Brian reflects on a lifetime of storms....

[Ang Jones]

https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6524001/brian-wilson-no-pier-pressure-album-love-and-mercy-biopic-exclusive-premiere

Such great quotes in this one:

"The title came from my daughter, but I soon saw it had more meaning than a simple pun. When I was told that this is my 11th solo studio album, I realized I had some serious things to say. Well, maybe “serious” is the wrong word. Maybe a better word is “healing.”
"Frightening voices -- auditory hallucinations -- have plagued you for much of your life. Is your need to harmonize a way to quiet those voices?"
"If you’re asking whether music is an escape, of course it is. We escape from what makes us feel bad by creating sounds that soothe our souls and make us feel good. In one of my new songs, “One Kind of Love,” I wrote, “Driftwood floating on the sea/Searching for the me, and all that I have known to be ... thank God you noticed me and brought back harmony to this lonely song.” The “you” isn’t any one person. It’s my fans. My harmonies -- all my diverse voices --are my way of including their voices. It’s a mystical connection between me and my fans."

[Andrew G. Doe]

Fascinating interview: Brian on a good day makes for a fine subject.

[ontor pertawst]

It really is:

Q. Are you singing to your brothers Carl and Dennis, both of whom have passed on? To your dad? Your mom? Your former bandmates?

A. I’m singing to everyone. I’m also singing -- and this may surprise you -- with a subliminal sense of sexual tension. I think that frustration, that pent-up passion, can be felt in a lot of my songs. Critics haven’t pointed that out but, then again, critics often don’t hear what the artist hears.

[Rocker]

- please delete -

[Wirestone]

There is no way this interview is not substantially rewritten/ghosted/whatever you want to call it. I love the man to bits, but he simply doesn't talk like this.

[Wirestone]

To amplify: David Ritz is noted for writing "as told to" books by rock stars, so pretty much his entire career is based on prettying up things that rock stars say. It's frustrating, too, because I suspect that Brian actually said a lot of this in much rawer form -- particularly the sexual tension stuff -- and it would be fascinating to hear that in his real voice.

[HeyJude]

To amplify: David Ritz is noted for writing "as told to" books by rock stars, so pretty much his entire career is based on prettying up things that rock stars say. It's frustrating, too, because I suspect that Brian actually said a lot of this in much rawer form -- particularly the sexual tension stuff -- and it would be fascinating to hear that in his real voice.

Weird too that though he seems to be pretty familiar with Brian and the BB's (notwithstanding an error here and there, such as saying in 2012 Brian hadn't toured with the band since 1965), yet wouldn't realize how much Brian's "voice" seems changed here.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

There is no way this interview is not substantially rewritten/ghosted/whatever you want to call it. I love the man to bits, but he simply doesn't talk like this.

I wouldn't be surprised,  but I've also seen a few interviews where he has...just when he's real comfortable.  (Guitar Center interview is a good example).

[buddhahat]

There is no way this interview is not substantially rewritten/ghosted/whatever you want to call it. I love the man to bits, but he simply doesn't talk like this.

Sadly, I have to express the same suspicions. I'd love this to be an energised, engaged Brian but it doesn't read like any interview I've ever read of his since maybe the 70s when he seemed to open up a bit more.

[Wirestone]

There is no way this interview is not substantially rewritten/ghosted/whatever you want to call it. I love the man to bits, but he simply doesn't talk like this.

I wouldn't be surprised,  but I've also seen a few interviews where he has...just when he's real comfortable.  (Guitar Center interview is a good example).

Brian can be relaxed and engaged and forthcoming (that tour program interview conducted post-BWPS is a great example), but that doesn't mean he alters his basic syntax and vocabulary. He still puts sentences together in the same way, still has the same dry sense of humor, still sounds like himself -- only at greater length.

[rab2591]

There is no way this interview is not substantially rewritten/ghosted/whatever you want to call it. I love the man to bits, but he simply doesn't talk like this.

I wouldn't be surprised,  but I've also seen a few interviews where he has...just when he's real comfortable.  (Guitar Center interview is a good example).

I was so glad you posted that the other week, Billy. It was mindblowing to see him so loose, comfortable, and open with a interviewer, even with that photographer blinding him with a flashbulb every 5 seconds.

[startBBtoday]

It's fun to read this interview and try to figure out what Brian actually said.

I find it very, very strange that David Ritz would rewrite Brian's responses (as he's obviously done). Perhaps Brian or Melinda asked for it? That's really the only way I could condone it by any journalistic standards.

[Shady]

Brian's PR team are stepping up their game 

Interesting response to the Love & mercy question, I wonder if those are really his thoughts.

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Thanks so much for this Ang.  I guess I don't find the interview as suspect as many of you. Was it edited?  I'd certainly think so.  It doesn't mean Brian didn't say these things.  

The sexual tension thing is nothing new for Brian to express.  He's been talking about that for decades and if memory serves, he's discussed it publicly. He used to use the analogy of a basketball player refraining from sex to build the tension to play his best game.  He saw creativity requiring the same thing.  Just another way of saying sexual tension.  Where else is he going to get those sexy bass lines?  In fact I remember some jokes about the athlete and sexual tension that were pretty funny from that time.  I remember one little riff with Tandyn Almer:  "And the crowd yelled, 'shoot, shoot!' and he dribbled all over the court."  He also has a remarkable ability to adapt his language to the person/audience, or quite simply, his own mood and what he wants to express.  

I could refer you to the interview link I posted yesterday - also provided by Ang - in the Twitter Q&A thread.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tn9nLxUAAmI

I think if you watch this, it reminds you that he speaks different ways at different times to different people, but it's all him.

