Al Jardine: A POSTCARD FROM CALIFORNIA

Summary

Jokermen Podcast — "Al Jardine: A Postcard from California" (March 16, 2026)

Episode Theme and Purpose

This episode is a deep dive into the 2010 solo album A Postcard from California by Beach Boy Al Jardine. Hosts Evan and Ian explore the context, themes, guest appearances, and their personal appreciation for Jardine’s late-career, California-centric record. The discussion also reflects on Beach Boys’ solo ventures, the enduring legacy of the band, and the significance of California as both setting and inspiration.

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Why Cover Al Jardine Now? (01:07)

• The hosts explain their motivation for giving Al’s solo album a serious look, having already covered solo projects from other Beach Boys members.
• They express both internal and mutual pressure to honor Al with a thorough analysis.
• Evan: “Of course we have to honor him in this way as he has honored us with this music.” [01:33]

---

2. News from the Beach Boys Universe (05:03)

• Scott Bennett Update: Briefly acknowledge learning about the criminal conviction of Brian Wilson collaborator Scott Bennett, clarifying their current awareness.
  • Ian: “...Scott Bennett...was convicted of sexual assault...never to be heard of or seen from again. So just establishing that we know now.” [05:15]
• Bruce Johnston’s Departure: Discussion about the ambiguity (dismissed or retiring) of Bruce Johnston leaving the touring Beach Boys and speculation on internal politics.
  • “He’s past like the typical retiring age. But on the other hand, if he does want to pursue new ventures...I would for one applaud it.” [06:29]
  • Noting the ripple effect on the touring Beach Boys lineup and fan reactions, with some advocating Johnston join Jardine’s band.

---

3. California as Theme (12:04, 13:14)

• The album is perceived as a sincere, guileless love letter to California, not a cash grab or stardom bid.
  • Ian: “This is a breath of fresh air...a beautiful...touching and relevant package of songs from Al Jardine.” [12:04]
  • Evan: “You could say it's a love letter to the state of California…” [13:01]
• Reflection on why it’s meaningful that Jardine’s debut solo record arrived so late (he was ~70 years old), contrasting other Beach Boys’ solo efforts that came earlier and sought new directions or careers outside the band.
  • “It really feels like a for the love of the game type effort, and I dig that.” [15:19]

---

4. The Conceptual Through-Line: California as Journey (13:43 – 18:30)

• The album as a travelogue stretching the California coast; a rare explicit "California album" in the Beach Boys’ family.
• Al’s connection to places like Big Sur, Monterey, and San Francisco is invoked as meaningful territory both musically and personally.

---

5. Track-by-Track Highlights, Guest Stars, and Observations

A Postcard from California (Song)

• Collab with Glen Campbell.
• Evokes classic, easy California pop, reminiscent of “Margaritaville.”
  • Ian: “This is great. I was thinking about it. This is closer to the best solo album to come out of the Beach Boys…” [02:57]
  • Evan: “It could have been recorded in the late 70s to now.” [20:47]

California Feelin’ (22:37)

• One of several revived, unreleased Beach Boys-era tracks.
• Barbershop and Western inflections, tinged with melancholy, not just summery enthusiasm.
  • Ian: “It’s got a little note of sadness and regret...more plaintive.” [23:56]

Looking Down the Coast (25:36)

• Explores both California’s landscape and settler/imperialist history.
  • “We can rule the seas and spread the word of God to every heathen land.” (Lyrics cited) [27:43]
  • Connection to “The Trader” and a willingness to address California’s history.
  • Ian: “I like when the Beach Boys go anti-imperialist. That’s a fun and interesting, not-so-frequently travelled path for them.” [29:01]

Don’t Fight the Sea (29:23)

• Resurfaces an old Carl Wilson vocal.
• Has an ecological “Surf’s Up”-era message, but also received as tongue-in-cheek “folksman” fare.
  • Ian: “Honestly, it mostly sounds like a Carl Wilson song to me.” [30:51]

Tide Pool Interlude feat. Alec Baldwin (36:36)

• Spoken word piece by Alec Baldwin, written by Stephen Kalinich.
• Surreal but effective; hosts are tickled and impressed.
  • Alec Baldwin (reading): “The sea breeze rises up out of me...California, you are everything to me.” [37:16]
  • Ian: “I’m amazed by this. I’m just—I'm floored. I’m delighted...Three stars for tidepool interlude alone.” [38:22]

California (Saga) (40:22)

• New version of Jardine’s classic Holland-era song.
• Features Neil Young, David Crosby, and Stephen Stills.
  • “He’s catering to me and like weird guys like me, getting Neil Young, 70-something-year-old Neil Young, to sing California, this forgotten Holland song...” [41:18]

Help Me, Rhonda with Steve Miller (43:47)

• Another late-career star cameo.
• Hosts note the value in revisiting classics, even in “diluted” form.
  • Evan: “Sometimes you gotta take a diluted thing to start to get all the notes...stripped back, you realize, hey, that’s a really good song...it’s inherently sound.” [46:34]

San Simeon (47:42)

• Ode to central coast locale, recalls Hearst Castle.
• Detailed, affectionate description of the land and its quirks.
  • “Clearly, Al just went down to Hearst Castle one day and had a great time…” [47:56]

Driving & Honkin’ Down the Highway (51:09, 54:10)

• Lighthearted, true-to-form Beach Boys “car songs” with Brian Wilson.
• “Purely. This is peak male performance: driving by Al Jardine.” [51:09]
• “I love driving.” [53:26]
• “Al said it was like method acting on his album...driving straight into honking.” [54:27]

California Dreamin’ (56:52)

• Faithful, justified cover with Glen Campbell and others.
• Evan: “In a world oversaturated...this one feels justified and warranted.” [57:05]

And I Always Will (58:18)

• Closing ballad, sweet but not cloying.
  • Ian: “It sort of sounds like a Disney movie song...heart on sleeve, it’s romantic, it’s well-conceived.” [58:43]
  • Compared to “One Kind of Love” (Brian Wilson) and “Winds of Change” (MIU Album).

Waves of Love / Pirate’s Tale (60:10+)

• Bonus tracks include multiple versions of “Waves of Love” (with Carl Wilson) and a “pirate” rewrite of “Sloop John B”—the latter tied to Jardine's 2005 children’s book.

---

6. Overall Appraisal and Reflections

• Album praised for sincerity, strong California concept, and abundance of genuinely enjoyable moments.
• Hosts rate it higher than other Beach Boys solo efforts (better than Carl, Bruce, Mike, and even some Brian albums).
  • Ian: “Better than the Bruce album, better than the Carl albums, better than the Mike albums, better than several Brian albums. This is up there in the Beach Boys solo releases.” [61:55]
• Reiterate that while it’s odd for a Beach Boy to only make their solo debut at 70, Jardine’s “gentle, for-the-love-of-the-game” approach yields a surprisingly robust, enjoyable, and varied album.
• Evan confirms: “Three stars out of three, by the way, because I, you know, sometimes people don't know that...I think it's worth reminding.” [62:40]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It really feels like a for the love of the game type effort, and I dig that.” – Ian [15:19]
• “California, you are everything to me.” – Alec Baldwin (reading “Tide Pool Interlude”) [37:16]
• “Mike could never.” – Ian, on the show of guest star support for Al [42:46]
• “Purely. This is peak male performance: driving by Al Jardine.” – Ian [51:09]
• “It’s a beautiful sandwich.” – On enjoying both Italian beef and Hearst Castle (metaphors abound) [43:45]
• “Three stars out of three... sometimes people don't know that...I think it's worth reminding.” – Evan [62:40]
• “All of our thousands of new listeners that we're drawing exclusively for the Postcard From California episode.” – Ian [63:07]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• 05:03 – Updates: Scott Bennett & Bruce Johnston
• 12:04 – The album: respite from “mass death and murder”
• 13:43 – The meaning of an Al Jardine solo album in 2010
• 20:35 – Sound & Production Praise
• 23:56 – California Feeling & Beach Boys “scrap” tracks
• 27:43 – Lyrics on colonization and imperial history
• 36:36 – The Alec Baldwin “Tide Pool Interlude”
• 41:18 – Guest star bonanza (“California” with Neil Young, Crosby, Stills)
• 46:34 – Reappraising “Help Me, Rhonda”
• 51:09 – The “Driving” and “Honkin Down the Highway” suite
• 58:18 – The closing ballad: “And I Always Will”
• 61:55 – Final verdict and three-star rating

