The Smiley Smile Message Board

I was going through some album reviews on the board and noticed a post from AGD re: Orange Crate Art.

That is, that Brian is actually the uncredited vocal arranger for the album.

I guess this wasn't a secret, exactly -- Timothy White wrote that in his book of the time as well. But it made me wonder -- in what other cases has Brian not been credited completely? We all know he's sometimes over-credited. So what about the under-credited times? Here are the ones that come to my mind:

-- Vocal arrangements on OCA
-- Producing the basic backing track of Rock n Roll to the Rescue
-- Singing virtually all backing parts to Wipe Out

Any others?

I don't know to what extent, but he helped Dennis with "Little bird" and the vocal arrangemet to "Forever"

Produced "Italia" on The Many Moods Of Murry Wilson

Produced basic session, played keyboards and sang on "Be My Baby" on Looking Back With Love

If we're talking bvs, there's a truckload.  ;D

Is BW actually on POB? I've read conflicting things -- but the consensus seems to be no, is that right?

He deserves a writing credit on 'Summer of Love' from SIP, because it's a rip-off of 'Some of Your Love' from KTSA.

Whether he wants the credit (or royalties) is another matter.

Shouldn't he get a writing credit on Kona Coast too, for the part that lifts the line from Hawaii?

He apparently attended some of the sessions but there's no clear evidence of him on any of the tracks.

I recall reading that in some book or other, must've been nearly ten years ago now...

Brian also apparently loved POB and then years later claimed he never even knew it existed. Let's consider our source. :)

I realize he hadn't been spotted previously. But I also know that a lot more research and listening has been done with those tapes over the last couple of years, so that's why I asked. It just seems weird that Carl and Bruce and Billy are on it, but that Brian didn't contribute something. The times were weird, too, I understand.

Another question -- why on earth wouldn't Van Dyke credit Brian for his creative work on OCA? Surely it would have been a selling point for the album. On the other hand, it seems like Brian didn't finish all the vocals -- four songs have additional background vocalists that I'm assuming Van Dyke patched in to finish the record. That may have been an issue.

How about Smiley Smile production credit?

Have a good listen to Brian's (excellent) BVs on "Nature is the Law" by Ashcroft. Therein lies the proof that he has indeed listened to POB several times (at least).

There's a late '70s interview (I can't find it right now) where Brian is asked about POB. His reply indicated that he was really surprised and impressed by it, and he called it "fonky."

Out of curiosity, any idea when the "Italia" session was held?

Liner notes say Gold Star & Western.

Brian was asked about the album very shortly before it was released and he said (paraphrase) "sometimes I laughed, sometimes I cried, sometimes I had to walk out of the room: it was my little brother growing up".

Always go with the most contemporary source.  ;D

Brian co-wrote and sang on "Surf City" ...what other Jan & Dean tunes (besides Sidewalk Surfin') did he collaborate on?

Brian was credited as co-writer on "Surf City". I don't think "Sidewalk Surfin'" was what you'd call an active collaboration... more along the lines of Chuck Berry's (eventual) credit on "Surfin' USA".  :)

I'm sure Mark A. Moore will correct me, but as far as I know he also sang on the following J&D recordings:

Surfin' (+bass)
Surfin' Safari (+bass)
Drag City
Little Deuce Coupe (+bass)
Dead Man's Curve (album version only: +keyboards)
Ride The Wild Surf
Gonna Hustle You