Brian's love for 'My Obsession' and its influence on Fire etc.

[buddhahat]

I can't find any choice quotes right now. Only this YT video where Brian gushes about the song:

http://youtu.be/Y0M_Yu_offU

and of course, the song itself:

http://youtu.be/YYyTaTCbLm4

With all the smile activity at the moment I thought it might be interesting to discuss Brian's fixation with this song.

I've read in a few places about Brian visiting a Stones mixing session for My Obsession in Aug 1966. It's also alleged that the stones got Brian really stoned at the session. I have a feeling this might be mentioned in the Keith Richards autobiography but I might be wrong.

Anyway what really interests me about this is the influence that the song seemingly had on Brian's writing at the time. The groovy organ that drives the song really sounds like a precursor to the ascending/descending notes that would feature in Fire/Who Ran The Iron Horse/Heroes Intro/Fall Breaks etc. The easiest way to highlight the similarities is if one tries singing the vocals from Fall Breaks over My Obsession.

I find it intriguing that Brian potentially got blitzed at the session. All the instances of this Fire motif that crop up throughout Smile sound very desperate and panicked to me. They have that bad trip vibe. Did Brian have a bad drug experience at the session? I may be misremembering the quotes. Brian's freakouts in the bookstore and at the movie Seconds are always cited as negative drug experiences relating to and/or influencing the Smile music. I wonder if this Stones session was more influential in this sense.

The other element that Brian seems to subsequently borrow from Obsession is the way the whole song grinds to a hault when Jagger sings "Confessioooooooon". When I first noticed this it instantly reminded me of the pauses in Dada. I don't think brian uses this pause device prior to Aug 1966 although I may be wrong. He uses this pause throughout Smile as a way of bridging sections. It crops up a lot in Heroes where sections seem to grind to a hault e.g. the bicycle ride theme. I also hear it in Cabinessence at the end of the Who Ran The Iron Horse sections.

Of course you can argue that a pause is just a pause, but personally I think the rhythmic 'grind to a hault' of My Obsession was hugely influential on the way Brian constructed many Smile songs.

Anybody have any choice quotes relating to BW and this Stones song? Or insights, theories to add to the above?

[bgas]

The pause, as in LGIOK?

[Bicyclerider]

Yes I've read somewhere also about Brian attending this session and being blown away by what the Stones were doing.  He also attended the River Deep Mountain High sessions (with Mick Jagger) around this time, which seems to have influenced Heroes and Villains. 

[buddhahat]

The pause, as in LGIOK?

Which one is that?

Ok Little girl I once Knew.

Fair point. The kind of stop starting I hear in My Obsession is different though. It sounds rhythmically similar to Dada and other smile songs. But a pause is a pause I guess and difficult to argue about specific nuances of one pause vs another.

Anybody else hear smile in My Obsession or is it just me?

[JK]

I can't remember where I saw it (here? the Hoffman board?) but most interestingly someone somewhere mentioned the organ break in "Let's Spend The Night Together"----here at 1:39----as bearing some resemblance to the organ break in "Good Vibrations":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAOQkSFTKMw   

[buddhahat]

I can't remember where I saw it (here? the Hoffman board?) but most interestingly someone somewhere mentioned the organ break in "Let's Spend The Night Together"----here at 1:39----as bearing some resemblance to the organ break in "Good Vibrations":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pAOQkSFTKMw    

I have read in a few places that Let's Spend The Night Together was very Beach Boys influenced and always hear it very obviously in the harmonising during that organ break but never considered that the organ break itself might be inspired by the break in GV. Isn't there an Andrew Loog Oldham story about the Stones playing GV a lot in their car? Can't remember the source for that now. Something about a 'stoned' button on the car stereo?

As for My Obsession - seriously, does nobody else hear just how Smile that song sounds? It has Mrs O Leary's Cow written all over it!

With the pauses, I think it's the way My Obsession haults with a very sustained note that reminds me of Dada and other Smile sections. I really think this song had a big impact on Brian and subsequently his approach to various Smile songs.

[JK]

Isn't there an Andrew Loog Oldham story about the Stones playing GV a lot in their car? Can't remember the source for that now. Something about a 'stoned' button on the car stereo?

Found this:

"Andrew Loog Oldham said he had one of those* in his Rolls Royce in the Brian Wilson documentary...he said there were 2 settings -- 'stoned' and 'non-stoned' and that you didn't need to press the stoned button to listen to brian wilson's music cos it was so baked already."

[Source]


* Highway Hi-Fi, a record player developed exclusively for 1956 Chrysler Corporation cars.

[JK]

Isn't there an Andrew Loog Oldham story about the Stones playing GV a lot in their car? Can't remember the source for that now. Something about a 'stoned' button on the car stereo?

It's here, at just after 18:00:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SriaRRcA6w

[gsmile]

I'm convinced that "My Obsession" began Brian's own life-long obsession with the "Shortenin' Bread" riff.  Modify the bass/organ line on the Stones song and there you have it? Whenever Brian lists his favorite songs I find he picks ones that sound most like songs he would write himself.  Another example is "Let it Be" by the Beatles, very Brian-esque on it's feel, especially the piano.

Does anyone know when the first appearance of the "Shortenin' Bread" riff or a variation of appeared on a BB/BW recording? Sorry if this has been covered before.

[buddhahat]

Isn't there an Andrew Loog Oldham story about the Stones playing GV a lot in their car? Can't remember the source for that now. Something about a 'stoned' button on the car stereo?

Found this:

"Andrew Loog Oldham said he had one of those* in his Rolls Royce in the Brian Wilson documentary...he said there were 2 settings -- 'stoned' and 'non-stoned' and that you didn't need to press the stoned button to listen to brian wilson's music cos it was so baked already."

[Source]


* Highway Hi-Fi, a record player developed exclusively for 1956 Chrysler Corporation cars.

That's fascinating. Thanks for the link!

[buddhahat]

I'm convinced that "My Obsession" began Brian's own life-long obsession with the "Shortenin' Bread" riff.  Modify the bass/organ line on the Stones song and there you have it? Whenever Brian lists his favorite songs I find he picks ones that sound most like songs he would write himself.  Another example is "Let it Be" by the Beatles, very Brian-esque on it's feel, especially the piano.

Does anyone know when the first appearance of the "Shortenin' Bread" riff or a variation of appeared on a BB/BW recording? Sorry if this has been covered before.

This is an interesting observation. I can hear the similarities. To me Brian has the delicate, intricate side of his music, and then these kind of brutish, chugging things he does like Mrs O Leary's Cow, the Shortenin' Bread riff etc.  I don't think it's a stretch to credit My Obsession with influencing that side of his songwriting. After all, we know how fixated Brian became with songs eg: Be My Baby. I really think he became obsessed (Ha!) with this particular Stones song and its influence shows up subsequently in quite a few BW compositions.