---

Final Thoughts

This episode is both an affectionate tribute to Al Jardine and a playful, down-to-earth celebration of Beach Boys fandom. The hosts revel in obscure details, cameo appearances, and the joyously non-cynical construction of A Postcard from California. Listeners walk away with a new appreciation for Al’s contribution to California pop tradition, and for the enduring collaborative (and sometimes weird) spirit of the Beach Boys universe.

Transcript

[Ian]

Jokerman podcast is brought to you by Distrokid and their new Direct to fan tool. Allowing any artist to sell merch. Distrokid Direct allows artists to create a merch store in minutes without any upfront costs or any technical skills or know how they'll take care of all the logistics and the nitty gritty. And as with distribution through Distrokid, they never take a cut of the proceeds. You, the artist, keep 100% of your earnings. Once again, that's Distrokid Direct. Open a store [e-mail] direct.

[Guest Singer]

I got a girl I love her so madly I treat her so fine she treats you so badly and dang attitude. Happy ding, dang day.

[Evan]

Welcome back to Keeping It Clean podcast, brought to you by Jokerman Podcasts and Al Jardine.

[Ian]

There we go.

[Evan]

Podcast. Keeping It Clean with Al Jardine.

[Ian]

That's what we're doing here today.

[Evan]

We were, I think, pressured a little bit, and I think the pressure came from within, really, to do this.

[Ian]

I was all. I always wanted to do this.

[Evan]

When I say within, I mean, that's you. Yeah. I just didn't know if we were going to do this for a minute. I thought we weren't going to do this necessarily. But I have to say that after meeting the man, it seemed like, come on. Of course we have to honor him in this way as he has honored us with this music. That's right. I'm Evan, by the way.

[Ian]

I'm Ian. It's a postcard from California.

[Evan]

The.

[Ian]

The first and to date last formal solo album by our good friend Al Jardine. He has released a few other singles and ep, I think just last year, in fact, in the. In the year since. But this is the one album Al. The Al. Get that. Al the album. The Al Jardine Bum. We've done. I mean, look, we've done. We did like all of the Mike Love celebration shit. We did First Love and Country Love. We did that Bruce John, that insipid Bruce Johnston solo album. We did the Dog Shit Carl solo albums. Obviously, we did the great Dennis solo album and some additional material. It's only right that we pay it forward and we honor Al the same way that we've honored all the others so far with a formal look at a postcard from California.

[Evan]

Yeah, from 2010. That's right, 2010. 15 songs on this.

[Ian]

That's right.

[Evan]

I. I like this.

[Ian]

This is great. I'm. This is. I was thinking about it. This is closer to the best solo album to come out of the beach. It's much closer than is the worst.

[Evan]

And I, I think some maybe, possibly newcomers or people who miss those episodes might have just bristled at you calling the Carl Wilson solo albums dog.

[Ian]

I stand by it, but I, I'.

[Evan]

Not, I'm just not going to say anything more than what you said here. I think that they are. I think what we really came down on was that like they're, they're not quite dog. They were like the dry, desiccated. Like you can't tell if it's. If it's dog or human. You wouldn't really mind stepping in it cuz it's just like dust. Like a rock.

[Ian]

Petrified.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's past the point of being disgusting because even that would be like a feeling, you know, it's more just like. What's that? Oh, okay, yeah, whatever.

[Ian]

It's. It's a tough thing. But fortunately that's not what we have here on the, on the Al solo album, A Postcard from California, which we'll get to in a moment. I do there, there is a little bit of, of follow up, some, some closing. Closing the. Closing the circle. Returning to a couple points that we've talked about in the past I want to get to before we go any further. This is the first because we did our Chicago trip recently. Great time in Chicago, beautiful city. We had to bank a couple episodes before that trip and so this is the first time we're recording since that trip took place basically a week ago already. And so we didn't get to remark on one of the conversation threads that came up in the episode with Ray on that lucky old son. I don't know if you caught this in some of the comments. I just wanna make sure that we're not skating over this. There was a brief tangent in that episode about oh, what's the deal with Scott Bennett, Brian Wilson's collaborator on that record, Scott Bennett.

[Evan]

Oh, you wanna talk about this?

[Ian]

I mean, I think we should just acknowledge we didn't know at the time. We have since been informed, Scott Bennett,

[Evan]

that he was convicted of sexual assault

[Ian]

rape in the following years and summarily dismissed from the Brian Wilson orbit, never to be heard of or seen from again. So just establishing that we know now, we could put that in the box.

[Evan]

I don't think any of us were like, oh boy, this guy is so great. And one thing I love about him the most is that he's never raped.

[Ian]

Well, just wanted to get that out there. Just get that out there on the record. The Second thing, and this is maybe a little more actually worth talking about here for a moment. Bruce Johnston has been dismissed from the Beach Boys.

[Evan]

So is it, it's officially dismissal rather than him parting of ways? Cause I don't want to. You know, that might seem like semantics, but it's important.

[Ian]

I think that's the question. And there's a lot of scuttlebutt in online Beach Boys world about what exactly has happened here. I believe the way it has been framed is that Bruce has retired from touring and is stepping back to follow new pursuits. 80 year old Bruce Johnson's onto bigger and better things. Exactly. Is opening a new chapter in his life.

[Evan]

Hey, we of all people shouldn't be scoffing.

[Ian]

That's true.

[Evan]

No shit, right? And in fact, first of all, if it were the case that he just wanted to quit. Come on, he's very old. He's past like the typical retiring age. But on the other hand, if he does want to pursue new ventures, come out with a sequel to, what was it called? Going Public, Going Public, Going Private or Going Public Again, I would for one applaud it.

[Ian]

I would applaud it as well. We know he's been spotted with some of the hottest tastemakers in 21st century music over the last several years.

[Evan]

He's been seen with Jack Antonoff lately. Well, he's gonna.

[Ian]

From the Weeknd, Abel Desvey to our good friend in the pod, Ariel Pink.

[Evan]

But when, Where? Well, what was that?

[Ian]

We went over the Bruce Johnston Ariel Pink thing on.

[Evan]

Well, yeah. Weren't they just like at the same studio at the same time?

[Ian]

Yeah, they were hanging for whatever reason.

[Evan]

What about, what about the Weeknd? What do you mean?

