The Smiley Smile Message Board

I've been thinking about bringing back this album as a topic for the last couple of months. Since another thread is covering Brian's work on L.A and other 70s stuff., I can't help but keep thinking how little we know about the sessions for this album.

What we know about GIOMH:

-Album released as part of the BWPS deal with Warner (BWPS to Nonesuch, GIOMH to Rhino)

-part of the title song backing track dates from the post-Imagination sessions with Joe Thomas (the same sessions, now I presume, were the songwriting genesis for some of the songs on TWGMTR and maybe NPP. How could we still be dancing definitely dates from that era)

-Most of the backing tracks for Soul Searchin' and Saturday Morning in the city come from the Paley sessions.

-The only new tune (as far as we know) is A friend like you.

-According to a Mark Linnett interview for Ear Candy, there were several more songs which eventually ended as outtakes.

-Desert Drive was recorded before the rest of the main album sessions, that's why Brian's band handle the background vocals.

What we assume (from the aural evidence):

at least at different moments, Brian was uninterested,  according to his vocals on You touched me (intro) or the slurring "Ever afterrrrrr" on Fairy Tale.


I still like the album, mind you, but I can't believe how little we know about it. I mean, everybody assumes that Brian didn't pick up the tracks (at least the ones who made the album), and some people have mentioned that his band built the backing tracks from Brian's piano demos.

Since all the press Brian did that year was directed to BWPS, there's almost no mention of the making of the album in print (even Peter Amis Carlin deals with it in one or two sentences).

I'm not writing this to start a reappraisal/discussion for the album, but to try to gather some hard facts about it.

Anybody got some extra info to share? Thanks

Good topic!

From what I can gather, Desert Drive was recorded in 2002 along with (supposedly) two other songs. I have no idea what those two songs were.  Rest of the album was recorded in 2003 to my knowledge

Yes, that's why DD has Foskett, Darian, Scott et al on backgrounds (I added this to my original post). And they also played it live even before (I think?) 2002. Of course, there's an instrumental take on the Paley tapes.

Why don't we gather information of the origin of the songs:
How Could We Still Be Dancin' -"Dancin' the Night Away", co-written with Andy Paley and recorded with Carl and Mike on Mar. 3, 1995

Soul Searchin' - co-written with Andy, recorded with the BB except Bruce on Nov. 7-8, 1995

You've Touched Me - "Turning Point a.k.a. So Long", co-written with Gary Usher and worked on during Jun 29-Jul 16, 1986.

Gettin' in Over My Head - co-written and worked on with Andy circa 1995, later reworked with Joe Thomas circa 1998.

City Blues- worked on with Dennis circa 1982, during "Cocaine Sessions".

Desert Drive- co-written Andy and worked on Oct 29, 1994

A Friend Like You- new track written with Steven Kalinich

Make a Wish- a "Sweet Insanity" track, which was co-written with Landy and recorded circa 1990.

Rainbow Eyes- same as above

Saturday Morning in the City -co-written wiwh Andy and first worked on during "Brian Wilson" sessions, later reworked on with Andy circa 1995.

Fairy Tale -"Save the Day", a SI track co-written with Landy

Don't Let Her Know She's An Angel -same as above, but demoed early in 80's

The Waltz -"Let's Stick Together,", same as above, but worked on with "Weird" Al Yancovic.
 

This is only AFAIK so correction please.

For what it's worth, I attended a record signing that Brian did for this album. It was at Tower Records in Sherman Oaks, and I have some pics.

Brian walked in wearing Adidas-style sweatpants, super casual, and they definitely did a good deal to promote this record. There was a giant standee cardboard cutout of the album cover by Brian.

But I don't think it's nearly as bad as the rep it has. It almost seems to be treated as the Summer in Paradise of Brian's catalog.  It's not great, but it undoubtedly has some great parts to it.

How can we still be dancing has very minor elements of Dancing the night away, but that's it. It was an almost complete rewrite by Joe Thomas...I'm not 100% but I think Brian's credit stems from the earlier song and the intro.

Not to stray too off topic, but am I the only one who much prefers the original "Sweet Insanity" version of "Make A Wish"?

I love it too, Brian's quirky great stuff.  GIOMH version stinks by comparison because it goes on too long.

