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Curious if anyone has compiled any sort of list of times when some sort of mistake happened (that would be something inherent to the analog tape era that most BBs songs were recorded in)... such as the engineer accidentally destructively taping over a section of audio on a studio song that was intended to be kept, or a tape that got damaged by spilling or something of that nature... that resulted in the final released recording being different than it would have otherwise turned out.

The closest incidents I can think of were a master tape (as I recall?) of Do It Again falling off a car and getting lost, and also the live shows that the band were recording themselves (for their own internal reviewing purposes) being taped over to save tape (this was intentional I think).

PS - not looking for examples of songs that stink and could be considered disasters  :lol

I'm not sure I understand exactly what you're after, but I'll give an example of what I think you're asking for. In the song Anna Lee, The Healer, you can hear a music stand and papers falling. At least that's what it sounds like. It's been quite a while since I've listened to it, so I can't say exactly when it happens in the song.

Don't know if this cunts, but taping over Dennis' lead vocal on Sail on Sailor. Why oh why???

Yeah, I'm sort of thinking more along the lines of if Denny's vocal had been taped over (but it had been by accident).

Or if the tape of Denny (and the mystery lady's) "outro" of All I Want to Do had been lost, thus necessitating a full retake/re-record  :lol



And not so much the papers falling down. More something where some actual vocal or instrument take was inadvertently destroyed or taped over/damaged/lost, resulting in having to re-record a given song/song section.

I would venture to guess this must have happened a time or two or three, particularly in the pre-digital age of destructive recording. Or perhaps a tape splice happened wrong, resulting in cutting a good section of tape, which then caused a vocal to need to be rerecorded.

I agree, aside from a most unfortunate typo!

Well that typo certainly made me laugh, however the operative word is correct for someone recording over a Dennis vocal  :lol

John Hanlon told me he was asked by Dennis to put a short guitar solo on the song "Dreamer" and punch out right before Dennis' previously recorded Fender Rhodes piano solo kicked in...Dennis was out of the room and Hanlon spaced and kept playing right through the spot where he was supposed to punch out, and unfortunately recorded over the track that contained the Dennis solo. He had to tell Dennis when he came back that his piano solo was gone. He said Dennis was pretty cool about it because he liked the guitar part.

 :lol


I don't know if it was a disaster that Dennis' vocal was taped over. Maybe it wasn't any good. Yes, I would like to hear it but a disaster?

 :lol

Thanks for sharing this story, Jon. This is just the type of story I was looking for.

I feel like this type of thing must have also happened other times throughout the history of the band (somebody forgetting to punch out).

COMMENT to Tony S:  Because it wasn't good. It only took one take to realise Dennis was not the person to sing lead on this song.

Most leads or instrumental parts that do not please the performer are removed at the performer's request.

Brian's original lyrics and lead for Til' I Die that were almost ready for mixdown, were erased to make room for the present version. That was Carl's decision. (More on this in Part two of my book.

I once accidentally did not get out of an insert cut on the multi-track, thus wiping out $5,000 worth of a string sweetening session. (Also more detail in my book) ~swd

Thanks Stephen....would still like to have heard it though, understandably.

Can't wait to read your book, Stephen!

I'm guessing destructive tape editing - even when one is very good at it - must be more nerve wracking than digital editing, since there's no CONTROL + Z to undo an incorrect punch or tapeover.

COMMENT to Century Deprived:   Actually it was constructive tape editing that solved the problem. Details in the book, but editing an analog tape is just as easy and accurate as in digital, provided the tape speed is 15IPS or faster.  AND, as you will lean in Part Two, there are some tricks you can do in analog that you cannot do in digital. ~swd

Not Beach Boys-related, but still "studio disasters and screwups" related - most of the multi-track for Steely Dan's song "The Second Arrangement" was accidentally erased by an assistant engineer, forcing Becker and Fagen to use a different song in its place on the Gaucho LP. Pretty legendary story (bootlegs of the song do circulate, apparently sourced from an earlier rough mix).

COMMENT to c-man:   Here's one you may not know.  It was a tracking session at GoldStar, Sunset, or Valentine OR one of the independent studios. Dennis was to provide the drumming, but arrived having had a little too much adult beverage in his blood and managed to trip over a mic stand near the drum kit. This propelled the mic boom arm to fall into the cymbal support, which knocked over the high-hat and this caused the snare to smash into the toms. No damage to the drums proper, but not a good thing to happen when you have all the drum mics open and the monitor up high to hear balances of the drums. So all of a sudden all hell broke loose with an atomic bomb level of sound emanating from the monitors in the control room. Unfortunately burning out one of the mid-range drivers of the monitor speakers. The boys covered the cost of the monitor fix, but the session was busted for the day until equipment repairs could be finished the following day.  ~swd

That almost sounds like something you'd see in a Chevy Chase routine!  :)

I was thinking about "The Second Arrangement" too! I'd vote that as perhaps the biggest or most infamous studio blunder in rock history, with added weight because of Becker and Fagen's OCD studio meticulousness.

