(editor’s note – no ex post facto proof for Jim Photoglo)

Beach Boys mix good, bad vibes

by Steve Webb, The Knickerbocker News, September 2, 1981

The Beach Boys represent such a major part of popular and rock music, youth culture and youth in general that one tends to root for the group to succeed in concert. Any sign of the original members’ aging is a sign we’re all aging, and that realization has little to do with anyone’s need to hear “I Get Around” or “Help Me Rhonda” again.

The group’s performance at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center Tuesday was attended by the smallest crowd ever to attend a Beach Boys concert there, approximately 9,300. The threat of rain kept many away, which was too bad since the show easily outdid the band’s 1978 SPAC appearance.

It was a decent show — not a great one by any means, but solid. Mike Love offered his usual mixture of nasal lead vocals and cheerleading. Dennis Wilson was his usual uninvolved self as drummer and occasional pianist, and Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston supplied the foundation of generally tight vocal harmonies.

Missing was Carl Wilson, usually the most polished performer on stage. In lieu of Carl’s role, the band’s father figure Brian Wilson offered the most involvement area audiences have ever seen from him. He sang lead on three songs, although with a much rougher voice than he had 15 years ago.

The band was at its best instrumentally, an area where it has sometimes suffered in the past. Johnston’s efforts to tear down the previous wall of sound on tour have succeeded, giving the extended funk introduction to “Do It Again” and two oldies medleys room to develop. (Brian’s piano part on the former makes it worth recording live again.)

Several songs, however, were mired in rhythm problems. Dennis left the stage more than once, and when there would seem to intentionally throw the band off on transitions between stanzas and bridges and so forth.

But when they were hot, the Beach Boys exhibited that something special. “In My Room” had a much fuller feeling to it than in previous shows. Brian took advantage of the erratic rhythms in “Surfer Girl” to throw in some vocal counterpoints that startled even his fellow members.

Then there was “God Only Knows.” Carl sang the lead part on the record, and Brian sang it here. He had previously honked his way through “Sloop John B,” but in this case he offered a heartfelt, albeit raspish, recitation that made the song sound new.

The lack of new material is still irksome, a result in part of the band having no new album out. Four songs in the 27-song set were recorded by the band after 1968. Among those, two were written by Chuck Berry and one, “Back in the USSR,” by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The remainder, “Sail on Sailor,” was sung by auxiliary drummer Bobby Figueroa.

And the show survived on effective, if somewhat unpolished, renditions of its oldies. “I Get Around,” “Help Me Rhonda” and the surf and car-song medleys all held up well, and nobody seemed to miss such previous Carl-sung staples as “Heroes and Villains” and “Darlin’.”

So despite longing to hear some different songs — “All Summer Long” would sound fine right about now, or how about “The Warmth of the Sun” or the more recent “Disney Girls” — the Beach Boys come across on a positive note, months away from their 20th anniversary together.

The Post-Star, September 1, 1981

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