The Smiley Smile Message Board

http://gc.guitarcenter.com/interview/brianwilson/

Thank was actually a nice interview, and a little something different than the usual Q&A. Thanks for sharing!

Interesting thing to say about "Good Vibrations":

"The process of recording that song was very exciting, but later on it drove me crazy. The cello and the theremin, scary this and scary that—it really drove me nuts. I don't listen to it any more. I listen to 'California Girls' but I can't listen to 'Good Vibrations.' I don't even consider it my production."

That last sentence is truly amazing, and shows how mentally divorced he is from the more experimental, envelope-pushing aspects of his creative persona, at least when it involves an
instrument, arrangement or sound that could possibly be construed as vaguely menacing or
having any mysterious, foreboding quality.

He can be persuaded to revisit songs in that vein, such as the Grammy award-winning "Mrs
O' Leary's Cow" on BWPS, and even probably enjoys playing them to some degree if he is in the
right mood, but it's clear that one of the most mysteriously compelling parts of his multifaceted
musical nature is now anathema to him. That's a shame, but he has certainly paid his dues, and
more than earned his right to avoid whatever truly makes him uncomfortable or unhappy.

On some days he would probably lean back blissfully and say "wow, what a groovy riff" upon
hearing GV. :)

Yeah...sometimes he will name "Good Vibrations" as his favorite song. 

If anyone thinks it odd or disturbing that the 66-year-old Brian still finds the Good Vibrations/Smile era music "scary,"  it's worth noting that "scary" is PRECISELY what the 24-year-old Brian had in mind when he made that music.


From Jules Siegel's famous article, "Goodbye Surfing"...

"Yeah, I'm going to call this 'Mrs. O'Leary's Fire' and I think it might just scare a whole lot of people."

And...

"I've gone beyond [Spector] now. I'm going for the spiritual sound, a white spiritual sound. Religious music. Did you hear the Beatles' album? Religious, right? That's the whole movement. That's where I'm going. It's going to scare a lot of people.
"Yeah," Brian said, hitting his fist on the desk with a slap that sent parakeets in the large cage facing him squalling and whistling. "Yeah," he said and smiled for the first time all evening.
"That's where I'm going and it's going to scare a lot of people when I get there."

Mightn't it be more odd and disturbing for that very reason? In 40+ years, the man is still scared by those tunes.

That was a pretty cool interview, different from the usual BS which is a nice change.

Cool interview. I didn't know Brian used Pro-Tools.

He's been using it since 1998.

Interesting that Mark states it took a week or two to record Brian's leads - I guess most of those were junked when they flew in the vocals from the demos.

You're kidding, right? How would YOU cobble together bits of incoherent nonsense (aka the last 11 years of his solo career) into a listenable whole?!? :)

Maybe one of the many other similar programs that does the same thing?

AGD -- Can you say how you know vocals were flown in from the demos? Most of Brian's leads sound pretty different to my ears.

Sure - Scott told me when I interviewed him... plus it's also in the BW/TLOS article in the 11/2008 Mojo. 

Here y'go:

AGD - You've stated in interviews that the album version of "Midnight" makes
extensive use of the demo, notably Brian's vocals - were any other parts of
other demos flown in like this ?

SB - A lot of them were. Some were done at Mark Linetts, but there was something true about his initial enthusiasm, so we went back to the demos.

Which I'm thankful for, 'cause I remember thinking upon hearing the demos prior to the album's release:  "Man, these vocals sound great...in fact, they're probably hard to beat, so if they can't at least match 'em, I sure hope they use the originals".  I was VERY fearful that Brian would redo them in the cold, sterlie, clinical atmosphere of a "professional" studio and lose the great feeling & vibe...not to mention the mostly on-pitch tonality.  I was SO afraid he'd redo them and they would be rushed, off-key, and inferior due to Brian feeling less comfortable, etc.

As far as them sounding somewhat different:  probably down to different processing effects, etc.  The vocals in the "master" mix sound quite a bit drier compared to the vocals in the "demo" mix, but a lot of them are the same performances. 

Goodness.

Well, that's interesting given how different (and not necessarily better) the album version of MAD sounds.

You definitely have new recordings on TLOS and Morning Beat (extra verses) and California Role and Southern California (Brian didn't sing on the demos).

But using them for the others does show that Scotty is smart enough to avoid the GIOMH problem of lax re-recorded leads, so I guess that's a plus.

Should point out here that when I say "the demos", I mean the 2nd set we're all well aware of, not the original ones.

Southern California is a newer vocal, right? (Scott's on the demo.) To me that's a very warm Brian performance.

So the songs were demoed in the summer 06 sessions and then re-demoed for the TLOS demos?...Interesting...were both sets recorded at Scott's studio?

Yes.

I am enjoying this thread.  Thanks to everyone for the great contributions!  I just wanted to ditto C-Mans comments about Brian's vocals for demos and final product.  I love the enthusiasm present in Brian's voice on the demos and glad a lot of it was salvaged and used for the final product.  From my own conversations with Scott (had the good fortune of speaking with him a few different times since the TLOS release) I got the impression that though there is plenty of Brian's demo vocal work used on the final record, there IS a whole bunch of NEW Brian vocals recorded and used as well. 

