This week in BB History June 20-30
Jun 20, 2019 13:12:57 GMT -5
John Manning, Custom Machine, and 3 more like this
Post by ian on Jun 20, 2019 13:12:57 GMT -5
June 20 1963-The Beach Boys were on tour in Hawaii on a bill with Dee-Dee Sharp, the Treniers and Jackie De Shannon that was advertised as the “Show of Stars.” David Marks recalled that the Beach Boys backed up Dee-Dee Sharp and Jackie De Shannon. They were at Baldwin Auditorium in Maui on June 20, Hilo Civic Auditorium on June 21 and Bloch Arena at Pearl Harbor on June 22. As Elmer Marks home movies (seen in the American Band and Endless Harmony documentaries) illustrate Al was on this tour in place of Brian. Audree was also there as a chaperone. When the BBs eventually headed home, they played at the Las Vegas Convention Center, with the Teen Beats on June 29 1963.
June 22 1964-The BBs were working on possible singles and they held a session for what became Don’t Hurt My Little Sister. The next day they added background vocals to Little Honda for a possible single release before returning to work on the Christmas LP on June 24 and 25. They then played a concert in San Jose on June 26 with Bobby Freeman, Rene and Rene and the Paris Sisters before heading back to the studio to complete the Christmas sessions on June 27 to 30 1964.
June 24 1966- Irving Granz and his assistant, future BB road manager Jack Lloyd produced a concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Murry Wilson was in attendance to support his new protégés the Sunrays, whom he’d managed to get onto the bill. Also on the bill were the Lovin’ Spoonful, Chad and Jeremy, Percy Sledge, The Outsiders (Time Won’t Let Me), The Leaves (Hey Joe), Sir Douglas Quintet (She’s A Mover), Neil Diamond, The Byrds and The Jefferson Airplane. Now that’s a concert!!!! The next night the BBs played the Hollywood Bowl with Brian in attendance (he was photographed backstage for KRLA Beat). The bill featured Love, Percy Sledge, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, The Outsiders, Neil Diamond, The Leaves, Chad and Jeremy, Byrds, The Sunrays, The Lovin’ Spoonful and the New Motown Sound.
June 20-21, 1967 the BBs worked on the Hawaiian Song (we now know this was part of the track to Little Pad) On June 25 and 26 they recorded “Good Time Mama”, which remains unreleased as the tape box is missing (However-Howie Edelson posited that it was a working title for She’s Going Bald) On June 28 they worked on Little Pad and then the next day was devoted to Fall Breaks (Woody Woodpecker Symphony). On June 30 they worked on With Me Tonight.
Jun 20 1968- Bruce tinkered with The Nearest Faraway Place. Dennis held a session on June 26 for an untitled song. June 28 1968-Brian produced the single-I’ll Keep On Loving You/As Tears Go By for Ron Wilson at ID Sound. It would be interesting to see a photo of this session or even a photo of Brian and Ron together.
June 20 1969 the BBs made their second trip to Finland to play the Keimolan Juhannus Juhla in Vantaa (near Helsinki), Finland. On June 21 they played at the Antwerp Pop Festival and then returned to England for two encore shows by popular demand at the Finsbury Park Astoria with Marmalade and the Rainbow People. Mike Ledgerwood of Disc and Music Echo reported, “the Beach Boys certainly left us with some good vibrations. A full blooded, power packed bumper programme which included most of their big hits and Carl Wilson’s clever, if at times a tiny bit flat, rendering of ‘God Only Knows.’ …Musically they might not exactly reproduce their famous studio sounds, but they have a damned good try and the result is not disappointing.” The Flame apparently departed for the States with Carl after the 69-tour and he then produced their first album that fall. Mike and Bruce remained in England to tape an appearance on Top of the Pops on July 25-where they introduced film footage shot at Leeds. Bruce also spent time working on a single for his pal Graham Bonney.
