Truth is, the whole thing is based on fake and phoney. Virtually everyone buying those records looked at those photos and did so believing they were hearing th actual Beach Boys playing and singing (an illusion the record companies work hard to maintain). So I don’t much care about Carol’s butthurt over the specifics of the fakery. The important thing was they were well paid and the checks didn’t bounce.
“Virtually everyone buying those records looked at those photos and did so believing they were hearing th actual Beach Boys playing and singing “
Well, it mostly was them *singing* (though you occasionally had guest vocals from the likes of Jan & Dean, Brian’s wife Marilyn or other friends of the group). As far thinking that the Beach Boys played the instruments on their records, that’s certainly an understandable misunderstanding on the early surf-guitar-bass-drums songs. But once Brian started throwing in French horn on songs like God Only Knows or the cello on Good Vibrations, it would have been ridiculously naive to think that Beach Boys had proficiency in all those instrument.