Customer Reviews

Beach Boys Concert / Live London

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

What the hell does someone from Chelmsford know about surfing anyway? ;) These 2 albums give you a taste of both their Beatlemania-like phase in 1964 and their post Pet Sounds creative path. There is one song on here that makes the whole package worth buying and that is the special stereo live version of "I Get Around". It is the only way to hear that particular song in stereo and it sounds awesome- only missing Carl's solo in the middle. Don't knock them for "covering" "Little Old Lady From Pasadena" either! Brian not only wrote it he sang on it too- that's his falsetto on the original Jan and Dean recording. Same with "Surf City". And Mike Love still plays both with his touring Beach Boys and they both sounded great. It's great to hear the Beach Boys in their prime with all of the girls screaming and with Brian still on stage belting out the high notes. But it is also great to her the "Live In London" era as well... also sold as "Beach Boys'69". Carl soars on "Darlin'" and you get to hear some of that cool stuff from albums like "Friends" as well.

Having had the Beach Boys "Live in London" recording as an LP in the nineteen seventies and loved it, I was delighted to see it available on CD and bought it to replace my now obsolete vinyl. The plus is that the CD includes the tracks from the Beach Boys first album to go number one, "Concert" (1964), in addition to the tracks from their live shows in London, circa 1968. The CD also two bonus tracks and a comprehensive liner.

This is a great CD. Listening to it makes one understand why the Beach Boys remain one of the most popular American groups of all time. It also contains my favorite song by them, "Darlin'", which I believe to be one of the best songs written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. It is also the song that jump starts their "Live in London" segment of the CD.

Not all of the songs on this CD were written by the Beach Boys, but that does not detract from the quality. On the contrary, it is great to hear the Beach Boys with their signature sound, interpreting such classics as the Freshmen's "Graduation Day" and Dion's "The Wanderer."

If one could have only one Beach Boys CD, this would be it!

Lots of ink has been spilled over the decades regarding the BBs; they were the greatest vocal band ever, and show here that they also dizzied an audience just before and just after their heyday as American pop trailblazers. Concert ('64) was the first live album released by a rock & roll group, and went promptly to #1. It featured the mayhem of the crowd, the charm of the band, and the typical post-production sweetening most groups require. Live In London ('68) is one of the best live records ever, and certainly the best by the BBs. With a horn section and a few support players added, the late 60s BBs were more popular outside the states than inside. This sample of their European tour set shows why. The band is in top vocal and instrumental form, promoting their more recent work (Calif. Girls was the "oldie" they sang, from only 3 years earlier), and providing the record-buyer with a double whammy of the a capella "Hearts Were Full" and the definitive live take of "God Only Knows". A must for the casual and hard-core fan alike. - Sean-Michael Lyons

Here's a fun concert two-fer from The Beach Boys, recorded in two very different times, but both still deliver "Fun, Fun, Fun" to their worldwide fans.

"Beach Boys Concert", which was recorded in 1964 around the time when Beatlemania was obliterating everything in its path, relies mostly on cover songs by other groups but it's still lots of fun hearing The Beach Boys (with Brian Wilson still a full-time touring member) putting their own personal stamp on these songs.

Sure, there was a lot of crowd noise (with Dennis Wilson the sex symbol, would you really expect otherwise?!?) so much so that the group had to rerecord their vocals just to be heard, and if you listen closely to "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "I Get Around" the studio backing tracks were used instead of the live tracks, probably due to out of tune guitars.

For those who have the 1990 CD reissue of these albums, "Johnny B. Goode" sounded horrible, probably mastered from a "duophonic stereo" vinyl copy. Here, it's mastered from the original stereo master tape and results are amazing; I thought I was listening to a different recording of the song. Quite a revelation.

"Don't Worry Baby", recorded from the same concert, is included here as a bonus track. For those looking for more songs from this concert check out the box set "Good Vibrations 30 Years Of The Beach Boys" which include a handful of songs (mostly their own compositions) from the venue. It's well worth it!

"Live In London", recorded in late 1968 and released around the world shortly after (we Americans had to wait until 1976 for it!), has Bruce Johnson replacing Brian Wilson and features songs from their recent releases. Lowly regarded as "surfing Doris Days" in America, they deliver to a very receptive British audience a strong performance with Mike Love hamming it up between songs (he could've toned it down a notch or two). It's nice to hear songs like "Bluebirds Over The Mountain" and "Aren't You Glad" along with the usual crowd pleasers.

The last track on the CD is "Heroes And Villians" recorded live in 1967 for a live album called "Lei'd In Hawaii" that was canceled. Brian Wilson is featured here and his performance is incredible. Come on, Capitol. Get with it and release the whole concert already!!!

Highly recommended for those who think that The Beach Boys were "only a studio group and not very good live". Millions of fans worldwide know otherwise.

This CD features two live albums by the Beach Boys.

Beach Boys Concert was recorded in 1964 in Sacramento. It features the Beach Boys original lineup of Brian, Carl, Dennis, Mike and Al. Brian stopped going out on tour shortly after this. The group sounds good, if a bit sloppy at times, and the audience is frequently too loud. The songs consist of five Beach Boys originals, and eight cover versions of other people's songs. There are a few odd song choices, including "Long Tall Texan" and "Monster Mash", of all things.

