Mike Love: The CELEBRATION Episode

Summary

Jokermen Podcast Summary: "Mike Love: The CELEBRATION Episode"

Release Date: May 5, 2025
Podcast Title: Jokermen
Hosts: Evan and Mike
Episode Title: Mike Love: The CELEBRATION Episode

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Introduction to the CELEBRATION Project

In this episode of the Jokermen Podcast, hosts Evan and Mike delve deep into Mike Love's ambitious but controversial project, CELEBRATION, exploring its various facets, including the movie "Almost Summer," the soundtrack, the self-titled album "Celebration," and the ill-fated "Disco Celebration." The discussion provides a comprehensive analysis of Mike Love's attempt to carve out a solo niche outside the iconic Beach Boys legacy.

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Exploring "Almost Summer"

Plot and Reception

Evan and Mike begin by dissecting the "Almost Summer" movie, highlighting its plot centered around a high-stakes student body election at Pacific High School. They draw parallels between the film and other teenage-centric movies like "Animal House," "Revenge of the Nerds," and later classics such as "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and "The Breakfast Club."

Evan [03:19]: "Almost Summer, it's got, like, 57 or 58, soon to pro. Maybe be 59 reviews on Letterboxd. It's not a lot."

Mike [12:25]: "I think the movie. I think it's not bad, honestly. I think the movie is way better than any of the music."

Despite its limited critical reception, the hosts acknowledge that "Almost Summer" holds a place as a historical curiosity, being one of the earliest entries in the youth genre film series.

Comparisons to Other Films

The episode draws comparisons between "Almost Summer" and other films, noting its wholesome yet slightly sinister vibe, contrasting it with more overtly problematic movies like "Revenge of the Nerds."

Evan [13:05]: "It's Animal House and then Meatballs coming after that."

The hosts appreciate Bruno Kirby's performance, likening his charm to characters from other beloved films.

Mike [21:35]: "He's having fun with it."

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The "Celebration" Soundtrack and Album

Soundtrack Analysis

Moving on to the "Celebration" soundtrack, Evan and Mike commend certain tracks while criticizing others. They particularly mention:

• "Cruisin'it": Appreciated for capturing the essence of Southern California culture.

  Evan [32:26]: "The rest of this is pretty insipid."

• "Some Summer": A nod to Beach Boys' classics, albeit with a modern twist.

  Mike [33:39]: "It's, you know, it does sound like Some Some Summer, doesn't it?"

The Self-Titled "Celebration" Album

The hosts discuss the "Celebration" album, acknowledging its lack of availability on major streaming platforms and questioning its relevance.

Evan [36:03]: "There's not even a stream. This is not available on Spotify."

They critique the album's quality, particularly the reimagined covers of Beach Boys songs, noting a lack of creativity and over-reliance on past glories.

Mike [40:02]: "It feels totally obligatory. Whereas this feels like... I'm trying to do something. Can we make something happen here."

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The Disaster of "Disco Celebration"

Critical Breakdown

The most vehement criticism is reserved for "Disco Celebration." Evan and Mike describe it as the "worst things" they've ever heard, lambasting its failed attempt to transform classic Beach Boys tunes into disco remixes.

Mike [57:08]: "Evan: I could barely listen to one of.
Mike: The worst things I've ever heard."

They particularly focus on the instrumental "California Girls," criticizing its slow tempo and incoherent arrangement.

Evan [58:24]: "Because this is not even a formulaic disco fide version."

Lack of Recognition and Impact

The hosts lament the album's obscurity, noting its absence from platforms like AllMusic and its minimal presence on Discogs and YouTube.

Mike [62:33]: "We're talking about Disco Celebration. That's it. A complete disaster."

They express bewilderment over the lack of scholarly attention or fan discourse surrounding the album, emphasizing its lack of musical merit.

Evan [63:04]: "I want to see that there's even some recognition that anybody besides us has ever talked about this."

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Mike Love's Solo Ambitions vs. Beach Boys Legacy

Motivations Behind CELEBRATION

Evan and Mike explore Mike Love's motivations for embarking on the CELEBRATION project, suggesting a mix of commercial ambition and a desire to find individual success outside the family band dynamic.

Mike [43:05]: "Sometimes you can quit a group, but you can't quit your family very easily."

Reflections on Group Dynamics

The discussion turns to the internal struggles within the Beach Boys, particularly the challenges of maintaining a family unit amidst creative tensions.

Evan [55:08]: "The family Unit aspect of it is, is a kind of protective layer that, that they have."

They commend the group for keeping Brian Wilson in check, ensuring his continued presence and functionality within the band.

Mike [55:51]: "They are there to keep him from literally killing himself because they need him to stay alive so they can continue to operate as the Beach Boys."

Comparisons to Other Members' Solo Efforts

Comparisons are drawn between Mike Love's projects and other Beach Boys members' solo works, such as Dennis Wilson's "Pacific Ocean Blue," highlighting the varying degrees of success and artistic integrity.

Mike [42:58]: "And I think that that is becoming clearer and clearer."

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The Legacy and Future of CELEBRATION

Limited Availability and Collector's Items

Evan and Mike note the scarcity of CELEBRATION's releases, particularly the "Celebration" album and "Disco Celebration," urging listeners interested in collector's items to seek them out.

Mike [52:19]: "But what it is happening, if anything, just like a historical curiosity or just, you know, kind of a piece of the story as opposed to being worth commentary and consideration in and of itself."

Potential for Future Reunions

While acknowledging the project's poor reception, the hosts speculate on the possibility of future CELEBRATION reunions, though they remain skeptical.

Evan [65:08]: "Disco Celebration gets zero Stars."

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Concluding Thoughts

In wrapping up, Evan and Mike reflect on the CELEBRATION project's place within the broader Beach Boys narrative, emphasizing how individual endeavors like Mike Love's can sometimes underscore the strengths and weaknesses of the group as a whole.

Mike [67:52]: "Why are these guys the ones doing the Beach Boys podcast? Because they're the ones willing to sit down and listen to and talk about Disco Celebration."

They reaffirm their commitment to exploring every facet of the Beach Boys' legacy, regardless of the project's quality.

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Notable Quotes

• Evan [03:27]: "I think it could be. I mean, I don't even think we've done a good job of explaining what we're talking about to each other."

• Mike [10:31]: "Celebration, folks. We're here today to talk about the movie Almost Summer, the soundtrack Celebration, the album by Celebration, and Disco Celebration, the other album by Celebration."

• Evan [25:20]: "He is an authentic presence. Darryl Darrell Fitzgerald."

• Mike [38:08]: "I didn't have a. You didn't like that it was Getting Hungry?"

• Evan [42:32]: "Just like watching this was kind of unexpectedly palatable because of maybe expectations being where they were going into it."

• Mike [43:05]: "Sometimes you can quit a group, but you can't quit your family very easily."

• Evan [64:09]: "You need to listen to this. To Disco Celebration sometimes."

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Final Remarks

This episode of the Jokermen Podcast offers a candid and critical examination of Mike Love's CELEBRATION project, juxtaposing it against the enduring legacy of the Beach Boys. Through insightful discussion and sharp critique, Evan and Mike provide listeners with a nuanced perspective on the complexities of maintaining artistic relevance within a legendary band.

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Transcript

[Evan]

This could be considered a track. Not really, though.

[Mike]

We don't want to do that.

[Evan]

This is a little intro, you know, Brian.

[Mike]

All right, here we go.

