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680597 Posts in 27600 Topics by 4068 Members - Latest Member: Dae Lims March 28, 2024, 12:32:44 PM
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1  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Possibly O/T: \ on: November 24, 2008, 01:55:06 PM
I've got a rip of that song that I picked up a few years ago, but sadly I don't know anything about it other than the place I got the MP3 from said the release date was 1967. Great Beach Boys tune- kind of a cross between "Dance, Dance, Dance" and "Don't Back Down"

Please post if you find any more information.
2  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: What did Johnny Rivers DO? on: September 17, 2008, 10:39:29 AM
I think given the context- it was a recording session and not a public interview or anything on the public record- it wasn't as big of a dig at Johnny Rivers as it seems on the face of it. I think the point is by the mid-60's there was a lot of stock placed on artists writing their own material. Johnny Rivers in many ways was an "entertainer" in the traditional, almost cabaret sense rather than an "artist." Johnny Rivers cranked out LPs and gigs that were mostly cover versions of hits of the day sprinkled with a song or two that might have been written for him, but not by him and thusly wasn't considered to have a lot of artistic integrity. I wasn't around back then, but I'd imagine that in the time period Johnny Rivers was considered in the public along the same lines that say, a Britney Spears would be today- not stricly speaking- but someone who cranks out "product" that is pleasant enough for non-musicophiles on a regular basis rather than releasing musical artistic statements. Johnny Rivers certainly followed the trends of the day to stay employed rather than was at the vanguard of the changing musical landscape of the time period.

But IMHO the context of Brain's remark was a frustrated retort to Murry, who at the moment was humiliating him in front of peers, colleages and record company managers- not a response in an interview or a statement intended for public consumption.     
3  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / The 64 dollar hypothetical question... on: May 08, 2008, 09:48:37 PM
I was listening to the Pet Sounds box set and it doesn't matter how many times I listen, I am always blown away at Brian's talent.

So here is the question that came to me tonight:

Would you trade places with Brian Wilson? Not just Brian circa 2008, you'd get the whole shootin' match...

4  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: The Beach Boys & the Ramones on: April 30, 2008, 09:30:38 AM
I LOVE the Ramones and I know this could be misconstrued as a dig, but the Beach Boys connection is clear to me- Joey Ramone made a whole career out of re-writing Little Honda a million times.

Gabba Gabba Hey!
5  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: A New Spin on 'Wouldn't It Be Nice' on: April 02, 2008, 09:13:19 AM
Eh, I think the song is what it is and I tend to think that folks interpretations say much more about themselves than the particular author's intentions.

That said, he could have had a real field day with "All Dressed Up For School"  Smiley
6  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Post your pointless That Lucky Old Sun ponderings here!! on: September 05, 2007, 04:07:02 PM
Onkster- that was funny! LOL

I don't know that I have the baited breath that I did with Smile in 04, but I will be interested to read the reports and hear the tunes.

Regarding a BBs "reunion" I guess for me the horse left the barn years and years ago so I hope that they don't do it. 
7  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: David Marks story on: June 01, 2007, 05:51:20 PM
Speaking of the book- it arrived yesterday from Amazon and I read it last night. Very interesting and I'm glad that David has gotten to a place of peace in life. Good job David and Jon!

My only minor quibble, and it's really minor- I've seen this before with books that were printed in the U.K. is the British editor changing quotes to fit the vernacular. There was a quote where David was talking about how one time the BBs didn't sell enough to generate a royalty check for him so he had to get "a paper round." Well I'm pretty certain he didn't use the term "paper round" because that's a British term, with U.S. folks normally saying "paper route." There were a couple of "mum" in place of "mom" and a few other things as well.

To me it's like having a Beatles book published in the U.S. with a Paul quote that says "My buddies would come over and my mom would always make lunch for us" when you know it would be more like "My mates would come round and my mum would serve tea." or something like that. It just sounds odd because your head voice suddenly assigns David a British accent when you know he doesn't have one.

I guess I can understand if the term isn't part of a direct quote but you'd think you'd write the quote as it was said - especially because I think there is enough cross-pollination within the U.K. and U.S. to have a familiarity with each other's basic terms.

