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M.I.U. Album

M.I.U. Album is the 22nd studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys, released on September 25, 1978. Characterized for its easy-listening sound, the album was produced by Al Jardine and touring member Ron Altbach during one of the most acrimonious periods in the band's history. It sold poorly, peaking at number 151 in the U.S, and was met with confused reactions from critics and fans.

M.I.U. Album
Studio album by
ReleasedSeptember 25, 1978[1]
Recorded
  • October 1976 ("Hey Little Tomboy")
  • November 1977 – June 1978
Studio
Genre
Length32:19
LabelBrother/Reprise
Producer
The Beach Boys chronology
The Beach Boys Love You
(1977)
M.I.U. Album
(1978)
L.A. (Light Album)
(1979)
Singles from M.I.U. Album
  1. "Peggy Sue" / "Hey Little Tomboy"
    Released: August 28, 1978
  2. "Come Go with Me"
    Released: November 2, 1981

The album was created to fulfill contractual obligations to Reprise Records after the group had shelved Adult/Child. It was largely recorded in late 1977 at its namesake: Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa. Only Jardine, Mike Love, and Brian Wilson appear consistently throughout the album, with Carl and Dennis Wilson's contributions confined to a pair of tracks. Brian was credited as "executive producer". It includes the songs "Hey Little Tomboy", the only track salvaged from Adult/Child, and "My Diane", written about Brian's affair with his sister-in-law, as well as cover versions of the 1950s hits "Peggy Sue" and "Come Go with Me".

M.I.U. continues to be widely regarded as one of the worst Beach Boys albums.[3] In 1981, "Come Go with Me" reached number 18 when it was issued as a single from the compilation Ten Years of Harmony. In 1998, several songs that were intended for the unreleased album Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys, which was produced during the M.I.U. sessions, were released on the compilation Ultimate Christmas.

Background edit

At the beginning of 1977, the Beach Boys had enjoyed their most lucrative concert tours ever, with the band playing in packed stadiums and earning up to $150,000 per show.[4] Early that year, Brian Wilson produced Adult/Child, which would have been their final record on Reprise, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.[5] It was largely recorded by Brian with Dennis and Carl while Al Jardine and Mike Love were preoccupied elsewhere.[6] In Love's case, he had been ensconced at a six-month Transcendental Meditation retreat, called "the TM-Sidhi program", in Vittel, France and Leysin, Switzerland,[7] where he studied levitation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.[8][9][nb 1]

Concurrently, the band were the subject of a record company bidding war, as their contract with Warner had been set to expire soon.[11][12] Band manager and business advisor Stephen Love arranged for the Beach Boys to sign an $8 million deal with CBS Records on March 1.[13] Biographer Steven Gaines writes that Warner "knew of the CBS deal" and were "so disgusted with the band at this point" that the label refused to promote the group's forthcoming album, The Beach Boys Love You.[11] Within weeks of the CBS contract, Stephen was effectively fired by the band, with one of the alleged reasons being that Mike had not permitted Stephen to sign on his behalf while in Switzerland.[14][nb 2] Mike and Jardine also vetoed the release of Adult/Child due to its bizarre content and the commercial failure of Love You, issued in April.[16]

Stephen's replacement was entertainment business owner Henry Lazarus, who arranged a major European tour for the Beach Boys starting in June.[17][nb 3] The tour was cancelled prematurely, as Lazarus had failed to complete the necessary paperwork.[18] This resulted in the group being sued by many of the concert promoters, with losses of $200,000 in preliminary expenses and $550,000 in potential revenue.[19] In August, Mike and Jardine persuaded Stephen to return as the group's manager,[20] a decision that Carl and Dennis had strongly opposed.[21][20] On September 1, the internal wrangling came to a head after a show at Central Park, when the band effectively split into two camps: Dennis and Carl on one side, Mike and Jardine on the other, with Brian remaining neutral.[22][6] By then, the two opposing contingents within the group – known among their associates as the "free-livers" and the "meditators" – were traveling in different planes, using different hotels, and rarely speaking to each other.[20][nb 4]

On September 2, Mike, Jardine, and Brian met with Stephen at their hotel in New York and signed the documents necessary to officially appoint him as the Beach Boys' manager.[20] The next day, after completing the final date of a northeastern tour, a confrontation between the "free-livers" and the "meditators" broke out on an airport tarmac during a stopover in Newark.[24] Dennis subsequently declared to a bystanding Rolling Stone journalist that he had left the band.[25] In a follow-up interview, Love denied that the group had broken up, but Dennis maintained, "I can assure you that the group broke up and you witnessed it."[25] However, the group were still legally obligated to deliver one more album to Warner.[26][27] Two weeks later, on September 17, the band members, their lawyers, and their wives reconvened at Brian's house,[28] where they negotiated a settlement resulting in Mike gaining control of Brian's vote in the group, allowing Mike and Jardine to outvote Carl and Dennis on any matter.[6]

Style and production edit

Iowa sessions edit

 
Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, where most of M.I.U. Album was recorded

To satisfy the terms of their contracts with Warner and CBS, the Beach Boys intended to record two albums – one for Warner and the other for CBS – at Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa.[29] Mike chose this venue to keep members of the band away from their drug suppliers in Los Angeles.[27][nb 5] At MIU, the group and their family members took residence in the university's circular dorm rooms,[29] and attended meditation classes and meetings.[31] The recording sessions lasted from November 7 to December 4, 1977.[10] AFM documentation indicates that Carl visited on two days,[10] while Dennis, who was busy promoting his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue,[32] played drums on an early session for "She's Got Rhythm".[10]

 
Brian Wilson (pictured 1977) was reported to be "miserable" throughout the M.I.U. sessions and had resented collaborating with Mike Love on most of the album's songs.