June 20 1971-A session was held for Fourth of July, which took place in the midst of the legendary Rolling Stone Magazine article being written-with interviews of Brian and Murray. June 24 1971 the BBs began a tour at Celebration Island in Pointe Coupee, LA without Dennis, who was still recovering from a hand injury that left him unable to drum for three years. Pink Floyd, Miles Davis and BB King were also on this Festival bill. The BBs then headed to another Festival in Toronto-The Beggars Banquet Festival with Alice Cooper, Bread, Chilliwack, Steppenwolf, Blood Rock, and Lighthouse on June 26. They then played at the closing of Bill Graham’s legendary Fillmore East on June 27 with Mountain, the Allman Brothers, J Geils Band, Albert King, Edgar Winters and County Joe McDonald. I recounted in my book that the BBs almost didn’t appear at this highly publicized event because of Jack Rieley’s demands to be top billed. Fortunately their agents talked them out of walking out. The BBs then played at Theatre Maisonneuve in Montreal on June 30, where Dennis rejoined the tour-though he now mainly wandered the stage singing a bit or noodling on the piano. While the BBs were on tour Steve Desper was back in LA producing the second (unreleased) LP for the Flame.
June 26 1972-The Marcella/Hold on Dear Brother single was released, while the BBs were working on the Holland LP in the Netherlands. Around this time the American Spring LP was released as well. June 20 1974 the BBs played in Bangor Maine with The Apple Butter Band. On June 21 they appeared at the Civic Centre in Ottawa. The reviewer noted, “At different times, five Beach Boys played keyboard instruments, often four at one time, as in the case of the highlights of the opening half: We Got Love, Marcella and Sail on Sailor, all equally exuberant and all recent Beach Boys products. But the audience was happiest with the hits.” Dennis had still not returned to drums and the reviewer noted, “Everything but contributing musically, Dennis, who still at least looks like a Beach Boy with his relatively short hair, jeans and muscle shirt, wandered around aimlessly, and occasionally flexed his pectorals.” The BBs then played the Memorial Arena in Binghamton on June 22 and at the “World Series of Rock” at Municipal Auditorium in Cleveland with REO Speedwagon, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Joe Walsh with Barnstorm on June 23 1974.
June 21, 1975 The BBs played at Wembley Stadium with Elton John, Joe Walsh, the Eagles, and Rufus with Chaka Khan. NME declared, “In soccer terms, it was Elton John 1, Beach Boys 3. Where the Beach Boys, with their close harmony, good time sounds and gospel of nothing more profound than the joys of teenage love, immediately connected with the audience, Elton John seemed obsessed with piano dominated, moody music and was for most of the time on a cloud of his own.” June 24-28 1975 the BBs returned to the Beachago tour for five nights at the Capitol Center, Landover, MD. These shows were taped for a live album, which I assume will someday come out if all the tapes can be found and rights obtained. Jun 1975, Beach Boys-Chicago TV Special, Various locations
William Reid produced a TV special about the Beachago tour called “Fun, Fun, Fun” that featured footage from Madison Square Garden and the Capitol Centre in Largo, Maryland. The Beach Boys are seen performing “Catch a Wave”, “Good Vibrations”, and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” While the BBs were in the DC area they visited the White House as guests of Susan Ford on June 24 1975
The following night members of the BBs, Chicago and the Pointer Sisters all attended a screening of Jaws after the show. On Jun 29 Beachago played the Schaeffer Center, Foxboro, MA. The reviewer noted “Here is a group that is obviously proud of its past. It reeled off 19 songs spanning all phases of a long and successful career, all performed with adolescent enthusiasm and genuine style.”
June 20 1976- Scenes were filmed of Brian’s birthday party, attended by the McCartney’s, for the Beach Boys It’s OK TV Show that aired in August. Possibly the scenes of Brian surfing with Belushi and Ackroyd were also filmed this day. June 23 1977-Brian recorded a version of Gimme Some Lovin. Four days later a master of the Adult Child album was assembled. This was a highly productive period for Brian-who’d really slimmed down-it’s evident in retrospect that things might have been different if he’d received encouragement at this time-but the band was in a dysfunctional place and this was really the peak of “Brian’s Back”. This was as “Back” as he’d get.
June 20 1978-The BBs played the Spectrum in Philadelphia-with Charles Lloyd, which was recorded for radio. Jack Lloyd of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “There was a time when the Beach Boys rebelled at the thought of being regarded more in terms of nostalgia than musical growth, but now it appears that they have gracefully accepted their fate. The emphasis in concert is certainly on the vintage biggies that bring the audience to its collective feet and spark the cheering and hand clapping.” The next night they were in Rochester, NY and then played the Forum in Montreal (22) Ottawa (23) and the CNE Grandstand, Toronto- with Steve Miller, Journey and Pablo Cruise on June 24. According to a fan, Brian fainted onstage during "Good Vibrations" due to the heat and “Mike strapped on a green electric guitar. I'm not sure if he played it or not, also not sure if it was a bass or a six-string (I think the latter). It would have been for Barbara Ann and Fun, Fun, Fun.” Typically the reviewers didn’t remark on this unusual occurrence.
