Beach Boys’ cofounder reflects on career, future
Beach Boys’ cofounder Al Jardine was among the stars serenading fans at the 2024 Sunflower Festival on May 4, singing the legendary band’s classic hits “Help Me, Rhonda,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” and “Surfin’ U.S.A.”
The day before the festival, Jardine attended a benefit party in Heulo at festival producer Kerry Brown’s home. We sat on a log under a tree, where he took time to reminisce about one of America’s most popular bands. Looking forward to performing in a sunflower field, he noted, “one of our albums was called ‘Sunflower.’”
A new documentary on the band, “The Beach Boys,” will debut on Disney+ on May 24. It includes never-before-seen footage and new interviews with surviving members Brian Wilson, Jardine, Mike Love, and Bruce Johnston. The group’s original lineup consisted of brothers Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Love, and friend Jardine.
“There is some really wonderful footage of our performing,” Jardine said. “But unfortunately, Carl and Dennis are gone, so you don’t have their point of you. You have the narrative, according to Mike Love, and you have me in there somewhere in between, going, uh-hmm, sure. The truth is, we didn’t have enough content the way I would have liked to have done it. The producer did what he could, with what he had.”
Before he helped form the Beach Boys, Jardine had “started singing folk songs with the Kingston Trio. I was pretty good at figuring out three-part harmony, and then Brian Wilson comes along and teaches me. We were famous for double tracking harmonies, and the Kingston Trio did the same thing with folk music. They were just marvelous, and so we took over in a way. We actually were extensions of their careers.”
Asked whether he realized early on that Brian Wilson was a genius, Jardine said “not at all. The first song we did was a simple little tune about surfing. It was Dennis’ (Wilson) idea to sing about surfing. We were singing Chubby Checker songs on stage. We didn’t have any material. I left the band to go to school to finish my AA degree, and Brian decided to drop out and became a marvelous songwriter. I was soon to learn that Brian, indeed, was a genius. I got a call one day from the genius. He said, ‘Al, you’ve got to come back in the band. I can’t do this anymore. Can you please be at the airport tomorrow? The guys are leaving on a Midwest concert tour.’ I said, I think I can handle it. I showed up at the airport and his dad wasn’t too happy. Brian stayed home. He was afraid of flying, and he loved being home and making
music. Later in life, Brian and I went back on the road together. He loved it. He called me, ‘come out and join me.’ Neither of us were working with Mike (Love) anymore. It was a natural fit.”
The increasing sophistication and complexity of Brian Wilson’s songs perplexed many fans and even their record label. “We were a little early for the general public,” Jardine explained. “They didn’t get it. The (Capitol Records) A&R guys didn’t get it.”
Brilliant songs like “Good Vibrations” and “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “and the ‘Pet Sounds’ stuff probably should have been on a Brian Wilson solo album, because the audience wasn’t ready for us,” he said. “All those beautiful ballads, ‘God Only Knows,’ ‘Caroline No,’ ‘You Still Believe In Me,’ were a little early for the general public. They didn’t get it. The label didn’t like it.”
The lead vocalist on their hit “Help Me, Rhonda,” Jardine co-composed several Beach Boys’ gems including “Don’t Go Near the Water” on “Surf’s Up,” the “Kona Coast” tribute to Hawaii from the “M.I.U. Album,” which mentions Lahaina, and the sublime spiritual anthem “All This Is That,” with its Jai Guru Deva mantra.
The Beatles had introduced the Beach Boys to the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and Transcendental Meditation, which had a profound impact on their lyrics. “I wrote some
really good songs about it,” he noted. “One, ‘All This Is That,’ is a scriptural piece from the Upanishads. I love that.”
The Maharishi’s influence “was big time,” he said. “He initiated us at a UNICEF show.” When the curtain opened at their Paris concert, sitting in the front row were “the Maharishi and the Beatles. He put them up to getting us initiated. They were Maharishi’s instrument to get the word out around the world about TM. Get the Beach Boys because they’re really the biggest band in America.”
Unfortunately, the Beach Boys’ audience was not impressed. “We went through a depressing five or 10 years of slugging it out,” he revealed. “But now, there’s been a re-emergence. The ‘Feel Flows’ album was released dedicated to that era. I love that song.”
As a solo artist, Jardine tours with the Endless Summer Band, which includes his son Matt, and the Family & Friends show, featuring Carnie and Wendy Wilson. His solo albums include the marvelous “A Postcard from California,” highlighted by the classic Boy’s sounding “Waves of Love.”
Jardine has four new songs that he hopes to release soon. “One is a beautiful song about a soldier going off to war. Neil Young is singing on it with me. He’s the soldier. I want to get it out pretty soon before we go to war. Then there’s another song called ‘Islands in the Sun,’ which is my follow up to ‘Kokomo.’ I invited Mike to be on it several times, and neither time did he show any interest. I came up with a hell of a song. It’s all about drifting among the islands and the Caribbean and losing oneself. I’ve got Bruce (Johnston) and my son Matt and I singing the Beach Boys’ harmonies. It sounds just like the real thing.