The album was produced by Al Jardine and, from the group's touring band, keyboardist Ron Altbach.[27] Gaines writes that the atmosphere was similar to when the group recorded their 1973 album Holland, "only worse."[29] According to Love, Carl and Dennis "took the whole experience [...] as a personal affront, and they came and went with little interest in the music. Brian was with us but miserable throughout."[30] Brian's bodyguard Stan Love described the overall proceedings as "torture. Agony. Like being put right in the middle of nowhere, frozen and cold and small, with only one decent restaurant in town. Brian was putting in his time, but he wasn't too happy. He was depressed and on medication. We passed the time playing Ping-Pong."[29] Stan added that Wilson did not want to produce his bandmates because he resented them personally. In particular, "Brian didn't want to write with [Mike] anymore, but of course Mike tried to hang on, doing his arrogant pressure trip on him."[33]

In a 1995 interview, Brian stated that he could not remember making the album, claiming that he had gone through a "mental blank-out" during this period.[34] He was credited as the album's "executive producer", but according to biographer Peter Ames Carlin, the credit was likely for contractual reasons.[2] Carlin characterizes the record as having "a generic easy-listening sound, heavy on the tinkly keyboards and sweeping strings, with nary a trace of Brian's ear for quirky texture."[2] It included the Love You outtake "My Diane",[35] sung by Dennis, and written by Brian as an expression of anguish following the end of his affair with his sister-in-law, Diane Rovell.[36]

Discarded tracks and further recording edit

Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys was the other album that the band produced at these sessions, consisting of reworkings of tracks that had dated from the early to mid-1970s, as well as alternate Christmas-themed versions of songs from M.I.U..[37] Biographer Timothy White reported that Winds of Change and California Feeling were both working titles for M.I.U..[38] According to music historian Andrew Doe,

[F]or the longest time, it was accepted that the band recorded the seasonal set first and when that was (rightly) rejected, they reworked some of the tracks into another album, California Feeling (which evolved into M.I.U. Album), but research into the sessions held at MIU reveals that songs from both albums were recorded in tandem, often at the same session, and that the California Feeling album was assembled at the end of 1977 back in Los Angeles. Confusing, to say the least.[39]

On December 13, 1977, the band held a session – for the vocal to "My Diane" and a Toys for Tots PSA – at Kaye-Smiths Studios in Seattle that was filmed for the television special Our Team.[10] Intermittent sessions for M.I.U. – specifically, for the tracks "My Diane", "Belles of Paris", and "Winds of Change" – continued at Brother Studios and Wally Heider Recording from February 22 to June 28, 1978.[40] The outtakes "Our Team" and "Egypt" (also known as "Why?")[41] were released on the box sets Good Vibrations (1993) and Made in California (2013), respectively.[39] Still-unreleased tracks include "Beach Burlesque", "Go and Get That Girl", "How's About a Little Bit of Your Sweet Lovin'?", "Mike, Come Back to L.A", "Basketball Rock", "Bowling", "I Really Love You", "It Could Be Anything", "Rubles", "Ride Arabian, Ride", "TM Siddhi Program", a demo of "Almost Summer", and other tracks related to the Merry Christmas album.[41]

Release edit

 
The Beach Boys performing a concert in Michigan, August 1978

Music journalist Richard Williams reported, "Love and Jardine tried to offer M.I.U. Album to Epic [sic], as the first delivery under their new deal. That they were turned down, on grounds of quality, is a tribute to Epic's discretion."[42]

Lead single "Peggy Sue" was issued in the U.S. in August and peaked at number 59.[26] M.I.U. was released in September and reached number 151 in the U.S, becoming their first album to miss the UK chart completely since The Beach Boys' Christmas Album (1964).[43] The Jardine-led cover of the Del-Vikings' "Come Go with Me" became a U.S. No. 18 hit in late 1981, when it was released as a single from the Ten Years of Harmony compilation.[44]

Critical reception edit

Contemporary professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Sounds     [45]
Retrospective professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [1]
Blender     [46]
Christgau's Record GuideC[47]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music     [48]
MusicHound Rockwoof![49]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide     [50]

M.I.U Album was met with confusion from critics and fans,[51] and continues to be widely regarded as one of the Beach Boys' worst albums.[3] According to music critic Nick Kent, the album was so "dreadful" that its "pitiful content" was ignored by critics.[52] Upon release, Rolling Stone's Tom Carson stated,

M.I.U. Album seems contrived and artificial right from the start. The tracks strive to recapture the dreamy, adolescent innocence of the Beach Boys' earliest hits, and fail not so much because the concepts are dated but because the group can't infuse the new material with the same sense of grandeur that made the old songs such archetypal triumphs. [...] Throughout, the lackluster playing and singing has a melancholy edge, almost as if the Beach Boys are fully aware that they've outgrown this kind of teen fantasy, but can't think of anyplace else to go.[53]

Vivien Goldman of Sounds found the album to be "magic" and added that she "played it non-stop, even if it seemed a baffling sconed adolescence" before concluding, "If there weren't some weirdo psychological reason, how could I get so involved with lyrics that one part of mind is consciously stating: this is moronic drivel?"[45] Richard Williams, who had championed the Beach Boys' work in the 1960s, wrote a negative review which stated, in part,

How tragic that Brian is saddled with other people's imagination, that he should be reduced to the role of a hack, setting his impassioned melodies and arrangements to laughably juvenile lyrics....those songs of which Brian has sole charge exemplify his dilemma: he is obviously encouraged to deliver the adolescent pap of "Hey Little Tomboy", so that the dark emotions and warm textures of "Diane" are thrown into even higher relief. Should you choose to ignore the rest of the album, at least hear "Diane" and be assured that the spark still glows.[42]

In his 2006 biography of Wilson, Carlin referred to it as "the most cynical, spiritually void work the group ever produced", a "gruesome album", and perhaps "one of the worst records ever made by a great rock band."[54] AllMusic's John Bush stated, "The mainstream late-'70s production techniques are predictable and frequently cloying. M.I.U. Album also included several of the worst Beach Boys songs ever to make it to vinyl. [...] Compared with what had come before, M.I.U. Album was a pathetic attempt at music making; compared with what was to come however, this was a highlight."[1]

