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- Latest Member: Dae Lims
| March 28, 2024, 09:26:46 PM |
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2051
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Love's new album?
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on: June 27, 2006, 03:19:46 PM
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While I kinda liked Cool Head, Warm Heart, I'm always surprized at how lame Mike's lyrics became after 1970-71. For someone who made such great lyrical contributions to Brian's songs in the past, what could have happenned to him? Did he get too groovy/into meditation and philosophically decided to make all his songs "message songs" about ecology and TM? Did he forget his own first rule of songwriting - boy girl, boy girl, boy girl? Did he, like Brian, lose some of his mind to drugs during that brief period he was experimenting with them?
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2059
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: First Pics of Beach Boys Capitol Get Together
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on: June 15, 2006, 11:14:02 AM
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It may be that they love each other, but I don't see how this Capitol arranged reunion "shows" they love each other. They were courteous and friendly, but I don't think any of us has the knowledge of what's going on in their heads and hearts to make the leap that this event either validates or proves anyone's feelings towards each other. I would agree that it shows they don't hate each other to the point of being unable to interact with one another in a normal, cordial manner.
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2063
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: 3 years in bed-- myth or fact?
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on: June 09, 2006, 06:34:26 PM
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But it's a great myth, isn't it? And it spawned the Barenaked Ladies song.
In a metaphorical sense he spent three years in bed because those were not very productive years for Brian, at least as far as we knew - perhaps Peter's book will put the lie to that too, as he mentions various activities Brian participated in that were not common knowledge.
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2064
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Barnyard
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on: June 08, 2006, 07:53:39 AM
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There's a version of Barnyard with the backing vocals and no animal sound effects and a version of Barnyard with the backing vocals and the animal sound effects. I don't believe the multitrack has been found, but Alan may know more about that.
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2065
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: "Surf's Up" & America
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on: June 08, 2006, 07:45:09 AM
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According to most accounts, Surf's Up was written "in one night" BUT AFTER it was written, according to Van Dyke, Brian was playing it for Dennis after coming back from their European tour (so that would be November, right? Don't have Badman handy) and Dennis had been complaining about the striped shirt reception and how people had laughed at them. Dennis was overcome after hearing Surf's Up and asked what the title was - and that was when Van Dyke dubbed it Surf's Up, despite the fact there was no surf's Up lyric in the song at that time, to indicate his support for what the Beach Boys represented and that it was nothing to be ashamed about. Then the coda was written to include the surf's Up lyric.
I'm ignoring a recent Brian interview in which he said Surf's Up was written in three days, one section per day.
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2066
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: This Whole World track production
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on: May 25, 2006, 10:39:47 AM
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I think Rocker is on the mark here - when Smiley SMile failed commercially, and the subsequent albums and singles failed (well, wild Honey did OK), the band, which were taking more of a role in songwriting and production, no longer trusted Brian's musical instincts in terms of making a hit. They weren't interested in struggling to complete Brian's passing fancies that didn't seem to be going anywhere and had very little potential to become a hit. This was a dark period of unpopularity for the band, the Maharishi tour was a disaster, and they really wanted a hit song. I'm sure they recognized the musical brilliance of some of what Brian was doing, but it seemed to them out of touch with the music market of the day (heavy, guitar driven music - Hendrix, Cream - or the more poppy stuff) so they went to outside producers (Rick Henn, the Seasons in the Sun guy). They were desperate.
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2067
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian and Al...together again?
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on: May 25, 2006, 10:26:56 AM
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It would interesting to hear them together because back in the day, Al's voice was the closest, and at times a dead ringer, for Brian's voice. Listen to the end of the Back Home (Sunflower era) demo on Get the Boot - Al and Brian are singing together and it sounds like Brian alone doubletracked. Since Brian's voice is dodgy these days, having Al sing some of the songs in Brian's set would be great.
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2068
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: This Whole World track production
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on: May 23, 2006, 06:54:56 PM
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"The other night Alan agreed with statements by Peter Reum and Peter Carlin that Brian didn't finish what he started after the Friends album, letting Carl pick up slack"
I thought Peter has said that Brian didn't finish what he started with Wild Honey and Friends either, Carl and Murry picking up the slack.