Perhaps second to that is the story of "Rael" from the Who Sell Out sessions. Al Kooper (as he's known for doing) told the story since he was on that session in NY. They had finished up recording and left for the night. Someone left the reel of the day's sessions out on the console, they forgot to box it and put it away safely.

A member of the studio janitorial staff came in to clean up after hours, and for some reason threw the reel in the trash can. Then, proceeded to dump ashtrays, remnants of drinks, etc on top of it. When the engineer came in the next day, he had to tell Townshend what happened because the first part of the song had been ruined. He told Pete "Sometimes these things happen..."

Pete picked up the engineer's chair, threw it through the studio glass, shattering it, and said "Don't worry, sometimes these things happen..."

Wow...I guess it's a good thing Fagen just walked out without saying anything!

Not to derail away from BB's studio mishaps...but I read years ago a studio story which I now cannot find anything to back it up. I swore it was U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name". Not the famous story about Eno almost wiping the tapes in frustration, but a story about how either the studio or the studio complex had caught fire, and an engineer actually risked his life to run back in and save the tapes.

Does this sound familiar to anyone else? I may have read it in something like Mix, Musician, or Pulse in the early 90's.

I seem to recall a Bill Wyman story about how he ran into the burning studio at Olympic to retrieve Jean Luc Goddard's raw footage of the "Sympathy For The Devil" sessions...

I remember a story a few years ago that seemed to confirm that a copy of the version of Till I Die with the original lyrics exists. Of course, that doesn't mean that the original master itself was erased.

I am so looking forward to Recording the Beach Boys Part 2.

Stephen, what is your best estimate as to when it will be available?

Ooh, here's another one...according to Carli Muñoz, Carl recorded a solo for Dennis' Bambu opener "Under The Moonlight" that was "absolutely fantastic", but it was accidentally erased (the final solo we hear was performed by Ed Carter).

 COMMENT to Jay: Til' I Die, the multi-track, the master, and all subsequent actions were under my control until its release. Brian's original vocal on the 16-track was erased by me and replaced with the current version by me, at Carl's direction. To my knowledge and memory, no record of the original lyric exists as any ruff mixdown would have been by my hand. I speak of this issue in Part Two. ~swd

.

COMMENT to wjcerar:  Good, glad to hear something is still around. Nevertheless, it would be a ruff mix that I made very early in the song's beginnings. AND I've just forgotten about it. The song was in the works for months, but then left alone for a long time. In other words, it as in a finished form on the multi-track so no one paid attention to it, working on other songs. Then when it came time to properly mix it down . . .    ~swd

 :lol

Wow, this is a wonderful service for those of us who beat ourselves up for mistakes. You have a valuable courage.

I would call this a bullet dodged, but I'm not certain this was the only tape, nor was this a release:  I was at Tandyn Almar's and he told me he had a box of audiotape of Brian doing a vocal with lyrics to "Passing By," developed after it was released without lyrics. He knew that I was an uber-fan who might take on putting the tape back together. I actually spent 2-3 days splicing the wad of tape to put back on the reel. It worked and I got to hear it. I was told by someone here that they had a copy of that tape. I have no idea if it came from the tape I spliced back together (have no idea what Tandyn did with it) or another copy. In any case, it was worth all the work just to hear it.

Wow, great story Deb. What I wouldn't give to hear THAT! Remember much about it in any way, shape or form?? I always wondered if there were, in fact, lyrics for that song. Were they Brian's or did Mike try to turn it into a surfing song?

COMMENT to The LEGENDARY OSD: I always prefered the original set of lyrics to the one Brian eventually came up with. Don't misunderstand, both are quite good, but given a choice . . .  ~swd

COMMENT to Debby KL:  Tandyn Almar use to entertain Brian at his house (off Laurel Canyon, wasn't it?). I'd to go up there and get Brian to come back to the studio for vocals. Sometimes there would be several people up at Tandyn, in full party mood. But, Tandyn had a 4-track, I think it was, that he and Brian would record with -- working on ideas, mostly Brian's. In fact the guys often thought the original lyrics to TID were drug derived. At any rate, Brian would make these recordings at Tandyn's and overdub some ideas. These recordings were completely disconnected from the studio recording of TID. Now I'm wondering if this box of tapes you worked with were actually from those times when Brian was developing his thoughts with Tandyn?  I have no facts here, just putting two and two together trying to figure the source of this original lyric recording. ~swd

Stephen - the way I read Debbie's tale of the spliced tape, it relates to "Passing By", not "Til I Die"...

Legendary OSD - I'm understanding Debbie's tale that these "Passing By" lyrics were written AFTER the instrumental version of the song was already released on Friends...and I seem to recall reading elsewhere that they were written as part of that effort to get BW songs recorded by other artists (in a similar way that the lyrics to songs like "Don't Worry Baby" were rewritten so that they might appeal to a wider range of artists who would then potentially cover them)...I believe this might have been after Murry sold the catalog to A&M...

Debbie, am I correct on both counts?

Thanks to Stephen "I was there" Desper . Will we ever hear these things?

Thank you for sharing your incredible memory of those sessions, Stephen!  Hopefully we'll be able to hear some sort of a surviving rough mix of 'Til' I Die' when the time comes to celebrate the 'Surf's Up' albums 50th anniversary!