June 25 1978 the BBs played before a massive crowd of 61,128 at the first concert held at the newly constructed Giants Stadium with Stanky Brown, Steve Miller and Pablo Cruise. The reviewer noted “(Mike) Love made a costly mistake when he threw back the first Frisbee that landed on stage. The group was bombarded with missiles from all directions after that and one well-aimed roll of toilet paper wrapped itself around Brian’s bass.” There was still tension in the band at this time. In an interview, Carl was asked why he and Dennis left the stage when Mike did a “TM song” and stated Dennis’s “attitude is that we should be doing Beach Boys music-a collaboration. I thought we were just taking a break.” Asked about Celebration, his anger flared “Love’s project doesn’t mean s….”. Jun 27 and 28 1978-The BBs worked on Santa Ana Winds and Winds of Change. The next day the MIU album was mastered.
June 19 and 20 1979 the BBs played at Red Rock in Denver with Ironhorse. This was right after Dennis had been suspended from the band. They then played the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, and then spend two days at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley. June 21 1980-The BBs played at Knebworth. The concert was simulcast on radio and then “Sweetened” before being sold on home video and LP: new vocals and instrumental parts were added. It was of course the last UK concert played by all five original members. Although Brian participated little vocally, he’d temporarily shaved off his beard and looked much as he did around 1968. Karl Dallas of Melody Maker noted, "The Beach Boys...seemed as if they could have gone on all night and still have the audience, if not all the local burghers, crying for more. Not that they were flawless. Perhaps it was the brotherly burden of having Brian Wilson on stage with them, but the Beach Boys are nothing if their harmonies are less then perfect, and there were times ('In My Room', their fifth number, was where the rot began to set in) when the discords were positively painful. On the other hand they sailed through the complexities of 'Good Vibrations', the second of four encores, with hardly a note out of place.”
June 20 1981 the BBs played at Poplar Creek in Chicago and then played three nights at Pine Knob near Detroit. John Laycock of the Windsor Star, commented: "Technically speaking they didn't play all that well. I've heard bar bands with half as many members get more fidelity out of these numbers. But never mind. By now the songs have their own life. They have such independent presence they let Mike Love serve as front man with his hoarse voice, mincing around the pristine white stage in front of the matching white instruments. And they let Brian Wilson sit like an unhappy Buddha at the baby grand, chain smoking and staring at the keyboard.” The BBs then played Six Flags in Atlanta (24), Butler University in Indianapolis, IN (25), Blossom Music Center in Cleveland (26), Nashville (27), Charlotte, NC (28) and Charleston, SC on June 30 1981.
Meanwhile Carl was on the road with the Doobie Brothers, serving as their opener. In a not untypical review of the show in Cedar Rapids on June 25 the reviewer commented, “Wilson had better keep his Beach Boys slot intact. His thing seems to be heavy-metal rock, with a rhythm and blues influence. That’s OK but Wilson just didn’t pull it off at the Five Seasons, receiving only polite acceptance from the crowd. Many of his vocals were distorted and the music selection was poor for a live concert. Wilson did inject a couple of Beach Boys songs into the act, most notably Darlin’ but it was done with a much heavier beat than the original. A version of Sam and Dave’s “I Thank You” showed promise, featuring some fine bass by Gerald Johnson and lead guitar by John Daley but towards the end of the song it sounded as though the band strayed from the melody.”
Another BB tour took place in June 1982 but Carl participated in this one and the now increasingly dysfunctional Dennis and Brian didn’t-which made a big difference. Commenting on the Six Flags Over Texas show on June 20 the reviewer stated “The lineup was much stronger than the one that came through in March...The Beach Boys that played Fort Worth in March were fun, but they weren't too cohesive. This time the boys were fun and a lot tighter." The tour continued through the south and Midwest till June 27. The tour ender in Charlotte was reviewed by Charles Johnson of the Observer who was disappointed by the group's insistence on only playing hits. "That emphasis ignored the group's inventive work that followed 'Good Vibrations,' a No. 1 hit in 1966. After repeated commercial and artistic failures in the 1970s, the Beach Boys in concert have returned to their oldest and safest material. Although three of the group's original members... appeared at Carowinds, the group often sounded as if it were only a shadow of it's former self...But Carl Wilson injected style and emotion into his few lead vocals, especially on the lovely 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations.'”