Another much preferer here. The backing track and those backing vocals-----sheer heaven!

FWIW, I rememebr reading that "Saturday morning in the city"'s melody first came up during the Smile (1966/67) sessions. Maybe a look into the board history will give more info

I think it was originally called Grateful Are We For Little Children and Dennis Wilson and Steven Kalinich were involved, started in 1968 and was also worked on in 1975

I found two topics that broach the subject. Maybe there are more...

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,277.msg28490.html#msg28490

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,9914.msg174091.html#msg174091

Can anyone comment on the version of “Don’t Worry Baby” featuring Wilson Phillips that was apparently an iTunes exclusive bonus track on GIOMH? Never got to hear it.

There may still be a sample of it here:

http://thedjlist.com/djs/brian-wilson/albums/Gettin'_In_Over_My_Head_(Bonus_Track)/

The song is still listed on Spotify here:

https://open.spotify.com/album/0VqfdPhm0TJVZpgSUnX7m2

But I don't know if that material on Spotify is actually active as I can't try it right now.

Consider the timing of the album as well. It was when Smile had just been premiered live that winter, and GIOMH came out that June - Followed by the Smile studio release that fall. I think it got swallowed up in the attention surrounding Smile, which was pretty massive and rightly so...but perhaps if GIOMH had been released at another time, a different listening experience would have been had by people buying it amidst the Smile attention and anticipation. Actually, let me clarify, I remember this very very well, and I'm not exaggerating to say for myself that I put GIOMH on the backburner attention-wise because the Smile anticipation was so massive. I don't think I paid much attention to giving GIOMH a full listening session when it came out because I was spinning live audience recordings from the live Smile shows instead, in regular rotation that summer.

I don't think it's hyperbole to suggest Smile was the biggest release of Brian's solo career, and a one-of-a-kind type of deal. This album just kind of appeared and got swept up in what was surrounding Smile. Maybe it's good to have a revisiting session and listen with fresh ears on its own merits.

I remember listening to the "Cocaine/Hamburger" sessions tape years before GIOMH came out, and thinking that "City Blues" had a lot of promise. I recall saying back then that it sounded like something maybe Jeff Lynne could work on with Brian.

That precisely didn't happen, but it was kind of mind-blowing that *that* particular song was plucked from obscurity to put on GIOMH. The Paley, Thomas, and Sweet Insanity stuff made sense, it was all stuff he had been working on over the previous decade, with many of those songs taking form in the studio.

But "City Blues" as far as I know appears nowhere else other the Cocaine tape (it could easily be on some other tape that has never escaped).

Did we ever get any confirmation of whose idea digging up that song was?

In any event, I was somewhat disappointed in the resulting final track on GIOMH. I liked hearing the song fleshed out. Brian's vocal is actually just fine. I don't even mind Clapton's guitar wankery on the track. But the arrangement and mix is too busy and wet and cluttered (which is true of much of the album).

When I first heard this album, I was initially overjoyed. I much preferred the production and sound of this as opposed to Imagination, which I hated immensely (still may be my least favorite BB solo album) As time moved on, the vocals and certain aspects of the production started to grate on me (the violins on "You Touched Me", for instance). Currently, I enjoy the album as an "official bootleg". As an actual album, not so much.

Also, why does Denny not have a posthumous co-writing credit on that song? That omission has always struck me as odd.

The only theories that make sense to me are: possibly Denny didn't actually really have a hand in writing it (even if he was there at the bootlegged Cocaine sessions), or perhaps it was decided that a Denny credit would call attention to the origins of the song and would remind people of the really, really bad time involving Brian doing heavy drugs that the song was first conceived during, and a coked-out Brian wasn't exactly the image they wanted associated with the final product.  

It's just sad that there aren't any officially-credited Brian/Denny cowrites, even though Brian apparently was an uncredited contributor on songs like Little Bird (possibly only with production and not songwriting, unless one counts the lifted "Child is Father of the Man" riff as worthy of a cowriting credit). City Blues could have broken that streak.

Same here. I liked it a lot initially, when I wasn't familiar with all those bootlegs, but I began to like it less and less as I listen to the album again and again and started to explore the bootleg recordings.

