The Smiley Smile Message Board

I guess the most underrated aspect of Brian's work are his little side-projects, like covers in tribute albums and backing vocals in other artists' songs. Some of those turn out to be real gems: the first coming to my mind are "Listen To Me", "Wanderlust", "Hand On My Shoulder".
Someone should compile and issue a "Pet Projects II" album.
Is there anybody having a complete or near complete list of these side-projects?

On the old german Beach Boys messageboard we compiled a 2-disc collection of Brian's recordings that weren't on one of his albums (or only as bonus for download etc). Excluding live recordings, Christmas songs, guest performances on other artists recordings and unreleased stuff. That was shortly after That Lucky Old Sun came out, so since then there are like 7 new ones afaik.

We called it "Believe in yourself - The solo works of Brian Wilson"
The artwork was really just a quick copy&paste like job I did, so very amateurish, since I don't know nothing about such work. But anyway, here's front and back cover:


(http://fs5.directupload.net/images/160920/temp/por3yrzq.jpg) (http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4484/por3yrzq_jpg.htm)

(http://fs5.directupload.net/images/160920/temp/sixyn6zq.jpg) (http://www.directupload.net/file/d/4484/sixyn6zq_jpg.htm)

Thanks Rocker. The work you did confirms that there is a lot of that stuff around, some of it very good. Good job on the covers! :)

No reflection on you, Rocker, but when I clicked on the back cover to have a closer look I got all sorts of evil pop-up sh*t instead. :=(

 ??? Works for me. I just tried it.....





Haha, thank you  ;)

Works fine for me as well.

With "What a wonderful world" being released I thought it would be nice to see what songs Brian released since the compilation (see above) we did on the old german BBs board stopped. The rules are the same as before. The song must be a official release but not part of a regular album, no Christmas songs (one could think about a disc dedicated only to Christmas tunes), no live recordings, no duetts.

I'll try my best and see what I can think of right now. The order should be chronological. Please fill in if I forget anything or whatever you think should be noted. I don't think I'll get the order right:


California Sun (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tohY2Tu9ec)
Listen to me (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-GQ-gPov_ic)
Wanderlust (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQQiVT4Y5kE)
Let's call the whole thing off
A dream is a wish your heart makes (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUskgz1N4is)
Peace on earth (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cET-iLzxork) (is this considered a Christmas song?)

The following songs were only released on the deluxe edition of No Pier Pressure:

Don't worry (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KV_VK5Jmo2Q)
I'm feeling sad (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAPdQQv0Ylg)

In the back of my mind (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpZEXGzvTV0) (bonus track on NPP, but I would exclude this)

Run James run (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VggE9Oa7wz8)
Some sweet day (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8ZfEkqFNo4)

What a wonderful world (https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/brian-wilson-van-dyke-parks-what-a-wonderful-world-orange-crate-art-reissue-992164/?fbclid=IwAR1PsGaChIT9tPvkIU-tdt6p5hr9yem8fjrtW-f2ILvOX3yfZKRao0stFz4)


I took these three off of the list, because they are duetts with Al.

Somewhere quiet (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0ePrj3t1Xk)
Slopp John B. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx5PVjsRamk)
Wouldn't it be nice (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_tWGUBFsz4)

How about "Drivin'," also with Al?

That wouldn't go with the rules. No deutts, no guest appearances by Brian on other people's songs as long as those are not Brian singing solo (as on "What a wonderful world").
BTW I changed the list above, because some of the songs don't fit either.

Well, I’ve extensively studied graphic design (didn’t finish for life-got-in-the-way reasons) and design my own BW/BBs album covers in Photoshop, and I gotta commend you on that back cover. When I was reading the track list I thought I was looking at some illustration of a weirdly bright blazing sun in a late summer sky only to realize it was the center of an orange. That’s awesome.

I’d love to see a release along these lines someday.

Wonderful idea and very spiffy execution, Rocker--let's hope it gets into the "pipeline" sometime soon and is given serious consideration for an official release. The more Brian product available, the better!

Enter https://beachboyslegacy.com/ and click on Brian Wilson, Various Artists category.

And? It just shows his relatively recent appearance on a George Harrison tribute album .

Edit: Nevermind, I see now.

Great! Thanks for the link. I guess right now there's nothing missing. So, just short a couple of songs for a third CD.





Thank you!  :) But none of that is my work. IIRC (it's been a couple of years obviously) I just used google search and typed in probably "California" or something like that. Maybe even "orange" because I wanted to have that color.

Yeah, but you had the idea and put it there. Here’s the cover of a best of compilation I made some years back, and virtually none of it is mine, from the photographs, to the shapes to the fonts. It’s what you do with it the pieces that matters. After all, it’s not like Brian Wilson invented the chords he was using.

Anyway, my cover I mentioned (sorry it’s so huge):

(https://i.imgur.com/uzTvYoX_d.jpg?maxwidth=640&shape=thumb&fidelity=medium)


When I can, I’d like to make my own compilation of Brian’s rare solo output and create a cover for it.

I like that. Looks very professional. It's cool that you actually incorporate the shot from Paradise Cove into the rest of the colors instead of just putting a frame around it. I know, just a small thing but it really catches my eye.