The Beach Boys: L.A. (LIGHT ALBUM)

Summary

Jokermen Podcast Summary: "The Beach Boys: L.A. (LIGHT ALBUM)"

Release Date: May 12, 2025
Host: Jokermen (Evan and Ian)

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The latest episode of the Jokermen Podcast delves deep into The Beach Boys' 1999 release, "LA Light Album." Hosted by Evan and Ian, the episode offers a comprehensive analysis of the album, exploring its historical context, artistic direction, and its place within The Beach Boys' extensive discography.

1. Introduction to "LA Light Album"

The episode kicks off with Evan and Ian transitioning from a brief, light-hearted discussion about root-beer flavored sparkling water to the main topic: The Beach Boys' "LA Light Album." They set the stage by highlighting the album's release under CBS Records, marking a new chapter for the band after ending their contract with Warner Bros.

2. Historical Context and Band Dynamics (11:09 - 14:20)

Evan provides a backdrop of the tumultuous period leading up to the album's creation. He recounts the 1978 tour in New Zealand and Australia, emphasizing the contractual stipulation that necessitated Brian Wilson's participation. However, the tour was marred by personal struggles, particularly Dennis and Carl Wilson's drug issues.

• Ian summarizes:
  "Brian was forced to come along... The rest of the Beach Boys might never have learned about this had the heroine not reached Brian." ([13:04])

This segment underscores the chaotic environment within the band, setting the tone for the album's subsequent production challenges.

3. The Making of "LA Light Album" (14:20 - 21:37)

The hosts delve into the recording sessions of the album, highlighting Brian Wilson's deteriorating emotional and physical state. Despite efforts by his entourage to curb his drug use, Brian continued to struggle, leading to pivotal moments such as overdoses and erratic behavior.

• Evan reflects:
  "If you're CBS Records and you've just signed the Beach Boys and they're about to make their first record for you... that's not how you want that record to be." ([21:00])

This chaos inevitably influenced the album's production, resulting in an uneven collection of tracks that struggled to present a cohesive vision.

4. Album Analysis: Strengths and Weaknesses (21:37 - 56:44)

Evan and Ian dissect various tracks from the album, offering critiques and appreciation where due.

• "Good Timing":
  Ian praises the song as a standout track, noting its departure from the album's overall incoherence.
  "It's some random lyric Brian wrote... You need good timing." ([39:12])

• "Lady Liberty":
  A reimagining of Brian's personal life, this track is highlighted for its emotional depth and orchestration.
  "It's about his then wife, Linda Jardine... a tribute to the Statue of Liberty." ([42:11])

• "Here Comes the Night":
  An 11-minute disco adaptation that Ian finds both ridiculous and endearing.
  "It's absurd on its face... it's nailing it." ([67:57])

• "Sumahama" and "Love Surrounds Me":
  These tracks showcase Mike Love's attempts to infuse global influences into the music, though they receive mixed reviews for their execution.
  "It's perfectly fine... it's very stupid." ([64:34])

Album Cover Critique:
The hosts also critique the album's artwork, describing it as kitschy and at times offensive, particularly pointing out the imagery associated with Dennis Wilson's tracks.

• Evan comments:
  "It's inappropriate to include this shortening bread... it's bastardized." ([78:27])

5. Comparison with Previous Work: "MIU" Album (56:44 - 83:43)

A significant portion of the discussion revolves around comparing "LA Light Album" with the preceding "MIU" (Maharishi International University) album. Both albums are critiqued for their lack of cohesion and the challenges of producing group dynamics within The Beach Boys.

• Ian asserts:
  "They had to make two records instead of one. And so both of those records are filled halfway with just kind of bullshit." ([83:37])

While Evan suggests that "MIU" might be slightly more cohesive, both albums are ultimately deemed uneven and plagued by the band's internal struggles.

6. Conclusion and Future Outlook (83:43 - End)

Evan and Ian wrap up the episode by lamenting the band's declining creative output, attributing it to internal conflicts and the inability to maintain a unified artistic vision. They juxtapose this decline with the potential for future solo projects by members like Brian Wilson and Carl, hinting at better prospects outside the group's collective efforts.

• Evan concludes:
  "It's sad to have this shortening bread here just feels like it makes me sad... You have murdered somebody's art." ([79:49])

Ian echoes these sentiments, emphasizing the loss of The Beach Boys' former glory and the challenges that lie ahead for the band.

Notable Quotes:

• Ian on the chaotic production environment:
  "But you know, you're just throwing songs like Baby Blue that are just kind of poking around somewhere in a junk drawer, which, you know, it's not like it's the worst song ever, but it's forgettable." ([75:08])

• Evan on the album's disjointed nature:
  "It's like the new morning thing... you have murdered somebody's art." ([75:08])

• Ian on "Here Comes the Night":
  "This is what they should have been listening to... when it goes from 1979 to 1980." ([71:05])

Final Thoughts:

The episode paints "LA Light Album" as a product of its troubled times, reflecting the internal strife and personal demons of The Beach Boys. While there are glimpses of brilliance in certain tracks, the overall album is criticized for its lack of direction and cohesion. Evan and Ian's passionate dialogue offers listeners a nuanced perspective on one of The Beach Boys' more obscure releases, highlighting both its flaws and occasional moments of artistic triumph.

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For fans and newcomers alike, this episode serves as an insightful exploration into a tumultuous period for The Beach Boys, shedding light on how personal struggles can profoundly impact a band's creative output.

Transcript

[Evan]

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

[Ian]

We don't want to do that.

[Evan]

Like, it's beautiful. This is a little intro, you know.

[Ian]

All right, here we go.

[Evan]

Countdown time.

[Ian]

One, two, three, go.

[Evan]

Okay, boys, do it. Welcome to Root Beer Report. Beer mug. There a mug, everybody.

[Ian]

Chug mug.

[Evan]

Psych.

[Ian]

Root beer flavored sparkling water Report.

[Evan]

Welcome to the Root beer Flavored Report.

[Ian]

Sparkling water Report. Liquid death. Root beer wrath.

[Evan]

So that's like, in keeping with all their other products, they have some kind of menacing twist on a familiar concept.

[Ian]

I think we've talked about this before. I'm not overly fond of the whole gimmick, but, you know, it is just a gimmick, so whatever.

[Evan]

Yeah. I'm also not overly against it. I think it's just whatever. Every brand has their little thing. This one's a little sillier, but it.

[Ian]

Can also be less corny.

[Evan]

This ruthless can of. I mean, that's kind of funny. This ruthless can of flavored sparkling water is just a funny way to start a sentence. Has a twisted plant. All right. I guess I'm charmed by it. To use natural agave and exploding bubbles to murder your thirst. Now it's losing me. And recycle your soul.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

All right. Anyway, I like their other products, so. And I confess, I've. I've tried this. I couldn't resist. I did try it because I was thirsty. You know, it's not like when I have these around and it's root beer. It's pretty rare that I'm just like opening one before we talk about it on the program, like. But if it's just fits 10 calorie sparkly water, I'm not gonna not have one.

[Ian]

And I have also tried one, so we'll see if my opinions have changed since I initially had it or if yours have.

[Evan]

What I've not done, though, is put it in the.

[Ian]

The tasting mug.

[Evan]

The tasting mug. So. Chugalug.

[Ian]

Chugalug. What's interesting is that it's clear.

[Evan]

Well, wouldn't it be? It's sparkling water.

[Ian]

It is, yeah. I mean, it's, you know, it is sparkling water. I guess that's important to know. It's root beer flavored sparkling water. It's not. Root beer smells.

[Evan]

It's got. Yeah. You know, like a caramelly root tea beery. If I was just smelling this, I would probably think maybe more cream soda.

[Ian]

Cream soda, yeah. Yeah.

[Evan]

So the difference between them and other drinks in the same category is they fully do use a little bit sweetener. It's not like this is just unflavored, unsweetened root beer flavored thing. Like they have that Lacroix one that's cola.

[Ian]

Cola, yes.

[Evan]

Which I don't really like.

[Ian]

I think that one's good.

[Evan]

I've had it and I had it again recently and to me it just kind of tastes like dusty cinnamon. Like it doesn't really have. It doesn't really taste like cola. But this basically tastes like root beer.

[Ian]

Yeah, it tastes root beer enough. You know, it does, like you said, have 10 calories. Carbonated water, agave nectar, that's your primary sweetener. Citric acid, natural flavor. And then unfortunately, stevia leaf extract. And I know I've said this before, but I'm very sensitive to the diet. I can taste the stevia in here. It's not undrinkable to me. But you know, I would, I would.

[Evan]

Little Stevie.

[Ian]

I would say little Stevie.

[Evan]

Little Stevia Van Zant.

[Ian]

Little Stevia Van Zant. Yeah.

[Evan]

Stevia sounds like, you know, if somebody was like really hell bent on like having a son named Steven or Steve, and then it wasn't a son they were having and they were like, ah, okay, Steve. Stevia.

[Ian]

Stevia. Yeah, it's the feminine Steve. It's all right. It's all right.

[Evan]

You know, I'm getting a huge kick out of just drinking it. Like this is my third glass in the mug. Just because I'm. I like being able to just kind of chug a root beer like thing with no consequences other than my thirst being slaked.

