The Smiley Smile Message Board

There have been several pictures posted on facebook of Brian in the studio over the past month, do we have any idea what is being recorded? Just curious.

I have no idea, it can't have been for the Disney or Buddy Holly album as they were completed awhile ago. It's very frustrating as all it ever says on facebook is things like 'Brian is busy in the studio' with no further information! Andrew, Peter, is there anything you guys can tell us about this?

Some talk last month or so that Brian was doing some new recordings of his older, unreleased material. Looking toward a future solo album, apparently.

If I was just going to pull something out of thin air, I'd guess that he's recording stuff he's written in the past, to send to Mike Love and have him add some stuff to it. 

GIOMH II - Revenge of the Paley Sessions?

it would be nice if we had a clue what it was that way we could debate and theorize about it until we're sick of it by the time it actually comes out

It would be cool if they do The First Time.

"Brian is busy in the studio".....he doesn't even have to be recording.

But the best guess is that he's recording previously written material.

I'd be excited about re-recordings of unreleased stuff, I guess. Might help him get over his writer's block, too. Keep him busy and he'll be happier.

He's teamed up with Loren Dano to record the sound of one hand clapping

Maybe he's getting around to recording Brian Wilson Presents Sweet Insanity?

the sound of one hand clapping is simply the sound of one hand clapping. there are no big answers! - charles manson 1967

"The trouble with quotations on the internet is that you never know whether they're right" - Jane Austen

Listen to the Manson sessions with Terry Melcher and Dennis Wilson .

And what is the smell of one man crapping?

Looking back with Love




Can we get on topic again ?

"Proud Mary"

You mean that's what Brian's recording, or that's the smell of one man crapping?

in fact I found out from the voices in my head...err I mean an unidentified source that he is in the studio recording his upcoming polka cd he has reunited (after all these years of not reccording together)with Weird Al to record an oldies polka remix techno cd with a little bit of a spanish flair to it..it will be great!!!!! here are the songs rumored to be on the cd
1.the chicken dance
2.eat it (beach boys style)
3.macerana (a beautiful duet between Brian and Al (jardine) and Al (yankovic)
4.polka girls (new song)
5.the love polka (a new song co-written by Mike Love and Brian)
6.accordian to you (a brand new love song about how evertyhing is "according" to you ,you get it? accordian? according? yeah it took me awhile to get it too..
7.polka surfin (another brand new song)
8.forever polka (an unreleased Dennis wilson instrumental with brand new vocals by john stamos)

9.california polka(weird al doing a polka version of california girls.)
10.the polka car (a brand new car)
11.polka summer (a summer in paradise outtake duet with mike love)

no harm in trying... If it were true that Bri is recording new versions of unreleased material, and it is also true that his team has learned their lesson from GIOMH and it will be done right this time, that would be great news to me. As we all know there is a wealth of possible choices.

Any dream selections?

the first ones that come to mind for me are:

"I Do" (Sweet Insanity)
"That Special Feelin"
"Oh Lord"
"I'm Beggin You Please"
and what the heck how about a definitive recording of "Sherry She Needs Me" that one has been attempted so many times and never gotten right

Actually, the article quoted in the Smile box thread reveals that Brian is writing again.

So I was wrong! After about four years of drought (he kept going for a bit after the TLOS songs, apparently), he's cranking out new tunes!

That's not to say some remakes aren't part of the mix -- and given BW's history, I'd be surprised if they weren't. But how delightful to know he still has the itch to write some original stuff.

That might be my favorite unreleased Brian tune. Sounds like a hit (or like I'm crazy)

Hoping he is writing new material for a reunion with the Beach Boys. :)

Interestingly Mike mentioned that Brian wrote some songs that he wanted Mike to write lyrics for. Maybe it's some of this mentioned stuff.....

I STILL want a properly finished version of "Can't Wait Too Long". 'Tis a mini-SMiLE unto itself.

Hoping so because I saw Mike and Bruce live on Saturday and his voice still has enough left in it for Mike to sound good in a studio setting. Bruce can also sound good if he rests up his voice.