Conversely, Jeff Tamarkin, who wrote liner notes for the album's CD reissue, decreed that the album "stands on it's [sic] own as a lovely, unique work."[51] In 1981, Robert Christgau called the album "dumb [...] despite a lot of fairly pleasant music and a few passable songs".[47] Reviewing the album's 2002 reissue, The A.V. Club's Keith Phipps stated, "M.I.U. is competent enough, but it's also the sound of a group buying into its own mythology, a retrograde salute to the pinstripes and sunshine image it had abandoned years before."[55]

Legacy edit

Reflecting on M.I.U. Album in a 1992 interview, Mike Love opined that "there's some neat gems there but there wasn't a coherence."[56] Asked about the album in a 1979 interview, Dennis Wilson said, "I hope that karma will fuck up Mike Love's meditation forever. That album is an embarrassment to my life. It should self-destruct."[3][57]

Track listing edit

Track details per 2000 CD liner notes and the Winter 2023 issue of Endless Summer Quarterly.[51][58]

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1."She's Got Rhythm"Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Ron AltbachB. Wilson and Love2:27
2."Come Go with Me"C.E. QuickAl Jardine with Love2:06
3."Hey Little Tomboy"B. WilsonB. Wilson, Love and Carl Wilson2:25
4."Kona Coast"Al Jardine, LoveLove and Jardine2:33
5."Peggy Sue"Buddy Holly, Jerry Allison, Norman PettyJardine2:15
6."Wontcha Come Out Tonight"B. Wilson, LoveB. Wilson and Love2:30
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Lead vocal(s)Length
1."Sweet Sunday Kinda Love"B. Wilson, LoveC. Wilson2:42
2."Belles of Paris"B. Wilson, Love, AltbachLove2:27
3."Pitter Patter"B. Wilson, Love, JardineLove and Jardine3:14
4."My Diane"B. WilsonDennis Wilson2:37
5."Match Point of Our Love"B. Wilson, LoveB. Wilson3:29
6."Winds of Change"Altbach, Ed TulejaJardine and Love3:14
Total length:32:19

Personnel edit

Credits sourced from Craig Slowinski, John Brode, Will Crerar, Joshilyn Hoisington and David Beard.[58]

The Beach Boys

  • Al Jardine – lead (2, 4, 5, 9, 12) and backing vocals (all but 3), electric (4, 9) and acoustic guitars (2, 8), tack piano (2), bass guitar (2, 3?, 10?), handclaps (1, 2, 5), fingersnaps (2), glockenspiel (2), vocal arrangements
  • Mike Love – lead (1-4, 6, 8, 9, 12) and backing vocals (all but 3), handclaps (1, 5)
  • Brian Wilson – lead (1, 3, 6, 11) and backing vocals (all tracks), piano (1, 6-8, 10, 11), tack piano (3), electric piano (9), electric harpsichord (5), Minimoog (3), handclaps (1, 5), vocal and horn arrangements
  • Carl Wilson – lead (3, 7) and backing vocals (2, 3, 5, 9, 10), 12-string electric guitar (1, 6, 9), electric guitar (3), handclaps (1, 5)
  • Dennis Wilson – lead (10) and backing vocals (3, 10), drums (3, 5, 10), additional drums (1)

Touring musicians

  • Michael Andreas – saxophone (1, 6, 11), flute (1, 12), horn arrangements
  • Ron Altbach – piano (12), electric piano (1, 4, 6-9, 11), accordion (6), ARP Omni (1), vibraphone (3, 4, 10, 11), xylophone (4), trombone (1, 12)
  • Lance Buller – trumpet (12)
  • Gary Griffin – electric piano (4), organ (1, 6, 7, 11), Minimoog (3, 6), tubular bells (1), string arrangements
  • Ed Carter – electric (1, 6, 7, 11) and acoustic guitars (8), bass guitar (3?, 4, 8, 9, 10?)
  • John Foss – trumpet (1, 12), flugelhorn (12)
  • Billy Hinsche – backing vocals (10), electric guitar (10)
  • Mike Kowalski – drums (1, 3, 4, 6-9, 11, 12), congas (1, 11), bongos (1), sleigh bells (1, 3, 4, 6, 9), tambourine (7, 10), shaker (3, 11), guiro (3, 11), wood block (12), tubular bells (8), mark-tree (9, 11)
  • Charles Lloyd – flute (12)
  • Charlie McCarthy – flute (12)
  • Rusty Ford - bass guitar (1, 7, 11)

Additional players

  • Chris Midaugh – steel pedal guitar (4, 9)
  • Marilyn Rovell - backing vocals (6)
  • Diane Rovell - backing vocals (6)
  • Jay Graydon - electric guitars (5)
  • Frank Marocco - accordion (5)
  • Ray Pohlman - bass guitar (5)
  • Ricky Fataar - drums (2)
  • Julius Wechter - sleigh bells (5), vibraphone (5)
  • Matt Jardine - handclaps (2), fingersnaps (2)
  • Michael Sherry - handclaps (2), fingersnaps (2)
  • Richard Hurwitz - trumpet (6)
  • Raymond Brown - trumpet (6)
  • Vincent Fanuele - trombone (6)
  • Steve Douglas - tenor saxophones (5)
  • Jay Migliori - baritone saxophones (5)
  • William Collette - saxophone (6)
  • Bill Green - saxophone (6)
  • Maureen Love - harp (10, 12)
  • Roberleigh Barnhardt – string arrangements
  • Bernard Kundell, Alfred Breuning, Thomas Buffum, Herman Clebanoff, Cynthia Kovacs, Jay Rosen - violins (6, 8, 10, 12)
  • Rollice Dale, Mark Kovacs, Linda Lipsett - violas (6, 8, 10, 12)
  • Marie Fera, Igor Horoshevsky, Victor Sazer - cellos (6, 8, 10, 12)
  • Unknown - saxophones (2), strings (7, 11)

