On the heels of two new collections of vault material celebrating the studio outtakes from Friends and 20/20, The Beach Boys have released a further copyright extension release featuring their work onstage. On Tour: 1968 presents 114 tracks recorded on the road in summer and winter 1968.
The Beach Boys were on somewhat rocky ground in 1968. Their popularity in the rock sphere was waning and their seemingly diminishing significance in public perception came to a head when The Beach Boys elected not to play at the Monterey Pop Festival in June of 1967. At that point, many wrote them off and preferred to focus on more "serious musicians." Still, The Beach Boys continued to tour. In February, they launched a tour with Buffalo Springfield and performed between recording sessions in the spring, though many of those dates were cancelled or rescheduled.
Prior to the release of the Friends album, the band announced a nationwide tour with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi that was to include venues (mostly universities) nationwide during May 1968. However, poor sales and other personal pressures led to the cancellation of the entire tour after just five shows. The band went back out on the road in July, performing 40 dates across the U.S. and Canada, plus appearances on Dick Cavett, Mike Douglas, and The Tonight Show. The Beach Boys continued to tour the U.S. between sessions for 20/20 and, in the end of the year, began a tour of Europe. Their two December 8, 1968 gigs at Finsbury Park Astoria in London were recorded and selections were eventually released on Capitol as Live in London in 1970.
It's from the July-December gigs that On Tour: 1968 is compiled. It presents, for the first time ever, 114 recordings from that year, almost all of them previously unreleased. We hear The Beach Boys at a career crossroads, performing their golden oldies as well as the more groundbreaking material that found its way on Friends and 20/20.
The Beach Boys' On Tour: 1968 is available on digital download and streaming services now. You can find a full track list below of all 114 songs in the collection.
The Beach Boys, On Tour: 1968 (Live) (UMe, 2018) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD)
- Darlin' (Incomplete)
- Help Me, Rhonda
- California Girls
- Sloop John B.
- Surfer Girl
- Friends
- Little Bird
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Medely: Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe/Surfin' USA
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- God Only Knows
- Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- Band Instrumental
Tracks 1-16 recorded live in Chicago, IL, July 5, 1968 - Help Me, Rhonda
- California Girls
- Sloop John B.
- Surfer Girl
- Friends
- Little Bird
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Medley: Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe/Surfin' USA
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- Band Instrumental
- Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- Johnny B. Goode
Tracks 17-32 recorded live in Fargo, ND, July 8, 1968 - Darlin' (Incomplete)
- Help Me, Rhonda
- California Girls
- Sloop John B.
- Surfer Girl
- Friends
- Little Bird
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Medley: Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe/Surfin' USA
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- God Only Knows
- Band Instrumental
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- Johnny B. Goode
Tracks 33-48 recorded live in Waterloo, IA, July 10, 1968 - Darlin' (Incomplete)
- Help Me, Rhonda
- California Girls
- Sloop John B.
- Surfer Girl
- Friends
- Little Bird
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Medley: Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe/Surfin' USA
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- God Only Knows
- Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- Johnny B. Goode
Tracks 49-64 recorded live in Lincoln, NE, July 13, 1968 - California Girls
- Sloop John B.
- Surfer Girl
- Friends
- Little Bird
- Medley: Surfin' Safari/Fun Fun Fun/Shut Down/Little Deuce Coupe/Surfin' USA
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- I Get Around
- Barbara Ann
- Johnny B. Goode
Tracks 65-78 recorded live in Phoenix, AZ, July 16, 1968 - Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Darlin'
- Sloop John B.
- California Girls
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- Bluebirds Over The Mountain
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- All I Want To Do
Tracks 79-89 recorded live at The London Palladium, December 1, 1968 - first show - Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Darlin'
- Sloop John B.
- California Girls
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- Bluebirds Over The Mountain
- God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
- Barbara Ann
- All I Want To Do
Tracks 90-100 recorded live at The London Palladium, December 1, 1968 - second show - God Only Knows
- Good Vibrations
Tracks 101 and 102 recorded live at Finsbury Park, Astoria, London, December 8, 1968 - soundcheck - Darlin'
- Wouldn't It Be Nice
- Sloop John B.