[Evan]

Countdown time.

[Mike]

1, 2, 3. Go back to class. Crack your book. We're going up little by little going.

[Evan]

Through it for you, Bill. Put in action plan. We were just saying it's time for a great episode of Jokerman Podcast about Beach Boys and Beach podcast about podco. I mean, all Beach Boys podcast about all Beach Boys, including whatever they do outside. Everything they do. Sometimes, all the time, it's this. Well, you know. You know, we had to do this one, right? Everyone listening is like, okay, well, if they're doing the Beach Boys, they gotta do this episode, too.

[Mike]

The Celebration episode. Celebrate Good Times, Come on.

[Evan]

So that's a song that. When did that come out?

[Mike]

Probably around the same time.

[Evan]

Because that would be, like, you know, hugely overshadowing. One would think that they would feel like, oh, we can't call it 1980, actually.

[Mike]

That's cool. And gang. So, yeah, maybe that's the thing that's. You know, that might have been the inspiration for the song Celebration by Koolenggang.

[Evan]

No one had thought about that idea for a song before. What if there was a song about Celebrate? About Celebrating? I mean, that's one of those songs that, like, you think about being in the room while it was being cut.

[Mike]

And it's like, must have been magic. Huge, you know, but they felt it at the time.

[Evan]

That must have been how they felt doing every song they were doing in Celebration. Celebration. In the group. Celebration. Because, you know, it's all under the banner of celebration. So they must have felt like, wow. Every single thing we're doing right now is just. This is solid gold.

[Mike]

It's gold. It's party. Celebrate. Yeah, I guess this is our first Mike solo episode. Solo ish episode, Mike. Plus none of the other Beach Boys, we can say at least Celebration. I initially had this on the schedule for, like, at least three different episodes because there's three records and a movie that we're gonna talk about here. But I don't know that we can even get one episode out of all this conversation, much less three.

[Evan]

That would be like. Like doing an episode on each flavor Eminem. Like, well, today we're doing blue, and tomorrow we're gonna do yellow.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Celebration, folks. We're here today to talk about the movie Almost Summer, the soundtrack Celebration, the album by Celebration, and Disco Celebration, the other album by Celebration.

[Evan]

If that sounds like a pretty loaded syllabus, you're not. It's not really.

[Mike]

Don't worry. It isn't. I'm prepared. I think this is going to be a free episode. I'm prepared for this to be the worst performing free episode we've ever had.

[Evan]

I think it could be. I mean, I don't even think we've done a good job of explaining what we're talking about to each other. Hardly. Like, I don't really. I gotta be honest, I don't know much of the details of how this came to pass or. I was hoping you would have more information.

[Mike]

I've got. I've got some.

[Evan]

Because this is like we're trading back and forth, this series of like, which where I'm like, we gotta do the Bruce Johnston episode. And you're like, the what? And then you're like, well, we gotta do the celebration episode.

[Mike]

It is funny to think that like five, nearly five years ago, we're almost to our half decade birthday.

[Evan]

Wow.

[Mike]

We started this as, you know, to talk about like John Wesley Harding and Blood on the Tracks and Infidels, like all these incredible records by Bob Dylan. And then here we are half a decade later and it's come to this.

[Evan]

Well, it's not so different. I mean, it's really.

[Mike]

It's a little different.

[Evan]

It's a little different, but it's definitely different. But it's also. I don't know about you, but this experience has been like. Like lately listening to these records, I've been finding myself listening to other music, hearing other music and then just being like, whoa, this is really good.

[Mike]

It's not so bad. Other songs.

[Evan]

It's something. It's like kind of created a. A positive. A sense of perspective. Like the ground is kind of being more established for me than where it was before, where maybe, you know, you have the urge to avoid things that one might consider to be uninteresting or tedious or insipid. But if you don't have the option to avoid those, then the result is that you just kind of look around and see cathedrals everywhere.

[Mike]

Hear them, sure, yeah. It's less about appreciating the music that we're focused on on a new level, and more about using that, continuing to not apprec. Appreciate that music, but using it to appreciate all of the other music that we listen to that we don't talk about on the podcast. It's sort of a reverse. Reverse of what we initially started with.

[Evan]

Well, that's honestly maybe important. I feel like that's a crucial thing actually, at this Point. Because the unspoken, the sort of danger of doing a show like ours is that even with great records, sometimes I feel like it doesn't always happen. But sometimes I'll find that I don't listen to a great album as much anymore. After we've talked about it, it's like we've juiced it all and I've kind of like spent energy on it in this way that then it kind of loses luster as like an object of fascination. And I think that this, this is like a medicine. We're doing this to like restore some of that and remind ourselves about. It's like creating some distance there so we can appreciate music that maybe we got a little too familiar with. And now we're coming back, you know, perfect timing because we got those Bob.

[Mike]

Dylan, good time, good timing.

[Evan]

It's good timing.

[Mike]

Good, good timing.

[Evan]

We've got the, you know, our Do Look Back series on the the Neverending Stories podcast with Steven Haydn.

[Mike]

And that's true.

[Evan]

I think that'll continue to be more fruitful than ever thanks to conversations like this about celebration.

[Mike]

Celebration. Okay. Yeah. So just to lay some ground rules, I guess, because this is not going to be clear to most people, I guess, also including you. Okay, so let's start here. You know the song Dancing in the Moonlight? Of course, Everybody's dancing.

[Evan]

That's a great song.

[Mike]

Great song. We love that song. Classic, like wedding, you know, dance floor playlist.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Mike]

Everyone's having a good time Boogieing for the olds, for the young Everyone in between. Yeah, that's by a song. By a song that's by a band named King Harvest. Named after the band song. King Harvest, huh? Yeah. Who knew? I guess the band King Harvest took the band as a. As a major influence and that's where they pulled the name from that came out in 1972, something like that. It was like kind of a flop initially, but then turned into more of a hit over time. And so that kind of got them reinterested in recording music after they had only put out one or two records and hadn't really gone anywhere. A couple years later, they were trying to put it back together, really make a go of it. Our friends Carl Wilson and Mike Love somehow link up with them and bring them in to the music making world. I think they helped them sign a contract with somebody, cbs, rca, Warner, something. And so they're kind of hooked up there at that point. One of the members of King Harvest is Ron Outback, who you might remember, or I guess also maybe not as one of the primary collaborators on the MIU record, Ron Outback. Mike. Yeah, I think you made that same joke when we talked about him before and I said something about a blooming onion.

[Evan]

Anyways, Crocodile Dundee and Ron Outback, Kangaroo.

[Mike]

Jack and Ron Outback. He ends up being part of the Mike Love extended universe of collaborators. And is there at the right time in 1978 when this movie Almost Summer somehow gets put together. Someone says, hey, we're gonna make Grease, but it's just not gonna be as good as Grease. And also, there's no music in it. Let's get some classic California good time tunes from everybody's favorite classic California good time musicians. The Beach Boys, of course. The Beach Boys. Not really operating as the Beach Boys so much at that moment in time. And so really it turns into like Mike shepherding this whole music project on his own. Sure enough, he's got his buddy Ron Outback, he's got other people from this King Harvest group running around at the same time. And so he just decides, you know what? I'm gonna try my hand at something outside the Beach Boys here. And he goes on to make this record, the initial record, Almost Summer, the soundtrack for Almost the movie. And then decides, you know, I've had such a good time making this music with this group. Let's. Let's do this for real as a real band celebration. And then they do Celebration, the album celebration, and then even disco Celebration. So hopefully that's a quick spark notes version that gets everyone up to speed. Basically, Mike Love's first aborted attempt and fortunately last aborted attempt at starting another band outside of the Beach Boys.

