The Smiley Smile Message Board

You know the rest.  ;D

about the big red boat cruise.....2 ships were involved. carl flew in and out for the show. the rest of the group (plus backup band) cruised out to nassau on one ship and back on the other. one concert done on the dock between the 2 docked ships. i had a ball. met them all. bruce bought drinks during a little get together with a few fans. if anything else happened they sure didn't announce it.

A correction:


It's spelled Callaway, all a's.

how bout a link

http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/ (http://www.btinternet.com/~bellagio/)

thank you!

If the Don Was session in November reworked the original Wilson/Paley sessions tracks, when were the Paley sessions done?

Those aborted 1995 sessions still confuse me. Why did Carl refuse to be a part of it after only two songs were done? Were he and Brian still fighting over Brian's book? Did Carl really think the songs were "unreleaseable"? Or was he sick, and he chose not to tell anybody at the time? I noticed on the 1995 page that Carl did not take part in the Baywatch episode. Correct me if I'm wrong, but he also missed a few shows. It seems to me that he was being "phased out" in much the same way that Al was.

I don't think any of that was the case. Carl was on good enough terms with Brian to appear in the IJWMFTT doc -- the only BB to do so. Carl simply didn't like what Brian was doing, from all accounts. And Carl was working on his own project (Beckley Lamm Wilson) at the time. If you listen to that, you get some insight into what Carl thought a good record was in the mid-1990s. And it sure wasn't the Paley sessions.

Been asking around about that, and the consensus seems to be that the Wilson/Paley sessions started in spring 1992 and ended in fall 1994 - certainly the pair were recording in summer '93. Most of the tracks were cut at Your Place Or Mine.

Carl found out he was ill at the end of 1996.

As far as the Was sessions, Carl chose THAT moment to be dissatisfied with the band direction and walk out? When he could have easily walked out during Keepin' The Summer Alive, which is far worse? Something doesn't compute.

There's a growing number of folk who think that Carl knew long before his spring 1997 cancer diagnosis that something was very wrong - when the band came over  January 1996 for the Status Quo thing, on TV he looked very uncomfortable and notably heavier. I saw them in PA in spring that year, and Carl looked and acted just... odd - kept motioning to the sound guy about his monitors, and his hair, well, in retrospect, it looked very wig-like.

Carl really was mysterious in some ways. He kept to himself so much that I don't have a feel for him like I do the others.

He didn't look well when they were on Home Improvement either.

There's a video of the group doing Little Deuce Coupe on Letterman, I think it was. Carl looks pretty sick, and looks just as uncomfortable as Brian, which is weird to see.

Is that available online? I searched YouTube but never found it.

edit

nvm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gP3_WoUQe84&feature=related

sh*t, if anything he looks *more* uncomfortable than Brian. Probably didn't help that he was singing with just a mic and no guitar, which was rare for him.

It would be interesting to hear the Don Was versions, maybe his uninspiring renditions didn't help to endear them to Carl? In my opinion this was one of the biggest missed opportunities of their career.

Did the group themselves actually ever hear the versions that the fans have?

and i remember thinking, while i was recording them on regis around sept 1996 , as they were playing a part of kokomo that carl looked very bad. he was heavy and swollen. he strummed an acoustic guitar and looked like death. i remember thinking that.
come to think of it...he didn't look "like carl" at the concert on the big red boat cruise in may 1995 either.

edit: i remember now that i took photos at the 1995 show. only problem one of the "ex's" has them. if i can muster up the nerve to speak to the witch i hope i can still find them. if so i could post them and let everyone see what i mean about carl. i was second row right behind the governor of the bahamas. but that is another story for another time... ;D
but carl did look bad..esp looking back at it after what happened later to him.

Somebody on here a year or so ago said that Carl had gout, along with other health problems. Does anybody know the story on that?

1996 is now up and running.

Well, for one thing Carl was producing and writing on "Keeping the Summer Alive," which is titled after his song. So he had something invested in that album.

Secondly, Carl did walk out on the Beach Boys in the early 1980s, to pursue his solo career. So it's not like he was totally silent.

Finally, you really should listen to "Like a Brother." That was the sound Carl was pursuing in his later years. Glossy AC pop. And the self-consciously retro Paley sessions were antithetical to that mindset. I think it's telling that Carl and Brian got along better under Joe Thomas -- who was nothing if not a glossy AC pop enabler.

Is it just me or does anyone else get depressed when reading the details of the Country remake era. Such a waste,

No it's not just you. Imagine having the mid 90s Beach Boys, with Carl, with Brian, in the studio, together, recording again... and at such a rare occasion, what do they record? Remakes. Country remakes. And "Long Tall Texan". A grown man could cry from less.

That's the sole reason why I dislike the whole S & S project.

Wow, that was quick.  ;D I have a question about something: "No Brian (it was an early morning show) and it was widely remarked how unwell Carl looked." Does anybody have a copy of this? Is it on YouTube?

Even as a "Beach Boys remakes" album, it could have been so much better. Remember Ray Charles singing Sail On Sailor from the 25th Anniversary show? Hearing him and Carl trade off leads in a similar way would have been great.  ;)

It wasn't good country either. I like Willie Nelson, and respect Tammy Wynette but most of it was very generic without any feel for sixties rock or country. Cottonfields shows that the Beach Boys could do something in that genre but this was just pathetic.

