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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Examiner exclusive: The Beach Boys Today! - Mike talks about the album
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on: March 08, 2015, 01:07:02 PM
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Oddly enough, I think these Mike--Brian discussions can be good. With that said, I have to apologize for what I wrote above. I was trying to promote ML. Writing good pop lyrics is serious craft--and he has done it. (Should have said it like that.) But then I short-changed ML's doo wop" reference--which is a good area to discuss, even if his incomplete explanation (like mine) didn't help a whole lot. I love all dem beach boys. It's a tough business.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: interesting article: \
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on: February 26, 2015, 03:01:06 PM
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If I’m reading the back of this box of Lucky Charms cereal— with the “Reach the Pot o’ Gold” mini-maze—correctly, I believe I can make some sense of our tale. It would seem that Mike Love took the left-side path, skirting the troll under the stone bridge and perhaps hesitating when he approached the peat fire, and soldiered on. Brian Wilson, on the other hand, moved down the right side, likely slowed by visiting the leprechaun library, but then made short work of the stone path above the Viking landing. Both reached the gold reward, but with different stories to tell. I’m thinking everyone was a winner.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Best \
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on: February 24, 2015, 09:33:02 AM
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I too choose Endless Summer. And by that I mean the vinyl, with the great gatefold cover and mysterious and venerable painted images of Beach Boys in tall grass.
[and definitely not the later version with Good Vibrations tacked onto the end --GV, which, as Phil Spector noted, had to be made in parts and put together. Oy vey.]
And I'll make another suggestion...Stack-o-Tracks. Again, the vinyl. For me, it comes across as an onslaught of inspiration and deep art, start to finish. With a story that differs from that of Pet Sounds ... more like, "Ladies and Gentlemen...an arcanum of the universe". --and even though it contains some PS tracks.
Seriously. Stack-o-Tracks slays me to this day.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Review Of \
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on: February 23, 2015, 08:37:39 AM
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Thanks to Hank Briarstem for bringing up the issue of an on-stage use of gumball machines (which never came to be). This points to the complexities of such a band and their decisionmaking. And why everybody should just chill out. The one contact I have left from the old days (no names, but I'll note he is a gardener at Brian's home, specializing in the crape myrtles) informed me that the lone holdout in the 3-to-1 vote giving Mike charge of the touring band was Al Jardine, who actually thought he was voting for changing that awful orthography of the band-branding to a Garamond script. Have to say...he made sense.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Capitol to Release Brian Wilson's 'No Pier Pressure' April 7: press release
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on: February 02, 2015, 08:56:21 AM
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I'll join AGD and note a lack of personal hope. Not that BW must prove or provide at this point.
But...he stopped fully composing a long time ago (Love You?). Composing...where you are writing the melodies but also establishing arrangement and production in your head. This will be a trumpet. A piano rhythm here. Some echo...here.
Please correct me if I'm wrong! (I hope I am.) But he has been more of a Brill Building song crafter for many years now.
I think this is one reason I get excited when Al sings on a song. It seems to be a case of Brian reaching more deeply into the song composition.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Lana
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on: January 26, 2015, 03:07:43 PM
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Great to see you, Lee. Or at least to see your key strokes...
yeah...that end rhyme does seem to get lost. BTW, is this an example of lyrics totally by Brian? I wonder if he was thinking of some Hawaiian legend.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Lana
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on: January 26, 2015, 01:54:05 PM
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Leave it to BW to throw one fascinating idea out there. He would revisit "Lana" !
Any thoughts? I wonder if he means that he would give it a proper middle eight. The melody is so lovely. And his vocal...wow. Did a certain female singer recently cause Brian to recall the old tune?
Anybody think Lana might be the generative material for Lindsey Buckingham's "Bwana"?
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Hi from Brian
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on: January 20, 2015, 09:16:09 AM
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Got an Email from topgazza, who asked that I forward another Email from an old and dear (if distant) friend. Here ‘tis, in cut-and-paste glory.
