For the reason that Seashore Boys are one of many handful of finest rock teams in historical past and that is their dwelling city, it’s no surprise they obtained a collection of standing ovations over the weekend on the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Although the group performed the Whisky just a few nights final fall, the Saturday evening live performance was in an actual sense a homecoming for the group that popularized Southern California women, browsing and different teen-oriented actions through the Sixties.
Together with report producer Phil Spector, the Seashore Boys had been a very powerful and everlasting power in rock music within the Sixties earlier than the rise of the Beatles and the numerous different English teams. Brian Wilson, the Seashore Boys’ chief, captured teen themes and moods higher than anybody since Chuck Berry.
Although Brian watched all of it from the wings Saturday (he has not been an everyday member of the Seashore Boys’ live performance lineup for years now), the remainder of the Seashore Boys went by means of a few of their early hits (corresponding to “I Get Around” and “Good Vibrations”) and a few of their more moderen recordings for practically two hours, having fun with all of it apparently as a lot because the capability viewers.
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Since then, solely The Band, maybe, has come near the graceful use of concord in rock. Equally, the Seashore Boys have an instrumental self-discipline that permits them to combine the normal rock unit (drums, bass, guitar) with piano and a five-piece brass part completely. The main focus within the Seashore Boys’ music is all the time crisp. The songs transfer ahead with financial system and path. There isn’t any flashy, self-defeating, self-indulgence within the music.
Whereas the early songs proceed to obtain the best viewers response (there have been viewers requests for “Surfin’ U.S.A.” all evening), the Seashore Boys have moved ahead steadily because the mid-Sixties when their “Pet Sounds” album turned a mini-classic. The group’s present “Sunflower” album was named one of many yr’s finest by a number of rock reviewers.
However the group continues to have an identification disaster. The issue is that a big share of the rock viewers continues to think about the Seashore Boys prior to now tense. Many of the post-”Pet Sounds” work has gone unheard. The group’s final top-10 report was in 1966.
In latest months, the Seashore Boys (Dennis and Carl Wilson, Alan Jardine, Mike Love and Bruce Johnson) have begun an energetic marketing campaign to improve its picture. They lately toured Europe, have scheduled some key U.S. concert events (together with New York’s Carnegie Corridor on Wednesday) and plan some additional promotion of the “Sunflower” album. If the rock neighborhood (which regularly tends to pay extra consideration to new acts and tendencies than to established skills) will give them an opportunity, the Seashore Boys might make it to the highest as soon as once more.
It needs to be identified, nonetheless, the Seashore Boys had been responsible of some sloppiness Saturday. They need to keep on with enterprise between songs moderately than decelerate the pacing by pointless chatter. And, there’s no motive they need to waste time permitting Bruce Johnson to sing Elton John’s “Your Song.” The group has an excessive amount of at stake now to not make each second on stage rely.
