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680597 Posts in 27600 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 28, 2024, 03:10:57 PM
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76  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Steven Gaines' Heroes and Villains can be downloaded on Amazon Kindle, but... on: June 14, 2023, 07:43:30 PM
Mr Gaines joined the board about 10 years ago (can’t recall exact date now) but then exited when other posters were too negative.

I'd like to correct this with all due respect, as it was apparently mentioned on another forum too with no way to (or willingness to) correct it, and it's not entirely accurate.

Steven Gaines was indeed a poster and honored guest here, posting as "Beach Boys Author", starting in August 2008.

Respectfully, Ian, your posts on August 27 2008 were among those that caused Mr. Gaines to say he was leaving. He posted that he was leaving later that same day of the 27th due to the fact-checking and critiques going on, although most posters were positive and genuinely interested in what he had to say.

But he came back to post again that October 2008, then later in 2009 and again in 2010. And he did not exit after 2010, the account is still active.

Here's the links to his posts and his honored guest thread, for those interested in reading what he had to say, and a lot of it was fascinating:

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php?action=profile;u=1279;sa=showPosts

http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,6016.0.html

That's just to set the record straight on what happened with Steven Gaines so it doesn't show up elsewhere again, or if it does, so the accurate version is available to read.
77  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian AI Project. on: April 19, 2023, 08:20:42 AM
I just wanted to drop in and say, especially to the two main creators posting their works here, job very well done. It has people talking about Smile once again, not just talking but really digging deep into the music, and letting it run through their imagination, which is one of the strengths of this music. That's been sorely lacking in my opinion over at least the past 5 years or more, and has been pushed aside by various pockets of this fan base seeming to determine what should be discussed and how it should be discussed and perceived, which is why my interest waned more than a bit in recent years.

This is getting the music back into the discussion via a new technology, and I'm only spotlighting the Smile efforts but it's probably the element of this band's history that has the most lineage with fan creation and technology in the past. Which is why it's also nice to see one of the founders of The Smile Shop visit and comment as well, given that the Smile Shop also took what was a fairly new use of technology at the time to bring together a pretty specific niche of fans and provide a forum to discuss this incredible music. When technology and a passion for specific works of art combine to create new experiences and bring people together to talk, it's a great thing. Again, kudos and thanks to everyone making this happen and creating new experiences. One of the great unknowns in all of the music history I've explored has been what Smile would have sounded like in late 1966 and 1967 when Brian was creating those tracks, and unfortunately the only answers we have exist in the surviving audio and attempts to recreate it or "finish" it decades after the fact. BWPS stands as the creator and collaborators closing the book on a finished work, but the great "what if?" is still what would it have been with the finishing touches applied in 1967 and the voices of that time singing the parts. Thanks to a new technology and creators putting that technology to use, we can come closer to hearing a realization of the illusions many of us have had in our minds for decades. That's a good thing.

Re: YouTube copyright strikes and the like. Unfortunately YouTube, as great of a resource as it is and as much as I love watching it, tends to be corrupt in terms of the way it selectively enforces their rules and regs, how it uses their algorithms to boost versus blacklist certain creators and content, and how their ban policies often make no sense. How some channels are allowed to feature and monetize (i.e. make money) off copyrighted works while others like these various AI Smile and BW tracks are given strikes is a mystery to me, and ultimately it makes no sense on a basic level. And YouTube, like other social media, takes no definitive positions on their rules and enforcement of their rules, allowing some to freely do exactly what others get strikes and bans for doing. I'll go no further, I'll get too political.

But I mention this because of what is currently happening in the music business, via an ersatz AI-created Drake/Weeknd track called "Heart On My Sleeve" that is solely the creation of an anonymous uploader which began to spread online, went viral, and actually started to climb the streaming charts before the labels and lawyers stepped in and had it removed. Neither Drake nor The Weeknd had anything to do with this track, yet it sounded so much like them that their listeners and fans flocked to the song. It's an interesting debate, but I agree with those who are saying this is another seismic wave of an event that is just starting to jolt the music and entertainment business. If anyone is interested in one side of this developing debate, here's the article from Billboard as of yesterday:

https://www.billboard.com/pro/drake-the-weeknd-fake-song-ai-generated-music-illegal/

I guess we'll have to wait and see how far it goes before AI creations truly become "illegal", whatever that means or whatever form that may take.

