Mike Love: LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE

Summary

Jokermen Podcast Episode Summary: "Mike Love: LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE"

Release Date: June 30, 2025

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Introduction

In this episode of the Jokermen Podcast, host Jokermen delves into the solo endeavors of Mike Love, a prominent member of The Beach Boys. Titled "Mike Love: LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE," the episode critically examines Love's 1981 solo album of the same name. As the discussion unfolds, the hosts juxtapose Love's solo efforts with the enduring legacy of Brian Wilson, another key figure in The Beach Boys, who had recently passed away. The episode intertwines music analysis with reflections on current geopolitical events, creating a rich tapestry of insights and critiques.

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Album Overview and Initial Impressions

The conversation begins with the hosts introducing Mike Love's album "Looking Back with Love." They express skepticism about the album's quality from the outset.

• Mike Love (00:02): "This could be considered a track."
• Brian (00:04): "Not really, though. We don't want to do that."

As they delve into the album, Love's attempt to blend various musical elements is met with critical appraisal.

• Brian (00:10): "Mike: Countdown time."
• Carl (00:12): Recites the opening lyrics, setting a nostalgic yet confused tone for the album.

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Discussion on Solo Projects and Album Content

The hosts dissect the contents of "Looking Back with Love," highlighting its composition mostly of covers and questioning the artistic merit behind them.

• Brian (24:46): "I feel like the whole reason that this album exists is basically just the first song."
• Mike (24:56): "Yeah, he came up with that one. This first song is basically like. We didn't start the fire, but it's like we didn't start the small brush fire that was put out very quickly."

They critique the songwriting and production choices, noting a lack of originality and enthusiasm from Mike Love.

• Brian (25:13): "Like, we didn't do anything. Nothing happened."
• Mike (25:18): "I think that music is so boring that it doesn't even warrant discussion beyond saying that it's so boring that it doesn't warrant discussion."

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Comparisons to Other Artists and Musical Styles

Drawing parallels with other musicians, the hosts compare Love's work to styles and songs from artists like ABBA and Bob Dylan, emphasizing the lack of distinctive Beach Boys' flair in his solo projects.

• Brian (36:01): "Wait, wait, wait, you're saying that none of them are."
• Mike (36:04): "No, this song. And this song is one of the few songs that has anything about it online, which is a single sentence on the Wikipedia page. 'On and on and On' is a cover of an ABBA song..."

They explore how Love's covers fail to capture the essence of the originals, resulting in subpar renditions.

• Brian (37:04): "It does have kind of a slight new wave-ish, like a diet new wave kind of flavor to it."
• Mike (38:03): "Sure."

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Reflection on Brian Wilson's Passing and Its Impact

The episode takes a poignant turn as the hosts address the recent passing of Brian Wilson, reflecting on his influence and legacy compared to Mike Love's solo efforts.

• Brian (05:31): "As we've been talking here for the last six minutes. I just got a push notification that Israel has attacked Iran and this is happening."
• Mike (08:52): "It's been nice to see just the around the clock outpouring of support and acknowledgment on local public radio in Los Angeles."

They contrast Wilson's revered status with the mediocrity of Love's solo work, emphasizing the enduring impact of Wilson's music.

• Brian (10:25): "I fall more in love with that record every single time I listen to it. And then today I've been going back to, I mean the classics."

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Critical Analysis of Specific Tracks

A significant portion of the episode is dedicated to dissecting individual tracks from "Looking Back with Love," with the hosts offering candid opinions on each song's quality and relevance.

1. "Running Around the World"

   • Mike (39:51): "This is one of my least favorite ones on here."
   • Brian (41:04): "I was driving around over the weekend with Grace in the car, listening to this..."

2. "Be My Baby"

   • Brian (56:00): "I have been trying to see the best, hear the best in this record, and there are a couple songs..."
   • Mike (58:03): "It sounds like the Chuck E. Cheese Band."

3. "One Good Reason"

   • Brian (58:37): "I have done some reading and stuff in my biographies. There's almost no information that I can dig up..."

The hosts repeatedly highlight the lack of original content and the awkward execution of covers, undermining the album's overall cohesion and appeal.

• Mike (63:36): "And only the Mike Love fans."
• Brian (66:10): "It's completely unremarkable, you know, in every way."

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Musical Style and Production Choices

The discussion moves towards the production and stylistic choices of the album, with critiques centered on its dated sound and lack of innovation.

• Mike (23:14): "It doesn't have any kind of new wave influence here, is what I'm saying."
• Brian (22:23): "The nice price sticker on the front."

They lament the album's resemblance to disposable, mass-market music devoid of the creative spirit that characterized The Beach Boys' best works.

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Final Verdict and Ratings

Concluding their analysis, the hosts assign a collective rating to Mike Love's solo endeavors, reflecting their unanimous disappointment.

• Mike (68:57): "Together. I'm just gonna say one out of three."
• Brian (69:00): "One star collectively for all of Mike Love's solo music here."

They express a sense of regret that Love's solo projects did not live up to the standards set by their contributions to The Beach Boys, ultimately deeming the album unworthy of serious acclaim.

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Closing Thoughts

In their final remarks, the hosts touch upon the broader implications of Mike Love's solo career and its impact on his legacy within the music industry. They contrast it with the monumental influence of Brian Wilson, underscoring the podcast's central theme of celebrating true musical artistry.

• Mike (71:15): "I think it makes sense because you look at those other records that we talked about, right?"
• Brian (72:21): "Looking Back with Love, 1981. That's the ostensible subject."

Despite the critical tone, the episode serves as a contemplative examination of solo projects within the legacy of iconic bands, inviting listeners to reflect on the importance of artistic integrity and innovation.

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Notable Quotes

• Brian (03:08): "This has been Club Kokomo Craft Gin cocktail slash Trader Joe's root beer float pieces report."
• Mike (05:19): "Okay, so it feels like this episode is coming like a time that is very funny for it to be happening at this time."
• Brian (07:24): "Something like being an ode, you know, it's a tribute."
• Mike (22:11): "You know, it screams like budget, like bargain bin."
• Brian (37:04): "It does have kind of a slight new wave-ish, like a diet new wave kind of flavor to it."

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Conclusion

"Mike Love: LOOKING BACK WITH LOVE" offers a candid and thorough critique of Mike Love's solo album, juxtaposed against the illustrious legacy of Brian Wilson. Through detailed analysis and honest discourse, the Jokermen Podcast provides listeners with a deep dive into the challenges and shortcomings of Love's solo endeavors, while celebrating the enduring spirit of The Beach Boys' music.

Transcript

[Mike]

This could be considered a track.

[Brian]

Not really, though. We don't want to do that.

[Carl]

This is a little intro, you know, Brian.

[Brian]

All right, here we go.

[Mike]

Countdown time.

[Brian]

1, 2, 3, go.

[Carl]

Was the best of times the worst of times an age of reason With a rage for rhymes Sound and fury Sounds of silence cries for peace Amidst the violence Black and white issues and desegregation Fear and loathing in the wood stockation Stormy seas and sunny skies above and now we're looking back Looking back with love Looking back Looking back with.

[Mike]

Love Looking back welcome back to the Club Kokomo Craft Gin cocktail report.

[Brian]

Please sing with us. We're going to do Kokomo.

[Mike]

Welcome back to Club Kokomo.

[Brian]

Welcome back. I've got a surprise root beer report also.

[Mike]

What's this? Yeah, are we. We're doing Root beer report and Club Kokomo Craft Gin cocktail Report at the same time.

[Brian]

It's sort of a miniature root beer report. I just. It. It sort of fell into my lap. As. As it were.

