M.I.U. Album

M.I.U. Album is a 1978 release by The Beach Boys. Recorded at a fraught time for the band, only Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Brian Wilson (who was coerced into it) appear on the album in full, with Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson – at odds with Jardine and Love over this project – audible on only a few of the tracks.

Related Topics:
1978 - The Beach Boys - Mike Love - Al Jardine - Brian Wilson - Carl Wilson - Dennis Wilson

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After the release (and commericial failure) of Love You, The Beach Boys fell into dispute over the direction of the band, and were close to breaking up. Brian Wilson, sadly, began regressing back into drug use and mental illness, while Dennis was readying his well-received debut solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue, and was largely unavailable for the new project, which he and brother Carl were dead set against. The idea, by staunch trancendental meditation follower, Mike Love, was to record the new album – initially intended as a Christmas release – at the Mararishi International University in Iowa. Consequently, when it was time to record the album in September 1977, only Love, Jardine and the eldest Wilson showed up.

Related Topics:
Love You - Mental illness - Pacific Ocean Blue - Trancendental meditation - Iowa - 1977

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The original intention was for Brian to produce, but when it became clear that he was unable (or unwilling) to function in that role, Jardine stepped up to sit in the producer's chair, with songwriting partner Ron Altbach. Wilson (with a much improved singing voice) was subsequently billed as "executive producer", though it was never clarified to what extent he acted in that role.

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Their last album on Reprise Records before embarking on their CBS (now Sony Music) contract, the provisionally-titled Merry Christmas from the Beach Boys was roundly rejected on the grounds that a regular studio album be submitted. The following spring, the group would overdub new lyrics onto some of the original x-mas tracks, whilst recording some quickly-penned new tunes, and the re-titled M.I.U. Album was done and submitted.

Related Topics:
Reprise Records - Sony Music

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Most critics – then and now – have considered M.I.U. Album to be a slight affair, and indicative that The Beach Boys, once a band who were at the cutting edge, were now merely following trends. Although it produced a surprise hit in their cover of "Come Go with Me" in late 1981, the album was a dismal failure worldwide, reaching only 151 in the U.S., and becoming their first in the U.K. in since 1964 to miss the chart completely.

Related Topics:
1981 - 1964

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