Then there was, "My attitude is that the life of a public figure is up for interpretation. I can’t -- and don’t want to -- control how people see me."  I think anyone who actually knows Brian also knows that he feels this way. At the same time he's so intent on expressing love, he has a certain detachment to how the public sees him.  How else would he have survived all of us and our endless projections about who and what he is?

[Andrew G. Doe]

Correct Debbie, he discussed sexual tension, and his sex life, quite freely in interviews in 1976.

As for the validity of the interview, the interviewer caught him on a good day/few hours/30 minutes. I've seen Brian do interviews where to call his replies monosyllabic would be a gross exaggeration, and I've seen him just let it flow so much it was a helluva job to shut him up. It's a combination of what he's being asked about, the way the questions are phrased, how he's feeling, how long 'til lunch, where the interview takes place and, for all I know, the phase of the moon. The interview may have been tarted up a tad - all print inquisitions are - but I doubt there was too much embroidery or pure invention. For one thing, his inconsistencies are consistent.

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

Correct Debbie, he discussed sexual tension, and his sex life, quite freely in interviews in 1976.

As for the validity of the interview, the interviewer caught him on a good day/few hours/30 minutes. I've seen Brian do interviews where to call his replies monosyllabic would be a gross exaggeration, and I've seen him just let it flow so much it was a helluva job to shut him up. It's a combination of what he's being asked about, the way the questions are phrased, how he's feeling, how long 'til lunch, where the interview takes place and, for all I know, the phase of the moon. The interview may have been tarted up a tad - all print inquisitions are - but I doubt there was too much embroidery or pure invention. For one thing, his inconsistencies are consistent.

Andrew, thanks... I just edited and added, as actual wording came back to me from that time that I don't think was ever said publicly.  I fear the crowd is starved for a Brianism, so I thought I'd throw one in.

[ontor pertawst]

This crowd eagerly laps up the Brianisms... Thanks for the little tidbit, Debbie! It's interesting how we all have our conception of BW and how he's "supposed" to sound/act/etc. No wonder after all these years he's resigned to it and at peace with how the public see him.

[Debbie Keil-Leavitt]

This crowd eagerly laps up the Brianisms... Thanks for the little tidbit, Debbie! It's interesting how we all have our conception of BW and how he's "supposed" to sound/act/etc. No wonder after all these years he's resigned to it and at peace with how the public see him.

Thanks Ontor - I love it when people say it better than I.

[Mikie]

Sorry to say, but I agree with those who question if the answers are all Brian and may even be "ghost written". "Tarted up" I think is an understatement. I also strongly believe someone is sitting there with him during the Q&A sessions. But this interview, while a very good one, just doesn't sound like Brian even on his best day.

About this statement in the article:

"The seminal 1960s rock band that has sold more than 22.5 million albums and scored 54 hits on the Billboard Hot 100."

Wikipedia: "The Beach Boys have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide."

As of 1970 (Sunflower) Beach Boys have sold 70 million records. Or was that 70 million dollars in sales?

[The Cincinnati Kid]

Sorry to say, but I agree with those who question if the answers are all Brian and may even be "ghost written". "Tarted up" I think is an understatement. I also strongly believe someone is sitting there with him during the Q&A sessions. But this interview, while a very good one, just doesn't sound like Brian even on his best day.

About this statement in the article:

"The seminal 1960s rock band that has sold more than 22.5 million albums and scored 54 hits on the Billboard Hot 100."

Wikipedia: "The Beach Boys have sold in excess of 100 million records worldwide."

As of 1970 (Sunflower) Beach Boys have sold 70 million records. Or was that 70 million dollars in sales?

I agree, especially with the Q&A sessions, at least after the one we got on this site.

Maybe the Wikipedia statement is referring to singles and albums while the article is just referring to albums.

[the captain]

The interview may have been tarted up a tad - all print inquisitions are

I have no clue, obviously, what the raw audio of that interview may have sounded like before being written by the interviewer, but I want to emphasize how right AGD is with his statement I quoted above. While in college (journalism, which was also my degree), we spent quite a bit of time on that exact topic: recognizing that wholly unedited, verbatim spoken answers in written form are almost never useful, and discussing and debating how much editing was necessary and ethical. Verbatim transcriptions are not only hard to understand, but rarely flattering. In person, we give visual cues, facial and hand expressions, etc., that help communicate and even cover up our stutters, our ums and uhs, and even our shockingly regular nonsensical stops and starts to sentences. If you've ever transcribed someone speaking, you know how unreadable the results tend to be on their own.

(Most of my writing in those days was covering high school, college, and pro basketball. Let's just say I witnessed more than my share of subjects requiring substantial editing.)

One art within journalism is beyond bringing out and capturing the actual words and also editing them within the voice of the interviewee.

By the way, I enjoyed this piece. (The interview, that is, not my post.)

[Cam Mott]

Just reading those snippets set off alarms but after reading the whole thing it does not sound out of bounds for Brian to me. It sounds a lot like the interviews Brian was giving in 1966 to me.

PS. where is the link to the Guitar Center interview please. I think I missed it.

[Ron]

It's certainly a strange little piece.  Brian DID talk like this, in my opinion, in the 60's and 70's.  If he once talked like that I suppose it's completely possible if the right shade hit him he might revert to that kind of prose.

I'm going to go with "The Jury's Out".

[job]

Those answers do NOT sound AT ALL like Brian Wilson.  Not on his best day.  Not in the 60's.  Not in the 70's.  Not under Landy.  Not at all.

[ontor pertawst]

Maybe you guys should handle all of his interviews.