[Mike]

You're saying a miniature root beer fell into your lap?

[Brian]

Have you. Well, have you seen these before? You see this root beer float pieces. Pieces from Trader Joe's.

[Mike]

So am I to understand that this is like. Instead of the chocolate outside, it's a root beer flavored outside.

[Brian]

That's basically exactly what it is. Vanilla sandwich cookie pieces with popping candy, you know, to sort of simulate the feel. Pop rocks covered in a root beer flavored confectionery coating.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Brian]

Root beer float. Trader Joe's root beer float pieces. We were just literally at the grocery store last weekend and they had a big standee of these right by the checkout. And so I thought, I gotta get these. That's all it is. It's just a little, you know, looks like a little poop little nugget.

[Mike]

Wait, are they. These are ice cream?

[Brian]

No, they're shelf.

[Mike]

These are candy. They're just candy.

[Brian]

Not candy. Vanilla sandwich cookie, basically. Think of an Oreo, but it's coated in sort of a root beer. Like a waxy root beer esque.

[Mike]

Sounds good, I guess. Is it good?

[Brian]

Well, should we. Let's find out.

[Mike]

Wow. Is that a genuine. That's a crunchy root beer snack.

[Brian]

Yeah, it's kind of crispy, crunchy.

[Mike]

I'm gonna take a sip of this excitation. I don't know if we. Have we done this one already?

[Brian]

I don't know.

[Mike]

Black cherry.

[Brian]

I've lost track.

[Mike]

Black cherry, citrus and passion fruit.

[Brian]

Yeah, no, that was the one that we drank after the Hollywood Bowl. I thought that one was okay.

[Mike]

Forget it. I mean we're. We're doing it over and over. We're doing it again and again.

[Brian]

Again and again.

[Mike]

We're doing it again. That's the. The instead of chug a log, it's just do it again.

[Brian]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mike]

This. You know, it's fine.

[Brian]

I'm guessing it's. Yeah, exactly.

[Mike]

I wish I had a root beer confection instead of this.

[Brian]

You should go to Trader Joe's. I know there's one close to you. There certainly is. Head right on down Hyperion. That is good. I like this.

[Mike]

I'm interested. I mean, I'm curious.

[Brian]

It really. I mean it tastes like root beer is the thing. Like the inside is basically just like a vanilla cookie with like a little bit of Oreo cream type thing.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Brian]

But. But the outside, the root beer flavored confectionary coating per the label tastes very root beer. And it's a good root beer.

[Mike]

Yeah. This one has. Yeah, we've talked about this one I guess already. But yeah know people maybe don't subscribe to never ending Stories. Don't. Didn't hear that. So I guess we are feeling that to fill you in in the. In the main feed. It's only fair that we also talk about excitation here. Black cherry, citrus and passion fruit. Our take on this, the classic Saturn cocktail, which I. I don't know that one.

[Brian]

Me neither.

[Mike]

So it's. It's a variation on a classic that I didn't know about in the first place. Which in a way makes it just as foreign and unfamiliar, if not more so than anything else. I've never tried and I have tried this, but I don't like it very much. Okay, zero stars.

[Brian]

Perfect. I'm gonna give root beer float pieces two stars. Pretty good.

[Mike]

Okay. One star. I guess for Kokomo.

[Brian]

He deserves a star. You know, for. For this event on. On this auspicious occ. You know, Throw him a star. Throw him a pity star.

[Mike]

What? Cuz he might not get any for the records.

[Brian]

Well, certainly not gonna get any for a couple of them. This has been Club Kokomo Craft Gin cocktail slash Trader Jojo's root beer float pieces report.

[Mike]

Okay, so it feels like this episode is coming like a time that is very funny for it to be happening at this time. Do you not agree?

[Brian]

Well, I guess say more literally. As we've been talking here for the last six minutes. I just got a push notification that Israel has attacked Iran and this is happening. Yes. 24 hours after Brian Wilson left this mortal coil. So it's becoming more and more difficult to natter away on the computer with you about bullshit as the world just continues to melt down further with each passing day.

[Mike]

Yeah, well, I mean, it just seems like just comic in a cosmic way that we are doing the episode about Mike Love's solo albums, plural, the day after Brian Wilson's death. Yeah, yeah, he. He did post, you know, he posted something.

[Brian]

He posted several things. Someone, you know, someone under the banner of Mike Love on Instagram did post several things.

[Mike]

Well, there was. There was one that was quite long written, a written thing accompanying a video. And it was funny that the video featured. Didn't feature Brian's music, it featured his own.

[Brian]

His own, yes. Brian's back. Per what we were talking about on our Brian Rest in Peace conversation just yesterday.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, it was Brian's back.

[Brian]

That was the. Yeah, that was the Mike's song, Brian's.

[Mike]

Back, which is, you know, from his unreleased First Love album from 1978. But I think that, you know, some might be like, that's, you know, typical Mike. It's like, yes, that is typical Mike. On the other hand, it's sort of like it's. It's Mike being. Being. It's an ode, you know, it's an. It's a tribute.

[Brian]

Yeah, something like that. You know, it's sweet. I think it's. And it includes, you know, quite a few. The song includes quite a few, you know, references to prior Beach Boys actual good songs, which is more or less charming, depending on how more or less charming you find any of this bullshit. I did. It did seem like. I mean, it was a long video that was, like, cut together with lots and lots of footage from all through their career over the last 60, 70 years, whatever. And obviously had the song on it and was accompanied by that big, long caption. So it seems clear to me that the Mike Love camp was kind of prepared for this and maybe, you know, had all their ducks in a row in order to sort of begin to. I don't know. I hesitate to say, set the narrative following Brian's passing, but, you know, maybe it wasn't a complete surprise to him and to those in the know as it was to the rest of us. Yeah, which is fine, you know, whatever. Obviously, it's not anyone's responsibility to keep Beach Boys fans in the loop. And as we'd heard, Brian obviously had not been doing super well for the preceding year. A couple years. So, yeah, you're doing. How you doing with that?

[Mike]

You Know, I've. That's. It's been nice to see just the around the clock outpouring of support and acknowledgment on local public radio in Los Angeles. There's been even today they're saying, you know, just in case you didn't hear, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys passed away and then they played a bit of an interview with him and stuff like that.

[Brian]

That's great.

[Mike]

I'm glad that around these parts it feels like there's some extra care being given.

[Brian]

That's great. Patron saint of Southern California, Brian Wilson. Yeah, I co signed that. I mean this episode's not going to run for a week or two. So people will be hearing us react to this several days in the past, but it has been really nice. I've really just been enjoying listening to. Listening to the music. Yesterday I spent most of my time listening to Brian stuff from the 88 record to that Lucky Old Son to Orange Crate Art, which I cannot wait to talk about. I fall more in love with that record every single time I listen to it. And then today I've been going back to, I mean the classics. Listened to the whole like early 60s playlist that we put together last year. Listen to all of today multiple times just floored by that record. Still listen to Smiley Smile just, you know, it's. This stuff is unbeatable. It's as good as good music can get.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think that he's. Brian Wilson is a case where it's not like the passing of the. The person makes the music feel more of the past. It kind of actually concretizes it into like a kind of universal music that it is. It doesn't feel like he is being consigned to history so much as being enshrined in. In history.

[Brian]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, you know, it, it. Brian hadn't been touring for some number of years at this, you know, he. I guess what was no peer pressure was that the last record. Well, it was at my piano, which pointedly, notably did not even have any lyrics to it. So you know, it's. We're dealing with, you know, someone who is in a different stage of being and production, to use sort of a mercenary term than someone like Bob Dylan, for instance. Not that we need to open that mind box.