Dean
8  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Had Brian gone to India with Mike in 1968... on: April 03, 2007, 07:58:13 AM
Just to chime in for the heck of it- I'm not so sure had Brian actually gone to India that it wouldn't have been about the same as the health kick with the tumbling mats and all that stuff with the Smile-era posse. Happy to agree conceptually to healthy living and direct his friends to eat healthy and excercise, all while he's chowin' steak and birthday cake. This is not a dig mind you, because I think it's human nature to a degree to want to have benefits by believing something while not actually practicing it. I think Brian is a pretty good believer, but perhaps not so hot a practicer when it comes to that stuff- that's the impression I got about his spiritual thing in the late 60's as well. Happy to read the books, not really into living the life. I think India would have turned out about the same. Brian talking about how great it is and how it's really blowin' his mind, while he and Ringo are on a quest to have burgers smuggled into the compound and begging off on the hours of meditation and lectures.

Dean
9  Smiley Smile Stuff / Polls / Re: Favourite BB? on: March 15, 2007, 09:01:56 AM
I picked Brian, mostly because I sorta see pre-67 Beach Boys as one band and when the dynamic changed in mid to late 67, they morphed into a different band. The Beach Boys that really get me jazzed was the one when Brian was at the helm. Post '67 it tends to be stuff here and there that I like okay, and those still tend to be Brian's contributions. It drops off drastically after Sunflower. Sort of either clarifying or complicating my indifference towards later BBs is fact that I'm generally not a big fan of 70's rock (at least until the punk thing happened) anyway, so the later BBs might hold their own within the context of the early 70's, but I'm not a fan of that genre so it still doesn't move me.

Anyway, enough outta me...

Dean
10  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: God Only Knows 2007 - Bruce or not? The verdict! on: March 04, 2007, 09:52:30 PM
SJB-

Now you're going to make me hafta go and buy the CD so I can hear for myself. Are we going to have a neutral third party run the audio from the video clip and the CD through a scope and see if the frequency patterns match? I mean, after all, for all I know you could be a Reddi-Whip/NOS fiend who will say anything to get a fix! And that Joe guy? He's on the SJB payroll, I just know it. Hey, for all I know you and Joe are on Bruce's payroll in a big scheme to get him away from Mike and in Brian's touring band! "Psst... hey you two start this thing that I'm the voice at the end of the video, then folks will buy the CD and say 'meh, I liked the coda on the video better' and Brian's camp will be sure to ask me out on the next tour due to public outcry!"

You guys are SO busted...  Cheesy
11  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: If he wanted to, could Brian do it again? on: March 01, 2007, 11:43:22 AM
I think that writers and artists and songwriters tend to have a shelf life. Once the inner drive to create is either satisfied or has been knocked down and rendered useless it's just gone. I think that there are some who can rely on craft at that point, but I think the inner need and intensity to create is the element X that makes those folks for a given period great. But you just can't maintain that degree of intensity forever.

The reason I feel this way is that I think that kind of drive tends to be borne out of things in the artist's life that don't fit together very well on a personal level and it creates a certain anxiety or energy in the artist's life to create as a remedy, either to help them make sense of the conflict or to nullify the negative effects of the conflict - but it's at a precarious balance. At some point the artist either works out the conflict or becomes more consumed by it. Either outcome dillutes the intensity they once felt for their art to be able to, on some level "save" them.

Just a theory, of course.

I think Brian just became overwhelmed by the conflict in his life, and the fire that initially drove him to create ended up consuming him for a number of years. This was obviously exacerbated by a number of his own behaviors, but I think that maybe those were partly an offshoot of the fact that the thing - creating music- that had originally acted as a balm on his soul started becoming a source of more conflict. When he was creative king of the Beach Boys he in essence had a degree of control in the family dynamic that wasn't there in the other arenas. In the beginning he was the big brother hero - but eventually that role betrayed him as well. His creativity had fostered a safe space in the dynamic, but as he pushed his creativity it ended up just creating another if not hostile, conflict-filled environment. That is at the heart of what I think castrated Brian's real creative spirit.

So I think that Brian is probably very proud of his best work, but is aware of the fact that "that" Brian doesn't really exist anymore - for better or worse. I'm sure there are artists that wish they could turn that kind of inspiration on and off, but I don't think it's controllable. Plus I just think that the more miles you log in life you just reach a point where you have to deal with your own merda head on and you come to the realization that songwriting isn't the emotional panacea you'd believed it to be.

Again, just a theory.

Dean
12  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: BW- master of the fade out? on: February 28, 2007, 10:22:26 AM
Wow- great replies! Thanks!