[Ian]

Murdered, actually. That's the, that's the motto. It's murder your thirst, not slay your thirst.

[Evan]

I said slaked.

[Ian]

Oh, slaked. Oh, I thought you said slay. I thought you were going with the whole.

[Evan]

Yeah, no, I was trying not to go with.

[Ian]

Honestly, it's fine.

[Evan]

I would give it three stars just because, like three.

[Ian]

Wow.

[Evan]

Just because I really like that. It's, it's offering something that I can't get anywhere else. I can't get like a completely root beerless root beer like anywhere. They just don't make it like even Lacroix, I think they're just like, that's. We'll do a lemon cello flavor, but we won't do root beer for some.

[Ian]

Reason, I think because the cola one is not very popular. So the root beer flavor would be even less popular.

[Evan]

I mean, maybe that would be good.

[Ian]

I'm sure it would be good. I just tried the new. They have the newest Lacroix flavor. You've Seen this? You heard of this sunshine flavor Lacroix.

[Evan]

What's that like?

[Ian]

It tastes like sunshine. The logo is field of sunflowers. It's like a blue can and you know, it says naturally flavored, naturally essenced sunshine flavor Lacroix.

[Evan]

Can you describe it?

[Ian]

Strawberry kiwi.

[Evan]

Okay. I was thinking that it would be like maybe a little bit like coconutty, like suntan lotion.

[Ian]

Well, they've already got a coconut Lacroix which a lot of people don't like. I do like. I think the coconut Lacroix is a sleeper hit.

[Evan]

Lacroix, to me, that does taste like you could like just. If you could drink a can of Sundan liquor. Suntan spray.

[Ian]

Yeah. And that's. To me, that's a positive. The sunshine flavor Lacroix is attractive packaging. Anytime I see a new flavor of Lacroix, I'm gonna buy it. It's, you know, whoever's in charge of their marketing department over there, you got one loyal sucker in me. So keep the novelty flavors coming. I probably won't buy this flavor again because it's not actually just like I said, it's strawberry kiwi. But you know, you got me suckered in there initially.

[Evan]

So. Can I say the can you have? Okay. So yeah, they don't. They've transitioned away from only making tall boy style cans.

[Ian]

Well, yeah, because this came in a six pack. Mine did at least. Is yours.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. Well, I. It's interesting because I've seen at the store, like at Gelson's, they have a bunch of them just in the cold drinks aisle in the tall boys. And they have, I think they have a. They have the like Dr. Pepper type one right. In a tall can. I've yet to see this in a tall can and I am starting to think maybe they don't make it.

[Ian]

Well, maybe we need to, you know, request that they request that they expand their tall boy offerings for.

[Evan]

To root beer.

[Ian]

I mean, it's fine because wrath flavor.

[Evan]

Not really like a thing to get.

[Ian]

They do actually have it online. Okay, well, you can order one 19 ounce tall boy of the root beer water and probably spend $13 to get it sent to you. They have a lot of different flavors actually.

[Evan]

What are you seeing?

[Ian]

They have like a Sprite flavor. Severed wine.

[Evan]

Yeah, I like that one kind of.

[Ian]

Sprite, which presumably would be the Coke imitation. Dr. Death. Is that the Dr. Pepper one?

[Evan]

You bet it is.

[Ian]

Yeah, I like it. Cherry obituary. That could be good. I like a black cherry soda.

[Evan]

I guess it would be like a.

[Ian]

Black cherry Black cherry polar. That is the King's sparkling water as far as I'm concerned. Squeezed to death. This looks like an orange one. Orange soda. Like an orange. Yeah. Mango chainsaw and grave fruit. Like grapefruit. I guess it's grapefruit, but it'd be grapefruit. Yeah. All right. It's interesting. You know what? I give them credit for playing with the beverage space. You know, sometimes it feels like every beverage that has ever been created has been created, or ever that will be created has been created. So I applaud the folks at Liquid Death for creating a new line of beverages here. Even if it's not my favorite, it's something new. That's right.

[Evan]

Can't deny it. And I'm glad I have more of them. Yeah.

[Ian]

I have not been drinking them. Maybe all this is not that bad actually.

[Evan]

It's really not.

[Ian]

I'm warming up to it.

[Evan]

I don't even feel like it has. And I'm not as sensitive to you as you do it, but.

[Ian]

Well, you like the stevia stuff.

[Evan]

Well, I like Coke Zero because I really don't feel like it's. I think they've kind of cracked the code with Coke Zero. It doesn't taste an overpowering in any sort of overpowering way like that. Like Diet Coke, they know is that. And to a degree that people have actually, like, become addicted to that specific thing. And I think Coke Zero is basically them recognizing, like, we can do better now, but we're not going to take Diet Coke off the shelves or everyone would. Every substitute teacher in the world would die.

[Ian]

Right? That would be. That would. When. When the. When the tariffs come for the Diet Coke supply here in America, that's when people will take the streets in revolution.

[Evan]

Or they'll just never get out of bed, depending on who they are.

[Ian]

Two stars for me for Root Beer Wrath flavored sparkling water.

[Evan]

Yeah. I mean, I'm giving it three just because I'm. I'm kind of stoked on it at the moment. But I under. Yeah, it's. I totally get the two star ranking.

[Ian]

Yeah, two stars. Really good. That's a high grade.

[Evan]

Yeah. Sponsor us.

[Ian]

Yeah, yeah, we'll take your money. Liquid Death. All right. This has been root beer flavored sparkling water report.

[Evan]

Here a mug, there a mug.

[Ian]

Everybody chug a mug.

[Evan]

All right. Onto the main event. Welcome back to Jokerman Beach Boys Podcast. I'm Evan. No, I wasn't Evan before. I was Root Beer Evan.

[Ian]

I mean, I was Murder Ian before.

[Evan]

Yeah. What's our. Yeah, we have different this is the actual show we're. Yes. Well, I feel like we can just take it easy today because the record we're talking about basically does interesting. It's light.

[Ian]

Does.

[Evan]

Takes it easy.

[Ian]

Parts of it do.

[Evan]

Maybe it's. Maybe I'm. Maybe it's not. Maybe it's extremely labored. There's different ways of looking at it, just like there's different ways of reading the title. LA Light Album from 1999.

[Ian]

Light Album. Don't forget the parentheses.

[Evan]

It's pretty funny that they called this Light album when it's like. I assume they mean light as in light luminescence, but kind of. Kind of an interesting choice to make when the content is what many would consider to be light in terms of significance. I think that there was a Rolling Stone review of it that was like, it's worse than bad. It's insignificant.

[Ian]

Right.

[Evan]

What's the story, the history? I guess we can talk a little bit about that.

[Ian]

Well, it. Not good. The story is not good. Would it shock you to hear?

[Evan]

No, no.

[Ian]

So this is. Yeah, 1979 LA Light album for CBS Records, release for the Beach Boys. You know, they. They wrapped up their Warner's contract with the heinous MIU record that we talked about previously. And this is it.

[Evan]

So heinous. Looking back, I'm not sure.

[Ian]

Well, I, you know, I guess maybe that'll be an interesting line of conversation. Which. Which one of these is worse, which people have different opinions on. Anyways, this was their debut for old CBS Records and they wanted to come out of the gate hot and really hit a home run, hit a grand slam, first time up to bat. And that's really not what happened at all. I can give a little bit of context as to what was happening, you know, immediately preceding the recording of this record. 1978, they went down to New Zealand and Australia for a tour, three week tour. Brian Wilson was forced to come along. That was part of the stipulation of the contract. They wouldn't agree to the tour of the Beach Boys or to book the tour for the Beach Boys without Brian being included.

[Evan]

Yeah, from what I understand, there was a lot of stipulations like on the part of cbs, which makes one think. And I think that this has been corroborated, that like they had no idea what they were getting into. Like at this point any record label would, I think, have been rightfully afraid and concerned about the Beach Boys. And then for them to make that decision, like, well, we want to have Brian be like as involved as Possible. I mean, it makes me wonder how much they knew, how much homework they did about the state of things.

[Ian]

Yeah, well, there actually is a funny quote along those lines when we get to the actual recording of this record, which I'll circle back to in a minute. But just to recap kind of where these fellas are at again, immediately before they begin making this record, they're 2 ring in Australia and. And New Zealand down there. And to quote from Stephen Gaines, trouble started in Melbourne. Melbourne. Melbourne. Allegedly, both Dennis and Carl purchased $100 worth of heroin from one of the employees of the touring company. The rest of the Beach Boys might never have learned about this had the heroine not reached Brian. At this point, Brian was doing quite well under the auspices of his three man team. That, that would be Stan Love, Rocky Pamplin and Steve Kortoff.

[Evan]

Rocky is still in the picture.

[Ian]

He's still in the picture for now, but he's gonna make his exit in this episode. The Three Stooges. Stan, Rocky and Steve. Brian had been away from most drugs for months and was functioning without prescribed medications. Still, it took a great deal of effort to make sure that no drugs were around. And each night in each hotel room, Stan and Rocky made a careful sweep of drawers and closets, checking under furniture and behind pictures to make sure Brian hadn't procured some drug while they weren't watching and stashed it from when he was alone one night. According to Steve Kordoff, Brian wanted to do a live radio broadcast from a station in downtown Melbourne. Melbourne and a woman. A woman publicist. I don't know why woman is explicated here.