[Ian]

He had like a credit on one of the songs on one of the Weeknd songs from the last, I don't know, five, ten years. I forget.

[Evan]

Hey, get out there, Bruce. Maybe he is gonn in there and get some points for, you know, making, making songs to getting credits.

[Ian]

He said it himself, he writes the songs. He made a whole song about how he writes the songs.

[Evan]

I don't even think he wrote that song.

[Ian]

He. No, he did write that song. He gave it to Rod Stewart.

[Evan]

Okay, I write the song.

[Ian]

He wrote that song about how he writes.

[Evan]

I roll the nickels, I deal the cards.

[Ian]

Anyways, Bruce is not in the Beach Boys anymore. And some people, you know, the official story is Bruce has stepped away and is pursuing other ventures. Many out there seem to believe that Bruce has been, has been given. Given the boot by old heir love. And there's some other guy from YouTube who's been brought into the group to replace him.

[Evan]

Old who love air.

[Ian]

Love like H E R R, you know, like Hitler. But we're not here to come down one way or another on what exactly has gone on. But I do find it a little suspect, a little suspicious that Bruce is no longer a member of the Beach Boys group. Which really does make it just Mike and occasionally John Stamos and all of these other NPCs behind him. Kind of a sad state of affairs, to be honest.

[Evan]

Depends on how you look at it.

[Ian]

Okay, well, I guess you look at it as a happy state of affairs then.

[Evan]

I don't know. We'll see.

[Ian]

We'll see.

[Evan]

It's so shrouded in mystery. I feel a little bit like, you know, we. It's too, too early to call.

[Ian]

Shrouded in misery. Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully the tell all book will be written one day about 80 year old Bruce Johnston's dismissal. Apparent possible dismissal from the Beach Boys in 2026.

[Evan]

Yeah, if we're still alive by then,

[Ian]

we should be so lucky. I saw that guy. There's that Beach Boys fan account on Instagram, columnated Ruins Domino who posts some good pictures sometimes.

[Evan]

He posts great pictures. A lot of the time.

[Ian]

Yeah, he followed us at one point and then he unfollowed us. So I don't know what that's all about.

[Evan]

That's why you've sort of hedged your praise.

[Ian]

That's right. Anyways, he posted in he or they. I don't actually know who's behind it. Whoever's behind it is extremely secure in the belief that Bruce was fired. And they've since posted a petition, a petition to get Bruce Johnston hired into the Al Jardine and the Pet Sounds band for the Love U tour. Right now I just love the concept of like, if enough random people from Instagram sign up on a petition on a random website, then Bruce Johnston gets into Al Jardine's band.

[Evan]

I was thinking about how that, that would work. Like what, what if, like on the one hand, that maybe that could work. On the other it's like sort of like, hey, you're all, you know, Beach Boys, you, you all get along, right? You just put, get, move him to the other one, you know, the other one.

[Ian]

Exactly.

[Evan]

If only things were that simple, I, I would hope that we could live in a world where that's the case. But it seems, I fear anyway, as I do fear about international diplomacy these days, that things maybe are not so easy, that things can't just go, let's, you know, this thing. Let's not do that. Yeah, or let's do that thing. That's not bad. Anyway, this is also the first podcast we've recorded since war with Iran has begun.

[Ian]

War on Iran has begun.

[Evan]

Yeah. War on Iran. Yeah.

[Ian]

Yes. You want to be specific about that? The two, you know, the two official pedophile rapist nations just declaring summary war on an innocent people and trying to wipe them all off the face of the earth. That's, you know, neither here nor there. That's not what you come to Jokerman podcast for. You come to Jokerman podcast for a conversation about a postcard from California, Al Jardine's 2010 solo album.

[Evan]

Well, I have to say, just on that note, I found this album to be a welcome respite from thinking about mass death and murder.

[Ian]

I agree. I agree. I feel the same way. I think this is a breath of fresh air and a beautiful. To me, actually, honestly, pretty touching and relevant package of songs from Al Jardine. Because I think as we've documented on the program, as I hope I've documented on the program, I'm a bit of a California, you know, supremacist, evangelist, nostalgist in some cases. And I feel like all those spirits, all those moons moods, all those themes come through very strongly from Mr. Al Jardine on this. I was gonna say postcard, but it's not.

[Evan]

Well, I wouldn't necessarily praise him for being a supremacist of any kind, nor would I self apply that, but I think those other terms are good. Evangelist, fan, California, uber Alice.

[Ian]

Come on.

[Evan]

Is that. What does that mean?

[Ian]

California above all, California.

[Evan]

Very good. It's a good state. It's one of my favorites. And I think that this is a great tribute. You could say it's a love letter to the state of California or even

[Ian]

a postcard from that state.

[Evan]

A postcard with a love letter written upon it.

[Ian]

A loving postcard sent from California and also sent to California from California by and for Californians. That's right. Such as Al Jardine, I guess, before we talk about this album, like, what does it mean to have Al Jardine be releasing his first debut solo album in 2010? That, that, that. That concept.

[Evan]

I've been.

[Ian]

I've just been sort of tickled by that whole concept since we started listening to this album.

[Evan]

What does it mean?

[Ian]

I mean, you know, because think about some of the other solo albums, all of the other solo albums that we've talked about from the Beach Boys so far, whether it's Dennis, Carl, Mike, Bruce, even Brian. You know, they're all coming much earlier in the careers, and they're all clear attempts to, like, do something kind of establish a new lane for themselves. Whether or not those lanes are going to be successful, you know, almost all of them aren't, for one reason or another, but their attempts at, you know, kind of breaking away from the Beach Boys and striking out on their own and becoming, you know, turning a new. Maybe embarking on a new chapter in their artistic careers. And I feel like in 2010, Al Jardine is already like 70 years old and he's just now embarking on his solo career with this very simple, homespun, sweet album that is actually like full

[Evan]

of features and friends.

[Ian]

Chock full of superstars. Exactly. But, you know, to me, I just. I appreciate how there doesn't seem. This is like a guileless album to me from Al here. There's no ulterior motives, it seems. I don't think anyone in Al's camp would have imagined that this is going to be the album that rockets him to stardom or that sells 10 million copies or anything. It really feels like a for the love of the game type effort, and I dig that.

[Evan]

I agree. It doesn't feel like this isn't a cash grab is what it means. It. That's. That's what it means. And it does also, I think if we want to take this into the present moment that we were just talking about with Bruce, you know, it's not out of the question that Bruce could do something like this.

[Ian]

It isn't out of the question. That's true. It isn't really in the question either, but it's not out of it.

[Evan]

The existence of this, I think, is some kind of a precedent for if we did. If we were to get another Bruce Johnston solo album. I think it. The existence of this makes that feel just a little bit less implausible.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think that, that. I think that makes sense. I mean, I don't know that, like, I guess Bruce has never sort of evinced much of a worldview, as far as I can tell.

[Evan]

I mean, but what's the worldview of this? I like California. You don't need to have that big of a worldview to cobble together some songs.

[Ian]

I think that is a bit of a worldview. And especially coming from Al, you know, who is a notorious Big Sur personality or Central coast personality. He's lived up there for years and years. And this whole album is sort of a travelogue. About. About California, really. From San Francisco down to Los Angeles. And as you know, someone who lives in San Francisco and came from Los Angeles and drives between both very frequently. That's. I don't know. It's a rich. It's a richer text to me, I think, than I might have expected or certainly that. Than like a Bruce Johnston album, I think would be.

