The Smiley Smile Message Board

Any one else here absolutely adore this song? It's a perfect pop gem. I think it had hit potential in '88 or '89 if it would have been promoted heavily as a single. I was listening last night and there are several similarities to Wouldn't It Be Nice - the stop/start pattern, the lyrical theme (not actually being together), and then there's the good-night baby reference to cap it all off!

I love this song. I thought it would have been a great song to resurrect for his solo tours.

Egohanger, now I wanna cover it for the collab project....  ;D

A great Andy Paley song.

Hell yes!

I like the faster alternate version better.  Surprised it didn't show up as a boner track on the Rhino re-issue.

I've always been a HUGE BW88 Supporter.

Never heard that one!

I'm sorry.

Haha! You should just let it be known where one can aquire such things.

Same here.  That's just a song I can't help but smile when I listen to it.

I'll see what I can do for you tonight.  I have to work first......

Cool song with a great production. This wall-of-sound approach fits good with the 80s instrumentation. But imo so does much of the album

Always been one of my favorites on BW88, great hook and I love the middle eight.

Not just an underrated song, a hugely underrated album

<3

I can see the production turning people off. Songwriting wise, that album is up there with the best he's ever done (solo).

Brian's vocal is harsh on that track and most of that album.  He had not learned how to use his different voice at that point.

Agreed. Though I'd even say it's some of his best songwriting period. The production is a bit iffy (it used to keep me away from listening) - but just like with Love You, it really really grows on you, and then you can't get enough of it.

"The river's deep and the river's so wide, she's waiting for me on the other side" - that part of Rio Grande is one of my favorite BW riffs.

Ps, thanks for the thread - got me listening to this album!

You're welcome - I wanted to talk about it, too. I found a sealed copy of this album for $8 at a record show last weekend, cracked the seal and played it a couple times. Sounds great on vinyl, especially "Meet Me....".

I think his voice sounds better on this album than it does on Sweet Insanity, Orange Crate Art, IJWMFTT, and Gettin' In Over My Head.

Agreed. It sounds like he (they) really took some time on the vocals and made sure the performances were the best that could've possibly been done. The shoutiness is there, but he sounds engaged and he hits all the notes. "Let It Shine" is probably one of his most commercial vocals ever. That should've been a smash.

He wrote as little of the song in question as he did on Deirdre.

I adore this album, but I only have it through itunes and I've never heard the correct version of Melt Away everyone jabbers on about (with highest harmony line in the tag) and I cry about it sometimes.

Alright, so what were BW's contributions to the songwriting? Basic riffs and chord progressions and melodies on most of the songs, or even less than that?

I think of the whole album as Love You Vol. 2. It sure could use another Beach Boy or two or three to handle vocals, and I know it isn't "pure" Brian, but it hits the spot.

Oh, and the production is just as great as the compositions themselves. The big fuzzy bass. The endless tinkling bells. The 6 foot thick Wall of Keyboards. Magical. My cheesiest guiltypleasure

I hadn't heard that extra part of Melt Away until I bought the vinyl - it's hardly a difference, but it is noticeable if you're looking out for it.

I can't speak for the entire album, but Let It Shine was mostly written by Jeff Lynne - if I remember correctly from AGD. And Brian hated the song apparently lol - it's one of my favorites on the album regardless ;D

From what I remember: Brian's contributed a lot - he even went behind Landy's back for the song 'There's So Many' (I think), dumped Landy's lyrics for his own. Most of this is by memory - Carlin's book does a good overview of the songwriting/production of BW88.

Brian wrote much of the album. The reality of the situation is that Brian didn't have enough viable songs for the project, according to the label. So other songs, such as Paley's Meet In In My Dreams Tonight and Lynne's Let It Shine, were drafted into the project, and Brian was given writing credits, to make him seem more involved than he was. (But when hasn't that happened since 1967?). The label also asked for an ambitious suite-type work, and Paley took two unfinished Brian songs, wrote extra sections and all the linking material, and Rio Grande was done.
The fact of the matter is, besides Love And Mercy, the songs Brian was the most excited about were the ones that most folks dislike, the ones that sound most contemporary with that era, Night Time and Walkin' The Line. That is the sound he personally liked, not the BB 60's retro thing. The parts of that record that sound the most 60's (and this goes for a few subsequent projects as well) are things others contributed. As much as people do not dig it, Brian's taste in sounds and arrangements changed drastically decades ago, and moved with contemporary trends, for better or worse. This is the guy who thinks an example of a modern classic is Kenny G's Christmas album.
If one wants to hear an example of unfettered Brian in the modern-digital age, they should listen hard to Sweet Insanity. That was a large burst of creativity from him, and there hasn't really been one on that scale since. He put a lot into that album (he still thinks it is one of the best things he has ever done), and the rejection of the album was another in a long line of personal devastations that have seen him lose faith in his own creative voice sans "translators" and heavy collaboration.