What still irritates me is Brian's voice - The production is for me a bit rough but better than Imagination as you said, and needless to say the songs are mostly great, it really is a pity to see Brian ruin such stuff with his poor vocals. He sounds great again on later albums, so probably either recording another takes on vocals and featuring the back chorus of Brian's band all over would've helped it to be great as it should be.

I liked GIOMH the first time I heard it. But, that diminished on subsequent listens.  I recently revisited the album on a track by track poll on the PSF, and I must say, with or without the near release of BWPS, its a weak album, by far the weakest of Brian's solo career.  But, they cant all be winners.   

I will say that I think Desert Drive and We Should Still Be Dancing are really good. 

I'm not so sure how much Brian's vocals are truly bad across the board on this album.

Certainly, the intro to "You've Touched Me" sounds like a case of making one quick pass at each vocal part in the stack and moving on. There are a few other wonky vocal bits.

But plenty of his vocals are just fine. I think even his stacks on "How Could We Still Be Dancing" are pretty solid overall. Still a bit sloppy, but I love Brian vocal stacks. It's why I love "Orange Crate Art" so much.

I like Steve Kalinich, but his two contributions to the album aren't a high water mark. Pretty drippy, sing-songy lyrics.

Some of the songs have solid performances and productions but are bland songs, while other songs are solid but with wonky production.

There's a solid song buried under "A Friend Like You", but the lyrics and the arrangement and the mixing are way too syrupy.

The version on this album of "Soul Searchin"" is a non-issue now that the MUCH stronger BB version was released on MIC. (Brian removing Carl's bridge vocal, arguably Carl's shining moment of the song, and also adding an epic sax solo also didn't help).

I don't think the album is the trainwreck some paint it as. But it's almost like a bunch of the tracks would have made interesting b-sides/bonus tracks rather than "main album" tracks.

I agree with many of these assessments. I wonder how much of Brian's vocals being noticeably improved on subsequent albums was perhaps out of the fan reaction online that was pretty harsh on how uninterested he sounded when singing them. Somehow, I feel like fan reaction (when it isn't just an isolated person or two saying it) might positively influence Brian, and even Mike, to up their game.

Around June 2004 and the following months, the 12-minute EPK for GIOMH was accessible on Brian's website.  It's a great watch if you can track it down, brings back a lot of great memories (i.e. like Darian asking Brian how to sing the "look so fine" part in HMR)!  Back when most of the media on Brian's site was RealMedia format...

nope...

Sorry. I think I've read this somewhere, but I think I'm wrong. Dancin' the Night Away has nothing to Do with How Could We Still Be Dancin', right, or just partly?

Agreed, I prefer Make a Wish, Rainbow Eyes and DLHKSAA on Sweet Insanity.  The vocals on these on GIOMH for Make a Wish and Rainbow Eyes are not good.

There is definitely a small link between the two songs.

Listen to Brian's vocal intro to "How Could We Still Be Dancin'."

Then, listen to the piano intro to the "backing track" version of "Dancing the Night Away" (I think the versions with partial BB vocals are missing that piano intro). I think there's an audible similarity for several bars there, especially the first several piano chords versus Brian's first few "dancin', dancin'" bits at the very beginning.

On top of that, both songs have pretty straight-forward, simple verse chord structures such that I could easily envision "How Could We Still Be Dancin'" as a "re-write" of "Dancing the Night Away."

It's possible Brian and Joe Thomas didn't tackle the latter song as a re-write of the former, and that Brian simply lifted a few ideas from it (a la "Walkin' the Line" and "Looking Down the Coast", etc.), but given the close time frame between the two (1995-ish and 1997/98-ish), and that Brian was already starting to re-tool Paley material as early as 1997/98/99 (e.g. "Gettin' In Over My Head" with Thomas, recutting the lead for "You're Still a Mystery" in '99), it's easy to envision Brian and Joe simply doing a head-to-toe rewrite of "Dancing the Night Away" with little remaining from the original. We don't even have a version of "Dancing the Night Away" with most of the lyrics (or verse melodies for that matter), so there may be more in common with the two songs than we would be able to tell.

Had Brian's band done all the backing vocals and harmonies, the overall sound of the album would have improved greatly, imo.

Depends...Desert Drive didn't sound that good either and thst had the band singing

I know. I tried to cut Jeff some slack, but I can't really dig his falsetto on lines like "surfer girls" in that tune.

