C50: Red Rocks

'Sup everybody. Here's a full audience recording from a 50th anniversary concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre, Colorado. Totally inexplicably the first disc is in 256k mp3s and the second disc is in flac - I'll update the first disc next opportunity I get. Enjoy!

Download disc 1 (167mb)
Download disc 2 + images (438mb)

Brian Wilson - Royal Festival Hall, 2002

Here's a Brian show from 2002 with an incredible setlist - "Busy Doin Nothin'", "Cabinessence", "The Night Was So Young", "Melt Away", and the entireity of Pet Sounds - all here, just to name a few. Audio quality isn't the best, but nothing that'll put you off hearing all these deep cuts live.

Download here (150mb, 160kb/s mp3s)

Enoshima Beach 1979 (On The Beach) FLAC

Concert at Enoshima Beach, August 4th 1979. All in FLAC, so if hearing "Sumahama" live in the best possible condition is a thing you'd be interested in:

01. California Girls
02. Darlin'
03. Little Deuce Coupe
04. In My Room
05. Good Timin'
06. Sumahama
07. Help Me Rhonda
08. I Get Around
09. Surfin' USA
10. Good Vibrations
11. Fun Fun Fun

Download here

Live in Central Park - September 1, 1977

Here's one of the more controversial concerts, at a tense time for the band; it was performed on the same day as an alleged shouting match between the Wilson brothers and Love/Jardine, which almost turned into a fist fight. They played pretty good though.

Download here (192k mp3s)

Live in Michigan - November 17, 1967

I noticed the general lack of live shows on the blog due to a focus more on the studio side. So, we've been gradually attempting to remedy that recently, and we shall continue to do so for a bit, so look for some cool live shows in the future.

This pre-Wild Honey release show is heavy on the Wild Honey material; 4 of the 11 tracks hail from the yet-to-be-released album, so there's bound to be some flubs on the band's part. Carl, who takes lead on about the half the show, frequently forgets the new lyrics. Oh, well, at least he sounds good doing it.

The set list is strong and concise, and the band blasts through the 11 songs at a nice clip. The recording is also sonically good as well, which is surprising for a concert recording from 1967 (it's a soundboard). Also included is a seemingly rare performance of "How She Boogalooed It".

This concert is definitely worth your time, and you can find the whole shebang right here.

Get Lei'd

The story is an odd one. Smiley Smile is unleashed upon the public, the Beach Boys commence touring, and Brian decides that he's going to show up again. Upon Brian's insistence, his Hammond B-3 is shipped back and forth from L.A. to Hawaii, although the plan to distribute ukuleles to the audience is scrapped. 

After some rehearsals (which are included), concerts are taped for release (both are included), but the performances are found... not up to snuff. The Beach Boys head to Wally Heider's studio to record their selections from their setlist in their new, stripped down fashion (these are also included). 

This entire project is ultimately scrapped and the band swiftly moves onto the wonderful Wild Honey.

This is unfortunate, as these revamped versions of the familiar tunes are quite beautiful. The songs are incredibly tender and airy, by simply pairing down the arrangements and softening their vocal deliveries, they create entirely new songs. Sadly, these arrangements were never revisited. The gentleman who supplied us with the 1972 mono mix of Pet Sounds had a very apt description of "California Girls" when I shared it with him, saying that "Mike sounds like he's floating in the sky." Indeed.

I would advise you to seek out the officially released recordings, which sound markedly better than these bootleg versions. If I recall, they're on various two-fers, Rarities, Good Vibrations: Thirty Years of the Beach Boys, and Made in California. These don't sound bad, mind you, but the actual, released versions sound fuller.

Here's a folder with a collection of all the released recordings. Pick yourself out sumthin nice.

The distinction between these bootlegs can get convoluted, so here it is sorted for you:

Aloha from Hawaii (And Hollywood)

• Live at the Honolulu International Center, August 25, 1967
• The "live-in-the-studio" rehearsals at Wally Heider's Studio, September 11, 1967

Lei'd in Hawaii Rehearsal

• Pre-show rehearsal on August 25, 1967
• Some random, unrelated studio outtakes
• A live show from 1963
• Two drunken performances from Carl in 1978 in Sydney (you know the one).

Live 1967-08-26 - Honolulu

• The live show from August 26, 1967
• Has the one-off "Hawthorne Boulevard"

Live from Nassau Coliseum, 1974

A show from the Nassau Coliseum, 1974 - here are some details. No "Fun Fun Fun" unfortunately... :(

Disc 1
01. Wouldn't It Be Nice
02. Sail On Sailor
03. Funky Pretty
04. Marcella
05. California Saga: California
06. We Got Love
07. Little Deuce Coupe
08. The Trader
09. All This Is That
10. Feel Flows
11. Surfer Girl
12. God Only Knows
13. Heroes and Villains

Disc 2
01. Don't Worry Baby
02. Sloop John B
03. Help Me, Rhonda
04. I Get Around
05. Good Vibrations
06. California Girls
07. Barbara Ann
08. Surfin' USA

Download here

The Live Box (1965-1968)

Two shows in Michigan, plus rehearsals and radio spots!

Download here (320kbps mp3s + artwork)

Live in Princeton, 1971 (Surf's Up In Prinston)

Live show from Princeton University, 11-11-1971, which originally had a quite hilariously incorrect tracklist (noted).

01. Good Vibrations (originally listed as 'Good Vibration')
02. Don't Go Near The Water (originally listed as 'Don't Go Near The Weather')
03. Darlin'
04. Wouldn't It Be Nice
05. Long Promised Road
06. Student Demonstration Time
07. Disney Girls (originally listed as 'Disney Girl')
08. Take A Load Off Your Feet
09. Sloop John B
10. Surfin' USA
11. It's About Time
12. Cool Cool Water (originally listed as 'Cool Cool Weather')
13. Lookin' At Tomorrow
14. Caroline, No
15. God Only Knows
16. Surf's Up
17. Medley (Cottonfields, Heroes and Villains); Encore (California Girls, I Get Around, Help Me Rhonda, Fun Fun Fun) (originally listed as 'Medlley' with 'California Girl', 'I Got Around' and 'Help Me Rdnnda')

Download here

Live in Seattle, 1970

Hello, again.

This is sort of an infamous show and quite hard to find nowadays. 

Mike Love took ill with his apple juice diet and wasn't able to make it to the show. So, little ol' Brian Wilson was there to step in for him. 

The set list is great, as are most from this time frame (maybe it's just my preference) and I find the performances are pretty good, too. Although, the recording is quite shoddy and detracts from the quality. However, it is quite the oddity in their concert performances and it's interesting to hear Brian live while still in good form.

So, this is another you may not always want to come back to, but it's great that this recording actually exists and I'm happy to finally have it for myself and be able to spread it along to others who may want to hear this.

Here it be.

01. Intro

02. Do It Again

03. Darlin'

04. Surfer Girl

05. Sloop John B

06. Help Me, Rhonda

07. I Can Hear Music

08. Wouldn't It Be Nice

09. Add Some Music To Your Day

10. Cottonfields

11. God Only Knows

12. Barbara-Ann

13. The Nearest Faraway Place

14. Good Vibrations