The Smiley Smile Message Board

Finally got around to uploading this one. Thanks to Steve Mayo for sending me the mp3 from his collection. This must be rare, haven't seen it on any of the boots out there. Enjoy!

https://soundcloud.com/smile-a-d/brian-wilson-1974-interview

I love this era of BW interviews....

Thankyou! for uploading this!!  :)

RickB

fun fun fun..... recorded in Australia?????  seriously?

Much thanks for posting this. This is a great interview. Brian is really lucid and he still sounds like his old self. You can hear his voice changing a bit but it hasn't changed all the way yet. Some interesting insights on this.

Few things I could have sworn Brian said different things about:

-Thought he said Holland was a bad time for him. Here he says everyone including him seemed to like it there. Unless he's just downplaying in this interview the hard times he's had the past few years

-Thought he said in a later 1976 interview that he does Transcendental Meditation occasionally. Maybe it was Landy who encouraged him again. He didn't seem really into TM anyway (except in 1967-1968) so not surprised he said here he's not into it.

- Yeah I second that, Fun Fun Fun in Australia?

- Brian is in great spirits here.. He laughs a lot.. He's very down to earth. He still seems like the Brian of old. What in the hell happened in 1975? Just so confusing.. He didn't seem like this a little later.

Interviewer: "Do you remember anything about recording 'Good Vibrations'?

Brian: "Ahhh...no, I don't"   :lol

I don't think he sounds lucid at all. He sounds entirely scattered. Like he can't concentrate for more than 10 seconds. It also sounds like maybe he didn't really know the questioner so he was talkative but going off in 20 different directions at once. I know that myself, I've sometimes tried to make conversation with someone I might not really know, and by keeping on talking I start to go in nonsensical directions, or at the very least would just insert meaningless "filler phrases" until I ran out. That's what it sounded like with Brian. I'm sure he might have been using cocaine or some kind of uppers. Which also probably leads to the scattered thoughts.

I will say, however, his voice sounded pretty clear. But it's also evident why he probably wasn't finishing many songs around this time.

I'm sure he was coked up here but he still sounds slightly more articulate and "with it" then he would later.. I don't know, something still reminds me of the old Brian. He was laughing and giving good answers, sometimes thought out what he was gonna say and gave his best thoughts instead of just say the first thing off the top of his head compared to the 1976 interview on youtube. I don't know what happened in 1975 but he did change for the worse in just a year or 2.

Very interesting.  Thanks.

Thanks for posting! I love these old interviews.

He sounds coked up and fearful to me. He loosens up a bit after a while though.. but wow. What a great document of where Brian's head was in 1974. Thanks for sharing it with us.

I also gotta say I find it interesting that he seems proud of stuff like "Heroes And Villains", "Catch a Wave", "Good Vibrations" and whatnot, but kinda laughs off stuff like "Be True to Your School" as being stupid sh*t basically. Also interesting that he credited "Surfin' Safari" more to Mike. My guess is that song really didn't make him very proud so he figured he'd blame it on Mike.

That really stuck out at me. Funny he said (paraphrasing) "that's the song that ruined our career" - sounds like he knew how uncool it was, and that was somehow damaging their current image.

And yet he (Brian) released two different versions of the song, one as a single, which charted higher (No. 6) than a lot of his other singles.

Brian was a very strange and profane man.

I really appreciate you posting this interview, seltaeb1012002. Fascinating stuff, absolutely fascinating. It continues to be amazing how Brian did change so much - his personality, his look, his voice, his producing skills - in such a seemingly short period of time. I'm beginning to wonder if Landy damaged Brian in early 1976 in much the same way he did in early 1983. Compare the Brian we see in 1976 to the Brian of one or two years earlier. It's frightening, actually. There isn't much, if any, footage of Brian in 1975. But, the Brian Wilson we see in 1976 had "those eyes", he stuttered, he talked more prominently out of the side of his mouth, he produced records differently than previous years (sometimes including/leaving in embarrassing parts), and seemed like a different Brian than the one we/his family/his fans knew. Was this change due to what Brian went through in 1975 with the drugs and mental illness - or - was Landy's treatment in (late 1975?) 1976 already producing disturbing effects?