[Evan]

And a woman publicist.

[Ian]

A publicist, but she get this, she's a woman. Said she'd take him to the station and watch him carefully. So Korthoff let Brian go unescorted, not knowing that Dennis, in his own hotel room, was snorting heroin. When Brian returned from the radio broadcast, he went directly to Dennis room where he began snoring heroin himself. When Brian came back to his room, he started throwing up. Kordhoff said, I had no idea. I thought he'd been drinking. I asked him, brian, did you have a drink at the bar? And he lied to me and said, yeah, I had a drink. He went to sleep and it was over. The next day, Stan and Rocky did a little investigating and then and found out about the heroin. This leads to a big knockdown, drag out argument and literal actual fight between Stan Love, Rocky Pamplin, Mike Love and Carl Wilson at this time. Basically some of them want to Kick Dennis off the tour. Others don't, you know, because he's. If you kick him off, then you get rid of the bad influence. But if you do kick him off at the same time, then it's going to turn into a big blow up and risk the rest of the tour. Eventually, they agree not to kick Dennis off the tour, but not before Rocky Pamplin punches Carl in the face and knocks him out cold on the ground, leading to him proceeding through the rest of the tour with a big black eye. And then he ends up actually collapsing on stage live the next night because he's still suffering negative neural consequences from getting decked in the teeth by old Rocky Pamblin.

[Evan]

Hmm.

[Ian]

Even with all the sanctions against drugs on this tour, Brian still managed to obtain some more pills. On their next to Last night in Australia, after Stan and Rocky left, left him alone for the night, Brian went down to the front desk, borrowed $20 in cash against his credit card, and paid a visit to the hotel doctor. Hotel doctor, imagine that. Complaining that he was pent up and sleepless from touring, Brian convinced him to prescribe sleeping pills. The next morning, Stan and Rocky found Brian lying in bed half conscious, drool pouring out of his mouth. After reviving Brian, Stan and Rocky did a drug search of the room and found several bottles of pills, but evidently not all of them. On the way to the airport, they noticed that Brian's face was contorted and that he was short of breath from an obvious overdose of amphetamines.

[Evan]

Oh, man.

[Ian]

Carl's personal masseuse was given a letter absolving him of any responsibility and then gave Brian a massage to relax his muscles in the midst of his amphetamines overdose. On the plane home, the Beach Boys and their entourage heaved a collective sigh of relief. And just to cap this little delightful story, the group had broken every concert attendance record in Australia.

[Evan]

Wow. Are these the shows where Carl was drunk?

[Ian]

I think that was part. I mean, Carl was either drunk or on heroin or, you know, decked in the face from Rocky Pamplin or some combination of all three.

[Evan]

Everyone's getting decked by Rocky or otherwise.

[Ian]

Or drug or, you know, the heroin that they're, they're snorting. So that's, that's kind of what was going on there in Australia. They get back to Los Angeles, back to California, and just to resume the story, Brian had reached a new low. After returning from Australia, his emotional stability seemed to disintegrate daily. He still managed to obtain cocaine and barbiturates. No matter how closely Stan Rocky and Steve watched him one night on some untold mixture of drugs. Brian began to vomit in his sleep and would have choked to death if the sound had not awakened Marilyn, who summoned Stan to help clear the vomit from Brian's windpipe. Stan and Marilyn spent the rest of the evening dousing Brian under a cold shower. The next day, Brian disappeared. They searched throughout the house, calling all of his friends, but no one had seen or heard from him. He was just so drugged out and miserable with himself, he didn't want to be home. Marilyn said Brian hitchhiked to West Hollywood and ended up in a gay bar. I know he was playing piano for beer. Marilyn said he met someone there who drove him down to Mexico. Later, Brian hitchhiked back up to San Diego and wandered around the city for days, barefoot and unwashed. Eventually, he passed out in the gutter and was picked up by an ambulance. The cops found him in Balboa park under a tree with no shoes on. Stanlove said, his white pants filthy. Obviously a vagrant with no wallet, no money. Marilyn, Steven Love and Stan Love went down to San Diego to take Brian home. But they decided to follow the doctor's advice. There was a doctor attending to Brian at this time, allowing him to spend some detoxifying time in the hospital. By the time he was ready to be discharged from this hospital, the rest of the Beach Boys were already in Miami, starting to work on their long overdue first album to satisfy their CBS contract. That would be LA Light album. So Brian proceeded directly from the detox hospital to Miami to begin working on this record.

[Evan]

Not so good. Yeah. You were right when you said that the circumstances were not good.

[Ian]

Probably not. Yeah. You know, if you're. If you're CBS Records and you've just signed the Beach Boys and they're about to make their first record for you, I would, you know, this is just me, but I would guess that those circumstances there. Brian Wilson snorting heroin in Australia and then, you know, overdosing on amphetamines and then wandering around Tijuana and San Diego barefoot for several days before spending time in a detox hospital and then proceeding directly to the studio to make this record. I would guess that's not how you want that record to be. That, you know, could just be a me thing.

[Evan]

But I'm impressed that he was able to hitchhike.

[Ian]

Well, I think hitchhiking was more of a thing back. I think the border was less of a thing, and I think hitchhiking was more of a thing.

[Evan]

I mean, it just Sounds like getting one foot in front of the other foot wasn't so much of a thing for him.

[Ian]

Well, yeah, that's true.

[Evan]

I guess you only have to do that a little bit if people are picking you up.

[Ian]

Yeah, well, I'm guessing he was on some sort of cocktail of something that he found down there in Tijuana.

[Evan]

Amphetamines. You do just below the amount that makes your face contort and then it gives you some energy and you can get up and hitchhike your way to your next heroin snorting situation.

[Ian]

And so, just to offer a last little bit of context heading into this record, by the late summer of 1978, we're quoting from David Leaf at this point. Not, not quite so lurid as our. As our Stephen Gaines stories. Brian was ready to step back from the Beach Boys due to all of this shit. A feeling that prompted him to call da da da da, ex beach boy Bruce Johnston and ask him to work with the group.

[Evan]

Bruce is like, they out. They're gonna come crawling back to Bruce.

[Ian]

And he was right. At the time, Bruce thought it was a temporary, quote, distress signal. But since then, he became a more or less permanent member of the Beach Boy family. He joined the group at Criteria Studios in Miami and he was back with the band from which he'd been separated six years before. And this time, with CBS Records support, Bruce was enlisted to make the Beach Boys quote, commercial. First, Bruce went into the studio with producer Kurt Bottcher with the idea of steering the Beach Boys into the then popular disco arena.

[Evan]

Come back to that, let's get them in the arena.

[Ian]

And that duo. Bruce and Kurt Botcher, along with Jimmy Garcio, an advisor to the group, set out to produce an album behind which CBS could exercise its considerable muscle. The result, LA Light album proved that in groups, democracy is not necessarily a good thing. Each member contributed at least one song with Brian's lone new composition, the often talked about 1974 track, Good Timin, a beautiful ballad written with brother Carl, which felt like the old beach boys. Released in March 1979 to coincide with a big promotional push by CBS and a four hour engagement at Radio City Music hall, the album peaked at number 100 on the billboard charts. Here Comes the Night, the initial single, didn't crack the top 10 and it was a commercial disaster. The record only sold about 100,000 copies. So.

[Evan]

Yeah, Light album, light, yeah. I'm mystified. This is like they're finding new ways to make odd head scratching album titles. Like, I feel like they haven't a knack for this. Like, this is better.

[Ian]

This is better than Miu.

[Evan]

Yes, it's better than miu, but that's like.

[Ian]

It's a low bar. It's a low bar.

[Evan]

It's a low bar. I mean, I don't hate the name of it. It's just like. It's a little bit weird to not have any sort of thing else beyond that. It's like. Well, it's like la, you know, like Los Angeles. But it's light album.

[Ian]

Light album la.

[Evan]

It's like, not like there's a song about light. It's not like there's. It's not like the COVID is like a light. Like a bright. It's.

[Ian]

Well, it does have a light emitting from City hall up there in the little logo.

[Evan]

You know what? I. I take it.

[Ian]

Take it all. Take it all back.

[Evan]

I honestly like LA light. You know, we all here in la, we go. That's the LA light.

[Ian]

Los Angeles light. That is a, you know, that is a famous, you know, well, like, component.

[Evan]

Of dear departed David Lynch. The Golden Sunshine.

[Ian]

That's right. Blue skies.

[Evan]

I was talking about the golden Sunshine. The quality of light. I'm looking at it through my window right now. Some LA light. And it does. It looks pretty good.

[Ian]

Yeah, I like the COVID of this record. I think it's cute with the little, like, postcards. I think all of the art, you know, was. Was created by someone, you know, a couple different artists doing all this stuff. And each one of the little squares corresponds to a specific song on the record. It's.

[Evan]

It's.

[Ian]

It's fun, it's cute. I think it's like. It's sort of kitschy and, like, in tune with kind of the retro Southern California.

[Evan]

The good timing one is really funny, you know. What? Like the good timing.

[Ian]

Oh, the ones on the back? Yes. With the dog. The dog.

[Evan]

That's also the single cover art.

[Ian]

Yeah, that one is great.