June 22 1983 Carl embarked on a short solo tour to promote his second solo album Youngblood. He played in Seattle at Parker’s that night and then opened for America at the Greek Theater in LA on June 24 and 25, the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater on June 26 and the Old Waldorf Club in San Francisco on June 29. Reviewing the June 26 show Veronica Young of the Orange County Register attended commented that Carl “appeared to be having more fun than he has at most Beach Boys concerts…Wilson’s material ranged from mellow originals, strongly affected by a Beach Boys’ influence from the album eras of Pet Sounds, Surf’s Up and the more recent MIU, to some rocky remakes, ranging from a 1957 hit by the Coasters, ‘Youngblood,’ (also the title song from Wilson’s latest LP) to a 1970 gold record by Sly and the Family Stone, ‘Thank You.’”
June 20-25 1984-Carl traveled to Red Bus Studios in London to work on The Beach Boys LP with Steve Levine. He worked on Where I Belong, It’s getting Late, Maybe I Don’t Know, Down by the Pier and I Do Love You. Carl was back in the States by June 28 to appear with the BBs on the NBC TV Tonight Show, hosted that night by Joan Rivers. They Sang Graduation Day and discussed Brian’s weight loss, groupies and the upcoming July 4 show, as well as the James Watt controversy. The next night the Beach Boys, minus Brian, played before a near capacity crowd at The Pacific Amphitheater. Jim Washburn of the Orange County Register singled out Carl’s vocal contributions as “the only proof that the group is still capable of being more than just human jukeboxes. His hauntingly beautiful ballad ‘Heaven,’ dedicated to his brother Dennis, carried an emotional spark the Beach Boys could certainly use more of.” The BBs played in Candlestick Park the next night.
June 1985 the BBs again were on tour. The June 23 show in Memphis got a nice review from Michael Donahue of the Commercial Appeal: “The Beach Boys delighted the audience with a range of their unique California sound songs…The Beach Boys aren’t content to rest on their numerous hits of the past. They recently showed that they could still make hits with Getcha Back. They performed this song, which has the Beach Boys ingredients including the wailing vocals. It would have been hard for a Beach Boys fan to walk away unsatisfied.” Think I’ll stop there, as this could go on forever-as they basically have been on tour in June every year!!
June 22 1964-The BBs were working on possible singles and they held a session for what became Don’t Hurt My Little Sister. The next day they added background vocals to Little Honda for a possible single release before returning to work on the Christmas LP on June 24 and 25. They then played a concert in San Jose on June 26 with Bobby Freeman, Rene and Rene and the Paris Sisters before heading back to the studio to complete the Christmas sessions on June 27 to 30 1964.
June 24 1966- Irving Granz and his assistant, future BB road manager Jack Lloyd produced a concert at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Murry Wilson was in attendance to support his new protégés the Sunrays, whom he’d managed to get onto the bill. Also on the bill were the Lovin’ Spoonful, Chad and Jeremy, Percy Sledge, The Outsiders (Time Won’t Let Me), The Leaves (Hey Joe), Sir Douglas Quintet (She’s A Mover), Neil Diamond, The Byrds and The Jefferson Airplane. Now that’s a concert!!!! The next night the BBs played the Hollywood Bowl with Brian in attendance (he was photographed backstage for KRLA Beat). The bill featured Love, Percy Sledge, Captain Beefheart and his Magic Band, The Outsiders, Neil Diamond, The Leaves, Chad and Jeremy, Byrds, The Sunrays, The Lovin’ Spoonful and the New Motown Sound.
June 20-21, 1967 the BBs worked on the Hawaiian Song (we now know this was part of the track to Little Pad) On June 25 and 26 they recorded “Good Time Mama”, which remains unreleased as the tape box is missing (However-Howie Edelson posited that it was a working title for She’s Going Bald) On June 28 they worked on Little Pad and then the next day was devoted to Fall Breaks (Woody Woodpecker Symphony). On June 30 they worked on With Me Tonight.
