Commercials on TV tell me that the “Beach Boys” are coming to my town for the "First Time Ever!" . Upon doing a little research, I find that The Beach Boys now consists of Mike Love, and Bruce Johnston (et al).
Seems Very cheesy. Tickets 40-50 bucks Canadian. When did it become acceptable
practice to do this? I understand, it’s about the money. I understand these survivors need to make a living, but…No Brian, No Carl, No Denis, No Al. This is NOT The Beachboys. This is two guys, and a band. Singing the same old songs…
Ah well. :rolleyes:
Sorry, can a mod move this to Cafe Society, please
Any number of bands and vocal groups have changed personnel over the years while keeping the same name for the group. Probably in most cases, there’s no controversy over the practice, e.g. former members contesting it. They’re not claiming to have the very same make-up they had in 1966. The Rolling Stones don’t have the same make-up they had in 1966. It’s just a difference in the percentage of “original” members.
It may be unacceptable to you, but it’s been an accepted practice for decades.
Like the Beach Boys, the Temptations currently tour with only one original member.
IMHO with respect to the Beach Boys, any group claiming to be them that doesn’t include Brian Wilson is a sham.
The Beach Boys were Pet Sounds not this current abomination.
This has about as much interest in my books as a Queen, INXS or Doors tour.
The Beach Boys haven’t been a self-contained group since Brian hired The Wrecking Crew to play all the music on their records. These were the cream-of-the-crop LA session musicians. Then the rest of the guys would come in and sing over the pre-recorded tracks. Following this, they’d have to learn how to play the records on their own instruments. When they came to your town to play “Good Vibrations” or “Heroes And Villains”, they were just awful. There was no way they could compete with The Wrecking Crew, or be anywhere as brilliant and cohesive a musical unit.
Now, without the participation of any Wilsons or even Al Jardine, it’s just some old guys playing Beach Boys songs.
Including Brian would be a bit difficult what with his trouble with paranoia.
I think there’s something like three different Beach Boys groups. There’s Brian Wilson and his friends, Mike Love and a couple of other people, and Al Jardine and some other people. I think Al Jardine wanted to call his group something like “Beach Boys Friends and Family” but Mike Love made him change it. I can see Mike Love playing his band up as “The Real Beach Boys” even though a lot of people don’t think so.
There are a lot of similarities between the Beach Boys situation and Pink Floyd, with Syd Barrett and Brian Wilson. The major difference is that Pink Floyd managed to pull itself together after they kicked Syd out, and now his version of the band is the less well-known one. It’s interesting that when Pink Floyd played recently with Roger Waters, most people thought of them as the real Pink Floyd and didn’t protest at Syd’s absence. It’s too bad that Syd hasn’t recovered to the extent that Brian did. I think it would be cool if the two of them made an album.
Sorry for going off topic a little, but I find that whole thing interesting. Anyway, I got to see Brian Wilson on his Smile tour, and it was awesome. I doubt Mike Love’s crew can play the old Beach Boys songs as well as Brian Wilson’s. Seriously, it was great.
And the fact that Wilson and Love don’t speak anymore.
I thought that might be going on too but wasn’t sure.
Before the 1960s, when the Beach Boys first did this. Glen Campbell toured with them for a while, and then Bruce “I Write the Songs” Johnston.
Groups have always had interchangeable parts, especially vocal groups with backing bands. Some groups were famous for replacing members. Savoy Brown was the champ, I think, with something like 27 members. Which ones do you choose for the oldies tour?
Considering that the Who tours despite losing its drummer and bass player, and the Beatles only have a drummer and bass player left, I think they should get together to form a proper band. How about Who Beats Who? They can play all Pink Floyd music.
The bottom line is that today every single oldies group out touring does this, and this has been true for decades.
DrMemory? Ironic name. 
Not really. Firesign Theatre still tours with all four original members.
This thread from last summer bore witness to the current “Beach Boys”'s suckitude.
IMHO, it was the death of Carl Wilson that really counted as the death of the Beach Boys. I saw the Boys in 1985, and they put on a good show that didn’t sound all that different from their '69 “Live in London” album.
Brian, as noted, hasn’t been part of their concerts since the mid-60’s, and his involvement with the group’s recordings throughout the 70’s and 80’s was off-and-on.
I didn’t know they used session musicians on their records. That’s really disappointing but also explains a lot.
I saw footage of a Beach Boys concert they performed in 1964. It was just the five of them on stage and they were really good. I later saw footage of concerts from both 1976 and 1980. In both cases they had about 2000 session musicians on stage with them, and they did not sound at all good, except for Carl Wilson’s and Al Jardines vocals.
It may not be a show-stopper anymore. Brian Wilson has performing recording and performing live for the last 3 or 4 years.
Which one of the Beach Boys sang falsetto?
Not with his former friends though. Word is that the guy he turned to for help ended up controlling him similar to how Yoko controlled John.
Brian did most of the falsetto work, although Carl did some, too. Most often, the guy wailing exactly in tune on top of the whole bunch was Brian.
That would be Joe Thomas, who helped Brian produce his album “Imagination.” Thomas, for his part, makes exactly the same accusation about Wilson’s wife Melinda, claiming that she exercises complete control over him and makes all his decisions for him.
And I thought it was a reference to Dr. Eugene Landy, who has also been accused of having a Svengali-like influence on Brian.