"When We fell Out of Favour We Grew Up"
THE BEACH BOYS Feel Flows: The Sunflower & Surf’s Up Sessions 1969-1971(CAPITOL/UMC)
A treasure chest from the post-Smile shipwreck of Hawthorne’s finest thrilled us in 2021. AL JARDINE and BRUCE JOHNSTON receive MOJO’s laurels from BILL DeMAIN.
EVEN HARDCORE Beach Boys fans well-versed in the bounty to be found in the years of Brian Wilson’s evanescence were enthralled by the five discs of Feel Flows. But as a gratified Bruce Johnston and Al Jardine remind MOJO today, the period was anything but plain sailing for the band.
“We were just out of sync with the times,” says Jardine. “To put it in surfing terms, sometimes you catch the perfect wave and take it as far as you can go. Other times, you know you’re going to get wiped out. So you go under and start all over again.”
In late 1969, waves had submerged The Beach Boys’ boardwalk empire. No hits, no record deal, and with Brian sidelined, no creative leader. Yet they emerged from the fathoms not just with trinkets and curios, but awe-inspiring treasures worthy of Pet Sounds and Smile.
“When the famous surfer blond bushy-tailed guys fell out of favour, we grew up,” says Bruce Johnston. “And that period from ’69-71 was the highlight of my whole Beach Boy life.”
Part of growing up was balancing fun, fun, fun with work, work, work.
“Every day, we were like journeyman carpenters,” says Jardine. “We’d go in the studio and record. It didn’t matter if it was something esoteric and weird. We regenerated, reinvented. The performance band was still in bondage to doing the hits, but in the studio, we were creating music for a future. We just didn’t know the future would take quite this long to happen (laughs).”
With Brian “reclusing in his room”, as Johnston puts it, Carl Wilson stepped up as unofficial leader. “No one can fill Brian’s shoes. But Carl was able to manage some good traffic at that point. And Feel Flows is up there with The Trader as one of his shining moments as a writer.”
Meanwhile, Jardine raves about Dennis Wilson’s contributions, notably Forever and Sound Of Free. “Unfortunately, he had to compete with his brothers for track selection. But his songs were just, wow, right there, the way they hit you. He should’ve had more success than he did.”
That’s not to take anything away from their own songs. Jardine’s eco-conscious meditation Don’t Go Near The Water was prescient. “I thought maybe I should write about something more than just staying on top of the water riding the waves and instead look at what’s underneath.”
Meanwhile, Johnston’s dewy memory lane waltz Disney Girls revealed him as a keen acolyte of Brian’s orchestral pop. Of its inspiration, Johnston says, “Remember Marilyn on The Munsters? The nice, normal one. I was Mr Marilyn (laughs). I never did any drugs. I saw them undo Brian and some of my friends and thought, Oh my God. As a teenager in the Eisenhower ’50s I was the same kind of square guy, holding my girlfriend’s hand in the backseat of her parents’ car while Old Cape Cod by Patti Page played.”
Those songs and more are currently shoring up the setlists of two separate road bands. But how is touring against a lingering Covid backdrop? Johnston and Jardine’s responses reveal not only political leanings but ongoing friction. “A lot of warm bodies in those seats, dying to get out of the house,” says Johnston, who with Mike Love – and Love’s son Christian – leads The Beach Boys. “We probably lost about four or five concerts. And I’m still living.”
Jardine, who’s out with Brian Wilson and Blondie Chaplin, says, “It’s crappy. The demographic of our band and bands like the Stones are down about 50 per cent, because they don’t want to come out and get exposed. It would be better in this day and age if we could all be together on the same stage at the same time.” And with The Beach Boys’ 60th anniversary coming in 2022, could that reunion perhaps happen? Jardine: “Brian’s people want it. I want it. I’m sure Bruce does. So it’s really up to Mike, if he wants to join the party or not.” Johnston says, “I asked Mike about it and he said, ‘Maybe we’ll do a concert or two together. Who knows?’”
“I think he’ll come around at some point,” Jardine says. “We should do at least a dozen big shows in the major capitals. I mean, why can’t we put the fans ahead of us for a change and give them what they want?”