Jun 20 1968- Bruce tinkered with The Nearest Faraway Place. Dennis held a session on June 26 for an untitled song. June 28 1968-Brian produced the single-I’ll Keep On Loving You/As Tears Go By for Ron Wilson at ID Sound. It would be interesting to see a photo of this session or even a photo of Brian and Ron together.
June 20 1969 the BBs made their second trip to Finland to play the Keimolan Juhannus Juhla in Vantaa (near Helsinki), Finland. On June 21 they played at the Antwerp Pop Festival and then returned to England for two encore shows by popular demand at the Finsbury Park Astoria with Marmalade and the Rainbow People. Mike Ledgerwood of Disc and Music Echo reported, “the Beach Boys certainly left us with some good vibrations. A full blooded, power packed bumper programme which included most of their big hits and Carl Wilson’s clever, if at times a tiny bit flat, rendering of ‘God Only Knows.’ …Musically they might not exactly reproduce their famous studio sounds, but they have a damned good try and the result is not disappointing.” The Flame apparently departed for the States with Carl after the 69-tour and he then produced their first album that fall. Mike and Bruce remained in England to tape an appearance on Top of the Pops on July 25-where they introduced film footage shot at Leeds. Bruce also spent time working on a single for his pal Graham Bonney.
June 20 1971-A session was held for Fourth of July, which took place in the midst of the legendary Rolling Stone Magazine article being written-with interviews of Brian and Murray. June 24 1971 the BBs began a tour at Celebration Island in Pointe Coupee, LA without Dennis, who was still recovering from a hand injury that left him unable to drum for three years. Pink Floyd, Miles Davis and BB King were also on this Festival bill. The BBs then headed to another Festival in Toronto-The Beggars Banquet Festival with Alice Cooper, Bread, Chilliwack, Steppenwolf, Blood Rock, and Lighthouse on June 26. They then played at the closing of Bill Graham’s legendary Fillmore East on June 27 with Mountain, the Allman Brothers, J Geils Band, Albert King, Edgar Winters and County Joe McDonald. I recounted in my book that the BBs almost didn’t appear at this highly publicized event because of Jack Rieley’s demands to be top billed. Fortunately their agents talked them out of walking out. The BBs then played at Theatre Maisonneuve in Montreal on June 30, where Dennis rejoined the tour-though he now mainly wandered the stage singing a bit or noodling on the piano. While the BBs were on tour Steve Desper was back in LA producing the second (unreleased) LP for the Flame.
June 26 1972-The Marcella/Hold on Dear Brother single was released, while the BBs were working on the Holland LP in the Netherlands. Around this time the American Spring LP was released as well. June 20 1974 the BBs played in Bangor Maine with The Apple Butter Band. On June 21 they appeared at the Civic Centre in Ottawa. The reviewer noted, “At different times, five Beach Boys played keyboard instruments, often four at one time, as in the case of the highlights of the opening half: We Got Love, Marcella and Sail on Sailor, all equally exuberant and all recent Beach Boys products. But the audience was happiest with the hits.” Dennis had still not returned to drums and the reviewer noted, “Everything but contributing musically, Dennis, who still at least looks like a Beach Boy with his relatively short hair, jeans and muscle shirt, wandered around aimlessly, and occasionally flexed his pectorals.” The BBs then played the Memorial Arena in Binghamton on June 22 and at the “World Series of Rock” at Municipal Auditorium in Cleveland with REO Speedwagon, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Joe Walsh with Barnstorm on June 23 1974.
June 21, 1975 The BBs played at Wembley Stadium with Elton John, Joe Walsh, the Eagles, and Rufus with Chaka Khan. NME declared, “In soccer terms, it was Elton John 1, Beach Boys 3. Where the Beach Boys, with their close harmony, good time sounds and gospel of nothing more profound than the joys of teenage love, immediately connected with the audience, Elton John seemed obsessed with piano dominated, moody music and was for most of the time on a cloud of his own.” June 24-28 1975 the BBs returned to the Beachago tour for five nights at the Capitol Center, Landover, MD. These shows were taped for a live album, which I assume will someday come out if all the tapes can be found and rights obtained. Jun 1975, Beach Boys-Chicago TV Special, Various locations
William Reid produced a TV special about the Beachago tour called “Fun, Fun, Fun” that featured footage from Madison Square Garden and the Capitol Centre in Largo, Maryland. The Beach Boys are seen performing “Catch a Wave”, “Good Vibrations”, and “Fun, Fun, Fun.” While the BBs were in the DC area they visited the White House as guests of Susan Ford on June 24 1975
The following night members of the BBs, Chicago and the Pointer Sisters all attended a screening of Jaws after the show. On Jun 29 Beachago played the Schaeffer Center, Foxboro, MA. The reviewer noted “Here is a group that is obviously proud of its past. It reeled off 19 songs spanning all phases of a long and successful career, all performed with adolescent enthusiasm and genuine style.”