I totally dig "Rio Grande". 

I like Rio Grande a lot too. But as Randy Newman said, it was a case of the label "plugging in Brian Wilson" to get the effect they wanted.

Great song! Would`ve been even better if it had more guitar and drums, and even 70s Moog, and less fake drums, DX7,Fairlight, etc.

Despite the Landy brainwash and the 80s production, BW88 is a really good BW solo album and he shines through all of the negative characteristics about it, giving it its longevity. Great songs on that one. Melt Away is a Brian Wilson gem. It showed he's definitely still "got it" in terms of writing music with artistic integrity. Beautiful harmonies.

Thanks for the info, Spaceman. Walkin the Line and Night Time are my favorites on the album, but I also dig the collaborations. I think it is his best solo album-- most interesting, at least-- but I've only heard Sweet Insanity via YouTube. To the Google!!!

Sweet Insanity did have its moments and I really wish it would've come out in its original form just so that there could've been some more continuity to BW's early solo career.

Interesting that Usher originally seemed to have pushed him to those godawful production values (more or less at the same time Melcher was doing the same for the Boys) in an attempt to make Brian sound up to date...

Thanks for that post!
I think people should Brian just write what he wants. Sweet Insanity has a lot of great stuff on it and I think the "Brian"-songs on BW88 are cool as well. The guy has shown that he's a great songwriter (one of the very best) so why always this formula-thinking? Why are peopl so afraid of letting him write what he feels like, which is the way his best stuff came along (including the hits because back then he also just did what he wanted to)?

True, but Brian had worked with washes of synth before on Love You. He was just so sheltered and broken, or out of the loop (read Beach Boys 85) after that, he didn't get the chance to get into up-to-date 80's technology in the studio until The Wilson Project.

I agree. Brian has settled into a good groove lately of balancing his own taste with the retro feel that others want from him. TLOS and Radio are good examples of that. I hope he makes another record soon, and gets even closer to himself. It is possible that if him and Mike somehow broke down the walls, he would be comfortable enough, familiar enough, to make a full Brian album (or as close to it as possible, since he has not fully produced/controlled a released album, top to bottom, since Pet Sounds).

Still think this deserves the live-performance-of-a-whole-album treatment. The band would sound great. And Brian could it sing it way better now.

According to both parties, Brian wrote the intro/round of "Let It Shine" so I'd say the co-writing credit is deserved, certainly more than Mike getting one for his contributions to "Wouldn't It Be Nice".

Yes, love the bejesus out of Brian's drone-rock sounds...the Rhino reissue of BW 88 has the "TV mix" of "Nighttime," and it is killer--really pops once you remove that shouty lead vocal.

Agree with onkster that BW 88 would be fun to play all the way through live...they could take the intermission at the end of "side one" on the LP version.

I think BW still wants to have a hit that isn't somehow "beholden' to the BBs and their sound. Though that's probably impossible at this point, he might as well go for it!

I dunno. That is like saying a rearrangement of a tune deserves a cowriting credit, to my mind.

I listened to the album again today, and I gotta say that I don't really care for Little Children at all. Just a wee bit too precious. And One for the Boys is kinda boring. The a capella really helped me pick out the Fairlight pitch correction, though.

My final negative comment... I feel Love and Mercy is overrated. And the chorus reminds me of Cali. Girls for some reason.

I like Little Children a lot, being from the Love You period and all. Shoulda got sued for the Mountain Of Love rip tho.

I've got a great love for 'Let It Shine' but I love Jeff Lynne's work as well.  So, the Brian/Jeff combo works for me.  A few days ago, this article showed up in which Jeff talked about his favorite albums.  He discusses 'Let It Shine' briefly.

http://thequietus.com/articles/10299-jeff-lynne-favourite-albums?page=12

I never would have guessed it was from that period. Mindblowing. Does anything else go that far back or further?

He actually performed Let It Shine when he performed outside of Tacoma, during the Pet Sounds tour. I heard the band do it during soundcheck as well. Rare one to hear live.

That we know of! Knowing Brian's gift for melodic recall, he could have sketched out One For The Boys in 1959.

I think it sounds very Love You.