I must admit I'm not very conversant with post-1966 BBs LP tracks, especially the 70's stuff. I'm pretty up on the singles through Sunflower and I've given pretty much everything post-'66 a few listens, but Pet Sounds is the last official release I own. (tho I do have and enjoy the requisite Smile stuff) I've listened to the later output that is on the GV box set (which I own) but it just doesn't grab me nearly as much as the earlier stuff when Brian was basically the benevolent dictator of the group. Of the stuff through Sunflower, the ones I like are the Brian tracks. So I'm just not familiar with the fades/non-fades of the later stuff. I know a lot of folks really like the later stuff and I'm not knocking that, it's just not my thing.

But regarding the fades, I'm just always amazed at how many little extra audio treats Brian (and Co.) would add, knowing full well that most folks wouldn't even hear or pay attention to them. It's the kind of thing that makes pop geeks like myself get all sideways with giddy joy - the proverbial audio crackerjack prize.

Thanks again,
Dean

 
13  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / BW- master of the fade out? on: February 25, 2007, 10:41:33 PM
Today I dug out the Lewis Taylor "Lost Album" to share with a friend and to see if I liked it better this go around (sadly I didn't). When we were listening to his Pet Sounds-esque song on the CD, I made a comment about how the song is about 2 minutes too long, that it should fade out "here" as I turned the volume down. (which to my ADHD-addled brain, it improved the song quite a bit and somehow drove home an added Brian Wilson quality.)

Well, that got me to thinking about how Brian did some great fade outs- little extra things like the vibes on the last two audible chords of Please Let Me Wonder or the coda to God Only Knows, or the guitar figure at the end of Wendy.

Without digging my Beach Boys records and CDs out, just going off the top of my head, of the "hits" I can only recall Barbara Ann having an ending that isn't a fade. Are there any others? Does the fade out add to any uniqueness to the sense of the Beach Boys sophistication in the early years, or was it even noticed? It just seems like something that was the natural inclination for them in a period when a lot of AM radio rock n' roll ended with a final chord or beat.

What are your favorite BBs fades?

Thanks,
Dean
14  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson Band personnel question on: February 22, 2007, 07:56:39 AM
Thanks for the reply. I always sort of feel awkward when asking about lineup changes within a band, because I'm afraid that there is some unspoken element about looking for juicy gossip, but it's more of a natural curiosity of how/why things developed the way they did. I didn't know if Mike left to pursue his own music or got tired or touring, or what, so I was just curious.

It would be interesting to see if the 'mints do something more in the future. Regarding Nelson, I was nosing around on the links on the BW Myspace page and there are links to the other projects they've been involved in and Nelson's solo record sounds like it's worth getting. He also plays drums in a band with Robbie Rist (the name of the band escapes me) that seem to be a pretty good, straightforward power pop band.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to reply-
Dean
15  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Brian Wilson Band personnel question on: February 21, 2007, 10:30:52 PM
Hey all-

I kinda came late to the party. I was aware of Brian touring again from '99-on, but for various reasons I didn't feel compelled to see him until the Smile tour. I was nosing around and didn't realize that in the beginning Mike D'Amico was part of the band. If it's not a taboo subject, does anyone know when he quit and why and what he's up to nowadays? Is there any talk of the Wondermints doing anything again or has that train left the station?

Thanks-
Dean
16  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: New Brian version of God only knows on: February 15, 2007, 07:25:24 AM
Wow SJB-

I can hardly wait to hear the concession speech! I'll bet it's gonna be a good 'un! Wink

Dean
17  Non Smiley Smile Stuff / Smiley Smilers Who Make Music / Jumping into the fray on: February 14, 2007, 02:35:51 PM
Thought I'd throw some of the stuff I've done onto the pile. Here's the MySpace page for the band I was in for 10 years. There are some songs from the CDs we've done and a Video from the tour of Japan we did in 2003. Not directly Beach Boys influenced, more in the Plimsouls/Romantics vein.

Anyway, in case anyone is interested: http://www.myspace.com/thedecibels
18  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: New Brian version of God only knows on: February 14, 2007, 02:07:54 PM
"I think it was sung by Scott Bennett."

It sounds like Bruce to me.




Sorry, I couldn't resist.  Razz

Dean
19  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Bruce is Paul Revere & The Raiders! on: February 14, 2007, 07:41:42 AM
SJB-

Thanks for the thorough response. The point I come back to is, do you think it's a safe assumption that when Mark Linett saw the discussion he checked out the video to see what the hub-bub was about and still made his statement? Or at least a strong possibility, especially since he addressed the topic in the thread more than once?