June 20 1976- Scenes were filmed of Brian’s birthday party, attended by the McCartney’s, for the Beach Boys It’s OK TV Show that aired in August. Possibly the scenes of Brian surfing with Belushi and Ackroyd were also filmed this day. June 23 1977-Brian recorded a version of Gimme Some Lovin. Four days later a master of the Adult Child album was assembled. This was a highly productive period for Brian-who’d really slimmed down-it’s evident in retrospect that things might have been different if he’d received encouragement at this time-but the band was in a dysfunctional place and this was really the peak of “Brian’s Back”. This was as “Back” as he’d get.
June 20 1978-The BBs played the Spectrum in Philadelphia-with Charles Lloyd, which was recorded for radio. Jack Lloyd of the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, “There was a time when the Beach Boys rebelled at the thought of being regarded more in terms of nostalgia than musical growth, but now it appears that they have gracefully accepted their fate. The emphasis in concert is certainly on the vintage biggies that bring the audience to its collective feet and spark the cheering and hand clapping.” The next night they were in Rochester, NY and then played the Forum in Montreal (22) Ottawa (23) and the CNE Grandstand, Toronto- with Steve Miller, Journey and Pablo Cruise on June 24. According to a fan, Brian fainted onstage during "Good Vibrations" due to the heat and “Mike strapped on a green electric guitar. I'm not sure if he played it or not, also not sure if it was a bass or a six-string (I think the latter). It would have been for Barbara Ann and Fun, Fun, Fun.” Typically the reviewers didn’t remark on this unusual occurrence.
June 25 1978 the BBs played before a massive crowd of 61,128 at the first concert held at the newly constructed Giants Stadium with Stanky Brown, Steve Miller and Pablo Cruise. The reviewer noted “(Mike) Love made a costly mistake when he threw back the first Frisbee that landed on stage. The group was bombarded with missiles from all directions after that and one well-aimed roll of toilet paper wrapped itself around Brian’s bass.” There was still tension in the band at this time. In an interview, Carl was asked why he and Dennis left the stage when Mike did a “TM song” and stated Dennis’s “attitude is that we should be doing Beach Boys music-a collaboration. I thought we were just taking a break.” Asked about Celebration, his anger flared “Love’s project doesn’t mean s….”. Jun 27 and 28 1978-The BBs worked on Santa Ana Winds and Winds of Change. The next day the MIU album was mastered.
June 19 and 20 1979 the BBs played at Red Rock in Denver with Ironhorse. This was right after Dennis had been suspended from the band. They then played the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas, and then spend two days at the Greek Theater at UC Berkeley. June 21 1980-The BBs played at Knebworth. The concert was simulcast on radio and then “Sweetened” before being sold on home video and LP: new vocals and instrumental parts were added. It was of course the last UK concert played by all five original members. Although Brian participated little vocally, he’d temporarily shaved off his beard and looked much as he did around 1968. Karl Dallas of Melody Maker noted, "The Beach Boys...seemed as if they could have gone on all night and still have the audience, if not all the local burghers, crying for more. Not that they were flawless. Perhaps it was the brotherly burden of having Brian Wilson on stage with them, but the Beach Boys are nothing if their harmonies are less then perfect, and there were times ('In My Room', their fifth number, was where the rot began to set in) when the discords were positively painful. On the other hand they sailed through the complexities of 'Good Vibrations', the second of four encores, with hardly a note out of place.”
June 20 1981 the BBs played at Poplar Creek in Chicago and then played three nights at Pine Knob near Detroit. John Laycock of the Windsor Star, commented: "Technically speaking they didn't play all that well. I've heard bar bands with half as many members get more fidelity out of these numbers. But never mind. By now the songs have their own life. They have such independent presence they let Mike Love serve as front man with his hoarse voice, mincing around the pristine white stage in front of the matching white instruments. And they let Brian Wilson sit like an unhappy Buddha at the baby grand, chain smoking and staring at the keyboard.” The BBs then played Six Flags in Atlanta (24), Butler University in Indianapolis, IN (25), Blossom Music Center in Cleveland (26), Nashville (27), Charlotte, NC (28) and Charleston, SC on June 30 1981.