Puyallup Fair? I was there. Highlight of the show for me, along with Lay Down Burden. Wish he would've done more of his solo material on his solo tours. Of course, some will say PS, SMiLE, and ....well, pretty much everything he's done is "solo material"..

.

Obviously one of these two was Night Bloomin' Jasmine. Which was the other?

Not sure about that tale of the origin of Rio Grande ... pretty sure those segments come from a lot of different places, and not just Paley. Although it was indeed Lenny Waronker's baby, that's true ...

Well, I simplified the Rio Grande story to essentials, it is a very complicated saga. But in general, Paley and the other folks working on the record sewed together fragments that were laying around to make up the suite, and did a fine job. I should also state that my thoughts about the album and Brian's solo career are mainly drawn from conversations I have had over the years with the participants.

Well, I for one am interested in the full story, the whole complicated saga, if you ever get the time...

The intro sounds like "Dirty jobs" by The Who  :'(

I think, hands-down, "Melt Away" is Brian's best solo song (BWPS excepted). Love, love, love that song.

I love "There's So Many" and "Let It Shine" too, even if the latter is mostly Lynne, not Brian. I like most of the others. I think the weakest are "Walkin the Line" and "Night Time."

And, like people have commented before, it would have been great to hear the other guys' voices on it.

I heard this album before I had heard any BBs outside of the hits (...even before PET SOUNDS). Still one of my favorite albums ever, whatever its flaws, and even if it has taken me 20+ years to accept "Night Time" (my least favorite track)!

(So, anyone out there ever heard the "Terri She Needs Me" outtake from these sessions?)

Do you mean "Sherry, She Needs Me?"  If so, the vocal dates back as far as the '70s and the instrumental as far as the '60s.

I think the album is great, and far and away Brian Wilson's best solo album.  I like pretty much every track, but "Meet Me in My Dreams Tonight" has probably always been my favorite.  If that is in fact primarily an Andy Paley-penned tune, he writes much more convincing Brian Wilson-sounding tracks than Jeff Lynne (or others who have tried).

it's sherry, not terri. and no, haven't yet.

oops, smile beat me to that.

It is Terri, if we're talking about the unreleased and unbooted version that Brian cut for the 88 album.

Frankly, this notion that Brian didn't have material for the album is strange, too, because he had a bunch of great tunes sitting around -- some of them became B-sides, and some (Let's Do It Again) remain unreleased to this day. Record companies are strange beasts.

It took me until just today to notice that percussion on the section of "Rio Grande" that starts about a minute again sounds exactly like a train and someone shuffling a deck of cards.

I agree. I think those B-sides and unreleased tracks would have made for a stronger album. I'm a big fan of things like He Couldn't Get His Poor Body To Move, Too Much Sugar and Being With The One You Love. But hey, record companies have rejected some of Brian's best, most characteristic and personal  music since at least the Sunflower era. I've always wished things like Games Two Can Play and I Just Got My Pay, both greatly disliked by Warners, would have made Sunflower. I guess the suits don't dig Brian's tunes in that mode. It is a miracle that Love You, which consists mostly of idiosyncratic material, was released at all.

I'd never heard of it before.  Is it the same basic song with the name switched?  I wonder why that change was made.

Regarding the unreleased material from the era, in addition to "the suits" I know that Dr. Eugene Landy and his surf nazis were very influential over some decisions made regarding Brian at the time... could that be a possible reason (at least for some of the songs)?  There certainly is a lot of good stuff from that time; in addition to "He Couldn't Get His Poor Old Body to Move," which is glorious, I'm fond of a number of the songs he wrote with Gary Usher, such as "Turning Point" and "Heavenly Bodies."

I don't think anyone knows, although one would expect so. Given that it was co-written with Russ back in the 60s, and he was BW88's 's main co-producer, it must have seemed like an obvious tune to try.

One wonders, actually, if it's a bit of a missing link between the 60s/70s version and the 98 take on Imagination. Wouldn't it be interesting if some of the arrangement ideas on the latter (which is pretty different from the original) show up in the 80s version.

Obviously these record company types were listening for different things from the rest of us, but I really don't understand why Being With The One You Love didn't make the cut. The biggest tragedy though is that nothing became of Black Widow, the demo of which is quite stunning despite its sketchiness. My instinct is to blame Landy for this - that Brian heard from him the kinds of things Mike Love would have said. Too negative, Brian. A downer. Think positive! Hence its transformation into the ghastly and deservedly unreleased Let's Do It Again. If Brian had been able to pursue the song's haunted and melancholy quality, it could have been a new 'Til I Die to match the neo-Smile of Rio Grande.

