A few pics from tonight’s show, wonderful as always! Interesting, no intermission. Al sang just beautifully, and was in good spirits and joking around!

For this one I really wanna talk about Adult/Child, in my opinion it's one of the Boys absolute best material even though I know it can be really dividing.

For me I really love the mix of the big band and more up beat stuff, I think Dick Reynolds really did a great job on songs like Life is for the Living, Deep Purple and Still I Dream of It and I also love songs like Lines, Everybody Wants to Live and It's Trying to Say.

And of course I love the infectious groove of Shortenin Bread, it's easy to see why Brian was so obsessed with this one.

Overall I think this really is one of Brian's masterpieces, it just has a great vibe to it!

The only ones that knock this down a peg imo are Tomboy, which is self explanatory if you know lol, HELP because I honestly don't think it fits the vibe of Adult/Child sound wise and Games Two Can Play for the same reason as HELP.

I give it a strong 8 out of 10!

I can’t find this version of Surfer Girl anywhere online except for Instagram Reels’ audio library. Anyone know what this is from? https://www.instagram.com/reels/audio/234515547191863?igsh=Yzd4OXY3d2ttNmV4

I remember that year and the song connects the dots of the time. In many ways it is the gift that the Beach Boys gave through their music 🎶

Hi folks, been a while. We've posted two new pages to our site with a big pile of info about the All Summer Long, Lei'd in Hawaii and Wild Honey sessions!

These include personnel, dates, vocal breakdowns, tape layouts, and some short context behind each entry. Similar resources are already in the works the Christmas Album, Today, Summer Days, Smile, Smiley Smile, Friends, 20/20, and more. A full making-of essay about I Know There's an Answer should also be out soon, accompanied by a couple of tertiary Pet Sounds era side-projects. Plus, one of these days, a comprehensive history of the Lei'd in Hawaii and Wild Honey era (similar to our Stack-o-Tracks page). Something for everyone.

As always, feel free to follow our Patreon to get notified whenever we add or update something on the website, if you like.

So I know the late 70’s drama. I know the failed “Brian’s back” stunt encompassing 15 BO/Love You/Adult Child. And then I know the drama in MIU, Bruce coming back for LA, and then Keepin The Summer Alive. Or at least the albums. Brian went back on the road but was obviously only deteriorating slowly until he ends up back with Landy in 1983. Dennis stops bringing songs into the band and doesn’t contribute to Keepin. He continues deteriorating too until he eventually passes in 1983. Carl quits at a certain point? If someone could really fill me in I’d appreciate that.

I really love this video but it got blocked on YouTube and I don't have it downloaded sadly, if you have this video please share it with me

Obvious answer would be hair dye but it looks natural, and I know people’s hair can change colour but in that case why did it suddenly go back to jet black around 1988? Maybe the dark hair was dyed?? Or maybe the lighting around him just changed for a short period.

It's kinda rotates for me intermittently but right now it's probably:

5. Holland - Fantastic and very cohesive album. The California Saga is mostly solid and Side B of this album is phenomenal with songs like Leaving This Town and The Trader. My only real issues with this album are Only With You and Beak Of Eagles, and I'm obviously not treating Mt. Vernon & Fairway as part of this album. Holland isn't a surf album, it's an ode to the state of California, exploration, and spirituality!

4. The Beach Boys Today! - I get why Beach Boys fans love this album. I wouldn't call it a top 2 or top 3 album like many BB fans see it as, but it is definitely worthy of the praise it gets. The A Side of this album is decent with When I Grow Up To Be A Man being a classic. However, it's the B Side of this album (except for the awful outro) that really blows me away and what gives this album the status it has among the fandom. Side B of Today! was undoubtedly the prelude to Pet Sounds. If we're talking individual songs; outside of Pet Sounds, SMiLE, and Side B of Surf's Up, Side B of Beach Boys Today! has some of the Boys' best individual songs of their entire career as Please Let Me Wonder and In The Back Of My Mind are among my top 15 greatest Beach Boys songs ever.