[Mike]

It was nice to see Bob Dylan comment upon Brian.

[Brian]

Absolutely. And actually on the day, you know, unlike many of the other RIP messages Bob Dylan posts on Twitter.

[Mike]

Yeah. Heard about Bob Newhart like a year later.

[Brian]

Yeah, exactly. Six to six weeks to six months after the fact he actually, you know, said so about Brian on the day, even called him dear Brian in the post. I got a little verklempt at seeing that Dear Brian. Bob calling him dear Brian. I just. Well, you know, Mike Love alive and subject of this episode.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, very much so.

[Brian]

Looking back with love, 1981. That's the ostensible subject. We'll get to that. We'll do our song by song thing. But we did want to hit. I mean, I guess it's worth acknowledging that this is the first official release Mike Love album. You know, we talked about the Celebration stuff obviously in a previous episode, but there had been attempts at other Mike Love solo records that had never gotten off the Runway. Like you mentioned previous previously already. First Love and then Country Love two attempted and from what I understand, basically fully completed solo records from, I think both 1978, around the time of Celebration. When we did the Celebration episode, I saw some comments and Stu on Patreon or Instagram or whatever that were like, you guys should have done the First Love and Country Love episode. Those are way better than Celebration. And you know, I thought, well, maybe, maybe we should have. Maybe we were wrong about that. I don't know about you, I can confidently report that, no, that's wrong. This music is not unlistenable, but basically so boring that it doesn't even warrant discussion beyond saying that it's so boring that it doesn't warrant discussion.

[Carl]

Sometimes your first love turns out to be the best love you've ever had. It makes you sad to discover that none of the others came close to your very first lover. Such a sweet love.

[Mike]

Well, I don't know. I think it's better than Celebration, which is. Yeah. I mean, again, that's like saying not so much, but. Yeah. I guess just by virtue of it being one person, one man, and making any kind of drama or stakes that come of like, okay, this is Mike Love putting himself out there. You know, that is the, the most exciting aspect of this. And even that is diluted on the celebration. Like there's not even a thing of like, all right, well, let's see what you can do, Mike. And that's. If that is here. Not that that's like, you know, that's like a three foot drop of. In terms of like the, the thrills and chills, but the. That's. That's at least something to. To consider when you're looking at these.

[Brian]

Yeah, I just. I have a really hard time. I was. I've been walking around the last couple of days, you know, before being blissfully drawn back into Brian's universe. Listening to his music, just listening to these albums. And I just, like. I exclaimed out loud the other day after I just heard, like, the 23rd straight song that was just like, sweetie, baby, I love you. I love you so much. I just. I can't take it. At a certain point, it's music that, like, is not meant to be listened to and talked about and dissected. Not even dissected, just considered so much as it is meant to be heard, like, barely auditory, in the waiting room of a doctor's office where you're about to be told that you have cancer. It's, like, somehow even less remarkable than the Bruce record. Which I guess speaks to why at least the Bruce record was released. These mic records, languishing.

[Mike]

Languishing, yeah, languishing. Uncherished, undiscovered.

[Brian]

I don't.

[Mike]

Well, they're not languishing anymore. We are discovering them.

[Brian]

We discovered them for.

[Mike]

We might be digging them up just to bury them again. But we, you know. No, that's probably what we're doing. But, I mean, you can tell.

[Brian]

Just look at the names of these. You do the Van Morrison song title thing sometimes. These are. You just know what these songs are. Looking at the titles. Little Darlin' Little Darlin. The Right Kind of Love.

[Mike]

First Love, first of all.

[Brian]

That's right, Baby, I'm a Changed man. My favorite is maybe Wrinkles from Country Love, which I know you said you didn't really listen to much of Country Love, but it's about a dead dog.

[Mike]

What's Viggy about? Is that about a dog?

[Brian]

It's about a person. I think Viggy is like a person. Like a kid sister or something like that. I gotta say, I didn't pay too much attention.

[Mike]

It's like, Viggy, like. What kind of name is Viji?

[Carl]

Viji, won't you walk with me up in the wood Veggie, won't you talk with me? I think you should Tell me if you're feeling the same as I feel Tell me if our love's really real Tell me is our love really real.

[Brian]

It'S just. It's. It's tough. It's a tough hang.

[Mike]

And I kind of liked Viggy.

[Brian]

You like Viggy? I mean, I do.

[Mike]

Like.

[Brian]

I think Brian's Back is like the diamond in the rough, so to speak. It's a nice sounding song. I think it sounds like it's got maybe, like, some Carl on the backing vocals. I'm sure someone out there knows the extensive credits. And that song was officially released, I think, on, like, the Endless Harmony set from, I don't know, the 90s sometime. It's a good song, and I kind of appreciate where it's coming from. And it does basically the same exact thing that looking Back with Love, the song does in some way, just being sort of like a. Like a pop culture reference machine, at least just within the Beach Boys canon. Brian's back. It's a little cloying and maybe not entirely genuine, but I can appreciate that song to a degree that, like, there's something kind of interesting going on here where I just. I was searching in vain throughout the rest of these couple records for anything else worth commenting on.

[Mike]

They say Brian is back.

[Brian]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Still. They say Brian.

[Brian]

Yeah. You know, I think that's Carl there. You know, that's. That's nice. I guess it is a little ironic that that's the song that was on video announcing Brian's departure from. From life.

[Mike]

Brian is back to where? To the. To whence he came. He's met his maker. Yeah.

[Brian]

Ashes to ashes.

[Mike]

Well, yeah, that's. That's probably the most exciting thing on. I was happy to see that Sumahama appears so far.

[Brian]

Yes.

[Mike]

And I kind of like this version of.

[Brian]

I do too. I kind of like the faster version of. Of Sumahama. That's. That's fun. Whatever.

[Mike]

Yes, that is. Right. Whatever.

[Carl]

Teenage gambler sitting in a rounder listening.

[Mike]

To the rad.

[Carl]

And then standing in the grandstands following the game plan, watching life's plays unfold. You fell in love with the pretty cheerleader. I even married one. And we once wrote a cab out of Salt Lake City. Now coming up with fun, Fun, fun, fun.

[Brian]

But like we said, these records did not actually come out because they are not good. And the Beach Boys attempted to continue to be the Beach Boys for a couple years, at least there in the late 70s, until. Yes, 1980. 81. Basically, from what I understand. I have done some reading and stuff in my biographies. There's almost no information that I can dig up, at least about this record. You know, Mike striking out on his own, going solo. I haven't read the Mike Love autobiography, for what it's worth. We might come back to that at some point down the line, if I can stomach it. But. So maybe there's some information there. But like in the biographies, on the Wikipedia page, on the AllMusic page, like, there's very little information about this record anywhere out there, from what I understand. Basically, Carl decided I'm done with this shit in the 80s, you know, after keeping the summer alive, I'm gonna make a solo record. I'm sick and tired of kind of carrying load with the Beach Boys. And so he's going to try to strike out on his own and do his own thing. And so Mike was kind of forced into trying to make the best of it on his own because Dennis was out of the band. Now Carl's out of the band. Brian spiraling once again. And I guess that leaves him with Bruce and Al at that point. And so he decided, you know, let's look back with love. And so here we are. What do you think of the COVID of this record?

[Mike]

You know, it screams like budget, like bargain bin. It just screams like this is. It's practically born with the orange.

[Brian]

The nice price sticker on the front.

[Mike]

Exactly. Or you know, just that little like the little square sticker that with the labeler like this is just like it looks destined predestined to be worthless.

[Brian]

I kind of like the Dodgers hat.

