Mid-90s BB reunion timeline

[Wirestone]

With all the recent interest in the Wilson-Paley BB tracks (and the recent interband intrigue), I thought I'd set up a thread to direct people to one of the most interesting compilations of material about the abortive mid-90s BB reunion. It's on this site, but not in an easily accessible place.

Here's the link:

http://smileysmile.net/OLDlibrary/timeline.html

Some choice quotes:

Bill Holdship of MOJO interviews Brian Wilson and Don Was.

It's Don who first brings up a Beach Boys reunion when asked about future projects. So, why? "Well, I spoke to Mike about a week ago," says Brian. "The first thing he says is 'I really wanna get together with Don Was'. I said that's what I've been after you to do for about a year now! There was so much enthusiasm in Mike's voice. So we're cool now. Mike and I are just cool. There's a lot of sh*t Andy and I got written for him. I just had to get through that goshdarn trial! I totally went crazy over that! Lots of stress! But I got through it. That's how it works. You've got hurdles, you know? A hurdle to me represents lots of mental effort and extreme mental stress. It's like a woman having a baby. What stress! To go through that! And for that big baby to come out of that little vagina. NOBODY KNOWS HOW THAT'S DONE! Someone can try to explain it, but you see the woman afterwards and she's cool. With artistic things, it's the same thing. Art doesn't come easy. It never did!"

Steve Appleford reports on the Beach Boys working together.

Suddenly, the vibrations seem good again. Pop maestro Brian Wilson, 53, brother Carl, 50, and cousin Mike Love, 54, are gathered round the microphone, just like old times, singing one of those unmistakable harmonies that so often lifted the Beach Boys to the top of the charts. But this is no oldies show. The three are actually working on a new song, happily crooning, "Meet me somewhere out in Malibu!"

"We're putting Carl's guitar on next," announces Brian Wilson, "which will make it even more raucous. It might even fly away. It's good enough to totally fly out of the universe."

Bill Holdship of MOJO interviews Brian Wilson and Andy Paley.

LATE APRIL 1995. ANDY PALEY CALLS ONE SATURDAY afternoon to say that he and Brian have time for a brief talk between the studio where Brian's been working on Orange Crate Art with Van Dyke Parks and a radio interview. They're set to begin rehearsals the following day for a Las Vegas gig with the Beach Boys that Brian's promised he'll do the following weekend – provided that Andy can join him onstage. Brian says it's his first Beach Boys gig in seven years.

The notion of this show strikes me as especially weird. Andy had told me earlier that the first recording session with the reunited Beach Boys hadn't gone well at all.

"Man, I hated that," Brian told Andy afterwards. "I'll write the parts; you record them; then I'll come in and help mix it afterwards. We'll do it that way."

Don Was: I met Brian while he was still with Landy [the psychiatrist who spent every waking hour with Wilson, now deposed], so I knew him. While I was making the film, one day out of nowhere he says "I want to make a Beach Boys record. Will you go talk to Mike?" I thought maybe there was a chance for reconciliation and get that into the film. Wilson is looking to reconcile every aspect of his life, the things he missed out on. I went down there and they were thrilled, especially Love; he's got a good cynical sense of humor.

I was expecting to meet the evilest man in the world. His complaints, the chip on the shoulder, is valid: it's "the genius and the four assholes." That would make anyone vitriolic, so any preconceived notions I had got turned around. I learned a lot about myself while making this film, that humans don't have the wherewithal to judge.

Sometime in September 1995   // The Beach Boys at Studio C at Western, with Don Was producing, record vocals for the Wilson Paley sessions for Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery. During background vocal sessions for Baywatch Nights AKA Dancing The Night Away, Carl Wilson walks out and the reunion ends.

And a whole bunch more stuff, going up to 2006.

[DonnyL]

The lingering question is:

Whatever became of Jerome S. Billet ?

[DonnyL]

I read this (again) with fascination. Totally bizarre period.

Some favorite bits:

Andy Paley: "We've just been doing what he likes to do – the kind of records he's always liked; I don't try to change anything in any way – his vision of what he wants. When he says 'Do this." in the studio, I do it. I don't question it. If he knows what he wants, I do it or get somebody who can."

Sean O'Hagen: "As far as I can see, Joe Thomas hasn't got a clue about Brian Wilson or his legacy ... He kept referring to Brian's potential as an Adult Contemporary crossover artist. I sad, 'Don't you realise Brian Wilson is essentially a 20th-century avant-garde pop genius?' And he went, 'Avant-garde? Not the Brian Wilson I know'. I don't think Brian really wanted to work with him - but he had no choice, he was being pulled in that direction."

Before the show, Sean found Love meditating in a shower cubicle while the other Boys held a meeting in a changing room. "There was," he says, "something spooky in the air. It was dark, strange."