Poor Old Body To Move and Too Much Sugar on the other hand are clearly b-sides, much as I love the latter.

"Being with the one you love" is a helluva song! really cool. Just imagine the Beach Boys wouldn't have turned into a nostalgia Still Cruisin'-act always sreaming for girls and surf and sunshine. A new album as a follow up to Beach Boys '85 (which I love btw) with this kind of material. That would've been brilliant. Also "There's so many" on such an album. I guess Brian at this time was still much more creative than in any other part of his solo carreer. He churned out songs on a steady basis and/or reworked older tunes with ease as it seems.
I don't think BW88 is his best solo album though. That imo is one of the most recent three (TLOS, BWRG, ITKOD).

Being With The One You Love is a personal favorite. Funny, as I can't stand Doin' Time On Planet Earth.

A friend at a local record store got me the cassette single of Melt Away/Being With the One You Love. I played those songs over and over. I'm also a big fan of Let's Go to Heaven in My Car, and Daddy's Little Girl. No shortage of great tunes from Brian back then. I agree, the group should've done some of them on a followup to BB85. Instead, we got the half-hearted Still Cruisin', with only one new (overproduced) Brian tune, and nothing from Carl. What a way to followup a #1 record....NOT!

I agree that Being with the One You Love is a fine song. Most of those pre-BW88 recordings are poor imo though. When I first heard the stuff that Brian and Gary Usher worked on together I was shocked at how bad it was. Just Say No is remarkably bad.

I agree it`s a real shame that the BBs couldn`t have worked together on a follow-up to BB85 together. If they could have combined stuff like Somewhere Near Japan and Kokomo (yes, it would deserve to be included  :)) with the stuff that Brian was working on then it had the potential for a good album.

As it stands, I think even the original idea of Still Cruisin` as a songs from movies album could have worked more than the album that we ended up with if it had been done correctly (which it probably wouldn`t have been). If they could have combined rarer stuff like It`s a Beautiful Day, Chasin` the Sky, Girls on the Beach etc. with the new songs and classic hits then at least it wouldn`t have been masquerading as a new studio album. Somewhere Near Japan would have been the big loss though...

Being with the One You Love  always made me smile .. it was so, err Brian!

back in the day, the local am top 40 station played it regularly instead of the  "A' side of the single, as it was
the bubbling under song on the top 40 chart.. wish I had a copy of that chart, that would be considered a bit of a unusual collectable nowadays I'd imagine.

 :)

Can anyone fill me in on the issues with the c. 2000 reissue of this album? I've read about incorrect mixes being used for some tracks (Melt Away being on of them) and whilst I've got original CD and the reissue, my copy of the original release is scratched beyond repair. Are the differences significant enough that I need to get a new copy?

Brian still had a lot of power in his vocal delivery at this point, even though his voice had changed a lot. I can still hear something of Brian's soulful late 70's vocals here and I'm not sure if Brian's vocals were ever this strong again. As much as I like the 'wall of Brian' on this, I'd love to hear how good this could have sounded with group vocals.

The main differences present on the mistakenly released early mixes include some additional clunky synth notes on "Love & Mercy" and the lack of the high falsetto part on the coda to "Melt Away". I believe there are some different drum tracks as well on certain songs. The extra notes in "Love & Mercy" is kind of annoying, but the lack of the high falsetto on the "Melt Away" coda is a deal-breaker for me; that additional vocal is the sweetest part of one of Brian's finest solo recordings.

Thanks for that, I guess I'll pick up a copy of the original release then!

Always liked "Doin' Time On Planet Earth".

Also liked the early version of "Walkin The Line" with Terence Trent D'Arby singing it.

Always liked Let's Go To Heaven In My Car" and "Daddy's Little Girl" too. Ol' Gary Usher's kid played lead on "Let's Go To Heaven".

"Let It Shine" is a different mix on the 2000, as well.

Hmm, I've only ever heard the 2000 mix, now I am curious.

IIRC, and I'm going from the memory of an old newsgroup post by him, Linett chalked up the errors to simply pulling earlier, first-generation mixes for the respective tracks on the remastered CD, vs. the original release being assembled from a variety of later mixes. That is, it was simply a mistake on his part. On the other hand, he was able to fix the intro on "There's So Many" -- as it was on the original LP.

At one point, he mentioned that there would be a corrected version of the remaster, but that obviously never came to fruition.

The "Melt Away" vocal is apparently by an anonymous female singer; it is not falsetto.

False.

