[appalled!]

Yes, I too read AGD's absolute ROASTING of someone who suggested he would like the remaining Beach Boys to overdub/finish Brian's unreleased material.  I was appalled!

Their holier-than-thou attitude that everyone's opinion is respected is just ridiculous.  They were not nice to Mike, on NUMEROUS occasions!  Whoever the poor bloke was that AGD turned on didn't deserve that in the least!

And of course from what I saw the moderators didn't say anything to AGD about being nice to people!  (Nor ban him, like they did me.)

And that girl who came on this thread and said nasty things about posters here who have been nothing but thoughtful and pleasant as far as I've seen is just completely wacko.

And most people over there probably still think the board doesn't ban people, as I saw a recent poster say!

(BTW, I can go over there and "read only" if I don't try to login.  That's how I've read a few things even though I've been banned.  And I've only gone back after Brian's passing, just to see if there was anything worth reading over there.) 

In the entire time you’ve been here I’ve never seen you post anything that would raise an eyebrow, much less deserve a ban! I can’t even fathom that.


Regardless though , recent events have shown just how insignificant this board vs board stuff is .

Yes, well said.  I really don't like discussing this stuff at this time.  There are other things I wanted to say, but I've been doing my best to hold off on them.  I'm still feeling the loss of Brian.  It's a very sad time.

[appalled!]

Yes, I too read AGD's absolute ROASTING of someone who suggested he would like the remaining Beach Boys to overdub/finish Brian's unreleased material.  I was appalled!

Their holier-than-thou attitude that everyone's opinion is respected is just ridiculous.  They were not nice to Mike, on NUMEROUS occasions!  Whoever the poor bloke was that AGD turned on didn't deserve that in the least!

And of course from what I saw the moderators didn't say anything to AGD about being nice to people!  (Nor ban him, like they did me.)

And that girl who came on this thread and said nasty things about posters here who have been nothing but thoughtful and pleasant as far as I've seen is just completely wacko.

And most people over there probably still think the board doesn't ban people, as I saw a recent poster say!

(BTW, I can go over there and "read only" if I don't try to login.  That's how I've read a few things even though I've been banned.  And I've only gone back after Brian's passing, just to see if there was anything worth reading over there.) 

For a long time I've said "Please Let Me Wonder" was my favorite Beach Boys/Brian Wilson song!  At one point in that video Brian smiles with the most genuine smile I may have ever seen him give!  Priceless!


(And this is hilarious, while I was writing "smile" above, spell check changed it to "SMiLE!"  When did spell check learn to do that!?)

VAN DYKE PARKS on Brian's passing...

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2025/jun/17/his-music-documented-an-america-that-no-longer-exists-brian-wilsons-brilliance-by-key-collaborator-van-dyke-parks



‘His music documented an America that no longer exists’: Brian Wilson’s brilliance, by key collaborator Van Dyke Parks
Wilson bought Parks a Volvo when he’d barely met him – and together they brought sublime poetry to pop. He remembers the making of Smile, Surf’s Up and more

Dave Simpson
As told to Dave Simpson
Tue 17 Jun 2025 09.49 EDT



It was the Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor – who I met backstage at their first concert at the Hollywood Bowl – who first declared “Brian Wilson is a genius” as part of a [1966] publicity campaign. I knew that word would come back to haunt Brian and it did: from then on he was competing in a world of heightened expectations, but he did that very bravely all his life. He was basically forever competing against a previous version of himself, but as the great American beat poet Lewis MacAdams said: “If it’s not impossible, I’m not interested.” As for lyrics, you can’t beat “I’m a cork on the ocean” [in Til I Die] for a redux of thought from a Beach Boy. I will call that genius and I think the word does apply to Brian.

The things he could do with a piano, bass and a couple of guitars were like him entering a dark room and breathing light and life into it
He had so many gifts. One of them was mutual empowerment. He brought out the best in everyone around him. In the studio, under great tensile strength, the things he could do with a piano, bass, and maybe a couple of guitars were like him entering a dark room and breathing light and life into it. He was a celebratory spirit with a dark coda on his life: the burden of some psychosis. I don’t believe that was caused by drugs. I think it was in his genes, but he had the ability to dig deep. He had a disciplined spiritual force and had sat on church pews and had learned musical lingos, had loved and absorbed everything from barbershop quartets to calypso to composers to Gershwin, was growing up when they coined the expression “Americana” and configured all this into a new kind of pop.


Equally, he was a positive social force while Rome was burning and certainly Vietnam was. People were being hosed down in Selma [Alabama, on civil rights marches] and there was panic and apprehension and assassinations, but against that backdrop we got the tonic of Brian Wilson’s music. I’m glad he didn’t see a state senator shot down to the ground this weekend.