[Wirestone]

The Uncut article is kind of a hatchet job. Lots of secondhand accounts from people with agendas. It does seem clear that Brian had less than no desire to collaborate with Sean O'Hagan.

As for Billet, he was replaced when (or shortly before) Brian married Melinda. She was his conservator for a few years, and then Brian regained all of his legal rights.

Billet is still around, just another lawyer in L.A.

http://www.intelius.com/people/Jerome-Billet/08zqxj0f523

[DonnyL]

As for Billet, he was replaced when (or shortly before) Brian married Melinda. She was his conservator for a few years, and then Brian regained all of his legal rights.

Billet is still around, just another lawyer in L.A.

http://www.intelius.com/people/Jerome-Billet/08zqxj0f523

sorry man, thanks for the info ... I was joking

good to know his sign is Aries though.

[Wirestone]

As for Billet, he was replaced when (or shortly before) Brian married Melinda. She was his conservator for a few years, and then Brian regained all of his legal rights.

Billet is still around, just another lawyer in L.A.

http://www.intelius.com/people/Jerome-Billet/08zqxj0f523

sorry man, thanks for the info ... I was joking

good to know his sign is Aries though.

Don't be sorry -- it's a small detail in the life of Brian Wilson. We live for those things!

I do wonder if Brian had people who looked after him day-to-day during those three or four years. That would be the source of some interesting stories.

I vaguely recall someone once talking about running across Brian in a bar in LA during this time -- he was playing Jane's Addiction on the jukebox and clearly very manic.

[Sam_BFC]

'Meet me somewhere out in Malibu'...is that a song title?

[DonnyL]

Does anyone remember where to find the link to the story that Sean O'Hagen told about Carl saying he didn't think the group were capable of making another album on par with Holland (or something to that effect) ?

[Iron Horse-Apples]

I vaguely recall someone once talking about running across Brian in a bar in LA during this time -- he was playing Jane's Addiction on the jukebox and clearly very manic.

I've heard Brian started smoking again briefly during the post Landy, pre Melinda period, but what about drugs?

[Wirestone]

'Meet me somewhere out in Malibu'...is that a song title?

Nope. It's a line in the bridge of the song "Dancin' the Night Away," which has been booted. There are literally like 20 seconds of vocals on the three- or four-minute track.

[Wirestone]

I vaguely recall someone once talking about running across Brian in a bar in LA during this time -- he was playing Jane's Addiction on the jukebox and clearly very manic.

I've heard Brian started smoking again briefly during the post Landy, pre Melinda period, but what about drugs?

I'd doubt it. Simply because I expect he had a minder or two around him most of the time. I've been told, within the last few years, that one of the reasons Jeff is with Brian so often is that Brian can wander off in a daze and get lost if someone isn't around to guide him. I'm sure that's not true at all times and in all cases, but still ...

[SMiLE Brian]

Its a shame that Brian is prone to those "episodes".

[HeyJude]

'Meet me somewhere out in Malibu'...is that a song title?

Nope. It's a line in the bridge of the song "Dancin' the Night Away," which has been booted. There are literally like 20 seconds of vocals on the three- or four-minute track.

What's interesting is that the rundown from that link describes two different groups of sessions for "Dancing the Night Away", with a lot of time in between. One initial session with Mike, Carl, and Brian, and then later they supposedly worked on it again during sessions for SS and YSAM. Yet, all that came from all that work was the 20 seconds of vocals? I wonder if more BB vocals exist for that track. I'd guess no since they weren't included at all on MIC.

I think it was one of Carl's collaborators who told a story of accompanying Carl to a "Proud Mary" session of Brian's; I wonder where that fits into this chronology.

[southbay]

Thanks for the link Wirestone.  I remember living through this period as it happened and reading these articles as they came out, even being able to talk to some folks (like Al Jardine) and getting bits of information during the time.  I devoured all of the info I could get,  just waiting for that great reunion album that was sure to come our way.  But, alas...

[Jim V.]

Sometime in September 1995   // The Beach Boys at Studio C at Western, with Don Was producing, record vocals for the Wilson Paley sessions for Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery. During background vocal sessions for Baywatch Nights AKA Dancing The Night Away, Carl Wilson walks out and the reunion ends.

This isn't true. The sessions for "Baywatch Nights" (a.k.a. "Dancin' The Night Away) were in March. The sessions for "Soul Searchin'" and "You're Still A Mystery" were in November. In between sessions for Stars & Stripes Vol. 1. Which then would also mean that they didn't junk the original material to do the country project. Which is kinda interesting to think about. Apparently they were planning on doing both at the same time.

And then add the fact that Don Was told Brian to go back and write some more stuff. Maybe that's why they didn't do any more original material after November. Perhaps it wasn't Carl who walked away. Especially considered that they still all worked together well into 1996.

