New Video: Carl explains his behavior. Press Conference, Perth 1978

[seltaeb1012002]

Just moving this from the Youtube thread to the main page.

Never seen this one before

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrgrFJMkPio

[Lowbacca]

I've read about the press 'conference' but the video is new to me as well. Damn he looks like sh*t.  Fortunately he got his sh*t together again not long after this. Heart and soul of the band.

[Myk Luhv]

Awkward, though he handled it with his customary gracefulness -- I liked his quip at the end about being better-known now than before.

[rn57]

Watching this in another window....

...the narrator refers to the room as a "presidential suite." Huh? Australia doesn't have a president. I guess it means corporation presidents, heads of state from overseas with that title, etc, are supposed to have the wherewithal to stay there.

...good thing you threw in the "whatever," Mr Narrator....

....Carl looks bloated as he comes in. Looks worn out, but gives a careful and understandable explanation. Smart to say it was mainly the rum, because from my experience, there's rum and there's RUM - some of those, um, lesser-known brands can be tricky. And Carl sounds like he got some of the latter kind.

All in all, Carl is his usual self - low-key, straightforward, and looking the reporters in the eye. The Australian journalists never softball celebs from overseas, as we all know, and it's obvious they respect the way he responds to their questions.

(Meanwhile, Dennis watches this broadcast and wonders why the hell he wasn't the one doing this so he could meet the Asian lady with the microphone.)

[Andrew G. Doe]

Fact is, he was lying through his teeth. As we all know now, he was in the grip of a bad smack & booze habit. Good thing is, this caused him to clean up.

[STE]

This might be a good thread to post these:

http://youtu.be/tjReN4J3vZw
http://youtu.be/viRlhiaTNgE

Has this been seen in full before?
I know the audio is circulating, but at least I don't remember seeing some parts before, like them playing "A Casual Look", "Love is A Woman", "Feel Flows", "All This is That" etc
Or I might have it on some old NTSC VHS that I haven't watched in 20 years.

[Mikie]

....Carl looks bloated as he comes in. Looks worn out, but gives a careful and understandable explanation. Smart to say it was mainly the rum, because from my experience, there's rum and there's RUM - some of those, um, lesser-known brands can be tricky. And Carl sounds like he got some of the latter kind.

Not a big Rum drinker myself, but do you mean 80 proof as opposed to 151?  Or is there some stuff that'll knock you on your ass? Not talking about Bacardi here, right?

(Meanwhile, Dennis watches this broadcast and wonders why the hell he wasn't the one doing this so he could meet the Asian lady with the microphone.)

That was funny! 

[gfac22]

Very sad video.  It helps knowing that he would soon clean up his act, but man it was hard to watch that.

[Pinder's Gone To Kokomo And Back Again]

Weird how Dennis and Carl seemed to be morphing into each other at that period....

[MBE]

Neat. Sad but interesting.

[halblaineisgood]

.

[Andrew G. Doe]

Bears repeating - when Dennis is the most together Wilson on stage, you've got a band going to hell on the Handbasket Express.

[SMiLE Brian]

Bears repeating - when Dennis is the most together Wilson on stage, you've got a band going to hell on the Handbasket Express.

 So true.

[Shady]

Man, they really attacked Carl, I was feeling bad for him.

[Wild-Honey]

Man, they really attacked Carl, I was feeling bad for him.

School of piranhas.  Extremely unprofessional, Interrupting him constantly, talking over each other.  They did elicit some good answers though, even if untrue as AGD stated.  He really was quite a dignified guy, he handled it extremely well.

"Do you think you were singled out, or are the BB's not as good as they used to be?" (paraphrasing).  What answer was he hoping to get?  "Yeah we're just no good anymore, don't bother coming to see us"    Insulting.   

My boss, who was about 20 at the time was at that concert, she thought it was hilarious. I can imagine others wouldn't have though.   She said the music itself was great but the lyrics and vocals were all over the place, and the drummer fell of his chair.

[rn57]

Fact is, he was lying through his teeth. As we all know now, he was in the grip of a bad smack & booze habit. Good thing is, this caused him to clean up.