[Evan]

I don't think we need to keep talking about this hypothetical Bruce Johnson album, but I will just say that you don't. To have any kind of perspective to make an album. And so I. I still think I'm still rooting for him to do one. Even if it completely lacks perspective, even if it doesn't have a theme as robust as California. Good Place.

[Ian]

That's. That to me, that's. That's the most robust type of theme you need.

[Evan]

Honestly, there's not that many albums that do that, come to think of it. There isn't a Beach Boys album that's only about California. Except for, I guess, Brian Wilson's album about Los Angeles. That lucky old song, that lucky old Son. Yeah, I mean, LA Light album kind of alludes to it, but this is explicit. This is the California album.

[Ian]

That's right.

[Evan]

So good for. For Al, honestly, even if he wasn't like Mr. California, he has every right to. To mine that. Like for a Beach Boy to go off on their own and make a record, it's kind of elegantly simple. It's just like. Well, we haven't done one that's just about California yet. Not a whole album.

[Ian]

Cal Jardine out Nephornia.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Yeah. All right, let's talk about it.

[Guest Singer]

Happy Ding Dang Day.

[Ian]

A Postcard From California. What a nice little song here.

[Evan]

Very strong. First song featuring Glen Campbell.

[Ian]

Glen Campbell. Come on. The first of many star studded appearances that we're gonna get throughout this entire. Throughout this entire album.

[Evan]

Does this song sound exactly like a different song? I think it does, but I can't place which song.

[Ian]

There are a couple songs that sound exactly like different songs. This is not one that at least initially occurs to me. I would not at all be surprised if it does, but I don't have the specific reference point if it does.

[Evan]

I mean, it sounds not very unlike Margaritaville, for example.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think that's. I mean, it's, it's, it's in that, it's in that palette again in Margaritaville.

[Evan]

Whatever. Yeah, it's. Which is a good thing. I mean, I like that music.

[Ian]

Sure. Yeah. I think that Al, you know, he's Got he's. It's a very tasteful, tasteful set of sounds on this album. It's like it's. And when I say tasteful, I mean like in a couple different ways. One obviously in that, like. Oh yeah, this is just simple, easy pop rock music that you can put on and, you know, not think about too hard and just enjoy. That's evident, I think listening to like some of the recent Brian albums that we've listened to. Also though, like. Like the tastefulness of this album to me becomes all the more remarkable because it doesn't really have a lot of that cloying flavor that like we were talking about with Aaron, for instance, where it's got that really glossy, overly smooth tune to all hell type of sound. Like there's a naturalness, naturalism, I think, to the sound of this album that I. I find impressive coming from al Jardine circa 2010.

[Evan]

Yeah, I think that it feels organic. It doesn't feel overly fussed with. I agree. I like the castanets here. I like.

[Ian]

Castanets are great.

[Evan]

Glen Campbell's voice sounds kind of rugged and aged, but in a nice patinaed way. And yeah, it's not overly produced and kludgy. It just sounds like it could have been recorded in the late 70s to now.

[Ian]

Yeah, there's a. There's a classicism to it, I think that totally works. And I mean, look, listen. I mean, the song I'll be sending you a postcard from California. I'll be missing you each and every day. They say it's cold out here in San Francisco but the sun shines down upon the Golden Gate. You kind of know what to expect going into this type of thing. But that works. That totally works. And I think especially when you think about this album as, you know, if we want to be generous and call it a concept album or a thematic album, the concept or the theme being boy, isn't California great? Which it is. Here again, I think is a way that Al is able to write about Beach Boys shit, like classic Beach Boys type stuff without just reverting to do it again mode 100% of the time. He literally does it again several times on this album with just re recording old Beach Boy songs.

[Evan]

Yeah. But the ones he chooses to do

[Ian]

again, they fit in to the. Yeah, to the. Whatever we want to call it. Concept, theme, overall flavor.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's not just saluting nascar where it's like, what are the ones with the most sales? Can we. All right, let's see if those still have Any fumes left?

[Ian]

Yeah. What can we squeeze out of there? So I think that works. That makes sense. And it's a success. I think this. This song is a success. And we're on to the next one.

[Evan]

California Feeling.

[Ian]

There we go. Boy, I love a California.

[Evan]

This is sort of like Van Morrison. If you replace California with Ireland.

[Ian]

Ireland. Yeah.

[Evan]

Or Celtic anything. Celtic feeling. A postcard from Belfast looking down the Celtic coast.

[Ian]

Yeah, you really could just kind swap the whole thing out.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Celtic dreaming.

[Evan]

I like Celtic Feeling. I mean, California feeling.

[Ian]

Is there not a Van Morrison song just called Celtic Feeling?

[Evan]

If there's not right now at time of recording, there probably will be before too long.

[Ian]

Celtic Feeling. No. Yeah. I'm getting Celtic New Year. Celtic Reynolds. Celtic swing. Celtic excavation.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. Is there Celtic mystery or is that one I made up?

[Ian]

I'm not seeing Celtic mystery. But you know what? There might as well be.

[Evan]

This one's like a plaintive barbershop, sort of inflected one with yes. And you've got also some nice harmonica. It's kind of like got like a Western. Like a Western movie, kind of like out on the trail kind of feeling.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it's nice because, you know, I think of a song called California Feeling. I'm thinking, oh, this is gonna be a bright, happy California girls. Let's. Let's, you know, let's boogie on the beach type thing. This kind of turns it on the head a little bit. It's got a little. Little note of. Little note of sadness and regret to it. It's a little slower, a little more plaintive. Should also be noted that this is one of several songs on this record that is a Beach Boys, like, cutting room floor song. Something that had been demoed years before. I think it was initially written all the way back in like the early 70s by Brian and our friend Stephen Kalinich and then was. Was rescued by Al here for this album. A tale as old as time. A Beach Boy just going back to a Beach Boy song scrap from 30 years earlier and re recording it for their album where they maybe didn't have enough other songs to fill it out. But I think this one totally works in slot two on this album.

[Evan]

It does sound and feel like it could have been on Surf's Up.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it was initially written around the Holland era and then I want to say it was demoed out and sketched out for inclusion on LA Light album and, you know, wasn't ultimately included for whatever reason. I can. I kind of. I see this fitting On. On Light album, along with some of those, like, Weird Stone Dennis songs and the kind of like Shapeless Carl songs. I think it's nice. Yeah.

[Evan]

Looking down the coast.

[Ian]

Looking down the coast. How about that? Looking down the California coast. This is great.

[Evan]

This one. We're just. Yeah, we're just. What were you going to say? We're. We're just looking down the coast.

[Ian]

We're dilking down the coast. Exactly. There's. And I mean, this has got all sorts of. For. For you California heads out there. It's got a couple California references.

[Evan]

Sure does.

[Ian]

Like Greg. Greg Turkington right now, sitting at the pentas, looking down on the coastington Pentas. It's. It's in the, like, Monterey area, I believe.

[Evan]

I'm not familiar with the Pentis.

[Ian]

Pentis. P E N T E S.

[Evan]

See drop in your pentas.

[Ian]

Yeah. Actually, no, I don't know. There's other things here. Partington Cove, a Portuguese coast. Boy, you don't hear about the Portuguese so much in rock these days.

[Evan]

Well, just you wait because there's a bit more of them coming later in this record.

[Ian]

Is there more. Is there more about Portugal?

