Brian Wilson 15/5/2016

Here's the thing - Brian Wilson can't sing. It's OK to tour based on your reputation as a songwriter and it's good to assemble a competent band but if you can't sing then you have to let someone else do the vocals. Particularly as The Beach Boys had some trademark great harmony singing on their songs. Al Jardine, another original Beach Boy was in the band and his singing was OK and complemented by some nice harmony singing from Matt Jardine but every time Brian Wilson took the lead vocal it was pretty gruesome. I enjoyed some tracks, particularly a round up of greatest hits at the end, notably 'Fun, Fun, Fun (till her daddy takes the T-bird away)' and 'Good Vibrations' and I greatly enjoyed 'Sloop John B' earlier in the 'Pet Sounds' part of the show. The sax player was good as was the lead guitarist 'Nicky Wonder' and the guest guitarist Blondie Chaplin (who was I have just learned in the Beach Boys in the early 70s) but the whole was not really viable because of the vocals. I remembered how much The Beach Boys owed to Chuck Berry. In a way they were a combo of Chuck and a vocal group such as The Inkspots. A great sound at the time but not replicated here.