Meanwhile Carl was on the road with the Doobie Brothers, serving as their opener. In a not untypical review of the show in Cedar Rapids on June 25 the reviewer commented, “Wilson had better keep his Beach Boys slot intact. His thing seems to be heavy-metal rock, with a rhythm and blues influence. That’s OK but Wilson just didn’t pull it off at the Five Seasons, receiving only polite acceptance from the crowd. Many of his vocals were distorted and the music selection was poor for a live concert. Wilson did inject a couple of Beach Boys songs into the act, most notably Darlin’ but it was done with a much heavier beat than the original. A version of Sam and Dave’s “I Thank You” showed promise, featuring some fine bass by Gerald Johnson and lead guitar by John Daley but towards the end of the song it sounded as though the band strayed from the melody.”
Another BB tour took place in June 1982 but Carl participated in this one and the now increasingly dysfunctional Dennis and Brian didn’t-which made a big difference. Commenting on the Six Flags Over Texas show on June 20 the reviewer stated “The lineup was much stronger than the one that came through in March...The Beach Boys that played Fort Worth in March were fun, but they weren't too cohesive. This time the boys were fun and a lot tighter." The tour continued through the south and Midwest till June 27. The tour ender in Charlotte was reviewed by Charles Johnson of the Observer who was disappointed by the group's insistence on only playing hits. "That emphasis ignored the group's inventive work that followed 'Good Vibrations,' a No. 1 hit in 1966. After repeated commercial and artistic failures in the 1970s, the Beach Boys in concert have returned to their oldest and safest material. Although three of the group's original members... appeared at Carowinds, the group often sounded as if it were only a shadow of it's former self...But Carl Wilson injected style and emotion into his few lead vocals, especially on the lovely 'God Only Knows' and 'Good Vibrations.'”
June 22 1983 Carl embarked on a short solo tour to promote his second solo album Youngblood. He played in Seattle at Parker’s that night and then opened for America at the Greek Theater in LA on June 24 and 25, the Irvine Meadows Amphitheater on June 26 and the Old Waldorf Club in San Francisco on June 29. Reviewing the June 26 show Veronica Young of the Orange County Register attended commented that Carl “appeared to be having more fun than he has at most Beach Boys concerts…Wilson’s material ranged from mellow originals, strongly affected by a Beach Boys’ influence from the album eras of Pet Sounds, Surf’s Up and the more recent MIU, to some rocky remakes, ranging from a 1957 hit by the Coasters, ‘Youngblood,’ (also the title song from Wilson’s latest LP) to a 1970 gold record by Sly and the Family Stone, ‘Thank You.’”
June 20-25 1984-Carl traveled to Red Bus Studios in London to work on The Beach Boys LP with Steve Levine. He worked on Where I Belong, It’s getting Late, Maybe I Don’t Know, Down by the Pier and I Do Love You. Carl was back in the States by June 28 to appear with the BBs on the NBC TV Tonight Show, hosted that night by Joan Rivers. They Sang Graduation Day and discussed Brian’s weight loss, groupies and the upcoming July 4 show, as well as the James Watt controversy. The next night the Beach Boys, minus Brian, played before a near capacity crowd at The Pacific Amphitheater. Jim Washburn of the Orange County Register singled out Carl’s vocal contributions as “the only proof that the group is still capable of being more than just human jukeboxes. His hauntingly beautiful ballad ‘Heaven,’ dedicated to his brother Dennis, carried an emotional spark the Beach Boys could certainly use more of.” The BBs played in Candlestick Park the next night.
June 1985 the BBs again were on tour. The June 23 show in Memphis got a nice review from Michael Donahue of the Commercial Appeal: “The Beach Boys delighted the audience with a range of their unique California sound songs…The Beach Boys aren’t content to rest on their numerous hits of the past. They recently showed that they could still make hits with Getcha Back. They performed this song, which has the Beach Boys ingredients including the wailing vocals. It would have been hard for a Beach Boys fan to walk away unsatisfied.” Think I’ll stop there, as this could go on forever-as they basically have been on tour in June every year!!