- California Girls
- Do It Again
- Wake The World
- Aren't You Glad
- Bluebirds Over The Mountain
- Their Hearts Were Full of Spring
- Good Vibrations
- God Only Knows
- Barbara Ann
Tracks 103-114 recorded live at Finsbury Park, Astoria, London, December 8, 1968 - first show
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This is what I'm talking about! Much better (for me personally) than listening to a bunch of alternate mixes and backing tracks. Daryl Dragon had taken over arranging their live sound and they no longer sound amateurish like they did in 1967 (not that that was always a bad thing; it just didn't work for many songs). If you like Live in London from 1969, this is just a whole lot of that and I'm not complaining!
Sadly the Amazon UK link seems to end in a black hole.
I guess Brian wasn't along by this time ('68) as part of the "touring band". Probably why there's no "don't worry baby" on the set list. Still seems like aural gold to any music fan in general, and Beach Boys fan in particular.
So who actually played in the live band? The Cutting Crew did most of the studio work I think, and I may be wrong, but the Boys weren’t known for their instrumental prowess, were they?
I had thought I’d read that Dennis Wilson didn’t play live that much. But I could be totally wrong on that.
I’d be really happy to learn that they did play live.
The Cutting Crew were a bad 80s band. you're thinking of The Wrecking Crew. Anyway, I think the Beach Boys reputation as not being known for their instrumental prowess as you put it is a bit overblown. They played on their early-mid 60s records in a lot of cases and some of that playing was more than competent. Brian himself is a multi-instrumentalist. Brian quit the road in late 64 so he would use studio musicians to make records while the rest of the boys toured, but the Beach Boys still played on many of the records even from that period and were perfectly capable.
But to answer your question, on these recordings the band was:
Mike Love - vocals and theremin on Good Vibrations
Carl Wilson - vocals, lead guitar
Al Jardine - vocals, rhythm guitar
Dennis Wilson - vocals, drums (I love Dennis' work on these recording; simple and powerful)
Bruce Johnston - vocals, bass
Daryl Dragon (The Captain!) on organ
Ed Carter on bass and lead guitar
Mike Kowalski - percussion
and there's a horn section that's uncredited
Dennis was their primary drummer until the mid-70s when they started carrying two drummers; partly because he hurt his hand and partly because he became unreliable and partly because they brought in Ricky Fataar and Blondie Chaplin to expand their sound.
Anyway, some of my favorite Beach Boys live recordings are the copyright extension releases from 1964 and 1965, Live in Sacramento and Live in Chicago. The playing quality varies from song to song but the energy is totally there and it's the original five Beach Boys doing everything.
Hope this helps!
Wow that really helps. Thanks!
I saw this tour on 7/5/68 @ the Duluth, MN Arena, I was 12 years old. The stop before the Fargo show I believe. I liked them but was more into the heavy stuff back then. Now it’ll make a great souvenir sound. The opening acts in Duluth? Crow, The Human Beinz, & Gary Pucket & the Union Gap.
Sorry to be so full of questions, but I’m curious if anyone knows if there were overdubs done on these live recordings. I know it sounds like I’m suspicious, but I love the beach boys I just don’t know a lot about them. I’d be really interested in picking this set up if I just had a little more information. Thanks
I seriously doubt it since they weren't prepared for release at the time. Plus, since Daryl Dragon arranged the stage show, they were pretty tight. Also, the earlier Live in Sacramento and Live in Chicago copyright releases are undubbed so I assume these are too. I highly recommend listening to those as well if you haven't.
The Finsbury Park Astoria, London 2nd show is not included in this release, because it was released on "Live in London". I suspect that that show was subject of studio overdubs, but the material in the "On Tour 1968" download release is obviously 100% live; (sonic & musical) warts and all.
No, "Live In London" did not have any overdub. It was just equalized and released as is.
The 64 Concert album and '73 In Concert and Knebworth albums all have extensive sweetening,b ut not "Live in London."
Of course the live albums released in recent years (Sacramento, Chicago, Live Sunshine and this new set) have no overdubs. This new set consists mostly of two track soundboard recordings that they made just to hear themselves and see where they needed improvement; the London shows (one released on "Live in London", the other one in this set were somewhat more elaborate recordings, as they were always intended to be released.
This is still not available in Europe. 🙁
Who sings lead on live recordings of Johnny B. Goode in 1967?