Recording engineering personnel & assistants

  • Al Jardine – producer
  • Ron Altbach – producer
  • Brian Wilson – executive producer
  • Diane Rovell – music coordinator
  • John Hanlon – recording engineer
  • Earle Mankey – recording engineer
  • Stephen Moffitt – recording engineer
  • Jeff Peters – recording engineer, final mixdown producer
  • Bob Rose – recording engineer

Artwork

Charts edit

Chart (1978) Peak
position
US Billboard Top LPs & Tape[43] 151

Notes edit

  1. ^ Mike's stay at the program lasted from January to June 1977.[10]
  2. ^ Gaines writes, "Insiders say this change in Mike's attitude occurred when he realized that the CBS contract did not have the special riders he wanted that would have allowed him to record solo albums under their label. Meanwhile, Dennis, through his friend James Guercio, was getting a $100,000 advance from CBS to record his own solo album."[15]
  3. ^ Part of the CBS deal required the group to play a certain number of concerts in the U.S., Europe, Australia and Japan.[9]
  4. ^ According to Love, "[T]he terms 'smokers' and 'nonsmokers' were also used."[23]
  5. ^ Love later wrote, "By the winter of '77, we had grown increasingly concerned about Carl and believed that a healthier environment might pull him out of his spiral. We thought it'd be good for Dennis as well. If nothing else, we figured there were fewer temptations in the middle of Iowa."[30]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Bush, John. "M.I.U. Album". AllMusic.
  2. ^ a b c d Carlin 2006, p. 225.
  3. ^ a b c Stebbins 2000, p. 175.
  4. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 217–218.
  5. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 368–371.
  6. ^ a b c Badman 2004, p. 371.
  7. ^ Love 2016, p. 423.
  8. ^ Love 2016, pp. 423–424.
  9. ^ a b Gaines 1986, p. 295.
  10. ^ a b c d e Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS77". Bellagio 10452. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  11. ^ a b Gaines 1986, p. 294.
  12. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 216–217.
  13. ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 294–295.
  14. ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 295–296, 298.
  15. ^ Gaines 1986, p. 298.
  16. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 222–223.
  17. ^ Gaines 1986, p. 299.
  18. ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 299–300.
  19. ^ Gaines 1986, p. 300.
  20. ^ a b c d Gaines 1986, p. 302.
  21. ^ White 1996, p. 321.
  22. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 218–219.
  23. ^ Love 2016, p. 428.
  24. ^ Gaines 1986, pp. 302–303.
  25. ^ a b Swenson, John (October 20, 1977). "The Beach Boys – No More Fun Fun Fun". Rolling Stone. from the original on June 24, 2015. Retrieved February 1, 2015.
  26. ^ a b Badman 2004, p. 372.
  27. ^ a b c Carlin 2006, p. 224.
  28. ^ Gaines 1986, p. 304.
  29. ^ a b c d Gaines 1986, p. 305.
  30. ^ a b Love 2016, p. 431.
  31. ^ Stebbins 2000, p. 174.
  32. ^ Stebbins 2000, p. 166.
  33. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 223–224.
  34. ^ Benci, Jacopo (January 1995). "Brian Wilson interview". Record Collector. No. 185. UK.
  35. ^ Badman 2004, pp. 368–369.
  36. ^ Stebbins 2000, pp. 174–175.
  37. ^ Carlin 2006, p. 226.
  38. ^ White 1996, p. 322.
  39. ^ a b Doe, Andrew G. "Unreleased: The Ones That Got Away..." Bellagio 10452. Endless Harmony Quarterly. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  40. ^ Doe, Andrew G. "GIGS78". Bellagio 10452. Retrieved March 30, 2022.
  41. ^ a b Doe, Andrew G. "From The Vaults..." Endless Summer Quarterly. Bellagio 10452. Retrieved March 24, 2022.
  42. ^ a b Williams 1997, p. 153.
  43. ^ a b Dillon 2012, p. 234.
  44. ^ Badman 2004, p. 373.
  45. ^ a b Goldman 1978.
  46. ^ Wolk, Douglas (October 2004). . Blender. Archived from the original on June 30, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2017.
  47. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: B". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 21, 2019.
  48. ^ Larkin, Colin, ed. (2006). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (4th ed.). London: Oxford University Press. p. 479. ISBN 978-0-19-531373-4.
  49. ^ Graff, Gary; Durchholz, Daniel, eds. (1999). MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide. Farmington Hills, MI: Visible Ink Press. p. 84. ISBN 1-57859-061-2.
  50. ^ Brackett, Nathan; with Hoard, Christian, eds. (2004). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). New York, NY: Fireside/Simon & Schuster. p. 46. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  51. ^ a b c Tamarkin, Jeff (2000). M.I.U./L.A. Light Album (booklet). The Beach Boys. California: Capitol Records.
  52. ^ Gaines 1986.
  53. ^ Carson, Tom (November 16, 1978). "M.I.U. Album". Rolling Stone.
  54. ^ Carlin 2006, pp. 224–225.
  55. ^ Phipps, Keith (Mar 29, 2002). "The Beach Boys: M.I.U. Album/L.A. (Light Album)". The A.V. Club.
  56. ^ "Good Vibrations? The Beach Boys' Mike Love gets his turn". Goldmine. September 18, 1992.
  57. ^ Williams, Richard (March 24, 1979). "Dennis Wilson Loves Christine McVie". Melody Maker – via Rock's Backpages.
  58. ^ a b Slowinski, Craig (Winter 2023). Beard, David (ed.). "The Beach Boys M.I.U. Album Vol 1". Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine. Vol. 37, no. 144. Charlotte, North Carolina.