In mid-1960s Laurel Canyon, I was very active and had played on stuff like the Byrds’ Fifth Dimension. David Crosby encouraged me to become a Byrd but I wasn’t strong enough to be that, but they were wonderful people and Roger McGuinn was a great lyricist. I did everything in my power to surround myself with superior talents and really found one in Brian. I can’t remember whether it was David or [Byrds’ producer] Terry Melcher or [talent agent] Loren Schwartz who introduced us, but I went over when they were working on Good Vibrations. I suggested the cello parts with triplets played arco [with a bow] that became part of the song’s signature, like the ruby slippers in The Wizard of Oz. I thought I might get taken on as an arranger or rather a musician trying to become an arranger, but that wasn’t the job Brian had for me at all. Suddenly I was a lyricist.



At that time, I knew nothing about Brian Wilson – I was a Beatles fan – and lyrics weren’t really my background. It’s possible that he’d heard my song High Coin [first recorded in 1965 by Rick Jarrard], which [psychedelic band] the Charlatans had done in San Francisco to very minor impact.

When I rode up to Brian’s poolside mansion in Beverly Hills on a motorcycle I was pulled over by a cop who asked me what I was doing in such a neighborhood. He didn’t believe me so accompanied me to Brian’s front door. When Brian answered it turned out that the cop’s sister went out with Dennis [Wilson]. It was all smoothed over, but Brian asked me what I needed that would draw less attention. At the time, a Volvo was the safest car built. The next day I got a cheque with no conditions for $5,000, to buy myself a Volvo. I hardly knew this man, but sometimes good things happen on trust.

We wrote songs right there in his living room. The first was Heroes and Villains. Brian was the leader and came up with the melody and with it the required number of syllables. I started “I’ve been in this town so long that back in the city / I’ve been taken for lost and gone and unknown for a long long time / Fell in love years ago with an innocent girl from the Spanish and Indian home / home of the heroes and villains …” and never changed a syllable. I envisaged a country and western ballad – a story, kind of. It was a beautiful experience, one of the “eureka” moments of my relationship with Brian Wilson.

We came up with Surf’s Up in one night. We talked about how classical music had died and was being replaced by something else, and there were things to be discovered. I sat there with Brian as we were reinventing the song form. One of the things he did then was record in modular fragments – sections which would then be put together – as opposed to whole songs, a bit like the way people like Robert Altman were making movies.


I don’t know how much Brian consciously was trying to top Pet Sounds [1966] but he wanted out of the box. Placing his piano in a sand-box in his living room wasn’t an example of his craziness. It was both a pop art statement and his fantastic sense of humour. He’d wanted to drop the surfboard and progress so I mischievously suggested the title Surf’s Up. It was naughty … but how could his cousin Mike Love [Beach Boys singer/co-lyricist, who famously wasn’t always receptive to Wilson and Parks’s experimentation] argue with a title like Surf’s Up? I wanted to help Brian have a moment he deserved.


The lyrics were inspired by an artist called Frank Holmes, whose pictures interested me so I tried to adhere to them. “Columnated ruins domino, canvas the town and brush the backdrop / Are you sleeping?” The lyrics are inadvertently about a man who attends a concert and has an epiphany. We did a whole bunch of songs and Frank [who subsequently did the cover art] can testify that I suggested the title Smile for the album.

During the recording sessions Brian dominated the piano. Musicians would come and go, but Carol Kaye [bass] was very important. Elegant and swell, the only female on that set and she played on so much stuff. Dennis [Wilson] was nice to me and Carl [Wilson] knew what Brian was up against so was inclined to promote his brother’s search for freedom, but Brian had to fight to make an album at his own expense and the group felt threatened or diminished, maybe. I walked away. [Wilson pulled Smile, which – although some tracks emerged – became a “legendary lost album”. He withdrew further into drug use.]


A few years later I was in a Warner Brothers meeting about the Beach Boys’ Holland album [1973], which they said was unreleasable without Brian. Mo Ostin [chief executive] said to me: “Can you get Brian?” I went over to his place with my cassette recorder and came up with a few notes, the words “Sail on, sail on sailor” and the title Sail On Sailor. It got him outta bed. We sent the tape to the Beach Boys [who recorded it for Holland]. I take no further credit for the song, which was sweet, desperate and elevating, but it put me in the position of being an effective agitator.


