The Smiley Smile Message Board

OK, any of us who have been following Brian for at least a decade know that we would never expect, after Imagination, the studio bounty we've received from him. GIOMH was a rough start, but BWPS, TLOS and now BWRG show that Brian is well and truly reinvigorated.

We all know he has the Disney album next, but what comes after that? Pleasure Island? Maybe in a couple years if he reunites with the Beach Boys for the 50th anniversary? I can't wait to hear Brian applying his newfound love of the studio to a new album of originals. That Lucky Old Sun was an excellent solo album, and the production and performances on BWRG are a step forward from BWPS and TLOS (which were themselves a step forward from his earlier solo material, in terms of vocal performance and production, and in the case of TLOS, songwriting.)

If forced to bet, I'd bet no more studio albums after the Disney tunes album. I have no evidence, that's just a total gut feeling. He's doing this one, he'll tour (again) in 2010-11, he'll do another album, and may tour that. He's going to be 70. I wouldn't be at all surprised to see him at least slow down, maybe do some shows here and there or even the occasional songs, but I don't think he's going to do much more in the way of originals.

I believe Luther is right, although didn't we say a couple of albums ago that it would probably be the end at that point?

I don't think we're gonna get that Rock & Roll album Brian promised us since the Imagination album came out. You know, the one with the Spectorish sound? Was I dreaming that or did he say in more than one interview that he was going to do it? I'm not holding out for it anymore. With the band he's got, I think he could do a great kick-ass Rock album. I don't care if it was another 15 Big Ones with covers on it; I'd love for him to do it.

Is this "Rock & Roll album Brian promised us [. . .] with the Spectorish sound" the same thing as Pleasure Island that everyone is talking about? I think I'm missing some interesting BW history!

Nope.

I'd agree wholeheartedly that he has regained his passion for musicmaking in the last few years, but am I the only guy on here who thinks BW88 is still his finest solo accomplishment?

That's funny, I had totally forgotten about Pleasure Island.

What's this Pleasure Island?

After TLOS Brian said he was going to do another concept-type album by that name.

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,6408.0.html (http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,6408.0.html)

I think Brian could easily record for another 10-15 years. Look at folks like Leonard Cohen, BB King, Tony Bennett, etc. All over 70, all still musically active.

What he records -- that's a different question. I think BWRG suggests a new avenue that he could explore if he's interested. He could do a great album of Four Freshman covers, or Irving Berlin, or whatever else.

It's my understanding that Brian and Scott kept writing and recording together post-TLOS, so there are unreleased originals and covers laying around. Whether there's much music company appetite for releasing a non-themed BW album -- that's another story.

And while I used to think the originals had dried up (or were not being recorded and released), then came the summer of '06 and Brian's spurt of inspiration to create the tunes that served as the foundation for TLOS. So I don't think you can ever quite predict what's next -- not while he's still kicking and has the musical minds around him that he does.

Duly noted.

I think that Brian is going to record and/or write music until the day he dies. Why? Because he doesn't know how to do anything else. It's like Joe Paterno at Penn St. (for any college football fans on here). His friends say he'll never retire because coach football is all he knows how to do. I think that's the same with Brian.

Brian is also not exerting himself in any huge way. At most, he works maybe three or four full months a year. That's essentially part time, and easily as much as many 68-year-olds work these days. Yes, if he was going on stadium megatours or something, and pushed to release an album a year, that's one thing. But he tours about 30-60 dates a year and occasionally goes into the studio for a couple of weeks (BWRG took three) to make a record. That's hardly grueling, and I think it allows him to be semi-retired most of the time, but play rock icon every now and then too.

The "rock and roll" album!  It's coming!

I hope so, Aum. I'd really like to see him go out with a bang. Maybe drag Paley back into the picture (or even Scott if that's what he wants) for some new stuff and include maybe a couple of unreleased rockers. Would love to see him write a few more original rockers if he's up to it! Add guest appearances from Petty, Macca, Neil, Lynne, and/or Buckingham, give it the ol' Spector production which he's VERY capable of, and it should be a million-and-two seller!

It's fun to dream, ain't it?  'Specially after a coupla beers........

What I would like is for him to be brave enough to do something like Smile again -- not with the drugs mind you, but something that is truly out there -- accessing powerful spiritual forces and pushing he boundaries of what music can be.  A lot of musicians have done their most adventuresome work at the end.  But I will be grateful for whatever we get.

Hasn't he already done that, to some extent, with TLOS?

When the Disney album comes out, Brian will have twelve solo albums on his name:
- Three albums of (mostly) cover songs (What I Really Want For Christmas, Gershwin album, Disney album)
- One album of material written by someone else (Orange Crate Art)
- Four albums of (mostly) Beach Boys re-recordings (I Just Wasn't Made For These Times, Roxy, Pet Sounds Live, Smile)
- And just four albums of (mostly) BW solo originals (well, three and a half really, Imagination has quite a lot of old BB compositions)

Four out of twelve is not a whole lot for one of pop music's greatest songwriters. So I'd definately prefer one more album of original material and not another cover album.

I thought the Gershwin album /was/ the Disney album. Am I confused?

As part of the two record deal with Disney, first is the Gershwin album which drops in under two weeks, and next up is an album of classic Disney songs.

Lets face facts-BW has released so much good stuff in the past 8 years-and many fans still complain about every aspect of them.  If BW produced Pet Sounds II tomorrow-there are a lot of grumpy people that would complain about it.  It's like the BBs in the early 70s-putting out great stuff but nobody was listening.

