The Beach Boys still get around, despite years of bickering and lawsuits. Now consisting of singer Mike Love and guitarist Bruce Johnston, they are at Casino Rama tonight.
When they started out in the early '60s, The Beach Boys were on a par with The Beatles in terms of hit albums and singles such as Good Vibrations, Fun, Fun, Fun and California Girls.
While the Fab Four had their share of personality differences before they broke up in 1970, theirs pale in comparison to the recent messy history of The Beach Boys. The band's discography is only rivaled by their recent lawsuit-ography.
The band's first tragedy -- aside from Brian Wilson's breakdown and years of being a recluse -- was the passing of drummer Dennis Wilson in 1983. In 1994 Love sued Brian Wilson over royalties from some 79 songs Love claimed to have co-written with him. Love prevailed in that dispute.
In 1998, guitarist Carl Wilson passed away from lung cancer. Since that time, Love and guitarist and singer Al Jardine have been involved in a number of lawsuits over usage of The Beach Boys name and trademark. Last October, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected Jardine's appeal against Brother Records -- the owner of the trademark -- regarding the dispute.
It all makes for a rather sad ending for such an important group.
"Well, I'm sure it hasn't helped it any," Mike Love says on the phone before boarding an airplane Tuesday afternoon. "But with Brian travelling and doing shows, and me travelling with Bruce and doing The Beach Boys, there are a lot of positive things going on out there.
"Ultimately, the lasting nature of the songs is pretty phenomenal. When the lights go down and the show starts, people are curious to see if we sound like we did on the record. The average person going to Casino Rama probably has other things in life that they're more concerned about" than the lawsuits.
Love says he's happy to see Brian Wilson on the road again. Wilson will begin a North American tour later this year that will feature a reworked version of SMiLE, an album that was considered "lost" after being scrapped following sessions in 1966 and 1967. Wilson is set to perform at Toronto's Massey Hall on Oct. 6.
Love, who was against the album's release 37 years ago, says he hasn't heard the new version yet.
"When I was asked by Rolling Stone what I hope the album would do, I said, 'Well I hope it creates smiles all around,' " he says with a laugh. "But I haven't heard anything so I wouldn't know what to say to that."
Another thing he hasn't heard about is the upcoming Broadway production, Good Vibrations. And he also says he hasn't heard Wilson's new studio album Gettin' In Over My Head, featuring collaborations with Paul MacCartney, Eric Clapton and Elton John.
"It's nice to see Brian getting busy. He's doing something productive. Brian and I wrote some very big hits together and we're able to perform them still to this day. That's kind of a miracle in itself.
"I had to sue Brian nominally because the credits are with him. That wasn't because of Brian, but the attorney that was advising him wrongly. Even on the witness stand he was saying, 'Yeah, he (Love) wrote that.' It was pretty classic."
Love says he would enjoy working with Wilson again, but doesn't see that happening in the near future. There's a better chance of that happening than with Jardine though.
"Well, when Al stops suing us we can talk, but with Brian, yeah!" Love says.
"I'm always up for writing with Brian because he and I go back so far and know each other so well. If you look at the success of The Beach Boys' music and the songs we co-wrote that are still being played, it would indicate that there's chemistry there. That's the kind of chemistry that doesn't go away with time."
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