Al Jardine's Participation in July 5th Mike & Bruce Show Questionable?

 

 

In a situation that may be dicey or may be cleared up within days, potentially rendering this piece of writing rather moot, Al Jardine’s participation in the July 5th gig with Mike Love’s “Beach Boys” may still be questionable.

 

One source on the “Beach Boys Britain” message board has indicated that Jardine has not yet officially signed on for the show. No “paperwork” has been signed apparently. Obviously, when these guys do things like the 50th anniversary tour, all sorts of contracts need to be signed. There are no “handshake” deals in the business world anymore, especially when it comes to the litigious bunch that are the Beach Boys. Whether they work on verbal agreements when one guy is sitting in for one show, I do not know. The story sounds a bit dubious only because it seems far-fetched for Love to advertise Jardine’s involvement in a recent interview (as well as print advertisements to appear with Jardine’s name) if Jardine has not officially accepted the offer. At least some fans have no doubt specifically bought tickets to this show to see Jardine appear with Love for the first time in a full-length show since 1998 (apart from “C50” of course). The same source claims that David Marks is confirmed for the show. We shall see whether any of this is accurate. I would still lean toward Jardine appearing, as there has been way too much promotion done touting his appearance already. Also, Jardine’s own internet hubs still list the show. It would be rather ironic if Jardine doesn’t show up and was actually never confirmed, considering all of the hassles Jardine was forced to go through in 1999 when he advertised his band as “Beach Boys Family & Friends.” Even back then, Jardine never promoted his shows as featuring specific band members that wouldn’t be present.

 

An item that may or may not ultimately be related to this story is a recent report from a one-off solo gig Al played in Atlantic City. A few general fan reviews of the gig seem to indicate that at some point Al was cajoled by a fan into commenting on Mike Love, and may have made a semi-joking (or not so much joking) reference to Mike that didn’t indicate a strengthening connection between the two, let’s say. Head over to the Smiley Smile board for a more detailed report from the show. While commentators who have had closer contact with Al, such as Howie Edelson, have pointed out that Al’s bitterness over Beach Boys business in the aftermath of Carl’s death has subsided, leading to a much more mellow Al Jardine, it’s not difficult to imagine that he still has some complicated feelings about Mike touring without him. These feelings were all set aside in the glorious glow of the reunion tour two years ago. But to paraphrase the metaphor used by a fan on the Smiley Smile board, Al indeed must sometimes feel like he’s repeatedly getting the ball taken away from him steps away from the end zone. Sometimes he’s probably partly to blame for it. But he seems to have far more enthusiasm than anyone else in the band for keeping the entire band together. Brian stopped complaining about the end of the reunion a few weeks after the press hoopla died down. Mike and Bruce, Bruce oddly especially, seem ecstatic to not have the full band reunited anymore. David Marks seems to maintain good relations with all parties, but understandably has no power or clout when it comes to the interpersonal or business issues that keep the band apart.

 

Whether it happened like this or not, let’s imagine a scenario where Mike calls Al up and says, “Hey, wanna play with us on July 5th in Jones Beach? It’ll be fun to do a gig together.” Someone in Al’s position could take that any number of ways. It could be seen as a fun time with an old musical pal. It could be seen as a fence-mending exercise. It could be seen as Mike trying to sell more tickets to the Jones Beach show because ticket sales may have sagged. Perhaps Al finds it a bit grating to be invited back for "one special night" into his own band. In any event, one can only imagine how there might be some complicated emotions and feelings involved with something like this, to say nothing of the business and financial issues that may or may be a motivation or a result of doing a show like this.

 

One has to wonder if Al is once again the strangely isolated one in the band. He has the most intact voice, he has the strongest desire to keep the entire band together to record and tour. Yet, we could end up as this year progresses with Brian releasing a solo album and touring solo without Al, and Mike and Bruce touring as "The Beach Boys" without Al. As I've already mentioned, Al is not likely to be blameless in all of the band's dealings and situations over the years, and some if not most of what Al wants out of this band may not be remotely realistic. But it's difficult to not see the irony involved here.

