To what extent did Brian write and produceTWGMTR

[Puggal]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song; his name was probably just stuck on the writing credits to give it more credibility as a Beach Boys track (smart move). Were the majority of the other songs "ghostwritten?" Did he arrange the album to the extent that he did on past Beach Boys recordings? Anyone know anything about this???

[Wirestone]

We don't all know that.

The writing and production of the album was discussed extensively last summer, and was documented in a number of articles. The search function is your friend.

Goodnight.

[Rocky Raccoon]

Brian didn't write the title song

Yes, he did.

[Generation42]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

Yes, he did.  And has been pointed out, if you're really curious to learn more about the songwriting process for the album, there's a great Joe Thomas interview or two where he goes into quite nice depths describing said process.

[Jonathan Blum]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

He demoed "Radio" in '98.  I think you might be confusing it with "Isn't It Time", which started out as a Peterik / Millas riff IIRC.

Cheers,
Jon Blum

[Lonely Summer]

Brian hasn't completed any songs in ages. His collaborators just take his scraps and flesh them out into complete songs. He doesn't produce the records, either. He doesn't have the attention span to pursue a song past the demo stage. He doesn't sing much on the records, either - Mr. Foskett does most of the "Brian" leads. That's why there were so many "Brian" leads on TWGMTR. Foskett said "either I get to sing most of the tunes, or I don't sing at all."

[Puggal]

Brian hasn't completed any songs in ages. His collaborators just take his scraps and flesh them out into complete songs. He doesn't produce the records, either. He doesn't have the attention span to pursue a song past the demo stage. He doesn't sing much on the records, either - Mr. Foskett does most of the "Brian" leads. That's why there were so many "Brian" leads on TWGMTR. Foskett said "either I get to sing most of the tunes, or I don't sing at all."

He's old and evidently brain damaged. I wouldn't doubt it.

Edit:
Not to disrespect him, or anything. Based on what I've read and the interviews I've seen, he's seemingly lost a lot of... well... who he is. He almost seems like a shell in a lot of his interviews.

[Quzi]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

Yes, he did.  And has been pointed out, if you're really curious to learn more about the songwriting process for the album, there's a great Joe Thomas interview or two where he goes into quite nice depths describing said process.

And quite inaccurate depths if I recall correctly. Joe stated vehemently that it wasn't Foskett doing the the falsetto chorus in "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" when there's clearly a tradeoff between the two. If I'm proven wrong, I'll eat all of Mike's hats.

[Fall Breaks]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

Yes, he did.  And has been pointed out, if you're really curious to learn more about the songwriting process for the album, there's a great Joe Thomas interview or two where he goes into quite nice depths describing said process.

And quite inaccurate depths if I recall correctly. Joe stated vehemently that it wasn't Foskett doing the the falsetto chorus in "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" when there's clearly a tradeoff between the two. If I'm proven wrong, I'll eat all of Mike's hats.

The lead is a tradeoff between Brian and Jeff, but Bruce is doing the high falsetto in the background. Just to clarify.

[AndrewHickey]

We'll almost certainly never know for sure, and it probably varies from song to song. From the Thomas interview, for example, it seems that the title track came from a Brian title and chord sequence -- but he says it was a boogie-woogie song when Brian started it, so it obviously changed radically. Think About The Days is a Thomas chord sequence, so Brian's involvement was minimal at best. The Private Life Of Bill And Sue is apparently Brian's verse and Thomas' chorus, but both are 'inspired' by Mary's Boy Child. On Isn't It Time Peterik and Millas came up with the verse/chorus riff/arrangement and Mike came up with the lyrics and his own bass vocal part, which doesn't leave much for Brian and Joe to have done... and so on.

It's in everyone's interest right now to claim that Brian had more involvement than he did -- and if/when he stops working with Joe Thomas again, it'll be in Thomas' interest to claim that Brian had less involvement than he did. Some of it sounds very Brian to me, and some sounds very not-Brian, but then we know from Sunshine that Thomas can do a very good Brian pastiche if he wants to.

With collaborations, as well, it's often impossible to say who came up with what, or who did most of the work. If one person writes all the song except three bars in the chorus, but those three bars are what lift it from mediocrity to greatness, while the rest of the song is a standard set of musical cliches anyone could have come up with, who did most of the work?

What matters, I think, is not so much who did what, but that everyone involved agreed at the end that the credits were fair, and that the music itself is of a sufficient quality.

[Quzi]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

Yes, he did.  And has been pointed out, if you're really curious to learn more about the songwriting process for the album, there's a great Joe Thomas interview or two where he goes into quite nice depths describing said process.

And quite inaccurate depths if I recall correctly. Joe stated vehemently that it wasn't Foskett doing the the falsetto chorus in "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" when there's clearly a tradeoff between the two. If I'm proven wrong, I'll eat all of Mike's hats.

The lead is a tradeoff between Brian and Jeff, but Bruce is doing the high falsetto in the background. Just to clarify.

Oh yeah, I was talking about the lead. Anyway, I dug up the interview and found it's "Shelter" not "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" that Thomas tries to clear as a Brian lead.

JT: Brian sings, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm, and a house to keep you warm…” That’s one of the highest notes that Brian has sung since I’ve known him. It’s just great to hear him back there. A lot of people think that’s Jeff, but it’s Brian."
Source: http://www.goldminemag.com/article/step-inside-the-beach-boys-world-50-years-in-the-making

[AndrewHickey]

We all know that Brian didn't write the title song;

Yes, he did.  And has been pointed out, if you're really curious to learn more about the songwriting process for the album, there's a great Joe Thomas interview or two where he goes into quite nice depths describing said process.