Passing By sounds fascinating

Indeed it does. There was more than one set of lyrics?

While walking down the avenue

I stopped to take a look at you

But you were only passing by....

.

I remember that Brian was in excellent voice and Tandyn told me he had done the lyrics. I somehow remember, this much, "Somewhere along the avenue, I stopped to have a look at you, I didn't know we were just passing by." I don't know much beyond that...wish I did. It was worth all that work.

This actually gets more entertaining, even if it was awful. Apparently the 4-track belonged to Brian, and was given to Billy Elder, an engineer down Laurel Canyon Bl. a few blocks from Tandyn's home (Billy was a buddy of his). This agreement was "in exchange for studio time." I saw the 4-track at Billy's. Tandyn also let me see the attorney's letter from one of Marilyn's friends demanding that it be returned, "to avoid further action and embarrassment." Tandyn was very witty and the attorney (if he actually was one) was not  witty, and misspelled many words in the letter (it was stunningly stupid). Tandyn sent a reply, something to the effect of, "...I reject the charges but look forward to the embarrassment." The 4-track stayed at Billy's. I think, from what I understood from Brian, he wanted a place to get away and record what he wanted to do without being overruled. I believe Bruce and Terry offered him a similar deal. It never worked out well for Brian.

Yes, Stephen. That's what Tandyn told me as well. He said that the people who bought the catalog wanted lyrics to "Passing By."

This is very similar to what I heard on that tape, if not exactly what I heard on tape. I'm working off memories decades old without the recording.

If *anyone* deserved this (total creative control/freedom from agenda-driven bandmates/politics), it's Brian.  :bw

That he had to go through all sorts of hoops to attain that freedom bugs me and should bug everyone too. It's beyond ridiculous the crap he had to go through and egos he had to put up with. Urgh.

</rant>

(thanks again Debbie for your amazing stories and recollections).

^Agreed CD

Debbie, as usual thank you so much for sharing your recollections!

Absolutely! Thanks for bringing it home, Deb. CD, I had identical feelings about this as well. Totally sickening and ludicrous that Brian had to resort to this stifling exercise to explore his own music in secret. Disgusting to say the least and let me guess who was the sh*thead who had the gonads to even think of trying to throw a towel over the creativity of such an artist. myKe luHv anyone??  :angry :angry :angry

No thanks OSD.  I bought 'the patch'.  And I chewed the gum.  I've pretty much had 'it' under control since 1976.  That said :quote "The critical list" takes on a whole new meaning ... say what?    :wall

I have to say the story about Bruce and Terry at the time was that they gave Brian $50K to record, but the money was "found out" and removed from the account. I've heard other stories since. I have no idea which is true, particularly since I can't remember who told me this. Oh, well. I do remember Terry coming over to Brian's, and he couldn't stop smiling when he saw Brian. I think he really was in awe and adored Brian at that time, by his expression. That's why I feel a bit guilty when I talk about the production on SIP, but I can't help what it sounds like to me.

You're so welcome. That's pretty much all I have to share here since I'm not a musician, nor a producer, so I'm happy to do it.

To add to my vague memory (after about 40 years) of the lyrics to "Passing By," the chorus (maybe it was a bridge, the song was so short?) was something close to

"soft/long(?) nights, quiet nights,
nights of living dreams,
so close you were to being all I ever needed"

I sort of etched the song into my memory because I knew once I handed the tape over, I'd probably never hear it again.

Maybe someone who actually has a copy of the tape can correct me?

This has turned into a terrific discussion, thanks to all involved and thanks Debbie and Stephen especially for the firsthand memories!

We were discussing Jack Rieley in another recent thread, and it was good to get more information and perspective on the table, especially for newer fans reading this stuff who may have only heard *one* version of events, and perhaps had opinions shaped on people like Jack based on one perspective. We need to look at and weigh all sides. Whether it's Jack, or Terry Melcher, or the way Brian had to go elsewhere to record his ideas (seriously...add me to the chorus of those wondering WTF was going on within the band to cause this).

More on that to come. But discussing Terry brought up more of the story with him in particular. Debbie, I agree 100% that Terry in particular was very influenced by and in awe of what Brian could do even as early as when they first connected. You hear Terry during the Party! sessions, where he was already cutting hit records on his own as performer and producer, including one which has gone on to be one of the most important records of the modern era, Mr. Tambourine Man...as well as cutting sides for the Raiders, who people might not realize were one of the hottest bands in the US during the mid 60's and basically had their own network TV show.

Yet here was Terry happy to hit a tambourine at Brian's Party sessions, and who would appear in the studio to hang out and watch as Brian was making Pet Sounds and beyond. Yes, Terry was a big fan, no doubt, but you hit on the aspect that doesn't get said as much: Terry admired Brian and what he could do. No doubt.

What is lost too is how Terry would devote his career to his mom Doris Day and her various musical and TV/film projects instead of continuing to cut rock and roll records. Who knows how much more he would have done in the rock world had he not made the decision to work for his mom and build her career. And, doing so at a time when Doris Day was no stranger to the scandal sheets and Hollywood gossip, some of which was blatantly racist and unfair...again, topic of other discussions.

