Wednesday, May 10, 2006

The Beach Boys

Judy and I drove down to Galveston last Saturday to see the Beach Boys. They don't look a thing like the group at the left because only one of those guys (Mike Love, far right) is still with the group. Bruce Johnston, who joined in 1964, is close enough to being an original member to count, though. His first recording with the group was "California Girls."

At any rate, the current group puts on a fine "greatest hits" show, with songs by other groups (the Hondells, Jan and Dean) thrown in. There's also a brief doo-wop segment that I enjoyed. Mike Love's voice isn't what it used to be, but the other singers help out a lot and do a fine job of duplicating the groups' original sound. If they're ever in your area, and if you're not disturbed by the sight of dozens of geezers dancing in the aisles (and hundreds of geezers singing along), check 'em out.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Did Johnston sing on the studio recording of "California Girls"? Then he might well've sung on some of the Hondells or J&D recordings...sadder still, is the primary reasons the BB are Wilson-free these days, with two dead and one finally rebuilding his career as a relatively adjusted fellow.

Unknown said...

According to the program notes, he did sing on the studio recording of "California Girls." He left the group in 1972 and returned in 1979.

Cap'n Bob said...

Did Al Jardine quit or was he forced out?

Unknown said...

I don't know the story on that. He had his own band for a while. A couple of his sons were in it, too. I don't know about now.

Anonymous said...

We saw them a few years ago, when Mike Love was only on wife #8 (I think).

Then a couple of years later we saw Brian Wilson, on the same bill as Paul Simon. Brian's voice wasn't there anymore, but the young guys he had with him helped recreate the sound, and he and Simon did 3-4 songs together.

That was fun.