Yes, to some extent.  I loved TLOS but the music was mostly beautiful craftsmanship, not transcendent inspiration.  There are parts of Smile that move me like no other music, and that still make me say "I've never heard anything like that." I can get lost in unauthorized recordings where he leads the band through the same feely for 5 minutes straight.  More music like that would be more music for the ages.  But perhaps, like Van Gogh's  paintings, such  art can only come from a place of pain and psychosis, in which case no thank you.  Whatever sort of productivity -- or retirement -- makes Brian happy.

But you wanted him to "be brave enough" to do music like that again ... yet in this post you note that what was missing is "transcendent inspiration." I don't believe inspiration comes from bravery. My own opinion is that he wasn't able to finish Smile in the mid 60s as a young man or really in the 00s as an older man, so I wouldn't expect anything along those lines to come out of him. I think it is an anomaly in his career. Brian Wilson is mostly a writer and arranger of more or less traditional songs (with creative, complex, unexpected aspects to them)--that's what he was when he was in his 20s and it's what he is now. Frankly I don't think that takes a backseat to more psychedelic stuff, either. Quite the opposite.

I think of how Clapton says that when he plays now he holds back and tries to stay in control because he is afraid of just opening up, the way he used to.  The unpredictable can be frightening.  And we see the difference in Clapton's playing -- it has gone from magic and inspired to classy and tasteful.  ( In contrast, on ever less frequent good nights, up to the end, Jerry Garcia could still just let go.)  There is a sort of bravery to just letting go and becoming a channel for whatever comes.  Brian himself used to talk about the creative process in that way.  Now he talks about it a putting in a serious day's work.  That's the difference I am referring to.  I agree with you, at his age, and with his history, more controlled craftsmanship is what we will get, and we should and will be grateful.  But the thread was going in the direction of "what I would like to see."

I see what you're saying then (connecting bravery and inspiration). I'd still hold my guess that Brian's inspiration is less in the way of Smile and more in the way of the rest of his life's work. I think his ultimate inspiration is more along the lines of California Girls and In My Room than it is Surf's Up or Mrs. O'Leary's Cow, with the Smile era more a sidetrack. (An amazing one, obviously.)

Well, Jerry Garcia was open to inspiration until it killed him.

And Clapton is still working, albeit in a restrained way.

I think for artists who struggled with drugs, that casting the doors open wide to bizarre creativity reminds them of casting the doors open to unhealthy and dangerous behaviors. So they draw away from that to their core interests and strengths, which aren't always the kind of thing that made them famous or drew them fans in the first place.

I can't even try to predict what is next for Brian.  I still think back to sitting in the Beacon Theatre in June of 1999, marveling at the miracle of finally seeing him in concert and fully expecting it to be his only solo tour.  Seriously, I sat there thinking how wonderful it would be to hear him perform "Surf's Up" or "Heroes and Villains" in concert, and thinking "Nah, it'll never happen!".  So I just enjoy the treasures we've been given over the past 11 years (except GIOMH!) and look forward to BWRG. 

Going forward, who knows.  All that matters is that Brian is happy and healthy.  Even if he just sits at his piano every day and makes music for himself, his dogs, and his children...if that's what he wants, then so be it.  He's given us so much already to listen and study and enjoy.

I was at that Beacon Show -- it was a pinch yourself experience -- as Smile at Carnegie Hall, Pet Sounds with the orchestra, having an usher kindly sneak me into the theater for the premiere of I Just Wasn't Made for These Times where Brian was sitting (I sat behind the Smithereens!)....  We are far far past where we first got on the gravy train.  If Brian releases an album of fart humor it wouldn't tarnish his gargantuan legacy and songbook for me.  Actually that is something he might have done at one point.

Maybe Phil Spector can produce the "rock and roll" album, Mikie!

I'm not a die hard Clapton fan that buys all his albums, but through his singles I see your point.  Ironically, supposedly Brian had him re-record the solo to "City Blues", and told him it was supposed to be a "Happy Blues" song, lol.  Then talked Clapton into playing that blistering solo like he USED to play.  I think it sounds great... he really let it wail there for a second. 

Ah, I see. Got any word on that? Track listings, perhaps?

To borrow filmmaking terminology, I think it's still in pre-production.  Could be mistaken...

Indeed. I hope it turns out at least as good as the Gershwin album.

Titles are being auditioned.

When do you reckon we'll have it then? Late 2011?

I just hope he stays as interested in the Disney album as he was in the Gershwin album. I mean, he went to the label and basically said 'Let me make this record', so it was hardly at the fore of his mind. Could it be he sees it as the obligation he needs to fufill to make his Gershwin album?

Of course, I'm probably just worrying too much.

Maybe the reunion arrangement could be that Brian produce new songs written by all the surviving Beach Boys using his band. But they do live shows with Mike's band along with Carl, Dennis, Brian and Al's sons and daughters.

I wouldn't be surprised if this were the case, but then again, you have artists in their 70's and 80's (such as Jerry Lee Lewis and Tony Bennett) who are still recording music.  A lot of artists I listen to are hitting the 70 year mark and are still going particularly strong.  You never know.

Yeah, I think people make a bit much of that.  I present as evidence Exhibit A: The Grand Ol' Opry.  I listen to it every few weeks, and theres tons of people there WELL into their 70's that still sound pretty damn good.

Jim Ed Brown, etc.  Not to mention Little Jimmy Dickens, 89 I believe and still singing two or three tiems a week.  I mean that's a different ballgame than this, but it's not unheard of for people to perform late in life.