What Terry did with SIP, I feel, is do what he was hired to do. *Terry* was the one who got the band back on the charts in the 80's with Kokomo. It was Terry who produced California Dreamin and got Roger McGuinn in on the session to add some cool 12-string guitar to the track - It gave the Boys an AC hit when they couldn't buy one. It was also Terry who called Papa John Phillips and asked if he had any songs available for the Beach Boys to record, with what was yet another drought of songwriting within the band. Papa John sent Terry demos of Kokomo and Somewhere Near Japan, and obviously we know what happened to Kokomo. Major credit to Terry, despite some attempts to undercredit him in favor of other band members' involvement in that track.

SIP - Mike's baby through and through. That's not bashing, that's what it was. Let's recapture the winning Kokomo formula, and cut an entire album with this "new" sound. It was an ill-conceived attempt. Terry produced, yes - But read the credits in full. I have to think Terry was doing exactly what he was hired and told to do. The saying goes "you can't make chicken salad out of chicken sh*t".


The story of the "remote" studio and 4-track and Terry and Bruce's involvement in other ventures really makes you wonder about how things played out up to the present, and which loyalties carried over into the band's inner politics. Much more can be added to this aspect of the discussion, but I rambled enough already.

I just thought it was great to hear some more about Terry and Brian especially in this time period, and get more details and info on the table for fans to see how everything was not as cut and dry and clean-cut as other versions of events have tried to suggest.

Thanks so much, Craig, for expanding on Terry, whom I really liked a lot. He was very successful on his own, obviously. Thanks for noting the SIP credits. I feel certain he was doing what he was hired to do. It certainly wasn't his "sound."

It's funny when you mention the band's politics, in that when I was with Brian, he did everything to protect me from it all. His words were, "I want to keep you separate from all that." I didn't really understand, but it was fine with me. He knew I was innocent at the time - naive might be a better word. He may have seen his own innocence in my love of the music and people involved. He truly is a sweet soul with a certain "wicked" wit.

I think if Brian had his wish, he himself would have been separated from the band's politics and just made music. Can't say I blame him one bit. I'll never understand how a band that made such beautiful healing music can be surrounded by so much negative energy. But then I remember that it's a family band, and nobody can f*** someone over like family. Lord knows I've been there

Going back to the original topic, I wonder if the very early nature of digital ProTools that was used when recording SIP could have hypothetically resulted in a potential studio disaster such as an entirely different (better?) version of the album being accidentally erased or corrupted, due to Terry or an engineer not backing up the data, and the final album that was released being a quickie re-record. I wonder how susceptible the recordings were to something like that happening, even if only for one song or two.

(Not saying this actually happened, and it probably didn't, but then again one has to wonder what studio limitations Terry was dealing with in 1992 trying to record an album on an early beta version of software). I wonder what decision(s) drove Terry to choose to record the album this way (early non-linear editing).  Was it done to accommodate the nonstop touring of The BBs, and somehow it was decided that it'd be easier to squeeze in occasional recordings in this manner as opposed to recording the band in a more traditional and tried-and-tested method? (Side note, how was Kokomo recorded? I'm assuming on tape and not digitally? There's definitely more warmth to the Kokomo sound compared to SIP)

Side side note: Somewhere, I'd think there'd have to be a Hi8 video of somebody in 1992 visiting the studio and documenting some of the recording or editing of SIP, right? I'd think it must exist among some insider or family member's personal collection, I find it near impossible to believe that nothing like that exists (even if it never sees the light of day).

Totally. And I'm having a hard time seeing Carl, Denny, or Al - however they might have had feelings about direction of the band's music that might have differed from Brian's - pulling any sort of longterm guilt tripping or other psychological warfare aimed at Brian that would have made Brian feel like he had to "get away and record what he wanted to do without being overruled"... in other words, I feel like when the term "band politics" is uttered in relation to The BBs, it's safe to say this in a nutshell means Brian's cousin. Remove Mike from the band in the late 60s/early 70s, I just don't see Brian having to resort to essentially sneaking around peoples' backs just to record stuff with having creative control. Maybe I'm offbase, this is just how it seems to me as an outsider. That said, I know things are nevertheless complex and nuanced.

"Complex and nuanced" might be the final word on this. People I loved and admired disappointed me, but then I disappoint myself a lot, so...

Clearly, Brian wasn't easy and his vision was probably difficult to follow, especially when he reached beyond everyone's comfort zone (including the fans, at times). I think there was panic when they had been flying high to find that not all the music was going to hit #1.  I'm sure everyone made bad decisions at different times, including the good guys who really loved Brian as they tried to hold it all together after Brian had become disenchanted by all the resistance. We all do our best. 

Imagine the band members trying to impress him with their solo efforts, after they denied him his own.

I saw it. It was sad.

I don't know that I could say Brian was bitter, but he - understandably - wasn't happy. He didn't say anything, at least when I was there, but he made his displeasure known with his expressions and his silence. One time I did see Brian slam his hand down on a vinyl that was playing so hard that the music stopped. The band member hoping to impress him said, "Okay Brian. I guess you've heard enough, Brian," as he scampered out of the room. It was 3 songs in to the record.