In the meantime, it's great to see Smile being discussed and enjoyed again. It's been too long.

78  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Jim Gordon has died on: March 16, 2023, 06:59:00 AM
One of the greatest rock drummers of all time, pretty much undisputed among his peers. One of my all time favorite drummers too. Just check his credits and I guarantee if you're not familiar with his work, you'll be surprised at how many familiar songs he was on. Very troubled, yes, but his legacy is and always will be in the music.

More could be said, but it's easier today just to look it up and judge for yourself. He was an incredible drummer and added his skills to quite a few Beach Boys songs from my favorite era of their music, including Smile.

And for other examples, listen to the full Layla album, the song "Classical Gas" which is ubiquitous by now and shows how much Jim could drive a studio band, "Apache" by the Incredible Bongo Band which is one of the most familiar drum break samples out there, and a ton of others....that's all.

RIP Jim
79  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Rest in Peace, Carl Wilson - Gone 25 Years Today on: February 07, 2023, 08:34:49 AM
Not only is this a reminder of the fragility of life, but also of how fast time seems to go by as we get older. I hope Carl’s family is doing well, and I hope all the fans, heroes and villains from all corners of the globe, are keeping in good health and happiness.

Absolutely agree. It struck me after reading this that I remember exactly where I was when I heard the news. I was in a living room in Cambridge Massachusetts listening to the radio, I'm sure it was the now defunct 101.7 WFNX, who had been playing in pretty regular rotation a cover of "Girl Don't Tell Me" by the band Fuzzy which was of course Carl's lead vocal showcase. They announced Carl had passed away, and I don't remember what they played in tribute but they did play something. At that time I was in the area trying to get a band off the ground, along with working an office gig in the financial district, feeling tired and run down all the time but loving it, and still actively writing songs with the dream in full focus. The Pet Sounds Sessions box was in heavy rotation on my CD player, along with Smile and the usual stuff.

25 years ago does not feel like 25 years ago, if that makes sense. It could have been a few months ago in my mind, but when we look back at 25 years and what that really means, it is a long time and yes we do need to enjoy every day in some way and enjoy every sandwich, as the great Warren Zevon said. Life truly is fragile and worth smiling and soaking it in multiple times every day.

Thanks Carl for all the great music and all the smiles.
80  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mount Vernon and Fairway - Instrumental ? on: December 09, 2022, 07:15:57 AM
a new 30-second longer mix is included in SOS, track 7 disc 6

it adds a short "intro" of radio noise,
a false start and instrumental portion on Back In Bed,
the "wind" sound effect (what is that anyway?) intros I'm The Pied Piper rather than Radio Kingdom,
and Magic Transistor Radio adds an instrumental portion also

I haven’t listened to the new box yet (likely waiting to pick up a physical copy first) and I haven’t heard the Fairytale in a while (and I’m not even sure if I have listened to the instrumental version), but I’m going to make an assumption that the wind sound effect is (played on) a Moog synthesizer. Slightly off-topic, but does anyone know why some people pronounce it as “Mowg” when it’s clearly spelled “Moog”? Thank you in advance.

