The Smiley Smile Message Board

Hi all,

Just found this new interview with Brian from the "Independent" UK newspaper.  It didn't paint the best picture of Brian, but maybe that's not surprising.  It's entitled "Lost In Music:  The Peculiar Life of Brian Wilson."


http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/lost-in-music-the-peculiar-life-of-brian-wilson-1739844.html

I wouldn't call it unflattering, by any means. The guy gives a shitty interview most of the time--whats a journalist supposed to do, lie? Say he's the second (er, first) coming of Van Dyke Parks? On the other hand, the inaccuracies (Brian beginning Smile after hearing Pepper; Surfs Up being from 1975) are annoying.

It's funny that Brian's handler tells the interviewer to move on from asking about Phil Spector. Someone posted a Brian interview here not too long ago, I don't remember where, but in it Brian nonchalantly stated that Phil Spector was God when he was asked about religion. It seemed serious and not metaphorical in the least. I bet you could get an interesting interview out of Brian if you just kept asking him about Phil Spector and different Phil Spector songs and productions.

Lost in music: The peculiar life of Brian Wilson

He is one of the towering geniuses of popular music, and the creator of some of the most memorable records of all time. But life has not been easy for Brian Wilson. And, as John Walsh discovers, interviewing the great man is no simple task either ...



http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/lost-in-music-the-peculiar-life-of-brian-wilson-1739844.html (http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/features/lost-in-music-the-peculiar-life-of-brian-wilson-1739844.html)

(http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00213/4810843_213221t.jpg)

What does PB stand for?

There were a few things in this article I didn't like, especially "Surf's Up, the Beach Boys' ecologically querulous album from 1975".

I wish they would give Brian a break and not subject him to interviews with the press.  Does he ever come off looking good?

I'd have to say that that's one of the better interviews I've read over the last few years (OK, three major errors excepted - but other than the likes of us, who would notice ?). The writer has a keen eye.

I'm guessing "Wilson wrote the music [for That Lucky Old Sun] in three weeks..." is one of your three!

Cliche-ridden.  And what's that crap about 'Red Indian Chief'?  Can you say that sh*t any more?

Why wouldn't they let him talk about Spector? I have to admit I had been looking forward to Brian talking about what he thought of Spector's recent incarceration. It's an interesting topic and Brian has always been eager to share his thoughts on anything Spector.

Peabo Bryson?





haha sorry don't know what got into me just now  ;D

I have no idea

Four.  ;D

Although, is it really that hard to know that  SMiLE was not some sort of an answer to Sgt. Pepper? I mean, one of the biggest legends is that Brian quit SMiLE because of Pepper.

Agree. I'm constantly shaking my head at what Brian does, just to have a solo "career".

Wow.. poor Brian.. not in a good place.. the Phil Spector bit was unsettling.. brian worships the man.. well, the image of the man.

Yeah, the interview Zooey Deschanel did with him was great.

I think the interviewer tells it like it is, pretty straight.  A great snapshot.

Unless we hear it direct from a genuine insider, I wouldn't pretend to know what goes on in BW's life, with his management and relationships etc.

There's a part of me suspects he accepts the interviews, live shows etc as part of his life. He might not be the most communicative subject for an interview, that's part of his character. He might not enjoy it, but it's part of his role as an entertainer and he accepts that. We might say "why do they put him through this?", but it might be that Brian choses to put himself through it.

With Landy it was real easy to say manipulation was happening. Now I don't think we can assume that's the case.

I guess what I'm wondering is whether the interviews, the tours, the workload, are examples of Brian "the hard-working guy" rather than Brian the hard done-by.

However true it may be, the comparison between interviewing Brian and feeding a corpse seemed rough. Ouch! Although, to be fair, it is pretty much the way it is. 
And you know, I don't know how in the world people from Brian's camp can make comments from time to time that he's the same guy that he was forty years ago.