Yeah Sheriff John........ that seems to be the impression i'm assuming also...

Brian sounds good here all up, a little vague, but still a lot of his former self.....

being openly candid about particular details we would not normally hear from him...

it makes it more disturbing if it is the case, that the Landy treatment had more and incredible threatening effects on

Brian over marijuana and LSD....

RickB

No problem, always happy to share the goods. Would love to know if anyone could ID the date on this one. Anyone know who Bill is?

Re: the interview..

BW sounds like the earliest version of his modern-day self to me. The voice is still young Brian (with a little bit of wear and tear, but damn he was only 31/32!), but the random laughter, stuttering, the bizarre answers, etc.. all staples in his modern day interviews. The biggest change from '74 to '76 to me is the voice. I'd even say it seems like he's more with it in the '76 interviews floating around. Maybe because he wasn't coked up and sorta healthy.

Now that we have all of these '74 tapes, I'd love to see some more '75 stuff pop up to really hear the "missing link"!

Not to mention the fact that "Be True to Your School" was prominently featured on "Endless Summer," the double LP that gave them a huge hit that year. People loved that "stupid sh*t" and it didn't ruin their career. On the contrary, it revived their career, albeit as an oldies act. Also, yes, Brian personally produced two versions of that song, including one featuring his wife and sister-in-law, two gals he both loved dearly.

I was thinking of the same thing Sheriff.. This interview made me ponder whether Landy maybe corrupted Brian earlier than we thought.. I know some people are saying that he seems more out of it here than other places earlier or later on, but to me he seems more like his old-self then he would in 1976. He may be high yes, but he's not really rambling, not giving short answers that don't say much at all and he doesn't sound like something is radically wrong with him. He is very personable, honest, forthcoming with answers here to me.

This interview is not new and has been circulating for years. So has the one after it, in August '74 with Jim Pewter. Brian's obviously been snortin' hog rails before this one and talks out his butt after half the questions. And laughing about nothing to himself the whole way through. And if you notice, he hasn't changed all that much in the way he conducts interviews today (with exception to the yes/no answers).

Pretty sure "Bill" was a friend of Brian's named Bill Tucker.  Supposedly, he could do real good impersonations of Brian.

Hey Mikie,

I remember you and Steve Mayo talking about this interview in an old thread. Much respect to you guys, the 1st generation of tape/vinyl traders. I can only imagine the excitement of being apart of that. My Dad was apart of that generation, although it was mainly Beatles trading/selling that he partook in.

The reason I said "new", is because I'd say it's probably new to 99.9% of us. A few years ago I was HEAVY in the BB's/BW tape trading circle, booted & unbooted, and never came across this one. The quality is super clean too - I'd imagine it never made it too far past a select few (although I could be wrong).

That said, do you recall if there are any other interviews around that may be under the radar? Any BW stuff from '75?

It's like Bob Dylan says "If you're hearing a Beethoven symphony for the first time  then it's 'new' for you!"  :lol

Do you or anyone know the source on this? I know that's asking a lot probably. I wonder who the interviewer was. It is surprisingly a really good quality recording. Can hear Brian's voice pretty clearly.

Also, unfortunately it seems to cut off abruptly.. I wonder why it does that. I'm guessing they ran out of tape though.

Apart of it or a part of it?  Two different things.  ;D


I do not. Only a 3 part article on Brian in the New Musical Express in the Summer of '75 called "The Last Beach Movie". I think Brian was really out of commish in 1975. He was writing a little bit, involved very briefly with the California Music singles. He was doing massive amounts of coke and pot and staying in bed a lot and that's the year his voice really changed permanently. You've heard of Lennon's Lost Weekend? Well, that was Brian's lost year.

What Brian said is exactly how he felt about "Be True To Your School", about 10 years after its release. Simple as that, he didn't consider it a highlight.

