The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://www.examiner.com/article/al-jardine-discusses-a-postcard-from-california

Al was interviewed about Postcard by David Beard, and it went up yesterday. A few unusual remarks are in it. One that I don't recall in other chats about the album: he says that the first person he approached to recite Tidepool Interlude was....Anthony Hopkins. Because he says he wanted "the voice of God." Boy - those four words are just what come to my mind every time I see beans - you know what kind - at the supermarket.

But Sir Anthony's people never got back to him, so Alec Baldwin was approached - apparently, partly because his next-door neighbor happened to be a friend of Al's.

Most of the tracks are covered in the interview but not one of my favorites, "San Simeon." Sigh.

Well Baldwin did do a great job narrating "The Royal Tenenbaums."  But that track is so hilariously bad.  Nice interview though.

Oh if he were only still around...I get a chuckle imaging Orson Welles narrating 'Tidepool Interlude.'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V14PfDDwxlE (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V14PfDDwxlE)

Waves of majesty move through me majestically.

Al might just be the most nuts of all the Beach Boys. He seems very out of touch with reality.

He's going for a Steinbeck/Jeffers feel and, actually, pretty much hits the mark.  I'd take that over the links on TLOS any day.

Only BJ is further out of touch.

Gotta love how compares Postcard to Pet Sounds. Well, yeah... Don't get me wrong, I like Postcard, but that's bit of a stretch.

I really, really like the interlude. I don't understand some of the disdain towards it but there are a wealth of varying opinions on this board alone so I'll just accept it. I'm having trouble imagining Sir Anthony doing the voiceover though.

dont think that Larry guys ego needed anymore inflating

...and that's my signature.

Cool interview.I'm a fan of this album. I like how at the end Al says he'd like to take 10 years off after completing APFC. It must be back-breaking work assembling and completing a dozen-ish songs co-written and partly recorded from 1978-2009  ;)

Also, I'm sure Al's ranch is a beautiful place, but parts of Larry's descriptions in the interview sound like outtakes from Tidepool Interlude ie. read in an Alec Baldwin voice - 'I was taken by its rugged natural beauty… mountains with redwoods meet the jagged cliffs of the sea. There were fields upon fields of purple and gold flowers. It was truly an expression of all things Californian, which make Big Sur a “Shangri-La.”

Amen. California, how I love thee  ;D

I think he was saying, effort wise. Listening to that album, you can tell Al really put everything he had into creating it, it just sounds as if he was trying so hard.  To a certain degree, I think he succeeded and hit his mark.  I enjoy the album, but re-recordings of Help Me, Rhonda and Honkin' seem sort of unnecessary.

Agreed. Especially after saying "I write the songs" was one of the biggest power ballads in the world.  :shrug