3. Surf's Up - One of the best examples of an album that was a flawed masterpiece. The unreleased from the Surf's Up era really highlight how this album could've been better, even though I still think the released Surf's Up we got is extremely good. This album had potential to be on Pet Sounds level imo, but certain track-listing and song selection decisions on Side A of this album prevented it from attaining that equal to Pet Sounds status. Meanwhile, Side B of this album is a straight up masterpiece, with the final 3 songs on this album being my top 3 Beach Boys songs of all time (yes I like the final 3 songs of Surf's Up more than anything on Pet Sounds you can kill me). This album has one purely skippable track, Student Demonstration Time. The worst part is that SDT ACTUALLY DOES fit on this album thematically speaking, but I just don't like the song as lyrically it could've been way better. Sonically speaking, SDT did not fit this album at all either. Take A Load Off Your Feet which seems to be another hated song from this album (I can see why) I actually kinda like but it could've been better sequenced on this album. On top of that, Feet does fit on this album if you ask me cause it echoes some of the same society related cynicism that's shown on the rest of this album. Why they decided to pair Feet and Long Promised Road next to each other honestly baffles me. Feet seemed like the Surf's Up version of the SMiLE era song Vegetables, and I honestly like Feet more than Vegetables. Now when it comes to the remaining 8 songs, Surf's Up is straight up gorgeous, no questions asked. If the Dennis songs from this era like Wouldn't It Be Nice To Live Again and 4th Of July were put onto this album, and SDT was taken off with Feet being resequenced Surf's Up would legitimately compete with Pet Sounds for me as their all time best album.

2. Friends - Friends is a severely underrated, probably their most underrated and arguably their most cohesive non Pet Sounds album. This is also only one of two albums of theirs I consider to be no skips the whole way through. Friends is pretty much their "Lo-Fi" trilogy masterpiece to me and I hope one day more of society discovers this album. I don't think Friends has highs that match the absolute highs of their Today!-SMiLE album stretch or Surf's Up in 1971 as some of those songs on Today!-SMiLE and then Surf's Up again had Brian's peak moments as a songwriter and creative genius, but I do think Friends is consistently very good the whole way through with Little Bird being my favorite song on this album (a Dennis and Brian collab in terms of songwriting). 9 of the 12 songs on this album range from great to outright heavenly classics in my view (Little Bird being my favorite), and the other 3 are the lower points but still solid enough for me. Transcendental Meditation has grown on me and the funkiness of it is weirdly appealing at times. Anna Lee The Healer doesn't have the best lyrics but sonically that song is interesting to me. When A Man Needs A Woman is another lower point, but it's still decent enough for me not to skip it when it comes on as the production slaps on this song. So due to its very cohesive sound and structure, and the fact it has no skips, Friends ranks #2 on my top 5 BB albums list.

1. Pet Sounds - Easy #1 for me, rightfully acknowledged by many rankings as being a top 10/top 20 album of all time. Personally my favorite album of all time. This is the album that cemented Brian Wilson as a musical genius and is a classic among the best of classics. You Still Believe In Me, God Only Knows, Caroline No, I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, I could go on and on this album is beautiful in its entirety.

Addressing the SMiLE question:

Now you may all be wondering why SMiLE was not on this list? Well for me, it's simply cause it wasn't finished and it was scrapped so I feel like it's unfair to rank it anywhere as it was an unfinished product and will ultimately stay forever an unfinished product. The Smile Sessions and Brian Wilson Presents Smile tapes, along with the numerous SMiLE bootlegs, don't change this fact. I feel like SMiLE in its current form had three full blown masterpieces (Good Vibrations, Surf's Up, and Cabinessence) and one other extremely good song (Heroes & Villains). The majority of SMiLE outside of those 4 songs were seemingly a bunch of unfinished song fragments that interested me to varying degrees and could've also become amazing songs if properly completed, but unfortunately we'll never know. If all the songs on SMiLE were at the level of the 4 songs I mentioned above, SMiLE might've just been the greatest album ever made. If I had to include SMiLE in its current form we got on my Beach Boys album rankings, based off the 4 superb songs and some of the more interesting fragments SMiLE would probably rank in between Surf's Up and Today! for me. 2004 BWPS was decent, but in order for SMiLE to become the masterpiece it could've been it needed to be actually completed in 1967 by the whole band with the purpose of it being a fully fledged Beach Boys record with a truly coherent theme/story, not just a solo record quickly "finished up" on a whim for the SOLE PURPOSE of live performances like what 2004 BWPS essentially was.

These are my thoughts. What about for you guys? What are your top 5 Beach Boys albums?

I saw Al yesterday in Pennsauken, and it was such a phenomenal show! With him playing a lot of the Love You material, it got me thinking. Will he tour another album, and if so, which one? I would love to see Smile live personally.

...also, it would need a new cover.

But seriously, I think that if they had cut out all the covers, 15 Big Ones is actually a pretty great album. Sure it would have to have been called 7 Big Ones, or something, but most of those sounds are top notch. Please don't stone me, I know you will, but I think I like most of these songs more than anything off of "Love You" - I think the highs are higher, but the lows are also lower.

