| A Postcard from California | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Al Jardine |
| Cover: | Al Jardine – Postcard From California.jpg |
| Released: | 19 June 2010 |
| Recorded: | 1978[1] –2010 |
| Length: | 36:17 |
| Label: | Fontana |
| Prev Title: | Live in Las Vegas |
| Prev Year: | 2001 |
A Postcard from California is the debut solo studio album by American musician and co-founder of the Beach Boys, Al Jardine. For the album, Jardine recruited several music icons including several former Beach Boys bandmates, Brian Wilson, Mike Love, David Marks, Bruce Johnston, and (posthumously, via archival recordings) Carl Wilson, as well as Glen Campbell, America, Steve Miller, Flea, and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young's David Crosby, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young.[1] [2] The album also contains several unreleased Beach Boys songs, including "Don't Fight the Sea", "Lookin' Down the Coast",[1] "California Feelin'", and "And I Always Will."[3] "Don't Fight the Sea" includes parts of a Beach Boys' recording (from the L.A. (Light Album) and Still Cruisin' sessions),[1] while "Lookin' Down the Coast", "California Feelin'", and "And I Always Will" are re-recordings (the first two of these three from the L.A. (Light Album) sessions and the latter from the sessions for the band's self-titled album).[3] "Tidepool Interlude" features a spoken word piece written by former Beach Boys collaborator Stephen Kalinich and performed by actor Alec Baldwin.[1]
Jardine added "Waves of Love" as one of the bonus tracks on his 2012 reissue of the album. Intentionally or not, the digital and CD versions of the 2012 reissue contained entirely different versions of the song. The CD included a more laid-back, live soundcheck-sounding version, with Carl Wilson's lead buried among other voices, while the digital version contained a much more "produced" and punchy version in a different key and with Carl's lead brought to the fore. There is a third version of "Waves of Love" on the Japanese version.[4] As of August 2022, the album is again available on digital streaming services, after having been unavailable for some time.[5] [6]