I agree. They could have at least done a duet with a good country singer like Johnny Cash.

I'm well aware of Carl walking out on the band in '81, which was due to a lack of polished showmanship (blame laid solely on Brian, Dennis, and Michael - although Carl himself probably had a bit of self-doubt about his own showmanship...Perth '78 anyone?!?) and their inability to coexist long enough to get in the same room to record. "I will not return until 1981 means the same as 1961."

As far as Like A Brother is concerned, I have heard it and enjoy it very much. Yes, it's adult contemporary and reeks of it. But it's hardly a departure from what the Beach Boys were doing as far back as 1978 on MIU. MIU, LA, KTSA, '85, SC, SIP...all perfectly produced, spit-shined AC. Adult contemporary is where has-beens venture when they've existed way past their expiration date.

The problem with the Paley sessions was most likely that Carl was disheartened with the fact that the songs were basically more Paley than Brian, and that would eat at anyone with the slightest interest in Brian Wilson, the man who set trends. The Paley sessions are basically 90s ideas of 60s-esque BW songwriting. Paley was not too far off from another, much more maligned imitator, one Adrian Baker, who gets merda on mainly for his association with Michael (not that his material is any better).

Carl had the brains to recognize the fact that the Beach Boys for the better part of twenty years had been the victim of too much outside meddling in their art, and the Paley sessions, especially the dire Dancin' The Night Away, were just the final straw. Maybe in 1979, 1980, 1985, 1988, or even 1992, there was some kind of hope in Carl's mind that there would be a turnaround and they'd get back to doing things the old way. But with Dennis, the heart and soul of the band, ostracized after LA and basically the hired help, and Brian's contributions ranging from pleasing to dire, there was a lack of quality songwriting as far back as LA. Michael, Al, and Bruce were certainly just running through the motions. Carl, I'm sorry to say, was just as guilty as the others in the band for giving up being contemporary and cutting edge live and in the studio.

We may spew on and on about how great a Beach Boys album of Brian/Andy Paley songs would be, but as far as I'm concerned, Carl did us a favor. Some things should only be preserved on bootlegs. It's a shame the fanbase isn't as perceptive.

The Paley sessions, while pleasing, weren't the "next big thing" in the Brian Wilson saga as NOTHING Brian has attempted since at least Love You (or the '88 album if you're more forgiving) has been even close to pushing his limits. Brian may have said in IJWMFTT that after Smile he just wanted to sit back and just write some nice music, and that was a fine gimmick for a while. Eventually the fanbase stopped caring. As a cynic myself, I've given up on the hope that Brian will "blow me away" with a new record because he's just NOT INTO IT. And I believe Carl was just as cynical by this point in time. THAT'S why he walked out.

I don't think Brian has the abilities he had in his twenties and early thirties. I don't expect to be blown away. The quality of his non Paley work from 83-98 was overall terrible. After his first year on tour I don't think he should have been doing oldies shows, but when his concerts have had a theme they are satisfying in a way I never thought possible before that first solo tour. BWPS, LOS, and even the Xmas LP are also better then I ever thought he could do. His personal situation gives me the blues, but for someone who is damaged and most likely unable to get extremely passionate about anything he has manged to do some work of value (granted with a lot of help from others). I think the Paley material did have something to them, and Carl settled for so much less so many other times it's still hard to fathom that his walking out was purely because he didn't like the songs. I say he probably didn't like the terms set by Brian's camp, and it's also likely he was sick. Even if my guesses are right it again still doesn't explain why the heck he would work with Joe Thomas.

S&S was a no sweat project. No creative decisions, no headaches, no camps. Just rehash them oldies and cash in the checks.

Joe Thomas was in charge, eventually, but he was irrelevant.

You know, I had a Make A Wish, back in mid October 1996. I ALMOST went for hanging out with The Beach Boys and seeing a concert by them. Somedays I REALLY wish I had. It seems that 1995-98 was very significant for the group. Unfortunately, for all the wrong reasons.

How much of an influence/involvement did Landy have over "Love You" ?  I thought it only went as far as him suggesting song ideas to Brian to get him back into songwriting (e.g., telling him he should write a song about Johnny Carson since he mentioned liking him).

Well he dictated when Brian would record and how long. He claimed to have co-written some of the songs, though I have my doubts. I don''t think he was as bold in the music end of things as he was by 1988, but I think one of the reason's they fired him was his wanting to get involved in the studio more. Something is in the Leaf book about that.  I find the Adult Child sessions (at least the big band ones) as a big improvment over Love You. That's just me though.

For them as is still interested.  :-D

Ian & I are going to stop the day-by-day listings at 1999, as this neatly covers Brian's first full year of touring, Alan's only full year of touring (pretty much) and the consolidation of the BRI-sanctioned Beach Boys: thereafter we'll be doing year-by-years capsules outlining the major tours and significant individual shows (e.g. Brian's BWPS & TLOS premieres, and Mike & Bruce's stunning UK setlists of 2004 & 2008).

And of course, the main section, 1961-1999, will be regularly updated as new information on both shows and sessions appears.

And the book will be out when?

Awesome output. Congratulations and thanks!

Later.

 :)

You forgot Home Improvment.

I wish *I* could. :/

Not as bad as the Full House one at least. THat makes my brain hurt.

It will be added-the app aired on Jan 14 1997-probably filmed in late 1996