[Evan]

Isn't there that whole section that's like, the sea is my mistress. I'm. I'm going to like christen the heathens and like. It's about like. Well, I guess what does that. Portugal. That's the Spanish, right?

[Ian]

Well, I mean. Oh, you mean like. Like the conquistadors. Yeah, and such. Yeah.

[Evan]

So, I mean, they're not the Portuguese, you know, they're close enough, those motherfuckers, you know?

[Ian]

Yeah, Partington. No, but Partington Cov. Right there in Big Sur. He mentions Monterey here. It seems to be sort of like a song that's evaluating the California coast over time, over the years. There's some line about this must be Monterey. I see fire lights round the bay the Indians live this way. I must go ashore and find out if the soil is good enough to till.

[Evan]

That's what I'm talking about. See this part?

[Ian]

Okay, so that's in this song.

[Evan]

Okay, that is the one. Okay. Yeah. Keep reading the lyrics because.

[Ian]

Yeah, we'll take our treasures, trinkets too, and go ashore and inland too. The king wants it that way. We can rule the seas and spread the word of God to every heathen land. Yeah. So this literally is a song about

[Evan]

like, Magellan and those. Well, not literally him, but whoever.

[Ian]

You know, any of the folks, the fellows that were sailing up and down the California coast as the explorers and coming Ashore into this beautiful bountiful land. It's got a little bit of the Robinson Jeffers thing to it also.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

When he's talking about.

[Evan]

Well, just you wait. Just you wait.

[Ian]

The California Condor.

[Evan]

A little bit of that Robinson Jeffers feeling.

[Ian]

We have that classic Robin Jeffers feeling.

[Evan]

We've got some of that in spades on a certain track here. And I say track, not song.

[Ian]

I like that. Just wait till. Yeah. Anyways, this is fun. This is. Again, we're talking about California. We're talking about the beach. We're talking about the coast and the history. Beach boy. Shit. But, yes, there's a concept. There's a little twist to it. There's something interesting here. It kind of reminds me of the traitor a little bit.

[Evan]

Exactly. Yeah. It's the same type of theme.

[Ian]

I like when the Beach Boys go anti imperialist. That's a fun and interesting, not so frequently traveled path for them at least.

[Evan]

Acknowledging imperialism is what.

[Ian]

Yeah, I guess this one is maybe a little less anti imperialist than the traitor is legit anti imperialist. But this one, maybe not so much. Okay. Don't fight the sea.

[Evan]

This one is so funny.

[Ian]

What is funny about it?

[Evan]

It just gives me, like, such a mighty wind feeling. It sounds just like the.

[Ian]

Don't fight the sea. Don't fight the sea. Fight the sea. You see or you hear who's singing on this song along with Al, don't you?

[Evan]

Who is it? It's Carl Wilson.

[Ian]

Carl Wilson. Dearly departed Carl Wilson. Not the first. Not. Excuse me, the first, but not the last appearance from Carl Wilson on this album.

[Evan]

And I see he's joined by the Folksman as well.

[Ian]

The Folksmen. What is that?

[Evan]

That's just the group from Mighty One.

[Ian]

Oh, okay. Yes. So this is. This is an old. This is another old 70s beach boys nugget classic, maybe, if you want to be generous with that term. That actually had been fully tracked and demoed out with a complete Carl Wilson vocal and stuff. And so they brought it. Al brought it back to. Brought it back to Postcard from California. And it's. Honestly, it mostly sounds like a Carl Wilson song to me. Like, Al is singing on this. But to me, I hear Carl's vocals first and foremost on here. I don't know how much I love that, but, like, I. It's. I guess coming from Al, it's cool.

[Evan]

I mean, what are you gonna. It's not like they faked it with AI. Like, he's saying this song.

[Ian]

Yeah, no, I know that's true. Boy, I'M looking at the. I guess this was the single. This is the record store day single tied to this record. The one single that came off this record. And you know, on Wikipedia, there's that little like, info box where it's got the like, chronology and you can click to like, what came before it and what came after it. There's the Al Jardine singles chronology. And this is the latest. But this is the most recent single from Al Jardine, don't fight the scene, 2011. The only other one that exists is from 2002. It's a song called pt cruiser.

[Evan]

Wow. I didn't. I didn't know about that song.

[Ian]

Me neither.

[Evan]

PT Cruiser.

[Ian]

Let's, let's. I've never heard it, but let's drop a little bit of that in here for the episode.

[Guest Singer]

PT Cruiser. Don't you know you're really looking fine. It happened on the beach down at Oceanside. Two BT Cruisers running side by side. A little surf woody there was making a scene. She was shooting the COVID of a magazine.

[Evan]

Is that on the streaming service?

[Ian]

I would doubt it. I mean, these songs have barely ever even been listened to. PT or was that like, it's from 2002. Let's see. It's gotta be like on YouTube. That shit's always on YouTube. PT Cruiser. Al Jardine. There it is. Sure enough. 9.5 thousand views. Al Jardine.

[Evan]

I'll listen to it later.

[Ian]

PT Cruiser. I just think PT Cruisers were sick.

[Evan]

They're a distinctive vehicle.

[Ian]

They sure are there. There's one in my neighborhood that's like kind of like ratty and beat up that I see on the street sometimes. And it looks like shit to me now. But I like what's cool about it or what was cool about it is like it kind of had like a 1930s flavor to it.

[Evan]

Yeah, it does have like an. An old time car, like transported into the 90s.

[Ian]

It kind of looks like the type of car, like a car you would see in Batman, the Animated Series, but

[Evan]

if you like, made it look like dopey.

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly. It's like I kind of. I admire that they went for something there. I don't think that they ultimately ended

[Evan]

up pulling it off. It's basically like a Beetle, but you stretched it out.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's more. There's. It's got more of a front to it though.

[Evan]

Yeah. Wow. I'm looking at the 2000 PT Cruiser. This looks pretty cool. Honestly. Look at that.

[Ian]

Doesn't. 2000 PT Cruiser.

[Evan]

That's pretty cool. Like the silver one at least in this picture, it looks cool.

[Ian]

It's like I can see what they're going for, but I just don't think that they got there, to be honest.

[Evan]

Well, I think that Al thought they did.

[Ian]

PT Cruiser.

[Evan]

What a. What a world. It was all right, so we. We're. We've not fought the sea. Don't fight the sea is just, like, the most, like, straight up. I mean, I joke. I kid that it sounds like the folksman, but we must remember, like, that Al Jardine is the folksman. Like, he. Actually. That's him, like, in his heart, and that's who he is. He's like one of those guys who's, like, in pursuit of a career doing those type of songs.

[Guest Singer]

Blood on the tracks Blood in the mine Brothers and sisters what a terrible time 497 went in the wrong hole now in my number 360 there's blood on the cold.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Guest Singer]

I awoke from. I was taken to the Arctic sea

[Ian]

I like the part in this song. When he is transported to the Arctic and he. And he encounters a polar bear.

[Evan]

It's like a Disney ride.

[Ian]

A little bit. A little bit. I awoke from a dream and by a wind on the beam I was taken to the Arctic Sea where the great polar bear on the ice floe there she turned around and looked straight at me. She said, don't fight the sea. That's. You know, that works.

[Evan]

Don't fight the sea.

[Ian]

This is another kind of Surf's Up Y type song. I think it's a little bit later than Surf's up, but it's got some of that seventies bird brain ecology shit to it. All right, Campfire scene.

