The Smiley Smile Message Board

Who played this?

I always assume all sax on all pop records was played by Satan himself.

http://members.tripod.com/~fun_fun_fun/mikesax.gif


 >:D

Joel Peskin.

Does Satan come in the form of the guy in the picture below?

(http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/11/15/arts/15bruce3.jpg)

I'm actually always amazed at how much Brian loved using saxophones.

Somehow there's a difference between the sax on "California Dreamin" and the sax on "Salt Lake City." Something about a sax solo in the middle of a song, like "Let's all stop playing and let the sax take a few lines," is just nauseating. I love "The First Time" on Live at the Roxy... except for the sax solo. Why, Brian, why? (apologies to Paul Mertens)

Agree with you Amy. I don't really like saxophones except when they are used subtly. And I couldn't agree more about the sax solo's at Brian's shows. I HATE them. Nothing against Paul Mertens, but it seems its like "well, Paul has nothing to do in this song, so lets just give him a sax solo. And I sit there thinking "hey, where's this on the record?"

Thanks

Speaking of sax...

When did Richie Cannata start playing with the beach boys and when did he stop?

I know he also played with Billy Joel, how long did he play with his band?

I enjoy his playing quite a bit (saw him recently with Al Jardine's band and I also saw him with the beach boys a long time ago).  I also hear what the others are saying.  Too much sax soloing can be detrimental to a song.

Richie joined the BB Band in 1993 and left in 1998, along with Matt Jardine.

Who played bass on California Dreamin'? I always thought the bass sounded very sloppy on this one.

Agree re Richie joining in 91, leaving with Carl's passing in 98.  He played with Billy Joel throughout the 1970's as one of his original band members.  Oddly, he is one of the few, if not only, former band member that has remained inside Billy's circle, still playing with him on occasion such as the "12 Gardens" live CD a couple of years ago.  I met Richie backstage at my last BB concert in 1997.  WE talked briefly, he made sure I had good seats to the show.  I came away thinking he was a genuinely nice guy.

I think that the horrible delay they have on the California Dreamin sax plays a part.

I agree generally saxes are great when subtle.

However I love the Sax parts on many Madness songs...though quite a different type of music of course.

Sam

Richie may well have played some earlier shows, but the first show he played in Atlanta as a member of the BB Band was in 1993. He was not with them in Atlanta in '91 nor in '92.

Why does the phrase 'one-man horn section' make me think "Dennis Wilson" ?  :)

So I take it no one here digs the sax solo on "Transcendental Meditation" as much as I do?

no way, I love it!

Just the thing to calm down the frazzled nerves at the end of a work day... :P

Now THAT'S a sax solo I can dig!

I prefer saxes when they are low notes and grooving like on mid 60s Beach Boys stuff or like on 'Girl from New York City'. I also like how Steely Dan used them making chords out of them, however all this wailing is horrible, it reminds me of these awful instrumental sax albums my mother used to play in the kitchen - and they weren't actually real saxes but keyboard sax!

I usually can't stand sax solos, but there's one exception: "Baker Street". It somehow works for that song.

this is slightly off topic from sax solos, but it does concern solos.....


what's everyone think of the horns solo on Time to get Alone? I think it's fantastic.

wasn't there gonna be a sax solo on GOk at one point? 

Yeah, I think that's available on the box set.  That idea was greatly improved upon by the final version.

To me saxes are like anything, including the gratuitous it's-time-for-the-guitar-solo guitar solo, unless you have a great guitarist (or saxophonist) who can bring something to it, or a fresh idea, like "Salt  Lake City", or any George Harrison guitar solo (which amounted to separate acts of songwriting rather than just improvs)- without a fresh idea it's just mechanical.

What makes the unimaginative and gratuitous sax solo so bad is that it's the musical equivalent of somebody popping on a pair of sunglasses and thinking that's shorthand for "cool". Pop on a pair of sunglasses and play a bad sax solo?  I'll wait in the car.

Agree that "Baker Street" is a good use of it. Brian Jones was brilliant on "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).". Wasn't there a nice moody one on Dark Side Of The Moon?  Now somebody has to come up with the all-time worst sax solo.

I nominate, on general principles, the porn-movie solo that was dubbed into Natalie Cole's forgettable vampire duet with her undead father, Nat K., on "Unforgettable", in place of the very tasteful strings, which they said were "dated".

yeah, I think brian usually uses the sax pretty tastefully.  As a bad example, joe thomas' sax solos in imagination.  There was definately a cheesey vibe there.  it can ruin a song for sure.

speaking of the sax in gok, what point in the finished version does it occur.  I cant really imagine a sax there, but maybe it fits?

The sax solo in God Only Knows was instead of the the wordless vocal thing before the final verse/chorus. You know, the "ah-ah, ah-ah, doo doo doo doo doo doo doo ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba-ba-ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba aaaaaaaaaaah God Only Knows what I'd be without you, if you should ever leave me..."

I really like the sax solo in Goin' South. And Shut Down, haha.

If a sax solo isn't rocking like Salt Lake City or Bobby Keys on Exile On Main Street, I can live without it. Any non-rockin' sax is anathema to me.

Try this Phoebe Snow tune 2.30 mark. Just right IMO.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NBfTpVBxF8