Bob Moog the inventor of the Moog synthesizer pronounced his name that way
81  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Christmas Rarities on: December 06, 2022, 09:27:14 AM
Thanks to YouTube, another Beach Boys related Christmas clip came up which I probably hadn't seen since I was a little kid, the Tennille sisters singing Little Saint Nick on the Captain and Tennille's Christmas special from the mid-70's:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYxhOoU7-hM
82  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Sail On Sailor box set on: December 06, 2022, 09:25:00 AM
Also, regarding a previous comment about wanting alternate takes of songs, I'm not sure how much of that stuff there is once you get into the later era, particularly the 70s. I don't think there's the same kind of full hours of take-after-take of backing tracks like with a lot of the 60s stuff, with an engineer calling out "Take 37!" So unless there's something notable and different about it, I'm not sure if there's much value in putting like a half-finished, aborted backing track take of "Hold on Dear Brother" that sounds just like the finished backing track, only with some stray note and then the whole take stopping. At that point, it makes much more sense, if one is inclined to present a backing track (or backing track with backing vocals) to use a finished take. 

I suspect, given that by this point they were recording and paying for the sessions themselves, they might not even keep aborted takes. They may well have tapef over them.

That being said, it's surprising to me that we haven't had full-length instrumental / vocal mixes of albums other than Pet Sounds. Would love to hear Sunflower that way, for example.

It was a different method of recording overall as the industry transitioned from 2 to 3 to 4 and then up to 8 and 16 track into the 70's, and you don't have those fly-on-the-wall journal reels where you capture the entire band (or most of the musicians) playing in the same room at the same time. The notion of capturing a room sound wasn't as important as capturing each individual instrument in its own space, apart from the backing rhythm tracks (drums, bass, scratch parts, etc.). The tapes just didn't capture the kind of chatter that we love from the 60's unless someone was running a backup reel or a journal reel constantly as was done in the 60's to capture it all.

On point with your comment about paying for tape, there's a moment on the live portion of the set where Mike mentions they're recording the Carnegie concerts and tells a loud fan in the crowd to be quiet, mentioning the cost of tape or something (I'll have to relisten). So that is a valid point too, apart from the change in recording methods. Although they could have run a 1/4" or 1/2" catch-all journal reel on sessions and that wouldn't have cost much.
83  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Christmas Rarities on: December 06, 2022, 09:15:02 AM
On the Today show, they also did "Finally It's Christmas":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpVX2_563ag

And "Little Saint Nick":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vbw7Ar-CljA
84  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Christmas Rarities on: December 06, 2022, 08:20:51 AM
Truly, as comical as it is, his story in his book about having to give up his "beloved Tillamook cheddar cheese and coffee ice cream" seems to have paid off. 

"beloved Tillamook cheddar cheese and coffee ice cream" sounds like a great lyric for a new Mike Love Christmas song.
85  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Sail On Sailor box set on: December 02, 2022, 04:47:02 PM
Man, “Rooftop Harry.” Where the heck did that come from? And it’s a precursor, at least in a few melodic phrases, to “From There and Back Again,” on TWGMTR.

One of the highlights so far, absolutely. People who wanted to hear what Brian Wilson unfiltered and unfettered in a studio would sound like, this is one of the tracks to hear!

I'm really getting into "Body Talk (Grease Job)" too. That is a really funky groove, and just in its instrumental state alone they could have clipped 30 seconds of it to use as title music for a TV show from that era, or a retro TV or movie from today set in the 70's. I can't explain it but it sounds like it could have fit on a show like What's Happenin'. And it still could.

Really cool music.
86  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Sail On Sailor box set on: December 02, 2022, 04:33:04 PM
What I love about helping compile and create these sets is that we can take this music out of time, separate it from the concept of the album and reposition it into the ERA. "We" don't necessarily need it -- but the new converts need and use it for context. To many, this is how they're being introduced to this music -- Feel Flows did that perfectly. Now, maybe some new/younger fans can't tell the difference these days between what's Sunflower and what's Surf's Up -- but is that the WORST thing? Them hearing it and sharing it and discussing it is the BEST thing.

This is all an outgrowth of the influx of new "blood" from the SMiLE fan base (huge tip of the hat to Darian -- we're really where we're at today because of him and Leaf.) 18 years on, these sets give us a chance to reposition the camera in a way that -- I feel -- illuminates some tracks in a more direct and succinct way. I was insistent early on that the Dennis tracks from CATP should be stripped down to their bare essence, for the basic reason that I'm pretty confident that they'll get TV and film placements with the more natural mix.