Question being, when did the attempt to get a new album together really end? When Carl died? With Imagination? When Brian get Darian, et al in his solo group? If anything I think Brian getting his own group ended it more than anything.

[Wirestone]

Question being, when did the attempt to get a new album together really end? When Carl died? With Imagination? When Brian get Darian, et al in his solo group? If anything I think Brian getting his own group ended it more than anything.

Nah. Brian's group didn't coalesce until 1999, and arguably didn't hit its stride until 2000.

I've got to think that the commercial failure of Stars and Stripes, coupled with the band's attempts to get Brian to work with Sean O'Hagan (which he didn't want to do) sealed the deal. He had befriended Joe Thomas, who also had a record label, so making a solo record seemed easier than navigating the waters of BB land.

Also, around this same time, the band had offers to tour PS live -- with Brian and orchestras. Carl turned it down, saying Brian couldn't handle it. (This is all in the Carlin book.) I have to think this eroded group unity even further.

But even then, even among all this, Brian was still thinking in a collaborative mode. He worked with Carnie and Wendy. Carl was going to be on Imagination. Even Bruce showed up for the Imagination promo show.

All of which goes to show that, however fraught matters were, it was Carl's death that really shut things down.

[Jim V.]

Question being, when did the attempt to get a new album together really end? When Carl died? With Imagination? When Brian get Darian, et al in his solo group? If anything I think Brian getting his own group ended it more than anything.

Nah. Brian's group didn't coalesce until 1999, and arguably didn't hit its stride until 2000.

I've got to think that the commercial failure of Stars and Stripes, coupled with the band's attempts to get Brian to work with Sean O'Hagan (which he didn't want to do) sealed the deal. He had befriended Joe Thomas, who also had a record label, so making a solo record seemed easier than navigating the waters of BB land.

Also, around this same time, the band had offers to tour PS live -- with Brian and orchestras. Carl turned it down, saying Brian couldn't handle it. (This is all in the Carlin book.) I have to think this eroded group unity even further.

But even then, even among all this, Brian was still thinking in a collaborative mode. He worked with Carnie and Wendy. Carl was going to be on Imagination. Even Bruce showed up for the Imagination promo show.

All of which goes to show that, however fraught matters were, it was Carl's death that really shut things down.

I wonder though, because if you look at that timeline that you linked, even by '99 Brian was talking of working with The Beach Boys, and then you also have Mike saying Brian was "definitely" gonna play with the band only a few months after Carl died. And most importantly, Brian was apparently still working on material for The Beach Boys during the Imagination sessions and after, possibly into 1999. So I think it i reasonable to say that The Beach Boys were an ongoing concern for Brian 'til when he got his solo group, or when Joe Thomas left, which was just a bit after his solo group was started.

[Wirestone]

I'm pretty sure that most of the Imagination writing sessions preceded Carl's death ...

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

Jane's Addiction?! Holy sh*t

[Andrew G. Doe]

"Sometime in September 1995   // The Beach Boys at Studio C at Western, with Don Was producing, record vocals for the Wilson Paley sessions for Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery. During background vocal sessions for Baywatch Nights AKA Dancing The Night Away, Carl Wilson walks out and the reunion ends."

Nope: Gigs & sessions 1995

[Iron Horse-Apples]

Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum,  but do we know why Carl walked out?

[STE]

Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum,  but do we know why Carl walked out?

As far as I can remember, I've never seen a confirmed named source for this.  I find it hard to believe, unless it happened due to the amtosphere and not the material.

[SurfRiderHawaii]

Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum,  but do we know why Carl walked out?

Carl was jealous of David Hasselhoff's music success in Germany.

[phirnis]

The bit about Jane's Addiction is rather funny I think. Kudos to "oldies guy" Brian for blasting some then-recent music in the 1990s.

[southbay]

"Sometime in September 1995   // The Beach Boys at Studio C at Western, with Don Was producing, record vocals for the Wilson Paley sessions for Soul Searchin' and Still A Mystery. During background vocal sessions for Baywatch Nights AKA Dancing The Night Away, Carl Wilson walks out and the reunion ends."

Nope: Gigs & sessions 1995

True this.  In addition, I had a brief conversation with Elliott Lott in August 1995 and asked him about the Country sessions (had no title at that time) and how it would impact the Don Was sessions. His statement (paraphrased) was that the group was "excited" and "honored" to be working with Don Was; if they were going to use an outside producer , it would have to somebody of Was' stature; the Nashville thing was nice, just something they were doing at the time, but WAS ABSOLUTELY TAKING A BACKSEAT TO THE WAS PROJECT. Further, the group was fully behind and supporting the Was/BW coalition and film and everything was one big happy family...