AL JARDINE and THE PET SOUNDS BAND

 It's another fine concert review from Shelley Sweet-Tufano ...

The Pet Sounds Band is a new name for the longtime members of Brian Wilson's backing group, who have been inactive since Wilson stopped performing in 2022. Al Jardine has taken the initiative to gather these talented musicians to continue performing classic Beach Boys hits and lesser-known tracks from the band's extensive catalog.

Perfect description and "lesser-known tracks" is an understatement for me. On April 12, 2026, at The Ridgefield Playhouse, I sit counting all the instruments and microphones I see on the otherwise empty stage. The final count of musicians is 11. I did not expect this, but looking at the description above it makes sense. Brian was a perfectionist in his work. A fact that may have driven him into his anxiety and depressions. This band is the total opposite of anxiety and depression. They are mellow, relaxed, and not competing for attention against each other. The music is the focal point and each of them love the music they perform tonight. It is obvious.

It is a sell-out. The parking lot is so full, it spills out into city parking, and they even allow use of one side of the two-lane driveway. GREAT! I end up parked across from the front door. Minimal walking. 

California Girls

Do It Again

Catch a Wave

Surfer Girl

Don't Worry Baby - this was recorded using touring instruments as Brian met The Beach Boys as they returned from tour and told them, "Come on. We've got work to do."

Little Deuce Coup - also recorded this same day.

I Get Around

In My Room

Dance, Dance, Dance

Darlin'

Sail on Sailor

She's Got Rhythm - Al's son, Matt, supposedly was a "rug rat" during the recording of this song and tried to play all the instruments in the room, claiming he knew how to play each one.  He totally denies this on stage. Recorded in 1977.

I Can Hear Music

Heroes and Villains

Intermission - Al hangs around on-stage, talking with the audience. Matt (firmly) coaxes him off-stage.

Well, here it comes during the second act! Al introduces the 'Love You' album by The Beach Boys. The next 14 songs are all off this album. Men sitting behind me are commenting that they may be the only ones familiar with any of these songs, but they don't care. They are jumping up and down in happiness.

Let Us Go On this Way

Roller Skating Child

Johnny Carson - with choreography! (OK, it is simple. All heads go to the right, all heads go to the left, all heads go forward, all heads go back. An entire stage of coordinated fun)

The Night Was So Young

Solar Systems

Honkin' Down the Highway

I'll Bet He's Nice - I love this tearful good-bye about acknowledging your ex has picked someone with positive attributes.

Good Time

Ding Dang - More choreography of united movements. Also, Al modernized the lyrics at the end using the rhyming words "completely" and "delete me".

I Wanna Pick You Up - Brian's song for Carnie .. .so it means picking up a child and holding them.

Let's Put Our Hearts Together

Mona

Love Is a Woman

Airplane

We are not done yet! Back to Pet Sounds ...

God Only Knows

Sloop John B

Wouldn't It Be Nice

Good Vibrations

The audience is up on their feet applauding so loudly, I don't hear the name of the local young 3-man group that now joins them onstage, but they add three voices and two guitars as everybody jumps into 'Runaway."  The boys take their bows amid cheers and big smiles, quickly exiting off-stage.

And one after the other, we hear:

Help Me Rhonda

Surfin' USA

Fun, Fun, Fun

Still I Dream of It

We have heard many rumors about Al and his state of well-being. Here is what I saw AND I heard the same from audience remarks. The harmonies were unsurpassed. Matt Jardine sounded so similar to Brian Wilson and Darian Sahanaja like Carl that we were not only surprised but entranced. Al Jardine's voice is strong. I have watched a live video of 'Still I Dream of It' where he stops singing and says, "I just Can't Do it." Matt steps in and finishes the song. At 83, I am not surprised. However, tonight his singing voice and speaking voice were very strong and clear. As he tells stories or introduces songs, he appears to forget a name or year, but he turns to someone in his band and says so. They then fill him in, and the show moves quickly on. There were no obvious issues that impaired the show nor left anyone embarrassed. 

The Band:

Darian Sahanaja-Music Director

Michael D'Amico

Bob Lizik

Matt Jardine-Al's son

Gary Griffin

Rob Bonfiglio-Carnie Wilson's husband

Paul Von Mertens

Debbie Shair

Randell Kirsch

Jim Laspesa

HIGHLY Recommended 

Shelley J Sweet-Tufano

NE Correspondent

Forgotten Hits

 

I've got to give you props ... even this die-hard Beach Boys fan would have had a hard time sitting through the performance of the entire "Love You" album.  It's not one of my favorites nor one of their best ... and the focus on this LP is solely to help drive sales ("sails?") of the band's latest box set.  I would have been squirming in my seat the whole time (or made an extended appearance at the concessions stand!)  Following those 14 tracks up with four from a true masterpiece (from which the band now takes its name) only drives that point home harder than ever.

