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If one more Beach Boy leaves the group, they’re going to have remove the “s.”
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Interestingly, the lead on several of the songs (including “Help Me, Rhonda” and “Kokomo”) was sung by John Cowsill, one of the members of the ‘70s family band The Cowsills. He brought a jazzier sound to the music and made some of the more repetitive lyrics fun to hear.
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Because Cowsill and band leader Chris Farmer sang many of the high notes, the old songs sounded quite good. Love still hit the range, too, but he wisely deferred on many of the more recognizable surf, car and girl songs.
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Because Cowsill has a catalog of “remember these?” of his own, it might have been nice to give him a shot at one of them (“Hair,” perhaps?)
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Obviously Love and Johnston have figured out what works for a nostalgia show. They conjure enough memories to make the two hours entertaining, but they don’t dwell on anything long enough to make it monotonous. It’d be nice to see Jardine back in the fold but someone at least had the good sense to surround the last men standing with folks like Farmer, Cowsill and guitarist Scott Totten.
If there’s a constant here, it’s the sounds. The musicians change, but the music stays the same.
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