[Evan]

Well, I think those three things are in order of how successful they are.

[Mike]

What are the three things?

[Evan]

The soundtrack, the album and the album. And the disco album. Maybe that's. Do you think that's fair to say?

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, we. I did. I watched the whole movie. I did too.

[Evan]

I just finished watching it. Yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah, so did I have a great. It was a great Saturday morning in bed on the laptop. Viewing experience.

[Evan]

I put it on the tv.

[Mike]

But giving it the proper viewing experience.

[Evan]

I mean, there was a version you sent me initially that was like completely abstract expressionist. Like it was so bad quality that it was like impossible to watch.

[Mike]

Someone had deliberately run the negative, like through a toilet and then re uploaded it to YouTube in like 240p or something.

[Evan]

Yeah, it looked like I was watching it through like a half empty jar of peanut butter, but it's kind of cool.

[Mike]

But then you found an actually high quality copy on YouTube.

[Evan]

One that looks like real pictures and sound. And then. Yeah, watched it. And so this. This movie almost Summer, I think. Almost summer, it's got, like, 57 or 58, soon to pro. Maybe be 59 reviews on Letterboxd.

[Mike]

Okay. Boy, that's not a lot. It is really almost none.

[Evan]

It's not a lot. That's like. It's there with. Down there with, like, you know, certain, like, forgotten silent films on letterbox.

[Mike]

Yeah, this. That has about as many letterbox reviews as one of those Bowery Boys movies that Will Sloan and, like, three other sickos are the only people to ever log on letterboxd.

[Evan]

What do you think?

[Mike]

I think the movie. I think it's not bad, honestly. I think the movie is way better than any of the music.

[Evan]

I think it's, like, a totally fine movie. It's, like, exactly fine. You know, it's. It's wholesome. It's relatively wholesome, actually.

[Mike]

Relatively wholesome. It's. Yeah, it's somewhere. I don't think it's entirely wholesome, but it's, you know, wholesome enough.

[Evan]

Well, it's kind of unusual because it's like. Usually movies like this. Like this. This type of teenage. Well, it's basically just about. It's like Election. This. It is like Election, but, you know.

[Mike]

The Alexander Payne motion picture election. Just to clarify.

[Evan]

Yes, but I kind of grew up watching movies like Meatballs and Revenge of the Nerds, you know, these like. Which are awful, like, just rancid movies.

[Mike]

Those are. Yeah. Rotten type of things. Especially Revenge of the Nerds.

[Evan]

Revenge of the Nerds, where there's, like a whole section where they're, like, just, like, setting up cameras inside of the girl's sorority house.

[Mike]

It's basically just sexual assault, but played for cheap laughs.

[Evan]

Yeah. And then Meatballs is just like. I don't know, there's just like a kind of sour, sinister, stupid vibe throughout the whole thing. And yet I kind of like Meatballs. I just. I'm realizing that there's. Yeah. That. Yeah, this.

[Mike]

I mean, this is a forerunner to that genre.

[Evan]

But the meatballs were 79, and this is 78. So, like.

[Mike]

78. Yeah. It even says on the Wikipedia page. Though not successful at the box office almost, Summer has since acquired a certain degree of historical importance because many observers consider it to be the first in a series of distinctive, quote, youth genre films, of which more prominent examples include Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Yeah. And the Breakfast Club.

[Evan]

Yeah. I mean, it really is like a missing link between something like you know, all those like Beach Party Bingo. Those like, type movies. Gidget.

[Mike]

Yeah, the Gidget shit. And then the John and then John hughes in the 80s.

[Evan]

Yeah. And, you know, Fast Times being like kind of. I think the Fast Times. And then of course later, like Dazed and Confused, like that there really is.

[Mike]

Confused has like an awareness of itself. I think by the time you get.

[Evan]

There especially so does Fast Times kind of. But.

[Mike]

Yeah, but like is. Remind me, Fast Times is. That's not a period picture. Right. Fast Times is just set in whenever that came out. Like 1981 or something. Yeah, because days unconfused and greased, for that matter, are both like backward looking set 20 years before they were actually filmed. But something like Fast Times or this movie, Almost Summer, or any of the John Hughes stuff really is all set at the moment in time. And so it's not this kind of like, deliberate, I guess. I mean, it is in some extent, you know, the deliberately nostalgic look back, but it is. It's a look back on childhood more than it is a look back on like a specific era of American culture, if that makes sense.

[Evan]

Well, Animal House also came out in 78.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think Animal House absolutely fits in here. Animal House is sort of the frattier, hornier version of this movie.

[Evan]

Yeah, I mean, it's Animal House and then Meatballs coming after that. Like, there's. Yeah, there's meatballs. Meatballs is such like a. Yeah, it's such an unpleasant Ivan.

[Mike]

Right. Man, I didn't realize that.

[Evan]

I mean, I. Yeah, I watched it a lot, like on, you know, really bare bones DVD copy.

[Mike]

I miss those days when we used to have like four DVDs and you just watch the same movies like 65 times. And so you just kind of know it in and out. And it's not even a movie worth watching that frequently. It's Meatballs in your case. But it just becomes sort of a cultural totem to you on par with any of the other great motion pictures in the entire world.

[Evan]

It's one of those. Yeah, the kid in Meatballs kind of looks like MJ Lenderman looking at pictures here.

[Mike]

All right, well, this is a podcast not about meatballs, but about almost. That's what the people came here for. So let's give it to them.

[Evan]

What I was gonna say is that there's no tits in movie and there is ass.

[Mike]

There is a little bit of tit where.

[Evan]

When.

[Mike]

When they run into the. The girls locker room, the shower right before the. What's her name? The girl that is running for Christine right before Christine shows up for the debate. And she's all harried, you know, she got out of the shower and stuff.

[Evan]

Harry.

[Mike]

Harried. H A R R I E D.

[Evan]

That's an interesting time to use that word.

[Mike]

Okay, all right. You didn't. Okay, so clearly you weren't. You were. I guess I looked. You weren't paying close, close attention. Karen Lamb. Dennis Wilson's on again, off again. Paramore at this time runs in butt naked and is playing around in the shower.

[Evan]

Okay, well, so besides that then.

[Mike]

Yeah, but you missed the best part of the movie.

[Evan]

I guess I did. I'm only bringing it up because. Yeah, the kind of. The tone of this movie is definitely less lascivious and lewd.

[Mike]

There's a little lascivious and lewd though, because.

[Evan]

Only a little.

[Mike]

As I just said, there's what are supposed to be in the fiction of this movie. 16 year old high school girls who are being ogled by the camera nude in the bathroom showers.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. But the general vibe here is really like. It takes dead seriously the concept that this is about a high stakes student body election. And it stars. What's his name? Bruno Kirby.

[Mike]

Bruno Kirby as the great Bobby DeVito and beloved rascal Bobby DeVito.

[Evan]

And one John Friedrich as Friedrich. As Darryl Fitzgerald.

[Mike]

Fitzgerald.

[Evan]

He reminded me of the D'Addario brothers. He kind of has a Michael D'Addario flair.

[Mike]

Sure, sure.

[Evan]

Between him and Bruno Kirby, it's like we could have gotten Michael and Brian.