[Mike]

I like that too. I mean, I'm not going to. I'm not going to. I like, I like it. I mean, I'm charmed by it despite everything.

[Brian]

But wearing sort of like a satin. Satin jacket and like a. Maybe a snap, snap button western shirt.

[Mike]

Or maybe it's just a Hawaiian shirt.

[Brian]

It's not Hawaiian. There's no print on it.

[Mike]

But yeah, it looks like there is.

[Brian]

If you look closely, maybe there is.

[Mike]

Anyway, all these clothes are like super.

[Brian]

Flammable, I'm sure 100% polyester.

[Mike]

It doesn't have. For being released when it did. Like, doesn't really look like late 70s or even like early. It looks like the 80s more than it looks like particularly like it doesn't have any kind of new wave influence here, is what I'm saying. Like there's. It's kind of straight into like the. Right down the middle, mass market, like 80s type of look.

[Brian]

Yes. I think it's, you know, looking to just present its subject in a pretty straightforward manner and not. Not getting anyone riled up one way or another. And I think that extends to a lot of the music. He looks good. You know, he's got. His beard is kind of nice, kempt. He's smiling and looks like that's a trucker hat. Actually, now that I'm looking at it a little bit closer.

[Mike]

Is it. I don't know.

[Brian]

It's got. Yeah. If you look at it closer, it's got some mesh on the sides of the main panel. I Don't like trucker hats, but, you.

[Mike]

Know, what's wrong with trucker hats?

[Brian]

I just don't want a big plastic thing sitting on my head, you know. Gross.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Brian]

Anyways, that's. That's the record cover. Looking Back with Love. And I guess that means the only thing to do from here is talk about the record.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Brian]

I feel like the whole reason that this album exists is basically just the first song.

[Mike]

Yeah, he came up with that one. This first song is basically like. It's. We didn't start the fire, but it's like. It's like we didn't start the small brush fire that was put out very quickly.

[Brian]

Like, we didn't do anything.

[Mike]

We didn't do anything. Nothing happened.

[Brian]

Nothing ever even there.

[Mike]

Barely remember. I mean, I. That is what it's about. It's like. It's sort of just listing things that. That sort of happened, I guess.

[Brian]

Yeah. It's a little unclear what. I mean, it's unclear what the meaning behind the song is. As if there is a meaning behind this song. Wasn't written by him. It's worth noting, I think his manager wrote. Wrote the song, mostly James. James Studer or Craig Thomas. I don't know. One of these guys. I mean, the whole concept basically just arises out of the title, I think, you know, looking back with Love. We're looking back on the past with love. It's a little puzzling because a lot of what he's referring to, like he says, literally, good vibrations, assassinations, losing leaders, never knowing why. Demonstrations, battle stations, rampant destruction, cosmic creation. But we're looking back on all these things with love. It's a little puzzling. But again, I think that the thought process behind this entire thing went about as far as rhyming these lines. And that was about where it concluded.

[Mike]

I think you can look back with love at anything, really, you know, but, yeah, you know, with wisdom, with a softer heart.

[Brian]

Sort of a dry run for Murder Most Foul. Now that you think about it, that's sort of a. Looking back with love on Good Vibrations and assassinations.

[Mike]

You know, that's why people pay us. That's why anybody pays us money to have that kind of insight. That's true. Hungry Hearts. I gotta say that this one is. Yeah, it's like the most compelling case for. For a Mike Love. So when I first heard this song before I had listened to any of the record, I was kind of like, excited to listen to the rest of the record because it seems like engaged with. It is charming to me that at least it's like attempting to be about.

[Brian]

Many different things, Something, anything. But it kind of even just one.

[Mike]

Thing, it doesn't end up being about much. This one song in particular is just sort of a. Yeah, it's just kind of saying, look, we made it. We all made it together. And here we are looking back at 1981, where, you know, everything is now. It's good.

[Brian]

All the problems have been solved. Yeah. I mean, this goes down and we've talked about, you know, sort of the boomer canon, certainly in the context of, like, a lot of the Billy Joel stuff. And, you know, I think it's notable that this song comes out right on the heels or, you know, shortly after. Like, it's still rock and roll to me, for instance, which is another boomer anthem. Or ahead of We Didn't Start the Fire, as you said. There is something to be said for all of these aged or at least aging rockers at this moment in time, just really letting their, you know, taking their foot off the gas and kind of coasting. Yeah, coasting, wallowing. Marinating in these, you know, sort of rotten, unearned returns they've gotten from their more or less successful or creatively compelling material. It's a very significant song. I would say. Not even significant, but, like, it's a rich text. You know, even if this song itself is, like, not particularly good, it's not really.

[Mike]

It's like a rich. It's as rich a text as, like, any of those shows where it's just like, I love the 80s, I love the 70s. Where it's just like, here's stuff from that time in a row.

[Brian]

What, like Happy Days or something? No, I know, but that's like. That's the 50s.

[Mike]

I mean, those actual shows that they used to have on, like, VH1, where.

[Brian]

They'D get like, oh, I love the 80s. Sure. Celebrities, comedians, talking about like. Like Silly Putty or whatever.

[Mike]

Exactly.

[Brian]

Yeah. I used to watch a lot of that shit.

[Mike]

Me, too. I got a lot of cultural. Pop. Cultural literacy from that stuff.

[Brian]

Me, too. That's. Honestly, might be why we do this, is we. We spent hours of our, what, like, fifth grade to eighth grade years watching just like, watching DL Hughley talk about the Challenger Space Shuttle explosion or something.

[Mike]

Watching the cast of Whose Line Is It Anyway? Talk about Gumby. Yeah.

[Brian]

Pet Rock. Drew Carey talking about Pet Rock.

[Mike]

Yes. Yeah. Janine Garofalo talking about Pet Rock.

[Brian]

That was good tv. I like. I liked. I like that.

[Mike]

It was good. And we don't have that kind of stuff anymore.

[Brian]

That's what they took from us. Exactly.

[Mike]

No, no, that kind of energy. Well, that energy exists, of course, and it's been kind of like misdirected and placed into Funko Pops and it's, it's not good, you know, that what we needed that outlet to have to watch True Carrie just be like, yeah, the, the, the Muscle man, like the Stretch Armstrong. And then we were like, yeah, I remember that. And then we didn't have to remember it for ourselves because Drew Carey was out there remembering, telling us all about it.

[Brian]

Exactly.

[Mike]

Yeah. Talking about the Ninja Turtles and did.

[Brian]

They still have Nick at night?

[Mike]

No, not that I'm aware of.

[Brian]

Yeah, that also seems like. I mean, to me, that was a very significant part of my upbringing as someone who was kind of raised by the television and certainly watched his fair share of Nickelodeon. There was that moment. I forget if it was at 8 o' clock or 9 o' clock, but if you just kept watching it, it would just switch from your Nickelodeon material. Your Rugrats and your Spongebobs. And I think it would just go straight into like, I Love Lucy, I want to say. And I was always kind of like, nah, I don't want to watch this. But I would watch it. And I just became kind of like conversant in that medium from a young age, you know, I Love Lucy, Gilligan's Island, I think was on there. MASH was on there.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, that's like the, you know, stuff that you didn't realize how good we had it.

[Brian]

True. I mean, where are the children getting that education these days?

[Mike]

This song, Looking Back With Love, basically.

[Carl]

Soul still sounds from the Motor City, California. California girls now are sure looking pretty Two girls for every boy British invasion with the Mersey beat Motherfuckers dancing in a Liverpool Street Aquarian age Running helter.

[Mike]

It was the best of times and the worst of times.

[Brian]

It's completely unremarkable, you know, in every. In every.

[Mike]

You just cut out for a second. You said it's completely remarkable. Yes, in every way.

