50th anniversary: Beach Boys ‘do it again’

The Californian band is reuniting to celebrate their 50th anniversary with a new album and a long world tour in 2012.

LOS ANGELES:

Iconic 1960s Californian band the Beach Boys are reuniting to celebrate their 50^th anniversary with a new album and a long world tour in 2012, the group announced.

The original members of the band whose hits include “Good Vibrations” and “Surfin’ USA” — who fuelled reunion talk when they
recently re-recorded “Do it Again” — had already been in the studio working on songs for the new album. They will perform at the annual Grammy awards show in Los Angeles in February, before launching their tour in New Orleans in April.

“This anniversary is special to me because I miss the boys and it will be a thrill for me to make a new record and be on stage with them again,” said core band member Brian Wilson, announcing the reunion on their website. Mike Love, a founder member of the band with his three cousins Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, said the idea came when they got together to re-record “Do It Again” at Capitol Records, the label which launched them five decades ago. “Brian and I wrote that song which went to number one in Britain, Australia and
elsewhere some 44 years ago.  Brian paid me a compliment
saying, ‘How can a guy sound that great so many years later?’

“Later on, while working out some harmonies on a new song Brian had written, I got a chance to return the compliment. And he said: “Music has been the unifying and harmonising fact of life in our family since childhood. It has been a huge blessing that we have been able to share with the world.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to do it again?  Absolutely!”

The band, famous for their close vocal harmonies, was formed in 1961 by the three Wilson brothers, Love and friend Al Jardine, while Bruce Johnston and David Marks, who joined later, will also be part of the reunion. Their 1966 album Pet Sounds is widely seen as one of the most influential rock records of all time, and their other hits include “Wouldn’t it be Nice?”, “Barbara Ann,” “California Girls” and “God Only Knows.”

Published in The Express Tribune, December 21^st, 2011.