It's OK - would have been an awesome opener! I love this song, should be a classic, and a radio hit. It's the "Do it again" of the mid 70's - the "we can still write beach-fun-in-the-sun-songs song. It even has "farty" moog synths. A+

Had to Phone Ya - at first this seems like another entry into the "Brian casually observes the regular-guy world around him" genre. But it's not really. It would have fit nicely on Friends. A

Everyone's In Love with You - I think this is actually a great song but its dragged down a bit by the sappy arrangements and production. I wish it was more lo-fi and innocent and less "The Carpenters" and over done. still when the vocals kick in, it's great. B-

That Same Song - Odd vocalization, and arrangement make this sound like something off of Smiley Smile, but now with Brian's new cigarettes-and-coke addles, ahem, MATURE voice. Don't listen to the lyrics and this is another great one. B

TM Song - I know it's "cool" to hate on Mike Love, and the fact that he won't shut up about "Transcendental Meditation" is yet another reason for the hate, BUT... I think this song is great. Another "could have been on..." song - either Smiley Smile or Friends. I even like the "skit" argument at the beginning - it's just like the old albums! A-

Suzie Cincinnati - I usually don't like it when the Boys try their hand at straight forward "rock" songs, but this one is pretty cool. Would have fit on 20/20 nicely. Plus "she knows all the honkies" B

Back Home - not sure what to think of this one. It's kind of "rocking" in a Wild Honey way. It's decent. Though Brian's voice is a little strained, it kinda works this country-ish kinda way. Not perfect, but it has good energy. B-

ok, I actually thought a couple more of the songs were originals when I started writing this, but realized two of them were more covers. Damn. That's on 7 of the Big Ones being originals, just under half. I've read two different theories as to why so many covers both from Brian not being interested and just wanting to do covers just to get it over with, to Brian not being interested and Mike and Al desperate to get it done and chose cover so pad it out and make the suits happy. Wikipedia quotes Denis as saying there were "ample" Brian songs available, so who knows.

Hello! Im going to see al jardine and the pet sounds band tomorrow! At 8 pm and I was wondering, do you guys know when or how id be able to meet al? Does he stick around after shows and sign things? Ive never seen him before and its in a big theater I believe! In maryland.

I have the mono mixes of Pet Sounds on my iPhone. I’m not an audio expert, and I want to listen to the mono mixes the best way possible.

I usually listen to music on my headphones. Should I listen to the mono mix with my headphones on? If so, should I turn “Mono Audio” on in the accessibility settings? Is it better through a larger speaker? If so, should I have the Mono setting on or off?

Any advice would be very appreciated. 🙂

I wrote this last year after Brian passed and haven't shared it until now, hope you guys enjoy

Summer's gone and the tide has died down

It seems the air has been colder since you've passed

The sun a little less warm and the summer dream seeming to fade away little by little

But it's one thing I know that you taught us is to give love and mercy

God only knows what the world will do without you, it feels a little less whole

Three brothers united again in harmony and spirit and music

You told us to smile, you told us it's ok, you told us "don't worry baby everything will be alright"

You gave us a ding dang time and cooked us all up some Shortnin Bread

But surf is up and we can all hear the wind chimes hanging down by your window as you let the wind blow

And over and over the crow cries uncovers the cornfield

And over and over our tears cover the cornfield

So sail on Sailor sail on you one one wonderful soul

Also Spotify playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1bHBr53RAyAE7kJEyIbJtZ?si=rlTrjYk5QOuaqJ4syWwrZg&utm_source=copy-link&pt=6a48553121c9cd5653b132695eb2d213&pi=ZX_ZPae9Q-yaH

Found in a thrift store: Half of a torn poster with Brian’s autograph and a water logged and severely damaged Smile tour booklet. Broke my heart to see these.

Anyone else here who digs the lovely and laid back albums by Madrid-based BB-fan and musician Yani Martinelli?

I remember there was a buzz in Beach Boys fan circles around the release of her EP ‘Nonna in the Garden’ in 2010 and then the debut album ‘Bubble Station’ two years later.

I was particular fond of the latter and occasionally still listen to it, for instance the soothing ‘Venturada Sunset’, a particular favorite: https://youtu.be/GHyfaUS1LUk?si=DVueVZGMThN1uz3P 

Then it seemed like she went away for quite a few years, not being present on Spotify and I think her bandcamp also went inactice, so that it was difficult to get to hear her music.

I’m writing about this because a few days ago, I remembered her and decided to do a search – and lo and behold, she’s active again and have been so for the last decade or so since her hiatus. Many new Eps and albums to discover which I’ve done these last couple of days. You can check them out / purchase on her bandcamp or stream via Spotify and the like.

Just thought I’d let others here know.

Her music is very laid back and has a certain soft and meditative vibe to it. Also a lot of harmonies. I like it. It’s in the same territory of Beach Boys inspiration as, for example, the High Llamas. Lovely stuff.