And quite inaccurate depths if I recall correctly. Joe stated vehemently that it wasn't Foskett doing the the falsetto chorus in "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" when there's clearly a tradeoff between the two. If I'm proven wrong, I'll eat all of Mike's hats.

The lead is a tradeoff between Brian and Jeff, but Bruce is doing the high falsetto in the background. Just to clarify.

Oh yeah, I was talking about the lead. Anyway, I dug up the interview and found it's "Shelter" not "The Private Life of Bill and Sue" that Thomas tries to clear as a Brian lead.

JT: Brian sings, “I’ll give you shelter from the storm, and a house to keep you warm…” That’s one of the highest notes that Brian has sung since I’ve known him. It’s just great to hear him back there. A lot of people think that’s Jeff, but it’s Brian."
Source: http://www.goldminemag.com/article/step-inside-the-beach-boys-world-50-years-in-the-making

Does he think we're all deaf?

[puni puni]

Maybe it's the autotune

[Gertie J.]

perhaps not

[Lowbacca]

Maybe Brian actually tried it in the studio but for obvious reasons it didn't work. He then got doubled by Jeff who, eventually, ended up singing the line all by himself on the record. Just a thought.
But yeah, those vocals on the finished record are most definitely not Brian.

[18thofMay]

Brian hasn't completed any songs in ages. His collaborators just take his scraps and flesh them out into complete songs. He doesn't produce the records, either. He doesn't have the attention span to pursue a song past the demo stage. He doesn't sing much on the records, either - Mr. Foskett does most of the "Brian" leads. That's why there were so many "Brian" leads on TWGMTR. Foskett said "either I get to sing most of the tunes, or I don't sing at all."

He's old and evidently brain damaged. I wouldn't doubt it.

Edit:
Not to disrespect him, or anything. Based on what I've read and the interviews I've seen, he's seemingly lost a lot of... well... who he is. He almost seems like a shell in a lot of his interviews.

I am not sure if your taking the piss or your serious.

[EgoHanger1966]

Think About The Days is a Thomas chord sequence, so Brian's involvement was minimal at best.

In the same article, though, Joe says that Brian wrote and arranged the harmonies over the chord structure - so that's pretty involved.

Brian hasn't completed any songs in ages. His collaborators just take his scraps and flesh them out into complete songs. He doesn't produce the records, either. He doesn't have the attention span to pursue a song past the demo stage. He doesn't sing much on the records, either - Mr. Foskett does most of the "Brian" leads. That's why there were so many "Brian" leads on TWGMTR. Foskett said "either I get to sing most of the tunes, or I don't sing at all."

He's old and evidently brain damaged. I wouldn't doubt it.

Edit:
Not to disrespect him, or anything. Based on what I've read and the interviews I've seen, he's seemingly lost a lot of... well... who he is. He almost seems like a shell in a lot of his interviews.

I am not sure if your taking the piss or your serious.

He is right, y'know, as much as some of us here don't like to admit it - the Brian of 2013 is a long way off from the Brian of 1966, just listen to interviews....a combination of the various drugs (mostly Landy's, though) and the fact that he's 70 years old will do that. But, I think the Brian of the media is probably very different from the Brian in his personal life....who does happen to still have some "genius" musical ideas.

[Cyncie]

I think it's unrealistic to assume someone who has been through all Brian has would  come out on the other side unscathed. However, it also bothers me when people assume he's some kind of brain dead puppet who just poses for the pictures and puts his name on other people's work.

My guess is, the truth is somewhere in between. Often, those who have been in Brian's position with the psychological breaks, the drugs and the over medication issues, will suffer from some level of decreased motivation, attention and follow through. That doesn't mean they can't still be creative. They may need help to do it, but they can contribute. Brian Wilson of 1965 was a one man hit machine, rightly or wrongly taking a lot of the responsibility on himself, and he paid a heavy price for that. Brian of 2013 seems to need some help to stay motivated and to translate his ideas into completed works.  Instead of criticizing him for that, I choose to celebrate the fact that he beat the odds and came back to be productive again, doing what seems to make him happy.  We may or may not like the resulting music (and critiquing the product is fair game),  but the process is the one that works for Brian in 2013, and that's OK by me.

[DonnyL]

In my opinion, Brian's role for this album was vocal arranger, and MAYBE executive producer.

Joe Thomas essentially produced the record ... Brian arranged the vocals, and probably some of the instrumental stuff.

As Bruce has mentioned, Brian is an 'on the floor' producer, and this is very much not an 'on the floor' album ... it's a 'constructed' album ... whatever Brian produced on that thing was unrecognizable by the time we get to the final product.

[ESQ Editor]

Not so.  The last four tracks have Brian's "feel" all over them.

[AndrewHickey]

Not so.  The last four tracks have Brian's "feel" all over them.

In arrangement, yes. Sonically, definitely not -- at least, I've never before heard a Brian production with RoboJardine on it...

[KittyKat]

It's been pretty well established that Joe Thomas has a feel for Brian's feel. So it's hard to tell who's feel it really is. But yes, I agree Brian hasn't shown a big propensity for very obvious use of Autotune, whereas that's Joe's thing.

[Theydon Bois]

But yes, I agree Brian hasn't shown a big propensity for very obvious use of Autotune

I don't know, it's pretty apparent on Pet Sounds Live.  Though whether that was Brian's decision is not specified.

[GhostyTMRS]

I feel Brian had more of a hand in TWGMTR than he did in TLOS.

[AndrewHickey]

But yes, I agree Brian hasn't shown a big propensity for very obvious use of Autotune

I don't know, it's pretty apparent on Pet Sounds Live.  Though whether that was Brian's decision is not specified.

That's used to tune the vocal, though, not as an effect in itself.