A Ten-episodes official web series on the SMiLE Sessions is now on YouTube

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

'Couldn't unstone ourselves'

[pixletwin]

'Couldn't unstone ourselves'

Great quote from Brian.

Did anyone else notice that the "Ten-episodes" has no become twelve? 

[Freddie French-Pounce]

Check out Mark checking his iPhone while Alan speaks!

[smyleysmyle]

It almost looked like Brian was choking back tears when he said they were taking drugs.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

The ending of this episode has the band very down with the revisting the end of an era for Brian. Brian looked like he was saying the drugs thing to hold back the real reasons for the end and almost seemed like he was going to reveal them.

I realized that immediately, and almost cried when he STILL doesn't want to tell us D:

[bgas]

The ending of this episode has the band very down with the revisting the end of an era for Brian. Brian looked like he was saying the drugs thing to hold back the real reasons for the end and almost seemed like he was going to reveal them.

I realized that immediately, and almost cried when he STILL doesn't want to tell us D:

Or he spilled and they edited it out

[runnersdialzero]

God damn am I tired of hearing "The band didn't like it." Mike objected but still did his parts and did them well because he ultimately trusted Brian's judgement. Dennis was extremely supportive of the project, and the other guys have expressed a liking for the project since then and were said to be supportive overall.

[bgas]

God damn am I tired of hearing "The band didn't like it." Mike objected but still did his parts and did them well because he ultimately trusted Brian's judgement. Dennis was extremely supportive of the project, and the other guys have expressed a liking for the project since then and were said to be supportive overall.

Wow, who said the band didn't like it?

[runnersdialzero]

God damn am I tired of hearing "The band didn't like it." Mike objected but still did his parts and did them well because he ultimately trusted Brian's judgement. Dennis was extremely supportive of the project, and the other guys have expressed a liking for the project since then and were said to be supportive overall.

Wow, who said the band didn't like it?

YouTube comments on this video and, I would guess, every other video on YouTube, Beach Boys or not. The whole band hated Brian, hated Pet Sounds, hated Smile, hated progress and just wanted to write surf songs, Mike destroyed the Smile tapes, Mike not only induced mental illness in Brian but did so willingly, Mike drowned Dennis so he could have John Stamos in the band, Mike is literally Satan, etc. etc. etc.

[bgas]

God damn am I tired of hearing "The band didn't like it." Mike objected but still did his parts and did them well because he ultimately trusted Brian's judgement. Dennis was extremely supportive of the project, and the other guys have expressed a liking for the project since then and were said to be supportive overall.

Wow, who said the band didn't like it?

YouTube comments on this video and, I would guess, every other video on YouTube, Beach Boys or not. The whole band hated Brian, hated Pet Sounds, hated Smile, hated progress and just wanted to write surf songs, Mike destroyed the Smile tapes, Mike not only induced mental illness in Brian but did so willingly, Mike drowned Dennis so he could have John Stamos in the band, Mike is literally Satan, etc. etc. etc.

Small-minded lost souls who, when it comes down to it, really don't matter. Don't let them ruin your day

[GeorgeFellInHisHorn]

I'm really, really, REALLY hoping they go balls-out on studio footage with the last episode! ::fingers crossed::

[rab2591]

I think a lot of hard-core fans have thought this at one point or another (me included) - because in many books and the BWPS documentary Mike is made out to be the devil. Anecdotes are given about Mike's obvious dislike of the project. Drugs are glorified in BWPS documentary.

So you can't blame people for being misinformed.

[SMiLE Brian]

The ending of this episode has the band very down with the revisting the end of an era for Brian. Brian looked like he was saying the drugs thing to hold back the real reasons for the end and almost seemed like he was going to reveal them.

I realized that immediately, and almost cried when he STILL doesn't want to tell us D:

I honesty think he had a nervous breakdown and he was remembering it in the video.

[Wirestone]

YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet. All the waste products of the online universe flow there.

[drbeachboy]

Episode 9 is one the of the best of the series, so far. Just hearing the 4 of them talk about the end, you can see and feel the sadness. You guys are right, Brian was holding back on the reasons Smile was shelved, they all were to some extent. Al really came across as loving the music and sad that it was not released in its day. I hope the rest of the episodes are as interesting as this one.

[JohnMill]

"We were taking drugs...and we were taking, uh, drugs...and...drugs."

We're back to that again?  

Whatever.

I'm diggin' Dennis Wolfe's comments though.  Very insightful stuff.

[runnersdialzero]

YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet. All the waste products flow down there.

The thing is, these are only echoes of the really popular public sentiment about Mike being Satan, the rest of the band being a bunch of unsupportive lackeys who had no talent of their own, that Brian was an angel who could do no wrong, etc. etc. etc. As a fan and as someone who really appreciates "the other guys", it's mildly upsetting.

[drbeachboy]

YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet. All the waste products flow down there.

The thing is, these are only echoes of the really popular public sentiment about Mike being Satan, the rest of the band being a bunch of unsupportive lackeys who had no talent of their own, that Brian was an angel who could do no wrong, etc. etc. etc. As a fan and as someone who really appreciates "the other guys", it's mildly upsetting.

More than mildly upsetting and not just professed by the posters at YouTube either, I'm sorry to say.

[JohnMill]

YouTube comments are the cesspool of the internet. All the waste products flow down there.

The thing is, these are only echoes of the really popular public sentiment about Mike being Satan, the rest of the band being a bunch of unsupportive lackeys who had no talent of their own, that Brian was an angel who could do no wrong, etc. etc. etc. As a fan and as someone who really appreciates "the other guys", it's mildly upsetting.

More than mildly upsetting and not just professed by the posters at YouTube either, I'm sorry to say.