[Mike]

Yeah. You put them together in the fly machine and then Michael walks out.

[Evan]

Yeah. I found them both to be charming.

[Mike]

Charming. I think everyone is charming in this movie. I think it's totally successful for what it is. Which. Yeah, just to clarify, it is a student body election taking place at Pacific High School between Christine Alexander, who's sort of the Tracy flick of the movie. She's a bit of a pill.

[Evan]

Very much the Tracy flick. Yeah.

[Mike]

And initially it's. Who's the guy who's the himbo hunk that's gonna run for president? Grant somebody at the beginning. Dean or Grant Michaelson.

[Evan]

Grant Michaelson. And Dean is the. Like he's the low life, I think. Right.

[Mike]

Yes. Yeah. No, no. Dean is Bobby's friend. Dwayne is the low life. How could you forget? Dean is that guy. Dwayne is the other guy. Yeah. And so. But I guess the convoluted plot is that Bobby DeVito, Bruno Kirby. Christine is his ex girlfriend and she's running for student body president and he is taking a bunch of bets on the election just to make money. I guess this is something that they did back then, or the filmmakers would like you to believe that they did back then. And so he's several thousand dollars in the hole. And then it turns out Grant Michelson gets suspended for some reason, so he can't run in the student body election. And in walks Darrell. Alex. No, not Darryl Alexander. Darryl Fitzgerald. A little nobody who Bobby DeVito foists onto the stage and turns into this lean, mean election running machine.

[Evan]

Yeah, he picks him out of obscurity to be like, wait a minute. You're a charming, articulate young man and nobody knows you. Yes. But that means you have no enemies.

[Mike]

And so that you have the opportunity to define yourself.

[Evan]

He is like Obama.

[Mike]

That's right. It's exactly like Obama. And then, you know, it's an. What's great about this movie is it's like 84 minutes long and, you know, so it's an easy, breezy, in and out type of watch. Some classic California hijinks ensue. I love seeing them skateboard around at the Century City Mall. I don't know if you caught that.

[Evan]

Yeah, there's a lot of nice photography of the on location.

[Mike]

Yeah. Southern California, circa 1978, I guess. All the high school film, high school scenes were filmed at Verdugo High School in Tahunga, California. It's a, you know, part of the world intimately familiar to you and I. And, you know, they're just. They're having fun in the sun. I like how there isn't, like, a single adult in the entire movie. Did you catch this? Like, I guess there are a couple, like, teachers and principals that you see, like, very briefly, but, like, none of the kids even have a parent that you see for a single moment. The entire world exists just in this bubble of the high school and the high school election.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah, that's true. It kind of has like, a peanutsy and a Schulzian vibe to it in that way of, like, it's. I think that it's sold well by Mr. Kirby in the starring role.

[Mike]

He's having fun with it.

[Evan]

Well, he's, like, very straight with it. I mean, he's like, kind of, you know, has his, like, silly, like, east.

[Mike]

Coast flair, his Long island tude transplanted to the bright and sunny climes of Southern California.

[Evan]

Yeah, but he's like. He's very doggedly determined and taking. It's just like. It's like the West Wing or something. Or like Any other. What's his name? A, you know, the West Wing guy.

[Mike]

Sorkin.

[Evan]

It's Sorkin. It feels. Sorry. Sorkin. Like in itself.

[Mike]

Yeah. It takes the high school and the high school election with the same deathly degree of seriousness that Aaron Sorkin approaches everything. Television news on the Newsroom or Saturday Night live on Studio 60. Funnily enough, one of the characters in this movie or one of the actors in this movie goes on to be, I think, the vice president in, in.

[Evan]

Studio 6.

[Mike]

Kevin, the himbo football player who is Christine's boyfriend, at least until the very end. No spoilers. I think he goes on to be in the West Wing for many seasons.

[Evan]

Did you watch the West Wing?

[Mike]

No, but I just found that out in reading, in doing my deep research about almost. Because I want to come prepared with the knowledge to talk about our subject.

[Evan]

I watched it and I think that that was. I feel like that's.

[Mike]

Well, you had it on in the.

[Evan]

No, no, I watched it. I was, I was watching it.

[Mike]

I don't know how you missed that shower scene, brother.

[Evan]

I had to make some hard boiled eggs. What can I say?

[Mike]

It's. It's fun, you know, it's totally fine. It's flippant. It's nothing seriousness. I. The. The concept of the student body election. This is a well worn trope in high school, you know, cinema. Do you like, did the class president ever actually do anything?

[Evan]

Not to my knowledge. Not that I'm aware of. I mean, I don't think so.

[Mike]

I mean, it's used to great effect in many films about these types of things. Election, obviously, most brilliantly. But for the life of me, I can't remember. I remember who the high school president was of my class, at least in senior year, but I don't remember her doing anything happening at all as a result of anything. I feel like I'm misremembering my own past because of the seriousness with which it's taken in these other media depictions of it. But I think my remembrance is probably a little more reflective of reality.

[Evan]

You know what they say about a great leader is that you don't necessarily feel their presence. They're just quietly guiding the ship of.

[Mike]

State sort of behind the scenes.

[Evan]

And in this case, I think the main draw for. What's his name? Daryl.

[Mike]

Which one's Darryl? Oh, Darryl.

[Evan]

The reason he's able to capture the hearts and minds of the student body is because he comes up there and he's like, look, I don't know really what fancy things to say Because I haven't come up with any yet, but I'm here and I just want to. I'm not famous, I'm not popular, but neither are most of you, so we have that in common.

[Mike]

He's an authentic presence. Exactly. He's not a bullshitter. Darryl Darrell Fitzgerald.

[Evan]

He's a straight talker. Somebody you'd want to have a. Have a, have a beer with.

[Mike]

That's right.

[Evan]

Have a soda with.

[Mike]

Have a cannoli with like he and Bobby DeVito share eating cannolis with their rolled up to their knees, legs dangling in a swimming pool in the middle of this movie at one point.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Who plays classic pool foods, cannoli. His sister, Dee Dee Khan. She's from Greece. She was one of the Pink Ladies.

[Evan]

Okay.

[Mike]

So it's a clear, you know, she's the clear kind of connection to Greece at this point. Which had come out same year. 70. No.

[Evan]

Yes.

[Mike]

Greece was earlier than that.

[Evan]

No. 78. Greece.

[Mike]

Really?

[Evan]

78. Animal House. 78.

[Mike]

Wow.

[Evan]

Meatballs. 79.

[Mike]

I could have sworn Greece was like 76 or something.

[Evan]

No, no, no. This is a major year. I mean. Yeah. Something was in the air. Like I feel like this is just a time when a lot of, A lot of wheels were turning. I mean what it all is, is just like cashing in on a sort of. Well, not cashing in even. I think it's just like revisiting those. More the 50s and early 60s teen movie thing and being like. Well, we're a bit ready for an update on this.

[Mike]

Yeah, it's just the same. It's the same concept just for the next generation.

[Evan]

It happens all the time. Mean Girls later would do the same thing. It's.

[Mike]

Yeah. More successfully, but. Yes.

[Evan]

But I don't know if. I mean, honestly, I don't know if there's a Mean Girls without this movie. Like maybe you don't. I mean, probably. But like, I don't know. I mean if this movie was like influential at all, I think that then we can, we can say pretty safely that that chain of movies in this vein is what led to the big ones.