Live in London was recorded in 1968. At this time, the touring group was backed up by several other musicians, including a horn section. This gave their live performances a "fuller" sound, and allowed them to play the songs closer to how they sounded on their records. Unlike their first concert album, this one doesn't feature any songs that they hadn't previously recorded.

There are two bonus tracks on the CD. "Don't Worry Baby" is an outtake from the show that was recorded for their first concert album. "Heroes and Villains" is from the unreleased live album called Lei'd in Hawaii.

This CD gives you an idea how the Beach Boys sounded during two different time periods. They sounded good, but not as good as they did in the recording studio.

I'll leave the reviews of the "Concert" (1964) album to others. Its been covered. What is worth noting, its Live In London is a cracklin' HOT album. Super Tight renditions of the faster paced tunes especially. "Darlin" is worth double the price of admission alone! The only tragic thing about the entire Live In London set is that it isn't 36 tracks long by itself !!!

The 64 stuff is fine for what it is. The added track should come at the end of that sequence, rather than after the 68 concert. That's the only thing that mars the London set. It was fanatstic, with the horns adding a lot.

This twofer CD pairs a 1964 Sacramento, CA concert with post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys outings: "Live in London" was actually from an August 12,1968 Finsbury Park show and a December 1,1968 London Palladium show according to David Leaf's liner notes. If you've seen footage of early Beatles performances (suit era), you have a good idea what to expect on the 1964 show. Lots and lots and LOTS of hormone-fueled teen girl screaming (the notes point out that some vocals were re-recorded in studio because the singing was drowned out at times..). The sound quality on the London set is much better. I'll repeat another reviewer's critique of the sequencing...the 1964 bonus cut of "Don't Worry, Baby" would make more sense at the end of the 1964 material....instead of after the London set with the other bonus track.

HIGHLIGHTS:
"In My Room" comes out well in concert and the girls are more subdued making it one of the more listenable tracks. Surprisingly, a surf number I didn't find that interesting on the studio album COOKS here:"Let's Go Trippin'" is a tour-de-force for Carl and the band. "Fun,Fun,Fun" sounds near studio quality live, but for whatever reason (mastering error?) Mike Love sounds VERY nasal and highpitched.

On the English set, the live "Sloop John B" is reinvented with some frenetic energy into the 2nd chorus. Once you get past the annoying Mike intro, the live version of "Wake the World" is nice, keeping the harmony and melody while investing it with more energy than "Friends" studio version. If you ever doubted that the Beach Boys are great pure singers, the acappella rendition of the Four Freshmen's "Their Hearts were Full of Spring" should lay that to rest. The live "God Only Knows" succeeds thanks to an especially wonderful Carl vocal. "Barbara Ann" reminds us that the band can be a GREAT rock and roll act instead of just clever studiocraft.

LOW POINTS:
A completely over-the-top Mike Love on "Long Tall Texan". Did we NEED to hear the BB sing "Monster Mash?" (though they were clever enough to change the line about the "Crypt Kicker Five" to the "Beach Boy Five"). Their version of Jan and Dean's "Little Old Lady from Pasadena" is tepid. "Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow" is sabotaged by a bad vocal mix (WAY too much Mike) although Brian's high "papa-papa-ooooooh" nearly salvages it. "The Wanderer" won't make anyone forget Dion's version (I have to believe the girls are screaming for Dennis himself..and not his singing here...though that would improve down the line). Where on EARTH did the guitar solo go in "I Get Around"? Vocal mix on "Johnny B. Goode" REALLY sucks on my 1990 version (You can hardly HEAR the vocal, though I've heard it's cleaned up on the 2001 reissue).

The version of "Wouldn't it Be Nice" on "London" besmirches a classic.

BOTTOM LINE:
The first part of the disc is definitely diehards only...or for someone who actually saw them live at the time to recreate the experience. It's not for everyone. The London show holds up much better with the sound quality decent most of the time and some of the performances genuinely wonderful. If you find it at a good price, it's worth having, but if you're only getting ONE live show from the band, get the 1973 "In Concert" (ASIN B00004U66Q) instead.

The Beach Boys' first live album, Concert, is a good effort, but as with most of the live albums released in the mid 60's, it is marred by poor production and too much crowd noise. But throwing that away, the album is a fun collection of Beach Boys originals and cover that shows off the band's live prowess. Some songs like the meticulously produced "In My Room" and "I Get Around" lose a little something done live, but others like "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Little Deuce Coupe" work great. The cover songs actually are the best on the album including a ripping "Papa Oom-Mow-Mow", a bizarre "Monster Mash" and a reverently "Johnny B. Goode". The album surprisingly became the band's only number one album of the 60's. Live In London was recorded in 1969, but was unreleased until 1977. The songs are done quite well, but there are some unnecessary album tracks from Friends & 20-20 that they were touring in support of at the time. The standout tracks include "Do It Again", a soaring "Wouldn't It Be Nice", "Don't Worry Baby" and a gorgeous rendition of "God Only Knows".

The Beach Boy Concert was one of my first albums.
I remember it to be a poor quality recording.
This CD was much improved and I have enjoyed listening to it.
The liner notes give a little color to each song, which made them much richer.
It was fun listening to how much the BB had changed and how much they hadn't, between the 2 live performances.
I am glad I purchased it