The Beach Boys

Legendary surf & more family who scored a slew of catchy pop hits in the 1960s before upping their game with the Pet Sounds album, and then having creative difficulties when their resident genius Brian Wilson came to grief. They scored a US #1 in the 1980s with Kokomo, and Brian's got a new album on the way. Here are a few of their finest moments:

I Get Around

Surfin' USA

California Girls

Good Vibrations

Kokomo

The Beach Boys: Good Vibrations
From 1976, with beards galore, an amiable runthrough of many of their hits, interspersed with some backstage footage, including a bedbound topless Brian  

Brian Wilson: Pet Sounds - Live in London
From 2002, the Beach Boy brainbox runs through his greatest album in concert. Amusingly, he and his band save 'Good Vibrations' for the encore, over-emphasising the silliness of encores. But a fun show all the same.

The Beach Boys at 50: Doin' It Again
Both a retrospective but mixed with footage from a recent concert. Al Jardine does most of the talking heads stuff, and the story canters from Pet Sounds to the recent new stuff, to the fate of Dennis and Carl Wilson. The live music is probably the best part.

Legends: Dennis Wilson - The Real Beach Boy
This was a story which I was not familiar with, and found it fascinating. The musical prodigy of the Wilson children was touched on in the above doc, and here it's reiterated that Dennis could as easily have played guitar as the drums if they'd asked. His furious style and head-shaking is claimed to have pre-dated Ringo Starr. His worship of brother Brian and later association with Charles Manson led to his own early songwriting success, and eventual solo album success with 'Pacific Ocean Blue'. His lovelife was as dramatic as everything else in his life, several wives and even a relationship with Christine McVie (of Fleetwood Mac). Alcohol proved a demon, as did a rivalry with fellow Beach Boy Mike Love. Ultimately, he drowned by misadventure one night, aged just 39.

The Beach Boys: Live in Concert - Knebworth 1980
Featuring the bulk of the band and with Brian fresh back from his hiatus, and even including the drumming of the wayward Dennis, this complemented the above docs by running through all the hits, and an encore of 'Good Vibrations'. Taken together, these progs made a persuasive case for the impressive status of this band, at their half-century mark.

Music In Review: The Beach Boys 1961-73
A general run-through up to the 'Holland' LP, covering the surf scene sound, the genius and decline of Brian Wilson, and their representation of Americana. Generally solid stuff.

The Beach Boys - Live Rarities
A plethora of material from a few shows chopped together to keep it fresh. The lesser-known material provided most interest as ever (starting with Good Vibrations and Surfin' USA, there's only one way to go from there).

Classic Albums: Pet Sounds - The Beach Boys
Surviving band members blathered away, along with the session musicians who played with Brian Wilson on the record because the real band were busy touring. After records about driving and beach use, this album went down badly with the record company who swiftly put out a compilation to make sure they reached sales targets. But it's remained a critical hit ever since.

Brian Wilson and Friends: A SoundStage Special Event
From the Venetian Theatre, Las Vegas, in 2014, as Brian led various guest singers along, from Nate Ruess and She & Him, to Al Jardine and others. Pleasant enough.

Discovering: The Beach Boys
Originally the Pendletones, Murray Wilson managed them until his sons revolted. Dennis Wilson led them to the surf demand, and they made big national success. When the Beatles arrived, they realised they needed new ideas, though the record company preferred the old ones. Pet Sounds cemented their legacy, but the succeeding Smile project was too much to take in. They had financial problems, and helped pioneer the vogue for nostalgia touring. They even managed a new LP in 2012.

Deadly Doctors - Celebrity Case Files: Bad Vibrations
So the story of how a mentally struggling Brian Wilson met Dr Eugene Landy, who proved helpful in the short term, but not to have lasting benefit, leaving his family & band mates to both dump Landy, and then humiliatingly rehire the guy at greater cost the 2nd time. Eventually, Wilson's health became a concern enough to get the family to use lawyers to get shot of Landy for good. And Brian happily returned to reasonable health.

A lack of harmonies here, with Brian Wilson and Al Jardine objecting to Mike Love:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-51369603

Brian Wilson is urging fans to boycott a gig by his former band The Beach Boys, over trophy hunting fears.
A version of the California band, fronted by Mike Love, are to play the Safari Club International Convention in Reno, Nevada on Wednesday.
Wilson tweeted that he and former guitarist Al Jardine had nothing to do with the event.

Manson: Music From An Unsound Mind
The luckless would-be singer-songwriter had already started amassing followers when they stumbled on Dennis Wilson on their LA travels. He was won over by Manson, at a low ebb for the Beach Boys, and thought that the songwriter might help them out. Only one track emerged, and the Beach Boys altered it materially, even the title, before they recorded it. He let the Manson mob stay in his home until he realised they were taking a liberty, and he moved to a new place. When the balloon went up, Dennis' reputation never entirely recovered.

The legendary Brian Wilson turns 80 today 

Glastonbury 2005: Brian Wilson
He did the Sunday afternoon slot by the look of it, and it got better as it went on and reached the familiar Beach Boys elements. He and his band closed on Surfin USA and then Fun Fun Fun. His singing varied.

Brian Wilson - In Concert - Baloise Session 2016
He seemed in good form here, and Al Jardine was among the other singers & musicians helping along. There were plenty of Beach Boys numbers to get through, and it all seemed to go well.

Endless Harmony - The Beach Boys Story
A thorough look through from 1998, so a few inclusions are sadly no longer with us (such as Glen Campbell). My guess is it was in production when Carl Wilson died, as he is present to tell much of the story, whereas Dennis is only in archive. Even Hal Blaine looked eerily younger. Some acknowledgement was made that Murry Wilson was yet another revolting pushy father.

Somewhat gloomy news, as Brian's family are applying for a conservatorship for him, as his faculties are apparently not what they need to be.

Brian Wilson - Long Promised Road
Journo and friend Jason Fine led Brian on a road trip to various places he's lived, to re-tell his story. Various celebs (sadly including the late Taylor Hawkins) sang his praises and respected his triumphs over his many struggles. This 2021 production was an in-house family effort, which is fine.

The Swinging 60s: The Beach Boys
A particularly cheap and cheerless effort, using an audio interview with various band members (though not Brian), and some ropey performance footage, all reportedly linked to their UK tour in 1967 or so. Without much in the way of captions, then the casual viewer was left to feel left out.