Sometimes his studio vocals are cool though, like in the end of the song TWGMTR.

I found online an excerpt of a Scott Bennett interview done by AGD for Stomp re: TLOS. Pretty explanatory, I wonder if some fanzine did an interview with some of the band members about GIOMH...

Hmm...

HMR ?

That promo film also included footage of the band members talking about the recording and Brian playing Dancin’ on the piano.

I still have it saved somewhere. I’ll try to upload it!

GIOMH is truly the ultimate Brian solo album— the elusive Phil Spector-sounding rock and roll album. Brian and the band cut loose, mostly free of autotune and Joe Thomas. The much-maligned City Blues rocks harder than most any other Brian track, and Clapton’s pyrotechnical masturbation fits perfectly and sounds great.

Out-of-tune vocals? Sure, for 2004, but compare them to any random Ronettes song. Speaking of which, Brian does a killer Ronnie at the end of Fairy Tale— sounds almost like a placeholder for her to do her own vocal there, which would have been killer.

Even the Paley songs work, if you set aside the more vocally-alert originals. The fact that the original instrumental tracks were reused (while it was claimed that they were all new recordings) is really peculiar, particularly to those who have ears and/or software.

Overall, this is THE BW party record. Free of artifice and eminently crankable.

Good point, spot on about the Ronettes...I thought I was the only one who felt that way!

This was my point at the time. For all the folks who claim to want to hear BW unfiltered, without boundaries or fiddly studio tricks, GIOMH is it.

It's the real thing, without pretense or apology. Love it or leave it. A diamond in the rough.

My essay on the album from 2004 --

In Depth with 'Gettin' in Over My Head'

OPENING ARGUMENT

Does Brian Wilson still have something to say? Some, overwhelmed by the founding Beach Boy's legendary work, find the current-day Wilson a disappointment or a problem. His continuing, somewhat befuddled presence annoys them.

Gettin’ In Over My Head (BriMel / Rhino, 2004) seems to confirm some of their most dire pronouncements – old songs, sometimes-shaky vocals – and thus leads to mutterings of “Brian Wilson shouldn't do this.” “He's being manipulated.” “I like my version of Brian better.”

Others, including myself, see Wilson as a contemporary recording artist. He's not what he once was, but that's what makes him interesting. What is he now? What can he do now? What can he express now? If these questions interest you, if you think that Wilson can still express himself through his music, then you'll be more likely to enjoy the album.

Those in the latter camp don't have to like the album. But they will be more inclined to listen without prejudice.

THE ALBUM

Brian Wilson's solo career has been plagued by dishonesty. From his first, collaborator-crammed solo album to the slickly produced Imagination, listeners have had reason to question how much of Wilson they were actually hearing. Did he hit the note, or was it digitally altered? Did he write the song, or was it Jeff Lynne? Who was pulling his strings?

With GIOMH, we have Wilson's first honest album. It's his music, his voice, his arrangements. It's the first record since the Beach Boys' Love You to be “produced and arranged by Brian Wilson.” That credit is important. That credit is crucial.

For the first time, on an album-length release, we can hear where Wilson's at. Could we tell on Imagination? Nope. Could we tell on 1988's Brian Wilson? Not really. But with this album we have confirmation of Wilson's continued vitality as a studio presence.

We had hints. “On Christmas Day” from 2000 showed that Wilson could still pull off basic production and arrangement duties. But it was a holiday song. “California Feelin'” showcased a relaxed band vibe – but it was an old tune. And, of course, Wilson's concert work of the past five years has consistently provided memorable vocal moments (mixed with regrettable ones).

But here, for 53 minutes, we hear Wilson doing it all. As he once did. For people to ignore or dismiss this misses the point of GIOMH. Good or bad, he is fully functioning in a studio environment again.

SHORTCOMINGS

The album does have problems, some of them serious.

The sequencing doesn't work. Too many duets and collaborations lead it off. The second half lags. Though individual songs and performances work, the excitement wanes a bit once you pass “A Friend Like You,” his collaboration with Paul McCartney.

Wilson should have used his exceptional touring band for backing vocals. I like his multitracked harmonies – there's a certain Beach Boys sound there that can't be duplicated – but Wilson sometimes put more effort into backgrounds than leads. If the group had been around to pick up the weight, I think the album would have had more consistent singing.

