Who is Bob Gordon and What Was His Role During SMiLE?

Here's another one: Stan Shapiro.

It occurs to me now, we might divide the Posse up into several overlapping camps, first based around how much they wrote:

1) The prolific, with David Anderle, Michael Vosse and Jules Siegel writing the most important primary sources we have.

(You could include Frank Holmes even if he wasn't perse in the Posse, but I think he's at least told us all he can.)

2) The commentators, like Derek Taylor, Paul Williams, Danny Hutton, Mark Volman and Stan Shapiro who gave some anecdotes and asides to fill out the narrative but nothing substantial.

(If you include Loren Daro, who I don't think was necessarily in the Posse, he's given the acid story, some obvious self-serving bullshit, but that's it--so about the same level of info. Also, I'd include VDP and the Rovell sisters in this classification of info-giving, though they aren't part of the posse. The three of them waited too long to give their testimony, so it's fragmented and anecdotal.)

3) The silents, like Paul Jay Robbins, Bob Gordon and Dick Maier. As far as I know, they've never said a word. Please PLEASE correct me if I'm wrong. (Not in the posse, but we never heard from Jasper Dailey to my knowledge either, nor the other people from the LAX photos and only small quotes from Guy Webster, who wasn't even included in the TSS liner notes.)

Then you could separate them again into "who was on Brian's side" vs "who was a user" and the "we don't know" camps. I'm speaking in terms of, who actually had a purpose for being at the sessions and was working diligently to get SMiLE made, vs who was just a thrill-seeking, spotlight-chasing hanger-on:

1) Anderle, Vosse, Diane and Williams definitely seem like "good guys" when weighing the evidence. They were doing the jobs delegated to them, no bullshit, without getting in the way and were true believers in the vision. You could say, Williams had no role in production of the album proper, he was there independently to interview Brian once, but he's sung his praises and defended the project's vibe/merit ever since--which was still technically why he was there.

Hutton and Volman weren't helping exactly, but still good supportive friends. Marilyn obviously had Brian's best interests at heart but wasn't working on the project in any official capacity and I think she'd have absolutely sacrificed the whole thing if Brian quit the scene all together, cut the drugs, went back to "normal," etc.

2) Daro and Shapiro sound like bad friends even just going by stories they freely tell. They both seem to have used Brian to be adjacent to fame, for access to fun parties, money, drugs and when all else failed, the occasional laugh at his expense. I've had "friends" like these before and the vibe I get from their stories makes me sick. They had no legitimate reason to be there, distracted everyone with their self-serving nonsense, took advantage of Brian and otherwise caused friction with his family that didn't need to happen. It would've been better for everyone had they never been there at all.

Daro laughed even years later at Brian's traumatic LSD experience, then sent the board a bizarre tirade of insults and self-aggrandizements. He's probably the most clear cut "bad guy" in the story. Shapiro pushed Brian to track down Carol Mountain, which anyone with sense ought to have known was a bad idea, then laughed hysterically when Brian made a fool of himself proclaiming his love for a now frumpy housewife with curlers in her hair and an angry husband. This hardly ever gets talked about but may not be an insignificant factor in Brian's breakdown. I'd love to get a date on this incident--I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't perhaps right before Fire or something suspicious like that.

3) The "undecideds" include Derek Taylor, who did his job but maybe a little TOO well. The "Brian's a genius" campaign was a double edged sword at best, a source of deep doubt and unspoken reason the album died at worst. Plus, I don't think he had a very high opinion of Brian or VDP based on interviews. Van accuses Taylor of giving the Beatles sneak peaks at the SMiLE tapes, which I don't believe happened, but it speaks to the fact that Van didn't trust him and after awhile I don't think Brian did either. His bestowing of the label DEFINITELY made Brian feel pressured to live up to something he wasn't, and was part of what led to the soiree of gawking journalists hanging around like vultures, all eyes on Brian. (Overlooked element in the downfall for sure.)

Siegel has taken criticism for stretching the truth, plus Anderle and Williams (at least) didn't seem to like him. On the "Lifeboat Tape" he seems to rub everyone the wrong way. Brian must not have liked having him around since he made up the "girlfriend's a witch" story to bar him further entry. Still, Siegel turned down a spot in the prestigious Saturday Evening Post because he refused to make Brian look bad--that's gotta count for something. And for his part, he's claimed to love Brian even decades later and accused Anderle of lying about his intentions. But his emphasis on Brian's quest to be "HIP" in the article has always rubbed me the wrong way, it implies he was obsessed with being "cool" and likely filled Brian's head with the same misguided, approval-seeking notions, which arguably led Brian into trying to be something he wasn't.

The rest are undecideds because we don't know enough about them to say if their influence was good or not. They clearly didn't care enough to speak up about Brian or the project for decades afterward, or weren't in a position to be asked. With all these people, it's at least debatable if their presence was a net positive or negative, with myself leaning towards the latter in every case. (As VDP says, the people who didn't need to be there got in the way of the music-making process just by being dead-weight and taking up space, to say nothing of whatever else they may've done.)

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