The Smiley Smile Message Board

Surprised nobody posted this yet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uo4Gj0QxfrA

Some pretty interesting harmony stuff towards the end.

That's awesome, great to see Brian working the board.  8)

Congratulations, you're the third thread to post this video.  Granted, with all the activity, it's hard to keep up with it all.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,13409.0.html

Man, I plugged that YouTube link into the search page and nothing came up.

Ah well. Still a cool video.

Except that he isn't. All the Boys are doing in this video is trying to look good for the camera. That wasn't a recording session for the album it was just fluff for the publicity machine. If the notes on the cd sleeve are correct David Marks didn't contribute any vocals to the album.

Maybe after Brian Wilson and/or the other BBs are dead (and long may they live...) someone will write a book or make a documentary that isn't full of crap like this, though I doubt it.

You mean a record company is trying to promote an album? They must be stopped!

It's promo, dude. And it's cool watching the guys harmonize.
For an account on how the vocals were taught, there's the lengthy Thomas interview by the guy from Newsweek.

They heard their parts as recorded by Foskett and learned from that. That must be really exciting to see.

Yes, but that's not what we're seeing, is it? It's just odd to me that people are prepared to go into raptures over something that is evidently a set-up designed to appeal to anyone who doesn't know any better, i.e. casual BB listeners rather than the so-called 'educated' community.

An yes, I read the Joe Thomas interview some while back thanks.

Yes, very good...  ::)

What I mean, is that Brian Wilson is a bit like Pig Pen from Peanuts, except that instead of being followed by a cloud of dust and dirt he's followed by a cloud of myth-polishers and Guardians of the Official Story. What we know and think about Brian Wilson story is like the truth in Orwell's 1984, which has people adapting and transforming it to conform to the Party line. Even the so-called inside story, the snippets from band members and others 'close' to Brian conforms to an accepted set of ideas.

What I meant by my comment was that of course I understand the need for promotion, its just that as a fan I get tired of being patronised by the endless variations on the Brian at the Desk, Brian Arranging Vocals, Brian Telling the Musicians What to Do stories.

I'm not saying that as fans we can't think for ourselves, or can't make our own minds up about Brian Wilson, just that sometimes the music has trouble breathing for all the official-line PR that swaddles it from studio to stereo.

Brian Wilson is a damaged, fragile man. Its ok, I can take it! I don't care that its harder for him and takes longer to make a record these days, I'm just glad that he's able to when he wants to. I would just like, one day, to be able to hear or read a story about him that isn't authored by a PR man or a sycophant.