Is this a typical BW contradiction, or a subtlety lost to translation? In the Independent interview, he says he hasn't considered any similarities between his and Michael Jackson's families, upbringing, etc. Then if you check the thread still on this page about BW commenting in Michael Jackson's death, he says (in claymcc's translation) "He had met [Jackson] only once, twenty years ago at a party, but they had yet had much in common. A strict father, a career demands." If I saw Brian today I'd ask him what he thought about Michael Jackson's death. He'd probably tell me they were best friends for the past 25 years (before excusing himself to watch Norbitt again).

But the bulk of Smile was done before Pepper was released; this interview makes it seem as if he heard Pepper, then decided to write and record Smile.

I really like this interview, obviously doesn't glaze over Brian's unwillingness to carry an interview, but that's what I kinda like about it. Well written aT times and very real.

Just read he comments though underneath, people think it's a pretty poorly written article.

Nice Hotel Brian's staying at BTW

I think that part you bolded might've just been what the journalist was saying about it.

Seriously, is this guy really a journalist?  ::)

Right, sorry if I sounded confused, it was early!
That was the point I was making; that it doesn't take much research to know that Brian was doing SMiLE before Pepper. Even if this guy isn't a BB's fan, it would have been nice of him to do some research on the topic.

Merged the two threads...

Zooey looked pretty good in that interview as well.   ;D

The interview here wasn't too bad, the big factual errors aside.  Mostly the typical stuff, although I wish he'd been allowed to elaborate about Spector.

They could have used a better picture though, damn.

Mr. Walsh asks Mr. Wilson if there were any guidelines or concept he was asked to follow for the Royal Festival Hall commission of THAT LUCKY OLD SUN.
Mr. Wilson replies, "Nope, just make it good."
Mr Walsh follows this quote in his article with the sarcastic and/or exasperated "Oh-kay".

What is the point of that? Brian answered the question that was asked (not always a guarantee). Although Mr. Walsh has turned in the standard format Brian Wilson article ("Although he's a Beach Boy, he never surfed; sunny pop; drugs & alcohol; recluse; touring = comeback; difficult to interview"), he appears to have gone to great lengths to prove that he himself is a difficult interviewer. His fixation on "That Lucky Old Sun" being an old slave song is silly and he simply doesn't understand what Brian means when he says the Spector situation "scares" him (note to all future interviewers of Brian Wilson: he uses the term "scary" very loosely; to him it can mean "good", "exhilarating", "agitating", "depressing" and..."frightening").

I don't think Mr. Walsh realized that he actually got a decent interview out of the man, especially considering the jetlag situation.

.

I didn't read it the same way. I read it as Walsh saying to himself, "Oh sh*t, where do I take this from here? I'm in danger of losing grip of the interview." And he does, to my mind, retain some control -  as you say her gets as good an interview as many. It's like he's giving us a window in the machinations of the interviewer's mind.

The "Oh-Kay" was necessary as a tip-off to the reader that the writer is a grade - A douchebag. He did his best to make the interview about himself, at least at the beginning, and he did a good job of painting himself as a valley girl.

I'm bloody tired of hearing the same sh*t about Brian over and over again...

"I was sad a year ago, I had a rough time, and now I am better..." etc, etc... any interview with him since 1970 has sported that statement or some variant thereof. As the interviewer so aptly noted, Brian often tells interviewers what they want to hear. Part of the reason for this is because their questions are inane, repeated endlessly, and usually have very little to do with music.

And yes, the article is very poorly researched. Still, good to have another interview with the man. Now, what about this Lucky old Sun book!?

this walsh guy comes off like a total douche.

(http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/jeremylr/BrianPeterBlake.jpg)


(http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/jeremylr/london3.jpg)

Didn't come out...let me try
(http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/jeremylr/BrianPeterBlake.jpg)
(http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/jeremylr/london2.jpg)
(http://i713.photobucket.com/albums/ww134/jeremylr/london3.jpg)