We can take this all kinds of ways through Pet Sounds and Today and Smile and beyond, but consider this is one of the conflicts that the guy had been dealing with for years, that age old battle between trying to break new ground without alienating his core group of fans. And even who that core group may have been was a source of contention between Brian and Murry, Brian and Mike, Brian and Capitol, and hell, even Brian and some fans - recall the early 1967 fan letter I posted from a magazine reader criticizing Brian's "new" sound on Pet Sounds, warning him that if the sound changed that much more, he'd lose the fan base.

And make special note of those songs mentioned, like Catch A Wave: They are, in fact, musically challenging and progressive especially coming from the early to mid 60's era, from a musician barely into his 20's, and from a band who a lot of people may have still considered a novelty or fad kind of act cashing in on teen fads.

I think "Be True To Your School" is lightweight, it's hokey and corny, but enjoyable as a glass of chocolate milk might be to an adult, light and nostalgic but not something you'd order with a steak dinner. Did the band take a lot of sh*t for the song? Yes. The same kind of sh*t that had Dennis near tears as he told Van Dyke Parks about the crap they were getting about the matching shirts in late 1966.

So a guy who writes on the emotional level, the deep and transcendent level that a song like Don't Worry Baby or even Catch A Wave had attained both musically and thematically, looking back on rah-rah-rah, high school glory celebratory music may have felt like it was not where he wanted to go with his music, as he had changed and matured from a gung-ho 17-year-old jock and campus prankster to someone trying to explore new ground with his music and especially his records, and hearing it at age 30 it probably felt in retrospect like he had just been to a 5-star restaurant and they offered him a hot dog and chocolate milk, along with a placemat to color in comparison. It's who he used to be, in his teens, not something to define or outline the image and career of the band or the writers. If they had done another "Be True To Your School", they may have been over and done by 1965 as a band. Fact.

Not that it's a bad song, although it can be a bit annoying just the same with the misplaced lyrical swagger and modern "whennnnnnnnnn" routine, but in the context of the era and what would follow in just 2 or 3 years (spearheaded in part by Brian himself), it's lightweight fluff and was probably thought of that way when he did the music. He's entitled to say as much, and content to not play it all that much in subsequent years.

Oops, my bad.  :lol

That's a shame. Hope some more stuff surfaces from that year in the future.

He's talking about his and the Beach Boys latest achievement as being the Holland material. He says nothing about any new material being written and nothing about being up at the Caribou Ranch in Colorado yet. So I'm thinking this interview would be in the early part of 1974. He talks of being at McGuinn's house - that's where he spent all night on the piano singing Shortenin' Bread over and over and probably where they wrote Ding Dang after a few lines of coke.

On the mp3 it goes right into a bunch of clips of BB's songs.

Yep. And Endless Summer was released in what, June, 1974?  Imagine his mindset after this thing was going up the charts on its way to Platinum.  And the single of Surfin' U.S.A hitting #36.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntO75t_B05I‎


This is an interesting one from 1974 too.

He was embarrassed about the artistic merit of School during a time when he wrote Ding Dang and was into singing Shortenin' Bread over and over again?  BTW, wasn't School a B side that just happened to create a double sided hit when DJ's played it and fans decided they liked it?  I think Brian was made to feel bad by the judge-y hippie types who were around in those times.   Those folks had a big double standard because the Beatles were allowed to move past their lightweight early records. He had nothing to apologize for, because it took those early records to create his career in the first place.

It was the opposite, "School" was the A-side and charted high/sold well, while the B-side "In My Room" was the one that a lot of DJ's flipped and played as another A-side (it was more popular in some regions than others), and which a lot of listeners got into, which eventually made it on the charts as well, top 30 average nationally in the US. That was unusual at a time when B-sides were often instrumentals or throwaways. "In My Room" years later appeared on several "best singles of all time" lists while the A-side disappeared into history (and concert stages), again rare for a B-side to not only chart but outlive in influence the A-side which was the stronger seller.