[Evan]

It's a disco dance with. Which I don't get why it's for good time, because that's not a disco song at all. But this is a bunch of. It's basically like. Imagine a really, like an extra cartoonish sort of version of the. The dogs playing poker. But it's dogs and they're dancing. There's a disco ball.

[Ian]

It's like a bulldog done up like John Travolta in like, Saturday Night Fever garb. And then there's like a poodle, you know, poodle minx that he's boogieing with down there. In the middle and then surrounding kind.

[Evan]

Of like 50s though it's like they're not necessarily like. There's kind of a mix of like 50s and 70s looking. Anyway, then we got. Shortening bread is kind of weird. Like what's going on there? It's like a kid eating shortening bread. It's like you see the kids feet on like a baby high chair.

[Ian]

Yeah. There's like a boombox.

[Evan]

It looks like dropping like a radio. Yeah. Like. Cause the kid baby loves shortening bread.

[Ian]

Yeah. Mama's little baby loves shortening bread. Yeah. He's getting rid of his vegetables. It looks like. I love the love surrounds me one which is right next to shortening bread.

[Evan]

Lone cactus in the middle of a.

[Ian]

Well, you see what it might have initially appeared to be some desert dunes there. But you see what that really is, don't you?

[Evan]

And it's just a cactus that's like a big cock. And it's a bunch of.

[Ian]

It's a woman's naked body, basically.

[Evan]

It's three naked women. And the dunes are tits, her thighs are an ass or the back.

[Ian]

Would it shock you to learn that that's gonna be a Dennis Wilson song? The image that's just a bunch of women's naked bodies is a Dennis Wilson track.

[Evan]

That's really something.

[Ian]

The baby blue one also just like kind of arresting, disturbing, like a very sinister appearance to her.

[Evan]

It just has like the look of like when you see somebody who has a tattoo of a departed loved one and it's like a little too literal or something. Like the skill of the artist is not quite up to snuff. And like they outlined every tooth and you're just kind of like, oh yeah, that's. Yeah, that looks like a baby. Or that looks. That's a. That's very nice. But it's this. What's supposed to be, I think an enchanting come hither look from a blonde girl with arresting ice blue eyes. Baby blue eyes.

[Ian]

She looks evil, but she.

[Evan]

But instead she looks evil and kind of like weirdly proportioned.

[Ian]

Anyways, I think it's fun, you know. There's some fun little drawings on the front too. You know, some.

[Evan]

Can we talk about Sumahama, how it's a black guy?

[Ian]

I don't think that's a black guy.

[Evan]

Is it?

[Ian]

I think it's just a dark. You know, he's got some dark.

[Evan]

Okay, That's a Japanese guy. I think it's a Japanese in the shadows.

[Ian]

Yes. A ninja type fella.

[Evan]

Like a samurai, perhaps. Like I Said before. Yeah, the. The quality of the renderings of the human beings. And we do have the top one, the sort of the Beach Boys.

[Ian]

That's classic. Classic.

[Evan]

That's like the California Incline.

[Ian]

That's exactly where it is. Yeah. So, you know, like, you're looking down the coast there where, you know, the. The Palisades fire would rage several decades later and destroy that entire part of the world.

[Evan]

It's true. It's all gone over there. Part of that thing. But, yeah, I don't hate the album cover. I just.

[Ian]

It's. Can you agree that it's better than Miu?

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I just think it is a weird LA Light album. Like. Okay. Light album.

[Ian]

It. I mean, it's. Look, it's. It's. It. I don't know.

[Evan]

I like the title. I just kind of wish that maybe that for a record with that title, you would think that maybe they would be doing something in, like, the more spiritual, like, psychedelic lane that they very often have up till this point. But one thing about this record, and the last, in retrospect, is, you know, apart from the title of Maharishi International University album, there is no Thou art that. There's no. There's no psychedelia. There's no even spiritual sentiment at all on that record or this one. And I think that they are consciously reeling back some of that. All of that, I guess, in. In an effort to go back to basics while also finding some connection to the contemporaneous sound and moment, like, which is, you know, not. Not something that necessarily exists, like the place where the Beach Boys exist relative to the culture that is around them at this time. It's an odd thing because, like, this record is so obsessed with trying to do both things. And I think people like the Beach Boys because they. In moments of wanting some stability, there's some comfort to be had in the Beach Boys being like a standing monument or like a beacon from the past. And so the fact that they themselves are not sure of that anymore, it puts things in a strange place.

[Ian]

Yeah, yeah, sure. I don't think you're wrong about any of that. I think that they're just like. It's sort of just an odds and ends collection. And, like, they just had to get something put together. So there wasn't. I would probably say there just wasn't a whole lot of thought put into any of this shit. You know what this is. The individual songs might have been, but at the end of the day, the complete package is sort of just an odds and ends it's kind of like a Carl and the Passions sequel.

[Evan]

This has new morningitis, you know, it's like where the record itself. You know, I'm not even saying about quality when I say that as much as I'm saying an odds and ends collection that is presented as a true blue, return to form type thing where we're like, oh, we are back, baby. We've never been so back. La, that's the Beach Boys. We've got the California Incline, we've got Los Angeles. We know exactly who we are and what we're doing. And longtime listeners of the show will know that. I feel that the Bob Dylan album New Morning is a little bit. Protests a little bit too much about the newness of its morning. That it's sort of like, you know, things to like in that record and. But, you know, we'll see things to like here maybe. But sure.

[Ian]

I think there's some.

[Evan]

It's not necessarily any kind of revelation. No.

[Ian]

That, you know, that is sort of taken for granted, I think, at this point. But I think it's more. I mean, let's. Let's. Let's talk about it.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Good timing's great.

[Evan]

Great.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, under the circumstances, controlling for understanding what they're capable of at this point, understanding that Brian is catatonic and rolling around barefoot in the mud in Balboa Park. To have a record like this, a song like this, I think it's nice. It's better than you could expect under the circumstances.

[Evan]

I think good timing is okay. But it. Yeah. Does have a certain something like. And people seem to know that or react to that. Like it did have. Out of all these songs, any. This. This had some life to its existence. Like people cared about this song to some degree. It got radio play.

[Ian]

Yeah. It was a single. It's the first song on the record. I think it. And it's. I mean, this is the Brian composition on this record. It's from several years earlier, but it's. You know, I think he, you know, he was trying to do this type of thing consistently in the couple different years. Over the course of a couple different years. You know, it's okay. For instance, on 15 big ones, I think Match Point of Our Love on the last record just like kind of recapture a little bit of the magic and more or less pulls it off in different circumstances. I think this is more on the. More pulls it off and it's not. This isn't like surfer girl, you know, but it's like it's trying to sound like surfer girl. And it's not embarrassing.

[Evan]

Surfer girl.

[Ian]

It's not embarrassing itself the way that Kona coast does. Let's.

[Evan]

I don't hate Kona Coast. I really don't. Because. Embarrassing. It's not even like they're going for.

[Ian]

It's a shonda.

[Evan]

I don't know. It's not like Hawaii is that sacred. A text that they can't do, Like a little quote from?

[Ian]

I think you mean Hawaii.

[Evan]

Yeah, Hawaii.

[Ian]

You said Hawaii.

[Evan]

No, I said Hawaii. I just went into it. I didn't go Hawaii. But I've never heard you say Hawaii the way normal people do it is something in the middle.

[Ian]

Wait, how do you say. How do you say folk music?

[Evan]

Folk music.

[Ian]

Okay. All right.

[Evan]

I don't say folk.

[Ian]

Yeah, I guess I say it weird. I was just. Grace just kind of picked up on this the other night. I was talking about. I don't know, I said folks or folk music or something, and she. I guess I'm the only one that pronounces it that way, even though there's an L in there.

[Evan]

On the other hand, sometimes people do a phantom word that doesn't exist in a word, like familiar. Like, they'll add, like, an R sound into firm milliar.

[Ian]

I never had that.

[Evan]

People do it. They go familiar. It's familiar.

[Ian]

Familiar.

[Evan]

Or both. There's like. There's like a phantom L that people put into both.

[Ian]

All right, well, I think you're just hanging out with people who can't speak.

[Evan]

I'm just saying, you listen. I've heard, you know, there's people I don't even hang out with who I hear on the. On the television and the radio. Some people do this. And folk. I don't know. I'm never saying folk. Folk. Folk music.

[Ian]

Yeah, I guess. I mean, I have come to terms with the fact that I'm the weirdo here, because everyone that I've asked about it recently says, yeah, it's folk, but it just sounds folk. Folk.

[Evan]

Folky. Hawaii. Hawaii is just that. There's, you know, it's spelled. It's in there.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's the apostrophe.

[Evan]

So it's Hawaii.

[Ian]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Good Time is a good song.

[Evan]

Good timing. Also has an apostrophe.

[Ian]

You don't pronounce the G. It's a good song.

[Evan]

It's fine. It's good.

[Ian]

It's good. It's not great. And I think if this is, like, what you kind of have to hang your hat on for this record.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Lead single it's probably not a great sign for the record, but as a song itself, just on its own, I think it's. It's nice. I don't really know what it means and I guess, I mean, it doesn't matter. It's some random lyric Brian wrote, you know, probably on the back of a cocktail napkin in 1974. But like, you need good. It takes good time. What? What takes? Good timing. Why do I need good timing?