Bibliography edit

External links edit

album, pitter, patter, redirects, here, lynsey, paul, song, storm, teacup, video, game, jojo, pitter, patter, 22nd, studio, album, american, rock, band, beach, boys, released, september, 1978, characterized, easy, listening, sound, album, produced, jardine, to. Pitter Patter redirects here For the Lynsey de Paul song see Storm in a Teacup For the video game see JoJo s Pitter Patter Pop M I U Album is the 22nd studio album by American rock band the Beach Boys released on September 25 1978 Characterized for its easy listening sound the album was produced by Al Jardine and touring member Ron Altbach during one of the most acrimonious periods in the band s history It sold poorly peaking at number 151 in the U S and was met with confused reactions from critics and fans M I U AlbumStudio album by the Beach BoysReleasedSeptember 25 1978 1 RecordedOctober 1976 Hey Little Tomboy November 1977 June 1978StudioMaharishi International University Fairfield Brother Santa Monica Wally Heider Hollywood Kaye Smith Seattle GenreEasy listening 2 Length32 19LabelBrother RepriseProducerAl JardineRon AltbachThe Beach Boys chronologyThe Beach Boys Love You 1977 M I U Album 1978 L A Light Album 1979 Singles from M I U Album Peggy Sue Hey Little Tomboy Released August 28 1978 Come Go with Me Released November 2 1981The album was created to fulfill contractual obligations to Reprise Records after the group had shelved Adult Child It was largely recorded in late 1977 at its namesake Maharishi International University in Fairfield Iowa Only Jardine Mike Love and Brian Wilson appear consistently throughout the album with Carl and Dennis Wilson s contributions confined to a pair of tracks Brian was credited as executive producer It includes the songs Hey Little Tomboy the only track salvaged from Adult Child and My Diane written about Brian s affair with his sister in law as well as cover versions of the 1950s hits Peggy Sue and Come Go with Me M I U continues to be widely regarded as one of the worst Beach Boys albums 3 In 1981 Come Go with Me reached number 18 when it was issued as a single from the compilation Ten Years of Harmony In 1998 several songs that were intended for the unreleased album Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys which was produced during the M I U sessions were released on the compilation Ultimate Christmas Contents 1 Background 2 Style and production 2 1 Iowa sessions 2 2 Discarded tracks and further recording 3 Release 4 Critical reception 5 Legacy 6 Track listing 7 Personnel 8 Charts 9 Notes 10 References 11 Bibliography 12 External linksBackground editAt the beginning of 1977 the Beach Boys had enjoyed their most lucrative concert tours ever with the band playing in packed stadiums and earning up to 150 000 per show 4 Early that year Brian Wilson produced Adult Child which would have been their final record on Reprise a subsidiary of Warner Bros 5 It was largely recorded by Brian with Dennis and Carl while Al Jardine and Mike Love were preoccupied elsewhere 6 In Love s case he had been ensconced at a six month Transcendental Meditation retreat called the TM Sidhi program in Vittel France and Leysin Switzerland 7 where he studied levitation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 8 9 nb 1 nbsp Hey Little Tomboy source source Hey Little Tomboy which appears on M I U Album was the only song salvaged from the scrapped Adult Child album 2 Problems playing this file See media help Concurrently the band were the subject of a record company bidding war as their contract with Warner had been set to expire soon 11 12 Band manager and business advisor Stephen Love arranged for the Beach Boys to sign an 8 million deal with CBS Records on March 1 13 Biographer Steven Gaines writes that Warner knew of the CBS deal and were so disgusted with the band at this point that the label refused to promote the group s forthcoming album The Beach Boys Love You 11 Within weeks of the CBS contract Stephen was effectively fired by the band with one of the alleged reasons being that Mike had not permitted Stephen to sign on his behalf while in Switzerland 14 nb 2 Mike and Jardine also vetoed the release of Adult Child due to its bizarre content and the commercial failure of Love You issued in April 16 Stephen s replacement was entertainment business owner Henry Lazarus who arranged a major European tour for the Beach Boys starting in June 17 nb 3 The tour was cancelled prematurely as Lazarus had failed to complete the necessary paperwork 18 This resulted in the group being sued by many of the concert promoters with losses of 200 000 in preliminary expenses and 550 000 in potential revenue 19 In August Mike and Jardine persuaded Stephen to return as the group s manager 20 a decision that Carl and Dennis had strongly opposed 21 20 On September 1 the internal wrangling came to a head after a show at Central Park when the band effectively split into two camps Dennis and Carl on one side Mike and Jardine on the other with Brian remaining neutral 22 6 By then the two opposing contingents within the group known among their associates as the free livers and the meditators were traveling in different planes using different hotels and rarely speaking to each other 20 nb 4 On September 2 Mike Jardine and Brian met with Stephen at their hotel in New York and signed the documents necessary to officially appoint him as the Beach Boys manager 20 The next day after completing the final date of a northeastern tour a confrontation between the free livers and the meditators broke out on an airport tarmac during a stopover in Newark 24 Dennis subsequently declared to a bystanding Rolling Stone journalist that he had left the band 25 In a follow up interview Love denied that the group had broken up but Dennis maintained I can assure you that the group broke up and you witnessed it 25 However the group were still legally obligated to deliver one more album to