From what I understand the demos evolved over time with some instrumental contributions surviving, some vocals / lyrics replaced, Jeff brought in to add bits, Paul Mertens contributing string and horn bits, (via computer files being sent around IIRC), Darian's input on sequencing and adding Been Too Long .

I am fascinated by the evolution of these demos sessions as they progressed to being adapted and molded into the conceptual RFH project and finally into the TLOS record.

There were many questions raised, stalls, scares and speedbumps along the way but the project turned out great.  Many thanks to those who made it happen!

I would love to hear the versions with the original lyrics before they were tweaked to fit the concept (just for curiosity sake).  How about a deluxe reissue with all the different versions that were demoed along the way.

Brian says""Modern production technology like Pro Tools gave me carte blanche to make the kind of music I felt like making. It definitely made it easier to complete Smile. But I still like to write songs on my Yamaha keyboard. "

I was just thinking....15 years ago NOBODY would have credibly predicted that we'd have a sentence like that out of Brian Wilson.

Do we know which exact songs had sets of different lyrics before?

This goes to show how sophisticated home studios have become where there is less and less difference in the sound of something recorded in an apartment as compared to a studio proper. Notably, "Southern California" sounds like it was comped from two different vocal sessions; the second verse and bridge (missing from the live performance) feature a smoother, cleaner vocal from Brian whereas the first and third verses have a slight bit of raspiness to the vocal. Not a major distraction, but there is a difference.

As to Brian's comment regarding "Good Vibrations": his use of the term "scary" has almost always been synonymous with "ambitious" or "technically challenging". What I believe he's saying is that he can't even imagine attempting a production on that scale and in that fashion again; he can't return to where his head was at when he was twenty-three. As for weird or disturbing music, Brian still returns to it when he feels it's right ("Happy Days" utilizing "My Solution" with extra strangeness added, or the discordant notes that end each verse of "Oxygen To The Brain").

"California Role" was "Wondering What You're Up To Now", vintage 1985.  Scott rewrote the words & retitled it to fit the California theme.

There was also Brian's "Beatle Man," an upbeat track that eventually morphed into "Midnight's Another Day." Songs hat are still in limbo are: "Ever Strong" (the first collaboration between Scott & Brian), "I Wanna' Be With You" (the second collaboration between Scott & Brian), "At the Hop" (Scott on lead vocal), "Rave On" (Danny Hutton on lead vocal), "Proud Mary," "Family Reunion," "Walking Down the PAth of Life" (a new version), "Angels In Love" (with Van Dyke Parks), and "Tom Dooley."

There's probably more… 

I thought "Beatle Man" became "Message Man"?

Cheers,
Jon Blum

There's also the fact that he's sated a couple of times in the last 2-3 years that he's a bit sick of playing GV at every concert he gives. Interviews in the 1990's showed he was enthusiastic for the piece, but perhaps after several hundred performances he's simply bored of it for now.

Then he needs to stop doing it, then.

I don't know if Brian's bored with GV, but he definitely has some say in the setlists; he stated that "Forever" brings back bad memories and thus he tries to "keep it off the set," and also he often states that he hates "Sail on Sailor" and for a while it was passed to Billy Hinsche (although it's probably back to Brian now). For what any of this is worth...

That's interesting...I wonder if his "bad memories" of Forever are because it reminds him of Dennis and makes him sad or that it brings him back to a sad time in his life? 

For whatever influence he has on the setlist, I would doubt that a request to ditch Good Vibrations would go over well with everyone else.  It's too much of a Brian Wilson staple to not do in concert.

It was from the podcast for Warmth of the Sun, he talked about the line "though I'm going away/but not forever" and added "and then he died, so I tried to keep it off the set. Off the set lists."

He loves Dennis' music, he stressed that to me. Sail On Sailor I think he may not like because the words were changed so often. Perhaps it doesn't represent how he envisioned it. Of course he could rework it. Holland is among his many favorites so I can't imagine that it's the song in and of itself. I think he changes his mind a lot about what he likes or dislikes at least among the Beach Boys catalog. Not unusual for an artist to be harder on themselves then the public.

With SOS, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a combination of things: memories of bad times, maybe no particular investment in the lyrics, less than intimate relation to the original recording (handling instructions over the phone?), etc. It was an on-the-clock kind of song. Van Dyke says it's time to write a song, OK, punch the clock and write a song. That's how I hear it, anyway.

Didn't Brian "select" Sail On Sailor for the Classics Selected By Brian Wilson album? :P

Just for damage control I will say that Brian goes on and on about "Forever" in the liner notes (excellent ones by the way) for the Sunflower/Surf's Up twofer, so it may just be performing live that he likes. I certainly have no faults with that song...

I don't think there is any reason to believe he doesn't like Forever. Not wanting to perform it and not liking it are two very different things.

I think TdHabib's post about the WOTS podcast certainly shows this.  As much as Brian probably loves some of Dennis' music, performing it probably makes him sad.  If it were me, I would be inclined to perform the song, despite the associated emotions, as a tribute, but you can't fault Brian for his choice not to.