[Evan]

I don't even know that he wrote this. Like, this has the vibe of just like something he was singing while like half mumbling while he's playing piano. And then someone's like, brian, what? What's that? Let's record it.

[Ian]

I think that basically is what it was.

[Evan]

This song is. Yeah. I don't think that there's like. What is good timing? What kind of good timing? It's this. It's so vague that it's like, I guess like in service of the song.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, ultimately it's just words. Words that allow them to make sounds and sound pretty by singing. Yeah.

[Evan]

It's just. That just kind of sucks. Like, you know, in country music, for example, it's like there's plenty of kind of generic country music even today, like the. The most kind of churned out junk. There's a formula where like, there's at least a standard anyway. An expectation that there's something kind of in the shape of a joke or like if this. So that relationship. Lyrically, there's. There's like a little kernel of some kind of idea. And this is. This is exactly like half a kernel. This is like. This is like a popcorn that pops only part way. Like, good timing.

[Ian]

Like, okay, like good timing.

[Evan]

Good timing. Yeah. What about it? You need it. It's good to have good. It's good to have good timing.

[Ian]

It is good to have good timing. That is true. I've heard that before.

[Evan]

You need good timing. You gotta have it. And yeah, I mean, I guess I'm thinking about like, well, this band. What is it? They need good timing.

[Ian]

Heroin. It's fine. It's good. It's a good start. Good timing. How about Lady Linda?

[Evan]

I heard that he changed the lyrics later to be Lady Liberty, I believe.

[Ian]

Yeah. When? Because I think he. Al ended up. This is an owl and it's about his wife Linda. And I believe that he ended up, you know, not being with her forever and so turned into a different type of song eventually.

[Evan]

Yeah. It's got that musical quote, right. From classical music.

[Ian]

Right. Bach or something. Right.

[Evan]

Is it Bach? Yeah. I don't know. I'm not very up on classical music.

[Ian]

Nor am I. I think I love this song. I think this is great.

[Evan]

It's all right.

[Ian]

Oh, this is fantastic.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

It's about his then wife, Linda Jardine. And then yes, after they divorced, the song is rewritten as Lady Liberty. A trib to the Statue of Liberty. Thank you, Al. Lady Liberty. That's so. That's so Al.

[Evan]

Well, I'm looking on, like the Wikipedia page for that song. There's a reference. Is the smiley smile message board. Lady Linda, a masterpiece. This is a post from October 2015.

[Ian]

There you go.

[Evan]

Somebody in the message board.

[Ian]

I think this is one of the best songs on the record.

[Evan]

Wow. I remember Alan playing this song for me in his barn where he had a piano. In fact, I remember seeing him working out the way in which he would blend the Bach part to his Linda part. How he would marry the two in his compos. In his comp. I think they mean to say composition. Composition while sitting at the keyboard, just playing and working with these notes on this stage. That was at the end of the barn. Him doing this while I was grooming the horses at the opposite end.

[Ian]

Wow.

[Evan]

This was before Red Brand.

[Ian]

Who are you quoting here?

[Evan]

I mean, Red Barn, I think. I don't know. This is somebody in the message boards or somebody quoting someone in the message boards, apparently. It seems like it's a neighbor in Big Sur of Al Jardine. They said Red Bran. Is Red Bran converted into Red Barn? I would guess he has been interested in Jae Su. What is this Bach thing?

[Ian]

I don't know. You're asking the wrong guy here.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's Jae Su. Joy of Man's Desiring.

[Ian]

Okay.

[Evan]

That's the original. So, I mean, I'm getting some straight dope on this song, I guess from this message board. I myself know the song and can play it on the keyboard.

[Ian]

Okay. All right. I've heard enough of this guy.

[Evan]

I turned Alan onto a version of by Paul Beaver where the melody is called. Yeah, okay. So anyway, some people have thought a great deal.

[Ian]

I think it's beautiful.

[Evan]

Somebody named Steven.

[Ian]

Steven.

[Evan]

Thank you, Steven.

[Ian]

Yeah, thank you, Steven.

[Evan]

Wait, no, it's Steven Desperate.

[Ian]

Oh, really? All right.

[Evan]

In the smiley smile message board.

[Ian]

Okay, well, that changed. That's funny that Steven Despper ended up going on the Just Fan message board some number of years later. That's pretty good. I like that.

[Evan]

I also had the pleasure of mixing the song with Alan singing on stage in concert at many shows. He was figuring out the tracking of the song for production while performing it live in a more simple version at many venues. Sometimes he was. I mean, that kind of information is great and thank you, but that's not what our show is like.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think it's still not essential. But I do appreciate that Steven Desper's going on to fan message boards on the Internet and giving history behind Lady. Everyone's favorite Beach. A Beach Boys song that everyone knows. Lady Linda.

[Evan]

Lady Liberty.

[Ian]

It's beautiful. It's, like, so easy, smooth. I think this is a successful vision for what the Beach Boys could have sounded like at this moment in time. It's got an interesting kind of degree of orchestration to it. It's kind of an interesting, like a complex production, relatively speaking, with those, like, kind of whatever it is, fake strings or something. And then I think, really, the outro on this song where it all kind of comes together, like, that's a real. That's when this thing kind of kicks it up to another level for me. If I could just hear that outro the entire time, that's what I would. That's what I would like to listen to.

[Evan]

Yeah, I like that little outro.

[Ian]

It's great.

[Evan]

I mean, Bach, pretty good musician, full sail. This kind of is. This one's just sort of in one ear, and then I don't even know where it gets lost.

[Ian]

Yeah, it starts to kind of go downhill at this point, you know.

[Evan]

In one ear, and then I kind of forget that it went in one ear.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, I don't. I don't know. I see a vision for the rest of what's going on on this record at this point. But do you?

[Evan]

Because I don't know if they do.

[Ian]

Well. Yeah. I mean, so I think that's the problem that you end up running into on this record. And, like, whether you dig that or don't dig it, like, that's gonna tell you whether this is more Your speed of late 70s Beach Boys or MIU is more your speed of late 70s Beach Boys. That previous record is more kind of focused and uniform. It kind of sounds like the production of cohesive unit. Whether or not you think that's good, it is kind of, you know, from beginning to end, relatively predictable. This record is more just like, here's a Carl song. Now we had a Brian song, then we had an Al song, now here's a Carl song. And just wait. We're about to have some Dennis songs. And like, that. It can make for a frustrating listen, I think and some of the songs just don't really fit in or stand up, I think, to what surrounds them. And Full Sail, I would say, is.

[Evan]

Probably one of those songs, but it has San Francisco stuff in it. You love that.

[Ian]

Yeah. You know, it feels a little Phone didn't to me.

[Evan]

Talking about the fog.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

That they have.

[Ian]

That there is that. We do have the fog up here. That's right.

[Evan]

It's got a little. Home is next.

[Ian]

Oh, you're already.

[Evan]

You're already done.

[Ian]

Full sale.

[Evan]

Is there anything more to say about it? It's okay.

[Ian]

I think it's. I mean, it's very Carl, I would say, you know, he's talking about sailing around on the. Sailing around on the ocean. You see where he's coming from with things like, you know, the Traitor or even whatever.

[Evan]

But I can't believe that when we were talking about the trader that I didn't. I don't think I made the connection that it's like, oh, of course. He's just basically rewriting Sail Away by Randy Newman.

[Ian]

Is he? Right? Is he?

[Evan]

Yeah, the whole thing is about. Basically, I. I think it's about a slave trader. I was like, wait a minute. This is just Sail Away, but, like, written as like an energetic uptempo number. And then you've got Full Sail, which I guess sounds. Sounds a little bit more like like the original Sail Away. Not that this is an attempt to do that too, but. Yeah. As long as we're on the topic of sailing songs by Carl the traitor.

[Ian]

Fair enough.

[Evan]

It was when we saw Randy Newman play it that I thought about this again. Maybe because that's been on my mind.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Evan]

Which I don't think we've talked about on the program.

[Ian]

Oh, yeah. Well, I think by the time this episode comes out, we will have done that like a month ago. But.

[Evan]

Well, still, this is the first time we've spoken about it.

[Ian]

It's great to see.

[Evan]

We went to see Randy Newman. Thank you very. To our close personal friend John Mulaney.

[Ian]

Well, more of our close personal friend Molly Lambert, who works for John Mulaney and helped make that happen for us.

[Evan]

Yeah. Well, she did say that he wanted us to be there. And we did have little seats just for us.

[Ian]

That's right. That's great.

[Evan]

Normal sized seats.

[Ian]

I could have used a bigger seat, but, you know, is what it is.

[Evan]

Full. Yeah.

[Ian]

Full sail. It's fine. I don't know.

[Evan]

Angel come home.

[Ian]

Yeah. Okay.

[Evan]

This is just one of those ones that feels like autobiographical. I think when we were talking about On Pacific Ocean Blue. Like that record kind of has a lot of songs that allude to romantic strife. And this one just kind of feels like predictably about this, you know, just. It's. It's like, have you seen my baby?

[Ian]

Dennis has got some well worn subject matter for his. His song topics. I don't think there's any. Any debate there. Ooh, I love you, sweetie baby. And Ooh, I love you, sweetie baby. Please come back. Those are. Those are kind of two of his lead themes.