I will agree that it sounds like Bruce, but again I don't see any reason at all to do such a thing and the probablility of Probyn or someone else in the band sounding like Bruce - especially for the 2 whole seconds we hear on the video- is much higher to me than someone having the hair-brained idea to integrate 2 seconds of the original recording on a promo video, especially since they obviously had access to the new recording and could use the same portion of the new recording for the fade on the video. It doesn't add up and I'm willing to err on the side of probable over possible.

But you're right, I suppose after the CD comes out, we'll know - or it will spark another round of denial and refuting the folks who were actually there if the "part" on the video is also on the CD. I can hear it now: "No really, they spliced the original coda to GOK on the new recording, I don't care what Linett or anyone who was there says. The night janitor snuck in after hours and did the splice!"

But hey, if it's Bruce's voice on the video, I'll owe you a can of Reddi-whip.  Wink

Dean
20  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Bruce is Paul Revere & The Raiders! on: February 14, 2007, 04:44:57 AM
Okay SJB-

I'll see if perhaps Mark Linett and I can get a two for one deal on the price of the doctor visit.  Wink

I would love to hear why you think, I mean suspend all feelings here, but explain the logic behind the possible reason for splicing in 2 seconds of the original GOK recording in the promo video? What sound reason would someone have to do that, other than to wind up the BW moonies? That's the only possible reason I could figure behind your belief that it's Bruce's voice on the video, and that seems like a lot of work to goof around with a handful of folks, especially when it would potentialy cause legal issues.

Perhaps Phil Spector is just doing it to mess with your mind. If you want to have a meeting about it, I'll meet you in the pool.

Dean 
21  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Bruce is Paul Revere & The Raiders! on: February 13, 2007, 07:12:56 PM
I believe this is a joke folks, meant to be a lighthearted poke at the folks who insist that Bruce was spliced into the last 2 seconds of the GOK video. There are some of us who feel that the notion of Bruce being spliced in the end of the video is as silly/probable as him being Paul Revere and the Raiders. This is because:

a.) it make absolutely no logical sense to go through the effort to do so, especially if it's for a 30 second promo video
b.) there were folks who still didn't believe after they were told by parties involved that it absolutely wasn't so, and
c.) see a

Not a dig, and I realize that since Smile was completed there isn't a whole lot of meaningful things to speculate about and some folks miss the speculation end of the BW/BB hobby. I keep waiting for the "Bruce Is Dead" thread though, with all the clues cryptically spread through album covers and bits of songs. It certainly makes for light reading...

Carry on,
Dean
22  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Questions about these clips: (& Your top 5 Beach Boys SONGS - don't think!) on: February 13, 2007, 03:04:07 PM
Okay top 5 for today, strictly reactionary, no weighing things out - in no particular order:

1. Fun, Fun, Fun
2. Please Let Me Wonder
3. Woudn't It Be Nice
4. Wendy
5. Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)

If I did this again tomorrow, the results would likely be different. I know it's not "cool" to love the surf/car stuff but I really do like the '63-'66 era best.

Dean
 
23  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson/Beach Boys soundalikes... on: February 10, 2007, 09:45:27 AM
I got the Lewis Taylor CD and after one full listening, I've got to admit it's not as much of my thing as I had hoped it would. There are moments certainly, and I like the one really Brian Wilson-esque song "Let's Hope Nobody Finds Us" but overall the record is too dense in that kind of '70's Todd Rundgren way for me to really get into. Every line has a complex melody with a complex harmony and chord pattern under it. So while it's technically pop because it's melodic and there isn't much in the way of time signature changes or odd time signatures, the "hummability" factor isn't really there for me- which as advanced as Pet Sounds is, it manages to hold on to. While this isn't through composing, it has that feel to it. I'm sure other folks will just love this, and while it's not my thing there is no denying that he's a talented guy.

But other than the one song, I have to retract my thought of it being more BW/BB influenced that I originally thought after listening to 30 second snippets of a few songs.

Dean
24  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: Brian Wilson/Beach Boys soundalikes... on: February 08, 2007, 09:21:20 AM
Has anyone checked out "the Lost Album" by Lewis Taylor? I have a copy in transit and the bits that I heard has me really looking forward to spending time with it- there seems to be a huge Pet Sounds vibe without being a direct and earnest rip off.   

Dean
25  Smiley Smile Stuff / General On Topic Discussions / Re: In the Back of My Mind on: February 08, 2007, 09:12:56 AM
Amy- I think you pretty much nailed it. The vocals just kinda don't do it for me - I don't hate the song by any stretch, but I find I skip it when listening to Today more often then I listen to it. The backing track is pretty great though, it's almost "Let's Go Away For Awhile, Part 1"

Dean 
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