If we get philosophical about it, the single "School/In My Room" can look like the conundrum and the contradiction of the Beach Boys as played out on a 45rpm record, the month before JFK and just before the Beatles and the erroneously reported birth of cynicism in rock music. On the one side, you hear bragging about your school, talking about smashing 'em on the football field as your girl cheers you on, then showing off your two varsity sports letters as you're cruising around town. Total extrovert, total school-spirit braggadocio.

On the flip side, the same guys are singing about retreating to their rooms to find peace, comfort, and dream about the present and future as they laugh off the past. Total introversion, and introspection, coming at a time when the football hero narrator of the A-side would not be able to admit that kind of thing publicly to his teammates and school buddies, and if he did he'd never live it down because he'd be considered soft in his clique. Yet that was the escape, the place where you could think and dream and not have to play a role and brag about smashing 'em up on the football field in typical high school play-acting drama.

This band managed to sing about both school activities and personality types and behaviors on the same single, and chart both sides - wow.

Rock and roll always had cynical elements, "Heartbreak Hotel" was inspired by a report of a man's suicide note where he wrote "I walk the lonely street", yet the song typified pure, free rock and roll for millions of impressionable kids in 1956 and beyond. Del Shannon's "Runaway" is even more cynical, though even more cold and cynical because it's not a blues lament but rather a rocking cry out into the night asking for a reason why his girl left him. And he never gets the answer. Definitely not Hollywood's version of boy-meets-girl, but stark reality.

And the School/In My Room single is reality too, on a high school level. On one side it's the bragging and strutting you did in your clique and circle of friends, on the other it's what you did to escape from that scene.

On one side it's a band celebrating high school hedonism and loyalty to an established tradition, sounding like a party celebration in the process, and on the other side it's a band recapturing the naive magic of three brothers singing harmony together in their bedroom as they were about to go to sleep, free to think and feel whatever they wanted or needed to do to get themselves into a peaceful state of mind, totally up to them and devoid of any clique or peer influence in that moment.

Beach Boys: Extrovert hedonists or introvert dreamers? Both can be true. And there's the contradiction of that 45rpm single. It's no accident people started playing the B-side, and no accident it transcended its surroundings and outlived the A-side in influence and popularity.

I think In My Room just captured more of what Brian wanted to say and felt in his music than the A-side "Be True To Your School", which while true to their Hawthorne High experience, the memory of school perhaps wasn't as lasting as the introspection and safety of that room.

BTTYS was Brian's musical progression when it was made. It did and does very well. Who knows what he really thought/thinks about it, he does not seem to be hitting on all 8 to me during this interview.

Somehow I can picture BW not liking BTTYS as much as Mike Love does. Has Brian ever played this song during one of his solo shows?

Overall, an incredible document. Some of the stuff he says doesn't make an awful lot of sense, like the bit about almost drowning, followed by something along the lines of "I like water". Incredibly intriguing guy even when he's a bit out of it though. To me, he does sound like a bit of a tired millionaire in this interview, or at least like a guy who'd recently lost a considerable amount of energy. I mean, the bit about driving out to a record company in order to take care of business or the bit about teaming up with Roger McGuinn... He sounds pretty bored and unenthusiastic, like he thought his most active days were behind him anyway. As far as creative drive is concerned you can get the impression that by this pint he was mostly living in the past, albeit without being able to remember an awful lot of details about that past (or at the very least without being willing to talk about these very details in an interview setting).

Thanks for this, and I'm enjoying this.  Brian seems candid, in a stream-of-consciousness mode, and interesting that he talks about Mike doing a large chunk of Surfin' Safari, and moving quickly among songs, working on one section of one song, moving on to another, and another.  He seems to recall earlier stuff, such as singing in the small bedroom, with three beds close together.   He talks about "writing songs for society."  I'm laughing at Be True to Your School, and his concept that is not to be taken seriously.  But, somehow, the song struck a nerve with a certain loyalty with people, regardless of whether there was a perception that it was frivolous. But, he looks at "creating a craze" where the "subject" is a certain passion or craze.

