The Beach Boys - 1968-12-01 - London, UK (SBD)

Beach Boys
1968-12-01
The Palladium
London, UK
Soundboard Recording
320 kbps
Artwork Included

01. Wouldn't It Be Nice
02. Darlin'
03. Sloop John B.
04. California Girls
05. intro
06. Do It Again
07. intro
08. Wake The World
09. intro
10. Bluebirds Over The Mountains
11. God Only Knows
12. intro
13. Good Vibrations
14. Barbara Ann
15. intro
16. All I Want To Do

The Beach Boys - 1968-12-01 - London, UK (SBD)

Beach Boys - 1968 - #1:  For The Beach Boys, the period 1967 to 1968 was the most difficult time in the band's history to that point. Tensions were high between Brian Wilson and other members of the band as Wilson, determined to create an album comparable to The Beatles' Rubber Soul and Revolver, pushed the band's music in new directions. Recording sessions for the album, Smile, drove further wedges between Wilson and the rest of the band, who felt the new music was far too complex and removed from the band's established style. Mike Love in particular felt that the Beach Boys would lose their core audience if the band continued to follow Brian's new musical direction. Eventually, Smile was shelved and Brian suffered a complete nervous breakdown.  The late 1967 album releases, Smiley Smile and Wild Honey failed to excite critics or fans.  Their 1968 album, Friends, became the groups first disc to fail to crack the Billboard top 100.  That same year, Denis Wilson found himself briefly working with with Charles Manson, whose followers would commit the horrific Tate-LaBianca murders.  The band also was forced to cancel 24 concerts that year, due to poor ticket sales. The Beach Boys reputation in the states had never been lower, with fans believing that the surfer image simply was not in step with the more psychedelic music of the day. Yet, despite the issues at home, the band's image abroad remained strong. In late 1968, the Beach Boys traveled to London whee they played 2 sold out shows.  This soundboard recording captures the first show, on December 1, 1968, 51 years ago today at the Palladium. Download this one, then come back on December 8 for the 2nd part of this Same Tour, Different Show entry.