The Smiley Smile Message Board

Ok...so a lot of us are always second-guessing the decisions made by Brian's management, and with good reason in many cases. Well...let's say if YOU were in charge of Brian's career. What would you do? Realistically speaking, of course.

This could be interesting, to say the least...

See:   4 beer plan

50th Anniversary: Farewell tour.  Final show: all of them on stage one last time.  Don't milk it.

Actually produce an album again.  Use what's left of the Wrecking Crew.  Record them in a room live.  Write songs with Mike Love again.

Record an unplugged album like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejRHLAnd83g  Play the piano.

Finish "Can't Wait Too Long".

Campaign for more rarity comps and ensure that projects like Beach Boys Central actually come to fruition.

Get a new hairstylist.

I'd ask Brian what he wanted to do.

Great answer. 

If the question was rephrased as "What would I like to see Brian do?"....I'm kind of stumped.  But no more Buffet, for sure.

Melinda has said he shouldn't just sit around, that that would be disastrous for him, and that makes sense to me.  So I guess maybe I'd like to see him simplify his life, direct his not-sitting-around energy into something less public and more comfortable, with less traveling, and much less access given to the press and interviews in general, as someone else suggested in a related thread- that was a great comment for sure.  Let him paint or garden or raise chinchillas if he wants to. Frankly, I really don't think he should be put on display any more, though if he comes to Atlanta of course I'm there, shrieking like a little girl and throwing my boxer shorts onstage.

If he continues to write, if he wants to, I wouldn't want it to be with more fellow dinosaurs, though the Bacharach and Webb pairings were interesting and historic.  I'd like to see him paired with more contemporary people like Darian and Nick- why hasn't that really happened?- who could help him better realize his ideas, which are still very sound melodically.  I'd like to hear his future work, if any, sung by some younger voices that are more emotionally connected to the material than Brian seems to be these days.

Mainly- and I've said this since about 1992- I just want him to be as happy and healthy as possible and have some idea how loved he is.

Me too, at least at first.

I'd get Brian alone in the studio, tell him to basically do what ever he wishes, even if it's just f*cking around or all covers.  Then I'd release it as is, warts & all, Barrett-style. Depending on how prolific he is, I'd take the "weaker" material and get the rest of the band to "clean it up" and use that as the second disc. Yeah...I'd try to get Brian to do a double disc. Since he's doing whatever he wants to musically, and I'd make it *very* clear to him about that upfront, he might be up to it.

No tour.

Unless he says he wants to.

And if he said all he wants a hit, I'd take his warts & all stuff and modernize it. No, that's not what Joe Thomas did. Imagination was dated before it even came out. He wants to do a rock album? I'll make the sumbitch rock, all right.

i think the problem with most of Brian's solo efforts is that there always seems to be an attempt to modernize or to adult-contemporize all the music. Lucky Old Sun is a fantastic album but a lot of it sounds a little too cheesy and adult-contempo to younger ears such as mine. Brian, or rather Brian's management should have learned from the success of smile that Brian's "weirder" stuff is going to do much better sales wise than any attempt to package him into some sort of radio-friendly sound. Of course Smile had the advantage of 30 some odd years of promotion behind it but I really think that if Brian started recording stuff that was a little more far-out, so to speak, not only would the hardcore fans be happier but I think that the general public would be more willing to go out and purchase the album.

I'd smoke pot with Brian and f*** around (as long as he wanted to smoke, of course). He's made enough great music, no need to worry about making anything else great. If it happens, cool, if not, I'd want to just have a good time.

That'd probably be fun as hell. Not that I condone such things.

Ahem.



Let me clarify...by modernize, I don't necessarily *want* him to be radio friendly. I want him to be "weirder", at least musically. I'd hope by doing whatever he pleased, he would stretch himself out a bit.

If he wanted a hit though, I'd let him do what he felt was rock, then I'd make it rock more.Hell, if he's going to shout his vocals, I'd at least want the music to fit .

I would write the words to the mini-opera 'Pleasure Island', and Brian would do all of the music and the arrangements. Van Dyke Parks would be invited to paint various small strokes all of his own here and there.

The story would partly be lifted from the Odyssey, and be made contemporary. Someone who is searching, and encountering many dangers and temptations in that process. Perhaps I could convince Mike Love to play the infamous windbag of Aeolus. And someone playing Landy might be the one who anaesthesized Brian's crew on the isle of Calypso, and turned them into swine. After a cool fling with Nausicaä (played by Scarlet Johansson), the protagonist finally gets home. Still need a part for Bill Murray, though.

I see possibilities. Yes, I do.

Please don't make it sound like System of a Down.  :-D

LOL...I actually like SOD, but if Brian were to attempt to something like, I dunno, "Chop Suey", it might be more like SAD.