Warner 26 27 Two weeks later on September 17 the band members their lawyers and their wives reconvened at Brian s house 28 where they negotiated a settlement resulting in Mike gaining control of Brian s vote in the group allowing Mike and Jardine to outvote Carl and Dennis on any matter 6 Style and production editIowa sessions edit nbsp Maharishi International University in Fairfield Iowa where most of M I U Album was recordedTo satisfy the terms of their contracts with Warner and CBS the Beach Boys intended to record two albums one for Warner and the other for CBS at Maharishi International University in Fairfield Iowa 29 Mike chose this venue to keep members of the band away from their drug suppliers in Los Angeles 27 nb 5 At MIU the group and their family members took residence in the university s circular dorm rooms 29 and attended meditation classes and meetings 31 The recording sessions lasted from November 7 to December 4 1977 10 AFM documentation indicates that Carl visited on two days 10 while Dennis who was busy promoting his solo album Pacific Ocean Blue 32 played drums on an early session for She s Got Rhythm 10 nbsp Brian Wilson pictured 1977 was reported to be miserable throughout the M I U sessions and had resented collaborating with Mike Love on most of the album s songs The album was produced by Al Jardine and from the group s touring band keyboardist Ron Altbach 27 Gaines writes that the atmosphere was similar to when the group recorded their 1973 album Holland only worse 29 According to Love Carl and Dennis took the whole experience as a personal affront and they came and went with little interest in the music Brian was with us but miserable throughout 30 Brian s bodyguard Stan Love described the overall proceedings as torture Agony Like being put right in the middle of nowhere frozen and cold and small with only one decent restaurant in town Brian was putting in his time but he wasn t too happy He was depressed and on medication We passed the time playing Ping Pong 29 Stan added that Wilson did not want to produce his bandmates because he resented them personally In particular Brian didn t want to write with Mike anymore but of course Mike tried to hang on doing his arrogant pressure trip on him 33 In a 1995 interview Brian stated that he could not remember making the album claiming that he had gone through a mental blank out during this period 34 He was credited as the album s executive producer but according to biographer Peter Ames Carlin the credit was likely for contractual reasons 2 Carlin characterizes the record as having a generic easy listening sound heavy on the tinkly keyboards and sweeping strings with nary a trace of Brian s ear for quirky texture 2 It included the Love You outtake My Diane 35 sung by Dennis and written by Brian as an expression of anguish following the end of his affair with his sister in law Diane Rovell 36 Discarded tracks and further recording edit Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys was the other album that the band produced at these sessions consisting of reworkings of tracks that had dated from the early to mid 1970s as well as alternate Christmas themed versions of songs from M I U 37 Biographer Timothy White reported that Winds of Change and California Feeling were both working titles for M I U 38 According to music historian Andrew Doe F or the longest time it was accepted that the band recorded the seasonal set first and when that was rightly rejected they reworked some of the tracks into another album California Feeling which evolved into M I U Album but research into the sessions held at MIU reveals that songs from both albums were recorded in tandem often at the same session and that the California Feeling album was assembled at the end of 1977 back in Los Angeles Confusing to say the least 39 On December 13 1977 the band held a session for the vocal to My Diane and a Toys for Tots PSA at Kaye Smiths Studios in Seattle that was filmed for the television special Our Team 10 Intermittent sessions for M I U specifically for the tracks My Diane Belles of Paris and Winds of Change continued at Brother Studios and Wally Heider Recording from February 22 to June 28 1978 40 The outtakes Our Team and Egypt also known as Why 41 were released on the box sets Good Vibrations 1993 and Made in California 2013 respectively 39 Still unreleased tracks include Beach Burlesque Go and Get That Girl How s About a Little Bit of Your Sweet Lovin Mike Come Back to L A Basketball Rock Bowling I Really Love You It Could Be Anything Rubles Ride Arabian Ride TM Siddhi Program a demo of Almost Summer and other tracks related to the Merry Christmas album 41 Release edit nbsp The Beach Boys performing a concert in Michigan August 1978Music journalist Richard Williams reported Love and Jardine tried to offer M I U Album to Epic sic as the first delivery under their new deal That they were turned down on grounds of quality is a tribute to Epic s discretion 42 Lead single Peggy Sue was issued in the U S in August and peaked at number 59 26 M I U was released in September and reached number 151 in the U S becoming their first album to miss the UK chart completely since The Beach Boys Christmas Album 1964 43 The Jardine led cover of the Del Vikings Come Go with Me became a U S No 18 hit in late 1981 when it was released as a single from the Ten Years of Harmony compilation 44 Critical reception editContemporary professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingSounds nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 45 Retrospective professional ratingsReview scoresSourceRatingAllMusic nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 1 Blender nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 46 Christgau s Record GuideC 47 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 48 MusicHound Rockwoof 49 The Rolling Stone Album Guide nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp nbsp 50 M I U Album