[Evan]

I'm super sorry for everything I did last night and everything I've done.

[Ian]

Either super sorry or super horny and about to be super sorry as a result of being super horny, perhaps.

[Evan]

I'm just super sorry for that. And I wish she would come back. And if anybody sees, if you see her, just tell her that I said I love you.

[Ian]

Tell her angel, come home.

[Evan]

Angel come. Can you just tell her, angel, come home for me, please?

[Ian]

I love this song. I think this is great.

[Evan]

If you don't know what she looks like, you know, just. Just say that to every woman and say it's for me.

[Ian]

I'm sure, you know, several of them will. Will respond as soon as I know that it's a request from Dennis Wilson. Get the next one.

[Evan]

Yeah, someone.

[Ian]

I'm guessing you don't love this song.

[Evan]

Not really, no.

[Ian]

I think it's great. It's got such a groovy little, like, white boy soul kind of breakdown to it. It's. It's funky. It's. It's. It's Dennis Y. It's musky. That's part of the construction of this record also, is that. I mean, there's several Dennis songs, all of which were basically pulled from the sessions that he was recording at the time for Bamboo. You know, his never released follow up to Pacific Ocean Blue. Dennis was obviously going through his own difficulties at this time, and so he didn't necessarily have the mental and physical bandwidth to actually get that next record across the finish line. And so I think this ends up being sort of a repository for some of the stronger songs from those sessions. And I think this is. This is great to me. I love this. I know that it's. It's documented at this point. This is not your particular flavor of the Beach Boys, but I dig it.

[Evan]

It's been helping here.

[Ian]

Yeah, that's right. Oh, come on. And then when we get to the chorus, Angel. Oh, come on.

[Evan]

I'll be in heaven when my angel comes home. That's what I mean when I say for good timing to give me anything, give anything Because I'll be in heaven when my angel comes home. It's been hell being here alone.

[Ian]

That's true.

[Evan]

It's not that hard to come up with even a little bit of a. Something that's.

[Ian]

Well, we saw that it can be difficult not only on good timing, but on Going Public, for instance.

[Evan]

Yeah, yeah. There's not a song called Going Public, which is kind of like, why not? Like, that's also like a half popped popcorn situation where you're like, all right.

[Ian]

Well, after we talked about Going public, I couldn't shake the idea in my mind of like, do you remember, like, the Gray Album? You know, like the Beatles and Jay Z mashup, you know, like the White Album and the Black Album?

[Evan]

No.

[Ian]

Wow. Okay, well, so people did that.

[Evan]

Okay.

[Ian]

Yeah, I think Danger Mouse did that. Actually, there was another one called James Drake where someone took, like, some early James Blake records and mashed them up with Drake, you know, lyrics. I couldn't shake the concept of Going up in Public, which would have been a mashup of Bruce Johnston's 1977 release Going Public and Lou Reed's 1980 release, Growing up in Public.

[Evan]

Yeah, well, you know, instead of a prominent hip hop artist, we're going to just use Lou Reed and one of his transitional albums. Yeah.

[Ian]

Anyone out there, if you can. If you can make that happen. If we can get the Doug song mashed together with like, Teach the Gifted Children from Lou Reed. It just. Let's, let's.

[Evan]

Let's make so Alone thematically works pretty well with. With that one. With. What's it called? Like, the Wallflower. My Daughter.

[Ian]

That's right. Yeah, that's true. That's a good point.

[Evan]

Until Doug.

[Ian]

Until Doug shows up.

[Evan]

Till there was Doug.

[Ian]

How about Love Surrounds Me? I'm guessing this is your least favorite song on the record.

[Evan]

The Cock Cactus.

[Ian]

Yeah, the Cock Cactus. A woman's body sand dune song.

[Evan]

I have to just remember how it sounds.

[Ian]

Yeah, that's about right. This is a very Dennis Y song.

[Evan]

Love, sir. I feel like Dennis is pretty heavily featured on this.

[Ian]

Well, that's what I was saying. You know, I think because they had such a hard time actually coming up with new material, quality new material, they were like, yeah, let's. Let's get some good shit from Dennis because he's not gonna get his second record out and, you know, we can at least fill out 10, 15 minutes of this record with some of his tracks. It's a. It's. I think this Is a little bit of the Carl and the Passions disease where you have cuddle up and the other cuddle up. But you know, what's. What's the other to Me song? The other Dennis song on the other side of Carl and the Passions. Make it good. Where you got. Make it good and cuddle up, like almost back to back on the second side. It's a little too much Dennis all at once. I think we got a little bit of that going on here too. Angel come home into Love surrounds me after, especially after Full Sail. Like, you know, this is. It's dragging a little bit, I gotta say.

[Evan]

Yeah, I like that little synth and Love surrounds Me.

[Ian]

I think it's a vibey song. I dig it. It's. It's very like classic, like tuneless, amorphous, meandering, just, you know, bleary eyed Dennis type of music that works. But I don't know, in this context, it's just. It's odd.

[Evan]

It's just another beer in the six pack, you know, it's just like, all right, you've got another Dennis.

[Ian]

Yep. We'll come back to Love Surrounds Me when we do the Bamboo Conversation. And that'll be the last time that you ever got to talk about old Dennis and his.

[Evan]

I don't dislike talking about Dennis. It's just that, you know.

[Ian]

Yeah, I don't think the problem is you talking about Dennis. I think it's you listening to Dennis.

[Evan]

I don't know, a lot of people have been commenting like, it seems like Evan doesn't really like the Beach Boys that much. And, you know, I just. I would say if there's something about the Beach Boys or Dennis that it seems like I don't like or this album. I would kindly refer to the early season, the first series of Jokerman, where I think both of us said plenty of shameful things about great Bob Dylan music.

[Ian]

Yeah, a lot of that was, you know, just talking about how like, oh, Street Legal, that sucks. Oh, Saved. This also sucks. Oh, Empire Burlesque sucks. Infidels. Besides, Jokerman sucks.

[Evan]

Saying stuff like, you know, knocked out loaded sucks. You know, stuff that now crazy things.

[Ian]

No one would ever say. I think we were maybe a little too light handed, too light of a touch on Lou and John in series two, frankly.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

And maybe for good reason because even their like, you know, mistrial or whatever or Artificial intelligence from John aren't like totally successful records. But like, neither of them ever put out an MIU or an. Or an LA Light album or a Keeping the Summer Alive, God forbid.

[Evan]

No, it's the difference between, like, you know, does it. If there's, like, a poet and you just find, like, this collection of their. This poem of theirs, you're like, this is kind of just weird and it doesn't work. But they're still, like, writing a poem. Whereas, like, the. The situation with the Beach Boys is sometimes they're like, is there anything that's. Like some. Do we have anything that even seems like a. Anything around here that we can put.

[Ian]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of it is the Beach Boy's own fault because it's just lazy. It's just shitty and, like, lazy on its face. And this record probably shouldn't even exist and wouldn't exist unless they were trying to literally fulfill a contract. And so, you know, there's stuff to appreciate on all of these records. Absolutely. I think we. We hit some high points on miu. I've already identified a few high points on this record, and there's a couple more to come. But, I mean, in general, their hit rate is just not gonna be quite as high as most other artists.

[Evan]

It's also, like, a huge part of being in a group versus being a solo with, like, Lou and John, where, like, you have, you know, a solo artist or Bob Dylan. It's like, yeah, you're gonna make a record, okay? So, like, you're gonna throw together some stuff that maybe is just odds and ends if you need to. But there's. Most of the time, if you're trying it all, there's, like, some ideas, and then there's some that really work, and then there's some that are attempts that don't quite work. But when it's a group of people, it's like, you might just get a bunch of attempts that don't work just because the odds are, like, not in your favor. Honestly, if you really are intent on giving everybody a moment or even a few moments, whereas one person doing, like, 10 songs, the odds are one of those is going to be great. If they're an artist that has that in them.

[Ian]

I mean, it's. I wouldn't even say that, you know, the music's gonna be better necessarily that way. I think it's just. It's more likely to be a cohesive vision. Whether or not the vision is successful, that's another question. But it is coming from one individual, and they get to decide this is what this record is about at this moment in time. And so much of the time in the Beach Boys, especially as we've gotten into the back half of the 70s. It's so many competing visions of what the band used to be, wanted to be, wants to be in the future is right now. And it just, you know, so rarely kind of locks together in a cohesive way. And it's also worth noting at this point, like, really, like, we're through all the good shit with the Beach Boys. There's plenty of other really, really great shit in the future, mostly coming from, like, Brian. Like, Brian himself as a solo artist in Van Dyke Parks. There's even some Carl solo records that are pretty fun, but, like, as a. As a functional unit, the Beach Boys, it's just like it is getting worse, and it's going to continue to get much worse on into the future. And there really is not like a time out of mind or a lulu or even a nookie wood in the future from these guys. Maybe a nookie wood, I guess. Yeah, maybe a nookie wood.

[Evan]

That's about as good as optical illusion.

[Ian]

Okay, well, Sumahamma, you know, it's.

[Evan]

It's. I think it's. It's interesting that we're talking about, like, when ideas are there but don't work versus when an idea. Idea isn't even there because. Say what you will about Sumahama, but this is an idea.