[Mike]

Yeah. I think this is responsible. Yeah. For things like Mean Girls, for things like the Disney Channel, quite frankly, like all of the kind of like middle school, high school drama type things where the entire stakes of the world are just existing within this like self contained little bubble of like the social scene at school. Lizzie McGuire, for instance.

[Evan]

Boy meets world classified School survival guide.

[Mike]

Oh, I don't know about that one. But you know, that all kind of follows In a lineage not from this movie. It's exclusively. But this movie is part of that journey that, you know, then you take through the fast times, through the John Hughes stuff, and then on into, you know, the 90s and 2000s. So it's. I think it's totally fine. I was expecting to come into this and have this just be a absolute, you know, rancid piece of shit. And I was pleasantly surprised that it was a totally. You know, frankly, I just watched Baby Girl last night.

[Evan]

Oh, God, that movie is awful. Ruby and I saw that, and it. We both were just like. We left. Just saying this was like, the dumbest movie we maybe ever seen.

[Mike]

There you go, folks. If you're sitting there at home and you see Baby Girl pop up on HBO Max, available to stream, just flip on over to YouTube and search for Almost Summer. You're gonna have a great time.

[Evan]

I will say, as an aside, the. The movie to watch. If you want to watch something like Baby Girl is the. Is. There's a movie called, called Last Summer, Not Almost Summer, but Last Summer, which is a French film that is like. It's basically like if Baby Girl didn't have rocks for brains and was like a good movie. So you should watch that instead.

[Mike]

I'm more of an Almost Summer.

[Evan]

But then.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, but to each their own.

[Evan]

Last Summer. Okay, Almost Summer.

[Mike]

Now we're talking.

[Evan]

Now we're getting closer, I guess.

[Mike]

I also love. During the student body election, there is inexplicably a what appears to be like a talent show portion of the election that begins with sort of a burlesque routine from Christine. Where did you. Do you remember this part where she's dancing and gyrating across the stage?

[Evan]

Well, there's sort of an interesting thing going on with. Christine is like, the main candidate, Right?

[Mike]

Yeah. She's the. Darryl's. Daryl's opponent.

[Evan]

She's, like, smart and cunning, but she's also supposed to be the object of everyone's desire.

[Mike]

Bit of a sex pie.

[Evan]

Yeah. But her speech that she gives, like, giving this grim account of, like, a girl who killed herself, and there's just, like, pictures of dire historical moments, like photography behind her on the screen. Did you catch that? That there's, like, the Patty Hearst thing.

[Mike]

Kidnapping. Yeah. I guess the contention is, you know, she is motivated by the overdose death of her friend to turn her life around and kind of move forward as a productive member of society. That's why she wants to be. Yeah. Cause remember, she's girlfriend, boyfriend with Bobby initially, and there's that bracelet he gives her where he calls her the toughest kid on the block. And so I think the implication is that she was sort of a bit of a no good Nick earlier. And then this, this dramatic event has sort of. She was scared stray. Exactly, exactly. So anyways, the talent show portion, she's doing this kind of burlesque, you know, sexy dance routine. And then Daryl's like, how am I gonna compete with this? And then Bobby says, don't worry, they're gonna love it. And he goes out on stage and he just knocks over a bunch of dominoes. And the entire auditorium starts hooting and hollering and he gets. He gets a standing ovation for knocking over a bunch of dominoes that spell out Darrell for Prez.

[Evan]

I mean, that was a pretty impressive effort on the.

[Mike]

Yeah, I guess you would be one of the few people actually convinced to vote for Daryl with the domino display instead of the sexy dance. Nah, I'm more of a Christine type of fella.

[Evan]

Everyone can do. Everyone can be hot, but not everyone can, dude. Actually, it's maybe more the other way around.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think it is. I'd give it one star. Almost summer.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's pretty good. It gets one out of three. It's totally. Again, the feeling of watching this, I will transition into saying, just like watching this was kind of unexpectedly palatable because of maybe expectations being where they were going into it. I had a similar experience listening to the music of Celebration on the album, the self titled release.

[Mike]

Wow. So not even the soundtrack for Almost something.

[Evan]

That's fine.

[Mike]

Celebration self titled.

[Evan]

The soundtrack I think is fine. We didn't talk really about the music, but I liked how the song Cruisin'it. Says, good guys, bad guys cruisin down.

[Mike]

Cruising down Van Nuys to see and be seen is what it's all about. Yeah. Which is what kids actually used to do. And there's even a scene that was one of the great parts of the movie actually, when Daryl and Donna have a little meet cute at Cupid's Hot Dogs, Southern California institution where she works there on Van Nuys Boulevard. That was what you know, the teens used to do at this moment in time is just like drive their cool cars up and down Van Nuys on a Friday night. That's fun. You know, it's very Hawthorne boulevard, you know, 1962 Beach Boy shit. So you can see why they were chosen for this type of thing. It's a little, you know, I don't know, almost summer and sad, sad summer are kind of the two major songs that have been written for this, it's not maybe my favorite music that's ever existed, but it's perfectly acceptable.

[Evan]

Makes me think of Some Some Summer.

[Mike]

You know, it does, it does. It does sound like Some Some Summer, doesn't it?

[Evan]

Some, Some, Some Summer.

[Mike]

It's, you know, it's. It. It. That's the other word that Mike. Love is capable of saying. Besides love itself is summer. Funnily enough, right around this time, he had. He had a daughter. You want to guess what her name was? Summer Love.

[Evan]

Summer Love.

[Mike]

His last name is Love.

[Evan]

Summer Love.

[Mike]

Summer Love.

[Evan]

Summer Lovin. Yeah.

[Mike]

Yeah. Should also note, I guess just while we're on the record or while we're kind of on this subject, technically, there were also two aborted solo releases from Mike that were recorded both with the word love in the title. You'd be shocked to learn First Love and then Country Love. These were the records that Mike wanted to release through cbs. Around the same time Dennis got his contract and released Pacific Ocean Blue. If you want to do a solo episode on those, I will turn the wheel over to you. I don't see any need to do First Love or Summer Love or not Summer Love, Country Love, getting my loves mixed up here. So for anyone out there who is waiting desperately for our take on those records, I'm sorry to disappoint. I don't think it's going to be coming.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

Unless, like I said, if you want to do a, you know, if you want to do us, sit down at the mic and just go. At the mic?

[Evan]

Yeah, at the mic.

[Mike]

At the mic.

[Evan]

We didn't make a MCU joke, Mike. Cinematic universe. Cinematic universe, of which this. This film is, I suppose.

[Mike]

Yeah. Well, there it is. Yeah. Almost Summer, the soundtrack. It's fine. There's sort of an uninspired cover of it's okay for whatever reason. Also a cover of Summer in the City. There's a seven minute instrumental track called Island Girl, which I just don't understand what it's doing here. And then there's a couple random songs tacked on at the end, including We Are the Future by High Energy and She Was a Lady by Fresh.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

You have any comments to deliver on any of that?

[Evan]

No.

[Mike]

Okay, well, sure, with that. Celebration, the debut LP from the group Celebration. Sounds like you're digging it.

[Evan]

Well, I will say that when I was walking around, but I put this on and the only way to listen to this is either on YouTube or in the file you gave me is all in One go. There's not.

[Mike]

Yeah, there isn't even a stream. This is not available on Spotify. It's not available on Apple Music. You can't even purchase the MP3s from, like, iTunes. I think it's just. There is a rip of the entire album back to front on YouTube that. That's what you get to listen to it through.