 

If Al plays a gig with Mike and Bruce, I'm less interested in that individual event, and more interested in whether these guys can't put something back together as a group. I'm more interested in Al either somehow getting the band to do something with him, or to finally find someone who will help him do a legit solo career, at least one shot at one. Another solo album and a real solo tour. Not an "Endless Summer Beach Band" where Al plays the local mushroom festival and plays a 45-minute set of surf and car songs with rented equipment. Maybe Al needs to find some Wondermints-type Beach Boys nerd musician fans (or grab some of Brian's guys when they're free) and do some small gigs and finally do the deep cuts that he has wanted to for eons.

 

But I digress. We shall see what comes of this July 5th show.  

Foskett Jumps to Mike's Band, Al *and* Dave to Play Gig with Mike's "Beach Boys", Matt Jardine Joins Brian's Band, Mike and Al Discuss Working "Creatively"

 

 

Okay, this is apparently what I get for more than one reference to Beach Boys news being dead as of late. Today, we have no less than four news items that are probably more interesting than most of what has happened in the last six months.....

 

 

From yesterday's Rolling Stone article concerning Mike and Bruce's summer tour:

 

The trek kicks off May 25th at the Belvedere Festival Park in Louisville, Kentucky. After a few European dates, the group will return stateside for a gig at Jones Beach in Long Island, New York that will feature special appearances from Al Jardine and David Marks.

"Year after year, it's been a great source of inspiration to see the happiness our music has brought to multiple generations of Beach Boys fans in so many parts of the world," Mike Love said in a statement. "This summer I’m particularly excited for the Jones Beach show, which is such a terrific, iconic venue. It will be very special to share the stage with some old friends and bandmates, Al Jardine and David Marks."

The tour also marks the introduction of singer/guitarist Jeffrey Foskett, who has worked regularly with the group since 1981, as a permanent member of the Beach Boys touring band. He'll replace Love's son Christian, who left the group to pursue a solo career ("As talented as he is, I hope he’ll still want to join his dad on stage every once and a while," the elder Love added).

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/beach-boys-plan-tour-to-celebrate-50-years-of-fun-fun-fun-20140515#ixzz31oJ5mceH

So, we have confirmation that both Al as well as Dave will join in on Mike's July show at Jones Beach. Well, that's interesting and..... wait, what? Rewind.....

Apparently, Mike's son Christian Love is departing the touring band and his replacement will be none other than Jeff Foskett. As is often the case in Beach Boys Land, the immediate news is not necessarily the most thought-provoking part of the story. That Foskett would be recruited by Love is not in and of itself surprising. As many of us know, Foskett was originally brought into the touring band in 1981 by Mike. Mike also allegedly tried to recruit Foskett in the 1998/99 timeframe when the touring band splintered. Mike also seemed to most closely relate to Foskett compared to the rest of Brian's touring band during the 50th Anniversary tour.

No, the bigger question is, what does this mean in terms of Foskett's working relationship with Brian? Foskett has not only been Brian's main falsetto guy for essentially Brian's entire solo touring career, since 1999, but he's also pretty much on-stage and in the studio Brian's main companion, often operating essentially as a "handler" for Brian in some non-musical matters as well.

We had less than a day to stew on this before we got, for better or worse, the "official" responses from both Brian and Jeff:

First, Brian:

"Yesterday I found out that Jeff has decided to tour with Mike Love's BB's. I think its great since he really loved touring with Mike and the boys back in the day. He made it clear at the end of the JB tour that he would be moving on . I wish him the best and I'm happy for him. As for me , I'm busy in the studio working on my new album. A couple months ago I asked Matt Jardine to tour with my band and he accepted. He's a great guy and I love his voice. He's busy working with Paul and Darian and eager to get started. All good- Brian"

We'll get back to discussing how "real" this response is far as sentiment. What this does firmly state is that we have a new guy in Brian's band - Matt Jardine. I find that to be frankly more exciting news than Jeff joining Mike's band. But back to Jeff and his quick statement:

Thank you for all of your kind words regarding my career change. I am very much looking forward to touring with The Beach Boys. It’s where I started my professional career and it feels like a “homecoming” for me. It’s going to be a blast performing with Michael, Bruce, Scott, Timmy, Randelle and Cowsey. I am very grateful to Brian for his years of friendship, music, support and teaching. We’re still great friends and I’m sure Matt will be a stellar addition to his band. As for me … No Drama, No Hard Feelings, No Weirdness … simply time for a change. I look forward to seeing you out on the road this year!

