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680597 Posts in 27600 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 28, 2024, 04:01:56 PM
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51  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Is Mike Love a good singer? on: May 23, 2012, 04:50:26 PM
I can't picture any Beach Boy singing "I Can't Stop Loving You" too well.  Maybe Carl, but not anyone else, even Brian.  And Carl would be a stretch.
52  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Playable moog on Google front page! on: May 23, 2012, 04:36:55 PM
There's a YouTube tutorial on what all the knobs and settings do on the Google Moog, though I suppose it might also apply to an actual Moog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7AHvrKCTlA
53  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: New interview I did on the Chicago gig. on: May 23, 2012, 04:21:25 PM
Brian has several friends boycotting the tour?  That's pretty sad.  It's his band. 

Interesting interview, thanks for sharing.
54  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: GV Box Set OOP? on: May 23, 2012, 02:17:00 PM
I got mine from the BMG "Record" Club.  Back in the days when they had 70% off sales on box sets at least once or twice a year.  Those were the days. 
55  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Is Mike Love a good singer? on: May 23, 2012, 01:09:35 PM
Mike influenced other singers.  I'm thinking of Joey Ramone in particular, but there must be others.
56  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Is Mike Love a good singer? on: May 23, 2012, 12:46:16 PM
What is Mike's musical background, anyways, other than playing a little sax?  He seems to appreciate Brian's ability in a way that shows he understands some basics of music.  He also came up with a few musical parts here and there, though not many.  He has an instinctive ability to phrase, whether you like the way he sounds or not.  I'm just wondering if he had much formal training beyond sax, which was most likely training in public school music programs.  I also wonder if he picked some things up from his mother, since her brother Murry had at least ability by ear.
57  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 23, 2012, 11:42:03 AM
One thing Mike Love and Dennis Wilson did have in common is a reputed history of hitting women.  Something that will always prevent me from putting Dennis Wilson on the pedestal that some of the male fans have him.
How about offering Heroin to your adolescent daughter? Does that qualify as something to keep a dad off a pedestal?

Brian was off his rocker.  Neither Dennis or Mike has ever been admitted to a mental institution.  Okay, Mike was, once.  But they both had a history of being abusive towards women at times in their lives.  Mike has also never had two books and counting written on him, or a movie.  Unless you count "American Family," where he's shown not being too nice to one of his wives, if not hitting her onscreen.

I find it curious that no one has ever, yet, written a book about Carl.  Carl was mostly reputed to be pretty nice.  I guess nice guys are boring and no one wants to write books about those types of guys.  I don't see an Al Jardine bio in the future, either.
58  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 23, 2012, 10:29:45 AM
One thing Mike Love and Dennis Wilson did have in common is a reputed history of hitting women.  Something that will always prevent me from putting Dennis Wilson on the pedestal that some of the male fans have him.
59  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Playable moog on Google front page! on: May 23, 2012, 10:00:33 AM
It's fun that you can change all the knob settings and make all kinds of weird sounds.  The Les Paul guitar doodle was available for a few days, hopefully Google will put it somewhere like they did with that one.   
60  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Smart Girls on: May 22, 2012, 10:00:07 PM
I'm sure Landy wrote all or part of the lyrics to "Smart Girls" and other parts of "Sweet Insanity," and may have suggested doing a rap track with samples to begin with.  Brian has never had kind things to say about rap music when he's been asked about it. 
61  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: Robert Moog - 75th birthday on: May 22, 2012, 06:04:28 PM
The Google Moog synthesizer on their homepage hasn't hit the USA yet, only on pages like Google Australia in tomorrow's time zone:

http://www.google.com.au/

That is really cool, though.  It's a fully functional Moog synth graphic, much more advanced than their guitar doodle for Les Paul. 
62  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 21, 2012, 02:48:13 PM
It's just odd if they're doing the re-recording, or at least starting to, in the middle of a tour.  Seems like it would be a bit stressful, though I guess they have no choice if the show is going to be on in June.  I'm not a fan of Joe Thomas's way of doing things if that's what's going on.  I've never watched any of his other PBS shows so I have no idea if that's a standard practice of his. 
63  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 21, 2012, 01:19:41 PM
Is anybody having problems with this interview playing? My computer is a piece pf crap and it's probably spyware, but the thing keeps pausing. I can't get it play through.