[Brian]

That's exactly what I said. Oh, Jesus. I'm looking at Nick at. No, Nick at Night does still exist. But it plays the Big Bang Theory and Modern Family and Friends.

[Mike]

Right? Shows from 30 years ago.

[Brian]

Good Lord.

[Mike]

Friends is a show from 30 years ago.

[Brian]

Friends is. Yeah, but like. All right, well, I don't.

[Mike]

I didn't realize. Did you know that Big Bang Theory first aired in 2007?

[Brian]

That sounds about right.

[Mike]

Yeah, but that's like a long time Ago.

[Brian]

Yeah, well, I mean, we're. We're 48 years and 44 years old, respectively, so that's how it goes.

[Mike]

We're not that old yet, so that's not true.

[Brian]

Time goes on and on and on. How about that?

[Mike]

This song is crazy.

[Brian]

This song is pretty crazy. I'm looking at the plays on Spotify. These songs have, like, 2,000 total plays. This is like the pits of the pits, man.

[Mike]

On and on has 4,000. It has not cracked. Yeah, you're right.

[Carl]

I was at a party and this fella said to me Something bad is happening I'm sure you do agree People care for nothing no respect for human rights Evil times are coming we are in for darker nights.

[Brian]

Yeah, on and on and On.

[Mike]

That's what the album should have been called.

[Brian]

Yeah, just. It does tend to go on and On.

[Mike]

Or over and over is another song.

[Brian]

It's so crazy to have an album with songs called Both on and on and on and over and over and.

[Mike]

Over again and again and again. That is the Mike Love way, though, is Just do it again. On and on and on is what I'm completely confused by. Like, the first part of it. It. It has, like, a, like, street legal, like, Bob Dylan street legal vibes in terms of just sort of being about stuff that's going on. Like, sort of like. Try trying to include topical stuff, but in like, an oblique way. Like, the beginning of this song feels almost like. Like a poorly written version of a Bob song, where it'd be like I was in a bar talking to someone who said, the end of days is gonna come. But, like, in this, it's like I was talking to a guy who said that bad things were happening. And I said, well, why are you the one who's supposed to say that? And then he looked around nervously because I said the right thing to him. And then he said. Then what did he say? He said, I'm a. I'm. What? What. What is the exchange here?

[Brian]

I don't even. I. I would pull up me already. I have the lyrics. It's long.

[Mike]

Can you read them the first part, just for clarity? I just can.

[Brian]

I was at a party and this fella said to me Something bad is happening. I'm sure you do agree People care for nothing no respect for human rights Evil times are coming we are in for darker nights yeah, it does kind of sound a little bit like, you know, License to Kill from.

[Mike]

Exactly.

[Brian]

It's worth noting this song not written by Michael. None of these songs actually on this record were Written by Mike Love, except for the last song where he has a co write credit.

[Mike]

Wait, wait, wait, you're saying that none of them are.

[Brian]

No, this song. And this song is one of the few songs that has anything about it online, which is a single sentence on the Wikipedia page. On and on and on is a cover of an Appa song which was itself influenced by the 1968 Beach Boy song Do It Again.

[Mike]

Wait, Mike Love, this is a cover?

[Brian]

This is apparently a cover of an ABBA song which was itself an interpolation of Do It Again initially. So Mike Love is covering abba? Covering My glove on Looking back with Love.

[Mike]

I've never heard the original. Is the original also called on and on and On?

[Brian]

I believe it is, yeah. On and on and On. Pop song recorded by Swedish pop group ABBA, released as a single limited number of countries in 1980 from their seventh studio album, Super Trooper.

[Mike]

Right.

[Brian]

So, I mean, that, you know, is maybe why it sounds the way that it does in terms of the lyric.

[Mike]

It's because it was written by people who don't speak English as their first language.

[Brian]

Right. It's a little unclear what exactly is happening in the song. I do like the line where he.

[Mike]

Says, I took advantage of the fact.

[Brian]

That the fact that I'm a star shook my hair and you don't have any hair to shake my friend. And took a casual smile.

[Mike]

He says shook my head.

[Brian]

Oh, did he say hair or head?

[Mike]

I think he says shook my head.

[Brian]

Okay. I'm just looking at the lyrics on the page. It says hair. I guess it probably says hair in the original song. And he had to change it to head.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Brian]

Which is fine. Male pattern baldness is valid. I don't know. Is there anything to say about this song beyond what it's like?

[Mike]

No, not. Especially not now that I know that it's a cover.

[Brian]

It does have kind of like a slight new wavy ish, like. Like a. Like a diet new wave kind of flavor to it.

[Mike]

Sure.

[Brian]

I mean, dark and a little. Kind of like, you know, you know.

[Mike]

Yeah. Well, ABBA is also sort of, you know, there. I think they were good at picking and choosing, just as successful pop stars are today at sort of like pilfering stylistic signatures from stuff that's currently kind of cutting edge and making a sort of sanded down version that fits within the context of their pop music. So I think that's kind of a tale as old as time. And then what we're getting is like a second or third hand version of that coming from A song inspired by a Mike Love song.

[Brian]

It's sonically crazy that. Yeah, this is Mike covering a song that was itself covered.

[Mike]

You know, it makes sense, you know.

[Brian]

That he talk about Uroboros.

[Mike]

At least there's some, you know, that's. There's some, like, context there. It's like if it's the kind of thing we would call a cute and charming Easter egg if we liked it more.

[Brian]

There's a little bit of Beach Boys attempts at something here that do, do, do, do, do, do, do, do. But like, in general, this is not a very Beach Boysy sounding record. I guess besides the fact that it's Mike Love singing all these songs, which has never been my favorite part of a Beach Boys song.

[Mike]

Can we talk about the next song?

[Brian]

Yeah, let's go.

[Mike]

What do we have next? We've got.

[Brian]

Yeah, there's a lot to get into on this one, right? Running around the world Running around the world Trying to catch up to my favorite little girl.

[Mike]

So who wrote this one?

[Brian]

I don't know. Probably like Doc Pomas or something.

[Mike]

I don't know. I wouldn't lay that at Doc's feet.

[Brian]

No, Doc would do much better. Let's see. James Hamer and Blair Aronson.

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Brian]

How about.

[Mike]

Oh, it's a Hamer and Erison Hamerson.

[Brian]

Classic Hamer and Erison. Exactly. Like Lieber and stoller. Like Lennon McCartney, Hamer and Harrison.

[Mike]

This is one of my least favorite ones on here, I think. I. I don't even like to listen to this one when I. I mean, I. I'll put on Looking Back With Love and, you know, I sing along to it a little bit, but, like.

[Brian]

Actually out loud, you're singing. Singing along to it.

[Mike]

Sure. You know, tapping my toe. My toe might started tapping.

[Brian]

Assassination.

[Mike]

Fear and Loathing in the woods. Yeah.

[Brian]

Awful.

[Mike]

Yeah, I can get into that one, actually. I played for my girlfriend and she.

[Brian]

I was.

[Mike]

Yeah, we were both listening to it, you know, kind of like.

[Brian]

I was driving around over the weekend with Grace in the car, listening to this for, you know, subjecting her to this. And I was like, you know, this is the. We're listening. I'm sorry in advance because we're really getting to the pits of the Beach Boys series because you're going to be hearing a lot of really shitty music coming up. And she was like, you know, it doesn't sound that different from a lot of the other Beach Boys.

[Mike]

That's true. It doesn't. And maybe that's why that's my favorite on here, but. Well, I would say that this doesn't. That this sounds even less different than some of the Beach Boys stuff that we've been talking about. I'll say in the negative sense in that running around the world is just kind of like.