We reunited again for [Parks’s 1995 solo album] Orange Crate Art, which reignited Brian’s recording career. It was my last record for Warners and I was infatuated with the word “orange”, because of its associations with Florida and California. He was sitting in a beach home, looking at a television that wasn’t on, but I so wanted him to sing the word “orange”. He came to the studio and when I got him in front of a microphone he suddenly asked me: “Why aren’t you singing this song?” I said: “Quite frankly Brian, I just don’t like the sound of my own voice,” and quick as a flash he said: “I don’t blame you.” That was Brian: dry as bones. When he became lead vocalist it was different to the 1960s because of whatever had happened to him and he was singing parts that I dictated. It sank without a trace, but it was a step forward – he realised he could get out of the tomb.

Working together again on Brian Wilson Presents Smile [2004, the album as it was originally intended] was more of a long-distance love. I didn’t have the chance to socialise with him at that time, but did some audio intervals, played some parts and so on. I went to the triumphant Royal Festival Hall show [2004] where he performed the Smile songs and my only regret is that my parents weren’t alive to see the joy those songs generated.

Brian and I stayed in touch. My wife Sally and I were close to Brian and both of his wives. Our friendship spanned decades and his various associations and casts of characters. Losing him is so tough and leaves a vacuum, but Brian bloomed where he was planted and his music documented an America that no longer exists. He moved mountains. He changed the language. He treated me kindly when he didn’t need to and when people say his music is astonishing, I agree.

So the board created so that no one would ever get banned again... just banned me.

They love to dish it out, but they can't take anyone who answers back, apparently.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

So you come over here to boast and whine about it. You got exactly what you were aiming for when you signed up at EH. You wanted to stir the pot. Why even go there seeing you hated the place to begin with. You were asked nicely to lighten up but you "pounded your chest" and laid it on even thicker. No pats on the back from me. "Love and merci" indeed.

Oh. Good luck over here. I see the sister duo is back. Enjoy that!

Interesting perspective.  

Yeah, it does rile me that they believe they have all the FACTS.  I believe the other side of the coin should be presented.  I have FACTS on my side, too.

They said they would never ban anyone.  I even 'snuck' in over there after Brian died to see what was going on, and, lo and behold, saw that someone posted again just recently, "I'm so glad I'm on a board where we can say what we want and no one gets banned."  

And of course no one replied to the poster, saying, "Sorry, we've changed, we do ban people."

They're such hypocrites other there.  As I said, they love to dish it out.  They made fun of me left and right.  And they treated Mike, who posted above, like sh*t!  It's unbelievable what they said to him, not once, but numerous times!  But when I dished it back they couldn't handle it.

So Jodi Q, why did you come over here?  To stir the pot?  If you can do that here, then why can't I do that over there?  And I'd say you're even worse than me, because I got on their case about how they like to ignore facts, (like David Leaf quoting Brian as saying the number one reason he quit SMiLE was because Mike Love hated it,) yet you come over here and throw shade at other women with absolutely no reason at all?!  How are you "better" than us?!

Love and merci, indeed,
Dan Lega


(PS -- Mike, I do think they might be right that the "false starts" in SMiLE's "Wind Chimes" are on purpose.  The false starts made me laugh when I listened to them with that perspective, and I figured that, hey, Brian certainly could have done that on purpose!  But if you can't hear it, I don't blame you.  I couldn't hear it for years, either.)

Mr. Desper, thanks so much for dropping by and saying a few words about Brian.  Out of all of us here, Brian's passing has to hit you the most as you were with Brian for so many years as a friend and collaborator.  Please allow us to express our sympathies to you as we are sorry for your loss. 


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

I didn't hear the sad news until about noon today, (Wednesday,) after a call from my closest Beach Boy friend.  Soon after I got a call from another friend relaying the news.  After that I tuned to Sirius XM's 60's channel and listened to it for the next 7 hours.  They didn't play a ton of Beach Boys/Brian Wilson songs, maybe 1 out of every 7 they played, but the DJ (Pat St. John?) was broken up with the news and dedicated the full time on air to talking about Brian and airing phone calls from fans.  I just needed someone to commiserate with, and that did the job.  (Finally, after 7+ hours, another DJ took over.  I gave him plenty of time, but he didn't play any Beach Boys songs and didn't even talk about it when he first came on the air, so I finally turned it off.)  Now I'm here at the SmileySmile board looking to find some solace with other Brian Wilson fans.  Thanks to everyone who has posted so far.  You've been much more eloquent than I can be.

It's eerie, but I had a premonition about Brian's death this past week.  I don't recall what I was reading, though it must have been Beach Boy related, but I remember all of a sudden a feeling came over me that Brian might die within the next few days.   I don't recall ever having that feeling about him before.  And, unfortunately, it came true.