[Evan]

No, no, that's.

[Ian]

Oh, excuse me. That's right. How can I forget?

[Evan]

No, now we're at the real. The secret jewel, I think, of this whole thing.

[Ian]

Is that how we would describe it? A jewel?

[Evan]

Yeah, a piece of sea glass. It's the enchanting. The enchanting specimen from the tide pools of this record.

[Ian]

This is called Tide Pool Interlude.

[Evan]

And it features. And this is remarkable.

[Ian]

I gotta be honest. I did not clock who this was the first couple times I listened to it until I actually.

[Evan]

Just out of disbelief, I just like.

[Ian]

Of course it is him. You know, when you hear it now.

[Evan]

No, couldn't be anyone else.

[Ian]

It couldn't be anyone else. But, like, when I was hearing it initially, I was like, this has got to just be some random guy who. Because who. Who would be doing this on an Al Jardine album?

[Evan]

And sure enough, Jack Donaghy.

[Ian]

That's right, Alec Baldwin.

[Alec Baldwin]

The sea breeze rises up out of me. It stretches its fingers all the way to Monterey, from Big Sur and Carmel to San Onofre. Beautiful majesty moves through me majestically. The wind gathers its force. Seashores naked and rugged as sea, sculpted by wind and rain, carved out of rock and stone, dancing along the centuries. Palm trees shooting straight up into the blue sky like stilts against the landscape. I feel you breathing your warm breath upon my face, Tanning my skin coloring shades of golden brown. Sunlight upon my face, sunlight warming my soul. What is this feeling that I cannot grasp? That is hopeful? California. California, you are everything to me.

[Ian]

It shouldn't work. And I'm still not entirely sure that it does, but I dig it. I think for me, it totally comes off.

[Evan]

I think it's great. I'm powerless to say anything against it.

[Ian]

What am I gonna do? Sit here and say, this is shitty, or something like, this is.

[Evan]

It's just the sheer force of its existence is, like, way more powerful.

[Ian]

The spoken word. California Pion Interlude on The Al Jardine 2010 solo album, written once again by Stephen Kalinich and delivered with great gravitas by Alec Baldwin. I'm amazed by this. I'm just. I'm floored. I'm delighted. I'm tickled. Well done, Al. Three stars alone for Three stars for tidepool Inter Tide pool interlude alone I

[Evan]

was trying to figure out what could their connection be? And we might never know. But one thing that's for sure, their names start with the first same two letters.

[Ian]

They sure do. That's right. That's a great. That is a great point.

[Evan]

All right.

[Ian]

And then we get campfire scene right into California.

[Evan]

It kind of has like a cabanessence feeling at the very beginning. Just that little. I mean, is the scene. Is it just like those four seconds of harmonica? That's the scene?

[Ian]

No, it's the 44 seconds of them, like, kind of doing the echoey singing together thing with the little banjo type thing.

[Evan]

Yeah. So are we to imagine the piano comes in? They're like in a cave around a campfire or something.

[Ian]

Yeah. You know, I'm imagining. It's just like. It's sort of. It's a memory being told in, you know, through sepia tone. And so it's got a little bit of echo, a little bit of reverb on it. And it's Al and Neil and Croz singing together. I love that. Come on. That's great.

[Evan]

And it then goes into. Well, it's cool, clear water and Then we have, yeah, the California Saga.

[Ian]

Just California. The great part. The triumphant conclusion of California Saga. California, the song which is Al's star making Turn on Holland, one of my very favorite Beach Boy songs ever. And here it's Al, Neil, Cross and Stephen Stills as well, singing it together. That's fantastic. And Neil comes in in the middle and takes his own verse. Cross, I think, takes the last. This again, like I'm this. He's like. He's catering to me and like weird guys like me getting Neil Young, 70 something year old Neil Young, to sing California, this forgotten Holland song from 40 years earlier. But if you are a weird guy like me, you're gonna be delighted by this. And sure enough I am.

[Evan]

I just like that it seems he's sort of charged up his beam of gets, you know, of like people he can have be featured.

[Ian]

Al.

[Evan]

Yeah, like he didn't do it for a long time and now that he's ready, the world has come to meet him and to take their part in the fellowship of Al's record, calling in

[Ian]

all the favors on this one. He knew there wasn't going to be another one down the pike. Although honestly, Neil actually is on a song on the album that came out last year also. So I think he and Al must be tight.

[Evan]

I like thinking of that as like Neil and Al, as like a sort of alternate version of like Bob and George. Like there's. It's just like another kind of like these other guys that have this thing where they're like, I see you, I

[Ian]

get you, they're homies. I think that makes sense because Neil. Neil did live in Northern California at one point. I think he's in Southern California these days, but. But I'm sure he and Al were just like hanging, you know, drinking, smoking together for years and years.

[Evan]

Smoking together for years and years.

[Ian]

Smoking, smoking, ganja.

[Evan]

Yeah. I think it speaks well of Al that so many people are willing to come out of the woodwork to put this thing across.

[Ian]

Absolutely. He's a beloved character. I'll tell you this. Mike could never. I don't think any other Brian probably could never. With the guest stars on this album. You actually get a little bit of

[Evan]

this for different reasons, I think.

[Ian]

Yeah, probably you do get a little bit of the Brian Wilson guest star situation on no Peer Pressure, but it comes off maybe not quite so charmingly as it does.

[Evan]

Or like Brian is the guest on those songs.

[Ian]

Yeah. And I dig again the way that these Beach Boy songs are being worked into this little like personal Al Jardine trick, travelogue thing, this.

[Evan]

Giardiniera.

[Ian]

Giardiniera. Yeah. There you go. There we go. That's when we opened the Jokerman Hard Rock Cafe.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

You're getting a hot dog with giardiniera and Italian beef.

[Evan]

I had one of those in Chicago.

[Ian]

So did I. I got one on the. That was my last meal before we split. It was delicious. That's a good sandwich.

[Evan]

It's a beautiful sandwich.

[Ian]

It is a beautiful sandwich. All right, then help Me Rhonda, you know, with Steve Miller.

[Evan]

Of the Steve Miller Band.

[Ian]

Of the Steve Miller Band, that's right. Of all people.

[Evan]

Well, I mean, not of all people. I mean, think about. Doesn't he do it never rains in Southern California? Or am I thinking of someone else?

[Ian]

No, that's. That's Albert Hammond. Very different. Albert Hammond. Father of Albert Hammond Jr. Of the fucking. The motherfucking Strokes, who I'm seeing in a couple weeks with friend of the pod, Al, Alex Cameron. Cannot wait for that show. Probably gonna rig up an instant reaction pod on that one with my dear old dad who's coming up to see that show. Can't wait for that.

[Evan]

Yeah, you're right. They are different. They're different people.

[Ian]

They are different people and they make different music. I honestly. I know the Steve Miller Band by name, but I could not tell you

[Evan]

a single Fly Like An Eagle.

[Ian]

Okay, sure. I mean, I know that song. I don't know that. That's Steve Miller. Like, what is it?

[Evan]

You know what his most popular song is called?

[Ian]

Steve Miller.

[Evan]

Steve Miller Band.

[Ian]

I know it, but why don't you. Why don't you tell the audience?

[Evan]

It's called the Joker.

[Ian]

The Joker.

[Evan]

Oh, okay.

[Ian]

I know that song. Boy, maybe we got to do the Steve Miller series.

