I posted the info on the letter when it first came out. My friend who works at Hard Rock memorabilia told me about it and that he was going to post it to their web site. They have access to all kinds of cool stuff that is just sitting in boxes in a warehouse. Back then he told me they had one of Murry's Last Will and Testament, and that it was pretty crazy. I've been wanting to see that, but he never got around to posting it.

He gave me and my wife a tour of the John Lennon room at Hard Rock that is not accessible to the general public. I felt like a kid in a candy store. One of Lennon's white pianos is there with autographs on all the white keys, and Brian Wilson's autograph was on it.

That was an excellent interview. I liked how the interviewer engaged Brian with the Four Freshman and Bach tunes. I liked hearing Brian talk about the creative process, and coming up with chords first, then the melody.

 I also like Brian's honesty - "Marijuana helped me write Pet Sounds." and about Smile (paraphrased) "We got stoned and wrote 30 to 60 second snippets." Then he says he would second guess himself about whether is was good or not. 

 I wonder how Brian felt about hearing that snippet of the Mike Douglass interview?  He didn't shut down and revert to the single word answers. Funny too at the end - "Gimme a better hanshake than that." Just great!

  Well, I was commenting on Glen's guitar playing, not that show band arrangement.  If you can improvise a solo like that on guitar, then I tip my hat to you. I'm taking Jazz Theory in college, and many of my professors know of Glen's prowess on the guitar, even if they consider the Beach Boys or Country Music lame.

 A lot of the guys from the Wrecking Crew had a good knowledge of Jazz, and can play anything. Although he doesn't read music, Glen was inspired by jazz guitarist Django Rinehardt. Glen Campbell is a very versatile guitarist. That's him playing on "Just Dropped In" (To See What Condition My Condition was In).  I've heard him play some incredibly blistering licks in jazz, country, bluegrass, and on Classical Gas and the William Tell Overture. Check out his guitar solo on his Beach Boy medley on YouTube.   I think Glen mainly played rhythm guitar on a majority of his Beach Boy sessions. Any info on Beach Boy guitar solos that are specifically Glen?

 Leon also wrote "This Masquerade" which was a hit for George Benson. He also was adept at honky tonk country blues.
 It's a shame that you don't hear about popular musicians today having the versatility of those session guys. A bygone era.

  I took a viagra pill tonight, and it got stuck in my throat,

 .............  and now I have a stiff neck.

  Thank you. I'll be here all week. 

 I think that Brian, being the great melody and harmony writer that he is, sees nothing of musical value in Rap or Hip Hop, which is usually devoid of interesting melodies and cool chord progressions.  I look at Rap kind of the way I do Jack Kerouac reciting poetry while a piano or upright bass riffed behind him. Mainly lyrical, and sometimes clever, sometimes not. 

 I'd actually like to hear more of Brian ripping other styles of music and artists. Brutally honest - yes, but I agree with him.

 I'm curious as to whether this lyric is from 1967 or 2004 -

  "Is it hot as hell in here, or is it me? It really is a mystery."

  I actually hate this lyric. It sounds so cliche and uncreative when compared to Van Dyke's other lyrics.
 As someone who also dabbled in psychedelics, I loved the chanting section by itself, and I could just picture Brian sitting cross-legged on the floor stoned out of his mind when he came up with that. It gave the song an Eastern mystical vibe.    Just my opinion though.

I've wondered the same thing.  My wife was on anti-anxiety medication before, and sometimes it would make her slur or appear foggy mentally. I was on a drug called Topomax once that had side effects that caused my memory and speech to be affected.  I guess it's hard to say what is a drug side affect and what is actually old age. When Glen Campbell had his little melt down, he blamed it on mixing alcohol with an anti-anxiety medication. If you watch any videos of him speaking, his speech appears a little slurred, but he's in his 70s.  I'm not a big fan of that kind of medication for me personally, but everyone is different.

On the Leno performance, if you listen to the last line Brian sang, he sounds as if he needs to clear his throat. Maybe he had a bit of a head cold or something. Any kind of sinus infection could affect the inner ear and his perception of sound too.

I thought Brian sang flat in some parts, but he was smiling and having fun.  If Brian couldn't hear himself, that could explain it. I remember when I had an ear infection once and couldn't hear out of one ear. It really threw me off when I sang, so when Brian sings in a band situation I cut him some slack. He's still my hero.

I wonder what Brian thought of that little girl who sang right before him. She was incredible.

 The Sgt. Pepper comment kind of ticked me off. It almost inferred that his breakdown was a result of Sgt. Pepper being released.  I wonder what the producers used as a source for this?

 I loved hearing Brian's interview on this. What I didn't like, was all the negative comments on NPR's Facebook comment section for this segment.   

I'm curious how much marijuana he used to smoke.  I remember that Rolling Stone article back during the Landy years where he said he took the occasional drag.  I wonder if even today he smokes a little pot, but doesn't make it public because he has young kids.  It's funny though, in the Beautiful Dreamer film, he doesn't denounce it at all and even has a smile on his face when describing some of the effects. 

I'm really curious now to hear exactly what Brian had to work with as far as the unfinished Gershwin fragments. I have my own ideas as far as what is Brian and what is Gershwin.

Does anyone know the story behind the Gershwin snippets Brian was given to work with? Was it to have been part of a song or symphony piece that was never completed, or just sonic sketches to work on later?

It's funny, I just finished a Music History class, and both Gershwin and Brian had sections in the text book.