[Evan]

So. Yeah. Anyway, the first thing that you hear when you start it is I. I had a big. I had a laugh. I was walking.

[Mike]

You liked that?

[Evan]

I was walking around the Silver Lake reservoir, and I. I was just like, all right, let's throw this on. And then when I realized what it was, I just was like, it is.

[Mike]

A fun little jump scare there at.

[Evan]

When I get up in the morning just to work all through the day.

[Mike]

Sometimes it seems just like I'm wasting half my life away but always, oh.

[Evan]

Come tonight I'm getting hungry Hungry for my kind of woman in public Big old smile and chuckling to myself so if you saw me looking. Looking happy, it's because I realized that I was listening to a, like, disco reggae version of Getting Hungry.

[Mike]

Not. Not my favorite song on this record, I gotta say.

[Evan]

You didn't have a. You didn't like that it was Getting Hungry?

[Mike]

I mean, I like that it's getting hungry. You know, when I saw the track list for this, because I knew I was getting into this, you know, before I gave it a spin, I knew this was gonna be there. When I saw that there as track one, and I think this was the single that was released from the album, I was like, okay, this could be fun. I love Getting Hungry. That's one of my favorite Beach Boys songs. And then, you know, inevitably, it's been run through the shitty filter by Mike Love with this just, like, insipid steel drum sound and these, like, corny guitars. It's not my type of flavor.

[Evan]

Yeah, the steel drums, when that kicked in was when I was like, really, really something. I felt something. But this, I think, is the highlight of the record.

[Mike]

It's pretty gruesome, I gotta say. And I think it does speak to kind of what's going on with Mike and the Beach Boys at this time, which is just a. Like a. A desperate flailing to recapture any sense of cultural relevance through any means necessary. We're gonna get to another reproduction of a Beach Boys classic on Disco Celebration, which is perhaps even more grotesque than this Getting Hungry. But it seems at this point in time that there's no. Nothing is too holy. Nothing is off limits. They're willing and able to just pluck anything that was even moderately successful, moderately popular, 10, 15 years earlier and cover it, represent it even. It's okay. The song shows up on Almost Summer soundtrack being covered just two years after it came out initially. It's like. It. It's. It's pretty gruesome stuff, I gotta say.

[Evan]

Yeah, I mean, I gotta say, though, like, listening to this for. At least for the first half, I think, first, third, maybe of listening to the Celebration lp, I was kind of like, maybe. Maybe sort of gaslit into being this way, but I was kind of like. I was just like. I was liking it. I was enjoying listening to it in the context of having just listened to the last two Beach Boys records, where I guess the. The worst thing you could say about the Beach Boys records that we've been talking about, especially the. The last one, La Light album, is like a distinct lack of energy. Even. Like, it just doesn't feel like there's any effort that, like, you. There's no friction at all. And even though this is.

[Mike]

Don't tell me you're hearing friction in this record.

[Evan]

It's not so much I'm hearing it, but you know it's there because you know that this. Unlike that, like, which is an attempt. It's not even like an attempt, it's like an obligation. It feels totally obligatory. Whereas this feels like a. Like you were just saying, sort of like a gambit, like, all right, let's try. I'm trying to do something. Can we make something happen here? And not saying that it works, but I do think it's the product of, if not artistic ambition, then just like the raw.

[Mike]

Commercial.

[Evan]

Commercial ambition.

[Mike]

Career ambition.

[Evan]

Yeah. Just like there is something at stake. Like, even if it's just Mike Love's sense of worth based on, you know, a feeling of receding possibilities when it comes to the. The Beach Boys group. So I think that there's like a little bit of. For the Completionist, for the. The hardcore and for the people who are in our position, you and me.

[Mike]

It's like, for the people who are in our position.

[Evan]

Well, I guess everyone listening along with us too. But there's, you know, there's something interesting about it if you're invested at this point, just because it's like, all right, like, what were they doing? Like, what was this about? Like, what was the attempt? And so on that level, I was a little bit interested for. For one go round of this 30 something minutes, 34 minute.

[Mike]

Yeah. I mean, it's. It's Worth listening to as a. As a, you know, curiosity, if nothing else. And I hope you, You, Evan, can agree at this point that of all of our different solo excursions we've taken so far, I know that Dennis isn't always your favorite, but compared to Celebration and Going Public, I hope you would agree that Pacific Ocean Blue is at least operating on a slightly higher plane of existence than these records.

[Evan]

It's true, it is. And I think that that is becoming clearer and clearer.

[Mike]

And if it wasn't already clear.

[Evan]

Well, if it wasn't already clear, I mean, I do think that those are interesting to juxtapose because you do have with that record. I wouldn't say that that's a totally successful record, but it feels like there's a desire rather than a desperation to make a record.

[Mike]

Yes, desire rather than desperation. Yeah, good point. There's a quote that I came across from Mike in the David Leaf book in Reading for one of the recent records that I didn't share then, but I feel like it's a relevant quote to offer now that I think is a little. I mean, maybe self evident at one point, but also kind of speaks to where he's at and why any of this shit is even happening. Speaking around this time, I think 1977, 1978, about the legacy of the Beach Boys and the kind of difficulty they've had continuing as a functional family unit. Mike said, sometimes you can quit a group, but you can't quit your family very easily. Even if you have a horrible disagreement, he's still your brother or your cousin. So I think that has to be one. So I think that has been one salvation for the group, for the Beach Boys. I don't know what I would have done if I hadn't been in the Beach Boys. I would have probably made money doing something because I have a strong competitive urge and desire. And I relate to making money with my family.

[Evan]

I relate to making money.

[Mike]

I relate to making money with my family.

[Evan]

I relate to making money with my family.

[Mike]

And, you know, I think that's what. What all this is an attempt to do is Mike is in the Beach Boys at this time. It's just commercial disaster after commercial disaster after commercial disaster. They're at each other's throats daily. He's maybe having a little bit of trouble making money with his family. So let's. Let's try to make money with a different family at this moment in time. And sure enough, we're gonna do it by uniting with King Harvest and doing shitty covers of Old Beach Boy songs.

[Evan]

I think what he means there is maybe I relate to my family by making money. I guess they mean the same thing. I mean, that's such a weird way to put it. I relate to making money with my family.

[Mike]

I mean, it is a weird phrase. I interpret it more as, like, he likes. Like, his goal in life, his animating, you know, life force is making money with his family. And, like, if he makes money on his own, that's one thing. If he's with his family, that's another thing. But if he can make money with that family, that's the magic in Mike Love's mind.

[Evan]

Well, it's definitely the easiest thing when it works, I guess, and it isn't.

[Mike]

Working at this time. And, you know, that's why Celebration comes on to exist. Do we like any of the other songs on this record?

[Evan]

Um. I mean, it's hard to look back. Cause I don't really have, like, you know, we don't have a track list here, so I have to, like, scrabble through it.

[Mike]

The second song is all right Sailor. This is basically a rewrite of Ceylon Sailor. In fact, it comes. That literal phrase turns into the like chorus during the outro when they just start wailing sail on Sailor. It's pretty catchy, but once again, just completely trading on the fumes of fumes of Beach Boy's legacy at this point in time.

[Evan]

Yeah, I was.

[Mike]

The rest of this is pretty insipid.

[Evan]

I was getting a lot of, like, you've got the touch Boogie Nights vibes from this.

[Mike]

Well, this is the same. Well, I guess what. You got the touch that was supposed to be like, in the 80s, right. But that's. It's coming from a general cultural ferment. Yeah.