 

Still, Brian Wilson's band greatly outshone what Mike Love has been putting up on stage for decades now under The Beach Boys' name ... stellar musicians, each and every one who, as you say, show a great love and devotion to this music.

 

I have probably seen SOME version of The Beach Boys 25 times now ... and over the past several years have mentioned frequently how Al's voice has outlasted them all.  He's also a great story-teller (but unfortunately I've also personally been at a couple of shows where he's lost his way in the middle of the set.)  The last time, he at least had Wendy and Carnie Wilson up on stage with him ... as two-thirds of Wilson Phillips, I can only tell you that you would have enjoyed the show even more than you did had they been up there for this show as well.  (kk)

 

here's me with Al and Matt Jardine after their show at The City Winery here in Chicago, a couple of years ago

 

April 20th, 1966

60 YEARS AGO TODAY:

4/20/66 – A busy day for The Beatles in the studio today as they record their vocals for Paul's “Eleanor Rigby” and begin work on two new tracks by John (“And Your Bird Can Sing”) and George (“Taxman” … one of his best!)

In an unprecedented move, “And Your Bird Can Sing” will be released in America BEFORE it is released in England after Capitol Record pressured Parlophone for a few “new tracks” to include on their latest hodge-podge album, to be called “Yesterday … And Today.”

The “yesterdays” included the previously released singles “Yesterday,” “Act Naturally,” “We Can Work It Out,” “Day Tripper,” “Nowhere Man” and “What Goes On.”

The rest of the LP would be filled with “new” tracks … well, new to America anyway.  One of them was another great George Harrison tune, “If I Needed Someone,” which had previously appeared on the British “Rubber Soul” album.  But three new tracks destined for “Revolver” were also handed over … “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “Dr. Robert” and “I’m Only Sleeping,” leaving the US version of “Revolver” quite John-deficient!  (George had more tracks on the US version of the LP than John did!)  And, here in The States, it essentially came across as a Paul album … FILLED with exceptionally strong McCartney tracks like “Eleanor Rigby,” “Here There And Everywhere,” “Got To Get You Into My Life,” “For No One” and “Good Day Sunshine.”   One could justifiably argue that Paul peaked with this LP.  Meanwhile, it would be Ringo who got the hit single this time around … his first … when “Yellow Submarine” was released as their next 45 in August.

The Sunday Comments ( 04 - 19 - 26 )

Got one!

Drove down to Bloomington, IL, on Friday afternoon and picked it up Saturday Morning on Record Store Day at Reckless Saint Records.

Not that all of this happened without incident ...

Sure enough, Friday Night Bloomington got hit with a tornado!!!  Extensive damage and power outages ... so I EARNED this one!  (lol)  [Seriously, the weather has been SO bad here lately ... going into our third week of dangerous and treacherous storms ... but fortunately we have survived them all so far] ... but Friday Night was pretty darn scary.  (kk)

 

Tom Cuddy sent us this article from Billboard, featuring an interview with John Sykes, The Chairman of The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, in which he discusses some of the surprises, some of the snubs and some of the goals of The Rock Hall moving forward.

By his own admission ... and in his own words ... Sykes says The Rock Hall is “still playing catch-up,” which is why so many inductees were selected this year under his directive.  (As we all know, there’s still a WHOLE lot of additional catching up that needs to be done ... but it's nice to know that they recognize this!)

It's an interesting read as Sykes says that even he was surprised to see that Mariah Carey did not make this year's list of inductees ... especially since this was her third time on the ballot.  (Interesting, too, that during the course of his interview, he mentioned that Mariah has written eighteen #1 songs ... a surprising consideration perspective in light of our recent discussion of Linda Creed’s selection this year.) 

Mariah, of course, belongs in the “Performer” category as she was truly like no other … but as we’ve also seen in the past, once an artist is overlooked enough times, The Rock Hall simply moves them into a different category so they can justify their inclusion.

