The Smiley Smile Message Board

After reading yet another post slagging off Jack Rieley on here I was prompted to post the following:

Jack co-wrote A Day In The Life..., Long Promised Road, Feel Flows, Marcella, Steamboat, Trader and Funky Pretty. It's largely thanks to him that we have Surf's Up (album and awesome 1971 version of song), as well as Holland (a stunning album) and the curates egg that is CATP. He also instigated the bands greatest period as a live performing group, as evidenced on the amazing BB In Concert album. Anyone who chooses not to appreciate this because, what, he allegedly lied to the group about his CV...? Big f**king deal! Hey, the group could really use a guy like him managing them today that's for sure! I personally find it offensive that anyone can even mention him alongside Landy.

Anyone else agree? So he wasn't a perfect human being? Hey neither were the Wilsons. Give the guy a break. He's given us BB fans a lot. This is a Rieley appreciation thread folks, let's share the love.  

Oh, and I LOVE his lyrics! Regardless of whether they're poetry or pretencious, or both - they work.

What the hell is his CV?

I'm a big fan of Jack Reiley.  He really helped nurture a band that was growing more and more artistic, and he did a damn good job at it.

Curriculum vitae.

I agree that Jack was a good thing (tm) for the Beach Boys. The era he presided over is one of their most artistically satisfying, and he oversaw better commercial success for the group as well. If he had been managing during Sunflower, perhaps that record would have been a hit.

Is it true that he faked having cancer and took money from a bunch of people for treatment? I read that in the Gaines book, so I am not sure if it's true.

Cock veins. He lied about his cock veins.

Do people disapprove of Jack Rieley because he allegedly lied to the band about his curriculum vitae? What's the story?

Jack Reiley helped them to mature and further the legend into immortality.

He made Bruce go away and they were just fine without him.

Gotta say I'm glad Bruce found his way back in. He has a few good songs to his name and a great voice. Blondie and Ricky were good for their time, but something about the Beach Boys during that time got too 70s rawk for my personal tastes. Obviously the songs they wrote were the best examples of that, but their influence in that department kinda made its way into the band's other songs too. Great performers, Blondie's a great singer, I'm glad they were around when they were (and wouldn't have minded at all if they appeared in the reunion), but Bruce very much feels more fitting for the band than they did.

Wouls have been greta to see one more Reilly managed album following Endless Summer.

I agree that he pushed the Beach Boys to be more creative. Is it possible that the dark ages of 73 -75 would have started sooner had they not had a manager that pushed them in the studio like JR? I also really like his work on Western Justice.

I wish they would have found Reiley a couple of years sooner, as their Capitol contract was winding down. Maybe Reiley would have convinced them to hold off two killer track in "Breakaway" and "Celebrate the News" from a single Capitol would never promote anyway. He could have given them "We're Together Again" and "Old Man River" to fill out the contract and used "Breakaway" and "Celebrate the News" as a calling card to get a new album.

Then he could have revamped their image BEFORE Sunflower, with longer, better shows, hipper stage outfits, etc. So when Sunflower, with "Breakaway" and "Celebrate the News" replacing "Got to Know the Woman" and "At My Window," the boys would have been riding a wave of momentum as they released a KILLER album. Maybe then Sunflower is the smash it should have been, Brian doesn't retreat further and Dennis is recognized for his great songs.

Their whole career arc could have changed.

Of course, as long as I'm dreaming, I might as well ask for a pony.  ;)

I don't think "Celebrate The News" was gonna dig them out of the hole they were in. "Break Away" was indeed woefully under-promoted, but I doubt that song alone would've saved their entire career from going the Endless Summer route just a few years later. imo.

a plus here for Jack..
he was the one man who got the most out of Carl as a composer... :)

Dat's true. My favorite Carl songs are definitely the ones from Surf's Up.

Count me in.

It's safe to say that this was an interesting period for the band under Jack's rule.  The only thing I didn't like about it was the overall production; most of the songs sounded a little on the "dry" side.  Would be nice to hear some newly mixed versions of songs such as "Sail On Sailor" or "Marcella". 

"SOS" sounds just fine to these ears but "Marcella" might indeed benefit from being newly mixed some day. I like it the way it is but it lacks some serious punch.

He will always be in my good books for the way he got Blondie and Ricky into the US....

That's a good album!

Has Mike Love ever commented on his lyrics? He's been critical of Van Dyke Parks for being too esoteric but Reiley had his moments

Jack was a hustler for sure but his results were great.  If he'd stuck around for another year maybe he could have saved the Caribou sessions from descending into disaster and the group could have had another artistically valid new album to promote right as Endless Summer was coming out.

I've never understood the antipathy. As far as I'm concerned, he helped create 2 or 3 presentable LPs in the early 70s and oversaw their renaissance as a non-stripey shirted live act.

Sunflower is rightly seen as a classic Wilson /BB album but it didn't have what was needed to get attention in that era.

I think his true love for the good things about the group made him an ideal guy to help them out. Despite whatever issues he had.

Go back and read his posts in this group, or the edited version of them I put together at one point. There's so much love there, and sadness that it couldn't continue.

The Rieley period is my favorite one, post-1967.

I hope Rieley reads this thread.

And better yet, writes us some more stuff.

He was a con artist who wrote terrible lyrics and was the culprit behind the embarassing faux-political songs on Surf's Up. I don't see a whole lot to admire. I guess he made the band more "timely," but only at the expense of their credibility and originality.

Yeah, those songs blow. The guy didn't help bring out Carl's creative peak as a songwriter, nor did he see to it that "Surf's Up" (I didn't want Smile to be finished later on a as a result, anyway) or "'Til I Die" made a Beach Boys album instead of rotting in a closet somewhere. Mother f*cker robbed us of brilliant work like "Loop De Loop" and "Susie Cincinnati" appearing on a proper album. He should be shot, I'm afraid.