Same here, Brian has done it in concert so why not finish it as a mini-smile song for a new album.

How Bout'

"SMiRK"?
A "Senior Citizen's Symphony to God"

Then, when it gets canceled...

"Smirky Smirk!"

Lol, JK, I agree, "Can't Wait too Long" is Probably the best reason to buy the "Smiley-twofer"

Does Brian write songs to Melinda? Does she inspire him musically? I would not mind an album ALL ABOUT MELINDA if it meant 100% new Brian Wilson songs [hopefully recorded solo with an 8-track and equipment he knows his way around]. Anyone else dig this idea? You don't have to release it as a big to do, just put it out online and let us buy it if we want to.

Where would Brian be happier - on tour playing the same old stuff or at home recording lots of little brilliant things without the burden of having to put it all together as an album? We've been worshipping this man's FRAGMENTS OF MUSIC for ages now - why not continue the tradition? Imagine how much of a cool community event it would feel here if every week Brian got a new song or fragment of a song put online for us to download for a buck [not share illegally since it would be so cool that he'd do it] and we all loved it?

I guess I'm that kind of fan - I don't really care about the big album productions anymore. I care about Brian and usually enjoy hearing him alone at a piano more than any full band thing. Even when Brian is out of it in his own trip he's fascinating to watch. He makes regular performers seem like faceless nothings.

Reading over my post makes me wonder - why has there never been a totally solo album yet? Brian at the piano ALONE. Just doing whatever, ANYTHING HE WANTS. Play Be My Baby for 30 seconds then something else. Stop for a while and zone out. Eat a sandwich. Enjoy. I WANT TO HEAR IT.

Yes, Ghost, something really stripped down might be interesting. He's generally known for big productions, but if he returned to the mode of Surf's Up Demo or Smiley, that could be really interesting too.

Good idea.

Wrong.
He got it perfectly right on the IMAGINATION album.

Beautiful!

 :)

I'd have to disagree with you there...

But Rocky, what do you think of the woodwinds and the backing vocals on "She Said That She Needs Me"?

Sweet, no?  Well, we can agree to disagree......

Confession time: the IMAGINATION LP turned me into a fan of Brian Wilson AND The Boys!
Crazy, but true!

I think SSTSNM, aside from the somewhat awkward title rephrase, is definitive. The track is nearly perfect, and Brian sings like an angel. A great achievement for Imagination, and one of the least-AC sounding tunes on the record.

Yes, you lose the riff from the backing track. But you gain the clarinets and a swirling backing vocal arrangement. Bliss!

Yeah the clarinets are nice on that track. The Imagination album though... I dunno, it sounds like a bar of soap or shampoo. I use neither personally, just water.

Imagination was released the same day as Ringo's Vertical Man album.  I listened to Brian's BVs on Without Understanding and thought, "I like this better than the whole Imagination album."  Imagination was just too glossy, and Brian sounded slurry/tired through a lot of the album.  To follow the soap motif, it was sort of like this shower soap I got recently, which contained real diamond dust.  (The soap was shiny and slimy.  Kind of like Joe Thomas.)

Sandy is my favourite version of that track.

So what's the story on that not making it onto Summer Days?

Personally, when I'm not sure I just blame Mike. I know, I know, but it's a habit.

Didn't he say that Brian could do the Today B-side if they did an upbeat, happy, fun album next?

I just imagine him vetoing Sandy in favour of Amusement Parks USA (which I also love, very trippy)

To my ears, Imagination was the best Brian sounded on record until BWRG. Full stop.

Nice, gentle lead singing and the last sustained use of his falsetto in backing harmonies.

Funniest quote ever !  ;D :-D :lol

Well in my opinion, the better the song on Imagination the better his vocal. "Your Imagination" and "Cry" have great vocals, but "Sunshine" and "Dream Angel" less so. Just my opinion, anyway. "Your Imagination" is REAL snazzy, though.

:thumbsup :thumbsup :thumbsup

An album called I was given a solo career by my wife

 :lol

let us hope not