That's how this stuff lives on and grows beyond us loving it and passing it along single file to friends and family. I think the fact that this stuff was NOT played in rotation next to "China Grove" and Skynyrd will ultimately be its saving grace. I think this stuff is poised to be devoured NOW.

That said, would've loved to have fit the POOPS version of "Sea Cruise" on to this one. . .



I think song placement is the key to spreading the joys of this music to new ears, hands down. It's the way of the world right now. If a song gets placed in the right place, for lack of a better term, it will get more exposure than the record business in general has been able to deliver in 15 years. There should be a concerted effort to target TikTok - I'm not a fan of the platform but that's where old songs find new ears and new life. I can't tell you how many older songs have thrived again with young listeners (under 20) thanks to getting placed in a TikTok meme or something that went viral. The challenge is making it feel organic rather than marketed or forced.

I think Netflix has helped deliver the goods for the band's music perhaps more than any outlet in the past year or two. Obviously Stranger Things gave "California Dreamin" a massive boost...I mean, who was downloading that cover track prior to that show featuring it? Hardly anyone. Now it's among the top BB's tracks in terms of downloads and streams. I posted a topic about another Netflix show "Dead To Me" using the Pet Sounds title instrumental in a penultimate episode, and it got one reply. I hope that exposure translated better on the charts than it did in discussion, and the show also featured "Don't Worry Baby" in episode #1, and featured a large poster of the band in the set design in multiple scenes. So it's getting out there.

It's all about spreading the music to new ears at this point. I could care less about some so-called "fans" kvetching about EQ, mixes, and calling for boycotts. Who cares. If people out there who don't know the Beach Boys were making music like they did in 1970-1973, if they didn't know how diverse and enjoyable their live setlists from that era were, if they didn't know Blondie and Ricky and their contributions, if they didn't know the Pet Sounds instrumental as just heard on Netflix was from the same band who did Kokomo and Surfin USA, that's a good thing. The exposure is spreading with these outlets that are not record shops and record labels.

And they're not competing with rigged algorithms and bots creating artificial view counts as happens with YouTube and other digital platforms.

I hope this music spreads as wide as possible, and above all that people find enjoyment in something new to their ears and perceptions. The entire business of marketing music has changed, and I hope those changes are recognized and tried in terms of marketing. It would be as basic as Sail On Sailor getting into a viral TikTok meme, and it all flows from there.

87  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Sail On Sailor box set on: December 02, 2022, 11:17:06 AM
I'm enjoying what I've heard so far. I headed right for the more Brian-centric tracks, but that's where my interests are and a lot of these tracks are opening up a window to hear what he was doing at this time. He was definitely laying down some of his trademark quirky musical ideas and arrangements, which goes against (yet again) the previous history told that he didn't do much of anything during this time. The guy was still working and cranking out those wonderfully bizarre ideas. A lot of great ideas, and also surprising to hear the layers pulled back a bit to hear more than a few examples of his "Smile era" sounds coming out on these tracks, especially a prominent picked bass with slap echo sound that is more 1966 than 1970's. I liked hearing that.

Just one comment on the SOS demo: We get to hear what sounded like a hit right off the bat. It needed some polishing and some shaping, but for me as a musician it's always a treat to hear the earliest sparks of greatness, when there is something great bursting through the most simple ideas by way of these rambling demo sessions. Kudos too, in retrospect, to Van Dyke who also recognized something great in that rambling tape with all kinds of stream-of-consciousness lyrics and when the label wanted a hit, he had that tape for them and what came out of it was a true classic, perhaps the last truly great, new original Beach Boys song to be released and embraced by fans. What an amazing track.

And listening through the bits and pieces, it's proof yet again that Ricky and Blondie added a lot of rock and roll feel and attitude in their musicianship to the band's sound. And they needed that at this time. I hope this set of music sheds more light on Ricky and Blondie and just how good they were as musicians and as band members trying to fill an impossible void in the band.