So, how much should we dissect this? Realistically, all we can really say is that we have no way of knowing how amicable this all actually was. If Foskett left, and only later was offered a gig with Mike, then we know he didn't leave one band to join the other. Why did he depart from Brian's band? Other than guessing at obvious possibilities (money, politics, etc.), who knows? We can only hope it's as amicable as they seem to suggest.

In a separate article featuring a quick interview with Mike (http://www.petoskeynews.com/graphic/music/now-hear-this-an-interview-with-mike-love-of-the/article_664793fa-dc52-11e3-b7b2-001a4bcf6878.html), we got the following additional tantalizing bit of info:

Where do you see the future of the Beach Boys heading?

"Year after year we have opportunities in tour. We’re going perform in Tel Aviv in November. We’ve never been there. We’ll be in Paris before that. A lot of great things to come. I’m having a dialogue with Al Jardine and we’re talking about doing stuff together creatively. There are a lot of things left to do and a lot of creativities left to be manifested. As long as you like doing what you’re doing creatively there’s no real time limit on anything."

It's difficult to tie this all together, and maybe there's no reason to. What do we know for sure? To recap:

 

- Jeff Foskett has left Brian's employ, and informed him some time ago

- Christian Love is leaving Mike and Bruce's "Beach Boys"

- Jeff Foskett has joined Mike and Bruce's "Beach Boys", and if the apparent timeline is actually accurate, made this decision after Christian Love left and presumably an offer made to join

- Matt Jardine is apparently permanently joining Brian's tour band to replace Foskett

- Al Jardine and David Marks are playing one show with Mike and Bruce's "Beach Boys" in July

- Al Jardine and Mike Love are having a "dialogue" about doing something "creatively" (presumably less about touring and more about writing or recording?)

 

So that's a lot of info to chew on. What about the unknowns?

 

- Will Al and Dave (and Blondie Chaplin), all of whom have added material to Brian's album, be joining Brian on future live dates? Brian has two European tour dates, and it appears unlikely they will be joining Brian on those dates, as the July gig with Mike and Bruce conflicts. Brian has one apparent date in October in Modesto, CA, so that gives a good indication of a possible timeframe for a tour to promote a new album.

- Will Al and Dave do any further dates with Mike and Bruce? This seems like a very iffy prospect. More likely is the possibility of a few gigs here and there. But could they permanently join? That seems far less likely.

 

Rather than run down all of the various permutations of "what if's", we'll stew on this while you readers stew as well. There will be plenty of time for commentary......



Reviews from the Archive - Vol. 1 - "A Celebration Concert" DVD

As I mentioned way back when I started this blog/page, the idea was to restart the old “Beach Boys Opinion Page” (or “Beach Boys Resource Page”) that was around starting in the late 90’s (wow!) through the mid-2000’s. It was a repository mainly for reviews of concerts and DVDs/CDs. With this new blog, I originally figured I would mix in new commentary with somehow reformatting/reposting old stuff from the old site.

There hasn’t been a ton of news in Beach Boys land lately, so I thought I might start up a sort of “From the Archives” series for my old reviews. I guess if the actual Beach Boys can’t start their actual “archival” releases of material, I will stick fans with the alternative: an old web page archive!

I suppose I’ll just pick out some random reviews of interest and start there. Please remember some of these reviews are as much as 15 years old (maybe a bit more!), and while I’ve briefly looked at them again and in some cases have done some re-writing and editing, they are not perhaps up the standard of what I would write now, scary as that may be.

