The Beach Boys

[Hello Goodbye]

Alexis, the first video is just a "music video" they did in 1967.  Dennis Wilson is having a good time miming the tambourine.  Bruce Johnston is playing the organ.  This is an interesting mix with the Jew's harp at 1:43.

There are a few live videos of Good Vibrations on YouTube, but none from the 60s.  I like this one from 1976.  Brian Wilson appeared on stage....

The beach boys -good vibrations

[Hello Goodbye]

Smile Vibrations - is it all Brian on vox/instruments? Is it the new Smile just released, or is it an outtake from the 60s Smile that (?) never got fully finished/released?
Thanks!

It's the final track on the new Smile.

[Joost]

A cool fact about Good Vibrations: Carl obviously sings lead on the verses, but the high notes are not him. "I hear the sound of a..." is Brian, and "...gentle word" is Carl again. "When I look..." is Brian, "...in her eyes" is Carl again. Brian was such a perfectionist at the time, if he thought a vocal from one of the other members was less than perfect he'd just do it himself. On all later live versions Carl effortlessly does the high notes, but you've got to remember that GV was only Carl's 5th ever lead vocal and he was still only 19 years old. On a sidenote: on the slow part ("Gotta keep those loving good vibrations a-happering with her"), Dennis plays the organ part.

[Joost]

It's the final track on the new Smile.

It is, but the remarkable thing is that it's mostly based on a version of GV that pre-dates the familiar hit version. The original GV lyrics were written by Mike Love, Tony Asher and Brian, on the hit version all Asher's lyrics were ditched and replaced by new lyrics by Mike. For some reason Brian decided to use the original lyrics for his 2004 version. Mike obviously didn't like that.

[Hello Goodbye]

Right, Joost.  This is that early take of Good Vibrations in 1966...

The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Early Take)

[alexis]

Alexis, the first video is just a "music video" they did in 1967.  Dennis Wilson is having a good time miming the tambourine.  Bruce Johnston is playing the organ.  This is an interesting mix with the Jew's harp at 1:43.

There are a few live videos of Good Vibrations on YouTube, but none from the 60s.  I like this one from 1976.  Brian Wilson appeared on stage....

The beach boys -good vibrations

Thanks, nice!

Saw Paul and Linda at Brian's 34th birthday party in there briefly. Neat!

[alexis]

OK, this has the signs of something that could easily get out of hand.

I just read the (very) long wiki article on the Beach Boys. Good info for the unitiated.

Mike Love - is he bad, or just drawn that way? By the way, is he much older than the others?

So sad that Brian lost his two brothers.

Bruce Johnston is pretty amazing!

Wonder why Pet Sounds didn't sell lots?

Anyway, thanks for posting all that!

[Hello Goodbye]

Wonder why Pet Sounds didn't sell lots?

It did!  Pet Sounds went gold and platinum in 2000.   




God Only Knows

[Joost]

Mike Love - is he bad, or just drawn that way?

A lot of Beach Boys fan don't like him, but I don't think he's as much of a bad guy as some people like to think. People dislike him for his lame sense of humor, because he's usually far from humble in interviews and because he often gave Brian and Dennis a hard time. But then again, I'm sure Brian and Dennis were often impossible to deal with. Even Carl got fed up with them in the mid/late 70s.

By the way, is he much older than the others?

Mike is 68 now, Brian and Al are 67, Dennis would've been 65 now and Carl 63.

Bruce Johnston is pretty amazing!

Then why are his solo albums almost unlistenable?

Wonder why Pet Sounds didn't sell lots?

It did, it went to #2 in the UK and #10 in the US. But the previous Beach Boys albums all did better in the US, so it was a commercial failure but only relatively. I guess it just wasn't the music that people expected or wanted to hear from the Beach Boys.

[alexis]

Bruce Johnston seems incredible ...

...
Then why are his solo albums almost unlistenable?
...

I can't answer that, but, from his Wiki page:

Arranged and played a Billboard top 10 song while in high school; started a record production career one year later, and wound up producing a million seller "Hey Little Cobra"; wrote Billboard #1 song "I Write the Songs", covered by Barry Manilow, Frank Sinatra, and has sold 25 million records of it; wrote backing vocals and sang on recording of Elton John "Don't Let the Son go Down on Me" and Pink Floyd's "The Wall"; only Beach Boy with a Song of the Year Grammy.

He's shown he's got the writing chops, and the producing chops, why do you think he's dropped the ball on his solo work, Joost? Anyway, I'll definitely try before I buy when it comes to his solo stuff - thanks!

[Joost]

It is impressive that Bruce was working as a professional songwriter and producer while still in his teens (although it should be noted that Bruce comes from a filthy rich family, so he could probably have done any job he wanted to do), but I think he threw away his abilities because he just stopped being creative once he joined the Beach Boys in 1965.

If you look at what he's done musically in the last 45 years, since 1965, it really isn't much. He toured and recorded as a member of The Beach Boys from 1965 until 1972 and from 1979 until the present day, but wrote no more than seven songs for them in all those years. He released just one solo album (during his seven year absence from the group), consisting almost entirely of lame re-recordings of his best known songs, and a few covers. He wrote just one hit song ('I Write The Songs'). And he sang backups on a few albums by other artists. That's pretty much it.

[dcowboys107]

So did Pet Sounds go platinum in 2000 "finally" or did a new release of a CD or something push it to that?  If it is the former, then, wow.

[Mairi]

It is impressive that Bruce was working as a professional songwriter and producer while still in his teens (although it should be noted that Bruce comes from a filthy rich family, so he could probably have done any job he wanted to do), but I think he threw away his abilities because he just stopped being creative once he joined the Beach Boys in 1965.

If you look at what he's done musically in the last 45 years, since 1965, it really isn't much. He toured and recorded as a member of The Beach Boys from 1965 until 1972 and from 1979 until the present day, but wrote no more than seven songs for them in all those years. He released just one solo album (during his seven year absence from the group), consisting almost entirely of lame re-recordings of his best known songs, and a few covers. He wrote just one hit song ('I Write The Songs'). And he sang backups on a few albums by other artists. That's pretty much it.

That's interesting, and kind of sad. Why do you think that is? Did he lose his ambition once he joined the group? Maybe he felt like his work as a songwriter wasn't needed with the other great songwriters in the band.

[alexis]

^^ I mean another way to look at it is maybe the muse left him  . He did write a #1 Grammy, he'll always have that.

[Mairi]

Oh damn, never thought of that.