The Smiley Smile Message Board

Brian on BBC Radio 6 this Sunday:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml

"In the final episode of this season of 6 Music's The First Time, Matt Everitt speaks to Brian Wilson, a great American composer and one of popular music's true geniuses.
"Wilson, now 69, gives a rare interview and discusses his early influences, his experiments with recording music on a tape machine aged just 16, the huge difficulties he had creating masterpieces like Good Vibrations and the Beach Boys great lost album Smile (which is being released this month, 44 years after the original recordings) and how experiences taking drugs influenced his music and then, sadly, forced his withdrawal from music.
"While his fragile mental state does make Wilson a hesitant interviewee, his humour and passion for music still shine through."

Lol at a 'rare interview'  ;D

See, this is that promotional thing we were looking for! Kinda sucks that Mike isn't going to bat for it, but it's Brian's baby I suppose.

Brian seems to be leading all the way with this release, more like it's a BW product, not a BBs product. I guess they're too busy playing Fun, Fun, Fun…   thank god for Bruce putting his tuppence in in tonight's Radio 4 doc.

Thanks Bruce for doing this with Brian. I look forward to viewing this.

Hearing, hearing…

Thanks for the heads up Johhny boy

This is now available to listen again for the next week or so at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml
Podcast here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/firsttime

I'm listening to the show now- sounds like a pretty decent interview so far. Matt Everitt seems like a decent chap, and Brian sounds fairly laid back. Loved the little anecdote about Brian & co. phoning into the radio station multiple times, putting on various fake voices to request Surfin'  :lol.

I acknowledge there's this discord about whether Mike hated Smile or not (it sure feels like backpedaling when he talks about his convo's with Parks, but maybe he was just being the Eddie-Haskell-smartass, as someone here suggested), but here's a thing: if he really did dig it, why doesn't he come out and start talking about it? Why doesn't he elaborate on what he digs about it more? Why did he still put in sideways digs against it (calling it 'weird', and such) in the Endless Harmony film?

My take on it: he grudgingly admires the musical craftsmanship, but genuinely doesn't/didn't like it. His praise is reticent to the point of sounding obligatory.

When Brian says in the Radio 4 interview that Mike was disgusted by it, I believe him. He sounds clear and together as he says this--it doesn't feel like some of his more zoned-out interview answers. And I think he would remember such an exchange clearly, as it would have been a pretty emotional blow to have someone react like that.

I'm not trying to re-kindle the Mike/Brian wars here--I'm mainly saying: if Mike really digs Smile, I'd like to hear him talk about it for real. I'd like to hear what good things he has to say.

If he has any.

"Going to get together with my friend Joe..."

Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh... sh*t, sh*t and thrice sh*t.  >:(

Damn i wish you could download this :( :-\

That sounds..... not pleasing.  :-\

Yes.

For you GIOMH was the big disappointment, for me it was Imagination

After a 10 year wait for new material, I was so let down.

I can't stand that awful MOTR production. This is not a BW album

Someone needs to download this and make it available for those of us not in the UK.

There's a podcast of it, albeit sans-music.

You can still listen to it outside the UK though.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0162gml)

Thanks Jimmie. :)

Interestingly, they played Les Paul & Mary Ford's "How High is the Moon", which was discussed on this very board a few days ago because a part of it sounded like Smile section.

Crud. I was really hoping that "my friend Joe" was a mumbled version of "my friend Jeff." But no, it's "My friend Joe and Jeff" ...

Well, we know that Joe can do wonders with Brian's voice. And the way Brian has been singing lately is pretty amazing. And some of the BW-JT co-writes are pretty good -- Your Imagination and Lay Down Burden are excellent. So IF -- and it's a pretty big if -- JT can let Brian's band work on the tracks, or at least restrain some of his more overt AC tendencies on the backing, maybe it will be good.

I'm trying to be hopeful here.

Save the energy - it's gonna be sh*t.

Careful what you say – remember, this board is read by those who count. This gets back to the Big Cheese and he's gonna go off in a fuzz…  ;D

By comparison with what we're getting on Monday, everything sounds sh*t. This makes Pet Sounds suck, that's how good it is. It's gonna be hard for anything else to sound exciting after Monday.  Yardsticks and all that…

Think I'm on safe ground here...  ;)

so sad that when BW is asked if he wishes he'd finished Smile at the time he says "no".

Sir Terry, is there a podcast sans music that we Yanks could download on BBC, iTunes, elsewhere? When I go to the BBC site, it tells me I can't download the podcast because I'm not in the UK. My understanding is that's because of licensing concerns, but without the music would that still be an issue?

Thanks in advance -- and I'm very grateful for "Listen Again."

Hm, I must admit that I don't remember hearing about this interview until now. Is there any way to listen to it again outside of the U.K. ?

Change your mind...?  ;)

I plead the Whitman Defence.