The Smiley Smile Message Board

On Sunflower, he had multiple songwriting creditss.

If indeed Reiley worked to limit his songs appearing on Surf's Up... good for him. Bruce is an awful songwriter.

Bruce has claimed he left the band because he disapproved of the drug use (the Wilson brothers, I guess).

Anyway, Bruce had never been prolific.  One and a half years after 20/20, their previous lp, 'Sunflower' featured one Bruce song (Tears in the Morning), and one he co-wrote with Brian (Deidre). A year later, when 'Surf's Up' was released, he had just one song. Seems to be contributing at the same pace, with no decline in productivity.

To be fair, didn't Brian contribute like a word or two to Diedre and Bruce gave him credit more as a gesture?

If I remember Jon's book correctly, wasn't it 1969-1970 when Carl and Mike considered replacing (i.e. firing) Bruce with David Marks?  Clearly there were some bad feelings or friction with Bruce, but it's unclear why.  He was an excellent keyboardist and musician, arranger, and singer of vocal harmonies.  Must have been his personality.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's been said Brian didn't contribute very much to that song. So it's pretty much a "Bruce" song.

I'd say Bruce is more of a terrible lyricist - it's definitely his weakest point, at least. He's definitely not a bad composer or piano player, his songs are far too well constructed for that. But he's essentially the ultimate Brill Building type. He can write a slushy ballad to order, and almost to some kind of mediocre perfection. He fundamentally lacks spark or excitement.

I've been thinking about this for a while and wondering if I'm right,  but it seems that men seem to like Bruce's songs more than women.  Mind you there aren't a lot of females on this board...   My daughter and I don't like Bruces songs, think they are sappy.  Mike, you stating what your wife thinks made me think of it again.  It's a massive generalisation I know, and probably wrong,  but I am surprised at all the love.    Mind you, I live in Australia where men are not especially open in the "emotions" department.  This generation seem to be a lot better though.  Again.... this is a massive generalisation, but true of most of my male friends.

I've been thinking about this for a while and wondering if I'm right,  but it seems that men seem to like Bruce's songs more than women.  Mind you there aren't a lot of females on this board...   My daughter and I don't like Bruces songs, think they are sappy.  Mike, you stating what your wife thinks made me think of it again.  It's a massive generalisation I know, and probably wrong,  but I am surprised at all the love.    Mind you, I live in Australia where men are not especially open in the "emotions" department.  This generation seem to be a lot better though.  Again.... this is a massive generalisation, but true of most of my male friends.

Of course you like Bruce  :lol




http://youtu.be/_f_p0CgPeyA

That is an interesting era.  I don't know Rieley from Adam, notwithstanding what I've read about "embellished credentials." What I do know is often new managers zone in on a knowledge base, or a talent, and using their "new broom," sweep out that person, in order to establish a new power base.  I'm not sure things would have been different, regardless of who was at the helm.  At that point, the individual band members were working on their own material, and it was a height of creativity.  

Second, it was a time, when the college campus was the place to perform.  There was a captive audience, as it were, and particularly massive numbers of young people who could network word of these performances.  For example, I was wearing my alma mater shirt to a BB C50 NY show, and in the row behind me was a guy who introduced himself, and we immediately discussed a BB show at Boston College in 1972, that we both attended. Amazing that 40 years later, we had been at the same show.  Toni Tenille was there.  (I was very jealous.)  :lol

So, in going from colleges to casinos, alongside their contemporaries, with various formats, and managers, it's important to remember that the manager is about power and control.  And if that manager, perceives a member as a threat, because of his or her experiential background, then there will be conflicts.  As they say, "new broom sweeps clean."

Rieley did not invent the trend of changing the performance venue; colleges and universities had auditoria, arenas, and student networking and new underground newspapers and media outlets, such as fm radio, at their disposal.  And, performers and promoters just plugged right into it.

Interesting you mention the BC show - I wasn't there but my school's 1974 yearbook mentioned that concert as one of the big events that occurred over the six years that the class was at the school (along with a picture of the Beach Boys).     

You missed a great show!  Any chance of scanning that photo for the Smiley Boarders? 

Smarties doing that yearbook!   ;)

Given my previous point as Bruce as formal pitch perfect factory line ballad man, the one thing that sticks in the craw is... Why hasn't he written a song in nearly 30 years?! His last outing on a BB's album was on BB85, right? (Or does One Summer Night count/there a song on SIP I have scrubbed furiously from my cortex?)

About fifteen years ago on the BBB board he said that he'd recorded an entire album's worth of demos at home, but that he couldn't be bothered doing anything with it. He said at the time that he might make a dozen or so CDR copies for a few people and then let them make copies for other people who wanted to hear it, but as far as I know he never did.

YEah, sounds to me like he's all blow. He's going to do this/that. He was never going to set himself up to be booting his own stuff

i expect we're going to see Tears In The Morning and maybe even his awful Bluebirds cover on the forthcoming boxset, at least if Bruce has his way...

Thanks for all the replies! Just wanted to clarify though that I was asking as much about vocal contributions as I was songwriting. In addition to writing deirdre and tears in the morning, bruce has the lead on at my window and is very prominent in Add some music (maybe one or two others as well?). So that's four songs on Sunflower where he's prominent, and only one (disney girls) on Surf's up. So again, not just compositionally, but vocally as well Bruce seems absent from Surf's Up, and I was wondering why that might be the case (and I now have an idea thanks to your input).

Thanks for all the replies! Just wanted to clarify though that I was asking as much about vocal contributions as I was songwriting. In addition to writing deirdre and tears in the morning, bruce has the lead on at my window and is very prominent in Add some music (maybe one or two others as well?). So that's four songs on Sunflower where he's prominent, and only one (disney girls) on Surf's up. So again, not just compositionally, but vocally as well Bruce seems absent from Surf's Up, and I was wondering why that might be the case (and I now have an idea thanks to your input).

Bruce has admitted that if he'd wanted to he could have had far more material on Beach Boys albums over the years but that he actually wishes that fewer of his songs had been included on albums. He has said, for example, that he wishes that Deirdre and Tears in the Morning hadn't been part of Sunflower.

Bruce has admitted that if he'd wanted to he could have had far more material on Beach Boys albums over the years but that he actually wishes that fewer of his songs had been included on albums. He has said, for example, that he wishes that Deirdre and Tears in the Morning hadn't been part of Sunflower.

As soon as Rieley came into the picture, Bruce wasn't into the way the band was being re-presented, and just came in to do his track. That's all it was, really.