The Smiley Smile Message Board

Kinda neat. I like this kinda thing. Honestly, I wish the band would do a book or something where they discuss albums and songs in-depth. I guess it's kinda old, but it has a few quotes I haven't seen before.

http://www.uncut.co.uk/brian-wilson/brian-wilson-album-by-album-feature

Surprised they asked him about smiley smile, usually Brian doesn't say much about it.

Come to think of it, he hasn't said much about Wild Honey either.

...and he thinks CBS released Love You.

I love stuff like this. Like somebody mentioned in the Wrecking Crew thread going on, it's been 50 years now, and many of the participants are passing. So, I'd like to see somebody corral the surviving Beach Boys - especially Brian - and get as much information (even if it's inaccurate ;D) down. It's history. Important history.

You're so right. 50 years is awfully long... and people are passing away. Guys like Stebbins and Ames Carlin, and 'our own' AGD are very good in relaying info, putting it into a proper context, and judging statements as for their truth. The sufviving Boys are all in good mental health - what's needed is a commentator/writer who can trigger them to tell stories, make comments. Surprises are still possible, I am totally convinced of that.

Getting Brian to talk is the key, he remembers a hell of a lot more than he lets onto. He just plays the "crazy" Brian Wilson persona to avoid those hard questions at times.

I'd like each Beach Boys album and solo to be played to each member and let them say what the remember about it, what they'd change now etc. That would be cool.

Good point. When someone really can make him talk (I am thinking of Don Was, in that documentary), Brian really comes into his own, and gets on some roll. I really was deeply moved about his opening up about the child abuse... frightening, that. He can make you think it was only yesterday, instead of forty to fifty years ago. And IIRC he was still visibly suffering from the overmedication by Landy, although that of course had stopped, in that film, judging by his facial expressions.

 :love

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Absolutely agree, and perhaps if the Boys have some more good times in the studio and reach something as close to equilibrium as is possible for them, a project of this type could become a reality. A book/DVD built around such a concept, if executed properly, could be truly stellar.

Put it on the wish list...  ::)

They are? ::)

Well, no dementia or Alzheimers, which is a godsend. Dementia is one of the saddest things.

I found that Brian, if you talk about music and none of drugs or scandal stuff, will really open up. Too few who interview him realize that. Now I can be talking about him just on his good days, but I bet 9 times out of 10 sticking to music would get him to talk at least somewhat more. This little interview that I hadn't seen before backs my theory about this up.

Good comment, Mike.

Too many times he was asked about drugs etc. in the past. Up to the point where, at the time of his '88 comeback, some news hack inquired: 'hey Brian, how much money did you spend on drugs?'. Without missing a beat, Bri replied: 'Oh, $ 100,000'.

Rarely I laugh out loud when reading privately - but this was such an occasion. I guess this is where much of Bri's quiet resistance, and his tendency to give evasive, brief, and information-free replies stems from. Say, his Norbit-isms.

Great interview.
They took some liberties with using exact quotes (Brian would not have used words like "lovely" and British phrases like "straight away"), but I assume the jist of what he said is there.

Honkin a quite versatile song. I've said before that it would have been a better fit for a disco treatment than HCTN.  In fact it could be country-disco - the perfect hit for Glen Campbell right before his Tanya era.

I have often contended that the memoranda from Wild Honey from Brother Records and Capitol indicated that Carl took over production of Wild Honey due to Brian's nervous exhaustion halfway through Wild Honey. There it is verified right from the Big Guy himself in that article.