The Smiley Smile Message Board

Sorry if this is a "re-post". Found these after searching YouTube in vain. Poor Brian looks a bit nervous/uneasy throughout but he turns in decent performances, especially of the then contemporary material. "Back Home" rocks pretty good and Brian, appropriately, seems to get a little into it; dig the head shake on the "thinkin' about tomorrow" line, at about 2:35!

Enjoy!

http://www.dailymotion.com/relevance/search/Brian+Wilson+SNL

I hadn't seen it, so thank you !! Very good quality (wel, the footage...). There were some mighty good musicians in the SNL-band.... Unfortunately Brian wasn't the same anymore

Saw these performances while laying on the floor in front of the TV back in November 1976. It was during that couple of months span (including the NBC-TV special, Mike Douglas Show, 15 Big Ones) that I was getting hooked on BB/BW big time. All I remember thinking was "What the fu--". While Brian looked sleepy on "Back Home" and "Love Is A Woman" (one of the worst choices of songs in the history of televised rock & roll), there was something haunting about his performance of "Good Vibrations". And, not too long after that performance, he recorded The Beach Boys Love You.

Oddly enough, it's Brian's performance I liked (aside from "Love is a Woman") and the band's that I hated!

It wasn't even released at that time. Who knows, perhaps it was Brian's single A-side candidate?

The SNL band wasn't that great, but the Mike Douglas Shows band was far worse. On The Mike Douglas Show, Brian and the band get hoplessly lost and confused during Sloop John B.

I always thought these performances were definitely rough, likely due to Brian still adjusting to his new voice, but I don't think they're anywhere near as bad as people go on about.

I've always wondered, though - what's with the first chord of the verse of "Good Vibrations"? Is that the correct chord just sounding funny on a piano instead of organ? It definitely sounds a little off.


I agree a bit more with this. I don't particularly hate it, but still, those backup vocals are just... ehhh.

It's really hard for me to hear Brian's voice on this appearance. It's interesting but hardly classic stuff.

Is it just me, or does Brian use a dumb "country hick" accent on some of Back Home?

Thanks, never saw them before, good performance from Brian !

I think the most awkward part of this is Brian just wandering around during the credits....

I actually like "Love Is A Woman" with the more soulful instrumentation and backing vocals...

Jodie Foster was so young!

She also proved to be one of the worst hosts ever.... incredibly awkward, and didn't know what the hell she was supposed to do.

That episode is just painful.

There was a really bad sketch with her doing dope jokes.