So, here is “Reviews from the Archive – Vol. 1”:

We’re going to take a look back today at the oddball Japanese DVD release “A Celebration Concert”, the only official release of the band’s July 4th, 1980 Washington DC concert:

The Beach Boys- A Celebration Concert (1980)
Color, Full Screen (1.33x1)
Columbia Video (Region 2)
Sound: Dolby Digital 2.0
Supplements: Chapter Selections

 

The Film:

This Region 2-only release from Japan is quite obscure, apparently. This one was difficult for me to track down back when it was still in print in 1997. It eventually came to me courtesy of a friendly fan who grabbed it for me at a Virgin Megastore in France! (289 francs!). Let me tell you, the cost of importing a DVD from Japan to France, and then to the USA, is astoundingly high!
 

The Beach Boys performed their first concert on the 4th of July in Washington DC in 1980. Culled from the show (which was broadcast live on the radio) were 17 songs for an eventual HBO TV special. It was never (and still hasn't been) released on home video in any format in the USA. The show was issued on videocassette in Japan sometime in the 80's as my research indicated years ago. The version on this Japanese release is that same HBO special. This DVD was issued in Japan around 1997, and as far as I can tell, quickly went out of print.
 

As for the show itself, it’s pretty darn similar to the “Knebworth 1980” show. Not surprising, considering this DC show took place a mere two weeks after Knebworth. On the plus side, all six Beach Boys are present. This was one of the last times that they were captured performing a full show together; certainly one of the last televised in-concert performances showcasing all six members. I personally feel that the performance is pretty tight and enjoyable, and all the group members (except for Brian who isn't very involved) are in good form. Even Dennis does a pretty good job on the drums. He doesn’t have the spunk he showed at Knebworth, but he holds the band together well.

 

 

Also, besides covering the mandatory hits, this DVD captures a few songs that survived in the Beach Boys' set list for a relatively short amount of time, namely "Good Timin'", "School Days", and "Keepin' the Summer Alive." It has at least a few tracks that aren’t repeated from the Knebworth DVD release as well (“Good Timin’”, “Catch a Wave”). However you view this era of the group’s history, this is a pretty historic concert. It still must be among one of the more widely attended shows of all time, with the crowd reported at 400,000 to 500,000, maybe even more. It’s certainly among the band’s biggest shows.

 

The band may not have been known to rock out convincingly that often, but even I must admit they do a pretty nice job on “Keepin’ the Summer Alive” at this show, breathing life into what was a stale studio recording and better-but-still-stilted performance at Knebworth. Also making this show fun is the uncensored crowd. We see an angry fan flipping the camera off, another guy smoking weed, a topless woman, and so on. Sorry folks, I was never a fan of James Watt, but he was actually kinda right about the audiences at these DC shows! It’s certainly a more surly, energetic crowd that the gingerly-moving baby boomers in Hawaiian shirts you see at Mike Love’s shows these days.
 

Video Quality:

The DVD itself is pretty stripped down, but it delivers the show itself in excellent quality. The picture quality is stunning, easily surpassing my now 34-year-old original off-air videotape of the show, which is still of better quality than most copies floating around the videotape trading circles. Simply put, this is truly as good as a live concert shot on videotape in 1980 is going to look.

Audio Quality:

As noticeable as the improvement in clarity of the picture is that the picture is much brighter. The sound is Dolby Digital 2.0, featuring a good stereo mix that is of much better fidelity than how it was originally broadcast in mono. As with Knebworth, this show did benefit from some post-show overdubbing (most notable in some apparent backing vocal overdubs and, to my ears, some electric piano/keyboard, which you can hear punched-in at certain points when listening with headphones). Indeed, it appears as though years later Bruce Johnston may have viewed the DC show as a more "polished" product than Knebworth, as the DC show was overdubbed and then presented as a "finished" product via its TV airing, while Knebworth sat shelved for another nearly 25 years.


Extras;

There is no supplemental material, apart from a chapter menu available both in Japanese and English.
 

