R.I.P. Brian Wilson

[felser]

7 hours ago, mjzee said:

  Brian's first solo album on Sire is really good, and I'm very impressed with their 50th anniversary tour album.  

I also like both of those.  The Sire album gets panned critically in a lot of corners, but I find the songs good and the arranging/production outstanding.  It's much stronger than any of his subsequent solo albums except, of course, the miraculous 'Smile'.  'That's Why God Made Radio', the Beach Boys/Wilson reunion studio album, is also surprisingly good.

 

[medjuck]

I was barely aware of the Beach Boys in their first incarnation.  My friend Zal Yanofsky got fired from his job as a rock station 
DJ  for playing the Beach Boys and Buck Owens.  By the time I saw them live at Massey Hall there were about 20 Beach Boys but Brian wasn't one of them.  (The Captain was, as was Blondie Chapman.) But I did get to see Brian when he toured with his own group and then when he was promoting Smile.  My wife got to spend a day with him and his family while doing an interview for a magazine about  "lake life".   Also saw the regrouped Beach Boys before Mike Love ended that.  

IIRC every time was an exciting experience.  

[JSngry]

 

[GA Russell]

9 hours ago, mjzee said:

Then, as I grew up, they seemed a little immature and uncool...

Brian's first solo album on Sire is really good...

I think the lack of maturity was a selling point!

I loved that album!  One of the last LPs I loved before I switched over to CDs.

[BFrank]

2 hours ago, medjuck said:

I was barely aware of the Beach Boys in their first incarnation.  My friend Zal Yanofsky got fired from his job as a rock station 
DJ  for playing the Beach Boys and Buck Owens.  By the time I saw them live at Massey Hall there were about 20 Beach Boys but Brian wasn't one of them.  (The Captain was, as was Blondie Chapman.) But I did get to see Brian when he toured with his own group and then when he was promoting Smile.  My wife got to spend a day with him and his family while doing an interview for a magazine about  "lake life".   Also saw the regrouped Beach Boys before Mike Love ended that.  

IIRC every time was an exciting experience.  

I saw them a couple of times in Santa Barbara in 1973 - Rob Gym and the Bowl. It was Blondie's band in those days.

[rostasi]

 

[mjzee]

9 hours ago, felser said:

'That's Why God Made Radio', the Beach Boys/Wilson reunion studio album, is also surprisingly good.

Agreed.  That album is very enjoyable and has a lot of substance.

I read something somewhere (Facebook?) that in 1971, the Beach Boys were facing their “uncool” image and were having trouble getting gigs (this was the height of hippydom, and being uncool was the kiss of death).  The Grateful Dead were having a run of shows at the Fillmore East that were also being broadcast on FM radio.  Beach Boys mgmt asked the Dead if they could be a supporting act.  Jerry Garcia, who loved The Beach Boys, eagerly agreed.  I heard that concert on the radio, and was pleasantly surprised by the BB set.  

[felser]

2 hours ago, mjzee said:

I read something somewhere (Facebook?) that in 1971, the Beach Boys were facing their “uncool” image and were having trouble getting gigs (this was the height of hippydom, and being uncool was the kiss of death).  The Grateful Dead were having a run of shows at the Fillmore East that were also being broadcast on FM radio.  Beach Boys mgmt asked the Dead if they could be a supporting act.  Jerry Garcia, who loved The Beach Boys, eagerly agreed.  I heard that concert on the radio, and was pleasantly surprised by the BB set.  

Their albums from that time, 'Sunflower' and 'Surf's Up', are good.  And Mike Love certainly was trying for "hipness" with this one (gotta love the take on the Coasters/Lieber & Stoller classic).  

 

[clifford_thornton]

nothing to add other than so long, and thank you.

[JSngry]

 

[Aggie87]