Recently saw the new documentary on Brian Wilson and his band on Disney +. Man, this is very interesting stuff and that Brian Wilson has me mesmerized. I can’t get enough of the back story and interviews about the group. It’s worth a view if you like music. I hear The cousin Mike Love has a license for The Beach Boys and he tours alone…recently played at a Trump event. Dang…not all Californians are crazy libbies.
Brian Wilson = musical genius Mike Love = hack who wanted to just keep making songs about cars and surfing It tracks!
One guy made Pet Sounds and Smile, the other guy wrote "Student Demonstration Time" - the worst BB track ever.
Serious question about this - is there anything here for hardcore fans, or is it pretty general? The only review I read wasnt bad, it just said it didnt have much for people already steeped in Beach Boys lore. So I didnt go out of my way to try to watch it.
Let me guess, you like the car songs the most and think they got too weird in the late 60s / 70s and Kokomo was a return to form
I saw Brian Wilson a couple years back. I'm glad I did, but he doesn't really have it anymore, vocally. He would also just kind of wonder around on stage at times too. Fortunately they had a lot of great musicians that did the heavy lifting and put on a great show, and they played the songs for the Brian Wilson obsessives, so that helped too.
Sunflower is prob my fav BB alb. Never seemed to get the attention it deserved. Kokomo has IMO a perfect & perfectly lovely chord prog.
The documentary has audio of the dad Murray managing and critiquing the boys. Then you can hear Brian reacting to his dad. Mrs Wilson is in there too talking about how the dad became jealous of Brian. I found this doc to be very interesting and I watched it twice.
Ok, you talked me into it. Did you ever see Love & Mercy? Where Paul Dano/John Cusack play young/old Brian? I thought that was probably the best Beach Boy movie. Though the bar is very low.
I quite enjoyed the doc. It was rushed starting after 1966 because they glossed over the rest of their career even though they made some of their best music up until about 1973. It does pretty correctly discuss and layout the timeline of the band's early days. The best part was the closing with all the band members at the original Surfin' Safari LP photoshoot spot. As for Mike, he has the license to tour as "The Beach Boys" because after Carl Wilson's passing in 1998, Brian and Carl's sons (who had control of his estate) voted to allow him to use the name for touring. Al Jardine voted against it and Mike abstained, so Mike gained the touring name by a 2-1 vote. They get royalties when Mike tours. Brian voted for him to use the name because he had been touring for years as a solo artist. Also, Mike doesn't tour alone. He tours with Bruce Johnston who was brought into the group in 1965.
There's not too much there that most hardcore fans wouldn't know really, but it does a good job of packaging the 1961-1966 timeline and other stuff that happened at their earlier stages. I think you should watch it regardless.
Songs I really like: I get around Sloop John B Don’t worry Baby Shut Down Good Vibrations Do you wanna dance Little Honda Be True to your School Isn’t it Time It’s ok Girl don’t tell me *imagination Brian Wilson I’ve been wearing out their 2012 Album that’s why God made the radio. The 70s stuff was decent but not that good for me.
I saw him in 2022 in Tampa while he was touring with Chicago. He hasn't toured since that one wrapped up and he most likely never will again. As someone who has seen Brian many multiple times, Brian & Al, Mike & Bruce, and the 50th anniversary Beach Boys reunion tour, that 2022 show was the most emotional because you could see he was at the end of touring. I wish he would have gotten a true farewell tour but his physical health declined pretty quickly.
I did not see it. Also watched the long promised road documentary 2021 where a rolling stone reporter drives Brian Wilson around California and they talk about his past. Brian makes requests on the radio which was interesting. They talk about the songs and him touring and writing at an older age. It was cool.