With Chubby Checker’s induction last year, I was hopeful that more 1^st Generation Rock Artists might start to make the cut … but Sykes ALSO points out during his interview that he doesn’t want it to become an “Old People’s Hall Of Fame.”  Guess that’s why an artist like Joy Division (an immediate "Who?!?!" from most observers) deserves more recognition in their eyes than acts like our previously mentioned, proven, tried and true Guess Who, Paul Anka and Neil Sedaka. (kk)

https://www.billboard.com/music/awards/2026-rock-hall-inductions-chairman-john-sykes-q-and-a-1236224505/

So he says, "We need to catch up."  Yes, they do but that's not accomplished by inducting non rock n roll artists.  I love Sade and listen to her music often ... but she is not rock n roll.  Of course, neither are all of the rap artists who have been inducted.  Rock n Roll has its roots in blues and country music. I can see those artists being included, but the definition of this art form has been terribly contorted.

Thank you for reading my daily rant!

Joe Montalto

As I've been saying for a long time, he needs to go visit The Country Music Hall of Fame. They really understand how to properly honor their history. 

Mark

I have come to accept quality-worthy Rap Artists being inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame because these artists have helped take rock and roll in a new and different direction ... even if I don't personally care for the genre myself.  (Let's face it ... rock and roll itself is rhythm and blues based ... and this just happens to be where that music has developed over the years.  There's no denying it ... rap and hip-hop have been with us for a good 35-40 years now ... it isn't going anywhere so we might as well accept it as a new rock form.)  But that being said, there is still SO much "unfinished business" to be done in the way of honoring many of the OTHER overlooked artists who ALSO deserve their spot in The Rock Hall for THEIR contributions along the way before they're forgotten altogether.  (kk) 

Tom also sent us this piece about a very special 90 minute show that Paul McCartney did in Los Angeles last Thursday (April 16th) before a select audience of 30 fans, during which he played each track from his new album and then told the story and inspiration behind each one.

Billboard recapped the whole thing (which unfortunately doesn't hold anywhere near as much power for the reader in that WE can't hear these songs ourselves until May 29th) ... 

But still it was a very nice and special gesture.  

(As for me, I'm printing out Macca's comments so that I can have them beside me when I give the new LP my first listen.)

Billboard says the album overall is "delightfully Beatle-esque in terms of melodies, instrumentation, bold tempo and stylistic changes and, of course, McCartney’s vocals, which sound by turns sturdy and robust and then delicate and vulnerable."  

Producer Andrew Watt stressed again that for the most part, (other than the strings and orchestration), McCartney played all the instruments himself on the album, including drums … "though he got a very able assist from Ringo Starr on one track."

Looking forward to hearing it!  (kk) 

https://share.google/Rr9auzbh1XtDNarL7 

 

All kidding aside, isn't enough enough already?!?!

KISS have announced that they're getting back together AGAIN (what is this, the THIRD time since the played their final, farewell show a couple of years ago?!?!)  How can ANYONE take them seriously anymore?!?!?

But sure enough, the legendary band will perform unmasked again for the Official 2026 KISS Kruise in Last Vegas, November 13th - 15th, at the Virgin Hotel.

Gene Simmons, Paul Stanley, Tommy Thayer and Eric Singer will perform TWO shows, just like they did a KISS Kruise last year ... only this time, fans won't be on a boat ... they'll be at The Virgin Hotel in Vegas.   More ticket information to come (for anyone crazy enough to fall for this again!)  kk

Here's an interesting back story you may not be aware of ...

Best Classic Bands tells this tale of Felix Pappalardi ... producer of Cream and Mountain ...

https://bestclassicbands.com/felix-pappalardi-killed-4-17-17/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_term=2026-04-18&utm_campaign=Cream+s+Wheels+of+Fire+Gets+Super+Deluxe+Edition 

Also from Tom Cuddy ...

This "Last Man Standing" article about Lee Loughnane of Chicago ... what an incredible career he's had.  

Chicago's Trumpet Player Lee Loughnane on Outlasting His Bandmates: Rolling Stone Magazine 

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/chicago-trumpet-player-lee-loughnane-last-member-1235549077/  

 

me and Lee, backstage at Ravinia several years ago

In case this has missed you — Craig Krampf passed away Friday in Nashville. He was the drummer with The Robbs first, then went on to play on plenty of rock classics through the years. He loved to tell the story about The Robbs winning the Battle Of The Bands and becoming part of Where The Action Is. He was just a super-nice guy. 

David Lewis

No, I had not heard this ... thank you for letting us know.  (kk)

[Craig had HUNDREDS of studio credits over the years and performed with everyone from Alice Cooper to Kim Carnes to Flo and Eddie to The Hudson Brothers!  He was also one of the co-writers of the Top Three Steve Perry hit "Oh Sherrie." -kk]

Timmy sent us this vintage photo that he dubbed "State Of The Art" ...

 

(well, for it's time anyway!)

 

 

Wait a minute ...

 

Are those the Besch Boys?!?!?  (kk)