It was complicated.

COMMENT on 4-Track:

I think you should consider looking at this another way.

1 )  Brian wanted to "brain-storm."  That is, be and think by himself, i.e., be alone. We all want or need that from time to time.

2 ) Brian needed technology (a recorder) to facilitate his brain-storming.

3 ) Brian could have rented a studio, used the house studio, or use a 4-track recorder. All he needed were four tracks and to be his own engineer.

4 ) Brian was not secretly recording seperate songs or something clandestine like that. First off, several contracts control Brian's creative output.

5 ) Brian was working by himself or with someone, recording parts. These would later be accepted or abandon (recorded or erased) as part of the song, undoubtedly recorded in segments. The whole thing is together in Brian's head, but some ideas must be heard by the ear rather then in the mind. And that's what I think Brian was doing. He needed to hear the harmonies in playback.

6 ) The House Studio was in place. It would be very much out of character, but Brian could have easily told everyone to stay out, and they would. Brian is not that selfish, and with an album production going on every day, the delay would not be well received.  Renting a downtown studio would have been costly and probably not that private. Nor could he just retire to his bedroom to brain-storm, as he could hear the control room monitors through the floor. And going to another part of his house only attracted the children wanting attention.

7 ) The problem here is booking. Brian wanted a place he could go when he felt like it, no booking required. When he felt inspired he wanted some place to brain-storm. You don't turn creativity on or off like a faucet. When you book a studio to be creative in, then you're under pressure to be creative - and that is not how Brian's brain operates.

8 )  So Brian found refuge among his creative friends -- in their cribs -- with their drugs -- and a 4-track, which evidently, yielded a bucket of tapes . . . being the genesis of Brian's genius captured in magnetic oxide.   ~swd

 

COMMENT:

Excerpt from my book Part one page 12.  Of interest.

"When Brian started recording bits and pieces, song fragments, musical experiments, and later assembled many into what became known as Pet Sounds, the rest of the group was touring. Travel did not agree with Brian who was content staying home, cutting tracks. Vocal parts were added under Brian’s direction when the ‘Boys were in town between touring breaks – and after most of the production was finished. Brian mixed the final MASTER TAPES while the rest of the ‘Boys entertained on tour. After Pet Sounds’ release, numerous “tonal ideas” of Brian’s existed on tape, unfinished and unpolished. Only Brian knew how each sonic snippet could fit together to form a finished song. In addition to original material, many of these short pieces would later be used as building blocks or as bridges bringing together the work of Brian with new material and tracks added by various group members. Sunflower required, and received, much effort from every member of the group and their supporting cast. But these were times filled with tribulation and adversity.

"As Brian yielded to the temptation of hallucinogenic and other powerful drugs of fashion for the time, and floundered under the pressure of celebrity to produce another successful hit, business reality set in. Contracts with Capitol Records required The Beach Boys to supply management with a certain number of finished albums per year. Adding to the ‘Boys’ creative pressure was their contractual need to complete MASTER TAPES by a specified date in order to receive income.

"Although delays in Brian’s productivity were mounting, the record company continued advancing funds to the ‘Boys, expecting a finished product to be delivered soon. However, much to everyone’s concern, Brian was unfocused and becoming more reclusive. Drugs were certainly playing their role in his waning as a functioning member, but other behind-the-scenes factors were at play that threatened Brian’s recording style and position as leader of the group. The Beach Boys themselves were maturing musically, each becoming his own master of the studio and capable composer. Brian was losing domination of the music production technique he had crafted, and authority over the group he had fostered. Because each group member wished to contribute his own musical ideas, less time and money were available for Brian’s sole creativity to find expression in Beach Boy productions. It also meant Brian would need to give up space on the LP record to accommodate new songs written and recorded by other group members, a direct influence on his income and celebrity status.

"These factors along with tighter budgets, shrinking LP publishing time, deadlines, plus an old eardrum injury that made stereo production unknowable, pushed Brian into drug escape, depression and anxiety. Clearly the group knew its future was at risk. Somehow someone would need to step in and continue to generate songs produced in the Beach Boy style and vocal excellence if the group was to continue.

"Each Beach Boy wanted to continue and so . . . a plan was conceived. "

above Copyright 2018 Stephen W. Desper

~swd

http://swdstudyvideos.com

Thanks Debbie. I appreciate your thoughts and I certainly admit to my thoughts being nothing but outsider observations which are certainly not impervious to flaws or blindspots, as I was not there. Things are often nuanced, and I suppose I just give more of the benefit of the doubt to the principal players (like Al) who, unlike some others, have expressed some regret in hindsight about perhaps not supporting the creativity of their bandmembers as much as they might have wished they'd done in hindsight. A person's ability to reflect on things like that (or lack thereof) is everything to me in terms of how much slack I cut them, personally speaking.

That sounds quite right, Stephen. He really did want comfortable places to go and you summed it up perfectly.