[Brian]

I don't know, it could fit on the first side of miu, you know, or Keeping the Summer Alive or the upcoming Beach Boys.

[Mike]

Sure. You know, the whole thing is just kind of like that. The HR meme of, like, if. If the handsome ones. In this case, if, like, the Beach Boys did it, we would be like, okay, you know, Sure.

[Brian]

I can see what they're going for there.

[Mike]

And then. Then it's like the fat pimply guy going like, I made you a song. And we're like, hr can somebody please do something about this?

[Brian]

That's been. It's been the tale of the tape with Mike for quite some time. I think we've used that precise examp times.

[Mike]

Not fair, you know, but life isn't fair.

[Brian]

No, it isn't. Oh, God. I just over and over just came up on my headphones. What's that shitty song on Keeping the Summer Alive? Is it Sunshine? Right? That's got that stupid.

[Mike]

The very stilted steel drum.

[Brian]

Exactly. Yes. Yes. Sunshine. Same exact little, you know, corner of my brain that just gets kicked in the teeth with this song. I just. I'm angry listening to it.

[Carl]

I said over and over and over again, this dance is gonna be a throw.

[Mike]

I feel a little bit beaten down by this one.

[Brian]

It is a little demoralizing. You know, I. For a second, for a set. Just a second, I got excited because I was like, over and over. Could this possibly be a cover of the Christine McVie classic song?

[Mike]

Yeah.

[Brian]

From the Mac Tusk record, which had.

[Mike]

Come out by this point.

[Brian]

That's right. Two years earlier.

[Mike]

That's crazy. I mean, this feels like it comes from a world in which that does not exist because, like, there's no influence. Yeah. It just does feel like the. The dearth of creative choices on Mike Love's part is. It gets to you after a while. It's like there are people who are just not creative, naturally, and they are not bad people. You know, there's. The world needs people.

[Brian]

Well, they're not bad people. By fact of them not being creative, they may well be bad people, but.

[Mike]

I'm gonna say they might be extraordinary people at something, but it's not gonna be making artwork. And that's the thing here is, like, it feels like maybe Mike's calling was Like, I don't know, I'd be curious to know what he's really gifted at. Like if he was like randomly like, you know, maybe he was really good at wood shop or chemistry or something in school. Maybe he was really good with just like, you know, remembering facts and figures about in social studies. Clearly that went into one of the strongest songs on here with Looking Back with Love.

[Brian]

It's a good point.

[Mike]

Which he didn't write.

[Brian]

He should have been on I love the 70s, you know, just, just talking about like roller skates.

[Mike]

Yeah, well, I mean it's like the same thing with Donald Trump being like, you know, he would have been like the best QVC person ever. Like he would have put Isaac Mizrahi to shame and yet like that very. I think fulfilling and a perfectly sensible career for someone such as him is just as great as he is as a president. He's not, he's not going to be able to be as good as he could possibly be, you know, because it's not really what he's cut out for. At the end of the day he's. And he's constrained by the office of president, I would say. I would love to see him spread his wings and tell me about why I need to buy like the Trump vacuum sealer for my. Or the fucking Trump X Traeger Grill or whatever.

[Brian]

This is a dangerous line of top of conversation to be engaging in as we're about 35 minutes into Israel's war on Iran by the time.

[Mike]

Where'd you hear that? I didn't get any of this.

[Brian]

There's literally a New York Times push notification. Israel attacked Iran, Israel's defense minister said, raising fears of an all out war between the two powerful military. If you go to Twitter, everyone is.

[Mike]

Now I see it.

[Brian]

Okay, you may well be drafted in the IDF by the time this episode comes out. So watch out.

[Mike]

They can't get me over here.

[Brian]

I think we're all going to be drafted into the idf. The, you know, Jews in the. Is it. What is it going.

[Mike]

Yeah, you should, you ought to know, you know.

[Brian]

Yeah, boy. Yeah. I mean there is something I did find myself gnawing on this topic of conversation or topic of line of thought, you know, listening to this, this record and trying to desperately to come up with anything interesting to say about it, you know, because it does, it does sort of like confront or challenge the, the typical, you know, approach that we've had to Jokerman mindset thus far, which is like, you know, a willingness to continue to go on despite the circumstances and kind of emerge and continue to follow your muse and create greater and stronger and more interesting things as you age. What if you shouldn't actually be doing and what if you actually should give in to the urge to just stop making music, stop creating, because what you're going to continue to do moving forward is bad. And I think that's what we're dealing with here. To that, to the extent that that's true, I think that does make this record interesting and even almost admirable through a weird kind of lens. Because Mike must have known this was not particularly good. He must have known this was not gonna be a chart topping success. He might have thought it was all right, but I would be shocked to imagine he thought he was gonna be the hottest pop star of 1981 with this record. And yet he still, you know, woke up and got out of bed and put his pants on one leg at a time like all the rest of us and went into the studio and made this record and, you know, brought it into the world. Even despite perhaps knowing consciously or unconsciously or somewhere in between that what he was doing was, you know, pretty shitty. There is something kind of like noble about that to me. I might just be stretching here, in fact, I know I am. But I do think that through the right lens there is something kind of admirable to see in an effort like this.

[Mike]

Go on.

[Brian]

I have gone on. That's about what I should say.

[Mike]

But what's the right lens? What's the lens?

[Brian]

The lens is. It's music that rebuts the concept of Jokerman minds. It's not music that is better or more interesting or artistically significant than the stuff he was creating before. And it's like a refutation of that. In fact, I just don't think that.

[Mike]

It occurs to when I'm talking about people who aren't creatively. That's not in their nature to be creative. I don't think that it's an option to be anything but just the best they can do is produce work. They can be productive. And if the Jokerman project was about celebrating things that people who were prolific, that that would be like, pointless. I feel like, is that just making a lot of stuff doesn't make you good at. Can make you good at it. But if you really stick to it like you can. But I think that we, we tend to want to focus on people who have something of a head start. Say like Bob dy. I think he had a pretty good head start with being a great Artist in his early days. And then whatever he does is going to be interesting. It's just a long game to see somebody go from. I don't know that I can even think of a time where it's happened, where somebody's gone from being relatively basically unremarkable to then being remarkable.

[Brian]

Well, I mean, you bring this up all the time and I almost hesitate to do so myself here. But like, think of Scott Walker, you know, who started his career with these very like, you know, cut and dry paint by numbers, you know, schlocky albums and then turned into Scott Walker like.

[Mike]

Well, sort of. Not really. I mean, he like start. He did that, then he like quickly ramped it up and then kind of got pushed back down into the depths of doing basically this. And that was the darkest period of his life. And one which he doesn't even in interviews recalls as having been like a pit of. Of alcoholic. An abyss of alcoholism. So I just, I don't. Yeah, I mean, I like that this album exists. I wish that. That all three of them had come out on some level. I mean, I think that we are doing him a disservice by not talking more about first love, which I think is a little bit more colorful.

[Brian]

I don't think we are doing him a disservice.

[Mike]

I think it's a little bit more colorful than this. It's got Brian's back, It's got Viji.

[Brian]

Uh huh. You can't even keep a straight face.

[Mike]

Okay, so this has got. Okay, what's next?

[Brian]

Rocking the man in the boat she's.

[Carl]

Got the situation well in hand she's in a hurry she ain't worried She's a real sensation at taking care of what she needs and she'll be rocking the man in the boat.

[Mike]

I feel like we could use all of the music and we could play the entire songs all the way through and put. Make this a free episode and not have it be flagged. I feel like the. The AI wouldn't recognize these songs.