Since it is quite doubtful this show will ever see official release in the US, or anywhere else for that matter (especially as it is somewhat redundant in light of the DVD release of the Knebworth show), this release is probably the only way you can get the show on DVD, or any officially released format. The disc is NTSC, but it is encoded in Region 2, meaning those in the USA will have to either have a Region 2 player or have your existing Region 1 player modified to play Region 2 discs or modified to play all regions. That is, if you can even find this disc. I couldn’t even easily find a *picture* of this release online (resulting in my getting off my lazy ass and taking pictures of my disc), let alone a copy for sale when searching in 2014.

 

 

 

Al Joining Mike & Bruce for Gig in July?

 

 

It’s been kind of a dead year so far for Beach Boys fans, at least as far as any kind of “new news”, so something like this maybe jumps out as a bigger deal than it might be.

 

Apparently, Al will be joining Mike and Bruce for a gig in July at Jones Beach in New York. Details are literally non-existent at this stage beyond the advertisement pictured above. That Al is appearing is not even 100% confirmed. In the past, gigs for Mike’s band have on rare occasions been incorrectly billed as having other band members present. However, when promoters mistakenly do this, it usually consists of a more general “all original members” or accidental use of a picture of an old band lineup. For this billing with Al to be a mistake would take a lot of deliberate action, since someone had to specifically put his name on the ad and also leave out Brian and Dave. So it seems more likely than not that the Al billing is legit.

 

The two main questions this curious fan has are: What does this mean in the grand scheme? Also, What will Al’s appearance consist of?

 

Let’s look at the latter first. It’s worth noting that Al has never played a full-length gig with Mike and Bruce’s version of “The Beach Boys”, with the possible exception of one or two pre-50th tour private/charity shows Al reportedly played with Mike and Bruce’s band in April 2012, of which there were scant reports at the time. Apart from that, and I suppose technically the few gigs Al played in early 1998 before departing the band, Al’s only on-stage appearances with Mike’s “Beach Boys” have been quick cameos such as the early 2011 gig, or earlier this year at the Ella awards. So will Al be on stage for the entire show, or will he just pop in for a few numbers? Will he get a special introduction like he did when he played with Brian in 2006/2007, or will he just appear for the duration of the show as if it’s just a gig like 1997 again? Will he simply get tossed a few Al-centric leads like “Help Me Rhonda”, perhaps “Sloop John B” or “Wouldn’t It Be Nice”, and maybe “Come Go with Me” or “California Dreamin’?” Setting aside the sort of visceral weirdness and potential uneasiness with Al simply rejoining Mike’s band, my main concern with this happening has always been that Al would simply get relegated to a role with only a few leads despite having such an in-tact voice.

 

Grand-scheme wise, does this mean anything? I’m not sure it foreshadows some huge imminent event in the Beach Boys universe, but it is very notable. It signifies a lack of estrangement between Al and Mike, which is a big deal. One also can’t help but wonder what this means in relation to Brian’s solo work and tour (and Al’s potential participation), and also what it might mean for more full reunion activities. When Al made a guest spot with Mike in early 2011, most spectators agree that among other things, it had to be a very small early trial run for making sure Al and Mike could handle being on stage together, and indeed we got the reunion project which began a few months after that. It’s tempting to wonder if Al “jumped ship” from the Brian camp to the Mike camp, but we also know that mere days or weeks ago, Al was pictured doing more recording with Brian.

 

Generally speaking, it’s refreshingly nice to see these guys be able to work with each other in various capacities and not be estranged even if they don’t all stay together as a group. It’s also frustrating, since the reunion tour was so amazing.

 

Also interesting to ponder: What is Mike’s motive in this? Is there one beyond just playing with Al? I truly want to believe these guys just love each other and want to sing together. That’s one possibility. I’d like to believe even more they are priming things for an eventual return to the reunion lineup, perhaps in 2015 or 2016. But fans are not completely out of line to wonder if there are band politics involved here, and/or any number of motives. Reading Jon Stebbins’ and David Marks’ book and its recounting of the shuffling with bringing David on board in 1997, one always has to wonder if something like that could be happening again.