Thank you, Brian, for all the love you've unleashed upon the world.  You were/are my musical hero, and as someone else expressed earlier, even though we never hung out with you, you became one of our best friends.

Love and mercy to all of Brian's close friends and all his family over the passing of this humble and gentle soul.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

[It's okay, but is anyone else of the opinion that Frank Holmes gets short-shrift in this tome? Yeah, Frank is mentioned here and there, but how do you do a book like this and not give the Smile shop artwork and booklet pride of place? I mean, it's ICONIC. For a long time, the cover and the booklet were the most "real" thing about Smile.]

I'm surprised, Dan, that David Leaf professes ignorance of your Inside Pop cataloguing.  I remember when you posted that info decades ago.
I finally got my library copy of DL's book.  It's okay, but is anyone else of the opinion that Frank Holmes gets short-shrift in this tome?  Yeah, Frank is mentioned here and there, but how do you do a book like this and not give the Smile shop artwork and booklet pride of place?  I mean, it's ICONIC.   For a long time, the cover and the booklet were the most "real" thing about Smile.

On a positive note, I think the color photo of Brian at the piano in the sandbox (near p. 100) is possibly the only one I've ever seen of the legendary sand box.

Well, silly me, I didn't notice that.  And shame on me, because I love Frank's work so much!  But I quickly have a theory about why Frank Holmes was left out of David Leaf's new book.  David did practically every interview for the book in 2004.  (Except for recent interviews asking said participants to look back and remember 2004.)  So... remember what happened when SMiLE was revived in 2004?  Frank Holmes artwork was NOT used for Brian Wilson Presents SMiLE!  So, perhaps because of that Frank refused to give David an interview in 2004, or was not asked because of that happenstance.  And if he was asked for a new recent interview, as was Van Dyke, perhaps he, too, deigned not to give an interview.

Thank you, Zenobi!

As for whether it's a permanent ban or not, I don't know.  They didn't contact me.  I clicked my tab for the site and instead of the forum I got a full blank page, except for big letters that said "you've been banned from this forum," or something to that effect.  (Wouldn't want anyone there saying I'm "lying" about being banned!  You know how much a stickler they are for the facts over there.  Well... the facts and "facts they make up" that represent their position.  Other facts that dispute their position are not recognized as real, nor even existing.)

Perhaps the ban's not permanent?  But as for now I don't know as I haven't even tried to go to the forum again.  I've really got more important things to do at this time. 

If it is a "time-out" no one let me know.

My God, Don!  That was the most intelligent post I've read on SMiLE in years!  Great speculation into things I never speculated about, and... probably didn't even know to speculate about!


As for David Leaf and AGD, I don't think David reads the message boards.  I was told by Sean Courtney that when he did he and his wife's podcast with David Leaf as guest, and David brought up that the "Inside Pop" tapes exist, Sean had a follow-up question.  He asked David if he knew about the notes for the "Inside Pop" tapes that I copied from the archive in the library I worked in at the time, and was lucky enough to post to this board WAY BACK WHEN!

And they've been re-posted many times. 

However, David answered that he did not know about them.  (This part of the conversation was left on the cutting room floor of the final podcast.)

So this probably means that David has absolutely nothing to do with any of the boards, and thus probably doesn't know the 'dark' side of AGD, but only knows the 'fact collector' side of him.

So the board created so that no one would ever get banned again... just banned me.

They love to dish it out, but they can't take anyone who answers back, apparently.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

Angela, I went to Bill Tobelman's GoodHumor website and found two more quotes to go with the Van Dyke quote you posted...




"I was there to support his dream-scape." -- Van Dyke Parks


"But I think it was such a personal vision of Brian's that I don't think anyone should have been allowed to mess with it....It was very personal." -- David Anderle


"Psychedelic music will cover the face of the world and color the whole popular music scene. Anybody happening is psychedelic." -- Brian Wilson



I chose these to again point out that Brian had a strong idea of what he wanted SMiLE to be and that Van Dyke fit into that perfectly, and that Brian felt extremely strongly about what they were doing.

Heck, it even sounds like the lyrics for SMiLE, which he wanted to be different from Pet Sounds because that was too close to the bone, ended up being even more personal to him!

[Sweeping statement, that. “All”?]

I know this won't change their mindset on the other board, where they're all dug in and totally unwilling to change, but sensible people would totally realize that this puts the lie to the notion that Brian didn't like his music or Van Dyke's lyrics, and that Van Dyke didn't like his lyrics, either!


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

Sweeping statement, that. “All”?