[Evan]

Because I'm a joker. I'm a joker. Yeah, I'm a funny joker.

[Ian]

Whatever. It's a pretty unremarkable Help Me, Rhonda, but it is a reminder that Help Me, Rhonda is a great Beach Boy song that Al Jardine sang, you know?

[Evan]

It did, actually. I'm not even being flippant or facetious here. I think that honestly listening to it in this form, sometimes this type of scenario helps me to appreciate the song.

[Ian]

This is. This is your preferred version of Help Me Run.

[Evan]

Not saying that, but it's like. It's like adding a little water to your whiskey. Like, you gotta, like, sort of take a. Something. Sometimes you gotta add something, like a diluted version or a diluted thing to then sort of like, start to get all the notes. And honestly, like, hearing it just played again, it's like a good case, I think, for covers in general. But even for covers of, like, diminished potentially, or like lower key versions by the original person, it can just make you sort of realize, like. Like, hey, that's a really good song. Like, str. It's just solid. Like, it's still good. Even if you take something of its intensity out, the structure of it. It's inherently sound, you know, So I. I didn't mind hearing it here, if anything. I thought it's. It was nice.

[Ian]

I don't mind hearing. I never mind hearing it. I've always known Help Me ran it to be not just a good song, but. But one of the very best songs.

[Evan]

But some people would, I think, say, well, we don't need this half baked, wimpy version of Help Me Rhonda. I would say what I've just said, which is that actually it's good anyway. You take it.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it fits into the context of the album. We don't need this version of Help Me Rhonda, certainly compared to the two other versions of Help Me Rhonda and probably a zillion other versions that have been covered in live albums and stuff.

[Evan]

But it's just for the joy of the game.

[Ian]

Yeah. Listen, we were on this little California getaway with our friend Al, and of course we're gonna sing Help Me Rhonda. What do you expect?

[Evan]

Yeah, it's one of his great accomplishments with the Beach Boys, if not signature Al Jardine moments. Yeah.

[Ian]

Help Me Rhonda.

[Evan]

And also, as we've made very clear in our appraisal of it in the past, one which really frames Al as a sexual being.

[Ian]

That's right. And that's. There's not that. That there's nothing wrong with that. It's valid.

[Evan]

I like this next song, San Simeon.

[Ian]

This is one of my favorites on this album. San Simeon. Fantastic song.

[Evan]

Just like how much of it is San San.

[Ian]

That's great. Come on, San. Clearly, Al just went down to Hearst Castle one day and had a great time taking the tram up with the Alex Trebek narration, taking the tour.

[Evan]

That happens.

[Ian]

You've never been to Hearst Castle.

[Evan]

I've been there, but I didn't realize. Just like you didn't realize that we had Alec Baldwin. I didn't realize Alex Trebek was the one.

[Ian]

I don't know if he still. If that is still how it goes, because of course, is no longer with us. But for years and years, it was always, you go To Hearst Castle. You get on a little tram, you drive up the hill to La Cuesta. Encantada, as they say in the song. And Alex Trebek is giving you the whole little spiel over the. It's like the Disneyland tram. You know, the little speech about the Getty one. Or the Getty one. Yeah, you pass the. Like the zoo, you know, the abandoned zoo at Hearst Castle. And it's timed so as you're passing the zoo, Trebek says, and over, over to your left are the cages where William Randolph Hearst's exotic lion collection was kept or whatever.

[Evan]

Yeah, that's fun.

[Ian]

I have fond memories of Hearst Castle.

[Evan]

I guess after the first time I went, I didn't think ever again that I needed to go back.

[Ian]

I think I've only done it twice and I did it in between without maybe a. A 7 to 10 year span in between. I think that's about the right amount of time that you should wait before you go back to her.

[Evan]

Yeah, I think I'm due about a decade. I could go again.

[Ian]

I feel like you and Ruby should hit it next time you're driving up the coast.

[Evan]

Yeah. You can go up there and just. I remember part of the experience is just sort of thinking to yourself, like, so this is where Charlie Chaplin got his dick sucked, I guess.

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Honestly, it's like kind of. I love all the ghosts and the spirits that clearly still haunt the grounds of Hearst Castle.

[Evan]

And what a cool pool.

[Ian]

Very charming song. Chiming, easy breezy, beautiful covergirl.

[Evan]

Yeah. San.

[Ian]

He's talking about the elephant seals and stuff.

[Evan]

Yeah. Make friends with the elephant seals.

[Ian]

Oh, I love it. Just makes me want to, like, you know, pull off and take some pictures of the ocean and then go like, pull. Yeah, like pull off the highway.

[Evan]

I know what you mean.

[Ian]

Yeah. And then go get like a not very good plate of fish tacos or something. That's a quintessential California experience to me.

[Evan]

Speaking of, I think this next section of the album starting here, really. Oh, here we go. You could argue that a California saga. You're already starting to drive. And then. Help me, Rhonda. You're in the car singing San Simeon. You're at San Simeon in your car. And now finally we're acknowledging the fact that we've been. We are driving.

[Ian]

Driving. This is a perfect song to me. This is exactly what a rock song from Al Jardine featuring Brian Wilson in 2010 should sound like. This is purely. This is peak male performance driving by Al Shardi.

[Evan]

Yeah, we're driving Just driving.

[Ian]

Just the Dad's weekend garage blues band riff in this song. Do do do do do do do do do do do. And there's zero effort or thought put into it. Beyond. Yeah, I'm driving.

[Evan]

Well, hey, you're not listening to the lyrics. There's a whole drama that unfolds. We're not driving, just surviving.

[Ian]

They. They do. They do find a clever way to give it a bit of a twist. But the. The refrain solves returning to drive. Fantastic.

[Evan]

We're not driving. I was like, whoa, whoa. Run it back. I thought. I thought, well, if. Anyway, the next song. Honking down the highway.

[Ian]

You got it. You got it. Before we go, you. You just know Brian was digging this one. You know, he was in there thinking, just like, oh, yeah, this is a great little rock. Great little rock rock number. We're driving. Doo doo doo doo doo to do.

[Evan]

I was really looking forward to pointing this out. I don't know if you caught it. The part about surfing.

[Ian]

Surfing.

[Evan]

Gonna surf the rock. It's got the biggest waves. Gone surfing.

[Ian]

Yes.

[Evan]

And then, clarifyingly, body surfing. This comes from Brian. We're go. Yeah, I want to go surfing. Body surfing. Not actually surfing, but I do body surf.

[Ian]

Texaco. You're killing me, man.

[Evan]

Yeah. Hey, just wait.

[Ian]

Al was more right than he knew with this one.

[Evan]

This song is very prescient.

[Ian]

Yeah, that's right. And then we're just honking down the gosh darn highway. This is great. I mean, look, this is fantastic.

[Evan]

Before we move on, I just have to. We have to point out that after he says texco. You're killing me, man. The last thing he says is, I love driving.

[Ian]

Driving. I'm thinking of driving the same way that I think of, like, Bob saying, bragging, driving, bragging.

[Evan]

Did you listen to that? This old man?

[Ian]

No, but I saw. I saw someone mention that before you sent it to us.

[Evan]

Yeah, you have to listen to that.

[Ian]

I gotta listen to it. Is it good? Good?

[Evan]

Oh, is it? Yeah.

[Ian]

Okay.

[Evan]

All right. Oh, it's good.