[Brian]

Yeah, these songs have already been released into public domain. No one even wanted to file copyright on them in the first place.

[Mike]

It's just like. Yeah, this is. What is it? The label on the bottom of the. I think it's Broadway. Boardwalk.

[Brian]

No, Boardwalk.

[Mike]

Boardwalk Records. What do we know about Boardwalk Records?

[Brian]

Fake. Fake company. Rocking the man in the boat Rocking.

[Mike]

The man in the boat. I was wondering about if that was a innuendo.

[Brian]

Oh, like she's fucking you in the boat?

[Mike]

No, like, like flicking the bean.

[Brian]

Oh. Hmm. Interesting. Well, you know, could be, but the lyrics don't really. She's finally crossing over the line. Feels so good. Just like she knew it would.

[Mike]

Yeah, okay. So yeah. Yeah.

[Brian]

I mean, I think it is interesting to know. It's important to note, you know, Mike loves a sexual being and that's sort of what we're exploring. If nothing songs on this record, men's sexuality is a valid concern and I think it's a rich subject for exploration in singing and songwriting.

[Mike]

Calendar Girl is the next song.

[Brian]

I liked it better when I believed that Mike Love had written Calendar Girl, which was the first time that I listened to Calendar Girl and I'm sure.

[Mike]

Why didn't he write any of these? What's going on here?

[Brian]

Well, that's what I'm saying is that like he couldn't even summon the interest or ability to scratch out some lyrics for these songs. He was so disinterested or incapable at this time, and yet he still did it. There's something interesting about that. I don't really know what is interesting. I'm almost more interested in this record because there aren't any Mike Love written songs again besides the last one, which has a co write on him. You would expect these songs to have been written by him because this is just. This record mostly sounds like karaoke music. That's the closest referent point that I have. It's like just like chintzy 2 bit, 2 dimensional d d D D D type of music. Beds. And then Mike Love just whining on top of it. I don't. I've said I don't know why this exists about several records we've talked about recently, but I think that of all of them, this one might be the one that I'm most puzzled at the answer to that question for.

[Mike]

It doesn't even try to come up with a case really. It's just kind of like, yeah, there's. Mike Love is here.

[Brian]

There he is. Yeah, he's looking back with love. Calendar Girl is absolutely insipid and inane. It is of course a song from what, the 50s? So it.

[Mike]

Yeah, we're getting into the COVID like the more upfront covers section because we've got Calendar Girl and little number called Be My Baby.

[Brian]

Okay. This is the, like, I'm actually offended by this Be My Baby, which is. I've described it before as the Mona Lisa pop songs. It is just perfect music. Almost any Be My Baby I have ever heard. Beautiful. It's great. I love it. Obviously the Be My Baby, you know, The Ronettes. Be My Baby is the One starts with one of the most recognizable drum beats in music history, and this one does not. The whole thing that makes Be My Baby is the Be My baby drum beat. This takes away the Be my Baby drumbeat. I just. I'm baffled beyond all comprehension as to why you would make that decision. It just starts.

[Carl]

Never let you for. So won't you say you love me? I'll make you so proud of me we'll make them turn their heads everywhere we go so won't you be my. Be my little baby baby Be my dog.

[Mike]

Drum kid. No, it goes like a, like a cheap little electric.

[Brian]

It sounds like the Chuck E. Cheese Band, you know, banging the sun out.

[Mike]

It does sound like the Chuck E. Cheese Band.

[Brian]

Offensively bad. You know, I have been trying to see the best, hear the best in this record, and there are a couple songs, you know, that I even, you know, find myself self liking despite myself. But this Be My Baby is grotesque. It makes a mockery of something beautiful. Offensive.

[Mike]

How about. How about the next song, One Good Reason, which. Which is like kind of. It's like you give me one good reason to live. Kind of bleak. I have one reason to not get it all.

[Brian]

Yeah. I mean, I mean, look. There's a world in which this song. This is another one written by Jim Studer. Yeah. Who seems to be the songwriter on most of these. There's a world in which this song is like, you know, sung by Brian Wilson with his, you know, torched three pack a day voice and just some of the most bracing, ugly synthesizers that you've ever been. Extremely effective. Just once in my life.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah. Just once in my life that's not.

[Brian]

This is not that.

[Carl]

You give me One good reason to live.

[Mike]

Yeah, this is. This is not as good as the best song on 15 big ones, which I will say, you know, just that sentence sounds funny, but I'm coming around on 15 ones.

[Brian]

I, I, I'm calling it. That's the biggest bungle of. Of the series so far. Is. Is not digging that more when we're not digging that.

[Mike]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think we probably should just do the series all over again once we finish. All that's true.

[Brian]

I think that's a good point.

[Mike]

And Do It Again, do it again mode.

[Brian]

That is the truest possible thing that we can do with this. That's real Beach Boys mindset.

[Mike]

If we really want to honor Mike, we'll just do it again.

[Brian]

Do it all over again. I'll stand by hating Rock and roll music. I think that sucks, but I think the rest of that record.

[Mike]

Wow, that's one of these things. I could have taped you and then say if we were being recorded, and then I could play it to blackmail.

[Brian]

You of you going, I'll stand by hating rock and rol. I'll stand by hating rock and roll music. I'll stand by hating rock and roll music.

[Mike]

Then you'd be like, no, no, no, that's not what I meant. I don't know. That's what he said.

[Brian]

Oh, man.

[Mike]

He said he hates rock and roll music.

[Brian]

You really get me with that one. Ugh.

[Mike]

Is Teach Me Tonight also a cover?

[Brian]

Yes. They're all covers. Or if not covers, then at least songs that Mike didn't write. Teach Me Tonight, I think is an actual cover of popular song jazz Standard written by Gen with lyrics by Sammy Khan, published in 1953.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think I know this.

[Brian]

Famous by the de Castro sisters.

[Mike]

I think I know this one.

[Brian]

Oh, you know what? Look at this. I'm looking at the. The other recording section here on Wikipedia. 1994. Frank Sinatra recorded it for a little album called LA is My Lady, LA is My Lady. There we go. Yeah, I think this is another song that exists in the sort of, you know, Mike Love is a sexual being universe. Right?

[Mike]

I mean, sure, sure.

[Brian]

You say I've got a lot to learn. Well, don't think I'm not trying to learn, since this is the perfect spot to learn. Teach me tonight. Starting with the ABC of it. Getting right down to the XYZ of it. Help me solve the mystery of being the female orgasm.

[Mike]

Teach me tonight Rock the man in the boat. Okay, so what's the last song? I'm having like Phantom. I'm having like a kind of like a. Like a paranoid feeling, like, like. We're still going to have to talk about country love.

[Brian]

We don't need.

[Mike]

Are we not.

[Brian]

We don't need to do country love.

[Mike]

Can I just go and enjoy my. My evening after we do this?

[Brian]

Yes.

[Mike]

In a world that doesn't have.

[Brian]

I'm not gonna ask you to talk about rock and roll. Country bride or My side of the bed or hey, good lookin' hey, good lookin' what you got cookin' But I will ask you to talk about the last song on this record. And for my money, honestly, I think the best song on this record, one that I think is legit good. And points to a potential vision for what Mike Love could have done as a solo act at this moment in Time Paradise Found, which has got a, to me distinctly yacht rock, Christopher Cross, you know, doobies, Michael McDonald, whatever toto type feel to it. That doesn't really exist anywhere else on this record, I guess. Maybe exists a little bit on Looking Back With Love, but not really even. There's this kind of white boy, blue eyed, very blue eyed, white boy soul. Exactly. Literally. Yeah. Just like soul, Aryan soul. Well said. But when those. When those backing vocals pop up and there's like kind of some funky bass coming through, like, I kind of. I can see it. I can dig it. Let's go away.