The candor is amazing.  There is also a way that he "gives credit where credit is due" discussing Al's contribution to some of the Holland stuff.  He says that he liked Holland (the country) and that is a surprise.  He mentioned "trouble in colleges" in terms of SDT.  Lieber and Stoller.  There is an "ease" in conversation that is endearing, during the interview.  And an open mindedness.  He seems more focused than any perception, during that time.  Opinionated.  He knows what he likes.

And, what I loved is that Brian worked on getting a "feeling" of say, in 4-0-9, of the car revving, and its' sonority, into the music so that the listener can almost experience that without having to be there.  Says he likes Surfer Girl, the slow ballad.
3:35 for Good Vibrations! Knows the nuts and bolts.  Likes a short record 1:50! Brian is very funny. Interesting that, in sections Brian is asking questions himself, brilliantly making it a bilateral exchange, rather than just traditional Q & A.

Thanks! I really enjoyed that!  ;)

To me too. I'm thankful I could listen to this, even if I found it a bit disturbing... :o



In a way yes. It's not his old self by any means anyway. The voice had already changed, it sounds like it has a silk cloth over it, while two years later it was like covered with a scratchy wool mat, and occasionally some wet gravel on top of it.



I assume if you played this interview to Brian it would be new for him also! >:D

Micha - it is 40 years old.  And, I won't be playing "armchair shrink" - I don't have the medical credentials.  At a point, Brian hears the doorbell, leaves, answers it, introduces the guest, which seems pretty normal functioning to me.  I was not there.  And, I find him spot on with the "issues of the day," in each era that he describes, contemporaneous to the music. 

He does sound lighthearted and chatty and inconsistent with fearfulness.  He didn't shy away from answering the door.  Fearful people are often fearful of answering the door.  Just saying.

You can be rather cordial while still being coked out, maybe even especially! ;)

It was not my impression.  Nor, my opinion.  I was not there.  

He could be showing ADD signs.  That, I know from the classroom.  Many ADD people are above average or have superior intelligence.  And have to learn how to make their ADD "work for them."

I know I don't know everything and don't judge everything correctly, but my impression hearing this interview is what I stated above. Someone else's impressions, as yours, may differ. That's OK with me.

He does not sound "fearful" to me at all.. Maybe coked out.. I'm sure he was since this was during that time when he was heavily on drugs, but I thought that was a strange description for this.. He seemed pretty relaxed overall to me.



Yeah you can hear changes in his voice occur.. It's pretty weird. When he laughs at times you can hear his voice crack a bit.. It must have been heavy smoking and cocaine because it's just bizarre how quickly and randomly it changed.

I believe BTTYS was a record key to Brian's development as a producer. The way he incorporated sound effects and a marching band sound, for example. It was, in a way, a precursor to what he did in parts of "Smile."  I'm sure he was very proud of at least that aspect of it when he did the original recording, as he should have been.

I found this painful listening, to be honest.  We're hearing Brian literally at his tipping point, mentally.  They should play this at cocaine rehab sessions to demonstrate its dire effects. 

Saying that, it doesn't help that the interviewer asks fairly dumb/random questions.  He's almost as unfocused as Brian.

He sounds child-like and he sounds slightly well, like a guy who has the kind of problems with he's struggled with for years. He sounds more together in the Jim Pewter interview, what I can recall of it. But Jim Pewter is a much better interviewer. Brian seems to perk up and focus more when he's asked intelligent questions by a person he trusts.

He sounds just like Brian sounds today - just a high register voice and a touch on the manic side - ala coke.

It is fascinating how so many people can listen to the same interview, but have so many diverse opinions on what they heard. When I hear Brian Wilson in that 1974 interview, I hear absolutely nothing in common with the Brian Wilson of 2013-14. Except one thing... ;D

At the time of that interview, it had been over a year since they recorded Holland. Just my opinion, but it didn't sound like Brian did a helluva lot of recording since that time, nor did it appear that he had a lot of plans or ideas going forward.  