[Ian]

I'll listen to it after this. Honkin.

[Evan]

Yeah. Well, we mentioned this when we talked to Al in per on our podcast. Not in person, but I had to point out that we were both. We both appreciated that we got driving straight into honking.

[Ian]

That's right. Al said it was. What'd he say? He said it was like a little bit of method song. Like method acting on his album or something. Driving into Honkin. Which, you know, honestly. True.

[Evan]

Well, method would mean that you recorded this while honking and or driving.

[Ian]

Take it up with Al. He's the one who said it. I think it's great. And I think we maybe take for granted the fact that Honkin down the highway is a classic and a universally beloved song these days. Especially as Al is touring all across the country playing the song night after night. But pretty remarkable that again, 70 year old Al Jardine in 2010 is re recording Honkin down the highway and putting it on a postcard from California. Forward thinking.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. I mean this is very long before the critical reappraisal en masse, I think. I think it was like still pretty. It existed, but like only in like the hardest core of which is to say like anybody on a Beach Boys forum probably.

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly. The super nuts, you know, were aware of this and would have dug it, but like there were many fewer of them and the whole like concept of the Beach Boys as, you know, the Beach Boys are just as much of a. A meme or a fandom type thing as Bob Dylan is these days in certain corners of the Internet at least. And so none of that really existed, at least to the level that it does today. So, yeah, kudos to Al for just having fun. That's the thing. He's just having fun. And I totally love listening to someone just have a good time without any other ulterior motives. That's what we love to hear.

[Evan]

It is funny that it ends with that last line about I must have a way with girls.

[Ian]

Yeah. The way they all like kind of have the chorus come together and turn it into this big like. I don't even know what that is. It sounds like a Queen type song or something all of a sudden.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's like a gospel choir for.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's a fun way to wrap it up.

[Evan]

And then we go straight in. I'm glad there wasn't morbid California Dreamin'. Of course, with Glen Campbell back again

[Ian]

and David Cross and the Cross, the boys, the homies. It's, you know, it's California Dreamin'.

[Evan]

Yeah. But I will say that in a world oversaturated, probably with covers of this throughout the decades, I think this one is one that feels justified and warranted. You know, it's a responsible use of this song being pulled out.

[Ian]

Sure, absolutely. Like, who else do you want to sing this song?

[Evan]

You know, I feel like people just sing this song all over the place and it's just, you know, this is where it belongs. On a house. This is where it belongs. Track 12 of Postcard from California.

[Ian]

Postcard from California.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

It is a little hard for me to even hear this song. Not like I can't bear to listen to it, but it's so sort of well trod that when I listen to it, I almost can't hear it anymore, if that makes sense. I dig what they do, but it is such a. Such a totem, such a touchstone that it's tough to even kind of get much out of it for me. But that's. That's a me problem. That's not an owl problem.

[Evan]

It's certainly not an owl problem.

[Ian]

And then we have. We have. I guess this is technically the last track on the album proper. There are a couple bonus tracks that exist on the Spotify streaming version, but the album wraps up with this very nice tender ballad from Al and I Always will.

[Evan]

Yeah, I like this one.

[Ian]

This is great. It's a very charming, like. It sort of sounds like a Disney movie song a little bit. And I'm not saying that just because we just talked about the Disney music from Brian, although I'm probably partially saying it because of that. But it's heart on sleeve. It's romantic, it's well conceived and put together. I think Al earns it.

[Evan]

Righteous schlock. I think this is like. It's in the same vein as like One Kind of Love by Brian. You know, I feel like this is kind of Al's One Kind of Love.

[Ian]

What it really reminds me of is the last song, if you remember this, on miu, which is an owl lead. He didn't write the song. But Winds of Change. Do you remember that?

[Evan]

Yeah, I remember liking that one.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's good as far as the stuff on MIU goes. But it's very kind of corny and schlocky and schmaltzy. But he sells it, you know, he makes it. He makes it come together. And I get the same exact kind of sense with. And I always will here at the end of this album. I almost would think that Al is thinking of like. Like let's do the same thing that we did at the end of Miu with Winds of Change with this song here at the end of Postcard From California.

[Evan]

Then we just have what?

[Ian]

Yeah, Waves of Love, which Al has released at least three different versions of. This is another old. I don't know if you saw this. There's Waves of Love, waves of Love 2.0 and Waves of Love 3.0, all on Spotify. This is another old Beach Boys song that has been re recorded. And there's a old Carl Wilson vocal attached to it. Interestingly, this was initially slated for inclusion on that's why God Made the Radio. Or at least Al wanted it on there. But for whatever reason, they decided not to end up putting it on that album. And so this got tacked on to Postcard from California a couple years after the fact. Weirdly, I don't know why I know all this random bullshit about this random song at the end of this album, but that's why that's there. And then there's this like pirate. Pirate themed rewrite of Sloop John B. At the very end, which, you know. Yeah, whatever.

[Evan]

A Pirate's Tale mix. I don't know. What. What is A Pirate's Tale?

[Ian]

I think it's just. It's. I mean, it's. It's. They're talking about pirates in the song. I think that's the Pirate's Tale. The Sloop John Bee gets sort of intercepted by pirates and boarded by pirates.

[Evan]

It's all right. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of why that was necessary.

[Ian]

But why not is why it's necessary.

[Evan]

Hold on. The 2005 children's book A Pirate's Tale, written by Alan Jardine, also comes with an accompanying cd, which we can presume includes this version. So that's that. Mystery solved. And another feather in the cap of original Beach Boy Alan Jardine. Three stars for A Postcard From California.

[Ian]

Yeah, sure. Honestly, Better than the Bruce album, better than the Carl albums, better than the Mike albums, better than several Brian albums. This is up there in the Beach Boys solo releases. Totally charming. Weirdly kind of experimental and conceptual in some places.

[Evan]

Hold your horse.

[Ian]

Couple just really nice songs.

[Evan]

Okay. Actually, no, it earns that with at least track five. That.

[Ian]

Come on. Between the Alec Baldwin thing and the song about the elephant seals at Hearst Castle.

[Evan]

That's not conceptual. That's just an ode to a great animal.

[Ian]

Well, the concept is California.

[Evan]

You're right. It's a concept. I gotta hand it to and to Al. Three stars out of three, by the way, because I, you know, sometimes people don't know that. And I. I think it's worth reminding.

[Ian]

People listening to the program is aware of how many stars you get. You can award.

[Evan]

I don't know. That's true. And what about all the people who just tuned in for this episode for the first time because they love A Postcard from California?

[Ian]

That's right. All of our thousands of new listeners that were drawing exclusively for the Postcard From California episode.

[Evan]

I don't want to even leave one of them behind. You're all part of this now.

[Ian]

That's. That's. That's fair. All right, good. I'm glad we did this. This was great. I don't know. This was the best episode, but I've had a great time just listening to this Al Jardine album. And I think it's only right that we honor the man Alan Jardine the same way that that we've honored all of. All of his fellow Beach Boys with a real go at his album.

[Evan]

Yeah, Jokerman.

[Alec Baldwin]

I want to read one more down and then just try to pace it up a little bit more, because I'm afraid you might have it. It might be too slow for you.

[Evan]

Ready?

[Ian]

Sounds great. Do you want water?

[Alec Baldwin]

No, I'm good. Thank you. I always sound like I'm choking to death.

[Guest Singer]

Happy Ding dang day.