The summer of 2012 promises to be an exciting time for Beach Boys fans everywhere, as five surviving members - Brian Wilson, Mike Love, and Alan Jardine, Bruce Johnston, and David Marks - reunite for both a worldwide tour and a new album to mark the legendary band’s 50th anniversary.

For those not so in the know, Brian, Mike, and Alan were original members (with the late Carl Wilson and Dennis Wilson) when the band first started recording back in 1962. When Jardine went off to Ohio to attend college shortly thereafter, Marks joined the band for the next year and played rhythm guitar on the band’s first four albums before Jardine took his place for good. When Brian gave up touring in 1964, Johnston joined the band and, with the exception of a seven-year hiatus in the ’70s, has been a member of the band since. What’s truly intriguing about this reunion is that these five members have never toured together before.

While there’s no way this incarnation of the band can ever replace the soul and spirit of Carl and Dennis, the prospect of a reunion tour and album is pretty exciting and something to look forward to. Given the oftentimes stormy relationship between Love, Wilson, and Jardine, it’ll be interesting to see how the reunion goes and how well it holds together over the duration. One thing is for sure: the music itself promises to be solid, as the band will be backed up by long-time members of Brian’s current band supplemented with Scott Totten (guitar) and John Cowsill (drums) from the Beach Boys band that has backed Love and Johnston for the past few years.

If the first released cut from their new album, a remake of Do It Again, is any indication of what we can expect from this reunion, it oughta be something to see. Lots of “good vibrations” there….

Welcome back, boys - Carl and Dennis would be proud, I think. Now I just have to figure out where and how I’m going to get to see them.