The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-critics-notebook-paul-dano-love-mercy-20140921-column.html#page=1

Thanks, Ed.

I'm glad he's seeing Brian as childlike and playful, rather than just strung out and weird. Some of the so-called early signs of Brian's issues, such as the sandbox piano and veggie chomping recording sessions, just strike me as playful creativity.  In theater you often engage in acting games to free up the creative juices, and some of Brian's approach during the Pet Sounds and early SMiLE sessions just seem like a childlikeness coming out to play. It certainly gets weird later, with the paranoia and darkness, and but having fun during the creative process is just good for the music.

I honestly never found why the sandbox piano was so "crazy" anyway.... when he explained the motive behind it, I liked the idea.

The sandbox, the tent, the fire helmets and all the rest of it make total sense for a wealthy young artist exploring creativity. You don't need to take LSD to understand that. He was just trying to push his experience and understanding in as many different ways as possible, because he was smart enough to understand that it would spill over into the music.

The drugs were obviously just another part of that. But sadly, for Brian, he had no way of knowing the long term impact it would have on his capabilities (particularly as someone with underlying mental health issues), since it was a whole new cultural frontier.

I personally like to think that he would have eventually written most of those songs without the use of marijuana and lsd. But sadly, we'll never know.