If there were drugs at Billy Elder's, I was unaware of them. He seemed pretty straight - he probably smoked weed, most people did, but not when I was around. I was allergic and would get nauseous just being around the smoke. Tandyn was another story, but I doubt he shared any drugs. He was in pretty bad shape by the time I met him. He was acting pretty crazy by then - way too much street speed. I don't think Brian was interested. They did drink far too much Vandermint together (rich chocolate liqueur --gagging at the thought). Terry? I have no idea. He didn't seem the type. I didn't even drink then, so I didn't know what was going on after I went home.

Sad, indeed. Please tell me it wasn't POB.

This has become one of the greatest threads we've ever had here. Huge thanks to Debbie and Mr Desper for the great contributions to this thread. Now, we need to track down that Passing By tape.  ;D

COMMENT to Debbbie KL:  Don't doubt it. More than a few times, I've gone over there by myself, but usually with Steve Korthof to bring Brian back home. It took two of us because at that time Brian had put on a lot of weight. Many times he was in a stupor -- a drug induced stupor -- a mixing of drugs stupor.  You know Brian's drug problem was not that he over-indulged in hallucinogens, rather that he didn't stick to just one drug at a time. Those with whom he indulged in these escapades would do one drug, then someone would bring another drug to the party and that would be consumed. And this smorgasbord of mind-bending, mind-altering and mind-less dispensation would go on all night, or until someone passed out. So when the two Steve's would show up for Brian, we could hardly "walk" him out to the waiting transportation. And while there, I would look around and see what was going on. I'm not naive to the drug scene -- and having lived through the 60s and 70s I've done a few varieties myself, but I had the sense to use restraint when offered a variety of trips. Too dangerous. So I'll repeat -- the real culprit was the mixing of drugs that were never intended to be in the body at the same time. Drinking only dilutes your sense of judgment. A few alcoholic beverages, an LSD tab here together with a little of that mescaline there, and you have a recipe for scrambled brains. Dealing with a drunk and drugged man of over 300 pounds is not a fun time, it's a sad time. Indeed, if we knew that Brian needed to add a part of be part of a group vocal sweetening track -- and he wasn't around -- we went to Tandyn's place first and usually found Brian there. If we went early enough, we could "rescue" Brian back to the session and sensibility, but if it was late into the evening, Brian might refuse to come or just be passed out. Eventually this prompted an alarmed management to hire a caretaker or two to keep an eye on Brian. But that's another story.  ~swd

Given these stories of all the mixing occurring, it's remarkable (and very fortunate) that Brian didn't experience a serious or even fatal overdose during this period. Although he was clearly affected by all this drug taking, the man clearly has the constitution of an ox.

As is the case with Jack Rieley, insider opinons of Tandyn Almer vary widely - just read pages 153-154 of David Leaf's book, where we learn that on the one hand, Tandyn "sincerely felt that Brian needed help. One friend of both Tandyn's and Brian's remembered that Tandyn 'encouraged Brian to see a physchiatrist. The family wouldn't hear of it'", and another friend pointed out that Brian's friends (chiefly Tandyn, Danny Hutton, and Van Dyke) "got Brian actively interested in creating, thinking, writing. They could make Brian sane sometimes, but everybody resented them." However, Leaf goes on to claim that "That resentment didn't center around the creative area", but apparently drug use; he quotes one observer as saying, "Brian and Tandyn explored new realms of eccentricity together", and another of Brian's close friends as calling Tandyn "evil" and saying "on balance 'I think he damaged Brian." Note that these last two quotes come apparently not from family or band members. So perhaps it was as much a case of Brian and Tandyn being forced to work on their musical ideas elsewhere because of the dislike Brian's family and other friends held for Tandyn, as it was to do with the content of the work itself, regardless of how Brian may have explained it at the time.

Stephen, after reading your comments above I thought about an aspect of this which doesn't get discussed as much. That is the regular everyday lives of the people involved at this time, along with a sense of irony on how it played out.

The irony is that in late May or June 1967, after the band returned from the European tour, there were a lot of issues on the table facing them and which would decide how work would proceed on whatever would be the next album. According to an article from this period, it was Nick Grillo who suggested bringing the studio to Brian, via setting up a workable studio in his house. Booking studio time had become a major issue for Brian going into 1967, as his favorite rooms were not available when inspiration struck and Brian wanted to record. This issue of booking studio time led to first the Smiley Smile studio with the Gates Dualux and all of that, and of course transitioned into the more permanent setup as it went into 1968 with Friends and beyond.

So I found it ironic that this mid-1967 solution to the issue of Brian booking studio time whenever he wanted by having the studio located and available in his house eventually turned into a situation where Brian could not book studio time *in his own house* due to other sessions being booked (Beach Boys, Brother projects, etc) , and had to go elsewhere to record his own ideas when that inspiration struck.

It feels like the very purpose of having Brian living at the studio and not needing to worry about booking and availability turned into the same issue that led to the idea of a studio at the house in the first place. And other activity essentially shut Brian out of his own studio. An odd dynamic for sure.

Now the personal issues which haven't been discussed too much in depth.

After Brian had his daughters, there was a family living in the house. The studio was running in the house, where it could not be escaped as things were happening there.

Put anyone who has a new kid or kids, and a wife, and other major adult personal issues going on into that scenario, and it might start to feel not only claustrophobic, but it could soon feel like you're trapped. The work had to be done, the business had to keep running, yet all of this is happening in your own house which now has children and all of those concerns on top of having your own house to tend to.