 

Time will tell, for lack of a less clichéd way of putting it. I can’t particularly see anything negative about Al playing a gig with Mike. There is a vast potential for some observational irony, and it’s easy to be cynical. But let’s see what happens…..




An Update (Finally!): Mike's "Ella" Award, Al's TM Show, Brian's Maybe-Album

A Variety of Updates…..

Apologies again for not offering more updates sooner. Rather than getting into the boring why, let’s dissect some recent goings-on in the Beach Boys world:



In no particular order, let’s start with the “Ella Awards”, which honored Mike Love in late February.
If we are honest with ourselves, most of us had never heard of the “Ella Awards” before. One presumes it has much more to do with philanthropy (not a bad thing of course) on Mike’s behalf rather than some sort of artistic/musical merit.

In any event, the event featured an array of musical guests on stage, and was of interest to Beach Boys fans mainly due to the first appearance by Al and Dave on stage (or in person at all publically) with Mike (and Bruce) since the demise of the reunion in 2012. One had to wonder just how “on the outs” Al and Mike were, remembering that between 1998 and 2011, you could count their joint public appearances on one hand. It’s good to see that they either aren’t as at odds as they were in the 2000’s, or have at least learned to get past differences and still appear together. Al offered the requisite “Help Me Rhonda” backed by more or less Mike and Bruce’s touring “Beach Boys” band, with Jeff Foskett in tow as well, perhaps representing the “Brian camp.” It was a decent-enough performance, but stark proof of how much better the full, large reunion tour band was.



In a post-show essay, Mike expressed gratitude for Al and Dave for appearing, and regret at Brian not appearing. Cue rampant fan speculation, without of course any actual knowledge about whether Brian was invited, and if he was why he may not have attended, and whether he expressed any sentiments to Mike regarding the show. My theory is that their contentious, awkward relationship (both interpersonally and between their “camps’) certainly could have played a role, in addition to Brian or his camp avoiding creating a situation where the entire reunited group appeared, which would lead to a degree of scrutiny that they aren’t interested in at this time.

 

Meanwhile, in early February, Al performed a unique show in New York billed as “Al Jardine & Friends”, with collaborator Larry Dvoskin as well as Blondie Chaplin among the ensemble. A largely acoustic show, with a setlist emphasis on folk and TM-related songs, it was certainly one of the more unique shows Al has put together. Considering the demise of the reunion tour, the lack of substantial touring from Brian (who may or may not have Al back in the band whenever he goes back out on the road), and no apparent invitation from Mike to re-join his version of the “Beach Boys”, we have to once again re-state the obvious: Al should start putting out his own stuff and doing his own shows. Maybe he doesn’t want to do the “club” circuit at age 71. I’m not sure why he doesn’t stay more active. He has the most in-tact voice of the group, and this show proved he can do a pretty darn eclectic setlist (including “TM Song”, “Transcendental Meditation”, and “At My Window” among others).



Fans are also continuing to speculate on Brian’s new album plans. Articles super-hyping up Brian’s recordings with Jeff Beck (and Al) last year seemed to strongly indicate we’d see something before too long, presumably a new Brian album with contributions from Beck as well as Al, Blondie Chaplin, and Dave among others. A late 2013 tour involving all of these guys seemed to reinforce that. But now it all seems up in the air. It still seems strongly likely that Brian will have a new album out this year; he’s still recording, and there’s a “biopic” to promote later this year as well. A few recent Jeff Beck interviews haven’t offered much clarity, other than to indicate Beck isn’t presently working more with Brian, and has no idea when or if the stuff will be released. Beck’s only other insight is that he seems to feel they should have finished the recordings and then went out on tour rather than touring in the middle of the sessions. Yet, Beck also admits they may have grabbed him for the 2013 tour because that was the time he had free on his schedule.

