Background
1968 was a very difficult year for The Beach Boys at home, where their reputation had soured considerably, yet their European success was still strong as evidenced by these confident performances recorded while the group were making their 20/20 album. After the surprise success of the Endless Summer and Spirit of America hits packages in 1974 and 1975, the Beach Boys enjoyed a resurgence of popularity at home, especially on the concert circuit. It was during this time that Capitol decided to strike while the iron was hot and issue a renamed edition of the album for the first time in the US. The reissue had art by rock artist Jim Evans, and a new title, Beach Boys '69. Besides the fact that the live performance was actually recorded in December 1968, the LP's appearance added confusion to the marketplace as the group had recently issued a new, live double album—The Beach Boys in Concert—on their own Brother Records label, as part of a distribution deal with their new label, Reprise. Despite this, the record became a small chart success in the US, following the Top 10 placing of 15 Big Ones, reaching #75 in the Fall of 1976 during a US chart stay of 10 weeks. The UK edition failed to chart.
It is believed that The Beach Boys owed Capitol one more album (this may have been it, instead of the The Fading Rock Group Revival/Reverberation project), and so, this release ended their relationship with the record label, and with EMI in the UK. When their albums were remastered for CD in 1990 (and again in 2001), Live in London was paired with their 1964 live release Beach Boys Concert.
Read more about this topic: Live In London (The Beach Boys album)
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