88  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Beach Boys Gear on: November 25, 2022, 07:14:01 PM
That looks like the same P-Bass. The pickguard could or would be the same, the early 60's sunbursts came with that red tortoise shell 3-ply guard and it would lighten over time. It has the ashtray bridge cover which many players would remove, but 70's Fenders still came with those too. You can't see the knobs in the 70's photo but those in the 70's were pretty close to the 60's style too.

The key for me is the Fender name and logo on the headstock, that is clearly a 60's headstock logo and it changed in later years to a larger and more black blockier style print.

If the lack of a sunburst color is a red flag for some, consider in the 70's there was a trend among players to strip the original finish off their guitars and basses, especially Fenders for whatever reason, and either clear-coat on top of the light natural finish or do a more woody, natural finish as seems to be the case on that photo of Brian's bass where it's a darker wood. The trend was so popular that Fender began offering that option on new factory models, and you see a lot of 70's J and P basses with the natural finish.

I'll go out on a limb and say the P Bass shown in both photos is the same bass. Look at the headstock and the Fender logo in both shots. That's early 60's.
89  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Beach Boys Show Up Unexpectedly On Netflix Episode AGAIN on: November 25, 2022, 07:02:23 PM
This time on the third and final season of the Netflix show "Dead To Me" with Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini, some of the last episodes of the series. First appearance was a large poster-size blow up of one of the familiar 60's black and white promo photos of the band hanging as a poster on a teenage character's bedroom wall, shown prominently in multiple scenes, then as I was watching I had a feeling since the poster was placed so obviously on the set, I'll bet a song will follow soon. And I was right, but surprised to hear what song they chose: Pet Sounds! Yes, the instrumental title track. The show is set in Orange County California, the song appeared in a beach scene set in Mexico.

Very cool and unexpected placement. Here's a Spotify playlist for the show's soundtrack, Pet Sounds is song 133.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0xdqIBWfjJsw85wHD2khD3
90  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Kokomo Spirits on: October 22, 2022, 08:36:45 AM
Mike has been trying to "brand" the Kokomo name for several decades now, and nothing has ever worked. Remember the original Club Kokomo restaurant chain? How about the proposed luxury resort chain and "lifestyle brand" that never got off the ground? Wasn't there a "Club Kokomo" package for his concerts that got you into a lounge with a drink ticket or something at his concerts a few years ago? And there are more.

I confuse the parodies of these projects with the actual realities, maybe that says it all.

I still find it ironic (not using the 'h word' yet) that Mike has railed against substance abuse for years, as recent as in the past months, and how it ruined his cousins and his band...now he's actually selling booze himself as a lifestyle brand.

91  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / New Podcast Interview With David Leaf on: October 22, 2022, 08:31:33 AM
David Leaf speaks with WFMU's Michael Shelley, released October 19th:

https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/120826
92  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Beach Boys Art and Portraits - Generated By AI Algorithms on: October 12, 2022, 08:38:30 AM
I saw a demo of this AI program which automatically generates images from text, with results that range from close to hilariously off the mark, but sometimes the "art" generated by the artificial intelligence can be pretty compelling too. And of course I had to input various Beach Boys related texts to see what art this program created. Here are some of the results:

Brian Wilson:


Carl Wilson:


Dennis Wilson:


Mike Love:


Al Jardine:


David Marks:


Bruce Johnston:


Blondie Chaplin:


"The Beach Boys Band":


"The Beach Boys On Stage":


"Pet Sounds Album":



And finally, an AI generated image that I actually found very compelling and which I'd consider getting framed as legitimate visual art..."Brian Wilson Pet Sounds":