Some hopeful fans have begun to wonder if Brian is prepping something for another full Beach Boys album. The evidence is scant at this stage, with the main pieces of evidence simply being that Brian continues to apparently demo and record new material beyond what he did last year (see the picture above; it's from some sort of 2014 session), and he recently surprisingly brought in Matt Jardine to sing on some sessions (with Blondie Chaplin among others). Matt Jardine later described that he was apparently cutting “guide vocals”, both lead and backing, for new Brian material. This of course raises a bunch of questions. If it’s for a Brian album where Brian would be singing, why is he having someone else cut guide vocals? Also, if he needs someone to cut guide vocals, why is he calling in specifically Matt Jardine? Brian has numerous guys in his backing band, even assuming Jeff Foskett was busy, that could cut simple “guide” vocals.

The main indicator for me that Brian does not have at least any imminent plans for Beach Boys recordings (beyond the obvious; that Mike Love seems to still not be agreeable to Brian’s camp; specifically Joe Thomas, and also sees another album as contingent on writing with Brian from scratch) is that it seems exponentially less likely to launch a group project as he prepares to promote a “Brian Wilson” biopic, titled after a solo Brian song (“Love and Mercy”).



On the touring circuit, there isn’t a great deal to report. Mike and Bruce continue their “Beach Boys” tour. Despite the warm and fuzzies at Mike’s award show, there doesn’t seem to be anything in the works to bring Al and Dave into the touring band. It wouldn’t be nearly as impressive as the reunion tour and band, but it would be nice for Al to get his voice out there in some form. While some of the band members’ ability to get along a bit better publically may have improved, the basic dynamics and economics of the situation have not: Mike knows that bringing Al back into the band will cost more than any increase in revenue Al’s inclusion might bring. The only two times Mike would have received any significant backlash due to lack of “original members” would have been in 1998/99 after Carl and Al were gone from the band, and in 2012/13 in the aftermath of the reunion. Mike braved both of those storms without much ultimate financial hardship as far as touring revenue is concerned (or I should say the “Beach Boys” trademark braved the storm; it’s the thing that sells the tickets), so there’s really no incentive to bring Al or Dave back into the touring band other than all of a sudden trying to look like a bit less of a d**k. Curiously, I don’t believe Al has ever been asked point blank in an interview since 1998 if he would return to Mike’s touring band if an offer was made. As a fan of the group, and of Al’s, and not so much a fan of Mike’s touring band, I’m not even sure whether I’d like to see Al join from a fan perspective. I’m inclined to say no, because I’m not sure how much Al we’d get beyond the standard bits of Al singing “Rhonda”, “Sloop John B”, and a few others. Will Mike want Al to start adding “Lookin’ At Tomorrow”, “At My Window”, etc.?

Brian has booked a few European shows we know of (no indicator as to whether Al or Dave (or Blondie) might be involved), with the suggestion of more fall dates either in Europe or elsewhere to promote a new album and the biopic.

Al and Dave meanwhile don’t seem to have anything going on other than a hand full of bookings under various iterations of the “Surf City All Stars.” After C50, and his unique solo show in New York, it’s a bit disappointing to see Al back to random fairs and corporate bookings singing “Little Deuce Coupe” with Dean Torrence and various outcasts from old touring Beach Boys-related bands. Not that it would be a bad show; I’d go see it.

Happy Holidays!

 

 

I know I probably don’t update the page here quite enough to make this daily reading for folks out there, but to any and all who might stumble across this, the folks at Beach Boys Opinion Page (meaning, me!) want to wish all Beach Boys fans a Happy Holidays.

 

I’ve been spinning the Beach Boys Christmas Album quite a bit this year; I’m always glad when I get around to doing that. Check out our section for December 2012 for a sort of "re-review" of the excellent 1998 Beach Boys "Ultimate Christams" compilation.

 

What do we have to look forward to for next year for the group? Not much is set in stone, but it’s likely we’ll get the new Brian Wilson album (and presumably/hopefully some more touring; and hopefully with Al and Dave (and Blondie!) in tow). The Mike and Bruce show have likely already booked shows for 2014, so I would imagine if there’s any chance of another full “reunion”, 2015 would be the earliest we would see that.

