The Smiley Smile Message Board

When I think of the Beach Boys and/or Brian Wilson, the musical image in my mind is of dense, complicated productions that blow all other production attempts out of the water. The thing is, in reality there are only a few albums in the BB canon that fit this bill. Basically Today-Smile, less than 3 years. So, when we are expecting more of these genius productions from our hero, aren't we really expecting too much? BW seems to actually prefer small, uncomplicated arrangements (Surfin' Safari-All summer Long, Wild Honey, Love You). Just wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this?

Yep, I've noticed this too -- & some of my favorite stuff is 'small,' like the FRIENDS album -- "Time To Get Alone," etc.

Brian isn't necessarily into huge productions, but he sure likes great production. Those are not the same thing.

The last post mentions "small, like 'Time to Get Alone.'" But a song like "Time to Get Alone" is actually a pretty impressive piece of production. Just because it doesn't employ 50 musicians, strings, horns and the Harlem Boys Choir doesn't make it a small production or a bad production. (I am not implying the last poster meant it was a bad production, obviously, but neither is it a small production.)

Read Desper's posts, for example, about recording TTGA. The three or so different keyboard textures used for each beat are pretty amazing. The reverb effect for "Deep and wide," of course, is also stunning.

The best thing about Brian's productions are that he has great instincts, sometimes weaving simple individual pieces into complex wholes, other times just making excellent decisions with arrangements, or using clever hooks and unexpected twists. To overdo production, to make "big" productions, is not a good thing. At his best, Brian has been a master of just big enough, always with a clever twist or two.

I don't mean to say that Big is Better, just that it is actually rare for BW to have more than a few musicians working on a track at one time. Sure, add some vocals and a few overdubs and it can be a Great production, just not big.

Plus, these days the less work is involved, the better.

Amen to that. Those are words to live by, in my opinion. BW = God in that regard. Good dinners, naps and the occasional couple of hours recording.

I think there is some correlation between Brian's use of The Wrecking Crew and his "bigger" productions.

When The Beach Boys first started, it was a basic, almost garage sound. When Brian got control of the sessions, and brought in Spector's guys, the sound expanded. When the studio was moved to Brian's house, and the BB's started to record themselves, the sound went back to sparse - i.e. Smiley Smile, Wild Honey, Friends.

I think it's interesting that when Brian went back to some of The Wrecking Crew on 15 Big Ones, the songs reverted back to that classic Brian Wilson sound. Yes, the material and lead vocals on 15 Big Ones were questionable, but I think Brian succeeded in making interesting backing tracks.
 

The backing tracks were always interesting, large arrangements or small.

I disapprove of this new minimalistic movement. Its not cool to be minimal.

I think the word here is Phil Spector and the BB went with the time. When Spector said goodbye to the music business after "River Deep, Mountain High" in 1966 and the often copied Wall of Sound wasn't that hip anymore, the BB concentrated on new directions.

Agree. I alluded to The Wrecking Crew in my above post.

Spector's Wall Of Sound might've been considered "of the day" and not as hip anymore, but...I think it would've been interesting if Brian and The Wrecking Crew would've continued to work together into the 1980's and 1990's, especially on Brian's solo work.

Often when I hear somebody say "Big Productions',  its in a deragatory sense...But people like Brian and Spector, when they did the wall of sound....they didnt just throw 50 musicians together and "voila".....they had clever arrangements and really beautiful blending with different echos and reverbs...a really unique sounding thing....Very tasteful, never over produced.....Like Ive said, I think of somebody like jeff lynne as an over producer.....you know, being a tasteless purveyor of the wall of sound(btw, to all you elo fans.... Im sure he does have more talent in his cuticle than I have in my whole body, and he's got pieces of people like me in his stool).......And I think even in Brian's smaller productions there is a wall of sound element...like somebody on here said spector got a wall of sound thing on the lennon plastic ono band album, and that was just basic rock instrumentation(guitars, drums, piano)....in conclusion, I think a big wall of sound production isnt just tons of musicians and overdubs, its a way of blending and mixing...

When the song called for it or Brian was in the mood, he continued to do "big productions" - I would consider TTGA a big production, and the song "Friends" was the equal of most of the Pet Sounds big productions.  Remember even on PS there are minimal productions like That's Not Me and Don't Talk (string overdub aside, done later).  He was already paring down the large scale arrangements on Smile - Wonderful, the remake of Wind Chimes, some of the Heroes "sections," the piano only Surf's Up - which I think was meant to be Surf's Up on the album, maybe with string overdubs, etc.  Some of Sunflower also had large scale arrangements, although whether Brian or Carl determined the arrangements is open to question.