Just read it. That's kind of a weird interview, to me. For one thing, I can't understand how Joe would think that "Lay Down Burden" and "Spring Break" (or whatever the other song is) were related, or that the upbeat fun-n-sun sounding song could possibly have been intended for the sentiments in 'LDB.' Similarly, I'm having a hard time figuring out how these all-but-written songs ended up requiring two or three other co-writers to polish off a few lines. What exactly was Jim 'Eye of the Tiger' Peterik's role? I wish the guy had asked more follow-up questions along those lines.

The whole thing's kind of mysterious to me. Maybe it's better this way. Sometimes you really don't want to know how they make the sausage.

My ears believe that there's a ton of processing happening with the vocals all over the album. Though I'm also impressed with the amount of feeling in Brian's voice, which I don't believe you can create with a computer. For all that I feel out of sync with Joe Thomas's more MOR sensibilities -- the generic lead guitar riffage, the cheap dramatic moves, e.g. the key change in the title track, which doesn't flow from the melody as per 99 percent of Brian's modulations, but just happens on its own in order to signal to listeners that THIS is the climax of the song, so please get excited now. But he also seems to have some connection to Brian that helps him relax and really put himself into his vocals. "Imagination" is a very similar album in both respects (the schlocky sounds and the great sounding vocals). It's also worth noting that a bunch of these songs were either started or set aside during the 'Imagination' sessions in the late '90s. What I'm waiting for is for 'Imagination,' and maybe this album, to be remixed by someone who can strip out the fairy floss (e.g., the nylon-string guitars that plague 'Imagination' like a horde of zombies) and deliver clean versions of "Lay Down Burden," "Cry" and etc. That said, I give props to Joe for helping Brian invest himself in his performances.

Oh, when it comes to my skipping over some songs on the new record in my website review, let me clarify: I'm not implying anything beyond the need to keep the review a bit shorter than longer, and that I didn't have a lot/anything to say about them. I encourage anyone who feels more strongly about them to love the hell out of them. Art, and consuming it, are hugely subjective. If something speaks to you, for whatever reason, that's beautiful. I don't have an intellectual argument constructed to defend or explain my love for, say, Lisa Loeb's "Stay." It just rings a chime in my head, for whatever reason. I listen to it all the time. With headphones.

Hi, and thanks for reading, and for all the nice comments here. But when it comes to profanity, y'know, I could have done a better job of it, I suppose. Maybe it's beneath my dignity, or something. But that said, I don't have a lot of dignity, and I also think a well placed cussword, especially the one that begins with an 'f',' that is perhaps the most flexible word in the English language -- It's a verb! It's an adjective! It's an audible pause! -- is far more expressive and meaningful than a lot of other words I encounter on a daily basis. Like 'mimetics.' Ran up against that one today. I get it, it's one of those words you get issued in graduate school, the better to deconstruct and analyze in terms that only a small segment of other readers will be able to understand. (I'd imitate that kind of thinking/writing, but I just don't know a good word to describe/analyze my decision to do so. Oh wait, maybe I do. . .it's on the tip of my tongue. . .)

The smartest, coolest people I know curse. Some of them a lot. They're not profane people. They just understand the power of language, which does not always reside in the houses of propriety.

Is my frickin' opinion, anyway.

Manichean, you say?! Harumph. Pistols at dawn! Mine will have a white handle, so yours has to be black. And while I'll be standing with a backdrop of a church behind me, you'll have to stand near the cemetery at the other end of the street. Bring your seconds!

Hey everyone. Lots of excitement these days, doncha think? I've been spinning the new record, and it's been spinning me around a bit, too. Here's my review of "That's Why God. . ." (http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/204), just in time for the Billboard charts to tell us exactly how big a hit it's going to be -- word on the street predicts top 5, possibly higher.

Hey guys - did that ever come out in a digital format? Does anyone out there have it on mp3 or some other kind of digi form? I dug up a few (hard to find, for some reason) audio tracks on youtube. But would love to have it on the good old iPod, if possible.

Not for FBI agents only: I already bought the music on vinyl back in '81, guys. So is this really theft? And btw, I'd happily buy it again if someone would get off their digi-ass and re-release it. You'll never take me alive!

Everyone else: Drop me a line at peteramescarlin@gmail.com if you have any tips.

I haven't really had time to focus on it that intently, to come up with precise thoughts and critiques and etc. And while I'm not sure if my copy came with warnings (I bet it did; i bet I just didn't look at them) I bet I'd err on the side of not spoiling stuff. Tho that said, I'm not sure how you can spoil a song or an album or whatever. I'm just listening in bits and fits and starts, and to be honest the main thing I'm thinking is that it sounds a lot sunnier and less mysterious than my younger, pre-BWPS selves would have imagined. Apart from a few curious exchanges/instructions/demands, Brian sounds like a very focused, very controlled producer who knows exactly what he wants and how he wants to get there. The musicians aren't thrown by anything. And on the vocal sessions, the BBs sound completely compliant and eager to do their thing (tho we all know what went on when the mics were off).

Spoiler alert! I got an advance on the box set and when "Teeter-Totter Love" came on the car stereo my 9-year-old said, 'What the hell is this?' Does that make him a sh*tweasel or a f**khead? Or, mayhaps, a budding music critic? Either way, Jasper Dailey didn't rock, after all. I'm sure he was a great photog, tho.

And now: Part II. Of III, I think. Or possibly IV. Depending on how I slice it up.

http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/199

Hi guys - Too busy to do much original blogging at my wee website (peteramescarlin.com), and in tribute to the coming box set, I'm reposting a series of stories I wrote about the making, destruction, afterlife and restoration of 'Smile.' The pieces were pegged to Brian's finished 'Smile,' but this is mostly about the myth and magic of the original recordings, and why the non-existent 'Smile' became such a powerful story for so many decades.

Anyway, take a look if you have a moment, and there will be more to come.

http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/198

Hi everyone - I've been less than present lately, in part b/c I somehow forgot how to log in to the system. But anyway.

Last year I spent some time with Brian around the time the Gershwin record was about to come out. A written-up version of the story ran in the Times (UK) last summer, but since that was super-short, I figured I'd pay tribute to the man's 69th birthday and put up more of the raw transcript on my website blog. So here it is. :http://www.peteramescarlin.com/node/194

More soon...

Peter