gigs without addressing this specific relationship fracture for the reunion to carry any weight in repairing Mike's reputation, which again, if sincere, I can't think of many people who wouldn't want to see those 2 guys actually apologize for stuff and hug it out.

I'm also aware that Brian probably isn't keen on sitting down and talking about deep feelings on camera, so yeah I'm not sure how this would work, but I remain truly convinced that Mike really could redeem his reputation *somewhat* if he publicly talked about mistakes he's made, and asked for forgiveness, something of that nature. In some fashion, but in a high profile way. No, Mike doesn't have to do it, neither did Janet Hubert/Will Smith. Nobody *has* to do this stuff, but while they are living on this earth they *can*, and it can be a beautiful thing if done with sincerity.

Great thoughts. An event like that feels like something highly unlikely to happen, but man. It would give the brand such a shot in the arm, and a rare burst of *positive* publicity after years of confusion and negativity.

I read that as if to simply point out that the anniversary is at the conclusion of 2021. Based on other interviews, it sounds like this would be in 2022.

Ah, fair point. I've modified the title.

And I well know, Al is usually out over his skis on reunion talk compared to the other members. But I want to believe!

Interesting...!

https://relix.com/news/detail/al-jardine-discusses-possible-beach-boys-touring-plans-in-new-interview/?fbclid=IwAR3miUdKxBYroW-NgYXDe1SN2WxryB1eCLk-CK-7oTdXEdS1F3e4N0O2h4c

I don't remember what made the 2014 Jones Beach show infamous. Did Al and Dave end up joining M&B?

Some rainy day, give this thread a read for coverage of the 'Al joining Mike and Bruce at Jones Beach' debacle. Some hilarious lines and some rather insightful ones re the BB 'brand' as well; I still return to it every year or so.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,17563.0.html