Lock Brian, Mike, Al, Bruce and Dave (no wives, managers, flunkies etc) in Jardines Red Barn Studio with assorted instruments and hide cameras 'Big Brother' style. If nothing came out of it but a 1 hour TV show I'd be happy. Anything else...bonus.

I like this!  Make it a month, and whichever one emerges alive wins a recording session* and gets to have his next album released on a real label.


* working on the realistic assumption that nothing will be recorded at Red Barn while they're all there together

My first thoughts are along with Aegir and Surfer Joe - ask him what he wants to do and just for him to feel healthy, happy and loved. I think he probably needs that guiding hand to give some structure and meaning to his life, a reason to get up in the morning so to speak. I’d like to see him being kept stimulated and interested, but not pressured or pushed.  I think I probably still see him touring, but on a much smaller scale.  I think Brian’s heart really lies in the studio, so I think that’s probably where he’s happiest.  He has nothing to prove, he earned his stripes a long time ago, he shouldn’t worry about trying to win new fans or critical acclaim. The people who love and admire him and his work will continue to do so.  If anyone deserves some peace of mind and happiness in their later years, it's Brian  :)

Well said, MJ- one thing that made me a little sad a few years ago was Brian saying that music no longer plays as big a role in his life, that he didn't need it like he once did.  But I've heard some evidence to the contrary since then, too.  If I spoke with him now, I think the one thing I would probably ask him is "What are you listening to these days?"

I'd love to see Brian do an album of new songs with Brian playing solo piano and singing lead vocals, and arrange harmony vocals for a small group.

They could hire any singers they want. Kind of back to the Four Freshmen sound, and very stripped down. I think it would work great with Brian's 2009 voice.

Nothing usually is recorded there, or if it is, released. :lol

I'd almost certainly get either a little indie deal or go online-only and totally abandon the traditional record label and distribution networks. He records as quickly as he wants; we release each item or batch of items when they're done. If he has a song complete and nothing else in the works, we release a song. If he's on a roll and we're going to finish them next week, fine, we hold off and finish up an EP, or an album. Whatever. But there would be no pressure for masterpieces, concepts, narratives or even albums. The technology and lack of true public demand both exist to relieve him of nearly any true corporate pressure. I'd recommend he take advantage and do any music he wants, any time he wants.

Touring would also be totally up to him. I'd encourage him to at least do a few shows a year, but wouldn't insist on it. The band would be up to him, whether just his buddies, his family or his professional associates. Or any combination thereof.

Of course this means sometimes he'd do nothing at all. But sh*t, he's old. Everybody deserves to retire. So if that's how it would be, that's how it would be. But I'd guess that as a true musician, he'd at least sometimes feel like doing a new tune (or new recording, anyway).

Well put.

Hmmmm...

Interesting idea for a thread. How DOES one manage a career like Brian's, especially knowing the fact that the current management team is loopy at best, and that even Brian himself almost quit over comments left on the blueboard (that'll show you how much sh*t he has on the shelf if he almost listened to a troll on his cesspool of a forum), it is indeed a daunting task. But since of course this is fantasy time and not reality, I'll take a stab.

Ideally, I would ask Brian what he wanted to do. If he said “nothing”, so be it. If he said “tour”, let him tour a bit. If he said “rock 'n roll album at my own pace”, so be it. In a less sugarcoated world, one which our blueboard friends do not in any way have the intelligence to grasp, I'm afraid that Brian really doesn't WANT to do what he's been made to do since he became an active artist again. Obviously, Melinda believes that he needs to stay active, which makes sense, since those who are depressed need constant distractions. This is a rare case in which I agree. I'd say, simply, let Brian do what he wants to do. If it means make music, great. If it means binge on birthday cake, yummy. If it means sit on his ass, well...:)

I'd just not pressure him too much.... maybe stick a mic in front of him every couple of months and see what comes out, but i don't think going on the road is too good for him. The theory is correct, especially for Brian, but i wouldn't really prescribe touring. The occasional tour, but try and keep it a couple of weeks away from home at most. He's got a bunch of kids to look after.... I'm not sure about the music situation. In Catch A Wave, there's that section where it details Brian working with Stanley Shapiro during the early 70's, which seems to work (cocaine binges notwithstanding  ::)). Just keep it informal.

And I'd release that damn rock and roll album  :P

Oh, and i'd also give him a bunch of records by actually decent modern bands to listen to. Brian's comments about modern music make little sense when we have bands like The Flaming Lips, or Sufjan Stevens, or Fleet Foxes (to pick three at random), who are all doing the stuff he thinks is 'crazy'. Maybe that would make him experiment a little bit more.