That's the way with Chuck for quite a while now. Of course he's old and no one can or will blame him for that. But his playing is mostly out of tune and out of rythm. His singing isn't very good either. He should just retire.

You don't have to convince me on the "Nashville Sounds" DVD. It's pretty good (and I'm not a big country fan).

I AM and that's why I'm very frustrated with most of the album.

I always thought I'd hear Brian on the falsetto-part of IGA, even if with someone else together

Love Dennis' vocals, but I think Brian in his prime was the best vocalist of the Beach Bys in any era. Carl comes second. Carl could've been such a fantastic, fantastic singer if he would've taken some singing-lessons. There are some weaknesses in his singing that he could have overcome with someone showing him the right techniques. And although many here probably will disagree but I think technically his singing was the best in later years which is not to say thre aren't any stellar performances before of course.....
Dennis was a very good vocalist imo but he didn't work on it enough and unfortunately his voice at some point began to get worse.


I think Mike is giving not enough credit as a singer. Just listen to "California girls" (acapella). Blows my mind how great his singing is on that one. And also on a lot of the early Rocksongs like "Shut down" and "Surfin' USA" (not to mention his great bass vocals). Although I love the sound of the double tracking, in some cases it overshadows Mike's leads imo like on mentioned "Surfin' USA". Unfortunately his voice got so undescribably nasal in the late 70s that I can't stand listening to it at times.

Al has a very strong voice for rocksongs in is range (and he is very versatile which is very overlooked). His falsetto is very thin which is not good for the time after Brian retreated from touring.

Bruce is a very good singer too. But for some reason I can't say too much about his singing. His falsetto is better than Al's I believe but also not as strong as Brian's.

Blondie is a great, great singer. His voice has a certain warmth that made it perfect for the Beach Boys' blend. Listen to "Don't worry baby" and "Good vibrations" on "In concert" for example. Sadly he left the group.

Ricky has also nice vocals but there's not enough to judge him imo.

Can't say nothing about David.


All in all, the Beach Boys were great singer even individually. But one wonders what could've been if they would have taken care of their voices and even get some lessons.

Smile is about the quixotic quest for the perfect peanut butter & jelly sandwich. If you replace "she" in all of the songs with "the sandwich", it becomes...

"But the sandwich's still dancing in the night unafraid..."

"The sandwich belongs there, left with its liberty..."

"Once upon the SANDWICH isles..."

"Over and over,  the crow cries uncover the cornfield..." = The crow finds the sandwich.

"The children know the way..." to make the perfect sandwich.

It just amazes me how little you people think.

...and what about that other great '60s band, the Beach Gays?

'California Boys'

'The Boys On The Beach'

'He's Not The Little Boy I Once Knew'

'Boy Don't Tell Me'

'Two Boys For Every Boy'

Didn't they cut a song called "Hey little tomboy" a little later ?

However, Jan had nothing to do with either version of "Vegetables"

Allright. i just thought because the label says Background: Jan Berry - Brian Wilson 
So probably just a promotional thing, right ?

Dennis was really trying to get it together with me to tell The Boys story on film.  

Ok Ed, you asked for it: Where's all that stuff ??

 

Jan Berry's Pop Symphony No.1 deserves to be heard!

Really a great album with very different styles that kinda fit the songs perfectly. I als like how you might find a motive of one song in another, although that doesn't seem to happen too often. My favorite from this album: Drag City

If Jan was there too, would it have been recorded at the same time as "Don't you just know it" ?

Here you can listen to a short snippet of Sandy Salisbury's "On and on she goes" (With Me Tonight).
Never heard the whole recording. Sounds nice. Is it any good ?

http://www.amazon.com/Sandy-Salisbury/dp/B0007XTO5W

Jimmy Webb's "Surf's Up" comments are a misinterpretation of an ego death song.

I find the whole term: 'ego death' horrific, to be fair. What does it mean? The annihilation of one's personality?

...and I always interpreted Jimmy Webb's interpretation as correct (which is to say: I read it here, now, for the very first time, honest. But I myself saw SU precisely this way. From 1975 onwards. Still do. There is a photo of Van Dyke Parks where he's sitting at a restaurant table, all by himself, clad in a tuxedo. There are some half empty glasses of champagne. No one else is there. It's in black and white. He looks grim, or rather: skeptical. To me, that is the essence of SU: the party's over, and let no one claim that he/she did not know beforehand that all parties have an ending.

Tried to find that picture. Is it this?

In the Brian Wilson: Songwriter DVD, Hutton says that Mike was pissed when he found out that Redwood were recording Darlin' (and that he understood him being upset).  Danny suggests that the lyrics were written for him, as he was always calling people "Darlin'."  But didn't Mike write the lyrics?