 

“Big Beat 1963” was an interesting and fun little curio of a release (review hopefully coming soon!). Nobody seems to know what the “copyright extension” issue means for future releases, so it’s unclear what might make it out in terms of archival material in 2014. We will apparently see the SACD/Vinyl partial album catalog reissues.

 

I’m truly hoping we get more archival releases. Apparently, it was revealed in a recent ESQ interview that there was a seventh “bonus” disc prepared for the “Made in California” set as a retailer exclusive. The deal to do that exclusive somehow fell through. Hopefully that disc will be made available somehow, or the “Beach Boys Central” website will finally launch with some new archival releases in some format.

 

I would implore those who have any control over the situation to keep in mind that the Beach Boys’ fans are getting older and literally dying off. Please put this stuff out while some of us are still alive!

The Beach Boys Opinion Page will strive as well to make more updates and post more commentary in the new year.

 

Hopefully back soon with more comments!

 

Upcoming Releases - "Big Beat 1963" & Partial Catalog Overhaul via Acoustic Sounds

There are a few interesting things announced on the horizon for Beach Boys fans. First up is the odd compilation "The Big Beat - 1963." What exactly is the story here? Well, read all about it here:

http://www.examiner.com/article/brian-wilson-s-the-big-beat-1963

Basically, we're seeing a bunch of weird activity from record labels housing oldie bands, as there are a bunch of confusing, vague copyright laws floating around that basically dictate that labels have to put out "unreleased" material in order to avoid having it pass into public domain and thus be freed up for anybody to legitimately release. Apparently, this pertains mainly to the odd category of material that has not been "officially" released but does already exist out there. Basically, the labels have to put out anything that has already been bootlegged, because that's the stuff that any label has direct access to and can put out legitimately if it falls into public domain.

As far as this release goes, it's a hodge-podge of demos and tracks with varying degrees of Brian Wilson/Beach Boys involvement. For those that have a fetish for early era Brian productions and collaborations, this will be an interesting release. But this is by no means any sort of "opening of the vaults" of Beach Boys outtake material from 1963. This is odds and ends, sourced from everything from master tapes to acetates to cassette tape dubs. The idea here (as with the supposed/alleged and equally bizarre release of Beatles outtakes from 1963 rumored to take place on the same day) is to simply technically get this stuff "officially" released by the end of this year. To this end, we're seeing download-only releases. December 17th is allegedly the date.

I'll reserve judgment until I hear this collection, but I'm not super enthused about. Some of it is literally pulled from the same sources as bootlegs, so we're not even sure right now how much of this will sound better than what's already out there, and if so, how much better.



Potentially  more interesting is Kevin Gray at Analog Productions taking a crack at a big hunk of the Beach Boys catalog on SACD and high quality vinyl.

On the plus side, this will probably be the best-sounding remasterings to date. That's a big deal. Gray is an excellent engineer (and will make this stuff sound better than recent album remasters).

However, at the risk of sounding negative yet again, I'm not that enthused about this. I own these albums numerous times over, and many of the tracks even more times. I want to see archival studio and live material. Not another milking of the band's catalog. Expanded reissues of each album with a disc of bonus material would be much preferable.

Additionally, they have once again randomly skipped over albums in the band's catalog. They've of course ignored anything post-1973, but have even left gaps in the 1962-1973 timeframe. What's the point? It will be great to hear "Sunflower" and "Holland" and whatnot in SACD quality. But this isn't a full catalog overhaul. The fact that Capitol in the last year or two did the same thing; issued part but not all of the band's catalog in a random fashion, makes this exercise even more puzzling. This also makes it even less likely that we'll see expanded deluxe editions of the albums anytime soon.

We can only hope this full help fund some archival releases, but I'm kind of bored with that contention. It isn't really true, as "Sounds of Summer" sold a butt-load of copies and it took nearly a decade for more substantial archival material to be released.

Hopefully they are independently still planning on something along the lines of the "Beach Boys Central" website; downloads of unreleased material. I don't want to buy "Surfin' USA" again folks. I want to buy some live 1972 and 1975 shows.