What's VDP's problem?

[phirnis]

Ten years ago I'm fairly sure most of us would've loved this statement by VDP... or maybe I should say, I know I would have loved it.

Since then, things have changed but I still think some of his points may be perfectly valid.

[stack-o-tracks]

This is the essay he wrote was for The SMiLE Sessions box set liner notes book but he apparently had other commitments and was unable to meet the submission deadline. 

[Andrew G. Doe]

There's more to his 'agenda' than just Mike.

Is all.

[Amy B.]

There's more to his 'agenda' than just Mike.

Is all.

I'm not doubting you, but half of his essay is focused on Mike. You can see why people are focusing on Mike when discussing the essay:
"I comment only to combat any doubt that Mike Love delayed the release of Smile by 40 years purely out of a mislaid jealousy. Smile was a obviously good work.

Mike's instrument? An insinuation that I promoted drugs that infected the lyrical outcome. That isn't so. He continues this charge to-date, in a pretext of righteous indignation cloaked in a thin veneer of religiosity ("Transcendental Meditation").

Love should study writers he professes to admire: Dickens; Poe; Conan-Doyle; then cite Beaudelaire; Satchmo; Freud, and a legion of similar creative authors whose civility brought beauty to their times, through deftly talented, although drugged doses."

[MBE]

My 2 cents. Please no anger these are just my observations or views. I respect others opinions that don't concur with mine.
Van Dyke always struck me as pretentious and bitter. Even in the 1971 Rolling Stone article he is nasty to Brian. Hey I love Smile and Sail On Sailor but Come To The Sunshine aside nothing else Van Dyke has done entertains me. I just don't like those kind of "too cool for school" people.  Mike isn't an angel, nor has he always done or said the right thing, but he has brought me far more entertainment (pre 1976) than Van Dyke and that's ultimately how I judge artists. I don't really care if someone is a jerk or not. The grooves matter nothing else.

Mike's interest and growth through TM is sincere and if those are his views spiritually why attack that? The good in Brian's relationship with The Beach Boys far outweighs the bad at least if we are talking pre Landy. Even now I think all the surviving Beach Boys do love Brian and he them. They are a family and I for one can relate to their success and (thankfully not currently) their dysfunction.  I am a Beach Boys fan far more than I am of any individual in the band. I think they are special group who really went well together. I'm glad it wasn't just Mike or just Brian or even just Dennis (by far the best on his own) THE BEACH BOYS as a group were the best. If the Grammy's is anything to go by they are going to end it right.

[SMiLE Brian]

Did Van dyke have an agenda to take part in the reunion album and Mike wouldn't let him?

[debonbon]

After everything Mike has done to Brian over the years I can definitely see Van Dyke's point.  The Boys have almost never stopped touring but only when they get Brian back is it made into a big deal, they are using him. The new album will be terrible, I can't see how it will be any good at all.  I'd rather they'd let the whole thing go but that's just my opinion. I know a lot of you are excited about the 50 years and I totally understand, I just hope it doesn't hurt Brian even more.

[Lowbacca]

Did Van dyke have an agenda to take part in the reunion album and Mike wouldn't let him?

That's highly impropable.

[Nicko1234]

I just hope it doesn't hurt Brian even more.

Not much chance of that. Interviewers have said in the past that Brian would start shaking violently when The Beach Boys were mentioned which indicates how scarred he had been left by things. Now no matter what people think of the other band members there is obviously no way that it was healthy for Brian to react like that so it should be a positive thing for Brian to be exorcizing those demons.

[SMiLE Brian]

Did Van dyke have an agenda to take part in the reunion album and Mike wouldn't let him?

That's highly impropable.

well I thought van dyke seemed nasty talking about the reunion like he had been cut out of the action. Who knows what this man's agenda is at the this point. Both mike and van dyke need to let their grudge end because it's not healthy to hate for 45 years

[Wirestone]

Given that Van Dyke appears on SIP and Kokomo, I would say he tried.

The man's experiences with Mike go far beyond Smile, in both time and extent.

[Andrew G. Doe]

After everything Mike has done to Brian over the years I can definitely see Van Dyke's point.  The Boys have almost never stopped touring but only when they get Brian back is it made into a big deal, they are using him. The new album will be terrible, I can't see how it will be any good at all.  I'd rather they'd let the whole thing go but that's just my opinion. I know a lot of you are excited about the 50 years and I totally understand, I just hope it doesn't hurt Brian even more.

Small problem with your premise here - Brian wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into this C50 project, he was approached and agreed to take part, and right now, he's enjoying it (don't ask how I can be so sure, just accept that if it wasn't so I wouldn't be dumb enough to post it on a public forum) and enjoying being part of a band again. The new album sessions have seemingly been agreeable and proceeded smoothly. I think the album will be nothing less than acceptable.