Factor in the tensions within the band and the family at this time. If you're Brian, and you just had some kind of a blowup with the band or band members, the people who you might want to cool out from for a bit, and get away from to recharge, are regularly showing up at your house to do the required work to keep the band and the business afloat.

Where was Brian's escape hatch? As mentioned, everyone needs one. Everyone needs a place to get away from it all, and here is a guy with what were possibly some of the issues causing him his own personal issues showing up at his house regularly as part of the business. He had a house of his own yet he couldn't pull his hand out of the fire if it did get too hot...in the privacy of his own home.

It may help explain the how's and why's of Brian going elsewhere and looking elsewhere to escape it all when he needed to. Perhaps the idea of bringing the studio to Brian and avoiding the booking turned into a double-edged sword over time especially when we consider what position he was in within his own personal life, and how there were times when he was booked out of his own home studio and had to bail out to work on ideas elsewhere.

COMMENT to c-man:  I did not want to go so far as naming names. Other's can do that. Leaf's comments are via Tandyn himself, who I doubt would condemn his own actions. I hardly think that Mr. Almer is any hero of Brian's health.

I'm not going to get involved in conjecture or quotes of quotes of someone who heard something from someone. Let's not make this into a "Kavanaugh circus" hearing.

I could tell you activities I've seen over a Tandyn's you would not believe -- but to what point. Brian is not nominated for a court appointment. He's just a telented guy who got mixed up with the wrong crowd. IF YOU WANT THE TRUTH, ASK MARILYN. She had to put up with it all and was very concerned with her husband's mental health. Bull sh*t to anyone who says the family did not care for what they saw was happening to him. They were very concerned. Marilyn gave up her any normal home life and allowed an entire studio to be built to encourage Brian's creativity.

This thread is spinning a tail that is very distorted.   ~swd

No kidding. Yikes.

~SWD

Stephen, I just want to copy and paste an earlier reference to the home studio's origins from an earlier post of mine. Quotes taken from Derek Taylor reporting in an article from July 1967, and an Al Jardine interview from July 2000:


It sounds more like Al suggested Grillo and you had the idea, not that Al himself had the idea for a home studio unless he forgot how it all played out. I was going on information previously published like those excerpts above, if it has since been corrected in terms of Al's comments and his actual involvement, that's good to put on the record.

I can't get past the fact that even with the obligations and contracts and all else involved, it was still Brian's home. They could have built it at Carl's house, or Mike's, or anywhere else - And of course Brian agreed to the setup. But I'm thinking when it got later in the game, or when there were sessions with Charles Manson and other outsiders being held at the Beach Boys' studio, either with or without Brian's participation, it seemed to be getting outside of the original purpose, which was to have a place readily available so Brian could be there to cut records with and for the Beach Boys minus the hassles of booking studio time.

Maybe it's getting into aesthetics, but ultimately no matter what the inner workings were, it was still Brian's house. And the studio was put there instead of another member's house for a specific reason, namely to cut Beach Boys records without the hassles of outside studios. But there could be issues which would arise as soon as you introduce children and a home life into the mix. Along with other issues too.

A lot of what ran through my mind came from your post above, these items specifically:


Those points outlined basically what I was thinking and replying to, the idea that having a studio in Brian's home where he could not find that kind of refuge that he found elsewhere could have caused some issues for him personally as a man who as you said needed to be alone to brainstorm and then needed someone to be the tech-minded facilitator to capture those ideas. If the house was full of studio activity, in some cases with artists other band members brought in, along with the usual Beach Boys activity, I'd think a man would feel like his house wasn't his own at some points.

It wasn't!

Whew! :lol

Stephen, I genuinely didn't know about all that. Like I said, I wasn't a druggie nor did I drink then, I tried a few things a few times (probably like you) so I fear I was more of a designated driver when I'd get a call to pick Brian up somewhere for his own safety (usually the call came from Brian). He did ultimately save himself, obviously. Sometimes I picked him up in scary neighborhoods, but it all worked out. Usually, he wanted to be taken home.  I worked a 40+ hour work-week, so I had to sometimes sleep and was often at work. I sometimes think I was pretty protected during those times and didn't know what happened when things were at their worst. I only saw the Vandermint episodes.

I did have to change my phone number and actually move when Tandyn was at his worst (a long story) because I didn't feel safe and was hiding from him, so I knew he was a real problem as he descended into his hole. I was happy to learn that he moved back to Minneapolis and straightened out. He also showed me a lengthy note from Marilyn when he was apparently involved with she and Brian both, so I guess we were all impressed by his wit until things became too terrible.

It's rather amazing anything was recorded at all.

Tandyn was very close friends with a woman named Felicia whom he idolized. I met her on several occasions, probably during my "designated driver" days. Ironically, her father and her husband were psychiatrists. I heard them discussing Brian's health. Her (then former) husband DID end up treating Brian - reluctantly (he was attending staff at a hospital from which Brian was released) - and interviewing me about the goings on in his daily life WITH the support staff in place. So probably all the stories are true. Tandyn was truly brilliant, like VDP. He was just in such a place that he, I suspect, became bad news for Brian, as he did for me. VDP and Danny were both good guys who never went to that place.