Stereotypes take a long time to dissolve.  At least within The Beach Boys' hardcore fanbase (ex: this forum) there has already been a shift in how the majority of people feel about Mike Love.  Ten years ago you couldn't go onto "The SMiLE Shop" and say anything positive about Mike Love without getting your brains smashed in.  People would accuse you of "sticking up for a jerk" or "trying to rewrite history by professing that Mike isn't a jerk".  So having taken that into account the hardcore fanbase as come a long way.

As far as Joe Public is concerned, as it's already been pointed out a lot of them are still limited to basing their opinions on well traveled quotes and books very few of which paint the others guys in the band outside of Brian Wilson in a positive light.  I think one of the unfortunate side effects of the past decade or so is that while Brian's reputation has not only been restored but rightfully enhanced, the other members of the band have been reduced to "puppet status" once again. 

In closing I'll say this.  Nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors but in public I've heard nothing but praise and kind remarks about Brian Wilson from the other members of the band.  "Pet Sounds", "Good Vibrations" and now "SMiLE" have all received their due from everyone involved as legitimate pieces of art by the hand of a master craftsman.  For me that is the end of the story.

[Cam Mott]

The ending of this episode has the band very down with the revisiting the end of an era for Brian. Brian looked like he was saying the drugs thing to hold back the real reasons for the end and almost seemed like he was going to reveal them.

I realized that immediately, and almost cried when he STILL doesn't want to tell us D:

Brian told us why decades ago: he thought the lyrics were too arty, the music was too old fashioned and elaborate and he didn't want to release it because he didn't think it was commercial. He's never seemed sad about it to me, pretty straight forward, it didn't meet his expectations so he dropped most of it and that was it. [dusting hands]

It's not as mysterious as it's been made out to be to me. It's like the too-many-fragments-couldn't-figure-it-out scenario, imo it just wasn't that way. Yes, he worked modular, no all of the modules were not in play all the time. Yes like Pet Sounds he had each song figured out and organized before he got to the studio. He had a sort of loose mood or theme in mind for an album of twelve songs but he was not trying to make a grand unified album piece to the extent we like to dream about. More like his idea for Pet Sounds, individual songs that go together on an album like pictures in an exhibition. The movements were internal to the twelve songs and not movements across an album. The individual songs were the thing, he wasn't trying to juggle an album's worth of fragments all at one time. Brian always knew what he wanted each to be at every given point before he got to the studio. Yes, sometimes he'd have a better or new idea, or he'd improvise a solution in the studio but he knew a new plan and made the necessary modules. He identified everything as he made it, he doesn't seem to have ever been lost in how it was supposed to be. Confusion and compulsiveness were not in play. Focused absolute creative freedom and the power to take unlimited time and resources were in play. All just my opinion on the evidence available of the day [as opposed to decades later].

[runnersdialzero]

That's the thing, too - everyone is allowed to change their mind or even grow up, but if Mike Love says anything indicative of either, he's just being an opportunist.

What?

His thoughts on Smile in the recent videos were summed up with, "Great music, but I didn't understand the lyrics." That's been his story for ages, has it not? If he really hated this stuff, I doubt he'd be doing these interviews. If he hated it and wanted to look good, he wouldn't have opened up so much about why he disliked the lyrics.

So yeah. I've never really known Mike Love as one to attempt to save face or mince words.

[runnersdialzero]

Yes like Pet Sounds he had each song figured out and organized before he got to the studio.

I really don't know about that. Explain the numerous edits of "Heroes And Villains", or the "Bicycle Rider" theme being moved from "Worms" to "Heroes And Villains"? The different "Wind Chimes" structures"? etc. etc. etc. etc.

I really think the too-many-pieces theory is ahead of just about anything else, sans maybe what you'd posted in the first couple sentences - genuinely feeling the lyrics were too arty and the music too complex, that is.

[Wirestone]

The movements were internal to the twelve songs and not movements across an album. The individual songs were the thing, he wasn't trying to juggle an album's worth of fragments all at one time.

Isn't this disproven simply by the fact that various sections were edited into different songs over the course of work on the album?

[Cam Mott]

Yes like Pet Sounds he had each song figured out and organized before he got to the studio.

I really don't know about that. Explain the numerous edits of "Heroes And Villains", or the "Bicycle Rider" theme being moved from "Worms" to "Heroes And Villains"? The different "Wind Chimes" structures"? etc. etc. etc. etc.

I really think the too-many-pieces theory is ahead of just about anything else, sans maybe what you'd posted in the first couple sentences - genuinely feeling the lyrics were too arty and the music too complex, that is.

Some of H&V is for a b side of the single, never intended for the album, like the BR for H&V Part 2. He figured out a song, he recorded it or part of it at a couple of sessions. He wouldn't dig it or would think of a way to improve it and make only the necessary recordings for the new plan. It might be a new section or a whole revision of a song. That isn't indecision that is creative decisiveness. Whether he changed a section or redid most of the song or re-purposed a section he was building and revising song by song [not album by album] in an organized way and noting all of his intended structure as he recorded, revised, re-purposed. Good Vibrations was recorded the same way, revised, rerecorded and re-purposed in a decisive way. SMiLE wasn't as complicated as we want to make it or maybe I should say it wasn't complicated in the way we want to make it. IMO.

[Wirestone]

But what about the chorus chant that migrates from Worms to H&V? What about the way Barnyard and IIGS became separate tracks after being originally intended for H&V? How about the brief inclusion of a CIFTTM chorus in Dada? Or the way that the intro to fire was originally, again, an H&V fragment?

It seems there's abundant evidence of Brian moving fragments he generated in the recording studio -- originally intended for one song -- into other, developing pieces. Now, I agree that he certainly wasn't moving in a confused or bewildered manner -- he knew what he was doing -- but it also strikes me that he was working in a far more flexible and experimental way than he had previously.