[Carl]

I'm going to love you each and every.

[Mike]

I mean, he's also doing like the let's go away for a while. He's really harping on that. Like giving us the old wink, wink, wink, wink.

[Brian]

Yeah. At least that. That song didn't actually say let's go away for a while. When you know that song was originally written.

[Mike]

That is, yeah. An instrumental.

[Brian]

But I think, you know, there's something.

[Mike]

Yeah, sure, it's his lane. Like this makes sense. And basically what I think that his career could have been more like, I imagine just sort of like a smoother Jimmy Buffett, like a more kind of.

[Brian]

Like a watered down.

[Mike]

Like the sort of. How do I put this? Honestly? Like a Robert Palmer model. Like he could have kind of done more like that maybe. I mean, I guess he couldn't have done that, but I could see that maybe working in his favor. I do think that if this all had to happen so that he could write Kokomo later on, then this was all worth it.

[Brian]

Well, yeah, and Kokomo, I think, is sort of in tune with a song like this. Paradise Found. He brings it back to the Beach Boys by then. And I think that works like, that's sort of the logical conclusion of this kind of vision. I think if he had been interested, able to. Willing to actually kind of like try to. To develop some sort of unique actual flavor to himself as his own artistic presence at this moment in time. That would have been the right way to go. But for whatever reason, he just couldn't. Wouldn't do that. And I think, I mean, it makes sense because you look at those other records that we talked about, right? Like, First Love is kind of just like, you know, dentist's office, AOR soft rock type of stuff. Have country love. He's Mike Love trying to just write or sing country.

[Mike]

I haven't even talked about country. I will say that, like, the reason I didn't really listen to it is Because I listened to like the first song and then I had already just listened to this album and then I listened to First Love and then I put on Country Love. And I was just like, there's only.

[Brian]

So much you can take.

[Mike]

I mean, it was just. I don't know, it was like. It felt like that, that record, that putting it on, it was just like. It didn't even seem to want me to listen to it. I. I left it on its own out of privacy for Michael. I was just like this. Look, this wasn't released. I shouldn't be hearing this.

[Brian]

It's. Yeah, whatever. You don't need to. You don't need to.

[Mike]

Like zooming a Corpse. It's like. It's like the. The bodies that get used for those, like the exhibitions. Like, people donate their bodies to science so that their. Their nervous system can be strung up like riding a horse. You're just like, you know, this is really. This is nice, but I. I shouldn't know more about who this was.

[Brian]

That's right. There's a reason I shouldn't know who.

[Mike]

Got exploded across an entire room at the science museum for my viewing pleasure. Like, that's. They. They want that anonymity. And, you know, know, I'm also just not gonna listen to. I'm not. I'm not even gonna. Yeah, no, nobody needs. No country music fan needs to listen to Country Love and no, no music fan needs to listen to Country Love.

[Brian]

And only the Mike Love fans.

[Mike]

And I actually need to listen to Country Love. Like that is. It's. If anyone. It's my actual role to do that. And I. If even one of you messages us or contacts us saying I'm really disappointed, then I'll insist that we do a separate episode because we didn't do it justice.

[Brian]

Okay, I will let you do your own solo monologue on Country Love. I've said about everything that I can on that one. You know, it started to make me angry by the end of it.

[Mike]

Right now it's the last thing that I can think of that still could be great. Great. Because I haven't really given it much it could. Attention. So maybe. Maybe that I need to leave that there just so I can sort of have. Have a benefit of the doubt for.

[Brian]

Listen, we can hand. We have only got a scant few hours days left on this earth, perhaps, given the geopolitical developments that have occurred during this episode, I'm not going to be spending these pretty precious, precious moments listening to some sweet day or brand new start from Country Love. Any more than I already have. Anyways, looking Back with Love, I. Is it a zero?

[Mike]

Let's just say one out of three for all three albums.

[Brian]

Okay, sure.

[Mike]

Together. I'm just gonna say one out of three.

[Brian]

Collect.

[Mike]

It's got. We've got Brian's back in there. And, you know, we like that.

[Brian]

It's. Yeah.

[Mike]

On the first love upload on YouTube is first hate. Only Country Love is worse Abysmal music from a very fortunate person.

[Brian]

Show me the lie. Honestly, whoever. I forget, I think there were a couple people who said, know, you guys should do Country Love and First Love. That's actually good music. Wrong, wrong, wrong.

[Mike]

Someone says, I don't even hate this. Someone says, okay, I just saw the back cover artwork. Okay, never mind. I guess the person who uploaded this, they made it look like Larry Cohen. Like the Larry Cohen album.

[Brian]

Oh, yeah. Songs of Love and Hate. Yeah, yeah. Songs of Safe to say.

[Mike]

Songs of Mike and Love.

[Brian]

Safe to say. Not really operating on the same plane. Sure. One star collectively for all of Mike Love's solo music here. Notable also that I think this is the last, like, first and last solo record that he releases for many years. He has come back. Yeah. The Wikipedia chronology we've got Looking back with Love, 1981. The next one is Unleash the Love in 2017. Features a cover of him throwing a white dove at the camera while he wears one of his patented Mike Love shirts. So I.

[Mike]

Well, we'll get there eventually.

[Brian]

You will get there. Oh, man, I can't wait. Make love, not war. Oh, this has got Pisces Brothers on it. I remember he did Pisces Brothers at the. At the. At the Beach Boys concert that we saw last year. Year. Did he do that with you?

[Mike]

Pisces Brothers?

[Brian]

Yeah, it was about him and I think George Harrison, I want to say, or him and John. I don't know. The fact that he and whoever it was about. I think George are both Pisces Brothers.

[Mike]

Okay.

[Brian]

It's a good song.

[Mike]

You know, it is just funny that it's called Looking Back with Love. And the song's like, you know, we made it. It. We made it together. Like, we went through some really tough times. And it's like the. The times that he's referring to are times that, at least for the Beach Boys are like, not that. Like, he was the most upset probably for most. For all of that. Like, if anyone was having a tough time, it was him. Like, every album that was kind of not to his liking that they put out was like, just Like a torturous process for him, probably on some level, that's true. But for us, the listeners, like, being like, you know, despite everything, I'm gonna look back at the beach boys in the 1970s and 60s with. With love. Even though the best is yet to come, I'm gonna look back with love.

[Brian]

That's what we continue to do here on Jokerman.

[D]

Okay, how about the new album? Yeah, well, you had. You had three albums, didn't you? Country love, First Love. Okay. Are they going to be coming out someday? Maybe? Someday, maybe. But they might come out, like, smiled at different albums. True. Okay, how about the Smile this, that. There was a thing where Bruce Johnson had said, it's going to come out on a Beach Boy compilation. Or a little snippet of it, maybe. Yeah, more like that. Not a too coherent piece of work. It was just a bunch of. Any chances of fire coming out? Probably someday. Yeah, I think that's quite possible. Okay, how does this group differ from Celebration, which was here a lot? Because. Because Celebration was comprised of a bunch of different kinds of musicians who didn't really. We didn't. Like. They weren't really as good as singers as this group, and they didn't. It was more eclectic musically, like Charles Lloyd, jazz musician, 12. More classical. Classical piano orientation. So it was one in anything like this, actually. Haldahl improvements.

[Mike]

Big damn.

[D]

Another generation Beach Boy type of thing. Okay, what's happening with the Auto. The Beach Boys at the moment? There's a lot of talk that Brian or, I mean, that Carl's coming back, but there's certain stipulations, like the rehearsal that you had to do something new.