93  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Pro Shot Beach Boys Concerts on: September 23, 2022, 02:14:25 PM
http://smileysmile.net/board/index.php/topic,26557.msg649365.html#msg649365
94  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Pro Shot Beach Boys Concerts on: September 23, 2022, 02:07:02 PM
Here's a clip from American Bandstand. Dick Clark is announcing that next on is "Happening" with the Beach Boys and Raiders live. Were they just to appear on the show or was that a whole show? Clark's announcement sounds like something more than just a TV appearance.


https://youtu.be/n42DNIdLHHc?t=1288

It was an entire episode dedicated to the Beach Boys, if you search my post history you'll find a previous discussion where I posted some tv listings from various papers about that series and episode.
95  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: CCR 50th anniversary on: September 20, 2022, 12:40:33 PM
This is very cool! Probably repeating myself, but the footage of CCR at Woodstock has been one of my go-to YouTube videos for well over a year now, I can't get over how good they were and how and why Fogerty didn't want that to be released because he thought the performance was off. Fogerty himself had one of the absolute guitar highlights of the entire festival with his solo on "I Put A Spell On You"...an absolute jaw-dropper of a solo on his Rickenbacker. And the band was so tight. I'm excited to hear a full show live like this!

Just for CCR fans, I heard this over the summer and the first thing I thought of was how they nailed the CCR groove on this track, especially that Cosmo drum beat and sound. Marcus King, "Blood On The Tracks":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E7Q74anxPm4

It was great to hear a current artist paying tribute to CCR like this.
96  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mike's Revealing Interview on: September 19, 2022, 06:47:36 PM
I am as Brianista as they come (even the excellent Scott Totten said once that he is a Brianista).
Said this, I think "Mike bashing" has gotten really old. It is almost as bad as repeating that Brian did drugs. The trollish one liners by OSD amuse me, it's like a common joke. But OSD does not write essays on Mike's hypocrisy. By the way, I am not so sure Mike is a hypocrite. Maybe he gets the difference between ruining oneself and indulging in some creature comforts, like a glass of wine. I smoke one cigarette a month, and love it.
I am a fan, besides of Brian, of all the Beach Boys. And that includes Mike. I can't forget that in that moment in 1993 when I heard the GV box aired in a store, and I became a rabid Beach Boys fan again, in just that moment, the first thing I noticed was Mike's awesome, unique bass voice.
The man is guilty of several things, yes, but he was a driving force in bringing much joy into the world, and is still working his a$$ out to do that. At his age, sure it's not for the money.

So fans expressing their opinions on Mike's comments and explaining specifically why they may think he's being hypocritical in his years of public comments against alcohol while currently promoting songs about alcohol and previously going on a tour sponsored by and promoting Budweiser beer on college campuses is "Mike bashing"? Where is the standard then for fans to express a negative opinion on something the man said or did and not have it be called "bashing"?

I enjoy the music Mike made with the band too, but I also think we as fans can be critical of things he says or does if we disagree with him.
97  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mike's Revealing Interview on: September 12, 2022, 07:44:23 AM
The issue isn't debating whether alcohol is this or that, the issue is a guy, Mike, who has spent decades talking about how "his" band was ruined by drug and alcohol abuse, how his cousins ruined themselves through alcohol and drug abuse, and how in comparison his own study and practice of TM and meditation has kept him above all that and therefore he can live a clean and peaceful life without drugs and alcohol.

If someone preaches that way for decades, and as someone earlier suggested was so "traumatized" by what happened to his cousins via alcohol and drugs that it causes him to continuously bring it up...then sing on, perform, and endorse a song whose main theme is getting boozed up and partying with booze, that's hypocrisy, and Mike could easily have declined to participate in remaking that song with his vocals.

The message of clean living that Mike preaches, using the examples of his cousins abusing drugs and alcohol as opposed to his clean living, would ring a lot more true if Mike himself were not endorsing and singing a new song about drinking the same booze that he was so traumatized about as he watched it ruin his cousins, his family, and his band. And that's not to mention his Be True To Your Bud nonsense from the 80s when he went on a Budweiser sponsored tour and rewrote yet another Beach Boys song to promote beer and performed that crap at colleges and spring break events.