MISTER WILSONS----VERY EXTREME WISH FOR THESE NEW FAN TALK WITH INTERNET WITH NEWS PLUS SONG HARMONY. OUR BAND WATERCALL HAS OUR SINGING LOVE AND MERRY AT THE LAMB FESTIVAL SEVEN DAYS. YOU WELCOME! SAMUEL AMPHONG
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian & Phil Spector
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on: January 07, 2015, 02:04:41 PM
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Kwan...yes, the Crystals I Wonder is magnificent. For those who don't have it...it was on the CD "The Best of the Crystals" ca early 90s. With the pink cover. That collection (19 songs) also has "I Love You Eddie", which I dig because, when first getting into Spector, I purchased some old singles. Something about the "I Love You Eddie" track--simple as it is-- made me sit up and realize the depth and breadth of Spector's gestalt. Magical stuff.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Do you think the early material ('62-'65) is better than Smile?
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on: December 22, 2014, 04:18:38 PM
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The greatest era for the Beach Boys lies between the opening anapest and final fade of Don’t Worry Baby. That’s about two-and-three-quarters minutes, Greenwich Summer Time. And somewhere in the mid-Sixties, when Americans (properly) were eating Forever Yours candy bars. I listen to Brian’s genius phrasing and wonder, was he thinking of where Ronnie would have applied her vibrato/hiccup? He steered clear of that, of course. Brian is Sinatra. Carl in the break, right? On the other hand, that opening might be described as pyrrhic-spondaic. Era of the gods. To talk about anything else is like bowling without trophies.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: God Only Knows BBC Music ad
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on: October 09, 2014, 04:35:19 PM
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7 pm Washington time, and two things happen--Sheelah goes to the larder to plan tomorrow's feast, and I tell google to search for Hank Briarstem. About 2,000 consecutive days without a hit. Then this. Today. Sweet. Now if only Sh. doesn't notice that I finished the Oreos.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Cameo Brian appearance in article about being Hollywood Chauffeur
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on: September 17, 2014, 12:47:34 PM
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Wish I could remember the guy's name. Good guy, a fan of Brian. Back in the day, he was driving along and there was the big man...totally sunburned and disheveled... walking to the side of the road. The guy picks him up, brings him home and treats Brian to an entire dinner around the family table. The family members are all present. Afterward, Brian sits at the family's piano for some pictures. I received a batch of the pictures and I used a couple in the old digest.
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Smiley Smile Stuff / 1980's Beach Boys Albums / Re: Sunshine Dream
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on: September 15, 2014, 08:25:21 AM
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I recall that faintly. Those were days when David L. had something to do with it. And he was so terrific. He asked a number of us to come up with lists for possible inclusions in the 2-discs. Peter must have submitted a list. AGD? I'm guessing my list and the lists of others didn't differ all that much. I recall suggesting a similar title (California Dream? Sunshine Extravaganza?)
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Was \
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on: June 28, 2014, 07:36:54 AM
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Boy, that Little Willie John single is great (Talk To Me). Can anybody help with two questions?
1 - Did Spector have anything to do with it?
2 - Was the song (or the subsequently recorded version a couple years later) really a favorite of young Brian and Marilyn? (I'm thinking of the notice in the Spring version of Good Time)
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Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian picks 10 summer songs...and yours?
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on: June 23, 2014, 09:24:26 AM
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Oh geeze...just one song. Theme from A Summer Place Percy Faith being faithful to the Max Steiner (my hero) original...but adding touches in the arrangement to make it a monster. Right from the start...PF's version presenting that keyboard rhythm then high glide (Brian's fat fingers and falsetto, anyone?) that takes the top of your head off (Emily Dickinson). Has Brian ever mentioned the PF single in interviews? 1959. Brian was conscious. A killer sound. I hear Pet Sounds in it, for crying out loud. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSsiS-v6_6M
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