M.I.U. Album

M.I.U. Album is the 22nd studio album by The Beach Boys, released on October 2, 1978 on Brother/Reprise. Recorded during a fraught time for the band, only Mike Love, Al Jardine, and Brian Wilson appear consistently throughout the album, with Carl and Dennis Wilson audible on only a few tracks. Produced by Al Jardine and songwriter Ron Altbach, the album's title stems from Maharishi International University in Fairfield, Iowa, where the majority of the album was recorded.

Background

After the release of Love You, The Beach Boys fell into dispute over the direction of the band, and were close to breaking up. Brian Wilson began regressing back into drug use and mental illness. Dennis was readying his debut solo album, Pacific Ocean Blue. Intended as a follow-up to Love You, sessions and mixing for a new album called Adult/Child were completed by The Beach Boys with Brian Wilson as producer, and it would have included "Hey Little Tomboy", which can be found on M.I.U.. The album was subsequently rejected by Reprise Records for not being commercially viable, although some of its tracks would reappear on later releases.

The Channels

The Channels were an American doo wop group from New York City.

An R&B/soul group of the 50's, The Channels formed in 1955 around the singers Larry Hampden, Billy Morris, and Edward Dolphin; they started as a quintet with two additional part-time members, but soon after they permanently added Earl Michael Lewis and Clifton Wright, formerly of The Lotharios. Lewis was the group's main songwriter, writing (among others) their regional hit "The Closer You Are" (1956).

The Channels recorded for record labels Gone, Fury, Port, Hit, Enjoy, and Groove. The lineup changed several times over the course of the band's lifetime. They enjoyed significant regional success on the East Coast but never charted a major nationwide hit.

Other notable (though not nationally charted) singles include "Bye Bye Baby" b/w "My Love Will Never Die," "That's My Desire," "The Gleam in Your Eye," "Anything You Do," and "You Can Count On Me."

Frank Zappa covered "The Closer You Are" on his album Them or Us (1984).