was met with confusion from critics and fans 51 and continues to be widely regarded as one of the Beach Boys worst albums 3 According to music critic Nick Kent the album was so dreadful that its pitiful content was ignored by critics 52 Upon release Rolling Stone s Tom Carson stated M I U Album seems contrived and artificial right from the start The tracks strive to recapture the dreamy adolescent innocence of the Beach Boys earliest hits and fail not so much because the concepts are dated but because the group can t infuse the new material with the same sense of grandeur that made the old songs such archetypal triumphs Throughout the lackluster playing and singing has a melancholy edge almost as if the Beach Boys are fully aware that they ve outgrown this kind of teen fantasy but can t think of anyplace else to go 53 Vivien Goldman of Sounds found the album to be magic and added that she played it non stop even if it seemed a baffling sconed adolescence before concluding If there weren t some weirdo psychological reason how could I get so involved with lyrics that one part of mind is consciously stating this is moronic drivel 45 Richard Williams who had championed the Beach Boys work in the 1960s wrote a negative review which stated in part How tragic that Brian is saddled with other people s imagination that he should be reduced to the role of a hack setting his impassioned melodies and arrangements to laughably juvenile lyrics those songs of which Brian has sole charge exemplify his dilemma he is obviously encouraged to deliver the adolescent pap of Hey Little Tomboy so that the dark emotions and warm textures of Diane are thrown into even higher relief Should you choose to ignore the rest of the album at least hear Diane and be assured that the spark still glows 42 In his 2006 biography of Wilson Carlin referred to it as the most cynical spiritually void work the group ever produced a gruesome album and perhaps one of the worst records ever made by a great rock band 54 AllMusic s John Bush stated The mainstream late 70s production techniques are predictable and frequently cloying M I U Album also included several of the worst Beach Boys songs ever to make it to vinyl Compared with what had come before M I U Album was a pathetic attempt at music making compared with what was to come however this was a highlight 1 Conversely Jeff Tamarkin who wrote liner notes for the album s CD reissue decreed that the album stands on it s sic own as a lovely unique work 51 In 1981 Robert Christgau called the album dumb despite a lot of fairly pleasant music and a few passable songs 47 Reviewing the album s 2002 reissue The A V Club s Keith Phipps stated M I U is competent enough but it s also the sound of a group buying into its own mythology a retrograde salute to the pinstripes and sunshine image it had abandoned years before 55 Legacy editReflecting on M I U Album in a 1992 interview Mike Love opined that there s some neat gems there but there wasn t a coherence 56 Asked about the album in a 1979 interview Dennis Wilson said I hope that karma will fuck up Mike Love s meditation forever That album is an embarrassment to my life It should self destruct 3 57 Track listing editTrack details per 2000 CD liner notes and the Winter 2023 issue of Endless Summer Quarterly 51 58 Side oneNo TitleWriter s Lead vocal s Length1 She s Got Rhythm Brian Wilson Mike Love Ron AltbachB Wilson and Love2 272 Come Go with Me C E QuickAl Jardine with Love2 063 Hey Little Tomboy B WilsonB Wilson Love and Carl Wilson2 254 Kona Coast Al Jardine LoveLove and Jardine2 335 Peggy Sue Buddy Holly Jerry Allison Norman PettyJardine2 156 Wontcha Come Out Tonight B Wilson LoveB Wilson and Love2 30 Side twoNo TitleWriter s Lead vocal s Length1 Sweet Sunday Kinda Love B Wilson LoveC Wilson2 422 Belles of Paris B Wilson Love AltbachLove2 273 Pitter Patter B Wilson Love JardineLove and Jardine3 144 My Diane B WilsonDennis Wilson2 375 Match Point of Our Love B Wilson LoveB Wilson3 296 Winds of Change Altbach Ed TulejaJardine and Love3 14Total length 32 19Personnel editCredits sourced from Craig Slowinski John Brode Will Crerar Joshilyn Hoisington and David Beard 58 The Beach Boys Al Jardine lead 2 4 5 9 12 and backing vocals all but 3 electric 4 9 and acoustic guitars 2 8 tack piano 2 bass guitar 2 3 10 handclaps 1 2 5 fingersnaps 2 glockenspiel 2 vocal arrangements Mike Love lead 1 4 6 8 9 12 and backing vocals all but 3 handclaps 1 5 Brian Wilson lead 1 3 6 11 and backing vocals all tracks piano 1 6 8 10 11 tack piano 3 electric piano 9 electric harpsichord 5 Minimoog 3 handclaps 1 5 vocal and horn arrangements Carl Wilson lead 3 7 and backing vocals 2 3 5 9 10 12 string electric guitar 1 6 9 electric guitar 3 handclaps 1 5 Dennis Wilson lead 10 and backing vocals 3 10 drums 3 5 10 additional drums 1 Touring musicians Michael Andreas saxophone 1 6 11 flute 1 12 horn arrangements Ron Altbach piano 12 electric piano 1 4 6 9 11 accordion 6 ARP Omni 1 vibraphone 3 4 10 11 xylophone 4 trombone 1 12 Lance Buller trumpet 12 Gary Griffin electric piano 4 organ 1 6 7 11 Minimoog 3 6 tubular bells 1 string arrangements Ed Carter electric 1 6 7 11 and acoustic guitars 8 bass guitar 3 4 8 9 10 John Foss trumpet 1 12 flugelhorn 12 Billy Hinsche backing vocals 10 electric guitar 10 Mike Kowalski drums 1 3 4 6 9 11 12 congas 1 11 bongos 1 sleigh bells 1 3 4 6 9 tambourine 7 10 shaker 3 11 guiro 3 11 wood block 12 tubular bells 8 mark tree 9 11 Charles Lloyd flute 12 Charlie McCarthy flute 12 Rusty Ford bass guitar 1 7 11 Additional players Chris Midaugh steel pedal guitar 4 9 Marilyn Rovell backing vocals 6 Diane Rovell backing vocals 6 Jay Graydon electric guitars 5 Frank Marocco accordion 5 Ray Pohlman bass guitar 5 Ricky Fataar drums 2 Julius Wechter sleigh bells 5 vibraphone 5 Matt Jardine handclaps 2 fingersnaps 2 Michael Sherry handclaps 2 fingersnaps 2 Richard Hurwitz trumpet 6 Raymond Brown trumpet 6 Vincent Fanuele trombone 6 Steve