Well, "all" the ones who are dug in to their beliefs that Brian didn't like his music or Van Dyke's lyrics, and Van Dyke didn't like his lyrics or Brian's music, and the Beach Boys did absolutely everything in their power to finish SMiLE, and their slight misgivings had absolutely no effect on Brian's decision NOT to finish SMiLE.

And that seems to be about 98% of the people over there.  I only see one, maybe two, folks who don't cowtow to their pervading bias over there.  Cam recently said something that essentially meant 'the lone hold-outs to our theory are few and far between and are going the way of the dinosaur.'


GuitarFool, thanks for that info on LSD.  AMAZING!

And Angela, thanks for reposting the Zen theory, as I especially liked Van Dyke's quote "I was there to support his dream-scape." 

Here's something that all you folks who say they cannot connect with the SMiLE lyrics should find VERY interesting and enlightening!


I found it on a podcast where David Leaf is the guest talking about his new book.   I believe the podcast was just released today.   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtkTDgthhs4


This tidbit is something don't remember EVER reading, especially in this new book!  But please correct me if I'm wrong.  You can find it at 12:14.


David says Brian chose Van Dyke to write the lyrics to SMiLE "because Pet Sounds was too close to the bone. It was too emotional, it was too real.  And he wanted to do something that wasn't as emotional for him.  Now, as a composer of the music, his emotions come through the music.  But the lyrics that Van Dyke wrote, some of them abstract, some of the hard to grasp were perfect for the music because it made you have to listen over and over again to get what he was saying -- if you could ever get what he was saying.  These ideas that Van Dyke and Brian were talking about were American ideas that weren't easily grasped; in the same way the songs, the music of SMiLE, it wasn't top 40 radio music at that time."


There may be more, but that's all I'll transcribe for now.


Again, I love the lyrics of SMiLE.  They mean a lot to me.  If you don't get them, hey, that's fine.


But those lyrics are exactly what Brian wanted!  Brian and Van Dyke were on the exact same page!  If Brian thought some people might not get the lyrics he was willing to take that chance, because he loved them, and thought they fit his melodies perfectly.  He didn't want to write about relationships.  He wanted to write about America, and deeper thoughts, like "child is father of the man," and less deeper thoughts like vegetables and wind chimes. 

I know this won't change their mindset on the other board, where they're all dug in and totally unwilling to change, but sensible people would totally realize that this puts the lie to the notion that Brian didn't like his music or Van Dyke's lyrics, and that Van Dyke didn't like his lyrics, either!


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

Thanks for letting us know about Michael Pollan's book.  But, yeah, if something doesn't fit with the other board's agenda they just pretend it doesn't exist or dismiss as the ravings of a lunatic and/or a liar.

Great quotes!  Yeah, the other board really likes to cherry pick their quotes to fit their agenda.  They promote themselves as the ultimate Beach Boys historians, yet they completely dismiss anything that conflicts with their agenda.  That's one sad excuse for a "historical society."

Angela, thank you!  After reading the book I was beginning to believe I was the only one who didn't cry at the SMiLE premiere!   

At least I don't remember crying.  From what I remember I was chock full of elation!  Of wonderment!  Of, "Wow, that really just happened... and... it was glorious!  We finally got SMiLE!"

And thank you and Don for your kind words.  And I'm so glad you enjoyed the book, Angela!

Yeah, theirs is different in more ways than one.  This one starts off with reel #75.  So you're also missing the part about them singing "open country" -- almost certainly from "Great Shape!"


--------------------------------


75 (signifying Reel #75)

1. hands to face CR angle

can't see hands pan to hands in dark

child Is the Father of man

2. Heroes & Villains plays

Vandyke Parks has been working on lyrics

sings open country song [as per "I'm In Great Shape"]

Sunshine



76 Surf's up cu (or cw? or au?) CR

-> takes guts to catch wave

can visualize intervals on piano



77 x piano Surf's Up

PB

Surf's up candelabra shot CL



78 Scratch 

Wilson & friends ?





83

1. engineer

2. pan up to Brian

3. board

4. Boys singing who Ran The Iron Horse

(Above "who Ran" is the scratched out word "Hooray"

as if he wasn't sure what the words were.)

5. Wilson ? (judging, foda?!?!)

6. Boys singing who Ran The Iron Horse

7. Do Wa Wa in circle

8. Wilson (shelving?!)



84 9. Let's work on microphone

boys around mike

Do wa



85 Brian at piano working out(?)

Yodelledo [yodelling version of "Wonderful", evidently]

then group sings at mike



86 Group around mike Yodelledo

Playback Yodelledoo's control in b.g.