[debonbon]

After everything Mike has done to Brian over the years I can definitely see Van Dyke's point.  The Boys have almost never stopped touring but only when they get Brian back is it made into a big deal, they are using him. The new album will be terrible, I can't see how it will be any good at all.  I'd rather they'd let the whole thing go but that's just my opinion. I know a lot of you are excited about the 50 years and I totally understand, I just hope it doesn't hurt Brian even more.

Small problem with your premise here - Brian wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into this C50 project, he was approached and agreed to take part, and right now, he's enjoying it (don't ask how I can be so sure, just accept that if it wasn't so I wouldn't be dumb enough to post it on a public forum) and enjoying being part of a band again. The new album sessions have seemingly been agreeable and proceeded smoothly. I think the album will be nothing less than acceptable.

I don't doubt he went willingly and never said anything to the contrary but I can see what Van might think about the whole thing, he saw the drama first hand.  I hope the tour goes well, I really do. I'm not sold on the album and not sure I want to hear it but again that's me.  I can't help but think old wounds will be reopened as the tour goes on.

[Paul J B]

Sorry, but VDP wrote some lyrics for some songs on Brian's abandoned Smile album decades ago and we are supposed to care what he thinks about this reunion because..............? Mike and the fellow Beach Boys involvement with Brain has spanned long before and long after VDP brief period with Brian, one that VDP walked away from.

How many times is this nonsense going to brought up? Mike sang VDP lyrics for MONTHS on end while everyone worked with Brian during TSS. Were they going to spend 3 more years working on Smile? It was too much even for Brian to get a grip on and sadly it fell apart. It was Brian's call, and VDP had already walked away. Maybe VDP regrets his own CHOICE to walk away, maybe not....but to start spewing BS when the surviving Beach Boys are about to make thousands of their fans happy one last time is petty and self indulgent.

[rab2591]

Sorry, but VDP wrote some lyrics for some songs on Brian's abandoned Smile album decades ago and we are supposed to care what he thinks about this reunion because..............?

No one said we have to care. VDPs just wrote a note on his own website...he didn't ask anyone to respond to it.
_____

And I wouldn't be so quick to bash VDPs or Mike on this one. NONE of us were there when all this went down. And as I said before, this album had the potential to be the most famous finished album in pop-music history; I think all parties involved have a right to their opinion about it.

[Menace Wilson]

Brian wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into this C50 project, he was approached and agreed to take part, and right now, he's enjoying it (don't ask how I can be so sure, just accept that if it wasn't so I wouldn't be dumb enough to post it on a public forum) and enjoying being part of a band again.

During the time that the Gershwin album and tour were coming together and after, I seem to remember Brian being asked about his thoughts on a BBs 50th reunion more than once.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but he made it clear that he had no interest in working with Mike Love/the BBs again.

[Amy B.]

Small problem with your premise here - Brian wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into this C50 project, he was approached and agreed to take part, and right now, he's enjoying it (don't ask how I can be so sure, just accept that if it wasn't so I wouldn't be dumb enough to post it on a public forum) and enjoying being part of a band again. The new album sessions have seemingly been agreeable and proceeded smoothly. I think the album will be nothing less than acceptable.

"Acceptable" doesn't sound particularly optimistic, but I have heard others express hope that the new album will be good. I'm not quite sure I understand the logic. The BBs have not made a decent album in decades. Brian has made several good albums, yet every time he releases something people say they have doubts that it will be any good. I hope, hope, hope that with Brian relatively healthy right now, the new BBs album will be decent. But I don't know how people can necessarily think it will be acceptable, let alone good.

[Paul J B]

Sorry, but VDP wrote some lyrics for some songs on Brian's abandoned Smile album decades ago and we are supposed to care what he thinks about this reunion because..............?

No one said we have to care. VDPs just wrote a note on his own website...he didn't ask anyone to respond to it.
_____

And I wouldn't be so quick to bash VDPs or Mike on this one. NONE of us were there when all this went down. And as I said before, this album had the potential to be the most famous finished album in pop-music history; I think all parties involved have a right to their opinion about it.

Obviously someone is supposed to care, otherwise he would not have posted it. And having a right to an opinion is a given, but when you exercise your right, don't expect others not to express their opinion in return. VDPs knows what he is doing. Why I'm not sure.

[Chocolate Shake Man]

VDP is a very literate guy and so he more than likely knows how history works - namely those who have more power are the ones whose vision of history is remembered most. And while us obsessees probably find this hard to see, given how much information we pore over, it really is Mike Love's vision that is ultimately being understood as the correct version of events for the reason that Mike Love has way more cultural capital than Van Dyke Parks: he is much more widely known showbusiness figure than Parks and he is association with The Beach Boys is widely known to the point that many people associate him symbolically as The Beach Boys. Consequently, even without Mike Love's hand, we probably still would have seen what was ultimately an appalling caricature of Van Dyke Parks in that American Family film, which worked to tarnish Parks's name to a wide mainstream audience and would have probably done so more had Parks not stepped in to get the name changed. Again, we here have watched clip after clip and interview after interview but the same level of obsession that most of us share is not held by mainstream audiences. They take what they are given and they go to the sources that they consider to be most trustworthy - and in that case, a familiar face like Mike Love's is much more trustworthy than some guy they barely know despite his own musical legacy. Van Dyke probably knows how historical narratives work and that he stands to unfairly lose, big time. When a man is drowning, don't you expect him to scream?