[Ian]

It is an idea.

[Evan]

This is an idea. This is like the first actual idea on this record almost.

[Ian]

And it is. And it is a Mike Love number, of course.

[Evan]

Oh, is it ever?

[Ian]

Yes, it is. It's a tribute to the beautiful land of the Far east, the Orient, the land of the rising sun. Funnily enough, part of this song was inspired by a woman to whom Mike was engaged at the time, who he had met in Japan. That's.

[Evan]

Is she Japanese?

[Ian]

She is not. She's Korean.

[Evan]

Okay. All right.

[Ian]

So this whole song is about Japan. And I think Mike even does some pidgin, Japanese speaking, in the middle of it. And he's writing all that about his soon to be Korean wife.

[Evan]

Well, I would just say that there's plenty of Japanese music that kind of does like, sort of fake English or attempts at that. Like, I think it's an equal opportunity thing and that it goes both ways. Like. Sure. So I want it in. In his defense, just point out that, like, plenty of stuff in. And Korea too. Like, that's sort of adopting English and maybe not who. I don't know if how. Well he's doing it on. I don't know how. If it's any different really. It's just like oh, cool. We will make a cool rock song. Like people or Mike love being like, I want to make a beautiful Japanese song. Japanese song.

[Ian]

That's perfectly fine.

[Evan]

The Oriental song.

[Ian]

Yeah, that's perfectly fine. To do. You know, this is the same compulsion that he has at this moment in time on Bells of Paris.

[Evan]

Exactly.

[Ian]

Another citizen of the world.

[Evan]

I like both of these. I wish that there was just like a Come fly with me, but it was Mike where. It's just every. Every song is like, you know, whether it's like autumn in New York or moonlight in Vermont. It's like Sumahama and what's the bells of Paris.

[Ian]

Belles of Paris. Yeah, Maybe, you know, going to Acapulco. Cover from him too.

[Evan]

Yeah. I mean, I like this sort of Mike love.

[Ian]

Cosmopolitan.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

I mean, jet set lifestyle. Mike love. It's something.

[Evan]

I don't hate this song.

[Ian]

I mean, I think it's ridiculous. Yeah, it's ridiculous. It's fun. It's like kind of catchy. And it's like very stupid. I don't hate this as much as Bells of Paris. It's. I mean, it's ridiculous. And you know, the fucking chiming, you know, rice patty sounds that is going on here. It's preposterous. But.

[Evan]

And that he's actually doing like Japanese.

[Ian]

Yes.

[Evan]

Which is just really funny to hear.

[Ian]

Soko Wako Hutsuri.

[Evan]

It's probably even worse if you do it.

[Ian]

What is he saying? He's saying it's where the lovers walked hand in hand Beautiful white beach. When, when, Mama? When will you ever go again To Sumahama? Go searching for the past love a long way off sea Sumahama.

[Evan]

So Sumahama, is that even a real place?

[Ian]

It's a place, Yeah. I think it's a place, sure. All right, well, Japan is it though? Yeah. Beach in Kobe province.

[Evan]

All right. Beach in Kobe. My friend basically lives over there, so I'll ask him about it.

[Ian]

All right. Maybe you'll go back to Suma.

[Evan]

Maybe someday I will go back to Sumaham. This is like Bob Dylan saying, like, maybe one day I'll reclaim my heart.

[Ian]

My heart. The rock garden. Yeah, I love it. It is the same year on. It's 1979. This was the year of quirked up white boys getting drawn into the land of the rising sun. Okay, so here's the show.

[Evan]

This is the stupidest shit they've maybe ever done.

[Ian]

Oh, well, I mean, if by stupidest, as long as stupidest isn't like a pejorative term here, then I can agree with you there, but Here Comes the Night.

[Evan]

I mean, the least amount of mental effort. This is like purely physical. Like, there is not a thought. They didn't have to think at any point in making this. Like, this is just like, well, what is the disco stuff sound like now? All right, how do we. How can we do that? And then they went and, you know, moved the body in the right ways at the right times. And then that sound started to be recorded and then they were like, well, do we already have a song lying around that we can sort of do this with? And then they were like, yeah, we. In fact, we do. It's a song from a few. Several records.

[Ian]

One of your other favorite records.

[Evan]

Yeah. So it's Here Comes the night, which.

[Ian]

11 minute extended disco version of Here Comes the Night.

[Evan]

Here Comes the Night from Wild Honey.

[Ian]

The one and only.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Yeah. I love this. You can't.

[Evan]

Why.

[Ian]

You can't hate it.

[Evan]

I mean, I don't hate it, but, like, I don't.

[Ian]

I mean, listen to it. It's. I mean, it's absurd on its face.

[Evan]

It's like 11.

[Ian]

It is literally 11 minutes. Yeah. To me, it's best understood not as a Beach Boys song because I don't really think any Beach Boys even participated in the making of this song besides Carl, who, honestly, holding it down as the vocalist here.

[Evan]

Well, with the vocoder, it could have been. Not Carl. And we wouldn't know hardly for most of it.

[Ian]

He's got some tude. I think he's nailing it. But this is the. I mean, this is what Bruce was brought in to do here. And Mr.

[Evan]

Pipeline.

[Ian]

Mr. Literally Pipeline. He did this on. On his own record with.

[Evan]

With.

[Ian]

Not only with Pipeline, but with Deirdre the Disco. Deirdre Crystal.

[Evan]

Deirdre Crystal. Pepsi. Deirdre. Yeah.

[Ian]

And that's. That's what he's been brought in to do here with Here Comes the Night. Someone at the record company thought this was going to be successful and this was the new direction to chart for the Beach Boys. And I get, you know, I think looking back, like, you can kind of understand because, like the Bee Gees, for instance, you know, had recently reinvented themselves as white boy disco superstars, you know, on the back of like, Saturday Night Fever. And they went on to a very successful career operating in that realm. So it was like, you know, it worked for them. There's nothing else going on in the Beach Boys universe at the moment. It's Sumahama and good timing and full sail so might as well just, you know, throw a dart at the dartboard and see if it somehow hits a bullseye.

[Evan]

Yeah, I thought when I was listening to this, it would have been really inspired. It would have been great for this to have been like in licorice pizza or something. Like a movie like that. I forget what year that takes place.

[Ian]

But the PTA movie.

[Evan]

Yeah, I could see this popping up in a PTA movie and it being really funny.

[Ian]

This is what they should have been listening to. I mean, this is 1979. This is what they should have listening to at the Boogie Night scene. When it goes from 1979 to 1980.

[Evan]

Yeah, I can't imagine that the rights would have been too expensive. I mean, maybe they are just because it's the Beach Boys. But anyway, yeah, I mean, this is not.

[Ian]

Again, it's not a Beach Boys song. It is an adaptation.

[Evan]

It's like a remix.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's an adaptation of a song that was originally written by the Beach Boys and recorded on Wild Honey, played by a bunch of session musicians and extended into this preposterous 11 minute disco breakdown. And then Carl is, you know, boogieing up there as the lead singer. I'm not gonna say that I'm mad that there aren't other 11 minute rewrites of previous Beach Boys great songs. Has disco. Whatever this is. I probably wouldn't say it's a great song, but it is a disco song. I'm not mad that there isn't more of that, but I am glad that there is one piece of that. Yeah, I see you. I see you over there.

[Evan]

You're down.

[Ian]

You're starting a night at the Roxbury.

[Evan]

Oh, here comes the night.

[Ian]

Yeah, exactly. Doing all right.

[Evan]

Here comes the night.

[Ian]

Come on. This is. I mean, it's ridiculous, but I can't help but love it when I listen to it. But it's what makes this record, this record to me more than any other songs, just completely shameless. You know, this is so quintessentially Beach Boysian, you know, willing to just throw away any sort of sense of fidelity to their old music and what they had accomplished before for just the faintest glimmers of commercial relevance at this time. That's why we love them. That's why I love them. In Laced.

[Evan]

We also love Baby Blue, which usually on this program when we're talking about.

[Ian]

Baby Blue, Beloved character.

[Evan]

I think we're talking about the Bob Dylan song Baby Blue.

[Ian]

But I think this is the same person.

[Evan]

Yeah, it's a different song. About Baby Blue character before it's all over now or it's after? I think it's after it's all over, it started anew. Here we are. This is just another, you know, it's like a sort of misty number.

[Ian]

It's a Dennis, folks. Yeah. I'm not gonna go to bad for Baby Blue. I think of the three dentist contributions on this record, this is clearly the weakest.

[Evan]

Baby blue eyes.

[Ian]

Baby blue eyes I love you New I hold you in my dreams tonight hold you until morning light. You know. You know what we're working with here. I think the toughest part with this song is that it's just like. It is a complete just u Turn from the 11 minute Here comes the night disco remix into this song. And that's really why I think this record was treated as a failure. And people didn't dig it is because there's just. There's so much different shit on this record and it does not cohere or conjure at all. And that can work in some cases. But like in this case it like that works on the White Album because that's sort of the concept behind the White Album. This is not. It's not working here.