Yeah, but he wasn't Brian or Dennis.

 Brian would have said flat out, "I'm in the grip of a bad smack/coke/booze habit....have you guys got any cigarettes?" (Good thing he would have been right in the middle of a bunch of people who were NEVER without them in those days - has all this anti-smoking stuff that even took over France reached Down Under yet?)

 Dennis would have put on his puppy-dog look and admit he'd slipped, and then seen about getting the Asian lady reporter's home phone number. This kind of confession was not Carl's bag.

OK, Carl's manner was straightforward, is the way I should have put it - and polite, but the content did not conform to the manner.

Also - I believe there's plenty of evidence on video out there of Australian journalists really acting like a pack of wolves. It was around this time that Frank Sinatra got into open warfare with them during one of his visits to such an extent that he had to leave the country because the Australian unions (journalists have a pretty strong one there) would not let him onstage. (Later he apologized and was welcomed back.)  They're comparatively restrained in this clip.

[EthanJames]

It's pretty interesting watching this, you could tell something was a bit up with him, Good thing he cleaned up his act

[BillA]

The difference between Carl here and a couple of years later is amazing

[Alan Smith]

The difference between Carl here and a couple of years later is amazing

+1.  Absolutely! an amazing change, as you say - although (as discussed on a thread last year) a transformation that seemed to knock-out his creative edge, sadly.

[mammy blue]

I may be projecting here, but it is impossible for me to separate Carl's troubles during this period from the creative decline that the BB had undergone post-Holland, which reached the point of inevitability with MIU. It's great that Carl cleaned up after this, but he also had to stop caring.

[Amy B.]

Amazing how he looks like a combo of Brian and Dennis here. He just seems completely out of it. I'm so glad he was strong enough to get clean.

[BillA]

I may be projecting here, but it is impossible for me to separate Carl's troubles during this period from the creative decline that the BB had undergone post-Holland, which reached the point of inevitability with MIU. It's great that Carl cleaned up after this, but he also had to stop caring.

I think it is unfair to say that he stopped caring.  A few random:

1. The so called decline in Carl's artistic ambitions could be due more to the loss of Jack Reilly as a collaborator than any change in his attitude.  I would add that though his songs on LA (Angel excepted) are not highly regarded they do seem personal given that they deal with redeeming oneself.

2. If you don't care you don't put out solo albums.  CW was a misfire - I always thought that production in the vein of Boz Scaggs would have worked really well for Carl. I was surprised by way CW truned out especially given the producer.

3.  Carl, except for the 77-78 detour, seemed to be level headed.  Maybe he took a look at the situation and determined that the fight could not be won so he decided to make the best of the situation.  His sojourn from the band was not related to material, it was related to the quality if presentation.

4.  Maybe he decided that there were more important things to life than "Holland II" such providing for his kid's future and his own mental health.

5.  Given the condition of Brian and Dennis maybe artistic ambition had to be put on the back burner.

[phirnis]

Incredible footage! I find it hard to believe he was only 32 by this point. In a way he certainly reminds me of the pictures I've seen of Holland-era Brian.

Being able to lie through one's teeth without even avoiding eye contact is quite "remarkable" I think. A real professional, for better or worse.

[NHC]

I may be projecting here, but it is impossible for me to separate Carl's troubles during this period from the creative decline that the BB had undergone post-Holland, which reached the point of inevitability with MIU. It's great that Carl cleaned up after this, but he also had to stop caring.

I always thought that production in the vein of Boz Scaggs would have worked really well for Carl.

You know, I hadn't thought of that but it just might have worked.  Boz is one of my favorites, and was my "main man" during the 70's. The stuff he had been building toward around Down Two, Then Left and Middle Man, that kind of repertoire and production might have been the ticket for Carl.   Soulful, big Philly type production, with an R&B edge, almost a natural transition for him. Takes the right kind of songs, but that could have been accomplished.

[SMiLE-addict]

Well, at least he apologized and was pretty open about it. Lots of other stars would brush it off, say nothing, or make excuses.