Inside control room Group & Engineer Da daum(?) (La daum?)

Go out into studio Brian eating cereal record da da da da



86

1. around mike Yodeladeeo pan to Piano

Brian walks out frame(?) to outside booth playback

walks to control board

2. Brian talking ?? (bad pa toheps) to engineer

3. dark 4/s listening to playback

Brian goes to ?? (sirke?!) eats, put on headphones

sing dine dine ["doing doing" from "Cabin Essence"]

Scratch



87

1. control board thru window track on(?)

dine dine

Let's go have some Zen accompaniment

2. Brian at piano from behind

plays chords



87

engineer thru glass to group in(?) b.g. record da da

group comes back into room & listens to da da da

let's go lets have some zen compliment

Brian at piano from behind accomp. to Surf's up

to hands to face CL around to x & back to CL





88 Brian eating

headphones listening to piano track

sings lead on(?) thru piano

1 more time

--> tone(?) & start again side view CL

-> start at 2nd verse hung velvet

misses the glass

pickup hung velvet stop at dove nested

have echo on me

pickup again at hung velvet



R88

1. Brian eating sits at piano

2. lead on Brian e(?) earphone singing into mike

3. Brian at piano sings not(?) (nor?) sleeping(?!) (leeping?) pan across piano

Surf's up

?? words to back top

& false starts

tone(?)

move to side start again - go to colonnaded ruins

"cut again to end verse"

false start, then humg velvet c moves to side ["c" is probably "camera"]

"missed it pickup 2nd verse"

'no I can't do it(?) - You have echo on me "?? (julimp?!?!)

2nd verse again



89 Overdubs

hung velvet lead on(?) ?? (jumoles?!?!) -- let's overdub

it

move to CR side (?).s. 11(?) more around behind

move around to face CL he gestures

he talks while voice go(?)

mono mix - Id like it softer

let's go to top is that cool

LS  CL overdub

LS hung velvet out sync

LS thru control room

2nd shot n.g. (?) [ng = no good]

needle

recorder pan to engineer back to recorder



89

1. head on "hung velvet PB

that's it let's overdub it

2. "Are you hearing yourself now?" words(?)

mix it so you can hear both voices " (boy?) (tog? for together?)

?? (pans?) back move around

"go to top" Take 1

3. LS piano are you sleeping

4. " " (ditto marks under "LS piano")

5. thru booth to Brian

6. needle

7. recorder spinning to engineer to recorder



90

--> playback engineers bg Wilson fig.

fade in(?)

kneels -- can have muted trumpet go bleep(?)

move to us(?) half of Jules [Jules Siegel]

Brian coat on walks out



90

1. Brian listening

Stretching

2. Brian ? (putting on vocal leads?)



Pool [presumably the footage of the band, and Murry, shot Brian's pool at Laurel Way]



Bodies toward camera

Yeah, at Endless Harmony their last entry is different from the one you copied.  It apparently said, "Pool" and "bodies toward camera."

-----------

90

1. Brian listening

Stretching

2. Brian ? (putting on vocal leads?)



Pool [presumably the footage of the band, and Murry, shot Brian's pool at Laurel Way]



Bodies toward camera


-------------


But that's weird.  How can their Reel #90 be completely different than your Reel #90?!

That is correct!  I wrote that out and posted to this board!

But I do have to say I was not the one who "found" them.  Another researcher, whose name I've unfortunately forgotten, please forgive me(!), found out through an online search where they were located.  (I believe the researcher lived in Europe?)  It so happened that at that time I worked in NYU's Bobst Library!  So I was able to go up to the special collection they were in and look through the folder and transcribe it as best I could.  (At one point there was legend that would tell you what all the brackets and parentheses and other things meant -- meaning some things I couldn't make out and was guessing at, and other were explanations of abbreviations, or possible guesses as to what was being referenced.)

As to the pool scene... someone reposted the list at the Endless Harmony board, too, and I thought I saw that the last reel said something about the Boys in the pool (swimming toward camera, I believe.)  I'd have to go over there and check to see for sure.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

I think I heard the Gershwin tune got included so that if the tape ever became widely distributed (e.g., bootlegged) then the provider of the tape would know the person he gave it to, and thus could make sure he never gave any other "illegal goods" to that person.  But that makes me wonder, does that mean other people may have received early SMiLE outtake cassettes with different non-SMiLE songs?  If so, I wonder what they were!

And, Angela, the book does a great job of bringing back feelings from the premiere!  I'm sure you'll love it as much as I did!