 As to Surfer Girl, I have a record with the version that was recorded at Hite Morgan's, and on Candix, but that version has a weird section on it, and maybe Brian was still experimenting with it.  On each verse, take the first for example - when they sing "all undone," the chords go from G major to g minor. Now on the recording that was a hit, the bass stays on the g note, but on my Candix recording it goes up to B- flat (the 3rd of g minor.)   Although I didn't like the sound, it's interesting to see that Brian was already experimenting with playing non-root notes on the bass.

 I'm suprised that Usher wrote the music for Lonely Sea. It just has that haunting melancholy Brian sound in the melody. Just goes to show, that I can't trust my ears anymore.

 I think BWPS is a fine re-creation. When it came out, it turned a lot of people on to Brian. I'd go to the hip CD stores by the local Colleges and it would often be playing as I walked in. I felt happy for Brian, and couldn't wait to hear it. I played it a lot for about a month.

 Back in 1967, Brian was smoking pot and had dabbled in LSD, and for me, some of the boots I heard of "Fire" and that chanting section , used to give me chills, because I could relate to the "vibe" I felt it was giving off.  Obviously, BWPS doesn't have that vibe, for me anyway. When I heard the lyrics that were added - "Is it hot in hell or is it me? It really is a mystery," I thought them to be kind of cheesy and contrived, and not up to par with the rest of the lyrics of the album. I thought that section should have remained as the boots, with no lyrics added.

 I've watched Beautiful Dreamer dozens of times, but when I want to hear Smile, I go to my boots - because that's when Brian was in the "zone," and in touch with something great.

 This is for Scott - Do you guys ever work up more complicated songs like "Their Hearts Were Full Of Spring?" I'm just wondering how the parts are worked out? Does someone listen to the original, and then actually write out the parts in musical notation? And are the parts given to each individual in person, or is a CD given to each singer with their part to work on? The reason I'm asking, is that in my college chorus class, we have sheet music to read with all 4 or 6 vocal parts written down, but we are sometimes given a CD with our own part (Mine is tenor) to practice along with.

 As to multi-tracking, yeah the duplicating of vocals does give a fatter sound, depending on how high in the mix the doubled vocal is. This has to do with timing, inflection, the way words are pronounced, etc. I've read that there are some singers who are so precise, that when they double, it doesn't sound so thick, because there is hardly any variation. That's why having a different individual duplicate the same part gives a different sound, and a relative - like a brother, will have a more unique blend when singing.

 I'm the original poster. I showed this thread to the guy who put this letter on Hard Rock's site, and he wanted to thank everyone for their interest, and said he would send the link to this thread to Hard Rock corporate.  He said this letter was from the Murry Wilson estate, and that he would let me know exactly where Hard Rock got it from.

 He also said "I'll gather up some stuff specifically for this forum. Give me a couple days and I'll dig up some treasures. It'll take a while, though. I need to have the stuff photographed in super hi-res. "

 Apparently its in Hard Rock's warehouse here in Orlando, FL.  Makes me wonder - items that we would salivate over, are just sitting in a box somewhere and no one knows about it,  like Indians Jones' Lost Ark.

 Although some new material may not have the same insight into Murry's thought process as this letter does, I look forward to anything that sheds new light on Beach Boy history. I think we owe this gentleman a big "Thank You."

 Thanks for the link. I always learn something while watching professionals practice.

I know this is just practice, but I hope they sing it in the Boris Karloff voice, like the original.

 Which Beach Boy sang lead on this on the Live in Concert album?

 My friend at the Hard Rock sent me this morning.

"We've got a few Murry letters, including his divorce documents. I'll try to dig a few more up."



 

 I have a friend that works at the Hard Rock in Orlando with the memorabilia, and he turned me on to this site.

 Some interesting Murry quotes

"...felt it was my duty as a father to give you the security a punishment gives."

"children are disapointed when they are not punished."

"Audree...was trying to raise you boys as girls."

"...she (Audree) took a coat hanger to you boys."

He talks about Gary Usher's "evil influence."

Says Brian was "obsessed to prove he was better than his father."

 I had to download some Microsoft Silver program, and then was able to zoom in on the individual letters. A bit of a pain in the butt having to scroll back and forth to read it. I take it they do this so the pages can't be copied?

http://memorabilia.hardrock.com/?item=006606

You have to down load something to navigate the site.

 Man, poor Brian. I've never read this before, but I can't imagine having a parent lay a guilt trip on me like this.

Mod: Please delete this thread if this has been discussed before, but I did a search and didn't find anything.

Nice work. Thanks. Gee, I guess he doesn't want to work with Mike.

Hmm, I wonder, has all the good stuff been picked over yet? 

And can Brian use some of the same music sections that these previous workings did?

There may be a reason Gershwin didn't use/finish some of these musical sections - maybe he didn't think they were good enough, and never threw away anything. Even Gershwin may have produced something mediocre, not every swing is a homerun.

[potentially]

Eh, it's not really worth arguing about, since it's pretty subjective anyway.  I just think it's pretty clear by the time Brian started recording in sections in 1966 (Starting with the outro for I'm Waiting For The Day and the instrumental break/ending of Here Today) that he was more interested in cutting the track in the quickest and most convenient way possible.  Listening to the session for California Girls, 44 takes which are spent mostly hacking through the difficult intro, you can sense the frustration in the air from not only Brian, but from the WC as well.  Cutting the tracks in sessions potentially gave him freedom later on, but it also avoided frustrating sessions like that one.

That's a great session to listen to.

 Where canI find/buy that? I love listening to my Pet Sounds' box set, with all those studio banter tracks.