It wasn't!

COMMENT to Debbie KL"  What do you mean by POB?   Are you speaking about Phenoxybenzamine, an alpha-blocker?  ~swd

Oh my God...that's crazy

COMMENT to guitarfool2002:  If you rent a room to someone it becomes their room. By renting you relinquish your property rights. If you understand that concept, then when the brand (the Beach Boy Corporation) pays for the right to use that room in that house, and pays for it month after month, that area becomes less of the rentee's and more of the renter's to use at their discretion. The studio was built to facilitate the completion of an album (or several). It was not built for the sole enjoyment of Brian.

Brian's home was at least twice a large as anyone else's.  You will understand why the studio was built in Brian's house when Part two of Recording The Beach Boys is published. I would write more, but I'm just repeating myself. ~swd

renter vs rentee -- did I get that right?

COMMENT to ♩♬☮ Billy C ♯♫♩☮:  Not crazy if you're dealing with a snake. ~swd

He was referencing "Pacific Ocean Blue" as I understand it.  Frankly, I didn't know any of these drug terms you're referencing.

I'm not sure who to believe about Tandyn Almer - Mr. Desper ("snake") or Debbie K ("truly brilliant"). But think Mr. Desper's Tandyn's description is right.

Brilliant people can be snakes. Read a few more of my posts. When I try to describe complex people, I'm always amazing that one word defines what I said.

Either way, I give zero care about Tandyn Almer. Things I listened to written by him didn't impress one bit, including muchly overrated "Along Comes Mary". If he's brilliant snake, that's fine.

COMMENT go RangeRoverA1:  We are both right. Drugs and their abuse took their tool on the otherwise creative talent of Mr. Almer. In the metaphor, drugs are the snake. Both Tandyn and Brian were victims of the snake.

But with all this discussion, we must not loose sight of the fact that when Brian fell, he got up, found help and with the love of those around him and around the world, he overcame addiction and re-invented himself for the better. He is still entertaining thousands.

~swd

This is an interesting read.  I have gotten criticised on here before for saying that the standard SSMB narrative/L&M narrative regarding Brian and drugs (including the 'came across some bad LSD that forever changed him') doesn't check out, and I think a lot of the information contained here paints a much more nuanced and "everyman" picture of his struggles than what is more commonly accepted.

LBWL?

I think we're both telling the same story here. Brian, with all of the abuse he endured as a child - along with the love he received in a damaged environment, found his own ways to cope and survive. The mystery is how such beautiful creations came from that love and pain. Remarkably, some of this came from situations that descended into chaos. Brian needed many people around him who loved him and would drop everything to support him in surviving, along with his talent. Thankfully, he has that support to this day. I love these people - his family, band, etc. - as I love the people who have done it through the years. Someone once said, "it takes a village."  ;) Brian gets that. He knows exactly who he is and what it takes. When I met him in '69, he knew who he was. I think the painful process we observed was his learning what it takes to be that massive talent, evoking our deepest fears and joys. It was messy, but it succeeded, bringing great work along the way.

brian & tandyn @ whiskey-a-go-go supposedly 1970:

https://www.google.com/search?q=images+brian+wilson+tandyn+almer&tbm=isch&source=iu&ictx=1&fir=2bhvIKirL8Yw9M%253A%252C2dMvGsJOK2ge7M%252C_&usg=AI4_-kRLaY8C_KpvfpWLJgZVbXGOM4raRg&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiyyrb7-dvdAhXm7oMKHUWoCasQ9QEwAXoECAYQBA#imgrc=2bhvIKirL8Yw9M:

Beautifully said

Thx, Billy. Being an artist is a courageous act. Sometimes things are messy, as the theme of this thread indicates. I think that's what helps make it so real. I always loved hearing Brian and family and Brian and his band breathing in between their powerful vocalizations. I always loved the fact that Brian left in a few little background sounds in his recording. Some would suggest he just got bored or was lazy. Maybe he was that brilliant. In any case the humanity it brought to this works.

There are so many technical details that make music great - obviously essential to the process - and Stephen was one of the BBs' best. I think all of the people I mentioned above, being human, brought the relatability that makes us love what they do so much.

Thank you Debbie and Steven for your insights, and painting a fuller picture of that whole period of his life. Brian is definitely the ultimate definition of a survivor. That he's still with us and has so many people in his circle who love him is a miracle for us all.

You're right about the humanity aspect of his music Debbie. I picked up on it immediately the first time I listened to Pet Sounds, and it's what I hear in so many of his compositions, from Surfer Girl to 'Til I Die to Still I Dream Of It to Love and Mercy ect. Through the ups and downs, rarely can an artist channel their emotions into their music as artfully as Brian. Dennis was also a master at channelling that pain into his songs.

Somehow, I always knew that Brian would survive it all. He was completely devoted to the gifts he had to offer. He definitely pushed the limits of his health, but he always had people there who would help him out, when needed.

And, thx - what a wonderful description of the emotions/music element, SamMcK. It takes a lot of courage to express them to the world.