Download it.  I use RealPlayer software to download things like YouTube and other streaming video.  Once you install it, it makes a little pop-up that you click on and it will download video and audio to your computer and you can play it through without buffering or other problems.  I realize people think RealPlayer is old-school, but they've improved it and it behaves well.
64  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: How Will You Be Obtaining 'That's Why God Made The Radio' (Album) on: May 21, 2012, 11:32:29 AM
I'm sure this has been covered before both on this board and all over the Internet, but doesn't it defeat the purpose to have an analog vinyl rendering of a digitally recorded and mastered product?  Just pressing it on vinyl isn't going to give it back what it lost from doing it digitally.  It doesn't convert it back to analog, it just adds pops and clicks and whatever limitations the quality of your turntable, cartridge, and pre-amp subtract from the picture.  Though the artwork might look cooler.
65  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 21, 2012, 11:11:04 AM
The clips from the PBS special didn't look too promising.  Unless that's just some kind of rough overdub mix, it sounds like they're lip-syncing to pre-recorded tracks, as someone on this or another thread already mentioned.  People were complaining about Brian's early tour appearances sounding auto-tuned, but on "Sail On, Sailor," he sounded both auto-tuned and formally double-tracked with himself.  Like Joe Thomas pulled a Joe Thomas and made a live performance sound like some cold, processed studio performance.  Hopefully those clips don't represent what it will sound like (but I wouldn't count on it).
66  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 11:33:15 PM
My problem with "Tea Bagger" Johnston is the view that the band was all about surf, cars, and girls, and that Pet Sounds and SMiLE were minor deviations. Read Bruce's essay in the SMiLE box. You'd think that right before SMiLE they did "Surfin' Safari" and right after they did "Catch a Wave", and that 1966/1967 were just out of the norm. However, the band didn't really do "formula" material from probably 1965 to 1977, besides "Do It Again" and "It's OK", which are backwards looking perhaps, but still great songs. So I don't know what they are talking about. I feel like Bruce saying Brian should've released SMiLE in '67 as a solo album is kind of a put down, and shows how out of touch some of the band was in '67 and still is now. Like Brian coulda done SMiLE as a solo, and the group coulda put out something more like Bob Sled & The Toboggans, perhaps. Right Bruce? I think Bruce is a major fan of Brian's, but he also has this odd resentment toward the man. And one can see it as early as the '70s if we trust in Jack Rieley's quotes. Some of his quotes from the '90s and on also demonstrate a bit of that too, almost as he looks down upon Brian, because of his trials and tribulations.

I don't know if that's quite fair to Bruce.  He was the guy who brought "Pet Sounds" to England and played it for the Beatles.  He's always had the highest praise for it.  He also did an arrangement of "God Only Knows" for Jack Jones in recent years, which had to be a labor of love for Bruce, because it couldn't have paid much to do a nightclub arrangement.  Bruce didn't even join the band until most of the surf and car songs were behind them.  He was doing his own songs in that genre, but they were almost doing "Pet Sounds" by the time he joined.  Bruce was sympathetic towards Brian and his problems with Capitol Records in the US, short interview here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1B18FBcqsZ4
67  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / General Music Discussion / Re: Goodbye To Robin Gibb on: May 20, 2012, 06:09:45 PM
It was good that Robin got extra time with his loved ones, including Barry, who sang at his bedside for days to get him to wake up from a coma.  That was really moving to read about.  Robin was the only Bee Gee I ever got to see perform and he had such an interesting, unique voice.  I always loved their music from the early pop days to their classier take on disco.
68  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 05:08:03 PM
If only Brian had those big hit records with Bob Norberg and Gary Usher like some fans think he would have had, had Murry not discouraged the DJ's from playing those records.  Then there might be a big "Bob and Sheri" reunion instead of the Beach Boys and no one would have to deal with Mike Love.
69  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 03:39:22 PM
It amazes me that anyone who defends Mike is assumed to be a Mike-lover who likes to listen to "Kokomo" on endless loop.  If anyone has a patronizing view of Brian, it's people who think he cowers every time Mike or anyone else criticizes what he's done.  I used to think that way, but after seeing Brian over decades and ups and downs, it's clear that Brian has brass balls.  He wouldn't even bother to defend himself against what Mike would say because it doesn't matter to him.  Brian also has mixed feelings about "Smile" himself and it actually worked out better than any movie script that it became more legendary by not being released in the '60s and allowing Brian to have multiple victory laps when it was released as a solo album and then the Beach Boys boxed set.
70  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 01:17:34 PM
As the guy assigned as singer of many of the songs,  he was going to have the right to object to the lyrics.  He didn't feel comfortable singing them.  They didn't fit the image he felt the Beach Boys had, and it didn't fit the kind of guy he was (he's not that good of an actor that he can sing songs that don't fit his personality).  You can hate Mike all you want, but if he had to sing the lyrics, he was going to say something.  If Brian and the rest of the band didn't like it, they could have fired him.  They never did.  That was their problem.  They could have got Glen Campbell to replace Mike (he wasn't a hit recording artist at that point, and had singing talents and looks), they could have gotten any number of guys.  I'm not even sure why they insisted Mike sing the cornfield lyrics in Cabinessence if he didn't like them.  It wasn't even a baritone part.  Al could have sung those lines, Carl could have sung it, Dennis could have sung it, Bruce could have sung it. Some blame many things on Mike, but even if that's the case, why were the Beach Boys such nitwits that they kept him around?  They wanted it both ways, because he had a track record of singing on a lot of the hits.  But they stopped having hits so it didn't matter who was the lead singer.  Murry tried to get rid of him, but the band wouldn't let him. 
71  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 12:22:54 PM
I dunno, you think Capitol Records had something to do with Brian not feeling very confident in "Smile," after they put him in his place by not promoting "Pet Sounds" and also criticizing the music on that record to his face?  The Beach Boys also sued Capitol around the time of "Smile," which put them in a bad place in the industry.  Mike also participated in "Smiley Smile," which not only included songs from "Smile," but required that he lay down on the ground and make animal noises and do vocals in an empty swimming pool during the sessions.  Which he did.  The Beach Boys also continued to release songs from "Smile" on other albums, including finishing "Surf's Up" and putting out on an album titled "Surf's Up."  Which, according to accounts of the time, greatly upset Brian, who did not want the song "Surf's Up" to get finished or released.  That wasn't Mike who objected most vociferously at that time, but Brian himself.  If Mike didn't like "Surf's Up" or "Cabinessence," he clearly did not have the power over the other members of the band to prevent their release on albums after "Smile," because the other band members went around him and did just that.  People need to put Mike's power in perspective.  He didn't have that much, at least not any more than Al or Carl or Dennis or Brian collectively or even individually.
72  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/That%27s_Why_God_Made_the_Radio on: May 20, 2012, 11:26:31 AM
After seeing Al's record store appearances on  YouTube, he's a surprisingly strong guitarist with better skills than I thought.  However, he does stumble around at times, like a guy who doesn't practice a whole lot, and that's not a very economical way to make a record.  That's why studio musicians played parts for bands that had good musicians.  Good isn't good enough when time is limited.
73  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 20, 2012, 10:57:15 AM
If you read quotes from the original pre-release articles on "Smile," Mike Love said a thing or two similar to Dennis Wilson, that "Smile" was going to be great.  What he said in private may have been something else, but they both were out there being pitchmen for the latest Beach Boys project of the time.  Dennis's quote was also said in that context, so that may not have been what he felt about "Smile" years later.  Who knows?

