Forgotten Hits: THE BEACH BOYS Tour
Every day we're getting more and more reports about the upcoming Beach Boys Reunion ... there really is QUITE a buzz going on!
Here's another "Set Suggestion" by one of our readers, Phil Miglioratti, who also runs the Pray For Surf website. (A few surprises here, to be sure ... and personally, I can probably think of about 500 songs I'd put ahead of "Cassius Love vs. Sonny Wilson" ... but hey, to each his own!!!) Be sure to check out the link at the end of this piece and vote for your own "Heroes and Villains" of Beach Boys lore! (kk) @ Forgotten Hits
Beach Boys 50th Celebration Concert Tour - My Top Ten List
By Phil Miglioratti
None of the Beach Boys have asked me, but if they did, here are a few suggestions for the upcoming tour celebrating their 50 year anniversary as a band:
1) Open with "Meant For You"
It is a perfect way to set the stage (pun intended) to send out the core message of the Beach Boys: peace and love. They can play "California Girls" later in the show.
2) Followed by "Friends"
A reunion for the fans but more importantly may this tour be a measure of reconciliation for the group that started with brothers, a cousin, a neighbor and a friend. All the lawsuits, power struggles, tarmac fist fights, stolen royalties and more than we fans will never know of, may each be forgiven. Maybe not forgotten but no longer standing in the way of giving the world joy of a live concert by a band of friends.
3) Then rock on with "Do It Again"
This was the perfect tune to re-record. The lyrics beg for a reunion. The texture of the song straddles the surf & street era and the progressive stage of the Beach Boys career.
4) Reprise the band intro from the Beach Boys' Concert album.
"And now, from Hawthorne, California, to entertain you tonight, with a gala concert and a recording session, the fabulous Beach Boys!" Fred Vail, back then a teenager brash enough to promote a concert and bold to couple it to a recording that became the first live concert album of a rock group to hit #1 on the charts, is the perfect choice to bring them onstage.
5) Honor David Marks
Give him a guitar solo on "Break Away" so we can hear what the original 6 would have sounded like had he not been dismissed from the band. The guitar solo inserted for the single version of this song sounded forced and unrelated to the feeling and flow of this great Brian Wilson song. Maybe David can fill that break with a Beach Boys inspired sound. Murry Wilson may have been greedy (when he engineered David's departure) and David may have been immature in his too-quick reaction to Murry's taunts but it is not too late to make the song a more complete Beach Boy tunes.
6) Keep the break in "Little Girl I Once Knew"
No general managers worrying someone may change from their station when you go into that glorious break - Give us the full song, silence and all! Every second of it! Just like Brian imagined it.
7) "'Cassius' Love vs 'Sonny' Wilson"
Few listeners realize this album-filler, though not an example of a Beach Boys classic, is a grand example of Brian Wilson's understanding of humor and how it can augment the rock ethos. And now, almost a lifetime later, our naivete when first listening to "Our Favorite Recording Sessions,'' and "I'm Bugged at My Old Man" has given way to the realization of how revealing the Love vs Wilson banter was and how painfully accurate was the "I'm Bugged" story-line. I'm not suggesting they perform this cut onstage .. I'm hoping Mike, who has identified his humor as sarcastic, will stay away from anything that sounds sarcastic or causes Brian to feel fear or hurt. I'm not picking sides, just hoping everyone stays with the positivity that Mike preaches in his interviews.
8) Dennis and Carl, please
Bring more than their memory by reminding us of how "Do You Wanna Dance" was a great Dennis lead and how Carl's voice on "God Only Knows" is considered one of the best in rock and roll history. Let their recorded voice take the lead while they are shown bigger than life on a video screen and as the band plays and sings live. They did it for Elvis; why not the most energizing rock band of our time?
9) The Alan Jardine Album
Most of the night will be Brian Wilson - Mike Love tunes (Amen!) but how about a set of songs on which Al sang lead or pushed to the forefront? "Help Me Rhonda" (a #1 hit), "Sloop John B" (Brian took his good idea and turned it into greatness), "The Times They Are A-Changin" (...yet, here are the Beach Boys on world tour!), "Cotton Fields" (Alan's version, please), "Then I Kissed Her" (his lead helped Brian out Spector, Spector), and "Susie Cincinnati" or "Come Go With Me" or Heroes & Villains, or ...
10) "Love & Mercy"
What would it be like to end the concert with the Beach Boys semi-circled behind Brian at the piano singing "Love & Mercy" as the closing hymn, I mean song. A fitting benediction to what will be an amazing live experience and what was an unparalleled career bringing joy to millions across the globe and generations.
P.S. I need your help identifying the 50 heroes & villains who shared the lives and shaped the careers of the Beach Boys - Cast your vote and share your comment >>>
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