It's hypocritical.
98  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Mike's Revealing Interview on: September 08, 2022, 07:55:16 AM
I have NO problem with Mike talking about all issues surrounding the band's history, including drug use. The viewpoint of the members who didn't abuse drugs, and who witnessed drugs and alcohol ruin lives, is important. I don't doubt Mike truly feels drugs and alcohol have taken a horrible toll. And he's not wrong! I feel that emotional speech he gave before the CalSaga show in 2012 about this showed genuine emotion on Mike's part. I think seeing all of that would absolutely cause trauma, even for Mike.

The contradiction comes into play when Mike currently promotes and performs a song with lyrics like this:

We oughta take the country to the beach boys
Trade that red dirt in for sand
Show 'em how we Tennessee boys
Catch a Jon boat buzz on a catamaran
And get a little bit of red on my redneck
Drop a lime in the bottom of a long neck
Find a boat that floats and get shipwrecked
With some local honey, mm
Let's take the country to the beach boys
I get around, 'round, get around, I get around
We'll drink 'em down, down, drink 'em down, we'll drink 'em down
You get around, 'round, get around, you get around
We'll drink 'em down, down, drink 'em down, we'll drink 'em down
Let's trade our ball caps in for sombreros
Instead of Jack D, shoot some Cuervo
Mix up some rum with some Kokomo
Blow all our money


And this which isn't performed but was promoted as a single:

Late last night I got an S. O. S.
The fairy tale girl's in deep in distress
She says I don't know where I am
But it's near Japan
My engine's all burned out
My crew has all bailed out
I don't know where I am
But it's somewhere near Japan
And she said "thank you dear"
I think she sounded quite sincere
And when she turned to go
She said "I crave adventure don't you know"
And now she's driftin' on some Chinese junk
Her world is spinning and her hope has sunk
So I close my eyes
And somewhere near Japan
The spinning stopped and the world stood still
I broke her fall and I always will
Strung out in no man's land
Somewhere near Japan
Rescue me


So the current one is celebrating binge drinking beer and hard liquor, and the older one is about a girl strung out and trying to score dope in Asia.

Talking the talk is one thing, but walking the walk? Why make money off of and promote songs and lyrics about the very things, substance abuse and addiction, that you're consistently railing against? That doesn't add up. If the trauma were that great, he might decline to sing lyrics glorifying binge drinking.
99  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: The Wilson/Paley Sessions on: September 08, 2022, 07:21:43 AM
Just a year or two after the Beach Boys sessions, Brian also arranges and produces -- on his own -- a backing track for Carnie and Wendy. It's "Everything I Need," which has nothing to do with Andy Paley or Joe Thomas.

Thomas eventually overdubs the bejesus out of it, but the original circulates. It makes me wonder, frankly, if a solo album without Thomas would have included Asher material as well. It's clear that Brian didn't see Andy as an entirely essential piece of what he was putting together.

I'm glad you brought this up! The most revealing perspective on this track came from Hal Blaine, who was called to play on the original sessions. From a Steve Escobar interview with Hal:

<<<<<<<<
SE:     I recently spoke with Brian and I asked him if he ever thought of re-    uniting the Wrecking Crew for a record.  He said that he thought it was a good idea.