We do know that Brian was still "fairly with it" in 1974, I think(?), and, by his condescending remark toward his own song ("Be True To Your School"), it sounded like he had moved on from that crap (my word). Yet, I focus on three things he did in the coming months. First, he recorded "Ding Dang" with Roger McGuinn, later in the year he produced/recorded 'Child Of Winter" (...a child of winter, a child of the snow, making a snowball, that someone will throw...), and then in 1975 he covered a cover of "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" with somebody whose name escapes me. Yes, there were other stronger songs written and recorded in that time frame.

There have been numerous discussions here and elsewhere about that time frame after Holland and leading up to 15 Big Ones. "What happened?" is usually asked. Why didn't they (The Beach Boys) or Brian continue the path laid out with Surf's Up, CATP, and Holland? Why go with the oldies and "the fun in the sun" on 15 Big Ones? And MIU? And Keepin' The Summer Alive? Other than blaming the success of Endless Summer and the pressure that created, why didn't Brian recover or stretch out or blow minds or create "important" music like in the past?

I just thought I'd ask. I don't have the answers. After listening to the above 1974 interview, I'm even more confused. Did Brian sound "gone" to you? Did he sound like he was under any pressure from the group or record company (I realize Endless Summer probably didn't hit yet)? Did he sound to you like he had all the time in the world, not a concern in the world, like he could walk right over to his piano and compose anything he wanted, maybe even a masterpiece? But he didn't do that. Why? Or, why not? This interview, and I realize it's just that, an interview, raises more questions than answers.

EDIT: Sorry, I forgot to mention the one thing that the 1974 Brian (40 years ago) appeared to have in common with the 2014 Brian Wilson, not that anyone cares anyway... :) However damaged he may have been/is, many of us still think Brian has a lot of his skills intact and expect(ed) him to produce something great. That's all. Yes, that was boring.

hmmm ....

this is something to really think about.....

he does sound Great and 'With it' in a lot of ways......... but there is a lot of denial about 'BTTYS'.......

he sounds really interested in the leiber/stoller collaboration.....

maybe in some unconscious way, he was trying to separate himself from who he is (or was)....

when the interviewer asks him about his songs..... do you remember fun, fun, fun......... he pauses........

does he really have no idea how great his stuff is that he readily forgets about it???....

is he trying to be humble but also saying in his mind at the same time 'sh*t yeah!!!  how could you not know that and think its great!!?'

just to think 10 years prior in that youtube interview with Ida "B' Blackburn, he was rattling off singles and its b sides and songs he has written and the jan a

nd dean stuff without pause...... sounded Very focused and knew what he was doing....

so all in all I think............................................................

more thinking must be had over this.......


great interview........

the many minds of Brian Wilson   :-\

RickB

This interview sounds like it had to have been really early in 1974.. Doesn't sound like Endless Summer was released yet since there's no mention of it at all. Maybe Brian really honestly had no idea how great his early stuff was and how much people loved it until that record hit. He still sounds like the way he would have been in the rest of the early 70s. Just thinking that stuff they did back then ruined their ability to be successful making new music anymore, or people getting the wrong impression of them -  thinking that they should or are still a band making fun & sun/innocuous pop songs like those.

That was fascinating. Thanks for posting it.
One of the interesting things about this is that the interviewer (though it was hard to hear him) didn't ask Brian the types of questions we might ask or journalists might ask today-- about chords, arrangements, harmonies. It was more about "Why surf songs?" "Why did you go to Holland," etc. I got the impression that Brian was not being viewed as a legend yet, but a damaged pop star. I mean, it's only 10 years out from I Get Around, so it's like interviewing someone who had a hit in 2004. Pretty recent. So maybe Brian (and others) really didn't have a grasp on how important those early songs were , if he's being asked about them and dismissing some of them as being stupid or reducing Heroes and Villains to its length to explain why he likes it.

To me, Brian seems to be trying to come to grips with what is happening to him in such a short time... Thinking about it in context, within the last few years, suddenly his brain is foggy after all those years of productivity. And he seems to be, as someone put it, at the tipping point. Maybe he has something he's going to do with McGuinn, or Lieber and Stoller, or...maybe not. Maybe he doesn't feel like it? But why don't I feel like it? What's wrong with me? Why don't I have the drive that i used to? I imagine him asking those questions. And I feel like in 1974, if someone had been able to get him proper therapy/drug treatment and there had been today's anti-depressants (and I know he resisted treatment), maybe he could have been saved and almost restored to his former self.