[Evan]

Yeah. Well, just that desperation to make some kind of. To cash in on whatever. Whatever fumes of relevance and success that might linger around you.

[Mike]

I mean, it's competently made. It's not like, you know, it's produced well. The songs sound like songs. The instruments are played reasonably well and stuff. I just, like. I don't for the life of me know who buys this record and sits down and listens to it and is like, man, this is my shit. Like, I'm passionate about this music. This is what makes me want to live. Live.

[Evan]

Well, if it had been popular, Patrick Bateman would do.

[Mike]

This is. This is Patrick Bateman music.

[Evan]

I think he even. He has, like. He only would listen to it if it was huge, a huge hit. You know, this wasn't a hit. Like, he's not seeking out anything that didn't go triple platinum.

[Mike]

I guess that's a good point.

[Evan]

But I do think that if this had, then maybe some people would have liked, like, I mean, because there's so much stuff out there that actually is like, really, really popular. Like, that doesn't have much more going on under the hood than this. Like, you know, these days it's like Benson Boone has like 13 billion.

[Mike]

He's doing flips, he's doing backflips, playing, playing Queen songs with that old, old corpse of a guitarist at Coachella.

[Evan]

Well, before he was doing that, he was already like more popular than Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys and anyone else combined.

[Mike]

How many? I'm looking up because I was just looking at Spotify Monthly listeners for our upcoming miniseries Artist to see where he ranks.

[Evan]

It's obscene.

[Mike]

Fortunately, he's pretty high up there, but oh yeah, Benson Boone's got him beat by a cool 20 million. 51 million monthly listeners for Benson Boone.

[Evan]

Do you see how many streams the first song he's got on there has?

[Mike]

2 billion. Wow.

[Evan]

2 billion.

[Mike]

I've never heard that song.

[Evan]

These Beautiful things that I've got.

[Mike]

Is that what it sounds like? Yeah. Oh, man, it's just like if you.

[Evan]

Made the stomp clap kind of sound into like you had like Freddie Mercury do it.

[Mike]

Oh.

[Evan]

And I'm not saying that this is. I'm not saying that celebration is as good, but. But I'm saying that, you know, saying.

[Mike]

The celebration is as good as Benson Boone.

[Evan]

I'm not saying it's got that, that Benson Boone star magic. But, you know, I think that it's going for whatever that thing, you know, if, like, there's so many people who probably listen to this show who, like, look at, hear us talking about this, listen to that and go, you know, that's disgusting. You know, they're repulsed by the fact that that can even happen, that this can be so popular. But that's a real thing. And I think that, that the ghost of that is what's being chased and hunted unsuccessfully, I guess. But it's a whole other ball game. Like when you're talking about what we might consider just bad music that is hugely appealing to many, many, many people. I think our. Anybody who's like, in our position of being like, you know, record people, like music critic type people, you're kind of out of your element. Yeah, I don't even consider myself, like, able to judge a lot of music that is shooting for mass popularity. And I think it's mysterious Even to the people who are trying to do that at times. Like the Celebration record, maybe.

[Mike]

Yeah. I think I'm learning or have come to realize recently that some of this stuff just isn't as well suited for the type of conversations we typically have in this thing. Which doesn't. Which, you know, doesn't mean that it's not worth it to have these episodes because I like ones where we can just, you know, be. Be stupid. But it's. It's interesting to think about just more as like a historical curiosity or just, you know, kind of a piece of the story as opposed to, you know, being worth commentary and consideration in and of itself. The way that anything from, you know, basically any of the art, any of the other artists we've covered so far have been.

[Evan]

Yeah, there's something that happens though, and like, is. There's a creepy thing that happens when, when certain, certain people who are like indie and alt rock music people, like, they start to get really into the industry and then you. You hear them talk about music and they're like talking about why something is a hit and you're like, whoa, you're. You've been in the smoke filled room, the vape smoke filled room. They're like, yeah, that's a fucking hit. And they say it with like this sort of grim certainty.

[Mike]

I don't think anyone was saying that about Celebration. It was a pretty much complete dud from the very beginning. Also, apparently this record was only ever pressed once. About 5,000 copies exist out there. So I know Vic Berger has one. He had one to show us when we went on Office Hours last year. But anyone out there, if you come across Celebration while you're crate digging, snap it up, because there's not too many available, I guess.

[Evan]

So that, like the sort of intense way of seeing popular music that some people get when they get really involved. It's like, I don't think that even Mike Love really has that. He doesn't have that killer instinct, like, which I don't think is a bad thing. I actually think that he's. He's like just shy of that. Like, he still has this kind of personal style that maybe even gets in the way of making it in the way that he dreams of, but makes him still a good Beach Boy, you know, he's got more Beach Boy DNA than he'll ever have as like a solo colossus.

[Mike]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think what's interesting at this point in time, you know, because a lot of the stuff we've talked about recently can't help you but be noted is the first kind of solo steps of different members of the Beach Boys. We had the Bruce, we had the Dennis. Now we have the Mike. Ish. We're gonna have Carl before long. It's grimly ironic that the one that everyone was actually waiting for to make a solo record, Brian ends up doing it last out of everyone besides little Al. But I think especially thinking about all these records and listening to them all in relation to one another, you start to see what each one of them really is all about. We've been talking about the Beach Boys as this sort of confusing competition of visions at this moment in time. Different people wanting to do different things with the band. And none of it congeals quite so cleanly the way that it used to when Brian was in control of everything. And, you know, on Pacific Ocean Blue, you get a full dose of Dennis. On Goin Public, you get a full dose of treacly Bruce and his buddy Doug. And now on Celebration, you get a full dose of Mike. And it's just like, totally purely competent music that is, like, inoffensive and, you know, reasonable to listen to. You know, it's totally fine to play over the loudspeaker of, like, a TJ Maxx or something, but, like, seems to have zero actual hook for anyone who's interested in listening to music for anything other than just having having sounds play behind them while they go about their day. Yeah, yeah, but, you know, in the Beach Boys, having someone bring that energy to the group, as we've covered and discovered over time, you know, that was probably necessary to an extent.

[Evan]

Well, yeah, they are, I think. And they. They all come to realize this one way or another, whether they want to accept it or not. They're stronger as a group.

[Mike]

Yes. Yeah, maybe Brian excluded.

[Evan]

Brian excluded, but I mean, also not, like, there's times when I think we can say at this point, like, with certainty that Brian couldn't have continued to live without the support of the group one way or another, whether it's musically or otherwise. Like. And yeah, it's complicated because many of his issues are exacerbated or even because of the group. But also, like, that's. They are there to stop him at various points from destroying himself.

[Mike]

Yeah, I mean, I guess they are there to keep him from literally killing himself because they need him to stay alive so they can continue to operate as the Beach Boys and sign residents record contracts. So at a very basic level, that is something to credit them for.

[Evan]

Dysfunctional or not. The. The family Unit aspect of it is, is a kind of protective layer that, that they have. And, and when they go out on their own and maybe find the cold hard reality of making it as a solo artist a bit tough to handle, then they can always return to the. To the lukewarm bosom of the. Of the Beach Boys group.

[Mike]

The little snow globe on the COVID of keeping the summer alive. Little beach, self contained Beach Boys universe.

[Evan]

How's about a little bit of your sweet love? How's about a little bit of your sweet love? Now we get to the main event.

[Mike]

Oh, God. The worst, the worst part of this, easily. Disco Celebration.

