A Grammy Salute to the Beach Boys

The music of the Beach Boys will be enjoyed by all for a long, long time. This show threw many talented people together to perform the Beach Boy music in a way that they themselves never could. One comment of concern. Why isn't a DVD of this show readily available to purchase by the millions who would do so. I have such a DVD but it took me a year to track it down. In particular, the performances of My Morning Jacket, Beck and Jim James together, Luke Spiller, and Little Big Town took the Beach Boys music to a higher level. Who am I kidding? They all did. The backup singers should be named because they were so good. They were Baraka May, Steve Mackey, and Kara Britz. Finally, one more time, GET THIS SHOW ONTO A DVD FORMAT AND BE PREPARED TO SELL MILLIONS OF COPIES!

The music of The Beach Boys is timeless. Not only does it reverberate through modern cultural as much--if not even more sometimes--as it did in the 1960s/70s, but through continued touring the group has as many young fans as "seasoned" ones! This Grammy Salute to "America's Band" is a great tribute to their sound and legacy via more modern artists.

I won't list them all here--you can see all the names in the cast list--but this TV special is absolutely chock full of musical legends covering all genres. This provides a lot of unique takes on the sounds that Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, and the rest of the original crew conjured up. There is not a bad performance here and a little bit of everything (classics, Pet Sounds, Smile, etc.) in The Beach Boys canon is covered.

Not only are the tributes great, but this is the first event in 20+ years in which Wilson, Love, & Jardine are in the same place at the same time (old tensions have kept that from happening until now). It was wonderful to see contemporary artists look up and wave at these idols while singing their songs!

Truth be told, the only thing keeping this special from a higher rating from me was some technical issues with the CBS broadcast itself. Though not live (this was pre-recorded), the mouths/actions of the vocalists were noticeably off--delayed--from the actual music/lyrics being heard. Not a deal-breaker by any means, but certainly annoying. Also, there were a few times where I felt like the audio quality was maybe not the greatest. I'm sure it was far more rich/vibrant actually in the room (though I suppose that is the case for most concerts).

Technical foibles aside, however, "A Grammy Salute to The Beach Boys" was a great show that had me singing along and/or tapping my foot almost all the way through. The music here will live on far after its creators and even current fans, but it was nice to see this tribute in front of the surviving members of The Beach Boys themselves. What a moment that must have been for them!

This is not for you if you are expecting a documentary where you get to relive the stories AND hear the beach boys sing.

If however you want to hear contemporary (and i need you to understand that i view most musicians as talentless hacks in 2023), and have them murder your cherished memories, then by all means watch this.

I'd arguably throw and exception out for Leanne Rimes who can, and has always been able to, sing. I wouldnt give you $1 for the rest of them....

I skipped fomr one "performance" to the next and kep thoping there would be signs of a bell curve and someone would redeem this grim spectacle, but alas, no such luck.

My advice to you, as your doctor, is to take any Bech Boys CD, even a compilation one from the $2 bin at KMart, and put that on instead of whatever this thing is....

They say you should never meet your heroes, well im going to create a new syaing here now and say sometimes you should never try and salute them either.....

1 star for Leanne Rimes.

This show was absolutely perfect. Thank you to whomever put it all together. Please sell the video. I would love a copy. Please make one and let me know where I can get it.

To Leanne Rhimes, your performance was perfectly haunting. All the guest stars were so gracious and their performances were magical. You could see how grateful the Beach Boy members were that were sitting in the balcony. And to see how the Beach Boy songs can spread across such a large age group. They can truly inspire all. Such a treat to have been able to watch this. From a life long Beach Boys fan. Love you guys! You will always be in my heart.