Douglas tenor saxophones 5 Jay Migliori baritone saxophones 5 William Collette saxophone 6 Bill Green saxophone 6 Maureen Love harp 10 12 Roberleigh Barnhardt string arrangements Bernard Kundell Alfred Breuning Thomas Buffum Herman Clebanoff Cynthia Kovacs Jay Rosen violins 6 8 10 12 Rollice Dale Mark Kovacs Linda Lipsett violas 6 8 10 12 Marie Fera Igor Horoshevsky Victor Sazer cellos 6 8 10 12 Unknown saxophones 2 strings 7 11 Recording engineering personnel amp assistants Al Jardine producer Ron Altbach producer Brian Wilson executive producer Diane Rovell music coordinator John Hanlon recording engineer Earle Mankey recording engineer Stephen Moffitt recording engineer Jeff Peters recording engineer final mixdown producer Bob Rose recording engineer Artwork Dean O Torrence album design graphics The Beach Boys album design graphics Warren Bolster Surfer Magazine front cover photography Guy Webster back cover photographyCharts editChart 1978 PeakpositionUS Billboard Top LPs amp Tape 43 151Notes edit Mike s stay at the program lasted from January to June 1977 10 Gaines writes Insiders say this change in Mike s attitude occurred when he realized that the CBS contract did not have the special riders he wanted that would have allowed him to record solo albums under their label Meanwhile Dennis through his friend James Guercio was getting a 100 000 advance from CBS to record his own solo album 15 Part of the CBS deal required the group to play a certain number of concerts in the U S Europe Australia and Japan 9 According to Love T he terms smokers and nonsmokers were also used 23 Love later wrote By the winter of 77 we had grown increasingly concerned about Carl and believed that a healthier environment might pull him out of his spiral We thought it d be good for Dennis as well If nothing else we figured there were fewer temptations in the middle of Iowa 30 References edit a b c Bush John M I U Album AllMusic a b c d Carlin 2006 p 225 a b c Stebbins 2000 p 175 Carlin 2006 pp 217 218 Badman 2004 pp 368 371 a b c Badman 2004 p 371 Love 2016 p 423 Love 2016 pp 423 424 a b Gaines 1986 p 295 a b c d e Doe Andrew G GIGS77 Bellagio 10452 Retrieved March 30 2022 a b Gaines 1986 p 294 Carlin 2006 pp 216 217 Gaines 1986 pp 294 295 Gaines 1986 pp 295 296 298 Gaines 1986 p 298 Carlin 2006 pp 222 223 Gaines 1986 p 299 Gaines 1986 pp 299 300 Gaines 1986 p 300 a b c d Gaines 1986 p 302 White 1996 p 321 Carlin 2006 pp 218 219 Love 2016 p 428 Gaines 1986 pp 302 303 a b Swenson John October 20 1977 The Beach Boys No More Fun Fun Fun Rolling Stone Archived from the original on June 24 2015 Retrieved February 1 2015 a b Badman 2004 p 372 a b c Carlin 2006 p 224 Gaines 1986 p 304 a b c d Gaines 1986 p 305 a b Love 2016 p 431 Stebbins 2000 p 174 Stebbins 2000 p 166 Carlin 2006 pp 223 224 Benci Jacopo January 1995 Brian Wilson interview Record Collector No 185 UK Badman 2004 pp 368 369 Stebbins 2000 pp 174 175 Carlin 2006 p 226 White 1996 p 322 a b Doe Andrew G Unreleased The Ones That Got Away Bellagio 10452 Endless Harmony Quarterly Retrieved March 31 2022 Doe Andrew G GIGS78 Bellagio 10452 Retrieved March 30 2022 a b Doe Andrew G From The Vaults Endless Summer Quarterly Bellagio 10452 Retrieved March 24 2022 a b Williams 1997 p 153 a b Dillon 2012 p 234 Badman 2004 p 373 a b Goldman 1978 Wolk Douglas October 2004 The Beach Boys M I U Album L A Light Album Blender Archived from the original on June 30 2006 Retrieved June 2 2017 a b Christgau Robert 1981 Consumer Guide 70s B Christgau s Record Guide Rock Albums of the Seventies Ticknor amp Fields ISBN 089919026X Retrieved February 21 2019 Larkin Colin ed 2006 The Encyclopedia of Popular Music 4th ed London Oxford University Press p 479 ISBN 978 0 19 531373 4 Graff Gary Durchholz Daniel eds 1999 MusicHound Rock The Essential Album Guide Farmington Hills MI Visible Ink Press p 84 ISBN 1 57859 061 2 Brackett Nathan with Hoard Christian eds 2004 The New Rolling Stone Album Guide 4th ed New York NY Fireside Simon amp Schuster p 46 ISBN 0 7432 0169 8 a b c Tamarkin Jeff 2000 M I U L A Light Album booklet The Beach Boys California Capitol Records Gaines 1986 Carson Tom November 16 1978 M I U Album Rolling Stone Carlin 2006 pp 224 225 Phipps Keith Mar 29 2002 The Beach Boys M I U Album L A Light Album The A V Club Good Vibrations The Beach Boys Mike Love gets his turn Goldmine September 18 1992 Williams Richard March 24 1979 Dennis Wilson Loves Christine McVie Melody Maker via Rock s Backpages a b Slowinski Craig Winter 2023 Beard David ed The Beach Boys M I U Album Vol 1 Endless Summer Quarterly Magazine Vol 37 no 144 Charlotte North Carolina Bibliography editBadman Keith 2004 The Beach Boys The Definitive Diary of America s Greatest Band on Stage and in the Studio Backbeat Books ISBN 978 0 87930 818 6 Carlin Peter Ames 2006 Catch a Wave The Rise Fall and Redemption of the Beach Boys Brian Wilson Rodale ISBN 978 1 59486 320 2 Dillon Mark 2012 Fifty Sides of the Beach Boys The Songs That Tell Their Story ECW Press ISBN 978 1 77090 198 8 Gaines Steven 1986 Heroes and Villains The True Story of The Beach Boys New York Da Capo Press ISBN 0306806479 Goldman Vivien September 23 1978 Beach Boys Miu Weak MSK 2268 Sounds p 40 Love Mike 2016 Good Vibrations My Life as a Beach Boy Penguin Publishing Group ISBN 978 0 698 40886 9 Stebbins Jon 2000 Dennis Wilson The Real Beach Boy ECW Press ISBN 978 1 55022 404 7 White Timothy 1996 The Nearest Faraway Place Brian Wilson the Beach Boys and the Southern Californian Experience Macmillan ISBN 0333649370 Williams Richard 1997 1978 M I U Review In Abbott Kingsley ed Back to the Beach 1st ed London Helter Skelter ISBN 978 1900924023 External links editM I U Album at Discogs list of releases Our Team on YouTube Why Instrumental on YouTube Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title M I U Album amp oldid 1210641744, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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