(And, yeah, Andrew used to mostly be a curmudgeon with a bit of charm.  But now he's turned into the KGB of Beach Boys history!  If you don't agree with his interpretation of things he will try to tear you down.  I got into an argument about SMiLE over at that board last year.  It was not pretty.  And the discussion of the David Leaf book, which has morphed into a discussion of Loren Daro, the first person to give Brian LSD, is eliciting the same attacks.  He calls himself a historian, yet it seems that if someone gets one fact wrong, then EVERYTHING that person says can't be trusted.  Of course, this standard only applies to folks who spout a different version of history than the one he wants to believe.)

Aw, c'mon!  It really is an excellent read for the most part.  You should buy a copy for yourself just to further the notion that legitimate material on SMiLE and Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys will be supported by its fans!  On the "Tune X" podcast #25, with David Leaf as guest, David says he cherry-picked quotes to make the book.  He says he still has way more interview material he would like to release.  If this book is a success perhaps we'll be able to get more releases in this vein.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega

[WHAT THE F***!?!?!?!?!?]

Just listened to Sean and Lisa's podcast, "Tune X."   On this, their 25th podcast, David Leaf is the guest, talking about his new book of course. It's really great.   They ask David a lot of great questions, and it's always just fun listening to those two talk.  At some point they briefly discuss Brian's appearance on "Inside Pop", and, get this, David just casually mentions, "yeah, that material still exists, in the hands of someone who is not giving it up."  

WHAT THE F***!?!?!?!?!?

But that's all I can report, because they just go on like something MONUMENTAL wasn't just said!

The Holy Grail of SMiLE still exists!?!?!

The material we've all been dying to see!!!  Hoping it would bring new SMiLE material to light!?  Hoping it will give us clues as to what SMiLE may have looked like back in '66!?  Perhaps giving us an insight as to why SMiLE was shelved!?

One of us has to win the lottery so that we can buy this material from this "guy"!!!!


Love and merci,
Dan Lega



PS -- And, so, if David Leaf knows about this, then Linett, Boyd, and all, must know about it too!  How in the world could they have kept this secret for so long?!  (Or am I the last one to learn about it?!)

Somehow I got my copy of the new SMiLE book by David Leaf on Monday, and I finished reading it on Wednesday.

My thoughts?

The majority of the Endless Harmony board is not going to like it.

David Leaf doubles down and solidly presents the idea that push back from the Boys (and partly from Capitol) were the main reasons that Brian decided to abandon the project.

The section about SMiLE in '66/'67 has lots of new comments from Van Dyke Parks, Durrie Parks, and David Anderle, along with others.

My take on the book.  I think the '66/'67 "Beginning of SMiLE" and "Fall of SMiLE" sections are fascinating reading, and fall exactly into my thinking about how Brian loved SMiLE with all his heart and soul, but abandoned it because he didn't get the support he needed from The Boys.

The next section about the period from then up to the resurrection is good, too.

Then the "Resurrection of SMiLE" section keeps it going "wonderful-ly"!  It's very uplifting.  

However, this section does go on too long for my taste.  Halfway through, or so, it seems you just keep getting repeats of people saying the same thing in different ways.  It was still good reading, but probably could have been edited and still had the same impact.


<<< SPOILER ALERT >>>

Not big spoilers, though.  But I did want to warn you in case you didn't want specifics.

I'd forgotten, or never knew, how close Brian was to not getting on stage that first night of the premiere.  
It's probably in the documentary "Beautiful Dreamer," but I'd forgotten.

One of the most intriguing comments from Van Dyke Parks is him saying that when "Heroes and Villains" was released as a single that it was not at all what he was expecting!


<<<<  SPOILER OVER  >>>>


However, when Van Dyke says that one thing didn't go like he expected it to go, we don't get the follow-up question of, "Well, what did you expect it to be like?"

And that's my main disappointment with the book.  I had expectations, (apparently crazy expectations,) that it was going to be filled with questions and answers like that, that told more of what SMiLE exactly was like back in the day.  Yes, it apparently changed from day to day sometimes, but I wanted to hear details of that.  Questions like, was "Barnyard" and "Great Shape" part of "H&V" at one point?  And if so, where would they fit?

I was hoping we would get all kinds of minutia like that from Van Dyke and others.  I was hoping Darian had got an understanding of what Brian was thinking back in the day when they were resurrecting it.  And I was hoping for more details of how they went about putting it together in 2003.

Nevertheless, all that said, it was essentially great reading.  I haven't read a full book in only a few days for umpteen years!

And it was great to relive all the good vibes from the premiere of SMiLE in England!


(PS -- I am disappointed my missive of my memory of that night that I sent to David Leaf did not make it into the book.  I thought it quite good.  C'est la guerre!)

