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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2019 19:41:00 GMT
For some legacy acts—the Beach Boys and associated acts among them—its at a point where tribute bands put out a better performance than the (remaining) originals. The best lead vocals of a reunited Beach Boys concert would probably come from Darian, Scott, Matt, or John.
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Post by kds on Nov 21, 2019 19:49:17 GMT
For some legacy acts—the Beach Boys and associated acts among them—its at a point where tribute bands put out a better performance than the (remaining) originals. The best lead vocals of a reunited Beach Boys concert would probably come from Darian, Scott, Matt, or John. That's probably true at this point. And unlike many other legacy acts out there, the Boys' greatest instruments were always the vocals. So, it's not like they have a Brian May or Eddie Van Halen on guitar to make up for the drop in quality vocally. If they would ever reunite and tour, I'd probably go just because my wife didn't get a chance to see the full band (we met at the very tail end of the summer of 2012).
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2019 19:58:24 GMT
That’s exactly the issue: the tight harmonies were the product. Dylan, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, they can/could croak their way through because that wasn’t what they do. Instrumentalists can play. But guys whose whole product requires tight, exact singing, well...
But I know, some people get more sentimental value out of seeing the originals even if they aren’t very good.
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Post by kds on Nov 21, 2019 20:06:53 GMT
That’s exactly the issue: the tight harmonies were the product. Dylan, Tom Waits, Lou Reed, Leonard Cohen, they can/could croak their way through because that wasn’t what they do. Instrumentalists can play. But guys whose whole product requires tight, exact singing, well... But I know, some people get more sentimental value out of seeing the originals even if they aren’t very good. I'm somewhat in that group. Although, if not for the fact that my tickets for Brian's show in January were paid for, I think I'd at least be done with seeing him in concert.
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 21, 2019 20:14:41 GMT
I’m somewhat there, myself. Just to a lesser extent. It’s fun to see a legend in person. For me personally, the last show I saw was bad enough that the balance has shifted. (And I haven’t seen clips that lead me to think he’s any better now.)
Thankfully I did get to see him do really well a few times where the “he’s a legend!” awe was in full effect.
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Post by kds on Nov 21, 2019 20:20:34 GMT
The last show of his I attended was in September 2016. And, for the most part, it was a very good show, despite the fact that he did do some talk singing during Pet Sounds. But, after I saw some of the video clips from 2017, I was pretty content for that 2016 show to be my final memory of Brian Wilson live. Although, I'd have bought tickets to his Christmas tour in a heartbeat because I'm a big fan of the BB Christmas album.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 21, 2019 23:50:01 GMT
I think there was/is a 50-50 chance of the B.Wilson/M.Love writing team coming up with something good or great. I do think there is a unique chemistry when Brian and Mike work together in any capacity that I'm not sure Brian had with the myriad of collaborators he worked with in his solo career.
As has been mentioned above, the biggest stumbling block is that Mike is not a musician and the older Brian needs that kind of input to write songs. The days of Brian doing the music and somebody else simply supplying the lyrics (a la Christian, Asher, Parks, Rieley, AND LOVE) are long gone. If strictly Brian and Mike - and nobody else - wrote songs today, they would probably resemble more M.I.U. and The Beach Boys 1985 than "Good Vibrations" and Wild Honey. If - and it's a big if - Brian was ever going to write/produce his rock & roll album, Mike might be a good fit as a collaborator for that.
If I was the record company who was financing an album using the Brian/Mike songwriting partnership, I would absolutely demand final say in accepting/declining the songs, because you know those stupid remakes and those old lyrical references are coming. Maybe there would be a soft, smooth, politically-correct way to do it. Hey, Brian and Mike should be used to that. Didn't Reprise reject or demand some serious tweaking on almost every Beach Boys' album from Sunflower through Holland, and then similar requests were made with some of the Caribou albums.
It's all a moot point, though. Mike and Brian are pushing 80 and I don't see any signs of a songwriting reunion happening. I mentioned that there would be a 50-50 chance of Brian and Mike coming up with something good or great. Honestly, and maybe I'm a sentimental sap, but I'd like to take those odds and see what could/would come out of one more attempt at some great B. Wilson/M.Love songs - and maybe get one more "It's OK". 
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Post by Kapitan on Nov 22, 2019 3:00:46 GMT
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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 22, 2019 6:07:52 GMT
For many years, after the Brian is Back campaign, Brian did just what was suggested in this thread: occasionally join the group onstage, particularly if it was an event like the July 4th concerts. I'm not sure when he stopped doing this - maybe after his autobiography (ahem) came out in 1991? The book was pretty hard on the other Beach Boys, particularly Mike and Carl. Were there ANY BW appearances with the group between the book coming out, and the Wilson/Was sessions in 1995? They sure made a big deal about him being back with the group for S&S..and did absolutely nothing with it.
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Post by Sheriff John Stone on Nov 22, 2019 12:44:30 GMT
For many years, after the Brian is Back campaign, Brian did just what was suggested in this thread: occasionally join the group onstage, particularly if it was an event like the July 4th concerts. I'm not sure when he stopped doing this - maybe after his autobiography (ahem) came out in 1991? The book was pretty hard on the other Beach Boys, particularly Mike and Carl. Were there ANY BW appearances with the group between the book coming out, and the Wilson/Was sessions in 1995? They sure made a big deal about him being back with the group for S&S..and did absolutely nothing with it. If you look at the actual numbers, you would be surprised how many concerts Brian performed with The Beach Boys from 1977-1982. I'm not saying he made every show. He went through stretches (months actually) when he was not present. But he was there a lot.
I'm not exactly sure how many shows Brian performed with the band after publishing his first autobiography, but I think Brian stopped touring with The Beach Boys completely a year or so after he married Melinda, or after the Stars And Stripes project.
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Post by lonelysummer on Nov 23, 2019 5:10:32 GMT
For many years, after the Brian is Back campaign, Brian did just what was suggested in this thread: occasionally join the group onstage, particularly if it was an event like the July 4th concerts. I'm not sure when he stopped doing this - maybe after his autobiography (ahem) came out in 1991? The book was pretty hard on the other Beach Boys, particularly Mike and Carl. Were there ANY BW appearances with the group between the book coming out, and the Wilson/Was sessions in 1995? They sure made a big deal about him being back with the group for S&S..and did absolutely nothing with it. If you look at the actual numbers, you would be surprised how many concerts Brian performed with The Beach Boys from 1977-1982. I'm not saying he made every show. He went through stretches (months actually) when he was not present. But he was there a lot.
I'm not exactly sure how many shows Brian performed with the band after publishing his first autobiography, but I think Brian stopped touring with The Beach Boys completely a year or so after he married Melinda, or after the Stars And Stripes project.
It is surprising how much Brian was with the band 77-82. It seems like he was persona non grata after the autobiography. It's too bad S&S wasn't a warm up for a real BB's album. There's been a couple times in Brian's life when he had someone trying to distance him from the group - during the second Landy era (the guys complained that they could only a get a few hours with him while recording the Still Cruisin' tracks), and after he married Melinda. I don't think I ever heard her say anything good about Brian's family, even Carl. So much time wasted on the way.... CSN sure knew what they were singing about with that one!
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