I was also fascinated that toward the end, after dismissing some of his songs, he asked the interviewer which of the BBs songs HE liked, as if he was trying to figure out the appeal of these songs, or maybe figure out what it was that helped him get all those hits in the 60s. And I wonder why he was so perplexed as to why Lieber and Stoller wanted Elvis to sing their songs.

Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but it's an interesting listen.

Also wanted to add...someone said Brian seems more "with it" in his 1976 interviews.
The most raw, candid, articulate (in his way) post-60s interview I've seen is I think the one in I Just Wasn't Made For These Times. Of course that was chemically enhanced in its own way and I haven't seen it in a while, but I feel like there, he was speaking chronologically, without jumping all over the place, etc. He talks about how he learned to write harmonies, about his dad, etc. There's no filter, seemingly.

Didn't Brian's wife have his home studio dismantled just prior to the Holland trip? That might have something to do with his withdrawal from recording very much during that time.

There's an interview from 1981 floating around where he still sounds pretty much "with it". Maybe he was "coked up" (can't judge it) but he obviously had his moments where he was candid and witty even throughout his darker periods.

Unless I'm mistaken, that one from 1981 was conducted in the Bay Area by C-man and Les Chan.

Search down the one from 1968 - the one where he's being chauffered around in his car. I think he was higher than a kite in that one too. And Mike Douglas, where he talks so fast I swear he'd done a couple of lines before going on.

funny how sending someone a recording I had for over 30 years generates these kind of replies... :)
it's just a recording...nothing deep.  brian in '74...nothing more.....
but it is nice to see people who haven't heard it liking it.

It's a primary source. It's interesting to read bios or accounts from friends, but to listen to a lengthy interview from the time is fascinating.  :)

It's just so fascinating, thanks for sharing!

yes indeedly great! ..... what a great piece from a rare captured Brian of 1974....

would love to see more like this from 69/70 - 75.........

would be interesting to analyse with more interviews or footage etc etc

RickB

I hear someone who is having trouble focusing their thoughts, who is likely stoned and who is probably putting most of it on. As Steve said, nothing deep here: I doubt Brian believed most of what he was saying. Compare and contrast with the Jim Pewter interview from September 1st of the same year.

Could be wrong, but like I said, maybe it's because Endless Summer came out and was successful which is why the Pewter interview is so different. Brian sounds more excited on that one. Brian sounds frankly kinda depressed in this one in comparison.

i'm really surprised about the notion he has 'no idea' really about leiber and stoller and the reason why they wrote for Elvis....

Strange that Brian was not 'hooked in' to what those guys were doing in his generation of the music...

Seriously?......

He is so knowledgeable with music of his period..


RickB

Guys, if I was high and coked out, I'd be pretty annoyed with some guy coming into my house to ask me inane questions about "Be True To Your School" too. Who the f*** wants to deal with that when they just took a fat bong rip and a hog rail? Well, obviously not Mr. Wilson, and I can't blame him at all. Talk about a buzz-kill.

Another Brian phone interview from very late '74 by a DJ in Sydney:

Phone ringing......
Marilyn: Hello?
Runner: This is Syndey Australia, Calling for Mr Brian Wilson please
Marilyn: Who's calling please
Runner: Mr White(?) in Sydney Australia
Marilyn: Hold on please
More ringing....Phone heard being picked up
Runner: Ok Brian Wilson on the line Go ahead
DJ: Good thank you Hello
Brian: Yes Sir
DJ: Hello Brian
Brian: Yes Sir
DJ: Me again, listen I do apologize once more for ringing you again out of the blue like this again. But we wanna make a good program out of this so we thought it was the only thing we should do really you know?
Brian: why don't you go ahead and wail my name up there (DJ laughs) Just say that this is Brian Wilson talking and I'll just do an interview with ya (DJ really laughs at this) Ok then?
DJ: Fine look we'er taping it now so...
Brian: Oh good
DJ: Firstly Brian a lot of people down here are really into the Beach Boys. And well we haven't hear too much of what Brian Wilson has been up too, apart from the fact that you been in the studio. So could you tell us what's been happening with you in the last couple of months or so?.
Brian: Ok well Sir err in the last couple of months I've been doing very little music at all haven't been writing or (Slight laugh) performing any music. I've been taking it easy, Taking vacation around the country, Have not been writing or performing any music at all in the last couple of months. I do plan to in the future to work on a couple of songs for the group and that is if I can come up with any ideas I've really really not tried lately, and have not really got into music at all at this time.
DJ: What was the last recording that you was involved with the Beach Boys Brian?.
Brian: Well (sight sigh) the last recording was that we worked with was a couple of songs about three or four months ago that we did as an experiement I can't remember, I can't remember.
DJ: Do you find that you know you said that your running dry of ideas Is it very frustrating for you during these periods at all?.
Brian: A little bit it gets a little frustrating, I do have a couple of things err... so err... that I feel...that ...err...we..The only other song I can think of is ... err ... That we'er working on at the time is...errr.. Would be...ohh .. Come on, come on ...ohh .... errr ....Oh excuse my language.
DJ: Thats all right
Brian: God I wish I was more prepared about the music we'er working on ... errr ...
DJ: That's fine really because honestly the people of Australia just wanna actually hear Brian Wilson and just found out  what's been going on. And One thing I would like to ask you the Endless Summer double album, of course has been out in America and gone to the top of the charts and if you wouldn't mind I'd like to just maybe from your point of view jog your memory and just about a few of the tracks, Cause the people down here would like to hear well the man who created some of the songs and some of his thoughts on the songs. So If we could go go over a couple of tracks with you maybe that will be alright with you?.
Brian: Ok (Sounds happy)
DJ: If we could go way back and take you way back to Surfin' Safari, What do you feel when you hear a song like that say it's been reactived in the States, how do you feel when you turn on the radio and bang there it is, what kind of feeling do you get?.
Brian: Oh it's sort of one of being lost in space kind of in a place, that's you know hard to determine in time I get sort of a feeling of lost in space in a very very giant vacuum of space and music. It's almost like a mass contest of music in my mind, But only very little of this I can project outwards. Like I'd said the songs we'er working on now are sort of.. believe me or not of the time..err of the right qualification of what I did use to do because I've gotta away from it for so long (I can't get the last few seconds of what Brian said sorry!!)
DJ: Do you think it would be hard to say today for you to try and sit down and write a song about for instant about a hot rod or maybe a song about the beach? Would you find it hard to recall the old style you use to write with?.
Brian: Well err It would be sort of difficult for me to sort of.. to stick.. to get my face.. stick my face all the way into working on a another song for this time because I have so many discretions and other various forms of responsibility that I'm holding down at the time that's it's rather difficult to get into top 40 music for me now, Althought I could.

Thanks Mikie!

How weird that must have been for Brian, having trouble getting into the top 40 after doing it so easily for a few years

You're welcome, rab.  :)

Haha this is probably closest to the truth. It does sound like he got bored during various parts of this particular interview. I love how cordial he still is through it all anyway though.

Is that the one done between shows at the Circle Star Theater, in which at first Brian disguises his voice and says, "Brian's not here!" ?? And the interview (obviously with a hidden recorder) ends with Brian asking for cocaine?

Yes.   ;D

Here's the full interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntO75t_B05I

I know that he seemed pretty into "Child of Winter" and "It's OK". It's kinda interesting to me that they were already set in that direction by late '74, with recording already started on both "Good Timin'" and "It's OK". It's a shame that they couldn't have taken the best of what each of the five guys had to offer by early '75 and released an album. Something democratic, a la Holland, with Brian's songs as the hit singles. Obviously since both "It's OK" and "Good Timin'" charted in the top 40, I'm sure they could've done even better if they were released closer to Endless Summer. And putting them together with some good to great material by the other guys may have kept the guys commercial prospects higher for longer.