Please see earlier threads on this topic. It was covered extensively.

I take it that due to the different mastering on the copies, I wouldn't be able to pull up the songs from the remaster and the original cd and invert one against the other to see just what is different? 

It took me a little time to get used to the sound on "Let's Go to Heaven"....it sounded so 80's, and even though I'd heard the Beach Boys 85 album and "Rock 'N' Roll to the Rescue", it still came as a jolt....but I grew to love it. Was kind of a nice warm up for the album a year later.

"Daddy's Little Girl" is a big favorite, somewhere in between Love You and Sweet Insanity with some mid-60s stuff thrown in.

TAKE THAT BACK!

It did as I have a corrected version of the Rhino remaster. To get it, however, I needed to mail my incorrect CD to Rhino for them to mail me the corrected version (this was immediately after the release). I don't believe Rhino did a recall on the first shipment and the title probably wasn't popular enough to warrant a second run to be issued to stores, so the majority of the copies out there contain the incorrect mixes.

Ahhh...good to know. I remember people were waiting for word of a corrected version. It must have slipped through the cracks for me, as I still have the "bad" one.

(That... or I did hear of the replacement at the time and, having the the original CD, simply decided to keep the the one with the alt. mixes thinking it would be a collectible. I honestly can't remember!) :)

In Love And Mercy, when Brian sings "I was lying in my room when the news came on TV..." am I the only one who, every single time, first hears him saying "I was lying in my room in the nude..."?  And then I think of that photo of naked Brian in a hotel room.

Just me?  Good. :)

I also very much like the version of "Love And Mercy" with the extra verse. 

"I was praying to a God who just didn't seam to hear
The blessings we need the most are what we all fear."

Did he do that at the Malibu clinic? He did Love and Mercy at some Malibu clinic for kids or whatever it was and I think somebody (Don Was?) who was there said there wasn't a dry eye in the place after that.

Well, the thing that jolted me around that time (1987) was the California Dream Barbie that I bought for my little daughter. That little blue flexi single was what I was after! Years later she asked me what I did with it - I told her it must have jumped out of the box into my record collection!
https://www.wfmu.org/MACrec/barbie2.html

Has this ever been released or even circulated in its entirety? I thought all we had the snippet that appears at the end of the 2000 BW reissue.


I like these, too -- was sorry "Daddy's Little Girl" didn't make it to the 2000 BW reissue in place of the "Night Time" backing track... tracking down the SHE'S OUT OF CONTROL soundtrack on CD ("Daddy's" only official CD appearance, as far as I know) took some time...

Agree with earlier posters that "Being With the One You Love" would have made a good album track. "Too Much Sugar" definitely belongs in b-side land, though...

For my wishlist: A good collection of 80s outtakes, and not just SWEET INSANITY stuff.

Likelihood of this happening (at least in Brian's lifetime)? Yes, very very very low...

Not officially, but it's definitely circulating in full. I like that one more. Feels a little more BW to me. BWTOYL sounds Landynated. Then again, could be because I heard DTOPE first.

The song will never be the same for me again.

I used to have a very low quality mp3 of Brian playing it on Rodney Bingenheimer's show.  I don't have it anymore though and I forget where I downloaded it from.  But I recall that I thought it was pretty stupid.

Doin Time on Planet Earth was tailored for a film.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095047/

The rare tunes that he played on that DJ stint, including the Terence Trent D'Arby to the fore mix of Walkin' The Line, can all be found on the Surfin' Rarities Vol. 6 bootleg.

How come the Beach Boys never recorded songs for good movies?

The alternate version of Meet Me In My Dreams Tonight can be found on the "Come Back Brian" boot, along with some other alternate takes and demos.

http://www.vigotone.com/vigotone/vigotone125.htm

Another one of my personal favorite(s):  Black Widow/In The Nightime/Let's Do It Again.  All of 'em.

GREAT bootleg there. Love all those tunes you mentioned, and Heavenly Bodies as well. And it even has that OUTTAKE Bells Of Madness!

Yeah, it's an old boot, but that rare outtake of "Bells of Madness" definitely makes it worth seeking out.

The first 4 movies were all great. When Guttenberg left (and along with him others) they really turned terrible.

Youre' right. Number seven (the one where they go to Russia) is particularly dreadful. I didn't laugh once. But I wouldn't be so harsh with number six. It had it's moments. It was my first Police Academy, though, so it has some extra special meaning for me.

I remember liking Troop Beverly Hills, I was probably pretty young when I saw it though.

Girls On The Beach and The Monkey's Uncle are boss.