[Mr. Cohen]

Imagine if VDP always said stuff like this: "I loved the lyrics and Brian's work on Smile, but the bass vocals were terrible."

"I didn't like all the hanger-ons from Brian's family hurting him emotionally and causing all of those problems."

Because basically, that is what Mike does, just with the different terms filling in the blanks.

[Bicyclerider]

Van Dyke is giving his perspective on Mike and Smile - he was there and this latest pronouncement gives us important information to add to the Smile picture.  Unlike all of you who weren't there, and whose assessments of Van Dyke's and Mike's respective opinions and comments don't amount to a hill of beans.  Yeah, I know that's what we do here, but can we try to keep it civil? 

[Dr. Tim]

Van Dyke is a prickly guy.  Polite mostly, but pungent when pushed.  On virutally any topic he has opined upon, not just the BB.  Hadn't you noticed?  Only been, say, for the past 45 years or so.

There's no "jealousy" or "lingering hurt."  Van Dyke saved the Beach Boys' career more than once when he worked for Warner Brothers.  He did a suite for the Pet Sounds tour, and did narratives for TLOS.  He played on BB sessions repeatedly.  He butted heads with Brian too, more than once.  And he is hardly inactive now, working with Skrillex and Joanna Newsom, doing his own shows with Clare and the Reasons, using them as his Wondermints, reimagining "Heroes and Villains" as a salon orchestra operetta. If he were just sitting around clipping coupons, that would be different.

What there is, is this: Mike and Van Dyke don't get along, never will, though they can work together, and have.  Each has his truth, and neither will budge.  Mike took his swipe at Van in the TSS book, and you will note Van himself did NOT weigh in with his own essay there.  The information suggests he didn't want to.  Why should he?  He had said his piece, happily, when Smile was finished.  His Xmas rant was reacting to the repeated insinuation in Mike's essay that the lyrics were too druggy, and yes there were a lot of drugs, so thus Van Dyke was the Pusher Man.  Maybe that's not a fair reading, and until now I hadn't thought of it that way, but that reading is not inconceivable, either.  Maybe Van overreacted a bit; I think far fewer people care at this point.  OK, nice.  What's for dessert?  

In other words, like so many things BB, it's complicated.  Anyone up for a dinner bet that, by the time the new LP is done, Van contributes a lyric?

[drbeachboy]

Small problem with your premise here - Brian wasn't dragged kicking and screaming into this C50 project, he was approached and agreed to take part, and right now, he's enjoying it (don't ask how I can be so sure, just accept that if it wasn't so I wouldn't be dumb enough to post it on a public forum) and enjoying being part of a band again. The new album sessions have seemingly been agreeable and proceeded smoothly. I think the album will be nothing less than acceptable.

"Acceptable" doesn't sound particularly optimistic, but I have heard others express hope that the new album will be good. I'm not quite sure I understand the logic. The BBs have not made a decent album in decades. Brian has made several good albums, yet every time he releases something people say they have doubts that it will be any good. I hope, hope, hope that with Brian relatively healthy right now, the new BBs album will be decent. But I don't know how people can necessarily think it will be acceptable, let alone good.

I equate your "decent" to AGD's "acceptable".  Notice Andrew says "Nothing less than...". I'll use "fair". Here's to hoping it is more than all three.

[D Cunningham]

Although I am not a follower of any fan-type VDP mythology (I think his solo music is earnest and less than important), I appreciate his mind, and, most relevant, his statement respecting the importance of the Beach Boys' music.  It was in that old video (Seventies)...where he was quoted (and shown) appreciating an art that respects that place where the water meets the land.  

[OGoldin]

Brian himself has said that the reunion is largely motivated by money.  Is that disappointing?  Yes, for me and for VDP.  None of the Beach Boys best work after 1966 (except for some of the tours) has had being commercial as a primary goal.

Hallucinogenic drugs are strong medicine and Brian was hurt by them.  But does that mean that VPD is wrong when he asserts that great art and illumination have emerged from them?  In my view, no.  It's a point that needs to be made.

All of us have entered into some situations for the sake of money and then have gained greatly from them in different ways: wisdom, friendship, etc.  Brian and Melinda may have agreed to the 50th to earn a stash for the family, but to be really enjoying renewed friendship and artistic creativity.  I hope so.  VPD hopes so too.  I take his last paragraph to be an expression of genuine good wishes and guarded hopes.