[Evan]

I could barely listen to one of.

[Mike]

The worst things I've ever heard.

[Evan]

Satisfaction Girls.

[Mike]

Just. Just a complete disaster. Just an offensively bad California girl.

[Evan]

This, this is not even as successful as a formula. I mean, it makes that Here Comes the Night look like a masterwork. Like.

[Mike]

Absolutely.

[Evan]

Because this is not even a formulaic disco fide version. It's like, you know, today or some years ago, it'd be just like, name any song. Dubstep remix. And then it's like, all right, yeah, it sounds like dubstep or, you know, whatever, the version of music you want to funnel something into being. But yeah, this, California Girls is like not even effectively turned into a disco song. It's turned into like a limping monstrosity.

[Mike]

It sounds like there's something wrong with it. Like, the intro is fun because it's just that classic symphonic California Girls intro. It sounds very similar to the way they do it on the Beach Boys concert, you know, from 1972.

[Evan]

But it's so slow, though.

[Mike]

Well, it's slow and that's kind of, you know, they're really. They're milking it, you know, and I think they get away with that. But then when it actually gets into the rest of the song, the song proper, and it's just this tooting horrendous horn all the way through. It's just fucking awful, horrendous music.

[Evan]

It's an instrumental, by the way.

[Mike]

Yeah, I think there are some, like, backing vocals towards the end. They just. California Girls. But, you know, there isn't actually anyone singing the verses. I mean, it was inevitable, you know, when Mike Love decides I'm gonna start my group, that one, he was going to try to do just the corniest disco reimagination of a song possible. And then two, that the song he was going to choose for that reimagination was going to be California Girls. Because that is, you know, the defining work of.

[Evan]

I Was listening to it.

[Mike]

Fucking bad. It sounds like someone who doesn't know how to play the saxophone. Whoever this is did not learn to work the saxophone and play it all night long.

[Evan]

It's. It's. Yeah, it's amazing. It's. It's a 4,000 minute. Four minute song.

[Mike]

This is what I expected all of this to be like. And to their credit, Mike Love, the filmmakers of Almost Summer, you know, anyone from King Harvest and involved in Celebration, to their credit, there's only some of this that is this bad. It's not all this bad. But there is, you know, it's not. None of it is this bad because it's this.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

And would it shock you to learn that of the five songs on this record, one of which is California Girls. So of the four other ones, two of them have the word love in the title.

[Evan]

You can count on love and First Love.

[Mike]

First Love. Nailed it. First Love. Here is the discofied rewrite of the title track, First Love, from Mike Love's never released failed solo debut, First Love.

[Evan]

Who's this woman on the COVID I don't know.

[Mike]

She sort of looks like a. Like a. What she. What is she even done up as like a mime?

[Evan]

I think it's just like a Rockettes type, you know, it's like a tux. It's like a, you know, a Yassified. Like a leotard.

[Mike]

Like a cane. Yeah, she's gonna do like a little like, routine. Yeah, yeah.

[Evan]

She looks like a magician's assistant.

[Mike]

Mike is the musician. God, I wish they all. I'm just listening to the rest of these California Girls. It gets worse and worse all the way through.

[Evan]

I honestly couldn't finish it. Like I. I have to do it in parts. But wait, so was the band. Who was this band? Was the same guys.

[Mike]

This. As far as I know, you know, it's most of the same guys. I think they brought in a couple extra people to. To, you know, to bring in to really sell the disco sound. But like there isn't, you know. You know, you're in the weeds on something when there isn't even a Wikipedia page for the album. And there is a Wikipedia page for the Almost Summer soundtrack and for Celebration. But Disco Celebration is just a. Just a blank line item on the Celebration discography on Wikipedia.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

So your guess is as good as mine. I don't think it matters really one way or another because this shit just fucking sucks.

[Evan]

Yeah, this is. This is the worst music. This is zero stars out of three. Disco Celebration gets zero Stars.

[Mike]

Disco Celebration. What. What has our life come to? I can't even casting about Disco Celebration.

[Evan]

I. I mean, if it would have been nuts if we. Imagine if we did a whole episode on Disco Celebration. Can you imagine?

[Mike]

That would be good. That would have been good. I find myself. I find myself fond reminiscing on the days when we could podcast about such brilliant artistic successes as going public.

[Evan]

That's what I mean about this kind of music we've been listening to. It's like those retreats you can go on where you don't see anything, where they blindfold you for a week, and then you, at the end, see everything anew. And it's like, oh, my God, I have been blind to the beauty around me.

[Mike]

Taking the majesty of reality for granted all these years.

[Evan]

Yeah. And, you know, that's something we all do to some degree every day. I truly believe this is the case. And it includes music apparently. You know, you can get a little bit too comfortable with music that is stimulating and creatively dense and expansive and good. And sometimes you need to put on a blindfold to really remember how great you have it. Or a musical blindfold. You need to listen to this. To Disco Celebration sometimes.

[Mike]

That's right. Um, Okay. I think we've done Celebration justice.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Mike]

As quick as it came, it's gone. Cause Disco celebration, released in 1979, is the last album released by Celebration, at least up until this point. Who knows? Maybe we'll have a Celebration reunion record coming down the pike at some point. But something tells me probably not.

[Evan]

There's not even like a. Is there an AllMusic review of this?

[Mike]

I don't even know.

[Evan]

Cause actually, at this point, I'm just really curious if there's any scholarship of any.

[Mike]

Any kind about, let's see, Disco Celebration. No, the first thing that pops up that I'm seeing is Celebration of disco.

[Evan]

What about 1979? Searching that. Disco Celebration 19. Disco Celebration, 1979 album by Celebration Discogs.

[Mike]

It does not even have an entry on the AllMusic page.

[Evan]

There's an Internet archive. It's on Internet archive. Somebody on this.

[Mike]

Someone wrote something about it.

[Evan]

No, I mean, but somebody went ahead and uploaded it somewhere.

[Mike]

Oh, yeah. Well, that's where I got the LP from.

[Evan]

Celebration, 1970s band. Okay, so discography. Yeah, yeah, you're right. Of their three releases, the album Disco Celebration does not even have. What is ADC Records like?

[Mike]

Who knows?

[Evan]

I mean, I'm just. We don't need to get into this. I'm just. I'm. I want to see that there's even some recognition that anybody besides us has ever talked about this.

[Mike]

Disco Celebration.

[Evan]

Maybe on the Smiley Smile forum or whatever.

[Mike]

There's. There are a couple comments on the the Discogs page for Disco celebration.

[Evan]

Yeah. Any YouTube comments here? Maybe? Absolutely. Absolute banger. Thanks. Thank you for sharing this. It is a piece of history.

[Mike]

It is a piece of history.

[Evan]

That's debatable. It barely is a piece of history, apparently.

[Mike]

Well, look, anyone out there. We were once asked, you know, why at the beginning the Lou Reed and John Cale series, there was a comment somewhere. Someone said, why are these guys doing the podcast about Lou Reed and John Cale in the Velvet Underground? And our answer was, because we're the ones doing it. I think we've really proven that spirit in flying colors here with this conversation. Why are these guys the ones doing the Beach Boys podcast? Because they're the ones willing to sit down and listen to and talk about Disco Celebration.

[Evan]

Subscribe.

[Mike]

You're welcome. Yeah, I'm sorry.

[Evan]

You know, thankfully, thankfully, somebody is stepping up to the plate. Somebody is answering the call. Jokerman.