HB:     Well not too long ago, that we did this song, “Everything I Need,” with his two daughters, and he called me to contract, saying to “get the guys together.”  This was about two and a half, three years ago?   we did this beautiful record with Wendy and Carnie, and Brian playing piano.  We just had an incredible day recording. Then three or four days later he called me.  I got all the strings together and we did the string overdub.  I said, “Brian, I have a hunch that this could be record of the year!  And I hope it is because I’d love to have nine, instead of eight.” And we laughed about that, and Wendy and Carnie, they were just sweethearts you know, they showed a lot of love for me.  Then I get a call from this guy who’s producing him now, it was just a work call at A & M for Brian Wilson.  I thought, ok, whatever, so I go in and here’s Brian, Wendy, Carnie, and their producer.  They said, “We’re gonna play that song you that you guys just did, ‘Everything I Need’.” I said,oh, man, I loved that song!  And they played it.  and it was gorgeous, really gorgeous.  I said, “Jesus, I love that song!”  And I sincerely meant that.   The producer told me that he’d like for me to do some more drum fills and I said, “Really!”  he said “well do you feel like you want to, or could?” and I said, if it was me [doing the drum fills] I wouldn’t touch the record -I think it could go on the air just like that tomorrow and be a major hit.  The girls said “you know? we feel the same way, it’s absolutely beautiful”  I told them that their vocals were all gorgeous, but  I’m  talking about the general picture of the track, and the strings, and everybody had done such a beautiful job . . . So [the producer] says “We thought that was the way you did records with Brian.  You’d come in a week or two later and do some      more stuff . . .”  I told him that I’d be happy to do that for you, but that I didn’t think it needed anything else, but, whatever you want.   “Yeah,just play, and let’s do some fills”  All of a sudden it became a fucking drum solo, so I told them, “Look, I’ll do whatever you want.”  And I did it, you know of course, that was the end of it. And then Brian sent me the record three months later and I couldn’t believe it was the same song or the same record.  It was terrible.

SE:     Really?

HB:     It was a piece of sh*t!  This guy, whoever he was, the producer, Maybe Brian would talk about some of the wood block sounds and some of the sounds I used to do, the whole thing was covered with percussion.  It went click, boom, bang, clack, boom, bing . . .  I couldn’t believe what I was hearing!

SE:     Nowadays they tend to put the drummer up front and everything else is buried behind them.

HB:     That’s something else, but this song was so fuckin’ gorgeous.  You’d think that Barbara Streisand would be singing it.

SE:     Sometimes less is more.

HB:     Absolutely!  That’s exactly what I preach!
>>>>>>>

So there was Brian creating what was, according to Hal, a beautiful piece of music only to see it overdubbed and tinkered with to the point where Hal had that strong of a negative reaction. It's not like Brian couldn't do it, in this case another cook unfortunately was one too many cooks in the kitchen and spoiled the broth.

I guess the point could be that there was a "formula" at play here too, where what Brian originally did wasn't what the search for a commercial "hit" or whatever was dictating it should sound like. But remove the tinkering and fatuous overdubbing, and consider in the two or three years previous to this song, something good definitely could have come out of Brian's work which the Beach Boys could have used. I think the Wasserman track and the original work on this Wilsons track shows there was more that could have been tapped into.
100  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: The Wilson/Paley Sessions on: September 08, 2022, 06:57:47 AM
That's what I've been saying for years, and a few of us said it earlier in this discussion: For all of the doubts or hesitation the band had with Brian, he had a literal backlog of material he had been writing that could have easily formed a new album for the Beach Boys, and he had been working on music pretty consistently since the Landy sh*t ended. During that time, just look at the list of songs he was working on, and the list of people he was working with in the studio on various projects.

If the Beach Boys couldn't see what was happening, if they couldn't find something worth releasing, or if they thought Brian wasn't "up to the task" of making music...that's all on them, they were clearly going on factors other than whether Brian was able to make new music that could be a viable release. And again the question since 1967 with the band was if they didn't want or like what Brian was offering them, what did they offer in return, and what could they do without him that was commercially viable? The only fluke of the whole history was Kokomo. When the band did get an international showcase on Baywatch, they performed one of the absolute worst songs in their entire catalog history.

And Brian was the one who wasn't up to the task? Unreal.


Also don't forget the track that came out on the Rob Wasserman "Trios" album, Fantasy Is Reality / Bells Of Madness, featuring Brian and Carnie with Wasserman. For fans of Brian's music, that was a pretty solid track that had key elements of Brian in there, and I remember being very, very excited at the news this track was coming out back in the day. If the band could have collected more songs in that vein, they could easily have had a solid album of new material to plug, as we've said before.
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