I don't believe if "Smile" had been released in 1967 it would have put the Beach Boys in an artsy direction that would have resulted in their being taken seriously and would have been a big success.  So saying it's all Mike's fault that the Beach Boys became a surf and car band aren't looking at the way fans back in the '60s saw things.  The FM radio hippie crowd had little use for a band named The Beach Boys and I don't think releasing Smile would have made any difference.  The LP's the Beach Boys released post-Smile were not car and surf albums and they still were rejected in the marketplace.  That argument only would make sense if they released albums that were like "Shut Down II" and not things like "Smiley Smile," "Wild Honey," "Sunflower," and "Hollland."  The BB were still trying to be arty with those later releases, and still failed.  The one thing that did make them huge with the public again was the "Endless Summer" greatest hits package (early surf and car songs).

The public rejected the single release  of "Heroes and Villains" and it did not chart high enough to please Brian, and that devastated him and caused him to pull the plug on "Smile" more than anything Mike said or did.  The public didn't make H & V Top 5 and Brian saw it as a sign that "Smile" would be a relative commercial failure, and he was probably right about that.  The public wasn't ready to hear "Smile" as that time, or at least wasn't ready to hear it from a band like the Beach Boys.
74  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Group Interview On PBS - Charlie Rose Show Tonight on: May 19, 2012, 07:37:26 PM
I don't like "Smile" that much, either.  I used to, but with the passage of time, I like it less.  Mike is entitled to his opinion.  I'd rather listen to "Pet Sounds" any day over "Smile."  Even Elvis Costello has said that "Smile" reminds him of madness. There's a darkness in it musically that isn't in "Pet Sounds" and can make for uncomfortable listening that one has to really be in the mood to hear, whereas I could play "Pet Sounds" any day of the week.  I think that's part of why Mike doesn't like it, too, the darkness of the piece (which is more present in the music than the lyrics), and he's more or less said that over the years.  He's always seemed truly pained over what happened to Brian's mental health deterioration, which started around that period.  Mike blames the lyrics and music, other people blame Mike for reacting badly to it and "discouraging" Brian, even though Brian kept fitfully pulling the plug on "Smile" for months.  Brian's main problem with "Smile" had more to do with things like the "Fire" sessions and being weirded out by his own behavior and feelings,  than whatever Mike was grumbling about.  If Brian were so persuaded that Mike was right and he was going to scrap "Smile" just to please Mike, then why did he put out "Smiley Smile," which is a far weirder record than "Smile" and also uses some of the songs?  I don't think he cared that much about what Mike thought, it was his own trepidation that the music of "Smile" represented losing his mind, so to speak.  And also why he was so paranoid about releasing it for over 40 years.  Mike is a jerk about a lot of things, and he could have been more polite to Van Dyke, but he is who he is.  If it were all about jealousy about Van Dyke getting to collaborate instead of him (Mike), then why doesn't he have as much of a problem with the Asher-written "Pet Sounds"? 
75  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian's problem's...again on: May 19, 2012, 02:11:30 PM
Based on Brian's limited mobility and behavior while waiting for the plane in Tucson the day after their first show, I wonder if he is also experiencing chronic pain issues. That combined with his mental illness might make this tour more difficult than others in the past.

Yep, if he has back problems, some of them aren't helped by sitting down, or laying down, or standing up, or physical activity.  I've had a minor back thing and it seems like if you do any one thing for too long, it starts hurting.  Bless the guy for being out there with whatever problems he has, along with the other guys.  I've read that Mike has had some health problems here and there, too, not to mention Bruce having surgery a few years ago.
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