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2069
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: This Whole World track production
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on: May 23, 2006, 01:25:39 PM
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Interesting - since Alan mentioned how Carl was listed as producer for the session. So it would be at the very least a coproduction.
Dating back to the days of Brad Elliott I've been under the assumption that the only track fully produced by Brian was Add Some Music - as you get more definitive information from the tapes as to who produced what, please share with us!
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2070
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: What is and isn't a SMiLE session
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on: May 23, 2006, 01:23:04 PM
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I think I may be the source of the Oct/Dec Worms confusion. It was in my Smile primer and apparently copied by Badman, but Andrew Doe checked and indeed it was December, not October. I must have made a typo or misread my own handwriting when typing the thing. I have since corrected and updated the Smile primer (it's on the smileshop site, but the update has not yet been posted) - anyone who wants one, pm me.
The intensive late December activity suggests to me that Brian was trying to finish the album for a January release, but I doubt it was final mixes. More likely vocals, and perhaps missing lead vocals to Cabinessence, Worms, and maybe even Child. Lost in Columbia Recorders somewhere with the Good Vibrations vocal multitracks.
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2072
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: What is and isn't a SMiLE session
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on: May 21, 2006, 04:22:05 PM
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I'd keep it all. Tones in particular - it was recorded under the same project number as Smile. Doesn't mean it was meant for Smile, but it might have been. At that time Brian was struggling with what to include and not include for Smile, what to finish and what to junk, there was controversy over the Van Dyke Parks material, particularly with Cabinessence and Surf's Up, and Brian may very well have put Tones on the LP if it had come out. Well, and if Carl had finished it.
Dennis' I Don't Know - this is more problematic, I can't see Brian putting a Dennis track on the LP at this point, but who knows. I don't.
The Sept. Dennis Columbia Recorders session must be a vocal overdub on something.
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2073
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian's Masterpiece
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on: May 21, 2006, 04:11:51 PM
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Good Vibrations, besides being such an innovative record with multiple movements and time changes, was a huge worldwide hit. To fulfill both of those criteria, I think God Only Knows/Wouldn't It Be Nice would be his highmark, although neither was the hit that GV (or California Girls) was.
The Smiley chorus was recorded in February 67 (the backing track, without the organ overdub). He mixed out a lot of the percussion and the bass from the track when he overdubbed the organ during Smiley - they were restored in the Hawthorne stereo Heroes mix. But it's unclear if the track was meant to be a chorus in February - the tape box had "Side Two" written on it.
When Brian had his doubts about Heroes, he may have thought back to Good Vibrations and the fact that the chorus "hook" is what really brought listeners into the song and allowed him the latitude to experiment with the rest of it. Or the Lovester may have been demanding he make it more commercial. But I agree that the weakness of the single, besides the overall muddy mix and the Baldwin organ predominating over the more complex and interesting instruments buried in the mix, is the minor key chorus. I prefer the way Carl arranged it for live performances with a more "rocking" chorus.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Daryl Dragon Producer
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on: May 16, 2006, 01:22:09 PM
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This from an Ear Candy interview discussing Daryl's role during Sunflower:
"I have no proof that I contributed much to that album, but I feel that I literally PRODUCED many of the cuts on that album. Dennis Wilson - sadly - is no longer with us, but I’m sure if you were able to contact him ‘on the other side’, he’d substantiate my production credit / arrangement input for SUNFLOWER."
I assume this means Daryl coproduced Dennis's cuts, working on the arrangements? Or did he do the same on some of the other's tracks as well? I know he wrote the ending of Don't Go Near the Water on Surf's Up. I'd be interested if anyone has more details on Daryl's production role. On the Dennis Wilson Dreamer site interview he talks about orchestral arrangements for Dennis songs on Carl and The Passions - did Daryl also do Be With Me and Never Learn Not to Love? I always thought it was a giant leap for Dennis to make to go from Little Bird (which had Brian's help) and Be Still to something as complex as the orchestral arrangements for Be With Me.
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