YOU CAN CALL HIM AL, WIND BACK WEDNESDAY, OR JUST BEACH BOY
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
Later this month, one of the last of the original (or near enough to original to not matter) Beach Boys, Al Jardine, will be touring Australia backed by a band comprising many of the musicians who once backed Brian Wilson in his 21st century revival/return. It is both an easy and a hard sell, a moral question and a musical dilemma.
The Al Jardine And The Pet Sounds Band show offer (sadly) no Wilsons and (thankfully) no Mike Love and promises the genius-level mid ‘60s album, Pet Sounds – which Brian toured here in 2002 with these musicians, but not Jardine – and “deep cuts”. We’ve seen all manner of variations of the Beach Boys and their songs this past 25 years, from Brian Wilson solo (some of the greatest nights I’ve ever had, and at least one where I wish they would stop doing this), and Mike Love solo (one of the worst concerts I’ve ever endured) to Beach Boys with all living members, so you could ask why do we need more?
But then, why not? And why not someone who was there when the magic was first done? At least one person I know who interviewed Jardine ahead of this tour was convinced by him that this might not be bad at all. Though that person wasn’t me.
Wind Back Wednesday lands us in 2012, falling between optimism and scepticism, when what was then called, with fair legitimacy, The Beach Boys (briefly) patched up differences and returned. Wouldn’t it be good if it was good? So, was it?
_________________________
BEACH BOYS
Allphones Arena, Sydney 2012
MIKE LOVE, BENIGN AND ONLY OCCASIONALLY SMUG, looked happier than when we saw him in 2007 with the band he was calling the Beach Boys. That’s not surprising really given that on that tour he and long-time member Bruce Johnston, already working in the shadow of several years of Brian Wilson's rapturously received comeback shows, were backed by mostly adequate musicians whose vocal skills were insufficient to mask the obvious inadequacies of the septuagenarians up front.
Now, for a 50th anniversary tour, Love and Johnston were joined not just by original members Al Jardine and David Marks but in-house genius Wilson and, crucially, Wilson’s touring band augmented by the best of Love’s outfit.
The immediate results were a guaranteed high musical standard, that absolutely necessary falsetto in Jeff Foskett and a block of voices which could manage the swoops, sighs, glides, runs, dives and soaring turns demanded by Wilson’s songs. The lasting effects included a more consistent vocal presence by Wilson, who was more involved than on his last Australian tour and the surprise packets of Marks’s singing and playing, particularly during his surf guitar leads, and Jardine’s vocals, now clearly the strongest of the originals.
Interestingly, despite the first half packing both a lot of fun/surf/car hits (Surfin’ Safari, Hawaii, Little Deuce Coupe) and several relative obscurities (from Betsy and Please Let Me Wonder to Johnston’s pretty poor Disney Girls and Love’s equally ordinary Getcha Back), it took until literally the last song of the set before the audience was motivated to get up, dance and sing along.
There was more of that response in the second act, where there was an all too brief exploration of the real golden years of the band (from 1965 to 1972), balanced by a couple of their rather generic new songs. However, even the revved up Help Me Rhonda/Rock’n’Roll Music/Do You Wanna Dance/Surfin’ USA bracket which closed that set didn’t dispel the notion that the show lacked some kind of emotional centre to give it meaning and warm up this big room from the inside.
As for Kokomo which began the encore to a roar of approval, let’s just agree that an awful, awful song, like Love’s lead croak, does not improve with age. Unlike, say, the wonder of Sail On Sailor.
READ MORE
SEE MORE
Al Jardine And The Pet Sounds Band play:
Sydney Opera House, June 23
Regal Theatre, Perth, June 25
Thebarton Theatre, Adelaide, June 27
Hamer Hall, Melbourne, June 28
QPAC, Brisbane, June 30
Civic Theatre, Newcastle, July 2