Yes, Mike is credited, so I guess he wrote the lyrics.
The other story sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlecMWk_lUU

As the spoken parts were read by Brian, the question is, who wrote those words and how accurate are they? Maybe they just needed a way to introduce the song and have it sung by TDN. Brian doesn't mention Danny Hutton when he talks about "Darlin'" on the Roxy-album interview (of course that doesn't mean very much).
I also wonder why Brian re-used "Thinking about you baby" for "Darlin" and then went back to the original with American Spring. Not that there's anything wrong with it, I love all three versions, but it seems kinda odd. How came he up with that idea?




Wikipedia has Negron's quote:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_to_Get_Alone

"It all came to a head...when Mike Love, Carl Wilson and Al Jardine came to the studio and heard our version of 'Time To Get Alone'...They manoeuvred Brian into the control booth and reduced him to tears. It was a cruel and pathetic scene. Danny, Cory and I were in the studio and could see it all happening through the control-booth window. It was as if Brian had turned into a little boy. The conversation appeared quiet and calm, but we could tell it was emotional and intense. The others were doing most of the talking, like overbearing, controlling parents. Brian would move away, and they would block his escape. We couldn't hear what was being said, but I think a good lip-reader would have picked up something like, 'We don't give a sh*t about these guys, and we want those songs for us.' We could actually feel Brian crumbling, and when he came out of the booth, a tear dropped down his cheek. His head was lowered and his shoulders sagged. It was the body language of a child who had just been scolded and punished. And this brilliant musical icon - whose songs defined one generation and influenced another - weepingly told us, 'We can't do this. I have to give the songs to them. They're family and I have to take care of my family. They want the songs. I'll give you any amount of money you want to finish an album, but I can't produce it. They won't let me.'"

So, which one is on "Pet projects"?
BTW, I think that version is superior to the Beach Boys' SmileySmile-version.

The boys backstage at Pittsfield (Mass) Boys Club 1968.  Warming up with "Chattanooga Choo Choo."

oops  How do I insert a photo here instead of attaching it?  newbie

Great picture ! Thanks for sharing it with us !

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxnWvfJ1Q6E&feature=related


News broadcast about the '94 lawsuit. Be prepared....

"I'm the surfboard-man...."


EDIT: Sorry, just saw that it was already posted. But it's interesting to watch it again.....

All of these "Smile" discussions have pretty much run their course, and are headed nowhere but boredom....unless Capitol & Mark Linett choose to reveal a little bit more information each month or so; in other words to occasionally toss the fans a bone to chew on; something that keeps this "Smile" enthusiasm and discussion going........ before it runs out of steam.

It worked ok for 44 years

[may end up]

Any session correspond with "I may end up just recording me and a piano-I tried it last night in the studio"? What might this have been?

Doesn't mean he ever did it. I don't take that sentence wordly, he probably just wanted to say, that he hasn't a plan what will be the b-side

My understanding is that Dennis pulled his own tracks from the Surf's Up project. He wanted one of his tracks to close the album, instead of the title track.

Correct - he and Carl reportedly had a falling out over the sequencing, so he said "**** it", and pulled both his songs.

What were his songs to be? Sound of Free and Fallin' In Love, or was one of them WIBNTLA?

WIBNTLA was one of 'em iirc. The other one I'm not sure about. Maybe "4th of july". I believe Dennis wanted the album to end with kind of a "life"-trilogy. "A day in the life of a tree" "'til I die" "Wouldn't it be nice to live again?"



Still hoping for a release of the finished "Surf's up"-Audio DVD

Would make a Beach Boys reunion concert much nicer...

SLP22, look at what date the video was posted.... and there you go......

I hope we get another press release soon.  It's obvious the well is running dry! 

Post of the week!    

Three weeks without any real news, so the natives are getting restless.  We need some scrap, morsel... anything.  Heck, even a minor interview with some bit player in all the Smile box drama would give us something more interesting to talk about. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFE-24ucxc

This reminds me of two questions I have:

1. Are there any other audio-interviews out there, with one of the guys talking about Smile and/or SmileySmile from that era?

2. I remember a quote by Dennis saying that he was in the jungle listening to SmileySmile and it sounded great. What did he mean? What jungle?

This was new to me, I especially like the in-studio parts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SVB-EvYtNw

Isn't this Piano and Location the same one for the Brian Danny Hutton video?
Or am I just having flashbacks again....

No, looks like a different place. It's probably just the angle that is reminding of the other place:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzuaalRMlo8

Nice. Could be a start for the TSS campaign......

"Heroes and Villains" is really an epic tale.

http://www.examiner.com/beach-boys-in-national/smile

That's a great little article ! Why haven't I seen it before? And more important: When will the next part be up ? Are these new interviews?

So, that's the second award Brian's getting this year. Wonder how many more will come. In some form or another I think the Beach Boys should get one for their 50th year but I don't know what would be possible. A Grammy for The Smile Sessions ?

Thanks !
Brian sounds very cool and lucid.