The reliance on tracks from his unreleased 1991 album, Sweet Insanity, bypasses excellent material from his mid-'90s collaborations with power pop pro Andy Paley. I hope we get to hear more of those in the future.

SURPRISES

I'm surprised Wilson still arranges as well as he does. The backing tracks throughout GIOMH exude his classic sound. It's not forced, it's not imitative, it's not cliched. It's just his touch.

I'm surprised to hear how robust his falsetto sounds. Check out the bridge to “Make a Wish.” It's far stronger than 1998's Imagination album. Touring has been good for Wilson's vocal strength.

I'm surprised those around Wilson allowed him to record this album. GIOMH is not a comeback record. It's not an album meant to gain a youthful audience. It's not a country or adult-contemporary crossover. It's a mildly eccentric, addled, emotional album from a 62-year-old guy. He sounds weird sometimes.

He doesn't care.

I applaud Wilson's bravery in making this album, and the bravery of those who support him in releasing it. We all benefit.

CLOSING NOTES

A handful of great songs, several strong tunes and a couple of selections that don't live up to their potential. That sounds like your usual Brian Wilson album. That sounds like your usual Beach Boys album. That's the blessing and curse of GIOMH – it isn't a Pet Sounds-level masterwork.

The curse? People who don't care for latter-day Wilson can complain that "he's lost it." Ask those who grumbled about the "tired album from a tired man."

The blessing? We haven't heard a "usual" Brian Wilson album – from his hand and his alone – for decades. We've forgotten what such an album sounds like. We've forgotten the subtle pleasures such albums provide.

Gettin' In Over My Head is an honest album from an honest musician. For that, I am thankful.

I also feel like GIOMH would sound better on the production side, especially the *backing tracks* if it sounded more like TWGMTR and had less of the pseudo-wall-of-sound-kitchen-sink production of GIOMH.

Imagine "City Blues", but with a backing track that was smoother and less cluttered like, say, "Beaches in Mind." These songs obviously aren't terribly similar. But songs like "City Blues" and "A Friend Like You" have nice songs buried under cluttered arrangement and production.

Wirestone's probably right, this is Brian doing a full-blown production more unfettered than at other times.

I think there's two types of "Brian left even more to his own devices" types of projects. GIOMH may be one. The other type, the one *I'd* like to hear, is Brian and a piano and a bag of songs. Kind of a less synthy version of "Love You."

I mean, that's what I thought 13 years ago. Subsequent experience has shown that Brian can do transcendent solo work (That Lucky Old Sun is only the first of several records that come to mind). But GIOMH has a nice vibe. IMO.

Great Essay Wirestone, I wish we had more defenders like you in 2004....

If you listen closely, the "new" sax solo on Soul Searchin' barely covers up the original organ solo.

I like how the album incorporated some "organic" instruments that hadn't been heard in a while, such as the bass harmonica on The Waltz.

I think the title track is the best one on the album.

I agree with those who have said that the unreleased Make a Wish is superior.

When it first came out, I remember giving it a B-/C+ grade.  Over the years, I have downgraded it to a C-

The only one I heard Brian writing was "Don't Let Her Know She's an Angel" around Holiday time in 1980 if memory serves me (that can be a problem, but I'm pretty sure on that one), so your timing I feel fairly certain is correct.  He had a little German wooden Christmas angel-at-a-piano statue on top of his piano, and it seemed to make him happy that year, so your timing makes sense.

As far as whatever he did with Dennis around that time, I wasn't invited.  Brian was always oddly protective of people, so maybe those stories are true.  The only really horrible drugs I saw Brian on were prescribed.  No one had a clue how to treat him then, and later under Landy, clearly the story was the same, or maybe under Landy the damage was deliberate, given the revised will and Landy's not legally being able to prescribe meds to Brian.

The remarkable thing is how well Brian survived and created so much more beauty.  Would I like to hear a re-mix of GIOMH? Definitely.  Do I think it will happen.  No.

Why would you say "except Bruce"? An eyewitness to the vocal sessions confirms Bruce's presence.

This is why we need that sessionography.  ;)

Also, we have quotes from Bruce discussing the sessions/material, where he slightly infamously seems to not think highly of the material.