The Smiley Smile Message Board

The "Wouldn't It Be Nice" book (a dubious source, I know) said Carl was going to bring Landy in to try to help Dennis. In the POB/Bambu notes, Jimmy Guercio said he had an intervention planned at the Caribou ranch in January.

Does anyone know, was Landy going to be part of Guercio's intervention, or was it separate? For that matter, was the Landy thing even true?

The Landy thing is true - the rest of the band figured, he was the only person who worked for Brian (remember, this was 1983, before the truth became evident), maybe it would work with Dennis. Personally, I think it would have lasted maybe six hours before Dennis punched Landy out.

Six Hours???  You're giving Landy an awful lot of credit!  Dennis got a big laugh out of that one, relishing Landy even attempting the same kind of therapy on him.  I'd of bet he'd of knocked him cold within an hour.
That being said, there wasn't anyone that remained close to him that wasn't trying anything possible, conventional or otherwise, in those last couple of months.  The closest possibility was a promise to get The Harmony back for him if he successfully completed treatment.  And he was seriously contemplating that in those last days... 

I wonder if Dennis himself really admitted that he had problems for which he should've used the help of other people (like a doctor) or if he didn't see it. If he didn't see it, there probably was nothing that could have saved him.

I always thought that something that might have saved him in the early 80s would be if he got arrested and locked up for several years. Of course, drugs can be had in prison. But if there was a place where he was forced to be clean and disciplined for a while, maybe he would be alive and well today.

Prison ain't the best place to do re-hab... go in with one problem, come out with three...

I wonder, did dennis ever take Brian's drug and mental problems seriously?

I recently spoke at length with Alexandra Morgan and she went into detail about Landy taking DW on in early-'84. Gene, whom she said was fond of Dennis -- and vice versa because of a shared no-bull s hit attitude -- was evidentally up for the challenge and knew EXACTLY how insanely difficult it would be (trying) to treat Dennis. She also said that Landy realized and respected how brilliant Dennis was.

She said that Dennis was in on these discussions regarding the treatment -- meaning it would've been a far different and "straightforward" situation, as opposed to the "kidnap/bankruptcy" scenario with Brian. That said, like Ed has painfully long maintained, Dennis would probably have fared no better (or longer) than he did during his other fleeting stints at cleaning up.

Howie -- That sounds like a fascinating interview, especially because so little is known about the Landy years from "the inside," as it were. At the risk of derailing the thread, is there anything else you can tell us about that talk?

Thanks.

Not at this time, no.  But that's basically the extent of the story re: Landy and DW.

Worked for Crosby. Just sayin'.

I was thinking the same thing.

Yeah, but Crosby was running around with guns & needles & pipes & Lord knows what else!  Thankfully, Dennis was never in that kind of shape, and never put himself in danger of any long term incarcaration.

Thanks for the info. I guess the dream scenario is that Landy would have cleaned up Dennis, but people who say that nothing could have saved Dennis then might be right.

I wonder if Dennis' last chance ended with Murry's death in 1973. Supposedly he was working at getting closer to his father, but never got all the way there. Maybe if he had gotten something squared away with Murry — or sought meaningful therapy about it after Murry died — he could have gotten do the underlying cause of the drinking and drugs.

I don't know if you could say Dennis had a real drug and drink problem before Murry died. The 1971 accident perhaps was a sign of things to come but I never thought Dennis was completely in trouble until late 1977 or so.

It's off topic but I am literally dumbfounded whenever I hear Crosby sing---how in the world does he sound so good.

Ed, do you recall Dennis voicing his opinion of the plans for Steve Levine to produce the group?  News of this first surfaced in early May of '83, with contracts being drawn up in August of that year, although actual recording didn't commence until the following June.  I'm just curious if Dennis had an opinion of this plan:  it would've been interesting had he been involved.  I'm sure he wouldn't have cared for the direction the production took, but it's not like the whole album was an artistic failure (the Stevie Wonder tune and Carl's "Where I Belong" shine through), and it would have been intriguing to see the treatment Levine would have applied to a couple of Dennis' songs, had DW straightened out enough to contribute something.

In my head, I can imagine a version of "She Believes In Love Again" with Dennis singing the line that Carl sang. That would have been interesting to hear. A live version of "Getcha Back" with Dennis on drums probably would've been fun to see or hear.

I have seen a video clip of the Beach Boys in 1978. Carl seems in worse shape then Brian, and Dennis  is in better shape then any of the Wilsons. Of course that is just one show.

It's Dennis-related so I'm going to slide it in here anyway:

Why is it that "Celebrate the News" was not included on any non-twofer albums but for the extremely (and fittingly) rare Rarities compilation released briefly in 1998? It's an excellent song and it wasn't even included in the Good Vibrations box set that included its A-side -- that song deserves to be more widely heard outside of just the twofers! Such is the case with Dennis, alas...

Celebrate The News is a great song (I LIKE this song, and didn't like Breakaway too much).
And reportedly Dennis's unreleased tracks deserves a special and proper release, especially his BRI material (67-74).

Yeah, that would be a fantastic release. I think for the 50th anniversary they should be sneaky and release a odds-and-ends (rarities and B-sides or whatever) box set with discs chronicling each individual member's (currently unreleased) output -- uh, with more emphasis on Brian and Dennis than, say, Mike or Bruce, of course... It would also include numerous unreleased BBs group tracks too, of course, so it's not entirely cheating!

Just think: the mixing session for "Battle Hymn of the Republic" finally available in pristine stereo sound!