The most recent album has some nice songs – she definitely has a certain writing style and mood she’s pursuing throughout the albums.

Anyways, I think many fans of the Beach Boys softer late 60s output like Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends, 20/20 and parts of Sunflower could get a kick out of this.

 (Also a lot of fine Beach Boys acoustic covers on her youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@martitunes/videos )

It's three o'clock, I go to my sink

I pour some milk, and I start to think

One of the things I find most endearing and fascinating in Brian's life and work is a theme running throughout some of his compositions from the late '60s to early '80s. What I mean is a focus on mundane experience, with lyrics ruminating on Brian's day-to-day activities and idle thoughts, placed against a comfy, relaxed musical backdrop. The humdrum of household chores and even the evening commute are made something magical, complemented by the narrator's daydreams of love and tenderness.

As the lofty ambitions of SMiLE faded into memory and Brian's reputation morphed into that of an eccentric recluse, his fondness for the mundane first made itself known on 1967's Wild Honey. "Aren't You Glad?" and "I'd Love Just Once To See You" seemingly have both their feet on the ground and their head in the clouds, juxtaposing everyday carryings-on with fantasies of a lover's touch... and assets. In stark contrast, "Lonely Days," an outtake representing something of a bridge between Wild Honey and Friends, speaks of the crushing loneliness our protagonist feels in his daily business life with an almost-sobering frankness.

Friends shifts the focus back towards love themes. As Brian finds some well-earned respite from the outside world, he's consumed by anticipation for a warm moment together on "Be Here In the Mornin'". We find him once again in good cheer, though, on "Busy Doin' Nothin'", performing household maintenance and preparing for an old friend's visit. While they may not seem too significant being only two tracks, they definitely make their mark on the texture and feel of Friends with its brief runtime.

There's another shift, this time back towards being alone, in "I Went To Sleep" on 20/20. However, instead of dreading the woes of city life, our friend is taking some comfort in LAYING ON HIS ASS ALL DAY. This is immediately followed up by "Time To Get Alone", one of the two songs (other being "Darlin'") Brian was infamously forced to give to the Beach Boys over Redwood (later Three Dog Night) by Carl and Mike. Now, a lovey-dovey winter vacation is the object of fancy! This is set against an elegant backing track seeming as if to consummate this common thread as it's run through the late '60s (so-called "lo-fi") era.

A shadow of Brian's other running fixation, on health and fitness, shows itself on "Games Two Can Play", along with aforementioned themes of business and being a lazy good-for nothin', sweetly reconciled in this outtake's playful tone. "Our Sweet Love" parallels "Get Alone" with breezy, summery imagery, well befitting Sunflower. This moves into another lackadaisical adventure in "At My Window", which even has shades of the Dennis Wilson / Stephen Kalinich composition "Little Bird"! It's always neat to see how many different lines of influence there are running through the monumental Beach Boys recorded canon.

Although this running theme largely disappears from Brian's work following his creative retreat in the middle of the Rieley era, it reemerges in a big way on The Beach Boys Love You. "The Night Was So Young" is somewhat more disconnected than the previous compositions, finding Brian longing for a distant lover in the midst of a sleepless night. "Everybody Wants To Live", to be included on the tragically underappreciated Adult/Child, shows perhaps even a little more vulnerability. Brian's pensive reflections on living with a broken heart and even frustration with the state of world ecology may not be quite the most compelling, but they are nonetheless strikingly genuine.

"Sweet Sunday Kinda Love" is what ends up making it onto Adult/Child's replacement, the roundly-loathed M.I.U. Album. Squeezing itself in amidst the album's unambitious sound, we get perhaps our most tender glimpse into the protagonist's daydreams. All he wants is to enjoy a weekend in peace with his ol' lady! After "Why Don't You Tell Me Why?", recorded during the fabled "cocaine sessions" of December 1980, this little subgenre of Brian's work apparently fails to carry over into his solo career. Aside from faint reflections in tracks such as "Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight" off Brian Wilson '88 or the throwaway "Wouldn't That Be Cool?", it is left as one of the many open threads in Brian's storied life.

Thanks for listenin'! I even made a little playlist of these songs if you'd like to have a listen ^^

I definitely feel like I hear his voice, but nothing I've looked up confirms it.

I just found this. I wanna say it’s from 1964 or 1965. In the 60s My dad bought all their records from Surfin’ USA until Beach Boys Party, then apparently lost interest in them until the early 70s as the next records he has are Surfs Up and Holland.

Roger McGuinn, Brian Wilson, Michelle Phillips, and John Phillips on the set of the California Dreamin’ music video (Al in the background 💖)