The Beach Boys - That’s Why God Made The Radio (2012)

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1 Think About the Days
2 That's Why God Made the Radio
3 Isn't It Time
4 Spring Vacation
5 The Private Life of Bill And Sue
6 Shelter
7 Daybreak Over the Ocean
8 Beaches in Mind
9 Strange World
10 From There to Back Again
11 Pacific Coast Highway
12 Summer's Gone



here it is with the Ad

Promo with an Ad:


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The cover art doesn't really seem like it would be real given it just says the name of the 1st single. "That's Why God Made the Radio" isn't a bad tune actually. But I am hardly expecting SMILE or Pet Sounds here. But, it does have Brian Wilson at least, so I will check it out. It drops on June 5th, same day I'm seeing Ramona Falls live.

The Beach Boys vs. The Beatles note

I am pretty sick of fans and even journalists getting this wrong.

The jousting that went on between The Beatles and The Beach Boys in the mid 60's went like this, pretty much due to the shear chronological time frame of each album's release dates.


The Beatles - Rubber Soul
Recorded: June 17th; October 12th – November 11th, 1965
Released: December 3rd, 1965.


The Beach Boys - Pet Sounds

Recorded: July 12, 1965; November 1, 1965 – April 13, 1966
Released: May 16, 1966

Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys are so impressed by Rubber Soul they go ahead and create Pet Sounds (I imagine primarily in the period of time between November '65 and April of '66 since presumably hearing all of Rubber Soul in December).


The Beatles - Revolver

Recorded: April 6th - June 21st, 1966
Released: August 5th, 1966

The Beatles, after hearing The Beach Boys Pet Sounds in May of 1966, wrote and recorded much of this album which is seen as a reaction to it.


The Beach Boys - Good Vibrations (Single)

Recorded: February–September 1966
Released: October 10, 1966


After hearing The Beatles Revolver, The Beach Boys, or rather Brian Wilson specifically reacted so strongly with trying to top that album, he wrote and had the band go through an incredibly meticulous and expensive process to make this single song.

"The production of the song is reported to have spanned seventeen recording sessions at four different recording studios, and used over 90 hours of magnetic recording tape, with an eventual budget of $50,000."

Originally, Brian Wilson never intended this to be included on a full-length LP, but in the process of making the music for Smile, and also the reaction to The Beatles Revolver, it was then intended to be included on Smile.


The Beatles - Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Recorded December 6th, 1966 – April 21st 1967
Released: June 1st, 1967

The Beatles released this as a reaction to The Beach Boys Good Vibrations, but also a follow-up to Revolver.


The Beach Boys - Smile/The Smile Sessions

Recorded: May 11, 1966 – May 19, 1967
Except "Good Vibrations": recorded February 17 – September 1, 1966
Released: November 1, 2011

So if you're one of these people who thinks Pet Sounds or even Smile was part of the jousting from Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, take a look at the actual RELEASE DATES and you may realize you're off by 1 album.

However, based on the dates Smile/The Smile Sessions were actually RECORDED, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys hadn't even heard Sgt Pepper's, because they finished recording for Smile a few weeks earlier in May.

The ole story goes is when Brian Wilson heard Revolver he freaked out so much he labored for all that time over what never got released until this year in The Smile Sessions. Then after completing work on that, he heard Sgt Pepper's and decided to give up. But it was REVOLVER not SGT PEPPER'S that inspired Smile. Sgt Pepper's was basically just salt in his already deep wound.

Whale Music (1994)

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Maury Chaykin and Cynthia Preston star in this little seen dramatic gem from 1994, that I guess is highly similar, if not almost directly influenced by Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys.

I first heard about this here and ever since then I've been rather curious to see it.

Chaykin plays a gold and platinum selling songwriter, like Wilson, whose brother (Paul Gross) died many years before the movie takes place in a slightly mysterious incident with his car driving off of a cliff on or near Chaykin's estate, which is located on or near an Ocean (the Pacific?).

Throughout the movie, Chaykin's character Desmond (or "Des") Howl is visited (well, maybe best described as traumatized) by memories and the spirit of his dead brother Daniel. Daniel had been a songwriter or at least musician in the same pop band with Des.

Early on in the movie, a young woman named Claire breaks in to his large, isolated estate and somehow manages to bring him slowly out of his shell. Des likes to dive, swim, and even bathe in a way, in what is referred to as a "pool" at his place. But really what it appears to be is a bit of an extensively designed dock (with a wall on at least 2 sides) off the body of water that his home is located off of.

But it's filthy; as it probably hasn't been cleaned for months if not years. But Des doesn't care (or notice?). Claire offers to clean it for him, and she ultimately cleans a lot of the rest of his home. A home that is worth a lot, including the extensive amount of recording equipment and instruments.

Des is composing and recording "whale music" with all his equipment. The music ultimately ends up being a way to connect to his brother's spirit I suppose.

Claire and Des do connect on many levels, even though they have much different backgrounds. They do have some qualities in common though, asd they both are misunderstood, and struggling to find out where their lives should go next. Both have some level of mental instability. But maybe misery loving company, or even misery finding misery leads to happiness and less unstable mental health.

Having read a bit more about this movie and Maury Chaykin specifically, it feels even more sad and maybe powerful in a way given he died last year, July 27th, almost one year to the day I purchased this DVD. He won a Genie? (or Gemini?) award for his role in this movie, which is I guess Canada's version of the Academy Awards. But also looking at his biography, he was a prolific actor, starting out in 1975, and working more or less up until the time he died. Perhaps more people will find this and his other work in the future and appreciate him.

I also can't help but think of some others in this story, of course one being the tragic tale of Kevin Gilbert. There is something to be said about brilliant artists having traumatic experiences to inspire their muse to greatness. Kevin had plenty of it, as did others. And the music in this movie is one of the best and most memorable parts of it. From the hook for Des's group song "Torque Torque, the beast needs more Torque" to the piece titled "Claire." And of course the actual *Whale Music* is both catchy, yet symphonic (or "progressive"?). I definitely would like to find a soundtrack from this sometime soon, and even just to find out all the people involved in the writing and recording (their backgrounds, etc).

Well recommended, especially for fans of Brian Wilson, The Beach Boys, Maury Chaykin, and anyone who knows about misunderstood artists stories.

Capital Records to release The Beach Boys "Smile Sessions"?

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In an interview with Examiner.com last week, Al Jardine let slip news that pop fans have been waiting to hear for over four decades. According to the guitarist, Capitol Records is planning to release The Beach Boys’ lost masterpiece, Smile, this summer. The album, which was intended to be the follow-up to the group’s magnum opus, Pet Sounds, was scuttled in late 1966 for a variety of reasons and has never been released to the public in its entirety. In 2004, Brian Wilson rerecorded the material as Brian Wilson Presents Smile, winning three Grammy nominations for his efforts. But until now, The Beach Boys’ version has remained on the shelf. Jardine, though, says that is all about to change.

“Capitol Records plans to issue a Beach Boys version of Smile sometime this summer to begin the celebration of The Beach Boys’ anniversary,” he said. “Smile is the Holy Grail for Beach Boys’ fans, so it will be good.”

He continued, “I don’t have many details on it, although we didn't do any new recording. I'm happy to see it finally come out. Brian’s changed his mind about releasing the material, but it was inevitable, wasn’t it?”

this would be great to have happen. Although as a friend of mine has said, Capital Records have been saying they were going to release these for decades. A bit like Chinese Democracy, but much longer.

If they do actually do come out, it'll be fun to hear them this way (compared to the bootlegs), and compare them to Brian Wilson's Smile from 2004.