[Evan]

It's just so weird that like there's, you know, I can't shake the like the specter of adult child being like this thing of like genuine inspiration and interest on the part of Brian. And like just to. There's. There are consequences to killing something. Like you don't just kill something and then go about your life as if that didn't happen. You have. You have murdered somebody's art. And then you are just like walking around. You're a murderer and there's blood on your hands when you make your next record. And guess what? The person who you just did that to, like they're not gonna be what they were. They're not going to necessarily be able to do what you count on them to do. And then you're left alone. Like if this were a grab bag White Album thing, but you had grab bag white songs where it's like Brian occasionally popping up with a genuinely inspired oddball number, it would be a better record. I mean just out of sheer interest value. But they. That has been destroyed. Like that possibility has been maimed. And so you don't even get to have like a couple of interesting things popping up. The last gasp of that was on the last record where they salvaged. Hey, little Tom.

[Ian]

Salvaged. Yeah, that's an interesting word there. They.

[Evan]

They will. It's yeah. They managed to find the one thing that they shouldn't have found and. And save it. And here they, you know, don't even tap him for any of that stuff again. They're just throwing songs like Baby Blue that are, like, kind of poking around somewhere in a junk drawer, which, you know, it's not like it's the worst song ever, but it's. It's forgettable.

[Ian]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, this record kind of ends on a whimper rather than a bang. After the. After the disco. Here comes the night because south of the Border does not. Or going south.

[Evan]

South of the border.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Down Mexic way.

[Ian]

This is not that. This isn't. This is another kind of formless, meandering song, but instead of a Dennis. Formless, meandering song, it's a Carl. Formless and meandering song.

[Evan]

Maybe I'll go to Florida or Mexico or something.

[Ian]

He sounds nice.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

I'd like to hear Carl sing a song, but, you know, I don't know.

[Evan]

Yeah, this is. It's sleepy.

[Ian]

Yeah. I just. I don't. I'm. I'm. I'm so pumped when I'm listening to Here Comes the Night. And then it just, like. I'm like Wile E. Coyote. I run off the fucking cliff and, like, I just. I don't even realize that I've run out of road until, you know, I look down and then I just plummet, you know.

[Evan]

San Juan Capistrano.

[Ian]

Yeah. Yeah. It's nice. It's kind of moody. There's some cool horns, a little vibey.

[Evan]

This is where you're really getting some of that produced by Bruce Johnston flair, that Bruce Johnston sound.

[Ian]

Yeah, this is. This does stink of Bruce. Anyways, I love that picture of him and Roy Orbison that I sent you the other day. That's a very good thing to see. It just. You could. Honestly, any picture of Roy Orbison with another musical artist just brings a smile to my face. I'm just always delighted.

[Evan]

Yeah. My favorite one still being the one where he's, like, in the shadows in the background.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Smiling.

[Ian]

The Wilburn. He's Polaroid.

[Evan]

Yeah.

[Ian]

Boy. Imagine the Bruce Johnston Wilbur's universe. That. That could have been something. Bruce Wilbury and then.

[Evan]

Doug Wilbury.

[Ian]

Doug Wilbury. Exactly.

[Evan]

Stupid shortening bread. Okay, so when I said that, there's no gasps, really, of any kind. This is, you know, this is sad. This is, like. To have this shortening bread here just feels like it makes me sad.

[Ian]

Yeah. I don't like it. It's. I Mean, it's indecent to.

[Evan]

It's indecent to include this shortening bread. Like, it's. Yeah, it's actually kind of in inappropriate to include this shortening bread.

[Ian]

Yeah, it's. I mean, it's still catchy and still good if you just listen to it in a vacuum. But compared to the adult child version, it's, you know, it's neutered. And particularly just sticking it at the end of this record is. It's. It's. It's offensive to Shortening Bread. But it wouldn't be the first time that the Beach Boys were offensive to some of the greatest music that Brian Wilson. Well, no, no, but it's offensive to Brian. This is Cabanessence at the end of 2020. This is, you know, Mama said at the end of Wild Honey. This is what they always do. They take a little snippet of Brian's beautiful, magical music that they prevented him from listening from releasing, and then they just, you know, literally tack it on at the very end of this record to get an extra two minutes of runtime.

[Evan]

Yeah, I think that that's. That kind of sums it up where that, that. That is not right to do with this song, especially though, not with Shortening Bread. Because, like, Shortening Bread is like semi sacred to Brian as like just a pure. Like a joyful totem. Like something that he seems to have clung to and gotten him through hard times just by, like, sheer will of keeping some kind of a happy jingle in his head. And then it's just like, we're gonna tack it on.

[Ian]

Bastardized.

[Evan]

So what do you think of this record in relation to MIU album?

[Ian]

Ultimately, I do think this is a better record or I enjoy it more. It's more uneven than miu, but I think as we documented on that conversation, I don't really vibe with a lot of the vision that Mike and Al and the Maharishi had for the Beach Boys circa 1978.

[Evan]

And this, the Maharishi had some real influence. So he's like, why don't you guys do.

[Ian]

Come Go with me. Come go, Peggy sue, the Maharishi's favorite song, Peggy Sue. And so this record, you know, is uneven and a mess and filled with kind of forgettable tracks. Filled out with forgettable tracks. But I think there are high points on this record. Good timing, Lady Linda. Here Comes the Night. And I guess Sumahama, as stupid as it is, yeah, the high points on here reach higher points than anything on miu. Really does. For me, I'm Guessing you like MIU more.

[Evan]

I don't know that I like MIU more. In some ways, I think MIU is more. It's more cohesive, but it's also more bland overall. At least just by the fact that they're kind of scrounging around on this record for stuff to put on it. It's kind of a knocked out, loaded versus down in the groove debate.

[Ian]

Sure.

[Evan]

Like, sure, you constantly going back and forth. But, like, which one is actually worse? Like, it's hard to say.

[Ian]

They're equally bad in different ways.

[Evan]

I. I would say knocked out, loaded being like the Miu maybe, and down in the groove being the LA light, where it's like one feels like more transparently cobbled together, which if the material is like. If we're talking about, oh, the material isn't strong overall, I guess I lean toward the cobbling, the more obvious cobbled together because that's. That's just a little bit, you know, it. I was saying at the start that it's like kind of got the new morning thing. I'm talking a lot about Bob Dylan here. But, you know, the. The thing of presenting a record as if you knew what you were doing with it and that, like, oh, yeah, this all belongs here together. I think MIU and this both kind of, like, don't know what they're doing, but maybe this one is a little bit more forgivable just because the presentation is, like, kind of sillier. Like it. It's got light in the title. I mean, it doesn't take itself so seriously as far as, like, what you're looking at when you see it on the shelf or.

[Ian]

No, no, it's a more interesting package, I think, ultimately. And it has better songs on it. And really, I think there could have been a. I mean, Miu came out in 78, this came out in 79. Obviously, Miu, like we said, is the last record with Warners, and this is the first one with cbs. So it wouldn't have ever worked out where it was just gonna be one record. But I do think between the two records there is like a, you know, 10 or 11 song package that would be like a quality, you know, just actually good record that they would have been able to make at this moment in time. But they were, you know, unfortunately, they had to make two records instead of one. And so both of those records are filled halfway with just kind of bullshit.

[Evan]

So what did I. I said one star for miu. Yeah, these both get one star.

[Ian]

Yeah, this is a one star I mean, this is not a two star record and it's not a zero star because it is something I like more than Miu. So per the limitations of three star system, that means it's gotta be a one.

[Evan]

Well, what's next? What's the next album?

[Ian]

Well, this is actually. I think tomorrow. Actually, I'm looking at the calendar right now. We should be announcing finally formally.

[Evan]

Oh, yeah.

[Ian]

Wow. Our upcoming summer miniseries. Because we're in the pits with the Beach Boys. And so it's hard to retain listener interest, perhaps when it's. Everything we're putting out is just dog shit.

[Evan]

Yeah, we gotta take them off the bench.

[Ian]

That's right. So Beach Boys, we're gonna relegate to just the public free episodes over the summer. And a new. What are they saying in terms of Smash Brothers new Challenger. New challenger. Challenger approaches, right?

[Evan]

Yeah, I think so.

[Ian]

Yeah. He will be taking the point of pride on the Patreon.

[Evan]

It is a man. So if you are upset with our choice of having other man on the program as the subject, then, sorry, but he's a man who. He's a certain kind of man. He's a certain kind of man. And you're about to find out. And I think you'll. You. You might already know what kind of man he is. He's. He's actually pretty. Pretty vocal about being a certain.

[Ian]

A certain type of man. Yeah, you know, there's. There's one particular, you know, instrument, in fact, that he.

[Evan]

All right. This is Joker, man.

[Ian]

Yeah.

[Evan]

Goodbye.

[Ian]

Stick with us.

[Evan]

I feel confident you know that stuff. See, when you write, sometimes writers will write. Just cram a song out and bang it out until they have it with me. I am an impulsive person and I'll be doing something. See you later. Then I'll go into an artistic thing in the piano. It'll all start to happen. I don't believe in sitting down and cranking them out because just with me, it doesn't satisfy. I know a lot of people say, well, what do you think your next one will be like? You know, in that you can't really give an answer, you know what I mean? Until it's done. Then you say, well, that is what I was talking about two weeks ago.

[Ian]

You know.

[Evan]

I mean, Carl, it's embarrassing. Here I am wrapping my head off, you know, it's one of those things. Oh, God, you are so great. I like food, creative food.