Love and merci,
Dan Lega

Thanks again for your help, your nice comments, and for letting me know I'm not the only one who feels this way about things in the world of SMiLE.  Twenty years ago I, too, was back there in the original fight, and didn't expect to be drawn back into it at this time.  But I really didn't like the way they were being unkind to Van Dyke Parks.  And from there it just spiralled.  And since I had the energy I went ahead and stuck my foot in the dogshit again -- hoping to at least let some people know that they were possibly not getting the whole story on that forum.

----------------

And I'm not out of it, yet.  I went to the Disney+ doc and found some quotes, and wrote this on the other board.  I thought some of you might like to see the quotes from the Disney+ doc, though some are obviously taken from the Don Was doc as Guitarfool has previously quoted...

----------------

Here are Carl and Brian quotes from the Disney documentary (which I believe were also on another documentary.)  The rest of the quotes seem to be recorded for this new doc as far as I can tell.

These are taken from the SMiLE to Smiley Smile section of the documentary...


Carl:  He (Mike Love) thought the lyrics were not relatable.  Personally, I loved it.  So artistic and abstract.  I realized that Brian and Van Dyke were expressing a new poetry.  But it could be that it was not an appropriate project for The Beach Boys.  Maybe that would have been most fitting as Brian's album.

Brian:  I wanted to do my kind of music, and they wanted to do their kind of music.  So, it was a tug-of-war.  I felt like I was getting pulled to pieces.

(Longer quote copied from a poster on the Smiley Smile board...)
Brian -- from Don Was documentary:  "I had a great big, a great problem with the Beach Boys. And I wanted to do my kind of music and they wanted to do their kind of music. So it was a tug of war, I felt like I was getting pulled to pieces. Like two...inner turmoil that's struggling, with the see-saw, kind of teeter totter kind of thing, you know? Where I was being pulled all around, you know? And I just about, I fell to pieces."

Al Jardine:  We were pretty exhausted by then.  And so, we decided to build a studio inside Brian's home.  And we were able to come back together socially, and actually enjoy doing what we were doing again.  It's almost like starting over.  And so we made this little album called Smiley Smile.

Marilyn:  He (Brian) was at this point with The Beach Boys where they weren't as happy with the music he wanted to create.  You know, there was a lot of squabbling going on all the time.  And Brian just said, "You know what?  Let them do it.  Let them do it.  Let them see how easy it is."   (So Marilyn is obviously talking about SMiLE here, because when else is it documented that the Boys were not happy with the music Brian was creating?)

Lindsay Buckingham:  Even though he (Brian) was the mastermind, he, suddenly, did not have their full support.  And, I think, because it was his family, it made that much more difficult and, perhaps, much more demanding on his psyche.  So many artists who have very, very significant commercial success forget why they got into the business in the first place.  Why they do music.  And now, you are judging your validity through commerce more than anything else.  

<End of quotes>

=========


Seems Carl has reservations about SMiLE, too.  Seemingly loves it, but doesn't think it's appropriate for The Beach Boys.  And the quote from Al makes it sound like there was a definite tension in the group before they were able to "reconcile" in the studio at Brian's house.


=========


And here are some more Marilyn quotes from the Don Was documentary, courtesy of the Smiley Smile board...

Marilyn:
"He had a real hard time with the guys, after Pet Sounds and after Smile. Because he felt guilty that he got all the attention, and he was the one who was called the genius. And, you know, he knew, he felt that the guys really resented that, and I think they did. I think it was very hard for them to understand why is Brian Wilson singled out. But anybody with a brain would know why."

"Well he would slowly just stay in the bedroom and let the guys record in the studio, since the Beach Boys paid for the studio. And it just became more and more that he would just stay in bed, didn't want to go down, and, you know, 'let them do their thing, let them do their thing'. And it was very tough for him because he thought that they all hated him. I think it was like, 'OK you assholes, you know, you wanna...you think you can do as good as me, or whatever? Like, go ahead. So you can do it, you do it. You think it's so easy? You do it.'"

"And I don't think Brian really ever came back. I don't think he ever had the need, I mean...he was just torn down, he really was. They slowly tore him down. I hate to say it, but they did."


=========

I won't be remiss, I'll also point out that in the Disney+ doc you can find some quotes that follow this (Endless Harmony) board's reasoning much more closely.  But to only focus only on those and to totally dismiss the others doesn't seem very valid to me.  Nor does it seem to be what a true historian would do!  When a person totally disregards quotes like these they are not advancing research.  They are advancing their own agenda.


Love and merci,
Dan Lega